Newspaper Page Text
The
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 23 No. 21
Thursday, May 23, 1985
$10.00 Per Year
FAMILY SUPPORT - Barbara Eckel, left, with
her daughter. Chrissie, who is a sophomore at
Emory University. Bom profoundly deaf,
Emory Coed Sha
BY RITA McINERNEY
Chrissie Eckel is an outgoing young woman who sees
herself as part of two different worlds, the world of the
hearing and the world of the deaf. “I’m lucky I can share
with both worlds.”
Luck has had very little to do with the fact that
Chrissie, who will be 21 next month, has just completed
her sophomore year at Emory where she is majoring in
biology and maintains a B average. Her struggle to
overcome the handicap of silence is a day-to-day one. The
Marietta coed has been profoundly deaf since her birth.
Her mother, Barbara Eckel, elected not to have an
abortion after contracting German measles in her third
month of pregnancy with Chrissie in 1963. Because of the
danger of the rubella strain of measles to the unborn,
abortions were permitted women exposed to them if two
doctors consented. The Eckels did not go for the
Chrissie, with the support of her family and
teachers, moves “between two worlds” of the
hearing and the hearing-impaired.
res Two Worlds
abortion. The couple, natives of Jamaica, were living in
New York City at the time. They now live in Marietta
where they are parishioners at St. Ann’s Church.
When Chrissie was born the doctors gave her a clean bill
of health. It was not until months later that Barbara and
Winston Eckel realized that their baby girl was not
responding to sounds.
After three months of testing, a medical team at St.
Luke’s Hospital Center in New York diagnosed Chris as
moderately deaf, a short time later revising the hearing
loss to profound. Then the Eckels began the awesome task
of motivating their daughter. Through auditory
stimulation and training they were determined that Chris
would learn to use her 10 percent residual hearing to
develop speech.
Though saddened by the handicap their daughter had
(Continued on page 7)
Georgia Bulletin Wins Two Awards
A feature story on Ann Connor’s ministry to street
people in Atlanta and a news story on a new abortion
method injecting the drug, digoxin, into the heart of
thie infant in the womb, have been recognized by the
national Catholic Press Association as award-winning
articles by Georgia Bulletin staff.
The 1985 awards were announced May 17 in
Orlando, Fid., at the conclusion of the Catholic Press
Association’s annual convention. One hundred and one
Catholic newspapers from throughout the U.S. and
Canada entered articles and photographs in the
competition, which was judged by members of a
21-judge team.
Writer Thea Jarvis and tne Georgia Bulletin received
a third-place award for “best human interest feature
story” for an article, “Ann Connor’s Ministry Is To
Those Who Must Walk.”
The story, which appeared in the June 7, 1984 issue
of the Georgia Bulletin, featured a volunteer at
Atlanta’s Open Door community, Ann Connor, who
bathes and cares for the injured feet of the city’s street
people. The competition judges said the story about
this “unique ministry” was “original in its approach
and deceptive in its simplicity.” Reading the story,
“you actually feel your own feet being soothed,” said
one judge. The judges also praised the photographs
which focused upon the “subject of the humble
heroine’s care. ”
First place in this category was won by the Texas
Catholic Herald of Houston, second place by The
Beacon of Paterson, N.J., and third-place tie was
(Continued on page 13)
Priestly Ordination
For Peter Rau June 1
BY GRETCHEN REISER
When Rev. Mr. Peter
Rau is ordained a priest
June 1 at the Cathedral of
Christ the King he will
really be coming home.
While he was bom in
Long Island, New York,
the 27-year-old
priest-candidate grew up in
Decatur, attended St.
Thomas More elementary
school, Decatur High
School and graduated
from Georgia State
University. He was
encouraged to consider the
priesthood and inspired by
some of the priests he
grew up around at St.
Thomas More.
“I’m very anxious to get
started,” he said recently
in a telephone interview
from St. Vincent de Paul
Seminary in Boynton
Beach, Florida. Classes
have ended and it is
ordination time for many.
This year Rev. Mr. Rau is
the only one to be
ordained for the
archdiocese of Atlanta
from the United States.
One candidate, Rev. Mr.
Patrick Donaghey of
Derry, will be ordained in
Ireland June 29 for the
archdiocese and come to
the United States shortly
afterward.
The son of Mr. and Mrs.
Juli, an Rau, the
priest-candidate is the
oldest child of four in the
family and the only boy.
Anne Rau, his mother,
said she and her husband
were surprised when their
son announced his desire
to become a priest shortly
after graduation from
college, but that at least
one of his sisters, Carol,
was not. Only 17 months
apart in age, he and his
sister “are very close,”
Mrs. Rau said.
Rev. Mr. Rau said that,
like all at St. Thomas More
School, and many others
in the archdiocese, he had
been encouraged to
consider the priesthood by
the late Monsignor P.J.
O’Connor, the St. Thomas
More pastor whose
vocations work in Ireland
and the U.S. was
legendary. But, he said, his
inspiration came later,
when he was in high
school, from the example
of Father Liam Tuffy,
who was then assigned to
St. Thomas More before
entering missionary work
in Latin America with the
St. James Society. “He
was the one who made the
Church really alive for me
and gave me a sense of
enthusiasm,” said Rev. Mr.
Rau. Even so, he recalled,
the life of a priest seemed
“crazy when I was in
college.” He went on to
Georgia State, studying for
his bachelor’s in business
administration, which he
received in 1980. But he
also joined a small
Rev. Mr. Peter Rau
ecumenical Bible study
and prayer group at
Georgia State, which was
important to his growing
faith, he said. Working his
way through college he
also could “experience
God alive in the world”
and see the great hunger
for God among people.
“I could see how much
need there was to bring
Christ alive for others,” he
recalled. “That was my
first initiative.” Family life
was also important, he
said. “My family was very
encouraging and
supportive. ”
During his junior and
senior years in college the
desire crystallized and he
made the decision just
before graduation from
college to “give it a try” in
seminary. Approaching the
archdiocese, he was sent to
St. John Vianney
Seminary in Miami for one
year of pre-theology study
in philosophy. He then
went to St. Vincent de
Paul Seminary for four
years of theology study,
receiving his master’s
(Continued on page 7)