Newspaper Page Text
The
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 21 No. 16
Thursday, April 21, 1983
$10.00 Per Year
Job Banks:
"People Find Out They're Not In It Alone"
BY THEA JARVIS
Despite the apparent
upturn of an economy
that has long lingered on
the fringes of failure, the
gray spectre of
joblessness continues to
shadow many an
American family.
While the government
frequently demoralizing
experience. Ask any one
who shows up at parish
job clubs, banks and
networks now dotting
the Archdiocese of
Atlanta, and you will
find that fact borne out
in spades.
Such groups have
“Such groups have sprung up over the
past couple of years in church communities
as an answer to the scourge of joblessness
sweeping the country. They have grown
from an awareness that the need is great and
something can indeed be done within the
confines of small group dynamics.” .
plays politics with jobs
bills, unions scramble to
fight employment
cutbacks, and major
corporations reorganize
in an effort to please
disgruntled stockholders,
the day to day distress of
the man and woman out
of work remains a hard
reality.
Loss of work is a
lonely, frustrating,
sprung up over the past
couple of years in church
communities as an
answer to the scourge of
joblessness sweeping the
country. They have
grown from an awareness
that the need is great and
something can indeed be
done within the confines
of small group dynamics.
The results, thus far,
have been gratifying. In
four job-focused
organizations surveyed,
the thread of success has
been real, though
motivation for
continuing the job
dialogue has been based
on a sense of outreach
rather than immediate,
overwhelming results.
Job clubs are open to
the larger community,
though initial
participation has been
drawn from internal
parish membership. The
innerspring of each local
group is a core of
dedicated parish
volunteers. Guest
speakers are frequently
brought in to share their
expertise, but many
times they are also
parishioners with related
interests.
All four job clubs
studied are reaching out
a hand of support to
show that somebody
cares, somebody will
listen, somebody will try
to help.
The big daddy of the
archdiocesan efforts is
the job club at St. Jude’s
Church in Sandy Springs.
Though the area might
be considered an affluent
northside neighborhood,
the problem of
unemployment was
running high when the
group was founded some
crisis he finds in the
Sandy Springs area.
Knocke, a member of
the team that
coordinates the effort
and a founder of the
group, sees mostly
white-collar unemployed
coming through the
archdiocese. Despite the
numbers, an emphasis on
training and skill
development makes for
an effective, supportive
environment.
“We try to equip
(participants) with skills
so they can go out and
A NEWLY FORMED
SUPPORT GROUP for the
unemployed meets each Saturday
morning at Holy Cross Church in
Atlanta. It is one of several such
programs now underway in the
archdiocese to assist those who
have been caught in a job crisis.
two years ago.
“Most positions are
being displaced by
technology,” parishioner
Jim Knocke said of the
doors of St. Jude’s.
Job sessions are held
weekly and draw 60-70
people, the largest
grouping in the
find the jobs them
selves,” Knocke
explained, noting that
such an approach seems
(Continued on page 7)
t
HEARTLESS? - If you were, you ended up in
the “jail” at the flea market Saturday to benefit
St. Thomas More School in Decatur. Junior-high
teacher Sister Margaret Thomasine demonstrates
the plight of those who failed to put a bright red
heart sticker on their lapel. She is guarded by
Jeanne Pick, a parent. The flea market included
the usual collection of bargains, plus food,
doggers, yarn spinners, and rides in the WSB
“skycopter.” (Photo by George Govignon)
Holy Year
BY GRETCHEN REISER
A year “of hope, of
joy,” which began for the
universal Church on March
25, 19 83, officially
opened in the Atlanta
archdiocese April 14 in a
Mass at the Cathedral of
Christ the King.
Openness to the Holy
Year of redemption and its
possibilities for renewal in
individual hearts and in
the life of the whole
church means openness to
a deep change, said
Archbishop Thomas A.
Donnellan.
“Since all are sinners, all
need that radical change of
spirit the Bible calls
conversion,” the
archbishop said in his
homily. He invited people
to that conversion,
particularly through
renewed use and fuller use
of the sacrament of
penance or reconciliation;
through prayer and
through devotion to Mary,
the Lord’s mother, as
urged by Pope John Paul
II.
The pope has declared a
year of jubilee marking the
1950th anniversary of the
traditional date marking
the death and resurrection
of Christ. Beginning on the
Feast of the Annunciation
and continuing until
Easter of 1984, the year
focuses on Christ’s
redemption. In his opening
ceremony in Rome, the
pope reminded the world
of sin and of “the work of
destruction that threatens
humanity today.” He also
balanced that warning by
calling people to God’s
mercy and love and Jesus’
act of redemption in His
death and resurrection.
Archbishop Donnellan
noted that the church in
recent years has grown in
its awareness of the Holy
Spirit at work, citing the
charismatic renewal as a
sign of that growing
awareness. A primary way
the Holy Spirit works to
inform and guide the
church is through the
pope, the archbishop said.
When Pope John Paul II
calls Catholics to a
renewed awareness and use
of the sacrament of
penance, it is “on the
inspiration of the Holy
Spirit,” Archbishop
Donnellan said.
The sacrament is needed
“to keep us in the love and
friendship of the
redeeming Christ,” he said.
Breaking with tradition,
which in the past focused
Holy Year activities in
Rome, the pope has called
upon local dioceses to
hold special Holy Year
observances and has made
the special grace of the
year and participation in it
available to all, including
those prevented from
more public roles, such as
prisoners and the sick
confined at home or in the
hospital.