Episode 14: Rev. Hubert Schwartzentruber, Revolutionary Mennonite & Community Organizer Informal History Podcast

Hosts Stefene Russell and Liz Wolfson visit in this special episode with Rev. Hubert Schwartzentruber and Mary Rittenhouse Schwartzentruber. Rev. Schwartzentruber was one of the three co-founders of the community organization JeffVanderLou Inc, which sought to retake the neighborhood from the clutches of blight and work through grassroots efforts and rehabilitation, block by block. Schwarztentruber shares his story of moving to St. Louis in the late 1950s from a rural upbringing in Zurich, Ontario, and starting a Mennonite Mission in the midst of Pruitt Igoe. Topics include Schwartzentruber's embrace of a social justice ministry not simply in St. Louis but across his career which would take him from St. Louis to Germantown PA, where he oversaw a shocking schism which pitted a diverse, LGBTQ friendly congregation versus a socially conservative Mennonite Church. Integral however in the development of Schwartzentruber's impassionned embrace for social justice issues was his work in St. Louis, which stretched from 1957 to 1972 and involved his participation not simply in mission building but community building with the help of legendary neighborhood organizers like Florence Aritha Spotts and Macler Shepard, co-founders with Schwartzentruber of the JeffVanderLou community organization. Guiding the conversation between Stef, Liz and the Schwartzentrubers is a memoir published by Rev. Schwartzentruber, "Jesus in Back Alleys," which is available for purchase from amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Back-Alleys-Hubert-Schwartzentruber/dp/1931038074