•
'I
" "i" i
1
1
1 •
i
i
II
1
"
1
1
"
i
i
"
n
"
i
ttr
1
i
0£6E-66S<i2 ON Y1IH 83
II]
'"Ei
0 K 3c
mufti ^THOLIC
****** > s"''** ,M( *** QZS il9I<I-£******* ,S
'
News & Herald ,t
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
Volume 5 Number 43
«
August
9,
1996
New Hope Center Finds Home In Yancey County By PAUL
FREDETTE
sidering the economic situation of most of their Yancey and Mitchell county cli-
Correspondent
BURNSVILLE home decor of
the
—
The down-
modest counseling
Main Street includes notices tacked to several walls that read: "Due
—
on a sliding scale a scale that times tipped into the 50 cent range.
ents, are
has
at
center on
to insufficient funds, the light at
the
A Change Of Scenery A certified
end of the tunnel has been
turned off until further notice."
The bleak humor contrasts sharply with the courageous
dictions treatment facility in
ministry that Sisters of Notre"
Center City, Minn., after experiencing the astonishing
Dame
Charlene Lamb and Sarah Fahy have recently undertaken in Yancey County. Just
incidence of drug abuse
among junior high
over two years ago, the sisters arrived in Burnsville on the proverbial shoestring and a prayer to begin a counseling and educational ministry for sub-
and process addictions. Their services
people.
include disease education, intervention and assessment. Their treatment plans
A whole network of friends is beginning
determination and good major resources they have since opened New Hope Counsel-
Water running down a mountain channel in the Joyce Kilmer National Forest on the North Carolina-Tennessee state border greets visitors and provides cool relief from the heat of the summer months.
term as president of the Chesapeake
ing Center, a licensed outpatient facility specializing in the treatment of substance
With
will
BRYAN LAMBERSON
school students in Maryland. She and Sister Sarah, who had recently finished a
Province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, decided to come to this area of North Carolina. They came in part for the beauty of its mountains, but mostly because of the needs of the rural poor, "There's an atmosphere here I find so rewarding," said Sister Sarah. "You can walk down the street and actually know
stance abusers and victims of domestic violence.
Photo by
—
skill,
—
their
on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and their fees, con-
Until recently both sisters
BRYAN LAMBERSON Staff Writer
BELMONT
— School's
still
out.
But even though it's only August, the 23 teen-agers from throughout the Diocese of Charlotte who participated in a weeklong experience of fringes learned
life
on society's
some valuable
lessons.
The 14- to 19-year-old teens devoted a week of their summer vacation July 22-26 to an inner-city service experience sponsored by the Diocesan Office of Youth Ministry and the Sisters of
Mercy
called S.P.L.U.N.G.E. (Special
People Living Uniquely Nourishing Growthful Experiences). S.P.L.U.N.G.E.
modeled after an action program developed by the University of Notre Dame. Its goal is to heighten young people's awareness of the needs of the poor, show that their help is valuable and perhaps most importantly, to put a human face on poverty. Their week of intense immersion in the sometimes not so pretty side of life
is
offered participants the opportunity
on the Christian response to hunger, poverty and those with special needs by discussing, exploring and at-
to reflect
tempting to live the challenge of the Gospel contained in Matthew 25:35: "/ was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger
and you received me
"
your homes... Starting each day in prayer and with a focus based on one of the beatitudes, participants and the eight adult team members who coordinated the week ventured out to familiarize theminto
selves with the struggles of those less fortunate than themselves. Service agencies
and institutions they
visited included
—
Experience b^w*.^^?** ^
Meals on Wheels program by delivering food to the homebound, disabled and elderly, visited the Salvation Army shelter and Gaston County Shelter for battered and abused women, and did a "block study" of a low-income neighborhood and the problems its residents face. local
Queen of
the Apostles parish in
Belmont was their home base, the place where they returned after each day's activity to process what they had experienced, share a simple communal supper, pray and sleep. Paul Kotlowski, Diocesan Director of Youth Ministry, said,
pressive.
"We
the atmosphere less opfelt at
could be left behind, such was not the case with violence.
Closer Look Reveals Deep Need While she was teaching a sociology class at the local high school, Sister Charlene remarked that there was little violence in rural communities when compared to the urban environment; she
was flatly contradicted. "The students
teens; Crisis Assistance Ministry
may simply
lence here
Expressions
in
Learning day care cen-
They also spent a morning in the Gaston County Courthouse listening to a full slate of divorce and custody cases and helped in the renovation of Catherine's House, a transitional living facility for displaced women on the grounds of the Mercy Sisters convent in Belmont. Split into small groups, the young people "shadowed" Department of Social Services case workers as they made their rounds of client visits, assisted the ter.
Sixteen-year-old Scott Vien, a pa-
See Urban, page 2
ItlCirla lllolLiC 1 If
of
,,
clear to
me
LI
"and made
it
sat
quite
that there is plenty of vio-
—
inside the
home, behind
closed doors." She and Sister Sarah are
See Center, page
1
Parish Honors
330 Years Of
Love That Lasts
Faith Alive!
News
m> 1
They soon
learned though, that while the hectic pace
right up," she said,
live.'"
home immedi-
ately," said Sister Charlene.
"One of the mottos of the S.P.L.U.N.G.E. program is 'live simply so that others
and
contributed to a
all
In Burnsville, they found the people
more open and
House of Mercy AIDS hospice; Holy Angels, a residence for developmentally disabled children; a runaway shelter for the
worked
Washington, D.C., an experience that left them weary and wary beltway traffic accidents, assaults, robberies and
random shootings
Into Inner-City Service
to call for help.
in
trol.
By
You know who
to build."
are based
Teens Plunge
addictions
counselor, Sister Charlene obtained her training at Hazelden, the renowned ad-
li
Briefs
8-9
14-15