Paul Wilkes is a journalist, writer, and documentarian who has written extensively about the human condition, individual spirituality, as well as the role of religion in public and personal lives.
It was the basis for Wilkes’ television series, “Six American Families,” which won a DuPont Columbia award in 1976 for documentary excellence.
His book, “In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish Priest,” which began as a New Yorker profile, won a Christopher Award in 1990.
After he was inspired by the Catholic Worker and met its founder, Dorothy Day, he saw the needs of the poor and underserved close at hand, as they lived just a few blocks away in otherwise fashionable Park Slope in Brooklyn.
In 1971 he gave up his material possessions and co-founded a social service center named CHIPS, Christian Help in Park Slope, which continues to this day, serving food to the poor and providing a home and support for homeless mothers.