They take faith to street

A Wake County couple give up middle-class comfort for a fuller spiritual life on the margins

When Scott Bass and Roberta Mothershead met at a Quaker meetinghouse 14 years ago, they were both disillusioned with institutional religion and badly in need of a break from church. They could hardly have imagined the huge role faith would take in their lives over the next decade.

A traditional couple -- he worked as a marriage and family therapist, she as a veterinarian -- they bought a house in Zebulon after marrying in 1995, and began the most ordinary of suburban, middle-class lives.

Fast forward to the present, Bass and Mothershead have not only returned to church, they have embraced one of the most institutional establishments: The Roman Catholic Church. But far from returning to convention, they have subverted it. The couple have sold their Zebulon home and quit their jobs.

They now make their way by, well, begging.

Bass and Mothershead have become modern-day lay monastics. They share their living quarters, Nazareth House on Poole Road in Southeast Raleigh, with homeless people and the families of death-row inmates and murder victims.

For these native North Carolinians -- he is 46, she is 44 -- the American dream was not worth living.

"It was like being on a hamster wheel, running faster and harder and feeling less satisfied," said Mothershead.

Their spiritual search led them to a simpler life in the presence of people Jesus might have associated with -- the outcasts, the marginalized, the downtrodden.

These days, they don't shop for food. They trade food supplies with other homes of hospitality similar to theirs and make weekly stops at the Raleigh Rescue Mission for surplus supplies. They dropped their health insurance because they want to live in solidarity with the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have any. They shop for secondhand clothes at thrift stores and are not ashamed to accept anything free.

"It's one thing to serve people from a position of power and security," said Bass. "It's another to stand in other people's shoes."

Bass and Mothershead have dedicated themselves to a life of "precarity," a condition of existence that makes them vulnerable to the insecurity and unpredictability of life's blows. They have resolved to trust in God rather than hedging their bets by building a nest egg.

"It's a pretty big leap not many people take," said Dr. Jim Hartye, a Raleigh doctor who treats homeless people and refers patients to Bass and Mothershead. "Most of us want to have our cake and eat it too."

Last Sunday, Bass and Mothershead set out from Raleigh on a 300-mile walk to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., to protest the death penalty, an issue the couple feel passionate about. Their walk in the company of 18 others will take them through several Virginia county courthouses and prisons where they hope to meet with affected families and community leaders.

The couple say they are guided by an African proverb: "When you pray, move your feet."

Each morning they begin the day at their Poole Road home with communal prayers, which are open to all their guests. Bass and Mothershead also attend Mass at least five days a week.

Marrying prayer and action -- such as the Washington pilgrimage -- has been the couple's guiding principle.

To live more abundantly

A combination of forces led Mothershead to begin a more intense spiritual quest several years into her marriage with Bass. She wanted to set a better example for her sons, Christian, now 23, and Grant, now 20. And she found her veterinary practice increasingly demanding. When she injured her knee, she began to see the incident as symbolic of her harried existence.