Sometimes God Has a Kid’s face is a heart rending memoir of America’s sexual exploited street kids and ones mans fight
to put an end to it. Late October 1966 Bruce Ritter a Roman Catholic Priest finds himself giving a sermon about how college kids need to be more involved in the church and their community After the sermon one college kid tells him he should practice what he preaches. Bruce thinks about what that kid said and sets out to find what later becomes known as the covenant house.
Bruce Ritter moves from the comforts of the Manhattan College campus to the slums of the Lower East side in order to help homeless youth. He’s not sure how to begin or what to do and most of the druggies and homeless kids avoid him thinking he is a nark (undercover narcotics officer). Then one frigid night in February 1969 six kids show up. Four boys two girls each one half frozen and requested a place to stay. He granted them salvation and let them in the next day one of the boys brings in four more kids in each in a similar state.
He transformed the apartment into a short term place for street kids to stay. He calls the child welfare agency as well as many other government agencies to see if they could help. He is told what he’s doing might be noble but its illegal and the only way the government can help is if the kids are arrested. And he was not willing to do that. Bruce then getst some old bunk beds for the kids to sleep on. The word gets out and more and more homeless kids keep coming. Bruce expands his covenant to Time Square and an area that runs parallel to time square known as the Minnesota Strip. A 15 block strip that runs along 8th ave that is notorious for prostitution and child exportation.
Bruce sets out to save runaways prostitutes and exploited children from a a almost sertain demisefull life on the street by providing safe haven for homeless and runaway teens and young adults. Doing this leads him into confrontations with pimps pushers runners druggies and muggers. Despite being threatened mugged and beaten he continues providing a safe haven and the convent house grew.
A great writer (Dr sues) once said: Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. Bruce Ritter was that someone who cared a whole awful lot and set out to change things. His memoir Sometimes God Has a Kid’s face is a heart rending untold story of New York City and his relentless fight against child prostitution pornography and exportation. . You will travel from the slums of the lower East Side to the eroticness of Time Square and the Minnesota strip to several places around the world. You will meet many kids each with their own story to tell. You will learn about one man couragess fight against evil and his willingness to help the desperate offspring that society has abandoned. You will learn about the founding of the covenant house.