Haley House's Noel Bray

Noel is Haley House’s go-to-guy for low-income housing and, of course, he’s a good chat. Walking into his apartment, I was struck by the property’s beauty. Was this really subsidized housing? Noel had music playing, offered me tea and a seat, and started right away. Within moments, I realized that I should throw my prepared questions out the window.

Noel began at the beginning—his beginning. As a child, Noel and his family would attend Catholic Mass at a Cathedral in the South End of Boston. The church’s attendees consisted of high profile, powerful, political figures. This Cathedral also hosted numerous members of the homeless community. It wasn’t difficult for Noel to notice this stark contrast in the social groups of Boston. Noel and his family would occasionally donate clothes to St. Francis on their way to this socially diverse mass. At the time, Noel had no idea how much this lifestyle would impact him down the road.

Noel’s ideologies began to fully develop during his time at college here in Boston. It was the pinnacle moment in the anti-war and civil right movements, and Noel thrived on the ideology. came to realize that the Catholic Church strongly deviated from his moral beliefs; they were on the wrong side of many moral issues of the time. It was during this time that Noel found himself pulling away from the church and its system of beliefs.

Noel found a like-minded group and began to read anti-war material, specifically The Catholic Worker. The Catholic Worker Movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the 1930s, attempts to ‘live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ.’ They called for life lived virtuously through the eyes of Christ, not necessarily through the eyes of the Church. Even as a child, Noel had a difficult time understanding why someone who does not necessarily believe exactly what the church believes, whether because of culture or personal ideas, should be punished. The Catholic Worker Movement seemed to address this concern by focusing on righteous action.

Noel was jolted from a revolutionary contentment with a series of personal losses. The turning point came when the three most significant male figures in Noel’s life were tragically taken: his brother, father, and uncle. Depression enveloped him, and he soon lost his job and home as a result. He moved in with his mother who was also struggling. Noel soon ran out of money and saw no way out. Realizing his precarity, he began the search for healing and began to exercise and meditate.

Simultaneously, Noel realized that if something were to happen to his mother he would be left unemployed and homeless. Through meditation, Noel began to see himself as extraordinarily blessed. He focused on the positive and knew that radical changes would have to be made to dig himself out of this situation.

First, Noel started working with children as a counselor at a day camp and an after school program. He loved the children and came to the conclusion that he would act out of love, not for money, and his actions would lead to mutual benefit. He began to volunteer in soup kitchens, pantries, and AIDS clinics. Life was beginning to come around.

One afternoon, Noel was listening to the radio and heard a guest speaker, Kathleen McKenna. She talked about the Catholic Worker Movement and how it related to the ideologies behind Haley House. Noel’s exposure to radicalism and his roots in Catholicism combined with what he heard about Haley House, he knew he needed to talk to this woman. He began volunteering almost immediately in the kitchen and was soon offered a position managing a building of Haley House’s housing.

Noel loved the work. He loved what he was doing and the interactions and relationships he formed with people in this community. Noel was living the concept of doing what feeds you, and thus spreading happiness to others and himself. It is evident that this passion has not dissipated. He has effectively incorporated the housing with its neighborhood and has established a sense of community within the building itself. Isolation among tenants means tension. To counter this, he worked to create a familial atmosphere. Slowly, the building has become a happier place.

He is the house's handy man and beloved uncle. He is in charge of little jobs in his building such as changing light bulbs, cleaning common areas, and preparing the space for inspections. But when asked what a typical day in his shoes was like, Noel quickly answered that there was no such thing as a typical day. Each day, Noel can expect several people to knock on his door, sometimes for residential needs, but many times just to talk to someone who will listen. Noel also tends the larger organization through tending houseplants, feeding the cat, and keeping an eye on the staff vehicle. Each Monday and Thursday, Noel takes care of the recyclables. He packs up the truck with barrels of cans, bottles, jars, and cardboard and unloads it in Boston's recycling center. On Sundays Noel transports baked goods from the Haley House Bakery to a local church.

When I asked Noel what changes he would like to see happen here at Haley House, he really didn’t have many ideas. The changes he wants to see are on a much larger, political scale. His best advice would be to vote, and to all those people who see the outcome of elections as irrelevant to their lives, Noel hopes they realize that there are issues that may not affect you, but they will affect somebody.

Noel certainly had a lot to say--all of it very interesting--but when asked if he would ever devote his time to a book, he did not seem too concerned with it. He had tried to write his story once, but unable to complete it, he realized that it was not a main concern. He did not want writing to exclude his other work. No book necessary, Noel is busy enough leaving his legacy in helping others and taking care of the truck.

--Patricia Harvey