Newspaper Page Text
‘Baptist Convention leads more
than 25,000 in Birmingham march
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Mayor Richard Arrington Jr.
has joined national and local lead
ership ofthe National Baptist Con
vention, U.S.A,, Inc. in announc
ing plans for a historic Mass March
On Birmingham, Wednesday,
Sept. 6.
In what is being recognized as
“a call to recommit to the strug
gle,” more than 25,000 conference
participants and others are ex
pected to march for economic, so
cial and political justice for Afri
can-Americans and all people. The
Mass March will proceed from the
Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Cen
ter through the Birmingham Civ
il Rights District to Sixteenth
Aging nuns looking for sponsors
By Ravi Nessman
Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J.
The nuns of the Salesian Sisters
order have all taken vows of pov
erty. But as they grow older, the
nuns’ rejection of worldly riches
has made it difficult for them to
buy medicine, pay medical bills
or build a retirement home.
So they decided to put them
selves up for adoption.
The Adopt-A-Sister program
has raised about $75,000 in its
four years of existence, said Sis
ter Mary Rinaldi.
“It has brought a lot of bright
eyes and happy moments to the
nuns,” said Rinaldi, who runs
the development office for the
Salesian Sisters.
To adopt a nun, a person do
nates SIOO a year to the order for
the care of 45 elderly nuns living
inamakeshift infirmary in North
Haledon, Rinaldi said. The nuns
do not collect Social Security
payments because they never
earned enough money to pay into
the program, Rinaldi said.
In return, the adopted nun of
fers the contributor her prayers
and, in many cases, her friend
ship.
Churches and nursery schools
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Alken Offices
306 Laurens St., N.W.
P.O. Box 1309
Aiken, South Carolina 29802
(803) 648-4687 Fax: (803) 648-1984
Street Baptist Church, where a
memorial service will be held in
honorofthe four young girls killed
in the 1963 bombing of Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church.
Said Dr. Henry Lyons, presi
dent of the National Baptist Con
vention, U.S.A., Inc., “The Mass
March On Birmingham will be
held to bring attention to the hor
rific Civil Rights decisions being
handed downbythe U.S. Supreme
Court, the dangerous trend tak
ing hold in the country over the
diminishing rights of poor people
and minorities, particularly Afri
can-Americans, and the need for
Blacks to work together to defend
the strides made by our people,
have adopted nuns.
Non-Christians have adopted
nuns.
Some people have adopted
many nuns.
And many nuns have been
adopted numerous times.
Rinaldi has been adopted 10
times. One nun was adopted 13
times in one day as a gift from a
group of parents, grateful to her
for teaching their children.
The program gives members of
the community a chance to re
late to the nuns as people, not
just as part of a group, said Sis
ter Felicia Tanzella, 73, who has
been adopted 12 times.
“It makes it more individual,”
Tanzella said. “When we have a
get-together, they (the donors)
want to sit with their sisters.”
But the program does more
than raise money and strength
en community relations. Itis also
a form of therapy for lonely, eld
erly women.
“It’s brought a new dimension
to thelives of some of these nuns
who have very little vestiges of
families left,” Rinaldi said.
Aging can be particularly diffi
cult for a nun, Rinaldi said.
“All her thoughts were direct
ed toward doing something for
others, and now she sits there
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strides which began in Birming
ham and in the South.”
Taking on international signif
icance, the Mass March On Bir
mingham will he be held during
the organization’s 115th Annual
Session, September 4 -8, where
more than 40,000 delegates from
around the nation and world are
expected to gather. United States
President Bill Clinton has been
invited to participate in the Na
tional Baptist Convention ses
sions.
The groupis calling for Birming
ham citizens come forward with
courtesy cars to be used in the
March. Approximately 500 vehi
cles are needed.
and waits,” she said. Saying
prayers for contributors helps a
nun “feel like she’s still doing
something for others.”
The Salesian Sisters of St. John
Bosco is a teaching order that
was first established in America
in 1908, Rinaldi said. About
16,000 nuns worldwide belong to
the order, 150 of them in the
Eastern Seaboard Province head
quartered in North Haledon.
The province runs 15 schools
from New Jersey to Florida.
Each religious order cares for
its own members, Rinaldi said.
But as the members of the
Salesian Sisters grew older—
their median age is about 50
years old—it has become more
difficult toremain self-sufficient,
Rinaldi said.
The idea for the Adopt-A-Sis
ter program came four years ago
at a meeting in Tampa, Fla.,
where Rinaldi was trying to raise
$4 million to build a retirement
home for the nuns.
“This man stood up and said,
‘While we're waiting for this big
thing to happen, why don’t we
help the people?” Rinaldi said.
Since then about 200 people
have adopted nuns.
The money raised from the pro
gram goes directly into a fund
Augusta Offices
801 Broad Street
P.O. Box 508
Augusta, Georgia 30901
(706) 722-6755 Fax: (706) 722-7015
Those staging the eventinclude:
Dr. Timothy P. Mitchell
Chief of Staff
Office of the President
National Baptist Convention,
U.SA, Inc.
Reverend Abraham Woods
Birmingham Civil Rights leader
Pastor, Mt. Zion Baptist Church
General Chairperson, Entertain
ment Committee
National Baptist Convention,
U.S.A, Inc.
Reverend J.P. Parnell
Pastor, Mt. Hebron Baptist
Church
Chair, Transportation Committee
National Baptist Convention,
U.S.A,, Inc.
used to buy food, medicine and
walkers and to pay medical bills,
Rinaldi said.
Occasionally the nuns splurge
and buy exercise equipment for
therapy or a television set.
Anthony Rettino adopted
Rinaldi because he wanted to
reward the nuns for the work
they did teaching children, he
said.
“I always felt a warm feeling
about the nuns in the Catholic
Church,” said the 58-year-old
restaurant consultant from Hun
tington, Long Island. “They’re
very dedicated and they're loyal
to their cause.”
Rettino talks to Rinaldi at least
once a month and writes to her
every other month, he said.
“I like this idea of hands-on
contribution,” he said.
Rettino was so impressed with
the program he adopted nuns for
his son-in-law and his brother
in-law.
Many of the people who con
tribute to the program are trying
to repay good deeds nuns have
done for them in the past, Rinaldi
said.
“There is a note of gratitude
somewhere in somebody’s heart
that they have to give to God,”
Rinaldi said.
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
Clinton: White folks can’t sing
CHARLOTTE
(AP) President Clinton shook
his head and sighed.
“Hmmm,” he said. “I can’t be
lieve I said that.”
Believe it. He said it. There are
thousands of witnesses.
Enthused by the music of the
mostly black choir behind him,
Clinton told a convention of Bap
tist ministers on Wednesday, “It’s
doing those white folks up there a
world of good to singin a choir like
that.”
Clinton immediately recognized
that might not have been a poli
tick thing to say. But he wasn’t
Full Gospel Baptist Church
Fellowship Conference held
“Let Us Rise Up and Build,”
was the resounding theme for
the 2nd Annual Full Gospel Bap
tist Church Fellowship Confer
ence in New Orleans, LA. Held
at the New Orleans Superdome,
more than 50,000 delegates from
around the world gathered for
this year’s conference. Led by
Presiding Bishop Paul S. Morton
and the National Bishop’s Coun
cil, delegates were inspired
through five days and nights of
praying, preaching, and praise
services.
The anointed Evangelist
Jackie McCullough was the open
ing speaker followed by a line up
of other anointed speakers of
God’s Word. Among those were
the renowned Pastor Carlton
Pearson, Pastor Dwight Thomp
son, and Bishop T. D. Jakes. Not
only was there ministry through
preaching God’s Word, there was
the ministry through music by
gospel recording artists Beßeand
CeCe Winians, Vanessa Bell
Armstrong, Donnie McClurklin,
Gary Oliver and Kirk Franklin
and Family. The Fellowship
Choir made its first live record
ing this year!
This year, there were more
than 40 classes, workshops, and
seminars provided which taught
conference participantsin small
er group sessions.
The Youth Division of the Full
Gospel Baptist Church Fellow
August 17, 1995
about to back down.
“That may be a racially insensi
tive, politically incorrect remark.
but having spent countless hours
of my life in Baptist church choirs
Idoknowwhatlamtalkingabout,’
he said to roaring laughter fron
the crowd.
Clinton was speaking before the
first joint meeting of the Progres
sive National Baptist Convention,
made up mostly of black minis
ters, and the Alliance of Baptists,
which is predominantly white.
He offered the choir as an exam
ple of the benefits of the joint
session.
ship also hosted its Annual Con
ference. This year’s theme was
“Kick it (SIN) to the CURB . . .
We'reinthe HOUSE.” The youth
were ministered just as the
adults. Their activities included
intercessory prayer, classes, Bi
ble drills, spirit day, drill team
competition, talent show, youth
choir, liturgical dance, luncheon
and much more. The actor, Chris
topher Martin (“Kid” of “Kid ‘N
Play”) shared his testimony of
God’s saving grace with the
youth.
For more information, contact
the National Headquarters at
(504)822-6035, the Georgia State
Overseer - S. Young, P. O. Box
109, West Point, GA 31833; NE
GA. District Overseer, K. L.
Johnson, Straightway Full Gos
pel Baptist Church, P. O. Box
355, Augusta, GA 30903 or South
Carolina State Overseer - A.
Jackson, Fishing Creek Baptist
Church, 1595 Marett Blvd., Rock
Hill, SC 29732.
The Straightway Full Gospel
Baptist Church will begin video
services (featuring the sermons
from the conference) on Friday,
September 1 at 7:00 p.m. The
church is presently meeting in
the Aundra Clark School of Mu
siclocated at 1231 Twelfth Street.
For information, schedule or di
rections, call 792-1039 or 279-
5738.
—A.S. Johnson
15