November-December 1982
The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project
The Mountain Spirit Contents From Our President.............................................................. 3 Features: A Christmas Story............................................................ 4 Three Stories of Faith: I. God’s Call in the Promised L a n d .......................... 13 II. The Lord Speaks to Sister Pansy.......................... 14 III. Borned Again in Clay C ounty............................ 16 Blessed are the Peacemakers............................................. 24 Departments: Appalachian Arts and Culture......................................... 8 Letters............................................................................... 9 The CAP Closeup............................................................. 10 Around the Project...........................................................21 Editorial ............................................................................ 27
The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project November-December 1982 Volume I, No. 6 Editor-in-Chief.............................................. Rev. Ralph Beiting Editor............................................................. R. Kenton Craven Associate Editor.............................................. Margaret Gabriel Advisory Board . . . Mike McLaughlin, Bill Begley, Ed Wardle Subscriptions........................................................ Kathy Stathers Typesetting............................................................ Sheila Helton The Mountain Spirit is published six times a year. The annual subscription price is $5.00. Subscriptions and other correspon dence should be sent to The Mountain Spirit, Christian Ap palachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Ken tucky 40446. Copyright 1982, The Christian Appalachian Project, Inc. All rights reserved. The Christian Appalachian Project is a non-profit Christian service organization operating throughout Eastern Kentucky. We rely on private donations for over 99% of our funding. The Project operates on the philosophy that “ helping people help themselves” is the best approach to Appalachian poverty.
The November-December Theme Though all our issues reflect the spiritual life, in our Christmas season issue we’ve focused directly on spirituality in the mountains. “ A Christmas Story” (p. 4) and “ Three Stories of Faith” (p. 12) are The Mountain Spirit staff’s way of saying “ Merry Christmas to our faithful readers!” On the COVER, Amanda Wardle portrays an angel. On the BACK COVER, a shepherd sleeps guarding his flocks. BELOW, winter spells fog along a mountain ridge in Ken tucky (Photos by Jordan). Our special thanks to all who graciously permitted us to photograph them, especially Amanda and her friends at the Sunshine Child Development Center.
From Our President
The other day as I listened to the radio I heard a minister of the Gospel bewail the fact that spirituality has all but dried up on the American scene: the spirit of God seems hidden. A little bit later I heard a lady exalting the fact that she had undergone the most reward ing spiritual experience of her life. She felt good all over. My friend, I am sure that you, too, hear the word spirituality used in many ways, and may be as confused as I am at times as to its meaning. What would your answer be if I asked you now, “ are you a spiritual person? Is your life one filled with spirituality?” The answer to this question ought to be “ yes, I am a spiritual person.” Spirituality is but one of several words we use to describe a person who lives his life based on the teachings of God. In writing to the earlier Christians, St. Paul addressed them as Saints. St. Peter reminded them that they were to be holy. Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit upon each of them. These and many other words and phrases are used to signify a person who is led by the Spirit of God, who is living the life that Christ told us would please God. Spirituality has nothing to do with feeling or emotions. These feelings may be in the Spirit-filled person, but they are not the ingredients that make him spiritual. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was sorrowful unto death. He pleaded that he could be freed from doing God’s work. Yet, he added, “ not my will but thine be done, oh Heavenly Father.” This was great spirituality. He put God’s plan above his own desire. St. Paul ex pressed the real meaning of spirituality when he stated, “ it is no November-December 1982
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” On another occasion he wrote, “ have that mind in you which was in Christ Jesus.” When our prayers are God’s prayers, when our dreams and ambitions are His, when our actions reflect His will, when we reach out to continue His mission on this earth, then we are led by the Spirit, and are on our way to holiness, perfection, and being another Christ. Many of us have been confused by the fact that some people speak of spirituality or holiness as coming like a bolt from the blue, or as a sudden change of heart accom panied by an intense inner feeling of joy and peace. God may indeed grant such a favor to a few, but for the vast number of us, spirituality, like all of life, comes gradually. Spirit life, like biological life, has to grow and mature. As St. Paul said, “ when I was a child, I thought like a child and acted like one, but now that I am a man, I think like a man and act like one.” Each new day should see a deepening of our spiritual life, our closeness to God. For Christians, this has always been a problem, both of mind and heart. Some have felt that if you are a Christian, a spiritual person, you will never sin. Sin is looked upon as a sign that this person was never a true disciple. I don’t think that this is true at all. In every life there are setbacks. In ordinary life we call them accidents, or sickness. In the spiritual life, failures are to be ex pected. We must never forget that we will be tested spiritually in this life. If we have the misfortune to fail, which we all do from time to time, we are to go back to Christ and ask for forgiveness. St. Peter and the apostles were very spiritual
men, but they had to grow in it daily. They also failed at times, and were criticized by Christ. But God gave them the grace of contrition and the desire to grow in spirituality. In fact, Jesus told Peter he would fail but instructed him to strengthen his brothers once he had sorrow for sin. True spirituality must surely give us hope for the future. This is Christ’s great promise “ with me you can do all things.” One of the finest ways we can experience this hope as we grow in spirituality is in the following of Christ, in a spirit of generosity to others. He fed the hungry, cured the sick, raised the dead, gave peace to the troubled. He praised the widow who gave her last penny to further the work of God. In His description of the last judgment he tells us our entrance in to Heaven will depend on how well we understand His mind and heart. He asks us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and prisoners, in His name, and with His love. In this way we make up for our sins and continue our growth in spirituality. At this time of Christ mas when we see love, forgiveness, and generosity as characteristics of God and His Christ, we should all be filled with similar desires, and if we pick ourselves up woth God’s help after each fall and continue on our way, we have been assured by God that He will welcome us into His home forever.
A Christmas Story ,’S»,«*« »» * »*.«•*«•** Verse by Kathleen Ford Photos by J. Randolph Jordan
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house N ot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The children were nestled all snug in their beds A nd Mama gave each one a kiss on the head.
“ When you wake up tomorrow you 'll have a surprise, " She said, with a twinkle o f love in her eyes. “Santa's coming, "said two o f her boys. A n d the girls cried, “he'll bring us a sackful o f toys!" “Ilove Santa Claus, "said the littlest one. “ What makes him do this? Why does he come?" Mama brushed back her curls, with her soft gentle hand, “i'll tell you a story so you 'll understand, “Santa is special to big fo lk s and small. But he's not the best part o f Christmas at all. The story o f Christmas is important to know, It happened one winter a long time ago. "
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The Mountain Spirit
‘Twas the night before Christmas in a land fa r away When two shepherd boys sat with their sheep in the hay. The shepherds were busy protecting their sheep So no one would harm them when they were asleep. “Hey Jacob, fo r Heaven’s sake, will you give me a break? Your lantern is keeping my sheep wide awake!” “But Aaron, that light isn ’t coming from me, Wait, look up in the sky. Do you see what I see? “I wonder i f there can be some reason why That strange looking star is so bright in the sky?” When what to their wondering eyes did appear, But an angel, “hey shepherd boys, come over here! “I bring you good news o f a new baby king; The shepherds will greet him, the angels will sing. Come shepherds and children wherever you are, Drop what y o u ’re doing and follow that star!”
“ Wow, said the boy, with his hands on his head, “That angel means business. L e t’s do what she says. ” So they packed all the presents and gifts they could bring A n d they set out to look fo r the new baby king. They walked in the night, and they hadn’t gone fa r When they met three great kings with some gold in a jar. ‘‘H ello,” said the strangers, “how do you do ? We’re going to see Jesus. May we travel with you?” So together they traveled from sunrise to sunset, A n d they told the Good News to each person they met. There were hundreds o f people from home and abroad, They had all come to look at the baby from God. November-December 1982
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“Look, there’s a sign, ” one shepherd said, “It says, ‘Bethlehem—3 miles ahead. A ll the people were happy and very excited. “There’ll be a big party, we’ll all be invited! “I bet there’ll be fireworks, there’ll be a parade, There’ll be castles, and princes and beautiful maids!” So they got themselves ready and they went into town But there weren ’t any castles or parties around. There was ju st an old stable with a broken down door A n d a man and a lady who knelt on the floor. “Hey, look at that manger, ” a little boy cried, “A n d look, I believe there’s a baby inside. ”
“ You mean to tell me we came all this way Just to look at a baby asleep on the hay? We were tricked, ” said the boy, “what a terrible thing! Do you call this a castle, do you call this a king?” 6
The Mountain Spirit
“I believe this is it, ” Aaron said with a shout. “I t ’s the baby the angel was talking about. ” His mommy and daddy were right by his side, A n d they said, “'please come in, ” with their arms open wide. “M y children, ” his mother said softly and kind, “I know this is not what you thought you would find. But this baby will grow and H e ’ll teach you to love. A n d His kingdom will be up in Heaven above. ”
So the shepherds and children got down on their knees, A n d they each said to Mary, “could we hold Him, please?” A n d when they held Jesus, they started to sing, For they knew that this baby was truly a king.
A n d this is the reason fo r all o f our joy. The spirit o f Christmas is more than a toy. So tomorrow when you play with the things Santa brought, Remember the baby and the things that He taught. “Good night, little children. ” “Goodnight to you, too. ” A n d to Jesus they sang, “Happy Birthday to You. ” cai November-December 1982
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Appalachian Arts and Culture
America. We have more rivers, more annual rainfall. . . ” His voice drifts. He’s reminded of something. “ I’m full of appreciation for the rainfall we have. When the lightning starts, I can’t resist getting out in the yard and enjoying it—it’s spec tacular!” Does Gurney Norman consciously advocate going home in his writing? “ No, not in the literal sense. I think my ultimate point is that home has got to be inside yourself and that part of being healthy and mature in spiritual development is that one has come to a sense of rest inside them selves—peace.”
People are always going home in Gurney Norman’s stories. Wilgus, the main character in Kinfolks, Norman’s latest collection of short stories, is either on his way or has just arrived home in three of the ten stories. Another story is about W ilgus’ grandfather returning home, another about a cousin’s arrival home, another about an Arizona woman who is longing to return home. Home for Gurney Norman and for the characters he creates is Southeastern Kentucky. T hat’s where this 44 year old author has spent more than half of his life. He’s now on the English faculty at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. It’s in his 22nd floor of fice there that he sits with feet propped on the desk talking about what he calls “ the Kentucky story.” He says the richness of legend, lore, and music in Kentucky is one of its most real natural re sources—“ the common wealth of Kentucky.” Norman mentions the main character in his popular novel, Divine Right’s Trip, to further exemplify what he means by the “ Kentucky story.” In the novel, Divine Right finally gets on Inter state 75 South and heads for home about midway through the story. At that point, the narration becomes 8
smoother, easier to read, more up beat. The character himself becomes more likeable, more real. When Divine Right arrives back home in the Kentucky mountains, he knows and the reader knows that now everything’s going to be OK. Norman says “ Divine Right was aided in his healing by the fact that he found remnants of the old stable culture when he went back to the mountains; remnants of the old traditional ways.” Norman thinks it says something about the resilience and the strength of the old Ap palachian culture that “ enough of it remains to serve as a spiritual renewing force for a young man such as that character.” It is not only the Appalachian en vironment that Norman sees as “ spiritually renewing,” but all of Kentucky. “ There’s something about the landscape in Kentucky that gives up images to writers and artists.” Norman says he has always drawn on these Kentucky images in his own writing and sees more and more artists doing it. He credits the richness of landscape and its ability to evoke “ flourishing” of writers in Kentucky. When pressed for exam ples of some of that richness, he says, “ I don’t know if Kentuckians even realize that Kentucky is one of the best watered landscapes in North
Norman explains what he means by being at peace “ inside yourself.” For him it means being in proper relationship with all people, and with all creation. “ You could ex tend that out into the grand cosmic scheme of things and probably that means that one would be an enlightened being.” He adds, “ not very many people make it home.” Norman’s view is that although the Kentucky mountains are suf fering from some of the same ailments that the rest of the country suffers from, there’s a “ presence of the old” there that is sustaining and has a “ spiritual power.” He says although our country has come “ dangerously close” to losing its connection with its “ sustaining myth,” that myth is being preserved in a unique way in the Kentucky mountains. Part of that myth, Norman says, includes considering the community need before your own need. “ No one thinks in those terms much anymore except in old country communities where people, for example, know how to share work—those basic values of neigh borliness and so on.” Is this the reason for the sudden emergence of national interest in Appalachia? Norman smiles and pushes back a wisp of sandy hair as he thinks about the question. “ Twenty years ago when I was a The Mountain Spirit
student at the University of Ken tucky, there was no awareness that one third of Kentucky was moun tains—mountain people—just no understanding of it at all. That has changed enormously.” He smiles again. “ I think the new cultural ap preciation in the Appalachians is a very healthy development.” Nor man notes that a trend toward self awareness has existed in the moun tains for 15-20 years. Appalachia is looking at what exists, what’s “ awful and what’s wonderful” in it; what’s special about it, and what can be done to take care of it, ac cording to Norman. He says Appalachia is “ a generation ahead of other regions and countries” in this. Thus, it “ of fers America a model of what’s possible by looking locally.” Norman concludes the interview by saying that he feels the spirit among people in the mountains as we hear it in the music and in the poetry and in the stories is offering the country an example of how to get back down to the sources, “ which is what this country is sup posed to be all about.”
Letters
Editor: The Mountain Spirit story on “ Mother Teresa of Calcutta Visits Appalachia” by Margaret Gabriel was most inspiring. How wonderful that God has sent Rev. Beiting and his staff to help the mountain people. I was born and raised in Kentucky over fifty years ago and God was our only hope. We survived the depression and other hardships with the love of good people caring for each other. They did it all by sharing food, clothing, and doctoring the sick. Joyce Barnes Kunka Jacksonville, Florida
Editor: I have read your interesting story of “ Uncle Peter” in your recent issue (see The Mountain Spirit, July-August). I keep looking at the old gentleman’s photo—it’s so good!
A Christmas gift that blesses Appalachia and brings you tax-free in come? Yes—a Gift Annuity! It’s really very simple. You invest in our work, and in return we pay you at a guaranteed rate for the rest of your life. The income is largely tax-free.
Write today for your free booklet.
JORDAN
I would like to get the two books mentioned—especially The Trail o f the Lonesome Pine. Will you please advise? Beulah H. Hamburg Tyler, Texas Thank you fo r your comments. The books mentioned may be ordered from the Appalachian Book and Record Shop, 104 Center St., Berea, Ky. 40403 (see The Mountain Spirit, May-June, p. 12 fo r further infor mation about this service). The shop also offers a complete catalogue o f Appalachian reading.—Eds.
Letters to the editor are welcome.
stream.
November-December 1982
Address letters to The Mountain Spirit, Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky 40446.
cut here
Please send, without obligation, my free copy of “ Giving Through Gift Annuities.” To: Reverend Ralph Beiting c/o Planned Giving Dept. 322 Crab Orchard Road Lancaster, Ky. 40446
NAME____ ADDRESS _ CITY ____ STATE, ZIP
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The CAP Closeup
Gene Hensley A Man O f The Woods —
CRAVEN
i 41 lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house I had built myself . . . Although these lines were written by Henry David Thoreau in his reflections on Walden Pond, they also describe the lifestyle of Gene Hensley, manager of CAP’S product factory in Tyner, Ken tucky. A native of Jackson County, the location of the factory, Gene is a fiercely independent, though congenial fellow, who holds on strongly to his beliefs and his privacy. Like many Appalachian young people, Gene left Jackson County to join the Armed Forces. When he left the service he moved about to many different areas of the United States. Asked what he did during that time, Gene smiled broadly, indicating that he was busily fulfilling life’s ambitions, and said, “ I lived!” In 1972 Gene was “ living” in California, working for Douglas Aircraft. “ I had conquered the material world. I was making good money, had a good car, a nice house, but I didn’t care for it. I looked at all the cars and all the people in Los Angeles, and decided I didn’t want it.” Even today, Gene says, “ I’ve got a master plumber’s license. A master plumber can make $60,000 a year—if he’s willing to move to Lexington and look at all that traffic and the people. I wouldn’t move to Lexington if you gave me $60,000 a year just to live there!”
by The CAP News Service
Like so many mountain people, Gene professes a strong, simplistic belief in God, but no church af filiation. “ Father Beiting calls me a heathen, but I have my own ideas about how things should be done. I’ve been impressed with the Catholics I’ve met since I joined CAP, but I suppose I’ve met the cream of the crop. Around here it’s pronounced ‘Cath-o-LICKS.’ People around here couldn’t understand how I could work with ‘em at first.” Shortly after Gene’s return from California to his home in McKee he learned of an opening for a worker at a Christmas wreath factory, of all things, near Tyner. He remembers meeting with
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The Mountain Spirit
GABRI
Gene values his life in Jackson County—the AVi years he spent living at Camp Andrew Jackson (“ the best thing about AJ was that I couldn’t get TV reception!” ); his four cows (“ what do you do with four cows, Gene?” “ keep ’em as pets” ); his home in the woods, which he constructed himself from stone and barnsiding (“ Being able to get out and walk alone in the woods makes it all worth while” ). At one time, Gene traced his family history and found that the name “ Hensley” means “ of the woods” —a fitting title for this proud mountain man. He is a man who is proud of his accom plishments at the factory in Tyner, proud that he has fashioned his life to suit him rather than the other way around, proud to be making a real con tribution to the county of his home. CAP.
Below, CAP employee Betty Lou Walsh displays the pillow she crafted as a test product. The pillow, the corn husk dolls (left), and an arrangement of placemats with matching corn husk and gingham flowers won 1st place in the arts and crafts entries at the Jackson County Fair.
Father Beiting, talking with him about the possibilities of becoming a major producer of Christmas wreaths, using the boughs from native timber, which in the past had simply been trashed after the trees were cut. After talking with Father Beiting, Gene recalls thinking, “ here’s another clown with a big idea!’’ In 1982 Gene has adapted the “ clown’s” dream to his own, and is making substantial progress in Jackson County. Gene has seen many businesses come to Jackson County, flourish briefly, then dissipate. He is also familiar with families in the county who have lived on welfare for two generations or more. Gene decided that he could contribute to a system that could break that pat tern; that given the opportunity “ poor people can help themselves change. One thing I want to do is help people get off their duffs and do something!” In mid-November, Gene will employ 75 Jackson Countians to manufacture 42,000 Christmas wreaths, which as far as Gene is aware, is the biggest wreath production site in the U.S. Throughout other times of the year, Gene has about 20 people working on various projects—on one of the craft items which are marketed through the country, on metal rings and pine cone decorations which are used for the Christmas wreaths, and on specialized items for CAP’s up coming catalogue of mountain crafts. Gene’s goal is to provide employment for 75 people 50 weeks of the year. November-December 1982
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Special Section
T h re e Stories of Faith
CLEFTROCK
by R. Kenton Craven and Margaret Gabriel
Montgomery Hounchell
Bob and Eddie Fields
Introduction As reported in the previous issue of The Moun tain Spirit, only about 16% of the population of Eastern Kentucky holds church membership of any kind. The problem is the same across the southern highlands of Appalachia. Independent and suspicious of authority, the mountaineer who came here from the British Isles for religious and political freedom has always tended to regard social units larger than the family or clan as in vasions of his privacy and threats to his liberty. Under the pressures of modern culture, he has retreated even more from the church. Without churches for the first fifty or seventyfive years of settlement (Caudill, Night Comes to the Cumberlands) the Cumberland Plateau never caught up. Though swept periodically by waves of religious fervor expressed in revivals and tent meetings, it resists institutionalization. As Caudill 12
asserted in 1962, “ the plateau probably contains the lowest percentage of actual church member ship to be found in any other region of Christen dom.” In the past year, The Mountain Spirit has focused on many individuals who shine not only as lights in this darkness, but whose love for Christ reaches to all regardless of church member ship—Willie Coyle, C.B. Ledford, Peter Justice. In this special section, we offer you the three following stories of Faith about people who an swer God’s call to work in the mountains—a Bap tist, a Pentecostal, and a Catholic whose labors in the hills point the way to the future, toward an Appalachia that finds its redemption in Jesus Christ and Him Only . . . The Mountain Spirit
can, indeed, act in this way, but at that time, I didn’t see it. I’m not a visionary or pioneer by nature, but he is.”
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I God’s
Call in The Promised Land by R. Kenton Craven “The Lord lives, blessed be my rock; Praise to Him, the rock o f my salvation. ” —2 Samuel, 22:47 I t is 6454 miles from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to Livingston, Kentucky, where the hills of the Cumberland Plateau pour forth the tumbling rapids of the Rockcastle River. In 1971, Bob Fields, a native of Livingston, went into a private retreat for fasting and prayer on the Mount, in the land in which God called the patriarchs and prophets. At that time, Bob had been a Baptist missionary to Israel for ten years. Today, as a result of that retreat, he ministers to his native land of Appalachia in a place called cleftRock, a retreat center he has carved out of the rough mountains above the Rockcastle River. Referring to that time of decision, Bob reports that he “ had been spiritually restless for several months. But at the end of the retreat, I was over come by a sense of God’s peace. I knew that the Lord was telling me to leave Israel, go back home, and do this.’’ “ This,” as Bob explained to his in credulous wife Eddie, was to be a retreat for in dividual, family, and church renewal, and not just for Southern Baptists, but for the Christian churches generally. Normally vivacious and hopeful, Eddie Fields responded to Bob’s announcement, she now con fesses, with fear and dismay, because of her set tled life inside the regular channels of Baptist missionary life and church organization. “ My response was, I don’t think the Lord would do things this way! Now I have the faith that God November-December 1982
As a result of this call from the Lord, Bob was talking about starting something outside regular denominational channels, without salary, without resources, and in the bleak reaches of the Cum berland mountains. “ That just didn’t fit my con cept of how God worked!” Eddie says cheerfully. The idea of a spiritual retreat center struck lots of Baptists in the same way, she says—“ Do whafl that was their reaction.” Neither retreats nor ecumenism were part of their normal outlook, especially in rural Kentucky. B u t now, in 1982, there is such a retreat cen ter, cleftRock, where impressive buildings con tinue to go up (and where copperheads and rattlers continue to be killed at the rate of ten to fifteen a year). Through prayer and witness, Bob soon spread his vision among other missionary families, in Israel and elsewhere. That same year, 1972, four families bought 475 acres of the roughest land in Rockcastle County where Skagg’s Creek enters the wildest reaches of the Rockcastle River. That same year, Bob and Eddie and their children returned to Kentucky where, for two years, Bob served as Dean of Religious Life at Georgetown College. In June of 1974, the Fields made the final leap of faith, moved onto the rugged land, and began building cleftRock, where they have con tinued to live completely by faith until the present. Soon, ten missionary families were committed to the development of the place, and cabins, homes, and other buildings—all built through unsolicited donations and labor—began to appear and attest to God’s blessing on the Fields’ faith. In the past year, dozens of retreats and marriage enrichment events for Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, the Church of God, and small charismatic fellowships, have fleshed out the dream Bob was given in Israel. Reaching this point has not been easy, physically or spiritually. To begin with, as Bob points out, “ this is a hard place to do these things, to realize this vision—the making of a place where Christian people can draw apart for spiritual renewal. It’s not a concept in the thinking of local people—they didn’t know what a retreat was.” That was a for midable hurdle, as was the rough terrain. “ Then, too,” adds Eddie, “ we didn’t know quite where we were going with all this. We didn’t have any Southern Baptist books on the idea of such a retreat.” T h e right book came: Realities, by Basilea Schlink, a Lutheran nun who had begun a similar retreat in Darmstadt, Germany. Later, Francis Shaeffer’s L ’Abri gave fresh material for thought. 13
But the growth came through the faith itself. “ At the beginning, when we came down here from Georgetown, I was scared and unhappy and miserable,” Eddie told us. “ But things changed gradually as I saw people coming to help and saw God’s plan unfolding. It led me to know true dependence on God, just as in the story of David. I didn’t know God the way I’ve learned to ap proach Him now. So it was a source of spiritual renewal for me. I’ve become more spiritually grounded in faith.” Bob still marvels at the way cleftRock has come into being. So many pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place from unexpected sources, always just at the right time. He accounts for this mystery through his theory of God’s flow: “ if I have resources, and you have a need, then I bless you with those resources. In other words, in regard to finances, I believe that the Lord is in control of all this, but giving and receiving as traditionally seen, no, we shouldn’t expect return for what we give. Instead, we should live by miracle.”
TT
The Lord Speaks to Sister Pansy by Margaret Gabriel
“When the day o f Pentecost arrived, all the believers were gathered together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues o f fire spreading out; and each person there was touched by a tongue. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak. ” Acts 2:1-4
GABRIEL
W h e n The Mountain Spirit visited cleftRock, a score of hands was busy in the aftermath of an exhausting retreat. cleftRock works only with in dividual groups and congregations, tailormaking each retreat or event for that particular body’s needs. In doing this, the tiny cleftRock staff prepares the food, does the cleaning, and attends to all the details of Christian hospitality. The spirit Bob and Eddie brought to Appalachia has spread—to CAP’s Family Life Center of Ap palachia in Renfro Valley, where the Fields have assisted much in recent years, and to an Episcopal retreat center nearby. Through faith in God and the vision given in Israel, Bob Fields lives in miracle on a mountain ridge, and in the silence hears the Word that he may preach it to others. As he emphasizes in his gentle way, Christians need to grow in quiet contemplation. Only in that way “ can the Saints be equipped for ministry to others.” CAP.
One of the several completed cabins available for family and individual retreats at cleftRock.
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A large segment of the church-going population of Appalachia belongs to the Pente costal Church, which holds that all Christians are to reproduce the experience of the disciples on the first day of Pentecost. One such church-goer—in deed, a church foundress—is Mrs. Pansy McCay, of Livingston, Kentucky. We chatted with Miss Pansy one afternoon in her home, the house where she was born, listening to her stories of what the Lord has done for her and what she has done for the Lord. “ The Lord gave me a dream one night,” Miss Pansy told us, speaking of a time when she was in her fifties. “ I was going ten miles out of Covington one night to a village. They didn’t have a church out there. They called it Latonia Lakes. The Lord showed me to go out there to tell them that He wanted me to have a prayer meeting out there and to start a church. Well, the next morn ing—I feel when the Lord tells me something He wants me to do it then. I don’t put off anything that the Lord wants me to do—I went out and He told me the first house that I come to on the right, to stop. So, I stopped. He was a wealthy man, but I didn’t know all that. When he came to the door, I said, ‘sir, you don’t know me and I don’t know you, but the Lord gave me a dream to come by here and start a church.’ And he said, ‘when could you start?’ I said, ‘we could have a prayer meeting tomorrow night. We could announce it on the air, we’re going to have it.’ He had a beautiful, big home, and we had it in the basement. I don’t know where he got the chairs, but he had it seated. We had a big crowd and even took up an offering the first night, just meeting like that. They were The Mountain Spirit
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going to build a church. You have to have faith in God and go ahead and do things. We got a nice offering on the church. It just seemed like everything come our way. It was because it was the will of God—He was in it. This church is now the largest Pentecostal church in the state of Ken tucky. They’re having an all day meeting and din ner on the grounds September 19, a homecoming, and I’m to be the guest of honor. They said it all started from the Lord giving a woman a dream and she obeyed Him and done what He said.” As a young girl of seventeen, shortly after finishing high school, Miss Pansy married Mr. Fred McCay. “ The Lord would talk to me in dreams, and walk with me, and even tell me the places he wanted me to go. I told my husband, ‘the Lord’s a-dealin’ with me—I just have to get out and do something for Him.’ ” When Fred—an engineer with the L & N Railroad—was trans ferred to Covington, the couple left Rockcastle County. They returned some years later after Mr. McCay retired. Shortly after Miss Pansy moved home, she began to do a weekly radio program of witness and testimony for the Lord at Renfro Valley, near Mt. Vernon. “ I went on the air at Renfro Valley on Friday and I had a program for the older people. Some of the folks called the manager of the station and said that they couldn’t hardly get their children to go to school on Friday. They wanted to stay home and listen to my program. And the station manager said, ‘tell you what we’ll do,’ he said, ‘we’ll give Mrs. McCay another program on Saturday for the children.’ It went over big.” November-December 1982
A t 77, Miss Pansy shares her faith in many different ways—witness and testimony to the congregations at the churches she attends, through her gift of music, and by helping needy people ob tain food, clothing, and other necessities. “ A little orphan boy who lived with his aunt and uncle, wrote me a letter. He told me he wanted to be in the 4-H club, but he had to have a project. He said he’d love to have a sow pig, so that he could raise pigs. So I told it on my radio program, that I wanted a pig for a little poor boy, who didn’t have any father or mother, and Looorrrd! I’ll tell you, I started getting calls from people wanting to give me pigs! A lady from East Bernstadt was the first one and said she had a nice one that she would give me. So I went after it. It was a big shoat, and I took a burlap sack to put it in. We put it in that sack and fastened it and put it in the back seat, and don’t you know it got out of that sack! It come over the front seat with me and got up in my lap and put its snooter right up in my face. Now, you talk about prayin’! I was cryin’ before the Lord—I was a-weepin’ and a-cryin’! I said, ‘Lord, I’m trying to do good and take a little boy a pig,’ I said, ‘you calmed the storm tossed Galilee for the disciples, please calm this pig for me!’ And do you know, that pig hopped over in the back seat of the car and laid down and went to sleep. And when I got here—my husband, he knew I was going after it and he was kindly worried about me and was down there waiting for me to pull in—that pig was still asleep.” The Lord speaks to Miss Pansy in many ways, but it seems that His most special way is through dreams. “ I dreamed that I was standing down by the side of my yard, late in the evening. The sun had gone down and I was just standing there looking up at the sky, meditating on the Lord, thanking Him for being so good to me, watching after me all these years—I’ve been here by myself for twenty years—and I looked around and Jesus was standing next to me. And Jesus said, ‘your mansion is ready.’ And I went to cryin’ and I said, ‘I don’t feel like I deserve a mansion.’ He said, ‘but you’ve been faithful—you’ve won many, many souls,’ and He said, ‘would you like to go see your mansion?’ And I said, ‘yes.’ And I thought He took me and showed me the most beautiful mansion I’d ever seen. And that’s one reason I think I might be going home soon.” F o r many years the needy people of Rockcastle County have known that they have a friend in Miss Pansy, someone to whom they can take their problems or their dreams. “ When I first come here the Lord told me to go over to the radio station and tell ’em that he wanted me to have a program to help needy people. There were children out of school because they didn’t have 15
any shoes to wear. I was on a coast to coast program with Mr. John Lair (See “ Where the Country Doesn’t Go Pop,” The Mountain Spirit, Sept.-Oct., 1982, p. 10) on a Sunday. I told them about the mountain children and how needy they were and some were out of school because they had no shoes to wear.” As a result of Miss Pansy’s appeals on Mr. Lair’s program, “ Renfro Valley Folks,” donations of shoes and clothing—boxcars full—came from all over the country. But it wasn’t only the donations from the generous people of Miss Pansy’s radio audience that found their way to the needy people of Rockcastle County. “ One day my husband was out in the storage shed fitting up a poor man with some shoes. Well, he came into the house for lunch in his sock feet! And I said, ‘what’d you do, Fred, give away your shoes?’ He said, ‘that’s just I did,’ Miss Pansy remembered with a little chuckle. “ He said,‘that man just had one arm.’ He wanted to work and help himself and Fred said that the stub was bleeding, from where he was trying to move furniture. ‘I just had to give that man my shoes.’ I said, ‘well, honey, I don’t care. I’m glad you give ’em to him.’ He was big hearted. He hated to see people in need. M is s Pansy says that helping the needy is common place among people of the Pentecostal faith. “ They’re good to help. A lot of times when poor people have a death in their home—a lot of people don’t have insurance—they’ll go in and help with the funeral expenses.” Miss Pansy mourns the fact that many people today don’t help other people the way they used to. “ I don’t know why people don’t help each other these days. You know we read in the Bible where it says that their love will wax cold. People don’t love one another like they used to. I can see it. It used to be if people were in trouble, all their neighbors would be, too. They’d come to see about your needs and your wants. But now, there’s a ‘don’t care’ attitude or something. But the Bible says open confession is good for the soul. I’m not so good myself about getting out and visiting people. I guess this is the Devil that puts this in our way, that we always have somethin’ to do, that we don’t have time to do what we need to do for God.” As Miss Pansy prayed with us before we left her that afternoon, she thanked the Lord for His goodness to all of us, asked that He continue to keep us in His loving care. It is this strong simple faith that makes Miss Pansy such a shining exam ple of discipleship and friendship with the Lord, and all of His people. cap.
16
Ill Borned Again in Clay County
by R. Kenton Craven “But to all who did receive him, to those who have yielded him their allegiance, he gave the right to become children o f God, not born o f any human stock, or by the fleshly desire o f a human father, but o f the offspring o f God Himself. ” —John, 1:12-13 **Borned again.” That is the way many mountain people say it, and as the Gospel of John attests, the mystery of new birth is at the heart of Christian belief. Denominations may differ fierce ly on the mode and time of the new birth, but they are united in agreement with the law set forth by Christ Himself: “ unless a man has been born over again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And they are united in faith with Christ’s promise that “ everyone who has faith in him (the Son) may not die but have eternal life.” The natural birth
I n his lifetime, Montgomery Hounchell has been “ borned again” in many ways, but as he would be the first to remind you, his birth in Christ is the one which makes his other births significant. The story of those successive new births is one of the most extraordinary tales The Moun tain Spirit has heard—but we will let the facts speak for themselves. Montgomery Hounchell was born for the first time in Sacramento, California in 1945, in a squalid and tough Mexican ghetto, of parents who gave their names as Hatfield. They taught their children that the Hatfields came from a tough, feuding family somewhere in a magical place called Kentucky, where things were not as they The Mountain Spirit
they were in Sacramento—a place where families stuck together, where there was Southern hospitality, where people cared for one another and aided the sick and poor. The image stuck deep in the memory of young Montgomery, who was then known as James Hatfield.
dividual, just part of the herd; I didn’t know how to make decisions or how to be a real man, everything was decided for me by the prison and the herd.”
But in Sacramento, the young Hatfields saw a different world in which toughs from the street gangs worshipped “ the way” —the hoodlum, macho attitude of rebellion born in poverty and despair. Their father had been in prison for seven teen and one-half years before their birth, for robbing a bank. Released on parole as a very sick man, hating all authority, Hatfield brought his family into the Spanish-speaking ghetto to live. He did not stay with them long. When Mont gomery was three, his father began coughing up blood. Doctors diagnosed tuberculosis, and he was sent to a sanatorium for six years, where he did not seem to improve. Toward the end of that time, the physicians discovered that the bleeding was caused by several bullets left in the lung from the shooting during the robbery, a fact which in creased the senior Hatfield’s hatred of police and authority. Until his death, he imparted this bellicose attitude to his children.
A l l that time, Montgomery confesses, he thought that he would “ grow out of all this some day. I thought it would somehow end automatically, that one fine day I would be married, have a home and a car, and raise children like everyone else.” But one day in the prison yard, an old con began telling Montgomery the story of his life. “ At some point, a realization began to hit me. His life paralleled mine exact ly—his childhood, the same troubles, the same reformatories, the same prisons like Soledad and Paso Robles. Up to the age of twenty-five, our lives matched perfectly. Then he went on, and of course here he was, still in prison. It just hit me that there may not be an end to all of this naturally, as I had supposed, but that it had to be done wilfully. At that moment, I reached a purely
T h e damage, however, had already been done to the boys by the father’s absence. Living on state aid which required their mother to stand in line for four hours each day to receive a $1.10 food dole, the unsupervised young Hatfields grew up wild. One of two white families in the ghetto, they were ostracized by the Mexican gangs. “ They accepted us to some extent because we were poor and living there, but they wouldn’t let us past a certain point. So it was my brother and me against the world. Anything we could do against the establishment, we weren’t reprimanded for it. We got into stealing, breaking and entering, street fights—but it was always for the family, our only loyalty.” Without a father, without any kind of guidance or law, the results were predictable. And they came soon. From the time he was seven until his twenty-fifth year, Montgomery Hounchell spent eight and one-half years in six reform atories and three state prisons. During that period, his father died, which affected him deeply but only reinforced his family loyalty. “ In all those those years, I had religious people coming at me, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, but none of their views could change my values. I thought what I had been taught at home was manhood. I tried to escape eight times. I was stabbed, beaten, shot in fights time and time again. You were a hero like Pancho Villa if you went against the cops and the bulls—it edified us. But in all the years of being locked up, I was not an in November-December 1982
The birth into rationality
“ Right then, way in the back of my mind, I heard one of those old steel prison doors slam shut, just as clear as could be, and I stopped. I said ‘no, I ’ll die before I go back there.’ And I turned around.’’ logical conclusion, and made a decision: ‘I’ll break the chain of events—I’ll die before I steal again.’ It wasn’t a religious decision, just sheer logic.” After earnest effort, Montgomery was released from prison to a half-way house. Still pugnacious, still undisciplined, still carrying his ghetto and prison attitudes, he got into trouble and was kicked out on the streets with only one thing going for him: his determination not to go to prison. “ My family resented me because I was changing. I had nowhere to go and no skills. I had a high school diploma from prison, but really had only a fifth grade education. So I walked the streets by night and slept outside in the daytime, and ate about once a week. I went from 272 lbs. to 143 lbs. I had too much pride to ask for help, but I had two pistols I’d bought when I got out of prison, because I felt that out here you had to fight and couldn’t trust anybody. Finally, I grew desperate and told myself if I only had $50 I could make it, if I only had a hot meal, a shower, and a good night’s sleep indoors. My thinking was, ‘this is to do good, to get me past this point. I’m not really going back on my decision.’ I started across the four lane with those two guns in my pocket. Right 17
CRAVEN
and walk the country roads and at least know that there was a time when things were different—I had no idea that some of that same spirit still existed in the mountains.” He didn’t know where in Kentucky, just that it was in the mountains. He had to begin a long journey to discover his native identity. What he learned first was that his name wasn’t even Hatfield—his father had adopted that as a tough-guy alias, and then taught his children they were from a family of “ killers and thugs.” “ It took two years of searching and the help of the FBI to find my right name, the right family and county, and that my father’s brother was alive in Kentucky.”
Montgomery at the Clay County jail.
then, way in the back of my mind, I heard one of those old steel prison doors slam shut, just as clear as could be, and I stopped. I said ‘no, I’ll die before I go back there.’ And I turned around.”
Excited by the finds, he came to Kentucky for a short visit, and was astonished by the different culture, and by the family spirit of the four to five hundred Hounchells in the Clay County area. He had known that his mother was of German ex traction, by way of Pennsylvania Dutch country, for “ she always upheld the German way of life.” Now he was happy to find that he was German on his father’s side as well. (“ I had even belonged to the Irish Club in San Francisco!” ). Ecstatic at finding his roots, he traced his family history, and went to court to change his name from James Hat field to Montgomery Hounchell, an 18th century ancestor.
The birth into Kentucky
The birth into Christ
IVtontgomery’s attitude at that time remained tough guy. He didn’t avoid stealing because he thought it was immoral, but because stealing only returned him to the slavery of prison. ‘‘In fact, I had always believed that people stupid enough to get ripped off didn’t deserve my respect.” Things didn’t change overnight, but Montgomery’s older brother gave him a legitimate job, and he began to build self-confidence. When the brother went to a criminal hospital for heroin addicts two years later, Montgomery began to move out on his own, managing restaurants and stores, becoming a journeyman electrician, learning professional photography at home. He married, and had children. ‘‘I had become ‘honest,’ but without Revelation.” Something, it seems, was missing. He had a hunger—for what, he didn’t know.
A t this time in his life, Montgomery was busy absorbing the culture and friendly spirit of his native soil. It was a whole new world for him to live in, but one aspect of it puzzled him—the religion of his family. “ My uncle was a Baptist minister, but I had never even been in a church. I had been curious earlier in my life, but I always thought you had to be a member! I went to his church, and sat in the back. I lived by my ego, and didn’t like to admit my ignorance; I also thought he was a fool to live by faith. And I had always seen the people in the prisons who had tried to convert me as sissies who just wanted to take away my manhood. But as I sat there and listened, I heard about things that I had never known—that life after death is a reality, that there are benefits to living a good life. But most of all, that we can not do it alone, that we need God’s help—I saw the logic of this. Inside, I knew I needed God’s help, that I was guilty of all my past sins, all my life of hustling.” Always cautious and logical, Montgomery studied the scriptures with his uncle for eight months, and then decided to become a Christian and join the Baptist Church.
Then the memories came, the memories he had received as a small boy, the stories about a place called Kentucky, a place called home. “ We never regarded California as home, it was just the place where we lived. But there was a place where neighbors and friends in the old days had cared for each other, where there was no welfare, where there was a better world than the ghetto or the prison or the city. I always had a desire to go there 18
His wife couldn’t take the transformation that came over Montgomery. “ She said she couldn’t The Mountain Spirit
live with ‘no Holy Roller Saint John,’ and that she married me because I was a tough guy. She threatened to leave me if I didn’t change back. I refused; she took our little girl and left.” Though he was shocked and hurt, he decided to stay with his new-found life and faith, and to spread the word about Jesus to others. ‘‘I decided on a personal, private project to wit ness to others who needed to be saved. I heard about a holler near here where there were nineteen houses, and no church-goers. I determined to go there and do what I could.” By driving a schoolbus, he met some of the young people from
“ . . . if they don’t give way, blow their heads o ff in the name of the L ord.”
the hollow, and witnessed to them, and listened to them. ‘‘That place was a real Sodom and Gomorrah. There was no running water or ‘elec tric’ back there, and the people had been keeping to themselves for two hundred years—they didn’t go out much. I hadn’t seen anything like this place in the ghetto, young kids sleeping with each other like beasts of the field.” F o r a while, he would take his Bible and preach to the people, standing in front of their porches. “In a year, seven or eight joined churches. But by bringing the girls to change their lives, I had upset the teenage boys—a group threatened to kill me if I ever came back.” “ Now what?” I thought. “ Am I supposed to die for the Lord? How can I be violent if I’m a Christian?” Thus puzzled, Montgomery sought out his uncle for counsel. “ After taking me through the scriptures for several hours, especially on David and Goliath, he got up and left the room, and then returned with a .38 pistol. ‘Preach to them,’ my uncle said, ‘and if they don’t give way, blow their heads off in the name of the Lord.’ ” Strengthened with this advice, Mont gomery returned to the hollow. “ I figured the Lord wasn’t going to let me die yet—I had too much to do for him. I met them at the mouth of the hollow. They were armed with pistols and rifles. I had the Bible in my hand and the .38 in my belt. I didn’t know what an ‘act of contrition’ was then, but I made one anyway, and invited them to come to a church meeting. I don’t know if it was the Bible or the .38, but they never bothered me again.” Through his work with the people of the hollow, however, Montgomery decided he didn’t have enough answers for the questions people threw at November-December 1982
him—should a wife stay with a husband who abuses her, for example? He had reached another point of logical decision: “ I figured I’d better go to a seminary and learn more.” Another birth
A t first, things went well at the Baptist seminary. Montgomery had read the Bible for nearly three years by now, and he was ready to learn everything he could. But the same logical, inquiring mind that kept him out of prison and brought him to be born again began to raise dif ficulties with much of what he heard. Here, he first began to hear presentations of Catholic doctrine. Previously, he had heard only the mountain ver sion: the Pope as Antichrist, the Catholics as something like Moonies. Now, as his professors brought up Catholic doctrines to refute them, Montgomery was troubled in mind. “ I said, wait a minute, a lot of these ideas make sense, like the Sacraments, the power to forgive sins, the Eucharist and the 6th chapter of John. I could see that the Scriptures fit these doctrines.” That began yet another odyssey for Montgomery Hounchell that lasted through his seminary days into his first preachings at Baptist churches. He went to visit Father Burton at the Catholic church in Manchester, the county seat of Clay County, with an armload of questions and a good deal of fear (“ I was afraid of being brainwashed” ). “ He blew me out. He just answered the questions. He never got upset or angry, just answered me calmly and logically. I realized then there was more to all this than I knew. I still didn’t know if Catholicism was a Christian faith, but I wanted to know; so I . no Holy Roller Saint John
m
V i 19
challenged Father Burton to prove it all by the Scriptures.” For nearly three years, each Wed nesday night, Montgomery followed the priest through ‘‘two or three catechisms,” the Bible, the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. During this period, Montgomery continued as a faithful Bap tist, and began preaching at various churches.
GABRIEL
‘‘But after four years, I decided to become a Catholic. That brewed some storms among the Hounchells, as one might guess, and raised some other new problems. Montgomery’s mother visited him and informed him that true Aryans didn’t need religion because of their superior blood. Then there was the question: because of Montgomery’s previous marriage (he was now married again, to a Pentecostal wife, and had more children), could he be admitted to Catholic baptism? ‘‘I was under a lot of pressure. We were going through all the paperwork with Father Bur ton for months. Then, my brother visited and said, ‘you know, it’s funny, when Dad was sick and you were little, he made Mother get us all bap tized as Catholics.’ ” Stunned, Montgomery heard his brother’s story. “ It wasn’t a religious im pulse,” Montgomery adds, “ it was the old man’s last hustle; he believed that if he died, the Catholics would take care of his wife and children.” A search of the records in Sacramento clinched the revelation: young James Hatfield had indeed been a baptized Catholic all along!
The journey continues
C atholic he is today, indeed. As he explains, “ I get a full nutritional diet in the Catholic Church—I want all that God has prepared for us.” But at the same time, he remains a Bible-thum pin’ evangelical Christian who writes a religious column for three local newspapers on the com mon doctrines of Christianity. In addition, he writes a monthly column for the Catholic diocesan newspaper, meant to stimulate Catholicism with Protestant fervor. From his unique vantage point as an ex-Baptist minister, he can see weaknesses and strengths on both sides. “ Catholics are often too self-efficient; the Protestant humbles himself to ask for needs and prayers in a personal way. Catholics don’t share the faith and witness enough, don’t know their Scriptures.” But through reading and study, he has come to see that the Catholic heritage is rich in evangelical and Pentecostal dimensions, which are beginning to be revived in the charismatic movement. At the same time, Montgomery is critical of a trend in the Catholic Church toward “ a merely psychological religion, found mostly among priests. Christianity, they seem to think, is just being a nice guy.” 20
Montgomery and one of his daughters, who had been playing with elderberry warpaint.
To Protestants, Montgomery witnesses that Catholicism is “ a full banquet of spiritual truths from which any Christian can grow.” To Catholics, he witnesses the deep emotional fervor and evangelical drive of Protestantism. Of priests and nuns, he asks one question: “ have you been saved?” “ We hope you don’t embarass yourself and the Church by asking the Bishop if he’s been saved,” two Catholic ladies cautioned him. “ I hope I don’t embarass myself and the Church by forgetting to ask him,” he replied. The result has been a deeply spiritual mission that has touched many a nun and priest, many a man on the street, and many large groups before whom Montgomery gladly gives his testimony. The Mountain Spirit left Montgomery late in the evening so he could don his uniform and head for the night shift at the Clay County jail. “ I witness in the jail, too,” he adds with a grin, “ they can’t get away from me there.” cap. The Mountain Spirit
around the project
IN MEMORIA M On July 31, Alton Bradley, CAP’S printer and longest term employee, passed away near his home in Crab Orchard, Kentucky, at the age of thirty-eight. Alton joined CAP in 1969, and served CAP’S printing needs first at the print shop located behind St. William Church, and then at the new central office building for the Project on Crab Orchard Road. For a time, CAP’S printing shop was named Kentucky Valley Press. KVP became an independent business concern in 1977 as part of CAP’s program to encourage new businesses and employment in Ap palachia. Alton headed the new operation, but after a time turned it over to associates. He missed his old job, and returned to do printing for Father Beiting. The funeral was held at Ottawa Baptist Church in Rockcastle Coun ty, where Alton attended, in the area where he had spent most of his life and where he owned a small farm. He is survived by his wife Brenda, his children—Troy, Stephen, Anthony, and Chris—and by a sister and father. At the special request of the family, Father Ralph Beiting of ficiated at the church service with Rev. Marion Brock and Earle Davidson. Because it is highly unusual for a Catholic priest to speak in a mountain Baptist church, Father briefly explained the history of his dream for Appalachia, and how Alton’s life had shared in that dream. In his talk, Father remembered the early days when Alton first came to work for him. He reflected that Alton was a bit afraid to talk to a November-December 1982
by the CAP News Service
water damage throughout the house.
Catholic priest, but that over the years he came to love CAP and praise its ecumenical work in the Appalachian areas of Eastern Ken tucky. He praised Alton as a loyal and faithful worker, and assured his family, friends, and dozens of CAP employees who attended, that “ in His infinite mercy, God will take care of him.”
After great effort by Donnie Un derwood of CAP’s maintenance team, and Frank Glovak of CAP’s construction crew, the house was reopened on August 28, and the boys returned. According to Mo Mercier, Direc tor of the Home, “ this event caused the boys to grow in appreciation for the peaceful and attractive home in which they seek full rehabilitation.”
Please join us with prayers for Alton and his family.
Bill Begley, Appeal Director of CAP, wished to thank CAP donors for their overwhelming and heart warming response to the plight of the boys. “ We’re happy that everything is back to normal, and we’re thankful for a renewed ap preciation of our supporters and God’s gifts to CAP.”
Group Home Restored CAMP NELSON—On June 28th, at 2:15 AM, a fire swept through the kitchen and dining hall of CAP’s Camp Nelson Group Home in Garrard County, Kentucky. Awakened by the smoke, several of the boys in the home aroused the others and led them to safety out side. Several others ran to the home of a rural neighbor, Elgin Bruner, who called the fire department, and then returned with the boys to help keep the fire under control until the county fire truck arrived.
Deaf Program Aided By Grant
Apparently started by electrical problems, the fire destroyed the large kitchen and appliances, burst a number of windows, melted the telephone, and spread smoke and > W
nJ
Group home phone after fire.
PALO ALTO, CA.—In an an nouncement dated August 27, 1982, Robert E. Swank informed Father Ralph Beiting that the Caroline and Roxanne Montrose Educational Foundation is awarding a grant of $6000 to the Christian Appalachian Project. Mr. Swank is the President of the Montrose Foundation. The grant came in response to an application made by Ric O’Connell and Ed Wardle on behalf of a new program, the After School Hours Activities Program for deaf children. Devised by Ric, in con sultation with the staff of the Ken tucky School for the Deaf, the program will provide additional educational experiences for deaf children, grades K-12, during 198384. 21
around the p roject. . . continued
On behalf of CAP, Ed Wardle, Director of Planned Giving and Grants, thanked the Montrose Foundation for their generous assistance.
Christmas Basket Program In Full Swing LANCASTER—In November and December it’s “ all hands on deck” for CA P’s Christmas Basket program. Program director Jean Brown has been in the planning stages for the program since May, corresponding with sponsors, coor dinating food drives, home visiting, and working out dozens of little details involved in the distribution of 900 baskets of food, clothing, and gifts to needy families and elderly people in five counties.
WARDLE
In November and December all available CAP volunteers and em ployees will be working with Jean, double checking packages received for families from individual spon sors, sorting canned food, and wrapping gifts for elderly people and unsponsored families.
It’s a hectic time. Something unexpected seems to pop up every minute, but for Jean and all of the volunteers and employees who are working on the program it’s a beautiful way to demonstrate the true spirit of Christmas—giving of oneself so that all people might share the joy of the birth of Christ.
Christian School Approved for Floyd County Reprinted courtesy o f Gwen Hall and The Messenger MARTIN—Ecumenism found fuel for the future at the Coal Building in Martin, Kentucky on August 20. There, 39 Christians of various denominations met to discuss an 11-page proposal for a Christian school in Floyd County. An enthusiastic, unanimous ap proval was given the plan before participating persons left for their homes. Mrs. Barry Johnson, an ac tive member of the Assembly of God Church, termed the proposed school an answer to her prayers.
The proposal was authored by Father Ralph Beiting, who says the idea of a Christian school has been very exciting to him for about five years. By involving all faiths in the school and allowing each denomination to gather its own members for religious instructions during the first period of each day, he envisions interdenominational cooperation and an easing of existing religious tensions. Another dimension of the school’s “ special character” is family in volvement. Parents will be expected to contribute to the learning process at the school as well as commit themselves to study time at home. The school would be owned and operated by the Christian Ap palachian Project of which Father Beiting is the founder and president. CAP will acquire land, construct the buildings, and purchase needed equipment. Tuition will be determined by dividing actual operating costs by the number of students. Every family will pay tuition, but sponsors of partial scholarships for students of low-income families will be sought. The student body is expected to be comprised of between 380 and 490 students. The school will offer five learning programs: a child de velopment day care center of 3, 4 and 5 year olds; a complete grade school (all 8 grades); four years of high school; an evening GED program; and an adult learning cen ter offering college courses and enrichment courses.
Left, volunteers Chuck Klatt and David Smith busily prepare Christ mas baskets. 22
The Mountain Spirit
around the p ro ject. . . continued
Bluegrass Gospel Hits FLC
Tobacco Festival! LANCASTER—On September 15-19 Garrard County celebrated the largest cash crop in Kentucky with its annual Tobacco Festival. Through song, dance, a fair and a parade the citizens of Garrard County joined together to pat them selves on the back a little and revel in the beauty of their home.
RENFRO VALLEY—Since the 4th of July the Family Life Center of Appalachia has been sponsoring live Gospel and country music on Friday nights. The evenings have been under the direction of FLC maintenence man Larry Coguer. Larry serves as impresario, master of ceremonies, and even runs the concession stand in a pinch. Before coming to the Family Life Center, Larry was a local disc jockey, and was asked by FLC director, Jack Morris, to coordinate the shows because of his knowledge of the great talent in the Renfro Valley and Rockcastle County area. Regulars at the Friday night hap penings are popular local groups, the “ Bluegrass Messengers” and the “ Country F o u r.” Attendance, Larry says, has been “ great! Even on rainy nights we’ll have about a hundred. On a nice Friday night we’ll have better than 150!” There is no admission charged, and the evenings are advertised as family events. All the recreation facilities are kept available for the children, and the musicians use an open air stage on the Family Life Center main grounds. Larry makes sure that the hat is passed each night (cowboy hat, that is) and would like to use the proceeds to winterize one of the FLC pavilions so that the good times can go on during the winter months as well. Some time in the coming year Larry would like to try and get a big name to come to the Family Life Center to do a benefit concert to profit all of the programs at the Family Life Center. In the mean time there is plenty of good old country music and foot stompin’ going on at the Family Life Center on Friday nights. November-December 1982
CAP’s Work Activity employees in Lancaster and Stanford added much to the “ Fair on the Square,” displaying their craft items and giving away balloons to all the children. CAP employees Gil Rosenberg and Kate Weigand worked with the girls on Kate’s softball team and entered a float in the parade. L oteda D eatherage o f “ The Bluegrass Messengers” performs on a Friday night at the FLC.
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We’ve always felt that Garrard County has something to celebrate and it’s good to be able to share that with our friends and neighbors.
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How Y’A ll Doing? You A ll Right?
A short time ago, Mr. and Mrs. Edd Howard of Braden ton, Florida visited the Twice as Nice Store in Sarasota. In the course of conversation, the Howards mentioned that they had relatives in Kentucky and Tennessee. The lady behind the sales desk, Miss Pat Morrissey, mentioned that her brother-in-law, Bill Begley, worked in Kentucky for the Christian Appalachian Project. “ Oh, CA P!” Mrs. Howard replied, “ we know all about CAP. We read The Mountain Spirit!” In this ‘chance’ oc currence, the family relationship that The Mountain Spirit seeks to build among its readers was affirmed again. The editorial staff suggests that if you have similar ex periences that you let us know through our Letters to the Editor department. We’d like to hear from all our family about things that concern them. And while we’re at it, we suggest that our readers may wish to adopt the greeting style of our region. “ How Y’all Doing? You All Right?” That’s the code in this here part of the hills. —Eds.
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Blessed are the Peacemakers
Story and Photos by M. Elaine Dillhunt
“ We see ourselves as peacemakers in an area racked by violence; our priory as a place of peace in the middle of an area that has known mostly chaos.” The speakers are four Benedictine nuns who have established the first-ever priory in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Four years ago when Sisters Eileen Schepers and Judy Yonker went to Floyd County, Kentucky from their motherhouse in Ferdinand, Indiana, they didn’t know they were taking a step that would lead to a totally new community and the first priory ever in the Kentucky mountains. Some years before, they had talked with each other about how their own community in Indiana was founded by several nuns breaking off from St. Walburg Convent in Covington and beginning a Benedictine priory in Ferdinand and how the Ferdi nand convent subsequently had “ daughter communities” across the country. They discussed how it seemed to be integral to the Benedictine tradition for these smaller communities to form when a priory got “ too big.” So Sister Judy says “ the idea of a priory was probably in our minds when we came to Kentucky.” It was a long time in reaching reality, but on June 13, 1982, The Dwelling Place Convent was officially designated a dependent priory. That 24
means it is a bona fide, unique Benedictine motherhouse with the right to elect its own prioress and train its own postulants and novices. It is dependent on its founding community at Ferd inand until it is able to be financially indepen dent. Sister Judy was elected prioress by the other three sisters in a secret ballot election in June. T h e priory is located in a “ holler” surrounded on all sides by mountains. To get to it you turn off a potholed paved road onto a potholed dirt road, cross a creek, an old garbage dump, several chunks of metal that were once vehicles, and a dilapidated tobacco barn. You know you’re there when you come upon a lovely two story frame with a stained glass window. The home is flanked by a greenhouse, a birdhouse, and a dog house. The dog house is labeled “ Toby’s” and above it are about two dozen garden tools neatly hung on the outside of a storage shed. Sisters Judy and Charlene Ann built the greenhouse “ by reading and then doing” and it’s providing much of their winter vegetables. The sisters see their greenhouse, their garden, and their goats as symbols of their new—simpler— lifestyle. “ We wouldn’t have this in Ferdinand,” says Sister Judy. The Mountain Spirit
Instead, their extra time is taken up with feeding goats and pets, cutting wood for the woodburning stove, tending the garden, clearing the land for additional hermitages, praying and building community. It suits their inclinations, they say, and their mountain environment. “ After I got here and started working with the animals and the garden I wondered how I had lived those 12 years in the city without all this,” says Sister Eileen who grew up on a farm. Sister Charlene Ann adds, “ you know it kind of gives you a different view of life from at the con vent where there was always somebody to take care of things. Here we chopped wood when the furnace went out and we couldn’t get it fixed for ten days . . . we work hard sometimes but . . . .” She drifts off into her own thoughts. The Dwelling Place witness is not showy. In fact, it’s hardly visible. “ Just living an ordinary Christian life is our apostolate,” says Sister Charlene with her usual low keyed tone. “ Maybe a bit more intensely.” Nuns in the Benedictine tradition follow the old advice of St. Benedict, their founder, to ora et labora, which means “ work and pray.”
Not only does the simpler lifestyle help them fit in better with their mountain neighbors, she says, but it also helps them balance the contemplation and action that is so integral to monasticism. ‘‘We’re all at a place in our lives where we’re seeking more contemplation.” In all seriousness, but through a laugh, she adds, “ maybe here we just don’t need as much will power to avoid out side commitments.” She laughs again. “ The road takes care of your will power. Once you get home, it’s so nice and you just don’t want to go to the bother of going out again.” Outside commitments are few for these Benedic tines. Sister Eileen works 32 hours a week for Mountain Comprehensive Care with developmentally disabled. Sister Jeanette is director of volun teers at the local Catholic hospital, Sister Judy teaches at a public school, and Sister Charlene Ann stays home putting the finishing touches on the hermitage they’re building and leading the solitary life that she feels drawn to. Even the parish church 15 miles away in Prestonsburg doesn’t get a lot of their time. Sister Judy helps with liturgy, Sister Eileen is on the Renew Com mittee, Sister Charlene Ann does some cleaning, and Sister Jeanette helps with clerical things, but their time commitment is minimal. November-December 1982
The Dwelling Place averages two sets of visitors per week April through October. There are sisters from Ferdinand, volunteer workers in the area, lay and religious friends from all over, parents, people interested in the possibility of joining them, and women from the area who just need to get away for a while. Hospitality is supposedly a Benedictine charism and these women seem bent on proving it. Their home is large and lovely: five bedrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, two baths, and a chapel. There’s a loft above the dining and living rooms to accomodate additional overnighters and one in a bedroom. In the chapel there’s a hideabed so altogether 13 can sleep comfortably—and often do. G uests are made to feel a part of the household. If climbing a mountain is “ your thing” one of the sisters is happy to go with you. If you like sleeping late, no problem. Coffee will be there when you get up. You can watch and talk as Sister Judy “ dusts” the potato plants or you can help if you like. The atmosphere is relaxed, peaceful, warm. After a late supper and dishes, Sister Charlene Ann sits in the living room reading Better Homes and Gardens, Sister Eileen kneels in the chapel preparing evening prayers (“ it’s her turn” ), Sister Judy relaxes on the porch listening to the bull frogs and birds. Sister Jeanette is in town this evening. In keeping with Benedictine tradition, com munity prayer and liturgy have high priority. The 25
sisters pray together twice a day and attend Mass together weekends. Usually they have weekday Mass only twice a month when either Father Ralph Beiting or Father Lou Lipps come to the convent. But they have a Eucharistic service daily with one of the sisters serving as minister. T heir reactions to getting approval as a priory are varied. Sister Judy thinks it is “just a very natural development.” She says it is in keeping with Benedictine history to go to a place, make it a center of Benedictine peace and hospitality, and then a priory. Sister Charlene Ann says she can’t get too ex cited about it because right now she doesn’t get too excited about anything. “ I’m just trying to listen to the Lord and I know that whatever He wants will get done.” She says severing the ties with old friends at Ferdinand, however, has been hard. “ So I have mixed feelings.” Sister Eileen adds that for her becoming a priory is “ kind of scary.” Since she’s the bookkeeper for the house, she’s very much aware of the financial aspects of such a move. “ At times I get concerned about that, but I try to tell myself that’s my will coming into the picture. I really believe that we’re called here by the Lord and that we’re responding so what is there for us to worry about?” The financial picture of the new priory is promising. Salaries and stipends for the three sisters who are drawing pay from their jobs in the community total over $25,000. In addition, a sister from another community and a lay person who are temporarily living with them are paying room and board and they are getting a postulant
soon who will add another part-time salary. The Christian Appalachian Project has helped, too, with both a loan and a donation. The sisters are grateful for both the temporal and the spiritual support they have had from Father Beiting, who is their pastor. “ I just feel more confident about establishing a priory here because of Father Beiting,” Sister Charlene Ann said. Father Beiting even sends CAP volunteers out to the priory to help in the building of the her mitages. “ Their help has been invaluable,” said the sisters, since the site of the hermitages is on the side of a mountain and it’s difficult for these women to clear the land, carry the materials, dig the ditches and foundations by themselves. One hermitage is almost finished and has already been used for several private retreats. Sister Charlene Ann hopes to one day move into a her mitage permanently, but says she knows that may be a long way off since she’s now responsible for formation of postulants and novices as well as being retreat director. Establishing a center in the mountains for prayer and reflection was the major goal of these Benedictines when they went to Floyd County. “ It was a response to the Bishops’ pastoral This Land is Home to Me, ” says Sister Judy (the need for such centers was emphasized in that letter). T h e Dwelling Place is a prayerful, reflective refuge and it is more than that. It is a symbol of trust—of the faith of four women that Christ does, indeed, dwell amongst us.
Community prayer—a vital part of the priory’s mission.
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The Mountain Spirit
Editorial
Well, that’s the first year! A year ago, the faithful readers of Ken tucky River Soundings received notice that a new publication was about to be born, The Mountain Spirit. We promised six longer issues a year that would “ keep our friends and supporters in close con tact with the Appalachian scene— the people, the culture, the events, the speech, the scenery, and the history that make this part of America ‘a place to come to,’ as one Kentucky writer put it.” That’s a rather tall order, especially for a handful of staff members, all of them part-time (we all have other responsibilities in the Project). We think we’ve done a pretty good job for a first year. W e’ve covered A ppalachian schools, coal mine disasters, and Mother Teresa. We’ve brought you stories about interesting characters like Willie Coyle, C.B. Ledford, Ed Phillips, Uncle Peter, and Sister Pansy. And we’ve brought you indepth stories about CAP personnel and the work they do, both in The CAP Closeup and in features, such as those on the Louxs and the Harrisons. We’ve tried to keep you abreast of interesting developments in CAP through our CAP News Service—which is really a fancy name for the grapevine we have spread over twelve or so counties. Come to think of it, it’s more like the kudzu vine: it’s always full, and it grows faster than anything alive. We have a hard time keeping up. Each week Kathy Stathers, our circulation clerk, brings us the comments you’ve written on the renewal forms, and we’re happy to report that 99.9% of them have been overwhelmingly favorable.
That’s when we feel best—because we think of each issue and each story in relation to you, our Christian supporters in fifty states. Through your spirit, we are able to spread “ the m ountain sp irit” around the land. Which is precisely what we want to do, for we think of the mountain spirit as a spirit of family, love, hard work, prayer, and love of country. We’re also grateful for the numerous donations you’ve sent us in response to the appeals we’ve placed in the magazine. Yes, we know you get so much mail! Just now, it’s hard for all of us who give. My wife and I receive appeal letters every day, from many worthy Christian causes, and we have to make weekly decisions on which we can afford to support. It is simply one of the facts of modern life that those who are trying to meet the hurts of the world must ask, and those who have a giving spirit must do the best they can with their in creasingly tight resources. Right now, there are several ways you can help the Christian Ap palachian Project. I’m just going to list them, and pray that our needs will be met by God according to His Will.
R. Kenton Craven, Editor Randy Jordan is in charge of both volunteer recruitm ent and the special project on the stained glass windows. Just write him here, CAP, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Ky. 40446, or call him at 606-7923051.
One, we are happy to have a small chapel in our central office, just completed. Bob Howe, our new spiritual director, is beginning a prayer and Bible study meeting this month that will help our em ployees—Catholics, Baptists, M or-, mons, Methodists, Episcopalians, and others—strengthen their sense of Christian purpose. The chapel could use some stained glass win dows, however. Would you like to offer a memorial for a friend or loved one, and help our religious life at the same time?
Third, The Mountain Spirit needs more readers. We are determined to make the magazine pay for itself so that it does not interfere with our major purpose. To do this, we need to continue adding readers. Unlike secular magazines, we cannot use commercial channels to do so; we can rely only on our loyal readers to help us. Will you take a moment to use the envelope in the fold of the magazine, and give a friend a gift subscription? After all, where else can you get a magazine gift sub scription for only $5.00? At the same time, you will be helping to build our special family of readers across the country.
Two, we’re short of volunteers this year, and are consequently straining our manpower to cover all our projects. Why not pass The Moun tain Spirit on to friends (21 and over) who may be looking for a way to spend a year or two in helping others, and themselves?
We’ll do our part by continuing our coverage of Appalachia in the best way we can! Have a joyful, holy Christmas season, filled with prayer and affection, and we’ll be back in your mailbox in January for another year of stories and good news. —r k c
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The Mountain Spirit Christian Appalachian Project Lancaster, Kentucky 40446
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID Christian Appalachian Project