Newspaper Page Text
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 28 No. 33
Thursday, September 27, 1990
$15.00 Per Year
Central Shelter Extending
Nights, Needs Volunteers
BY PAULA DAY
Autumn arrived this past
weekend and gradually
Atlanta’s hot summer is
giving way to a cooler
season.
For some, the seasonal
change means the ritual of
putting summer clothes
away and getting out
sweaters and jackets. For
those who manage the
city’s winter shelters for
the homeless, the change
means gearing up for
another season, preparing
facilities, soliciting volun
teers.
Mark Bashor, director of
the men’s shelter at Cen
tral Presbyterian Church in
downtown Atlanta, is
planning for the shelter’s
11th year, and its first full
season after major renova
tions and improvements.
This winter the shelter
will add 30 nights to its
schedule, opening Nov. 1,
instead of Nov. 15, and
closing April 15, instead
of March 31. To staff
those extra nights the
shelter needs what money
can’t buy, volunteers to
provide food and to give
of their time.
Last year 17 Catholic
parishes in the archdiocese
helped with this need.
Bashor and his wife, Katie,
who coordinates volun
teers, are hoping for more
from the Catholic commu
nity for the coming shelter
season.
“The Catholic commu
nity has been incredibly
supportive of Central in
the past,” Mrs. Bashor
said. “When St. Anthony
closed its shelter many
parishes that had supported
it came to support Cen
tral.”
“In lieu of a Catholic-
sponsored shelter, Central
Presbyterian offers the
Catholic community an
ecumenical opportunity to
minister to a segment of
the Atlanta population that
is in desperate need of
help,” she pointed out. >.
“It’s a life-changing |
experience for us and our g
guests,” Bashor said, “but |
it is especially so for the
volunteers. I always come
away feeling we need the
homeless more than the
homeless need us.”
(Continued on page 13)
UNFETTERED - Toddler Anna heads straight for her toy box once
free of tubes that connect her to intravenous food and medicine. This
release lasts a short four hours out of every 24 for the Norcross child
whose family is helped by St. Vincent de Paul Society.
ODEPT TEE SVDP Helps Anna's Parents Cope
U1 JjUI JJll Jj BY RITA McINERNEY “Doctors have found out how to keep short-gut bat
Bishop James P. Lyke, OFM, has selected the
solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi, Thursday, OcL 4,
to celebrate the Respect Life Mass at 5:30 p.m. at
the Cathedral of Christ the King. Priests of the
archdiocese are invited to mark the start of Respect
Life month with him.
The same day, his first pastoral letter for the
archdiocese, Precious Lord, Precious Life will be
issued in The Georgia Bulletin in both English and
Spanish.
Bishop Lyke has chosen Oct. 4 to celebrate in the
spirit of the Assisi saint’s great respect for all of
God’s creation.
New Assignments
Most Reverend James P. Lyke, OFM, apostolic admin
istrator of Atlanta, announces the following assignments:
Father Anselm Deehr, ST, who has most recently been
pursuing studies for the priesthood at John XXIII Semi
nary in Boston, and at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales
Comers, Wis., and was ordained to the priesthood Sept. 8,
1990, as administrator of Saint Anthony’s Church in
Atlanta, effective OcL 1, 1990.
Deacon Alfred Mitchell, presently serving at the parish
of Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur, as director of the
Archdiocesan Permanent Diaconate Formation Program for
a period of one year, effective OcL 4, 1990.
BY RITA McINERNEY
When Sheila Bissonnette’s telephone rings it is usually
one of the 800 north Georgia members of the St. Vincent
de Paul Society with information or queries. But about
once a year, she recalls, someone phones with a story that
will stay with her for the rest of her life.
“That’s what happened the day Patricia Whited called,”
she says.
The young woman said that she needed help. The
family was having some financial difficulties. More
importantly, she needed someone to talk to.
“She had been referred to us by her parents’ pastor in
Alabama,” the executive director of the St. Vincent de
Paul Society says. This was about six months ago.
Ms. Bissonnette made an appointment to visit her the
next morning. Following the rales of the society, she was
accompanied by another member. As they entered the trim
colonial two-story in Norcross their attention was captured
by the baby girl playing on the floor.
This was her introduction to Anna, now a 16-month-old
toddler with blonde hair and gifted with the busting
friendliness of well-loved babies.
But there are faint circles under Anna’s big blue eyes,
a tube to her nose, tubes and a catheter attached to her
little body. Eighteen hours a day she is connected by these
tubes to three infusion pumps that provide the nourishment
and medication she must have to live.
Anna was bom with a rare condition doctors call short-
gut secondary to mid-gut atresia. This means she doesn’t
have the intestines necessary to the digestive functions of
the human body. Surgery shortly after her birth could not
correct the condition.
“Doctors have found out how to keep short-gut babies
alive, but don’t know how to fix it,” her mother Patricia
says. “They can’t repair the intestines. They can keep her
alive with fluids.”
Her constant daily care is given by her mother and her
father Earl. Anna takes six medications four times a day.
The tubes which drip formula and medicines into her must
be cleaned, stoma and catheter output monitored.
“We’re together like Siamese twins,” the young mother
says. After work, Earl Whited shares the responsibility for
Anna’s care. “Pat hasn’t seen anything but the inside of
this house for 16 months,” he comments.
They are skilled in cleaning the tube, draining the
stoma. As their familiar hands touch her, Anna is as
relaxed and playful as a baby having a diaper change.
Their care is meticulous. Doctors have impressed them
well with the need for following a time schedule and
being exact with every procedure.
A nurse comes in biweekly to take blood samples.
(Continued on page 9)
SVDP Collection Oct. 6-7
Catholics are urged to show generous support as
the once-yearly second collection for the St. Vincent
de Paul Society is held Oct. 6 and 7 in parishes of
the archdiocese of Atlanta. To insure that the volun
teer society will be able to continue to serve those
in need, a goal of $115,000 is being sought, accord
ing to Sheila Bissonnette, executive director.