Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 3—The Georgia Bulletin, August 7, 1980
St. Vincent de Paul: “Person to Person”
Last year at about this
time, Betty Knott was
telling a friend that she
wanted to change jobs.
Twenty-nine years
old, she had worked for
several state and city
agencies in Georgia as a
planner and consultant,
coming up with the
money and plans to
establish halfway houses
for former prisoners and
make MARTA accessible
to the handicapped. But
she was restless.
“Somebody asked me
what I wanted to do,”
Mrs. Knott recalled. “I
said, ‘I want to give food
to the hungry, shelter the
homeless, bury the
dead.’”
Her job request was
heard.
The St. Vincent de
Paul Society was looking
for someone to succeed
Joe Flanagan as
executive secretary. The
same friend called,
saying, “Well, this is your
opportunity, kid.”
A realistic person,
Mrs. Knott admits that
her courage wavered at
the threshold of an open
door. She is among the
youngest in the country
and in the first
generation of women to
hold executive posts with
the Society, which until
the late 1960s restricted
its membership to men.
“For me, it was sort
of like stepping off a
cliff,” she said. “I had a
nice, cushy job, a nice
office in Peachtree
Center, a nine to five job.
Everything had been very
structured, nice and neat.
I think I spent the first
three months here in
terror.”
If that is so, it’s
because the Society is
doing its job - trying to
aid people with problems
and doing it on a
one-to-one basis without
the ease of bureaucratic
guidelines and a time
clock. The Society,
founded in 1833 in Paris,
is dedicated to personal
service to the poor, “any
person to person
oSSiSltuiCe that piOinOttrS
human dignity.”
The regional office,
which has been operating
out of 304 Parkway
Drive in the Bedford Pine
Betty Knott, right, with Jackie DiPino
section of Atlanta, has its
doors open from nine to
five, but the Society’s
work there, and in the 25
parish groups, goes on at
any hour.
Out of the regional
office, the Society
administers a day care
center and a preschool
program in the
neighborhood, and three
thrift stores in Atlanta
neighborhoods. In
addition, the Parkway
Drive office serves as a
food and clothing
distribution place, a
drop-in point for those in
need of money, food,
clothes, and other
necessities that cannot be
handed out.
One of the most basic
services provided by the
Society’s volunteers is
talking and listening,
Mrs. Knott said.
“The people who are
involved, care,
oftentimes at great
sacrifice of themselves,”
Mrs. Knott said. “These
people have just given a
tremendous amount, not
only money, but giving
of themselves. Going out
there and spending that
time with somebody,
going out and visiting
lonely people, talking
with them, getting
personally involved.”
“It’s not easy. It
requires a special kind of
person.”
Mrs. Knott, who has
just completed her first
nine months on the job,
took over just before
Thanksgiving, a season
when the needs of the
poor are most painfully
poised against
celebration. She quickly
discovered how accurate
her job description had
been.
She has received
phone calls telling her
that the Society must
come to Grady Hospital’s
morgue and claim a
body. Society members
arrange and pay for
funerals and attend the
services.
At Christmastime, the
food pantry was empty
on the 23rd of
December. An
emergency appeal was
issued, and people
responded. In the midst,
the phone rang. A child
with a cleft palate had
been born at Grady
Hospital. A special
formula was needed to
keep the baby alive and
the family had no means
to pay for it. While Mrs.
Knott was on the phone,
a woman walked in to
donate food and asked
what was wrong. “I just
don’t know what to do,”
Mrs. Knott said, after
telling the story.
“The woman started
crying, pulled out this
wad of money and
handed it to me,” Mrs.
Knott said.
In addition to the
main office, twenty-five
parishes have Vincent de
Paul groups, who work
quietly with people in
their neighborhoods,
trying to ease financial
problems and the pain
caused by loneliness,
alcoholism, family
disputes, and old age.
There are over 200 St.
Vincent de Paul
volunteers throughout
the archdiocese. By the
very nature of its
mission, the Society can
always use more help,
and is particularly
interested in increasing
the number of young
volunteers joining its
ranks. In some of the
oldest conferences, at
Sacred Heart Church, St.
Anthony’s and the
Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception, there are
volunteers who have
worked for the Society
for decades.
Because it is more
“flexible” than many
social service agencies,
the Society finds itself in
the position of being the
last resort for many
people in need, Mrs.
Knott said.
“Oftentimes because
of eligibility criteria,
other agencies can’t
help,” she said. “We
receive a tremendous
number of referrals from
various county agencies.
We’ve even gotten
referrals from utilities.”
‘‘Our principal
limitation is financial,”
she said.
Last year, the budget
of the Society, was
approximately $250,000,
and 90 percent of the
money was spent on the
program and its
recipients. Only about 10
percent was spent on
administrative costs.
The money comes
from donations,
including an annual
parish collection, from
individuals and
foundations, and the
Society also receives a
federal grant to subsidize
its day care center. The
various parish groups also
depend on collections to
continue their work.
On a yearly basis,
10,000 to 12,000 people
come through the office
at 304 Parkway Drive.
Mrs. Knott said that this
demand is increasing at
all parish conferences
and at the main office in
recent months, as
unemployment and
inflation affect more
families.
“More and more
people are having a very
difficult time, people
who heretofore have
been able to make it,”
she said. “We don’t have
the kinds of poverty
problems they have in
South America. It’s not
on a comparable basis.
But we have very many
poor people, and
suffering people, people
who go to bed hungry.”
The workers there and
at the parish conferences
have a kind of gritty
realism about their
mission, forged of many
days when the problems
outrun resources, and the
occasional people who
are con artists.
“Sometimes we do get
overwhelmed,” Mrs.
Knott said. “We have to
step back and say, “We
can’t be all things to all
people. We can’t meet
every need and very
often we have to say,
‘No, I’m sorry, I cannot
help you.’”
“The people we do
help, we want to help
well.”
Khomeini
On Pope
BY NC NEWS SERVICE
Papal intercession for
nine Italian Salesian priests
in Iran accused of spying
received a cold reception
from Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, leader of Iran’s
Islamic revolution.
Khomeini said Pope
John Paul II should be
sending messages to
President Jimmy Carter
condemning treatment of
arrested Iranians in the
United States. The
ayatollah said the arrested
Iranians have been
tortured and mistreated.
“Why doesn’t Mr. Pope
ask any questions about
these boys and girls who,
at this moment, are
chained in prison and
under torture,” said
Ayatollah Khomeini in a
radio broadcast Aug. 3.
Khomeini was referring
to 192 Iranian
demonstrators who were
detained July 27 in
Washington after battling
with police. At the time he
spoke three of the Iranians
were hospitalized
reportedly suffering from
dehydration. The others
were in various federal
prisons awaiting
deportation proceedings.
“Our young people are
chained and handcuffed,
and some of them are
unconscious with broken
ribs,” he said.
The broadcast came
after the ayatollah met
with Melkite-Rite
Archbishop Hilarion
Capucci in the Iranian
capital of Teheran.
Archbishop Capucci
delivered a personal
message from the pope.
The contents of the
message, given to
Archbishop Capucci July
25 during an audience
with the pope at
Castelgandolfo, Italy, were
not immediately revealed.
But the pope was
believed to have written
about the Iranian
government’s decision to
expel Christian
missionaries and about the
investigation of nine
Italian Salesians on charges
of spying for Israel.
“The Catholic schools
are not true and proper «
schools but spy nests,”
said Ayatollah Khomeini
in his radio message.
St. Patrick’s Groundbreaking
BY ALICE McCABE
' Contractors bidding on the $1.3 million St. Patrick’s
Catholic Church complex, to be erected on Beaver Ruin
Road, Norcross, were expected to return their bids this
week.
A contractor was to be selected by the architects,
building committee, and Father Joseph Meehan, a
Missionary of St. Francis de Sales, pastor of St. Patrick’s.
A groundbreaking ceremony has been scheduled for
Sunday on the grounds at 6 p.m. Archbishop Thomas A.
Donnellan will be the chief celebrant and homilist at the 6
p.m. Mass. Former parishioners and those from adjoining
parishes are invited to participate.
St. Patrick’s, which has occupied the former Norcross
Methodist Church since 1968 when the Methodists moved
to Beaver Ruin Road, was originally a mission church
operating out of Holy Cross Church in Chamblee. There
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were 40 families in the church. In 1970, the mission
became a congregation, named after St. Patrick. Father
Dan McCormick was the first pastor.
In 1972, the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales staffed
the church with Father Sean Fleury as pastor.
St. Patrick’s served Lawrenceville, Snellville and
Lilbum, each of which has since grown large enough to
establish its own parish: St. Lawrence in Lawrenceville,
St. Oliver Plunkett in Snellville and St. John Neumann in
Lilbum. It is expected that many of those parishioners
and their pastors will be present at the groundbreaking.
St. Patrick’s now has 700 families, activities for youth,
men’s club, women’s guild, prayer group, Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine classes for children, adult education
classes, St. Vincent de Paul Society to help the poor,
social chairmen, music director and liturgical committees.
Anne Parker, who is heading the groundbreaking
committee, said details of the program were being handled
by a group including Mary Ellen Vaden, programs; Bob
Geipel, grounds clearing; Peggy Mohr, music; Tootsie
Gammons, refreshments; and Alice McCabe, publicity.
Scouter Program
Announced
The Catholic Committee on Scouting
announces its Scouter Development Program,
September 6, to be held at the Catholic Center,
680 W. Peachtree Street, Atlanta.
The Catholic Scouter Development Program is
an educational experience for adults to help them
reflect God in the Scouting program. Its purpose
is to train dedicated Christian laymen and
laywomen who understand the basic philosophy
of Scouting and its religious, vocational and
educational aspects. This course, developed by
the National Catholic Committee on Scouting,
motivates and trains scout leaders for their
ministry with youth. The full day course will
feature presentations by lay leaders and clergy in
spiritual formation.
Participation in the September 6th course will
help the Christian leader to a better
understanding of Scouting as ministry for our
youth.
Invited are all adults working with Scouts. The
course will be held in the conference room of the
Catholic Center from 9:00 A.M. till 5:00 P.M.
For further information, call Father John
Kieran. Chaplain: 478-0178; Fred Sidler:
996-6939; or Bill Dailey: 253-5225 (O) or
253-4779 (H).
St. Vincent’s Needs:
The St. Vincent de Paul Society must have a new
home and a new van by September.
Betty Knott, executive secretary, was notified
this month that the Society will have to vacate its
offices at 304 Parkway Drive in the Bedford Pine
section of Atlanta to make way for a housing
complex, part of a redevelopment plan for the area.
The property, which is owned by the Atlanta
Housing Authority, is being sold to a developer and
the Society must move by Sept. 1.
As a result, the Society is in urgent need of a
building to rent.
The site being used provided the Society with
25,000 sq. ft. of space at a nominal rent of $50 a
month.
The Society is looking for a new site that will be
in a low-income neighborhood, accessible to a major
transportation line. Other than that, Mrs. Knott said
the staff is “very adaptable.” A new site would not
have to have the same amount of space as the site
on Parkway Drive.
In addition, preschool children in the Society’s
program need a lift from the community if they’re
to get to school this fall.
A Chevrolet van with seats in back, used to
transport children to and from the preschool
program, has been stolen. The Society has an
insurance payment of $1,500, but it may not be
enough to buy a new van.
Mrs. Knott, said the van was stolen in June, but a
30-day waiting period had to elapse before the
insurance company was satisfied that the van would
not be found. “We’re going to be in a crunch
because our school year starts at the “same time as
the Atlanta school system,” she said.
An unadorned van with seats in back is the type
needed. Anyone interested in assisting the Society
may contact the office at 523-1541.
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Confirmation Updated
INDIANAPOLIS (NC) - A new policy for the
sacrament of confirmation in the Indianapolis
Archdiocese provides for its administration to persons
between 13 and 18 instead of to children in the fourth,
fifth and sixth grades.
Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara of Indianapolis
announced the new policy in a letter to the people of the
archdiocese.
Under it each parish or cluster of parishes will at
regular intervals invite all unconfirmed persons from 13 to
18 to participate in a program of preparation for
confirmation.
The program will include 20 hours of catechetical
instruction, a minimum of* 30 hours of service, a retreat
experience and a communal celebration of the sacrament
of reconciliation. Godparents are also to receive four
hours of instruction.
The new policy will be implemented gradually,
although the age limits are to be strictly observed.
Confirmations will begin next spring and plans call for all
provisions to be implemented by the fall of 1982.
The new policy is the culmination of a three-year
effort by an archdiocesan task force appointed by former
Archbishop George J. Biskup. Confirmation has been
suspended in the archdiocese since June 1978 pending the
approval of a new policy.
The principal aim of the new policy is to “help parishes
reflect on and further develop the ways in which they
initiate all people into full participation in the Christian
life,” said Father Stephen Jarrell, director of the
archdiocesan Office of Worship. “Confirmation should be
experienced as part of Christian initiation begun in
baptism, which immerses us into the life of the church.”
Father Jeffrey Godecker of the religious education
division of the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education
said the nationwide trend toward confirmation at a later
age allows for “a more thoughtful and more thorough
formation process.”
He said the new provisions, such as the requirement
that the candidate for confirmation give some form of
service in the parish or in the larger community, “reflect
exactly what it means to be a full member of the Catholic
community.”
BENEATH THE HIGHWAY - Homeless
Cuban refugees make themselves at home under
Interstate 95 after moving into a new tent city
from Miami’s Orange Bowl. About 600 refugees
were forced to vacate the stadium to make way
for the Miami Dolphins football season. Twelve
Miami firms have filed suit against the facility
saying it will strain security, sanitation and street
traffic in the Cuban section of downtown Miami.
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