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News & Herald
Volume 6 Number 34 • May
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
9,
1997
Parish Center Offers Temporary
Home To By JOE
Flood Refugees
TOWALSKI
AVON, Minn. (CNS)
— As flood
Red River Valley returned home to see the magnitude of the damage, an Avon Catholic church stood victims in the to their
ready to welcome families seeking short-
term
Evans, the parish's youth ministry director, who has been coordinating the relief effort.
flood victims at St.
in the reliSt.
Benedict
Church has been prepared to house one family and comes with a key to assure privacy and security. "This is a big deal when it comes to respect and dignity," said Geralyn Nathe
personally and pastorally, he said.
available.
"I also came not so much to see (what happened), but to be with whom I could be with." the bishop added. "It's not fair to talk about suffering around the world and not be with the suffering right
Accommodations
up to 70 adults and children were available and refugees were expected to stay anywhere from for
four to eight weeks.
here."
Emergency Management Agency Evans that families would likely
think
told
nun kneels
at the
Shrine of
St.
Therese
New Book Gives
Carolina Catholic Institution
a special
placed on a waiting to
challenge,
all this
who
calls the undertak-
being
God
has presented the
gift to
it."
wire reports from newspapers. writer,
now
—
erosity
The
are
list.
"Honest to God, people will come me and say, 'We need this.' And within a minute I'm not exaggerating someone will walk through the door and say, T can do that,'" Evans told the St. Cloud Visitor, newspaper of the St. Cloud Diocese. "As soon as there's a
up
gional histories, interviews, and local and
Home have
them
that those offering
records and scrapbooks, along with re-
memento
Laurice Kostreba added, "The gen-
her
1
is
so overwhelming. Just look at
was working with 1 -year-old daughter Leah sorting giving." She
and shelving have poured
to peruse while cel-
ing "a labor of love," also relied on per-
ebrating the institution's 50th anniversary in 1997. Maryfield U.S.A.:
sonal knowledge. "I arrived in High Point about six or eight months after the
and sometimes tumultuous profile of a
he says, "so I certainly have been familiar with Maryfield. The project (as a whole) was a good exercise
small jewelry box tied with a rubber band. Inside were two snowflake ear-
in historical research."
rings, a
That research took Brown back to 19th century London, where the order called Poor Servants of the Mother of
pennies.
God was
to
A Success Story, penned by a retired High Point newspaper editor, presents the rich health care facility
whose
roots lie in
19th century British soil. the
Joe Exum Brown, former editor of High Point Enterprise, volunteered
his writing services after
being contacted by Maryfield' s Poor Servants of the Mother of God in 1994. For the next two years, Brown pored over the order's
established in 1869 by a con-
A
in
donated items that
from towns throughout
St.
Mary's
homes and
stay in area shelters, hotels
mushroom necklace and two
"You could
my
It
precisely those families that
the St. Benedict's parishioners in
Avon,
about 120 miles away, wanted to help. And in that effort is a lesson for students in religious education classes.
Although the classrooms were given over to the shelter, there were no plans to put religious education on hold.
"We're moving from learning out of books to learning by doing," she said. "Nothing is on hold. Rather it's a transition of thought. We as staff have said this is an opportunity to change our
tell this
came from her
eyes."
learning."
People were beginning to realize that works of mercy, listed on the wall of one of the classrooms, are more than just a list to be memorized. Volunteers were connecting the concepts and what it means to be a Christian with the corporal
their efforts to aid flood victims.
The community has learned much itself through the act
Lewis Fisher, a
was
Leo
(classroom) learning into experiential
child from Holdingford sent a
heart," Kostreba said. "It brought tears
about
See Maryfield, page 2
piles of
central Minnesota.
sisters did,"
vert to the Catholic faith. Earlier, Frances
One-third to one-half of
parishioners were forced to leave their
Moenkedick, the pastor. His contact with parishioners has been limited mostly to those who have been volunteering, and "their spirits are pretty good," he said. But many families still faced the prospect of coming back to devastated homes.
Staff Writer
porters of Maryfield Nursing
I
that."
took only a week, with hundreds of people offering time, money and materials. So many people donated mattresses
By JIMMY ROSTAR
— Friends and sup-
behind
or with relatives, said Father
meet
HIGH POINT
is
cation center into a transitional shelter
— History of
Bishop Kinney said he was "in awe of the spirit of the people and the faith
start
Transformation of the religious edu-
ofLisieux, the Little Flower. Above, a Lisieux, France.
tation
Although no families had yet been housed as of May 2, officials from the American Red Cross and the Federal
arriving at the facility in the near future.
in
a
Shelves of toys have been collected for
screen television, sofas and recliners.
carry out your promises of spending Heaven doing good upon earth ... fall from Heaven a Shower of Roses."— a prayer to St. Therese
St.
Kinney spent
children, and cellular phones will be
with snacks available 24 hours, a large-
"...
F.
Mary of the PresenChurch, then toured the city to survey the damage and talk with residents. "I wanted to be with pastors in this area..." who have faced challenges both
Volunteers set up a community room
of letting
"We've opened our pocketbooks, our hearts and our buildings," he said. "We've said to them, 'Use us. We want to help you.'" Cloud Bishop John day recently in Breckenridge, on the Minnesota border with North Dakota, bringing a message of solidarity and hope to flood victims. He stopped at St. Mary School, which Minnesota National Guard troops have called home since arriving in the city several weeks ago to help with flood control efforts. The bishop prayed for
gious education building at
JOANN KEANE
volunteered for cooking de-
tail.
Meanwhile,
shelter.
Each of 12 classrooms
Photo by
who has
ner
St.
of giving, said
Benedict's parishio-
"Even a success," will
no one comes, this has been Evans said. "The community
if
be stronger thanks to
this."