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PHOENIX April 18, 1974%u2022 H H H H I H I H I I H M M l i m i l l l l H lllllljlllllllllllllllllllllilllH IIIIIIIIim illlllllllU IIIN IIH H IIIIIbProfile Rev. A. F. Schaef:A Man With Overriding PurposeBY JOHN BLACKMOREA. Finley Schaef is a man with an abiding concern and an overriding purpose. He is also fortunate enough to have a job where his concern and purpose coincide. Mr. Schaef is minister at the Park Slope Methodist Church at Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street.%u201c I see the human race in great peril. There are tremendous upheavals going on, and the major question of our time is survival,%u201d says Reverend Schaef. %u201c This is not a theoretical question, a fantastic notion, but a real problem. With all of this, my job is to keep people alive, and worried.%u201dThough he sees the current dilemma as founded upon %u201cthe spiritual impoverishment of our time,%u201d Rev. Schaef is a man of practical affairs, and the practical often leads to the political. He is currently very much involved in the United Farmworkers struggle, and has helped organize the Saturday demonstrations against Bohack supermarkets in Park Slope, which are now spreading to other parts of South Brooklyn. Bohack has been chosen as a representative market that sells non-union products, and is currently subject to a boroughwide boycott by supporters of the UFW movement.A struggle for farmworkers in Brooklyn? %u201c You have to expose yourself to a range of human possibilities, and not only ones that happen next door,%u201d Schaef said. %u201c This is my style of ministry.\first got involved with the farmworkers as a result of a faded memo that crossed his desk, %u201c and by great fortune, it turned out that a number of my congregation were also concerned,%u201d and thus the action.Schaef is currently helping organize a city-wide rally in support of the UFW on Tuesday , April 23. The demonstration, which is being organized by the New York religious community, will take place onWall Street near the Federal Building-%u201c right where the hardhats and anti-war demonstrators clashed three years ago.%u201d%u201cThe farmworkers have been messed around,%u201d says Schaef. \minimum wage, to decent working conditions. They%u2019re treated like the bulls that pull your cart%u2014when they die, you simply get others.%u201d He sees the plight of the farmworkers as symptomatic of our spiritual impoverishment. %u201c There%u2019s no gratitude for these workers, just as we%u2019re experiencing a time of little hope, faith, justice. This makes for a spiritual peril.%u201d Schaef accentuates the peril %u201cbecause people have to see it face to face so they can recognize it and do something about it.%u201dReverend Schaef came to Park Slope a year and a half ago with a variety of experiences to his credit. After ordination in 1957, he served as minister in Astoria and later St. Albans, Queens. In the late 60%u2019s, he was minister at the Washington Square Methodist Church; and for two years before coming to Park Slope, he took a sabbatical leave, during which time he joined an experimental theater group, worked as a bartender, and studied the Zen Japanese Tea Ceremony. %u201c But I%u2019ll never leave the ministry,%u201d he says, %u201cbecause I%u2019m always learning, it%u2019s such an immense and impossible job. You never sit still.%u201dLike many churches across the country, the Park Slope Methodist Church is experiencing a drop-off in membership. %u201c The young people are not getting into it at the same rate as the older parishioners pass away,%u201d he said. %u201c We have about 60 families, and we%u2019re always struggling.\But Schaef finds some virtue in the struggle. %u201cIf we were big, powerful and rich, we might sit back and accept things.%u201d This is precisely what Reverend Schaef is working to avoid. %u201c AndK L Y N H E IG H T S CUxcmat%u2022 1 HELD O V E R ! th ru T u e s .A p r.2 3wA L m C iiiQ \KA t: 2 :3 0 - 4 :5 0 - 2 :1 0 - 9 :3 0 pm7 0 HENRY ST ai ORANGE ST _ Tel 59b- 7070 _ _ W e d .th ru T u e s .A p r. 1 7 -2 3ACADEMY AWARD SHOW!%u2014 , T A T U M O 'N E A L M , . \\ Best S u p p o rtin g A ctre ssa t: 2 :3 0|rr -6:10-9 :5 0 p mANDactor JACK LEMMON %u201cSAVE THE TIGER%u201d______ at 4:20 & 8pmUUhas a lot to offer%u25a1 ARTS <& SCIENCESHumanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Journalism,Urban Studies.%u25a1 HEALTH SCIENCESCommunity Health. Nursing, Physical Education, Physical Therapy.f j BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONAccounting, Finance, Integrated Information Systems, Management, Marketing.%u25a1 TEACHER EDUCATIONElementary (Nursery through Grade 61, Secondary, Bilingual.%u25a1 EVENING COURSESUndergraduate and Graduate courses for credit, also non credit programs.%u25a1 WEEKEND COURSESSat Sun. classes for those who cannot attend on weekdays or in the evening.Director of Admissions LTHE BROOKLYN CENTER of LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITYZeckendorf Campus, Flatbush Ave. Ext. & DeKalb Ave. Brooklyn, N Y. 11201 %u2022 (212) 834-6100Please send inform ation about area checked above , U n d e rg ra d u a te %u25a1 G ra duateNameReverend Schaefperhaps this struggle will bring the religious communities together,%u201d he said. %u201c In fact, I%u2019d like to see a coalition develop among various organizations, such as the churches, synagogues, the Ethical Culture Society, the Mongoose, even a Marxist-Christian dialogue,, as they%u2019ve had in France. We must learn from one another.%u201d He addsCircus Fair To Aid ParkOn May II, Friends of Underwood Park will sponsor a Super Circus Fair in the park, located along Lafayette Avenue between Waverly and Washington Avenues in Clinton Hill.Organized in 1972 in affiliation with the Pratt Area Community Council. Friends of Underwood Park seeks to build an attractive, creative playground in the park through the upgrading of existing facilities and equipment and the installation of new equipment. The New York City Parks Council has agreed to match on a 3-to-l basis whatever funds the group is able to generate.Its initial fund-raising event was last October%u2019s very successful Halloween Party, also held in Underwood Park, at which $1,000 was raised. The upcoming SuperCircus Fair promises to be even more successful.The group has arranged for two mobile units which will contain a swimming pool for children, a skating rink, and a puppet show. A clown from Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus will appear, and children who show up in clown outfits - as part of the Fair%u2019s theme - will participate in a clowncostume contest.Donations of plants, food, crafts, games, toys and other items will be sold. Flyers announcing the event will be distributed at public and private schools throughout Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, and will be posted at various locations as well.Further information is available from Kathy Smith (638-5786) or Ann Wilson (636-5583).that he sees religion as strong enough not to be destroyed by opposing influences.Bringing the youth back to the church is one of Reverend Schaef s priorities. Last year he organized a coffee house at the church, called %u201c The Random Canyon.%u201d Although the response was good and the programs entertaining, the coffee house had to be suspended this year because of rising costs. %u201c But it%u2019s not just programs that will bring youth back to the church-you have to do significant things, something to help people. And they have to know you mean it; people can recognize insincerity.%u201dSchaef describes his congregation as a %u201c highly interesting, extremely diverse group,%u201d with wide economic, racial, political and religious differences. These differences, Schaef feels, are very healthy for the Church. %u201cWe always have interplay, for instance, between different politics, or among those who interpret the Bible differently. Differences are productive,%u201d he says. %u201c I believe in talking and listening.%u201dRecently he invited devotees of Guru Maharaj Ji to come and speak before the Sunday school. Schaef is no particular fan of the 16-yearold guru, seeing demonic elements in the devotion to another person as a slave-such as the obedience to authority, lack of political interest, and the inflated hopes that characterize the devotees of such sects. But, he says, the interplay of ideas that results from such confrontation is the important thing. For the adults, Schaef is just concluding a discussion series that dealt with such topics as how North Vietnam solved its drug problem, prisons and prisoners, and most recently, a presentation on speaking in tongues.Reverend Schaef considers many ways of anchoring one%u2019s life to something outside of self as potentially legitimate. His own anchoring is Christ, %u201c as an image, as a word, as a person.%u201d He looks forward to the coming together of the positive forces of man against the spiritual peril. If we look at the conclusion of the Unison Prayer of two weeks ago, I think we can glean some hint as to what he considers the binding force: %u201c AlmightyGod...we love you, we love Christ, we love each other; we love our neighbors; we love our enemies; we love trees and plants; daffodils; snow in Springtime; we whistle. We even love the devil who sneaks into our heads and tells us not to take our own prayers seriously. Amen.%u201dPlymouth Steak& Lobster House78 CLARK STREET(Opp. St. George Hotel)Brooklyn Heights%u2019 OnlyFresh Fish RestaurantLobster Flown inDaily iiam ivtuiiieSelect Your O w nFrom O ur TankCall MA4-5263for ReservationsEstablished 1933Act drr . f y St Alt%u2019 ZipSo n n e t to S p rin gShades of Spring & the lovely crocus... theEaster bunny brought us Miss Claiborne Cary,singer/commedienne/actress and, hopping alongright along side, the too talented Mr. FranklinRoosevelt Underwood, who plays Miss Cary%u2019s veryspecial material and then takes off on his own like a747.If Errol Gardner conjures up %u201c sound%u201d to you,you'll be ecstatic. Miss Cary is off to Hollywood tofinish a film (A pril 19 1.T raturns. Aoril 19. 20(.BUT Mr. Underwrxxi will be holding forth withJohn Paul Hudson, winner of Cue Magazine%u2019s BestRevue Performer. Tongue-in-cheek, naughty butnice. Nocover.no minimum. Friday & Saturday, 9to 1. April 12, 13, 19 & 20. Reserva'ionsappreciated. 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