A Journey of Compassion

A Journey of Compassion grew out of the heart and passion of Bill Lane Doulos, who began his work with the street people of Pasadena in 1974. Over the following fifteen years, Bill served a diverse group of the poor through a ministry started by Sister Alice Callaghan and All Saints Episcopal Church. The ministry was called Union Station, and it brought to the doorstep of the church a multitude of people and their unique stories.

In his ""Letters from a Street Minister,"" Bill captures the trauma of these lives with humor and pathos. These vignettes give us valuable insights into the hopes and dreams, the successes and the failures, of neighbors in need. Drawing upon a legion of volunteers, the support of the interfaith community, the participation of government and business, and thousands of individual donors, Union Station became a model of how a community can address the social-service needs of the poor.


""This book of letters--capturing my thoughts as a participant in ministry to the poorest of society's poor, reflecting my journey to Skid Row where I presently live, embodying my hope that the ingenuity and faithfulness of God's people can transform my own life, and life as it passes by my window--is offered to help you on our own faithful journey.""

-- Bill Lane Doulos, from the Introduction

Bill Lane Doulos retired from the Union Station ministry in 1990 (which still flourishes today under the leadership of Rabbi Marvin Gross). Bill continues to pioneer new avenues of compassion, serving parish neighborhoods as a deacon of the Church of Our Saviour, San Gabriel. For the past twelve years he has been the director of Jubilee Homes, a set of four facilities that offer supportive housing to adult men and women in recovery from addiction.