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| The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok | 
 enlarge | Author: Greg Barrett
Creator: Desmond M., Archbishop Emeritus Tutu
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $12.95
You Save: $13.00 (50%)
Buy New/Used from $7.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  (11 reviews)
Sales Rank: 282261
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0470258632
Dewey Decimal Number: 261.832509593
EAN: 9780470258637
ASIN: 0470258632
Publication Date: March 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have taught more than twenty thousand children how to read and write. Despite the crippling neglect found in impoverishment, he is raising international scholars and injecting a sense of purpose into shantytowns and squatter camps that used to have neither.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Inspiring, compelling, engaging October 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Greg Barrett's The Gospel of Father Joe is the quintessential example of what I like to call a "perspective book". A perspective book is one that forces the reader to reconsider his place in life and look at his present worries, stresses, and problems in a different light. In short, it is a book that challenges the reader to put things into perspective. Perspective books, like Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder and Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, are often memoirs of individuals that are so extraordinary, raw, and engaging that they can make the reader feel small, even insignificant at times; yet, by that same token, they are unyieldingly inspirational and truly humbling - books that demonstrate the power of a single individual to effect lasting social change in the world.
After reading the first few pages of The Gospel of Father Joe, I, like John Cook and thousands of Thai slum-dwellers, fell deeply in love with Joe Maier. Blunt and down-to-earth, Father Joe approaches his job with a deep passion for empowering the oppressed, for bettering the lives of those in need. He is not afraid to stop by the roadside and listen to a mother's complaints or to answer a father's plea for help. Father Joe focuses on developing personal relationships with those that he supports, seeing each individual as just that - an individual with a personality, a family, a history, and a future - rather than a hopeless statistic, as we so often see in the world today.
Perhaps the reason I am so drawn towards Father Joe is that I can imagine myself making some of the same judgments that he has made. When he told the woman to "Charge as much as you can, and [prostitute] only in high class places," I secretly nodded in approval; we are both willing to sacrifice our strong belief systems for practical purposes. Could this be considered selling out? Perhaps - but at least the woman will have a chance to fight for her life instead of accepting destitution. There is a Haitian proverb that is pertinent to such a debate: "A hungry stomach has no ears." As Barrett writes himself, "stones are thrown from the moral perches of affluence."
Another aspect of Father Joe that I admire and relate to is the bluntness of his character. When Father Joe screamed in frustration during the tsunami relief conference, I wanted to congratulate him on his lack of restraint. Too often do people try to appease others in the name of diplomacy and lose sight of the true issues at hand. We should listen carefully to each other's opinions; however, we should not mince words when we express our own.
There is some truth to the sentiment that the things we admire are oftentimes those that we cannot do or become. Father Joe identified problems that made him uneasy - the lack of education and the effects of extreme poverty in the Third World - and made deep sacrifices to address them. He has devoted his life to his cause, living in the slums himself until he was essentially dragged out of them, kicking and screaming. This notion of complete passion and devotion is something that I struggle with on a regular basis. As someone interested in global health, I yearn deeply to lessen the tragic health care inequalities that plague billions of individuals around the world. I desperately want to become like Father Joe - to work in the field and to do the most I can to effect positive change in the lives of others. But I don't know if I can. I know that I want to go to medical school, and I know that at some point in my life, I want to work where the need is greatest, but I don't know if I am selfless enough to devote my entire life to my cause. I have a duty to society, but I also have a duty to my family and myself. Attempting to raise a family in a Third World slum (when higher-quality education and healthcare is possible) seems unfair to all parties involved. Maybe I am not supposed to become just like Father Joe; perhaps there are others that can fill that specific void. At this point in my life, I just don't have the answer to this question.
Point to the Moon and the rest will follow - an inspiring tale of activism October 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Practicing Adaptive Leadership in Hell - Buddha Bellies and a keen Ear
Exercising Adaptive Leadership under the most difficult of conditions is an extraordinary feat. After taking on Mother Theresa's challenge to work with the residents of the slums of Bangkok, Father Joe has managed to create and sustain a nonprofit aid organization. More impressive still is his ability to persevere in the face of intense injustice. As I read the book, I kept on asking myself how he could continue working after such emotional trauma and what could possibly compel a Midwestern priest to become an interfaith saint in the slums of Bangkok. Oddly enough, he doesn't consider him a "fookin hero" and claims that the people of the neighborhood changed him. While that may be true, it still doesn't resolve the questions of how, or why that happened. Father Joe never tells us directly but instead offers the reader to come and see for oneself through anecdotes. Through the tragedy of Soi, the response to the Tsunami, or his activism in response to the asian currency collapse, the reader learns of Father Joes values and methods. His dedication to the community and his belief that that everyone is "inherently good" sustain his work.
Klong Tuey is a lot like the slums of Cartagena. I, however, am not like Father Joe. I wish I could have read this book prior to my travels to Colombia. Perhaps, it could have answered some of the questions I had regarding the injustices I was seeing and my role while in the "thick of it." This summer I felt powerless as if seeing poverty through plexiglass but being unable to act.Some obvious lessons immediately stand out. Father Joe lived in the community in which he worked - not separating himself from his clients even to the detriment of his own health. In addition, he does not mince words when discussing the pandemic. Speaking at a donor conference, he explicitly singled out tourism, an economic engine for being too costly on children and their potential for exploitation. Acutely aware of the pending economic crisis he wrote publicly about the dangerous combination of prostitution and drugs. However, most inspiring to me was his ability to continue serving the community despite personally being connected to trauma. After all, I never came close to providing the kinds of services and outreach Father Joe did but I still felt troubled and frustrated. His ability to work through that frustration even as he sees the systems that propagate the disease of poverty is completely different from my experience. Whereas I saw endemic poverty and became frustrated because I was not able to act on a macro scale to fix the root causes of it - Father Joe and the Mercy Clinic are like the little engine that could, continuously churning out compassionate care. Finding out how they were able to create a "joyful oasis of suffering" would immensely help me as I go forward past Duke.
A Beautiful Tribute To Humanity.... October 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are looking for a book that graphically depicts the horrors of slum life among the poorest of the poor to make yourself feel better about your own life circumstances, this is not the book for you.
But if you're looking for a truly inspirational read filled with gritty, tender-hearted wisdom, you've discovered a sparkling gem in the literary pile of fluff.
Greg Barrett humbly visits the complex and conflicted priest, Father Joe, looking for insight into the world of human sex trafficking. But what he finds there is a dedicated man of true spirit with a hardcore exterior, tender heart and deep compassion, who sees beyond the religious, political, and cultural prejudices to serve a community that would otherwise be ignored as throw-aways.
Barrett narrates the story in first person, bringing his readers into his personal journey of discovery of the wisdom Father Joe reluctantly shares with him as the two men learn to trust one another. Very protective of his slum community, Father Joe rarely allows outsiders into his inner world, saving his strength and compassion for the innocent children inflicted with AIDS and damaged psyches. Greg not only offers Father Joe an opportunity to have his story heard, but a spirit of willingness to learn and understand how this one man managed to do so much with so little support from the church and wealth of Bangkok. As readers, we are given the rare gift of sharing in a beautiful friendship, as well as an inside look at why the children served by Father Joe and the Mercy Centre live together in a spirit of joy that many affluent American families can't seem to manage.
This is a spiritual journey that doesn't tell you how to bring joy to your life, but takes you into the heart of a journey you can expand on if you wish to.
outstanding June 12, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
An inspirational story of a man who saw injustice and does what he can to fix it. What makes his story fascinating is just how hard it was to do some good. Not impossible, mind you, but hard enough to keep most people from trying. His philosophy also strikes me as uniquely American. They need a school. Let's build one. Where do we start? Highly recommended.
An Incredible and Uplifting Life Story June 11, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
"The Gospel of Father Joe" was recommended to me by someone who personally knows the subject. After reading the book, I'm amazed at what Father Joe has accomplished in spite of all the institutional and societal opposition he faced.
Father Joe Maier doesn't suffer fools. Neither does he hesitate to offer them-and any others in need- compassion and mercy. This is an incredible story of a bright, passionate man who was driven to help others in dire need. But Father Joe's story isn't a Hollywood riches-to-rags-to riches tale. How this prickly, somewhat eccentric priest has dedicated his life to the people of Bangkok's Klong Toey slum is the heart of the story, of course; but while telling this story the author and Father Joe develop a prescription for ending the cycles of poverty and abuse that have made havens such as Maier's Mercy Centre so desperately needed.
Although these days the liberation theology movement- along with many of its followers- seems to have become mired in politics and bickering, Father Joe provides evidence that the Christian mission to help others in need endures. While he can be moved to tears of anger, Father Joe's response to heartwrenching poverty and neglect is to offer hope rather than admonishments. Through the Mercy Centre he offers those he lives and works with an opportunity each day to move out of poverty, a chance to leave the slums and return with answers. Even those who would seem to have no reason to hope- the abandoned children who populate the Mercy Centre's AIDS hospice- are given a path to make their tragically shortened lives an expression of grace.
As author Greg Barrett plumbs deeper into Mercy Center and Father Joe's "gospel" of hope, he is forced to examine his own spirituality. This unblinking look at his own life and beliefs- and how they contrast and interact with those of the people of Klong Toey- serves to draw the reader into making his own personal examination. But these introspective moments enhance the story rather than diverting it, and the reader becomes aware of how Barrett's experience at Mercy Centre was one of challenge and inspiration.
The book avoids maudlin sentimentality; Barrett dryly details the facts of poverty and the horrors of the Bangkok sex trade, while Father Joe unflinchingly predicts the terminal prognosis for many of the AIDS patients at Mercy Centre. However, moments of beauty help the reader find Father Joe's appreciation of revealed grace: A young girl dying of AIDS seems to float on a balcony, enjoying a gentle cooling rain. An absent, disgraced father begs for- and is granted- compassion and care. Barrett quietly and subtly develops a picture of the lives and families struggling to endure and overcome the reality of the Bangkok slums.
As Barrett relates, Father Joe recognizes that he and the Mercy Centre are "bandaging wounds", not yet actually curing the ills of the slums. But he offers hope, which is part of his prescription. And Father Joe and Mercy Centre offer tools for the people of Klong Toey to use in effecting the cure. "If you don't have anything to eat in the morning...if you don't have any shoes...GO TO SCHOOL!", he constantly exhorts the children and families at Mercy. And with Father Joe's help, they do. Greg Barrett has written a moving and powerful account of how Father Joe has undertaken his mission, and compellingly describes how much remains to be done. "The Gospel of Father Joe" is a book that will motivate the reader to "take a second look" at those around him, and to find ways to help others help themselves. Read this book.
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