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News & Herald Volume

Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

7

Number

15

December

12,

1997

Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards Bestowed

Mother Benignus Honored For Lifetime of Commitment By

JIMMY ROSTAR Staff Writer

BELMONT — She's been compared Mother Teresa. It's said she put the "angel" in Holy Angels. And on Nov. 22, Mother Mary Benignus Hoban was recognized for a life of service, faith and commitment at the 1997 Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards ceremony. to

During a video presentation at the in New Bern, Mother Benignus was honored as a woman with a quiet voice and a big heart. The cooLinder and president emeritus of Holy

ceremony

l

Angels,

Inc., a residential

center serv-

ing children and adults with mental re-

Mother Benignus was affectionately called a

tardation and physical handicaps,

tough administrator, a caring caregiver, and a person who through faith and perseverance has always found ways to get

Mother Benignus' personal service award carrying with it $25,000 was one of three awards bestowed at the ceremony. Receiving honors for strides in

was the Rev. Harrison T. Simons, rector of two Episcopal churches in Oxford, N.C., who has devoted himself to causes bringing about race relations

harmony. The recipient for the advocacy award is Chenay Costen of racial

Betiileliem Letter: Cliristian By JUDITH

SUDILOVSKY

ing Charlotte.

When

a young mother brought her and medical frailday care operated by the Mercy Sisters in Belmont in 1956, Mother Benignus helped lay the cornerstone for what would become an outreach to children and adults with severe mental retardation and physical handicaps. With Mercy Sister Marie Patrice Manley, director of the day care center. Mother Benignus and the Mercy Sisters took little Maria in, nursed her with the medical care that was available, and deinfant with disabilities

things done.

This statue of the Virgin Mary seems to be welcoming the wintry conditions that greeted students at the Catholic Campus Ministry Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The western North Carolina mountains received a dusting of snow, while other parts of the state battled sleet, rain or snow.

I he awards were bestowed by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in WinstonSalem, founded in 1936 in memory of tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds' youngest son. The awards were established in 1985 to memorialize the philanthropist Nancy Susan Reynolds, Smith's sister, a longtime trustee and one of the original foundation members. Up to three awards are presented each year. More than 400 people from across the state attended the ceremony. At age 20, Mother Benignus came to America in the mid- 1920s from her native County Mayo in Ireland. Airiving in North Carolina shortly thereafter, the Sister of Mercy began making a name for herself as an educator, administrator and caregiver in rural locales surround-

Sunbury, founder of several educational and social service programs in northeastem North Carolina.

l\/linority in

ties to a

See Mother Benignus, page 3

Jesus' Birttiplace

over 2 percent, added Sabella. The transformation in the population in Bethlehem has taken place over the

The strong Christian character of countries in those regions meshed with

membership

the ties the Palestinian Christians felt for

dwindle

years for three main reasons: the influx

their faith, said Sabella.

of the mostly Muslim refugees after the 1948 war; the traditionally lower Christian birthrate; and the Christian waves of emigration that began early in the century and which, Sabella said, were exac-

ate Christian Palestinians live in coun-

the population of Bethlehem, said Ber-

erbated by the

nard Sabella, Bethlehem University sociology professor and population expert.

more likely to emigrate because they were in more contact with the foreign community, which came to the Holy Land to set up Christian schools and hospitals,

mainly because they already have family members living abroad. Yearly some 20 Christian families of the 1,500 families living in Bethlehem emigrate because of the lack of economic stability here, he noted. Without the Christian community, he said, "the religious events themselves

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) When Muslim

Manger out from the mosque

worshipers

fill

Square as they spill on Friday afternoons, it is hard to imagine that at one time this was a town with a Christian majority.

A little more than 50 years ago, however. Christians

made up 90

percent of

Sabella, a Catholic, told Catholic

News

Service that today Christians account for about 35 percent of the 1 7,000 inhabitants of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. If the outlying villages are in-

cluded

in the statistics,

he said. Christians

1

948 war.

Christians have always been

Sabella said.

The

Palestinian Christians have tra-

ditionally

been white-collar workers who

tries

Many

expatri-

such as Honduras and Chile, he

Even

more apt to emiMuslim counterparts,

n i t e s dwindle significantly, the important Christian element

lose their significance."

tion.

children's future, said Sabella. Their

disappear from the Holy Land, he was concerned that some of the smaller Christian communities such as the Armenian and Assyrian churches might reach a point where their

Christians constituted

some

of the overall population

13 percent

in the

Holy

Land, while today they are just slightly

said

Chris-

commu-

grate than their

Sabella said that although Christians

connection with the foreign community acted as an incentive to seek their fortunes abroad, especially in South and Central America.

He if the

tian

have been concerned about their

the end of the last century.

ing.

said.

today, said Sabella, Christian

to

almost noth-

Palestinian families are

are only about 25 percent of the popula-

Toward

would

in general will not

i

would

CNS

be

missing the transfor-

photo by Debbie

Muslim men fill Manager Square in Bethlehem for Friday prayers.

mation process of the region from conflict

to peace,

and Christian contribution to society would be minimal. "It would be nice if we could continuously preserve the Christian dimen-

See

Letter,

page 3


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