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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1987)
PAGE 13 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 26, 1987 Advocate For Homeless Insists They Are Families And Not "Bums” BY PEGGY ZEZZA PITTSBURGH (NC) — “Why does homelessness exist in the richest nation in the world?” asked Michael Stoops, ad vocate for the homeless, in an address to over 3,500 youth at the 19th biennial National Catholic Youth Conference. Stoops, who now works with the homeless in Portland, Ore., made his remarks Nov. 13 at the four-day conference held at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pitts burgh. Theme of the meeting was “Love is our shelter — together we build.” According to Stoops, who has worked with the homeless for 15 years, there are 100 million unsheltered people in the world. Of that number, 3 million make their homes on the streets in this country. Who are these 3 million Americans living in the streets? According to Stoops, they are not “bums, but families. They include displaced workers, the elderly and bankrupt farmers who love their land and lost it.” These people are now sleeping on steam grates, on sidewalks, in boxcars and under bridges. They are suffer ing from malnutrition and inadequate health, he said. Stoops himself lived among the homeless in the streets of Washington, D.C., last winter while lobbying Congress. Like the unsheltered, he too was subject to harsh weather, crime and rats Stoops’ efforts, along with those of other advocates for the homeless, were successful. As he told the teens “Congress passed a $1 million bill to provide aid to the homeless for the next four years.” Stoops has been continuing his efforts for the homeless in his hometown of Portland. There he lives in a skid row hotel while serving the poor and unsheltered. Stoops asked the youth representatives why the “U.S. gives $1 million in aid to the contras to kill their own people and we do not even feed the homeless people of our own country.” To that the teens responded with loud applause. The contras are Nicaraguans involved in civil war against the Sandinista government. Stoops asked the youth to pray for “our brothers and sisters who are still out there in the streets.” He said the cause will continue and the dreams of the homeless will never die. Founder Of Emmaus House Movement Sees Result Of Project For Homeless BY TRACY EARLY NEW YORK (NC) - A French priest who started an international movement for the homeless that em phasizes the poor helping tl^ir fellow poor saw the result of one of his efforts during a visit to New York this fall. Father Henri Antoine Groues, founder of the in ternational Emmaus move ment, began his movement in 1949 when a homeless man asked for help, and the priest turned the tables by asking the man to help him build a community where people would support themselves by their own work and also help others more needy than them selves. He set the poor to work as NHR NICK HOMK REPAIR Plastor. stucco Painting Ramodalmg A Room Additions NICK Rock General Contractor Brick 18 yrs experience Block* BEEPER HOME T "*‘ 360-99 SO 934-6624 ragpickers and house builders. The ragpickers would find reusable items in the trash and earn money to buy materials for the men constructing homes for the homeless. He last visited New York when Father David Kirk of East Harlem was trying to buy a small hotel, then a house of prostitution, for an Emmaus House. After the French priest went back home, Father Kirk said, money started arriving from European groups which would give $2,000 each from money they had earned. The movement, taking its name from the Gospel ac count of disciples finding their despair turned into renewed hope through an encounter with the risen Christ, now has about 250 groups in 30 countries. The French priest, known to everyone by the name of Abbe Pierre he got as a member of the Resistance in World War II, said in an interview at Emmaus House in New York, one of six North American mem bers of the Emmaus move ment, that although the suf fering of Harlem was doubt less less than that of a city such as Calcutta, India, where Mother Teresa works, it was also less ex cusable in the United States because of this country’s resources. He did not advocate more welfare assistance, how ever. “You should provide people with jobs,” he said. Father Kirk said he join ed the Emmaus movement in 1969 but did not really begin to operate according to its philosophy until Abbe Pierre sent him a ticket to come for a visit in 1978. “Being with Abbe Pierre changed my direction,” he said Jones Appliance Service Vacuum Cleaner Sales & Service 31 Years Experience 208 Pharr Rd., N.E. Atlanta, Ga. 237-5783 COMPANIONS Aide-$6.00/hr or $53/day live-in Car • References Bonded Lucas Medical Care 349-4030 We Appreciate Your Business And Stand Behind What We Sell: Clean Used Cars. We Buy, Sell or Trade. Financing, Available. All Vehicles Sold For More Than $1,000 Are Guaranteed In Writing. 2468 S. Cobb Or., Smyrna. 100 Yards South 01 Charokaa St. Sacred Heart Prepare for Christmas In preparation for Christmas, a Holy Hour will be held on the three Saturdays prior to the Christmas holidays—December 5,12 and 19 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Confessors will be available for those wishing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Mr. William Krape, Director of Music, will be at the organ. Vigil Mass will be at 5:30 p.m. The Doumtoum Catholic Church Peachtree at Peachtree Center Ave. Bishops Support Poverty Program BY LIZ SCHEVTCHUK WASHINGTON (NC) — Bishops strongly support their Campaign for Human Development despite observations by some that the anti-poverty program should be more “Catholic,” results of a survey reveal. The survey of bishops’ attitudes toward the 17-year- old program — commonly known as CHD — was for mally presented Nov. 17 at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops-U.S. Catholic Conference general meeting in Washington. The USCC is the public policy twin of the NCCB. All 386 U.S. bishops were queried as part of an over sight process evaluating CHD’s nearly two decades of social justice work. The campaign funds groups of poor people, helping them gain political and economic power and thus overcome poverty. It also provides educational pro grams to help other Americans understand and fight poverty. Survey results show that “there is strong agree ment that the campaign serves the poor” and in tegrates Catholic faith with American political tradi tions, Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston- Houston, Texas, told his fellow bishops. The bishop, who chairs the oversight committee, based his remarks on background information on the campaign provided the bishops for the meeting. Despite general satisfaction with the campaign, some bishops expressed a few concerns as well, Bishop Fiorenza noted. “Some want a greater Catholic identity,” both in the grant projects and “in the campaign as a whole,” he said The survey results noted that some bishops — members of the 31 percent who recommended revi sions or modifications in the campaign — thought that “the focus of our funding should be on our own (Catholics).” Senior Citizens LOW COST LIFE INSURANCE PREFERRED RISK Your Age M 00,000 MONTHLY RATES 250,000 500,000 • Policy immediately in full force. No “waiting period.” • We also specialize insuring individuals with history of heart disease, cancer, diabetes & other disorders. „ . Coll or Writ* I LYNWOOD GRADY & ASSOCIATES 296-0938 5405 Memorial Dr. #B-6, Stone Mountain, Ga. 30083 . Jhrs raayS/f Catlwd.iaC cl Cfmst tfie&ms 2699 Peachtree Road, N.E. Atlanta, Georgia 30305 233-2145 Eucharistic Liturgies: Saturday: 8:00 A.M. & 5:30 P.M. Vigil. Sunday: 7:30A.M.,9:00A.M., 10:30A.M. (Choir), 12:00 P.M., 1:30 P.M. (Spanish) & 5:30 P.M. (Modern Liturgical Music). Weekdays: 6:45 A.M., 8:00 A.M. & 12:10 P.M. Sacrament of Penance: Saturday: 4-5 P.M. or by appointment. Upcoming Special Event: Advent Anointing of the Sick: Sunday, Dec. 6 at the 10:30 A.M. Liturgy.
