By Olivia Beigh
Contributing Writer
“There’s Calcuttas everywhere. Find your own Calcutta,” Shane Claiborne said as he spoke to the Saint Rose community on March 23. Born in the Bible Belt of Tennessee, Claiborne is an individual who always puts others before himself.
Coming from a small town, Claiborne was always a popular guy. He was going to go to college, get a good paying job and have a good life. However, he wasn’t fulfilled. He wanted to live out the word of God and help others in need.
Claiborne wanted to make a difference in the world, so he decided to write to Mother Teresa in hopes of getting the chance to work with her. After many attempts, he reached a nun who helped him get ahold of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, where she was helping children in orphanages. After she told him personally to come to Calcutta, Claiborne and some friends with the same ideals traveled to India to work.
When they arrived, they helped children in orphanages and cared for the sick and dying. Claiborne shared a story with the campus community that showed how much people differ across the world and how much is taken for granted here.
Claiborne bought an ice cream cone for one of the children’s birthdays as a special treat. He tried to be secretive about the ice cream; however, the boy insisted on sharing it with all the children in the town. The children lined up and everyone got a lick, including Claiborne.
Claiborne realized that he can help people no matter where he is, whether it’s India or America. “Find your Calcutta,” he repeated. No matter where you go, there’s always someone in need. So he brought the values of God and Mother Teresa back the United States, to the city of Philadelphia, where he’s resided for the last 20 years.
“Imagine what the world would be like if we honored the needs of others before our own?” Claiborne asked the audience.
He lived his life by this challenge, starting his own community in Philadelphia. He began by inviting the homeless to worship circles. There they would pray, play guitar together, and he would give them the communion bread. The laws in Philadelphia were extremely strict regarding the homeless, so feeding them and sleeping in the parks was considered a criminal act.
Claiborne knew these laws were unjust, so he and his group fought them. The police didn’t arrest them for serving communion, but they then switched to serving pizza and continued to sleep in the parks.
Eventually, Claiborne and about 40 other people were arrested for assisting the homeless. At the trial, each person showed up wearing “Jesus was homeless” shirts. Every single charge against them was dropped, and the judge even referred to them as “Freedom Fighters.” The judge knew the laws were unjust.
“Many people have faith in fighting injustice. We need courage and creativity to fight injustice,” said Claiborne.
Claiborne also spoke about gun violence while visiting campus. He and his community looked at the patterns of gun violence after a 19-year-old boy was shot on his steps; he knew he had to address the violence caused by guns.
His community asked for people to donate guns, and he then invited parents who had lost their children to weapons to come and together. They disassembled the guns and made them into safe objects. One man even made a musical instrument out of a once-harmful weapon.
Claiborne shared yet another story with the Saint Rose community about how God has touched his life. He and some friends were living in Bagdad, Iraq for a month and as they were leaving the country they were involved in a bad car accident. Lying injured on the side of the road, some people in a car came along, wrapped their arms around them and took them to the hospital in a town called Rutba.
The doctors there informed them that a bomb was dropped on the children’s ward of the hospital. They promised to still take care of Claiborne and his friends, just not at the hospital. The doctors saved one of his friend’s lives after he went into shock. Claiborne and his friends then offered the doctors all their money, but the doctors refused it. All they wanted Claiborne to do was spread the word about what happened to the hospital.
Claiborne then opened up a community in Durham, North Carolina dedicated to reconciliation. A few years later, they decided to go back to Rutba to visit the doctors and the people who saved them in an extension of friendship. While there, they spoke to the mayor and he declared Durham the sister city of Rutba.
“You can’t fight fire with fire. All you get is fire,” Claiborne said.
Claiborne’s visit to the College was inspiring to many.
“As a person of faith, you don’t see many people have their faith change their life. Shane is lighthearted and motivational,” said Joan Horgan, director of campus ministry.
In addition to his activism, Claiborne is a published author; he has written seven books. The most popular is “The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical.”
“It was a very thought-provoking speech, and he’s been one of the best speakers I’ve seen on campus,” said Tiernan Foley, a freshmen at the College.
