CHARITY'S LOSING BATTLE

It's not like Christchurch Cathedral has turned its back on the
homeless. But the Christian ideal of love and compassion for all only
goes so far in a war zone of poverty, drug addiction and petty crime.

"It's become a major problem for us," Cathedral warden Tony Humphreys
says of vandalism, drug-dealing, broken bottles, discarded syringes,
used condoms and other street-life side effects woven into the fabric
of the neighbourhood.

"The cathedral and the school staff have to do a complete sweep of
the grounds for needles every day. We've had noise complaints and
some of our volunteer staff have been threatened. Even our
once-a-month Saturday morning breakfasts have become difficult to
hold," Humphreys says.

With the pending closure of the Open Door street ministry expected to
leave Victoria's street community minus a vital service during a
two-year rebuilding program, Humphreys admits parishioners would like
to help more. But the church has also learned from experience that it
isn't easy to help the homeless.

Four years ago, the grounds of the heritage landmark at the head of
Courtenay Street played reluctant host to a protest camp of
squatters, not unlike the Cridge Park camp that was broken up by
police last Friday.

Church officials wanted them to leave at first but compromised when
the group promised to use the grounds for sleeping only and make
themselves scarce during the day. The camp leaders tried to police
themselves, but the situation deteriorated.

About two months into the experiment, Humphreys surveyed the village
of tents, tarps, makeshift cooking facilities and scruffy campers
playing bongo drums and smoking marijuana on the historic Cathedral's
grounds and decided it was time to call in the police.

Two years ago, the Cathedral joined the Out of the Rain youth
shelter, a YMCA program that rotates among churches and other
facilities to provide homeless street youths up to age 25 a warm dry
place to sleep. The program started in the cathedral's main chapel,
but was then moved to a room in the cathedral school behind the main
building "for hygiene and safety reasons."

Humphreys says the homeless youths attracted drug-dealing
acquaintances and other types of seedy activity deemed to be at odds
with school programs. So the church cancelled its participation,
leaving the Out of the Rain program with a hole in its weekly
schedule of locations that has yet to be filled.

"It was a matter of great regret that we had to stop doing it," he
says. "But the problems with the Out of the Rain Shelter both inside
and outside became intolerable."

Humphreys points to an outdoor pulpit, an architectural feature of
the century-old stone building that has been fitted with a
wrought-iron gate to stop people from using it for fornication or
defecation or both.

Around the corner, there's a thousand-dollar chain-link gate
installed atop a basement stairwell for the same reasons. Outside the
rector's house, statues have been smash and gates kicked in.

It's afternoon recess and 150 uniformed children are frolicking in a
compound behind an eight-foot-high chain link fence. Humphreys points
out the obvious - poverty, drug addiction and petty crime aren't
compatible with the church's elementary school.

The church's recent purchase of a $2-million pipe organ raised
eyebrows among homeless advocates such as the Open Door's Rev. Al
Tysick, who told Black Press last year "If we can raise $250,000 for
a new organ... what could we be doing beyond that?"

It's true Christchurch Cathedral has a wealth of well-heeled
parishioners, but Humphreys says the church's reluctance to do more
for Victoria's street community has nothing to do with money.

"I assure you many members of this parish are deeply concerned about
these things," he says. "They want to put their time and effort and
where possible their money towards a solution. But that solution is
just not apparent."

Further up Quadra Street, where First Metropolitan United and Saint
John the Divine tower are within shouting distance of the Open Door,
the clash between Christian charity and self-preservation is much the same.

Churches were once a vital part of Canada's social safety net, but
declining membership and secularization have turned many inner city
churches into victims of society's problems, despite efforts to
remain part of the solution.

First Metropolitan helps fund the Open Door and has "lay-members" on
the organization's board who are directly involved in the scramble to
find a temporary replacement for the street ministry.

As for offering church facilities to the Open Door's hard-core
clientele, Rev. Allan Saunders says the inn is full.

"Our management felt it just wasn't possible," Saunders says. "We
have a community basketball league and there's the (Greater Victoria)
Intercultural Association. There's just so many multiple uses of our space."

First Metropolitan is one of four downtown churches - along with
Christchurch Cathedral, Central Baptist and St. Andrew's Presbyterian
- - that host weekly meals known as the Inner City Dinner program. The
dinners draw 250 to 450 people.

Saunders acknowledged that the Open Door's clientele has "increased
incredibly" in the last few years, but he's reluctant to dwell on the
notion that Rev. Al's people aren't welcome at conventional churches,
noting that First Met continues to takes part in the Out of the Rain
youth shelter.

Others, like St. John the Divine Rev. Harold Munn, don't want to
discuss street issues at all. Munn didn't respond to repeated calls
from the Victoria News, but perhaps he can be forgiven if compassion
for Victoria's street population is a touchy subject.

On a recent afternoon right outside Munn's office on the Mason Street
side of the church, three bicycled youths are buying crystal meth
from a jittery, fast-talking dealer in a pot-leaf bandanna.

The customers scatter at the sight of a reporter but the dealer
stands his ground, launching into a half-intelligible diatribe that
ends with the clear suggestion that it might not be a safe place for
members of the media.

Or for that matter the clergy.

At Central Baptist Church on Pandora Avenue, a security guard patrols
the entrance to the facility's underground parkade, where vandalism
and drug-use have blossomed in recent years.

"Urine is a big thing, but we also get the needles and we have to put
security in our parking lot to deal with all the break-ins. This
neighbourhood has really changed," said Gordon Burton, who chairs the
Central Baptist board of management. "It got to the point with the
youth program that parents refused to drop their kids off unless
there was security."

Central Baptist, which helps fund both the Open Door and the Mustard
Seed Food Bank, isn't the appropriate setting for clients of the Open Door.

"As a church, you can help people that want to be helped, but not
everybody wants to be helped," Burton says. "A lot of it gets down to
comfort and where are these people most comfortable... when you have
unique problems you have to go where you can get that help."
Therefore it's "almost irresponsible" for the Open Door to shut down
without having a replacement, Burton says, adding the Open Door board
is pressuring Tysick to get on with construction.

On a typical day, 300 to 400 people pass through the Open Door,
grabbing a cup of coffee, a swatch of clothing or simply warming
their chilly tired bones.

Rev. Tom Oshiro of the Mustard Seed says there's some crossover
between the Open Door and his operation, but made it clear the
Mustard Seed demands sobriety and good behaviour from its clients.

"We're very conscious of the fact that our commitment is to
thefamilies," Oshiro said. "We feed 1,600 to 1,800 children a month
and we have to create an environment that's safe."

The Victoria Cool Aid Society, which runs the StreetLink shelter and
many other services for the homeless, can't handle the overflow either.

"The reality is, should the Open Door not be open, all the social
services they provide, there's no way we're going to be able to take
those over. It's not a service you can divide up and spread around,"
says Don McTavish, StreetLink's manager of shelters. "People keep
asking for a contingency plan. The emergency shelter is the
contingency plan. It looks like Reverend Al is going to be homeless
until he builds himself a home."