Issuu

The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project

In this issue: W here H ave We Been, W here A re We G oing? Appalachian Bishops Pastoral L etter January-February 1996

January-February 1996 Vol. XV, No. 1

ountain p in t

The Magazine of the Christian Appalachian Project

Weaving Accomplishments with Challenges by Beth Dotson

Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going? by Margaret Gabriel

Center o f Prayer and Reflection, page twenty-six

The Sunshine Center by the CAP News Service

A Response to “The Pastoral99 by Margaret Gabriel

Departments 3 10 16 “At Home in the Web o f Life, ” page four.

Random Thoughts Around the Project The CAP Closeup Letters

“At Home in the Web of Life” In 1975 twenty-five Roman Catholic bishops, representing dioceses in the thirteen Appalachian states, released “This Land is Home to Me,” a pastoral letter on power lessness in Appalachia. The letter is a poetic exploration of the beauty of the Appalachian region, and an examination of the poverty and powerlessness that was present in the area. Twenty years later, in 1995, the bishops of the same Appalachian dioceses have published a compan ion piece, “At Home in the Web of Life.” Frequent contributor to The Mountain Spirit Beth Dotson attended the meeting of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, where the draft of the letter was presented for observation and comment. On page four you can leam about that meeting, and meet some of the people who will respond to “A Home in the Web of Life.” On page twenty-six, you’ll meet a group of Benedictine sisters whose community was founded as a response to “This Land is Home to Me.” As the new letter explores the need for sustainable communities, the sisters of The Dwelling Place Monastery have been practicing this sustanance for many years, and are ready to share what they've learned. On the cover, Sister Judy Yunker, prioress of the Dwelling Place and science teacher at the Mountain Christian Academy.

Published by the Christian Appalachian Project. Editor: Margaret Gabriel. Advisory Board: Father Ralph W. Beiting, Mike McLaughlin, Bill Begley,Carla Durand, Teresa McAnly, Katie Newsome, Beverly Potter. Graphic Designer: Elizabeth Reed Roberts. Circulation: Linda Grider East. The M ountain S p irit is published six times a year. The annual subscription price is $6.00. Subscriptions and other correspondence should be sent to The M ountain S pirit, Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky 40446. Copyright 1995, The Christian Appalachian Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Member, Catholic Press Association. The Christian Appalachian Project is a non-profit Christian service organization operating throughout Appalachia. The project operates on the philosophy that “helping people help themselves” is the best approach to Appalachian poverty.

A summary of the registration and financial documents filed by this organization can be obtained by contacting: in New York, Secretary of State, Office of Charities Registration, 162 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12231; in Maryland, for the cost of copies and postage, the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401; in NEW JERSEY, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, 202-6264380; in NORTH CAROLINA, A COPY OF THE LICENSE TO SOLICIT CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS AS A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION OR SPONSOR AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, SOLICITATION LICENSING BRANCH, BY CALLING (919)733-4510; in Pennsylvania, residents may call the Pennsylvania Department of State at 1-800-732-0999; for West Virginia residents, the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, W V 25305; in Virginia, the State Division of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209; Washington State residents may obtain a copy of the last report filed with the Washington Secretary of State by calling toll free within Washington, 1-800-332-4483; IN FLORIDA, RESIDENTS MAY CALL THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES AT 1-800-HELP FLA or by writing to Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, KY 40446. Our license number in Michigan is MICS 9933. Registration with any of the above government agencies does not imply endorsement by the state.

The Mountain Spirit

Random Thoughts “This Land is Home To Me” (excerpts) The cries come now from A ppalachia but they are echoed - across the land - across the earth in the suffering of too many peoples. Together these many sufferings form a single cry.

Profit over people is an idol. And it is not a new idol, for Jesus warned us, “no one can be the slave of two masters.”

Part One The Land and Its People

The living God, the Lord we worship is the God of the poor.

Yes, the poor of the mountains have been wounded, but they are not crushed. The Spirit still lives The sound of music still ripples through the hills. Continually the tears of song burn in outrage, and outrage lives in struggle.

C oal A long time ago in this country when big industry just got started, Appalachian coal played a big role. It fed the furnaces of our first industrial giants like Pittsburgh and Buffalo. the coal based industry created many jobs, and brought great progress to our country. but it brought other things too, among them oppression for the mountains.

The Worship of an Idol The driving force behind this perversion is “Maximization of Profit,” a principle which too often converts itself into an idolatrous power. Without judging anyone, it has become clear to us that the present economic order does not care for its people. In fact, profit and people frequently are contradictory.

January-February 1996

Part Two The Answer of the Lord and His Church

In Israel, he revealed himself to his people by liberating them from oppression under the bondage of Egypt . . . Not only in the liberation of his people does the Lord reveal himself as the Living God, but also within Israel by defending all those who are victims of injustice.

The Church’s Mission Out of our faith in the risen Jesus a new community of people is born, seeking to be united in one mind and spirit with him. Upon this community Jesus pours forth his spirit, the Spirit of truth who teaches us everything and reminds us of all he said to us. The choice between the Living God and inert idols is not only a choice between justice and injustice. It is also a choice between life and death. Today, I set before you life or death, blessings or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live.

P a rt T h ree F a cin g the F u tu re More and more people recognize that a new social order is being born. Indeed, the Spirit of God presses us to this recognition We do not understand it all, but we know we are part of it, - in Appalachia - in our nation - across the world . . . We must continually take time and invest creativity into listening to our people, especially the poor. For it is they who out of their frustrations, dreams and struggles must lead the way for all of us. Especially we stress emphasis on the economic questions for these are the first and most basic questions for all people. We call attention to the presence of powerful multinational corporations now within our region. The fate and role of these institutions is a major question not only for Appalachia, but for the whole world.

C o n clu sio n As this letter closes, sisters and brothers, we wish you and all the people throughout the region the gift of peace in the Lord. We know that all those who love the Lord will struggle to follow his path, no matter how confusing that may be during these times.

M/ïtl QjUUm ^ Church workers discuss changes in Appalachia in the past 20 years and the goals a new document inspires them to reach ♦ 4

Story and photos by Beth Dotson ♦ The Mountain Spirit

At Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia, church workers gathered like disciples who were about to hear a prophet speak. All were familiar with the voice heard 20 years ago when the Catho lic bishops of Appalachia issued their pastoral letter, “This Land is Home to Me.” The document drew some of them to the region to join the fight for justice and dignity among the Appalachian people. For others, its words had helped them understand the true concerns of the region and what they could do to help address them. What they were anticipating at this meeting of the Catholic Committee on Appalachia (CCA) was the revelation of a new document — a companion piece to the Appalachian pastoral. The meeting gave them an opportunity to celebrate the work of the past 20 years and to reflect on the work yet to be done. When they read the new document — “At Home in the Web of Life” — they heard a challenge not only to continue working for justice in the region, but to create and support sustainable communities that can thrive in Appala chia, while providing models for other parts of the country, and even the world.

tists, religious leaders and documents from the United Nations all confirm that our modern way of life, and especially our use of fossil fuels, is not sustainable. In 1975 when the bishops were discuss ing “This Land is Home to Me,” it was coal companies that voiced objections. At that time, there was less discussion about fossil fuels and sustainable communities. The discussion was about the fair treatment of Appalachians, including miners. The objection of the coal companies did not persuade the bishops to change that pastoral. “The nature of the problem was that so much of the resources and the wealth of this land was not benefiting the people in the community, and that people needed to begin kind of asserting themselves in terms of this was their land and they had a right to be here and they were not so dumb, stupid and ignorant that they were going to be used by the people,” explained Marian Colette, who was also involved in creating “This Land is Home to Me.” During her time in the region, Colette has helped people develop the skills they need to improve life themselves. In 1985,

The draft of “At Home in the Web of Life” that the group read was divided into three parts: The land and its people, the Bible and church teaching, and the present call of the spirit. Throughout, it offers suggestions for building sustainable communities. “Last time it (the pastoral) was centered on the theme of liberation, which is very important still. This time it’s centered much more in cre ation,” said Joe Holland in a speech to those gathered. Holland, now a professor at St. Thomas University in Miami, wrote “This Land is Home to Me.” He also worked with the CCA team on the new pastoral. His speech put the new document in a global context. He told the crowd that scien-

January-February 1996

Young people presented skits and posters illustrating some o f the points o f “At Home in the Web o f Life, ”

Colette began Whitley County Communi ties for Children (WCCC) in Williamsburg, Kentucky. She is now its executive director.

which is a far cry from an 18-year-old sitting on a couch in her mother-in-law’s house looking at her shoes and not being able to even look you in the eye.”

To Colette, the changes the region has undergone during the past 20 years are evident in the four women she worked with to found WCCC. Colette said she thinks about how they have grown, “Not only their own self-confidence, which has skyrocketed, not only their level of educa tion, but also how they’ve been empowered to do things within this community. It’s phenomenal.” Non-profit community based groups that were founded, some in re sponse to the pastoral, provided an environment in which people could develop these skills.

WCCC has also grown through the years by evolving to meet the needs of the families with infants with whom they originally worked. As the children grew, WCCC saw the families had other needs. Of the first 100 mothers they visited, the average grade finished was ninth. So, WCCC began to offering a tutoring program. Now they also offer day care for low-income families and a mentoring program for teens and preteens.

Colette tells Sharon’s story to illustrate her point. When Colette met Sharon 12 years ago, Sharon was 18, pregnant, in high school and depressed. She was one of the original staffers Colette hired in 1983 to start a mother-to-mother health program. Today as a WCCC employee, Colette described Sharon. “She’s dealing with people, not only with local families, but with people from all over the country,

WCCC has helped to build the human capacity needed to create the sustainable communities “At Home in the Web of Life” calls for. Many church workers in the region believe that human capacity can only be built when people throw out their old “do gooder” attitudes and give the people they are trying to help more responsibility for their own situations.

Health care workers for the Whitley County Communties for Children instruct mothers in good health care practices for their children. Workers increase their own knowledge as they help others.

The Mountain Spirit

One such person is Margie Zureick, a Catholic nun who has been working in Appalachia on and off since 1971. She is presently associate pastor at the Campion Catholic Center in eastern Kentucky, and president of Wolfe County Habitat for H um anity. Zureick said “This Land is Home to Me” helped people see that rather than fixing all of Appalachia’s problems for its residents, a more effective way to make long-lasting changes in the region was to help people learn to make the changes and improvements themselves. For example, Zureick used to go to homes to deliver boxes of Christmas presents to children. She remembers that parents would sometimes stand in the background and hang their heads because they weren’t able to give to their own children. “Today, we invite the parents to come in, and they choose gifts they know their kids would like, and they pay a small fee for it. It’s still a big help to them. . . they have bought and paid for it and they give the gifts to their children as they want to.” Zureick is also able to offer small loans to entrepreneurs. For example, during the Christmas season, Zureick said, many people want to make crafts that they can sell. She can lend them the money to buy the supplies, at no interest, and when they sell the crafts they can pay her back and keep the profit. “They are proud of their work,” Zureick said. The pastoral taught Zureick that preserving and encouraging human dignity is the most important aspect of her work. The loan program fits into that. “This way they have really earned what they have . . . There’s such a difference.” Although Zureick has seen progress during her years in the region, she also fears that the media often perpetuate Appalachian stereotypes that diminish human dignity. These stereotypes raise strong roadblocks to Appalachians who move to other states, where people treat them like “stupid hillbillies.” Zureick has

January-February 1996

“At Homein the Web o f Life” provides Appalachians with an opportunity to disprove the stereotypes . . . even seen this happen in schools where the teachers expect less from the Appalachian child. “At Home in the Web of Life” provides Appalachians with an opportunity to disprove the stereotypes by creating examples the country will want to follow.

“I know of no other place where there are so many signs of breakthrough as you have here in Appalachia,” Holland told the group at the CCA meeting. One example of what Appalachia has to offer is in Livingston, Kentucky, where A1 Fritsch, a Catholic priest, founded Appala chia Science in the Public Interest (ASPI) in 1977. ASPI offers workshops, publica tions and a demonstration center, all with the aim of helping people learn to live simply in ways that are healthy for the earth and for its inhabitants. ASPI has concentrated much of its energy during the past few years on its Resource Auditing Service. This service “audits” a property for its use of environ mental resources. Fritsch said the team has conducted 106 audits, and they are now trying to interest Catholic dioceses in receiving training to do the audits them selves. “We’re hoping in 1996 to have in Mount Vernon a meeting of people from this part of the country to have a training,” Fritsch said. This training can help people at the local level learn how to make good environmental decisions when building on their properties. The Resource Auditing Service, which has been used by groups in many states, is

“To me the big message was that Appalachia is key in its culture, in one sense, about the land, using the land, not abusing it, growing your own food. Prob ably we’re going to survive rather than depend on shipping in the food, and growing the right type of food. And also the whole emphasis on children,” said Leanne Herda, a Catholic nun who attended the CCA meeting.

Sister Leanne Herda,a retired nurse who chairs the board o f the Whitley County Communities fo r Children.

one example of how Appalachia has been able to export expertise to different parts of the country. Fritsch hopes the new pastoral will encourage more of that. “The mountains have something to offer others,” he said. He has seen this in his own environmental work as well as in the lives of people who have moved to Appala chia and shared how they have grown from what the region gives. He hopes the new pastoral will help people know, “that we share things. Because we’re poor, we don’t have to just take the largesse of other people. We also have something to offer.”

Herda is chair of the WCCC board of directors and a retired nurse. She has seen an increase in health care resources in the region and in leadership among local people. One example of that is within a group of mothers of handicapped children with whom she worked. “One thing I feel very, very good about is instead of them (the mothers) calling me for every little thing, which they used to do, I started a support group of mothers . . . the support group has been very successful and to this day

While the first pastoral brought a lot of volunteers into the region, Fritsch said, he hopes the new document will help volun teers develop a deeper understanding of the Appalachia’s problems and gifts. One of those gifts is that Appalachians are usually very attached to the land around them, therefore they are more in touch with environmental issues than people in some other parts of the country. Joe Holland said that as we move into a different society, those who live closer to the land will be in a better position to create these sustainable communities. Already, there are experiments going on in the Appalachian region. “These small sustainable communities and lifestyles are the mustard seeds of a new civilization,” Holland said.

The Mountain Spirit

those mothers call each other. They do rely on each other for support.” Building support networks is one of Herda’s talents. Another is encouraging people to dream their dreams, because she knows they can come true. In Whitley County, she saw her dream of making health care more accessible to rural families come to fruition in late 1995. The county an nounced it was renovating a bookmobile into a healthmobile. Herda said it took nearly 15 yeas, but it finally happened. “At Home in the Web of Life” sets forth a new dream — to create physical and emo tional environments that can sustain life. In the diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, Marcus Keyes has already begun to bring the church into the environmental movement. Keyes and his wife Glenda run the Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, which has been putting more emphasis on ecological issues during the past year. Keyes has worked with A1 Fritsch to begin raising awareness of environmental issues in the Knoxville diocese. He invited Fritsch to speak with a gathering of priests in the diocese about ecology. He presented them with resources and methods for working on ecological issues at the parish level. Keyes was also encouraged when 30 of 45 invited people attended a meeting about working on environm ental issues. The diocese now has Through Peace Place in Whitley County people who have been moved by “This Land is Home to M e’’ have an opportunity to work with Appalachian children.

January-February 1996

“Every little thing a person does creates awareness, Keyes says. “eco-church ministry teams” that are exploring ways individual parishes can heighten awareness about environmental issues. This work has shown Keyes that there is great interest in this new connection be tween faith and the earth, especially from senior citizens. “They say, ‘I’ve been waiting 76 years to hear this confirmed by the church. I knew this.’ ” Even more people will know it when the new pastoral is published because Keyes, as well as many others who heard the prophetic words at the CCA meeting, plans to use it in his work. He hopes to present it to parishes and encourage them to ask, “What does it mean for us in particular?” Keyes hopes the discussions will lead people to realizing that environmental problems don’t need to overwhelm them. They can work on one small thing at a time. “Every little thing a person does creates awareness,” Keyes said. The awareness is already there in many Appalachian communities and “At Home In The Web Of Life” will make it stronger. CCA director Todd Garland said, “What I hope (the pastoral) will do is to call a lot of people to think every day how what they’re doing affects the community and the environment in which they live, and challenge them to live in a way that calls them to nurture the community and the earth.” Activities during the past 20 years have encouraged much growth in the region’s people, and those who have served them. That growth and service will play vital roles during the next 20 years as Appalachians work to follow the prophetic voice the pastoral provides and create sustainable communities from which the entire world can learn. You can purchase copies of “This Land Is Home To Me" and “At Home In The Web Of Life” from the Catholic Committee on Appalachia, P.O. Box 662, Webster Springs, WV 26288, (304) 847-7215.

-------Around the Project — CDC in Berea Raises Money for St. Jude’s Mary Mundy, head teacher at the Christian Appalachian Project Child Development Center in Berea, taught her three- and fouryear-old students a good lesson recently when they participated in the St. Jude Hospital Trike-AThon. The children rode laps around the tricycle track at the center, earning money which had been pledged for each lap completed as parents and teachers watched and cheered. “The week before they rode we studied bike safety and learned bike rules,” Mary said. “We called it the ‘We Care Trike-A-Thon,’ and the kids knew that they were riding to help kids who are sick. They said they were riding so other kids could play.” And ride they did. Mary proudly reports that her students lapped the track 537 times. “One little boy went around 52 times without stopping!” she said. In addition to sending the money which was pledged by family and friends for the trike-athon, the children sent homemade cards and posters to the St. Jude patients. “It was really valuable for them to give of themselves, and they enjoyed helping others.” CAP Child Development is one of six child development centers serving families with pre schoolers. In addition to the in center programs, which serve three- and four-year-olds, five of the centers also provide InfantToddler: Parent Connections, which meets with parents of younger children in their homes.

The three- andfour-year old students at CAP Child Development in Berea raise money for St. Jude Hospital by participating in the “We Care Trike-A-Thon ”

Lawrence County Students Provide Service Hours to CAP Elderly Middle and high school students in Lawrence County are earning the service hours they need for graduation by helping with CAP programs in Louisa, reports elderly services manager Melissa Vance. “They helped us serve our Thanksgiving dinner, and helped with Christmas basket distribu tion by picking out presents to give to our elderly people,” Melissa said. Melissa and Louisa outreach manager Albert Bloomfield became involved with the stu dents after meeting with Renee Sparks, the youth service center director in Lawrence County. “We started brainstorming and came up with all kinds of ways that they could help us,” Melissa said. “Renee presented it and the kids went wild over the idea. Then we came in and told them a little bit

more about CAP and the work we do in the area.” Eight middle schoolers and six high schoolers participated in the CAP Thanksgiving dinner, which hosted nearly 50 elderly people who enjoyed turkey, dressing, ham, green beans and mashed potatoes (“We all cooked!” Melissa said), and a religious service conducted by CAP assistant director Richard Ginn. After the first of the year the students will help pack and distribute the seed used in CAP’S garden program, Melissa said.

Christian Appalachian Project is a p a rtic ip a tin g agency in the C om bined Federal Campaign. Federal and m ilita ry emplo yees can co n trib u te to CAP by designating # 0 8 9 8 on the CFC pledge card.

The Mountain Spirit

around the project. . . continued Universities Sponsor Poverty Simulation for Teachers and Social Workers With the greeting, “Welcome to the State of Poverty,” Elizabeth Dolan, a faculty member of the University of New Hampshire, began a poverty simulation sponsored by the Kentucky State University and University of Kentucky extension programs and the Kentucky Center for Adult Education and Literacy. About 45 teachers and social workers from agencies throughout Kentucky participated in the simulation, held on the KSU campus in Frankfort. The group was divided into families of two, three or four; two people played single, elderly people. Each “family” had a packet which included a family history, name tags for each member, and resources the family could use to make it through the month. The packets were as individualized as the families. Some included paychecks representing wages from a minimum wage job, others had welfare or disability checks, food stamps or transportation passes. For nearly every family the obligations that needed to be met were far greater than the resources available to meet them. Most of the participants were well aware that the situation mirrored the circumstances of poor people. The simulation lasted two hours, which represented one month. At the end of each half hour period, a whistle blew, signifying the end of a week. The task for each family was to meet all of the obligation needed to subsist for the month, including shelter, food, and utilities. Some families had to repay loan obligations or see that their children attended school.

The “State of Poverty” was a large room with tables around the walls representing vendors or offices. Tables were staffed by volunteers playing roles that included grocer, banker and utility collector. Volunteers playing the roles of welfare workers, participants found during a closing discussion, actually worked in a Frankfort Department for Social Insurance office. One volunteer played the role of the sheriff, complete with a plastic badge. Another, pointed out as “a shifty woman in sun glasses,” tried to interest families in selling food stamps or engage in other illegal activities that could make it easier to make ends meet until the end of the month. CAP outreach manager Bev Potter participated in the simula tion, playing the role of an unemployed steel worker. “At the beginning of the month my family and I had a plan, but the human element interrupted and by the end of the first week I had fear and frustration.” As she began to go about the tasks needed to keep her family together another participant robbed Bev of all of her resources — unemployment check, food stamps, identification. “Without that ID, I couldn’t even get in to see service providers,” she said. “I tried to be honest, but after I became a victim of crime I became a criminal myself because it was easier. It was really startling.” Participating in the simulation increased her compassion, Bev said. “It helped me to better understand the participants we serve and their priorities, and the approach we need to take to help them with their problems.”

Can You Use a Payroll Deduction? Ifyouremployerhasa payroll deduction giving program, you maydonateto anytaxexempt[501 (c)3l charity ofyourchoice— includingCAP! If you would liketousethiseasywayto makeyourgiftstoCAP, please designate: Christian Appalachian Project 322 Crab Orchard Road Lancaster, KY40446 Please besuretoinclude CAP'saddress when you make yourrequest. If you would like more information about waysto become involved in corporate giving, contactTeresa McAnly at 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky40446.

CAP Honors State Employees The Christian Appalachian Project honored the Kentucky Employees’ Charitable Campaign when it observed National Philanthropy Day, designated by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. “We’ve had great support from the KECC, “ said Teresa McAnly, manager of CAP’S corporate grants. KECC gives state employ ees the opportunity to make contributions to several charities through payroll deduction. State employees also sponsor special events and other fund raisers to help thousands of their fellow citizens through CAP and other charities. “I’ve really enjoyed the opportu nity to work on the campaign and meet so many dedicated Kentuck ians,” Teresa said.

January-February 1996

-------around the project. . . continued

Baseball Star Speaks at Rockcastle Teen Center Hands shot up in the meeting room at the Christian Appala chian Project Rockcastle Teen Center when Max Appel, state director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, asked, “Are there any University of Kentucky basketball fans here?” Max named a half dozen UK athletes that are also members of CFA and sug gested that a similar group, known as a “huddle,” could give Rockcastle County athletes a strong foundation for building up the values of God and family. Max introduced Doug Flynn, “a brother in Christ who played basketball at UK and on two World Series teams. But most importantly, he’s a bond servant of Jesus Christ. He was set free, but chose to come back and work for his master.”

together and have fun without drugs or alcohol. “I get excited because I know God has good things in store for you,” Doug said. He said that they could begin to experience these good things by being true to themselves, their friends and their families. “Do you have a best friend? When’s the last time you told them they were special?” Doug told the group that he and Max had come to tell them about a special friend that had loved them so much that 2000 years ago he died for them. Through the love of Christ, he said, he has come to find the joy of friendship and happiness. “It’s so simple,” he said. “It’s not in drugs, it’s not in alcohol. The FCA is people who love you and love the Lord.”

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Doug is the director of Champi ons Against Drugs, a group which encourages young people to avoid substance abuse. He assured the group that despite what they might think, there are many people who love them and care about them and want them to get

Employees Share Spiritual Renewal CAP workers in the Floyd and Lawrence county area partici pated in a spiritual renewal recently, which was planned and coordinated by Richard Ginn, assistant director of programming in Louisa. Vice-president Mike Sanders offered the opening prayer, and music was provided by Sheila and Geoff Barrett. Elderly services manager Melissa Vance and staff counselor Kathy Rhodus prepared lunch for the group of about twenty. ‘We had lunch and fellowship, includ-

Doug Flynn, who played with two World Series teams, signs autographs at the Rockcastle Teen Center before speaking out against drug and alchohol abuse.

ing door prizes,” Kathy said. “Everybody got a door prize.”

what they thought about CAP’s direction.”

CAP founder Father Ralph Beiting gave the spiritual mes sage, telling the group about two books he has been reading which remind him of the vision he sees for CAP. “He answered questions, too,” Kathy said. “People shared

Kathy said that the day was planned to nurture the CAP family, and give folks an opportu nity to grow together. “If we do that we’ll recharge and have more to take out into the community,” Kathy said. The Mountain Spirit

around the project. . . continued CAP Worker Honored by Business and Professional Women Zayda Hurd’s work with the Christian Appalachian Project has made her a very busy woman.

County. They live together in their home, but neither can do the household chores or daily errands.

And a very well respected one in Berea.

The husband is legally blind and the wife uses a wheelchair.

That’s why she was named the Berea Business and Professional Women’s Club Woman of the Year.

“CAP does for them what they cannot do for themselves,” Hurd said.

”I’m real excited about being in the BPW,” Hurd said. “I think we do a lot for women, especially in the community. I’d like to do more advertising and promotion for the club, because I think more people should be involved in it.”

“He is getting ready to have back surgery, so we found some one to stay with his wife. They really appreciated that someone takes the time. These (volunteers) really visit and care,” she said. Hurd has worked her way up through the ranks of CAP the past nine years. She began as a worker in an abuse shelter and now she is an organizational manager.

Hurd, also president of Berea BPW this year, manages CAP’S elderly program, which serves senior citizens in Madison, McCreary, Rockcastle, Jackson and Owsley counties. Her organi zation has done a lot of good for the people in those areas.

Hurd believes that BPW’s work in Berea is enhanced by her work with CAP and women. She has been with Berea BPW for three years.

Take, for example, an elderly couple right here in Madison

Reprinted with permission from the Richmond Register.

Gift Annuities

A gift annuity to the Christian Appalachian Project will help us continue to provide employ ment opportunities to Appala chian people. This activity is an essential part of our mission to help people help themselves. But, what is a gift annuity? It’s a legal agreement by which you make a gift to CAP and receive a guaranteed life in come in return. For a more complete expla nation, write today for your free copy of “Giving Through Gift Annuities” by filling outthe cou pon below and enclosing it in the envelope provided. Clip and send

Christian Appalachian Project 322 Crab Orchard Road Lancaster, Kentucky 40446 Name__________________ Ad d ress_________________ C ity ____________________ State, ZIP________________ Date of Birth _____________ Kentucky; state employee Robin Finzer coordinated a drive which collected clothing and household goods from fellow state employees as part o f the Kentucky>Employ ees ’ Charitable Campaign. Robin works in the Cabinetfor Human Resources.

January-February 1996

Telephone_______________

around the project. . . continued

Volunteers Give Zest to Christmas Baskets For years Fred and Bea Norton supported the Christian Appala chian Project with donations and prayers, hoping to be able to lend support as volunteers. Their chance came in 1995, when they traveled from their home in Murphy, North Carolina. Fred worked in CAP’S home repair program and Bea joined the group of “elves” who count, wrap, and unpack boxes for the Christmas basket program. “We grow blueberries as a cash crop, so we can’t come in the summer,” Bea said. “It’s been great. I got to go out with Marie [Bonner, an outreach worker] one day, and it was great to meet some of the people that CAP helps.” Bea, a newcomer to the Christ mas program, was joined by Jay and Ed Barrett, who came from Vermont for their fifth Christmas in Kentucky in 1995. “It’s very rewarding work,” Ed said. “We always tell our family and friends how luck we are to be able to come here and how much we can do to help.” Jay and Ed learned about CAP through a mailing. After working for a year with a volunteer group in Texas, they looked for a short term commitment. “We volun teered here before we went to Texas,” Jay said. “We felt like we could fit in well here. As luck would have it, we found the Christmas basket program .” Ed and Jay said that they like CAP’S environment, and the support that they receive from the volunteer and the outreach departments, as well as the people who work in the administrative offices that surround the “Christ mas workshop.”

Pat McMahill, a temporary volunteer, lends a hand wrapping Christmas baskets as workers in the outreach department prepare to distribute over 2000 baskets o f food and clothing to Appalachian families and elderly people.

“People could walk by here five times a day, and they talk to us every time,” Ed said. “A big part of the reason we come back every year is to see Bev [Potter] and Brenda [Watts]. Every year when

we come back they always make us feel welcome and right at home.” “There are lots of nice warm fuzzies,” Jay added.

What Can I Do to Help CAP? CAP supporters often ask what they can do to help eliminate suffering in Appalachia. First, you can tell others of the problems in Appalachia which you learn about in The Mountain Spirit and other CAP publications. Please share this magazine with a friend and we’ll send a replacement. Ask us about any of the problems in Appalachia and we’ll be happy to share any knowledge we have or to refer you to another organization that can help you. Secondly, you can give us a most valuable commodity — time. Since 1950, millions of hours have been donated to helping the people of Appalachia help themselves out of

poverty. If you would like to volunteer one year or more to working in Appalachia, please contact The Mountain Spirit, so that information can be given to the volunteer department. Or maybe you could help us by distributing literature in your hometown that describes the problems of Appalachia. Our most powerful form of assistance is prayer. We believe that if our supporters spend at least one minute a day praying for poor people everywhere, moun tains can be moved, the course of rivers changed. The CAP family forms a powerful prayer network reaching across the nation.

The Mountain Spirit

around the project. . . continued

Floyd County Outreach Spon sors Christmas “Store” Several months ago the Christian Appalachian Project decided to shift the resources of the Floyd County outreach office to an area with fewer services. Manager Judy Crum is reviewing the needs of several adjoining counties and plans to make the decision about the new county after the first of the year. In the meantime, CAP’s Christmas program in Floyd County took a new twist this year. With the help of Operation Sharing and individual donors, and using some of the cash she earmarked for Christmas, Judy set up a “store” in CAP’s adminis trative office in Hagerhill where parents selected gifts for their children. “We wanted to do

something special this year,” Judy said. “Each family had a specific time to come, and had an hour to an hour and a half to shop. We liked it because it gave us the chance to really spend some good, quality time with every family.” The Christmas store was set up every day for a week, from 9:00 to 3:00. Judy took inventory at the end of every day and replenished the stock that was depleted. “We want to make sure that people who came at the end of the week had the same selection as the people who came at the beginning of the week.” As the parents were leaving the “store,” they received Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon so

they could wrap presents for Christmas morning. “This might be a good way to get involved in counties where we don’t have sponsors for the families,” Judy said. Nearly 2000 families who participate in CAP programs through the year receive baskets of food and gifts at Christmas. “We see it as a way to say thanks and Merry Christmas to people we see throughout the year,” Judy said. CAP also distributes Christmas grants to about 40 organizations in other counties, which enables them to provide food and gifts to the families they work with.

Looking for an Adventure? volunteer with the Christian Appalachian Project! CAP volunteers assist the people of Appalachia through such programs as child development, elderly outreach, adult education, home repair, and emergency assistance, while focusing on a life of prayer, community and service. Volunteer Opportunities: 21 years of age or older; one year (renewable); room and board; health insurance; monthly stipend. College loan deferment information available. Short term volunteers: 18 years of age or older. Three weeks to three months. Room and board. Applications accepted year-round. Contact CAP Volunteer Program, 235 Lexington Street, Lancaster, KY 40444, (606) 792-2219, (800) 755-5322, Fax (606) 792-6625. January-February 1996

The CAP Closeup

“ We were poor, but we didn V know it. ” Naomi McIntosh

When you go into a new area it’s good to have someone with you, someone who knows the territory. The Christian Appalachian Project had just such a someone when its services were expanding into Owsley County. Naomi McIntosh “was born and raised in Owsley County and I’ve lived here all my life, except for nine months when I went to beautician’s school in Lexington.”

job. I had no idea I’d get it. When a job becomes available in Owsley County a lot of people are inter ested because there’s no work.”

For nearly ten years Naomi has been involved with CAP programs in her home county, first as Attic manager, and since 1993 as a caseworker for elderly services. Naomi was on her way to the Booneville courthouse one day in early April, 1986, and noticed a sign in a restaurant window advertising for a clerk in a used clothing store. “I had never heard tell of CAP, but I applied for the

Naomi was aware of the degree of need in Owsley County, one of the most distressed in Kentucky, before coming to work for CAP. “I had worked as a clerk in the grocery store for seven and a half years, so I saw the needs. I knew who had a hard time with groceries. When I started the Attic, I knew who needed a discount. I knew if they had a hard time paying fifty cents for a

4 16

Naomi says that she’s enjoyed every minute of her work with CAP, and that the people of Owsley County are happy to have services in the county. “They do so many things for so many people.”

coat. They didn’t feel like I felt sorry for them or anything, they just appreciated it.” When CAP decided to expand elderly services in Owsley County, Naomi was the woman for the job. She began by visiting over 100 people, searching for the 50 that she would be able to include in the program. “I kept going back. Some of them I visited as many as five times. I tried to pick out the ones who needed the services the most. I started with ten and every month I added ten more.” Today 49 people participate in Naomi’s program, and she has six or seven on a waiting list. She visits each one at least once a month, but she sees many once or twice a week, depending on their needs. “Some I come in contact with every day because if I

Story and photos by Margaret Gabriel # The Mountain Spirit

Naomi McIntosh don’t call them, they call to check on me. Sometimes I get wake-up calls in the morning. My husband’s not too wild about that!” Naomi can point out all the highlights of her life as she drives through the county: the grocery store where she worked, the elementary school that her son attended, and shows pictures of the small houses in which she lived as a child. “I went to a one-room school. It tickles the volunteers to death to get me started talking. The like to hear about my first loaf-of-bread sandwich. I was in the first or second grade, and I’d never seen a baloney sandwich, I’d never seen loaf bread. We had corn bread, we had biscuits. My mom made yeast bread, but we never sliced it. “Well, the missionary was coming one day, and she told us she was going to bring us all a sandwich, and she said we’ll all share our lunch. It was the grandest thing in the world. She really enjoyed our streaked meat and corn bread and biscuits.”

weather, then we wore shoes. We didn’t realize we were poor.” There was a small amount of strip mining in Owsley County several years ago, Naomi said, but agriculture plays the biggest role in the economy of the county. “Since everybody’s fighting tobacco they’re trying to get people to raise vegetables, so some of the farmers have gone into cabbage and different kinds of produce. They have a goat association in the county.” Ora, one of the ladies that Naomi visits, said that before the program began the elderly people in the county had to scramble, doing the best they could for transportation, often doing without. “My son could take me places, sometimes,” Ora said. “But,” Naomi added, “he has to take off from work to do it. There’s not much money to be made around here. If you miss a day’s work, that’s really going to hurt. It’s going to take a bite out of your food budget.

“I’m not trying to take anyone’s place,” Naomi said. “If they’ve got a kid who can take them to the doctor, than that’s the very thing that they should do. I’m there if they really need me. But you’d be surprised at the number of elderly folks that don’t even have a visitor. They’ll go for weeks without even a visit.” Almost as much as her visits, Naomi’s folks love outings. With five or six ladies packed in the van, the discount store in the next county is a favorite destination. “One day we went to the laundromat. We don’t have a laundromat here, and one lady wanted to wash her heavy quilts. If we hadn’t gone, she wouldn’t have gotten to wash them. A lot of my people have children who help them, but for things like this, they can’t take off work, so that’s where I come in handy.” “Handy” is certainly one way to describe Naomi, and the work she does with elderly people in Owsley County. Other words, though, might be compassionate, helpful and just plain fun! Kb

Naomi guessed that the missionary, a Presbyterian, was from somewhere in the east. “They came once or twice a month and held services in the school and would tell us about Jesus. She’d read the Bible and sing songs. In school! We loved it.” Naomi’s father was a school teacher who drove the first bookmobile in Owsley County. “But teachers didn’t make anything back them. We were poor, but we didn’t know it. Everybody else lived just like we did. We all raised pigs and cows and chickens. All of us went barefoot to school until cold January-February 1996

During an elderly services field trip Naomi escorted participants to the post office at Mistletoe, Kentucky, to see the special postmark that has been designed by the postmaster and approved by the Postal Service.

where

Have We Been ? o

Where Are we Coing? An interview with Christian

Appalachian

Project

president Mike McLaughlin and founder and chairman o f the board Father Ralph Beiting

M. he Mountain Spirit asked Christian Appalachian Project founder Father Ralph Beiting and president Mike McLaughlin to reflect on the changes they have seen in Appalachia since the 1975 publication of the Roman Catholic Appala chian bishops pastoral letter “This Land is Home to Me.” In 1975 Father Beiting had been living and working in Appalachia as pastor of St. William Church in Lancaster for 25 years. Mike had worked for several years in the area and was a newcomer to the Christian Appalachian Project. Father Beiting: Twenty years ago we were coming to the conclusion that the War on Poverty had not changed a lot. [President Lyndon] Johnson started it in 1964, but after eleven years, it was looking like another promise that wouldn’t be kept. I think there was too much coming from Washington and Frankfort and not enough involvement where it counted, on the local level. MS: Mike, you were still new on the scene in 1975. Did you think the area was on the right track?

▼ by Margaret Crabriel 18

^ ▼

Mike McLaughlin: Inspired by John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, I came here from Dayton and Knoxville, so I was familiar with Appalachia, except that it’s

The Mountain Spirit

think, is better. There are probably fewer people living in abject hovels than there used to be. All of that is good and positive on one level. But you have to realize that every society has a definition of poverty and poverty is always relative to what poverty is not. We have less isolation today than twenty years ago, but with less isolation we’re aware of what the rest of society has and how far behind we are.

Mike McLaughlin

always an eye opener to visit homes and see the quality of medical care and lack of nutritious food. To see poverty as preva lent as it was a shock to me.

MS: Even though we don’t have the same physical isolation, Appalachians are experiencing a new kind of isolation. Many people are cut off from the “information superhighway” because of a lack of technology and the expense of its accessibility. Father Beiting: There was a recent newspaper article about the Internet and computers, exploring how Kentucky would fare since so many people don’t have telephones. We may be coming into a time

MS: Did you think that the War on Poverty had made any changes? Mike: I had begun to see visible signs of progress like roads and growth centers and other kinds of infrastructure. As I learned about ARC [the Appalachian Regional Commission] and their concept of poverty, I saw efforts being made to attract indus try. There were government dollars from the Economic Development Administra tion and ARC. There was a lot of optimism. It looked like money was going to be spent in visible, tangible ways. I hoped that we were going in the right direction and over time things would improve greatly. Some of that was youthful idealism, but some was based on the amount of money being spent. Certainly some good was going to come of that amount of money. Looking back, you’ll have to say that the roads have made a big improvement. We’ve got more supermarkets, more fast food restaurants, if those things mean progress. The quality of medical care is better and access is better. Housing in general, I

January-February 1996

Father Ralph Beiting

when we’re isolated technologically instead of physically. That may be a challenge to do something about. As Mike said, each generation is relative to an other. If we lived today as we did during the Depression, we would consider that very bad because of our lack of material things and yet we had some sense of comfort and dignity, too. When the pastoral came out we were having some of the best financial times in eastern Kentucky since the war. Because of the oil embargo in ’72, the coal industry was booming and people were making money like crazy with the highest employ ment percentage we’d had in years. I knew coal operators worth nothing that came to be worth $60 million in a very short time. We were in better shape economically, but we had environmental problems because strip mining started in the 1960s. Between 1950 to 1972 we saw the greatest outmigration this country has ever seen, in this area. In Kentucky we lost a quarter of a million people, half the population of some counties. In 1972 they came back with a vengeance, almost equal to what was lost in the previous twenty years. They came back to work in the mines, and they were getting paid a good penny, well over $100 a day. “This Land is Home to Me” was written in middle of the “boom,” and didn’t touch on what would

happen when this period of good employ ment ended. MS: So, in 1975 the economic problems were being addressed for the time being. What problems were addressed in the pastoral letter? Father Beiting: I think they were addressing the problems that Mike mentioned. There were people that didn’t have jobs, didn’t have adequate education, didn’t have housing, but we were experi encing a huge change because of greater employment and the impact it was having on the environment. There were groups inside and outside Appalachia raising objections to the scarring of the land, which was good. We can talk about a million changes since ’75, but one of the biggest is that we have ended isolation primarily through television, creating a secularistic, materi alistic society and we’ve taken those values. We don’t value neighborliness and caring and family. Our divorce rate is the same as anywhere in the country. Abuse of children is the same as anywhere. We ended isolation, but we really and truly paid a price. We owe our children a better legacy. We owe them stable homes and a good education. I’ve heard some troubling CAP ARCHIVES

Father Beiting gives instruction for an activity at Camp Shawnee, one o f CAP’s three summer camps.

The Mountain Spirit

public service announcements that encourage kids to stay in school because they can make more money. That kind of thinking should challenge us. Instead of equating education to the amount of money that can be made, we need to encourage education because of its opportunities for leadership. In the society of Alice Lloyd and June Buchanan, leadership was the motivating force for education. I hope that we can begin to educate children to the problems here and that we have to come up with better business plans, better ideas of how we’re going to solve our problems. MS: Nationally, but especially here in Appalachia, we’ve seen a bigger emphasis on encouraging adults to obtain general equivalency diplomas. Did adult education play a role in ’75? Mike: In the last ten or fifteen years we’ve seen that Kentucky needs more education, more jobs and more leadership. Everyone agrees, but our attention wasn’t so riveted upon it in 1974 and 1975. We didn’t have the same kinds of statistics so maybe we didn’t realize how many people didn’t have high school diplomas. When I think about the changes in the last twenty years I ask myself is there more kindness than there was twenty years ago? More nobility? Less selfishness? Is there more honor? When I look at the last twenty years, I’m afraid I have to say that the answer is no. The answer is no in New York City and the answer is no here. The focus is on material things, and we’ve got to realize that there are things far more important. We talk about traditional American values but we have to educate people to think about life as a whole and to see ourselves as part of a whole. I don’t think that kind of education is going on anywhere, so we don’t have a good model. But we need to do it and maybe we can do it here. Father Beiting: Mike has touched on it very well. We might say we don’t see as much outreach as we saw twenty years ago, but we’re seeing some here today, which I think is pretty nice. Larry Brown

January-February 1996

Mike came to workfor the Christian Appalachian Project as personnel director. He served as executive director, and became president, succeeding Father Beiting in 1986. [CAP’S home repair manager, Lawrence County] has four different groups of people from the local area coming to volunteer to put in a bathroom for an elderly lady. One group has a little backhoe, one’s got some tools, Larry’s going to bring the materials, and they’re all coming to work. We were promised so much by the Great Society and the New Frontier and it hasn’t come to be. We haven’t found ourselves more financially secure or happier or kinder or more religious. MS: You’ve mentioned several programs that started during the War on Poverty that are still around, but under great fire Did social programs get the same kind of attack in 1975 as they’ve been getting in 1995? Mike: We thought we’d make progress with job programs, that all we had to do was train people and the jobs would be there. If we had to have some emergency program, those were going to be short terms solutions. We didn’t foresee the great number of women that moved into the workforce. In 1970, the national unemployment rate was 3.1 percent. We

We’ll know we’ve treated our human fam ily well and we’ll feel dang good about it.

fell on hard times and it went as high as six percent and we thought that was awful. In the course of ten or fifteen years, millions of women moved into the labor force, many because it took two incomes to support a family.

MS: When we’ve accomplished our goal, what will Appalachia look like? Will we have the same unemployment rate as the rest of the country? Will everyone be educated? Will the kids stay home with mom while dad’s out working? What are we working toward?

Father Beiting: This is concerning sociolo gists and religious leaders. They’re saying that we’ve got too many women in the workforce and not enough staying at home, and that our children are falling apart. You can’t have families run by day care centers and television.

Father Beiting: I envision a society capable of formulating sensible goals. We have to evaluate our priorities, and we have to do that in relation to our responsibility to God and one another.

Mike: I don’t know if it’s necessary for more women to stay home, but I do think we have to look at the quality of the time they spend with their children in the evening and on weekends. It seems to me that we have to spend more time as a family together. If you don’t have as much time as you used to, the time you’ve got has to be used better.

We need a deeper religious emphasis in our value system, a deeper care for one another. If we can restructure our value system so that God has his part and we love our neighbor, we’ve going to find ourselves in the happy state that we were meant to be in. We’ll find contentment and satisfaction because we’ve treated God and his creation well. We’ll know we’ve treated our human family well and we’ll feel dang good about it.

MS: The question of the necessity of twoincome families leads us to examine one of the leading questions in Appalachia, that of economics. We’ve talked about the coal boom that Appalachia was experiencing in 1975, and that those days are gone, never to return. How do you think the economy in Appalachia will change as we approach the twenty-first century? Father Beiting: Anthony Salatino has written a book that asks the question, “Will Appalachia Finally Overcome Poverty?” In discussing economics, he points out that we’re going to need independent capital, which we didn’t count on until now, with our political climate. Before, we had government funding and tax credits to attract industry but now we need a new source of capital. CAP is trying to set up an endowment that will be directed toward capital for new business.

There has been criticism that through tax incentive programs Kentucky has given away the country store to have the custom ers come in. We’ve given so much tax benefit that it’s going to be forever before we get anything. By and large we’ve settled for minimum wage jobs and slightly above, so we haven’t helped our people. We haven’t given them enough to get out of poverty. We need to diversify, but if we diversify only to minimum wage we still have a big problem.

Mike: We don’t know what twenty years is going to be like, but I hope we keep our eyes open, recognize change as it occurs and evolve with it. CAP has tried to change and respond to needs, but if we do things in the same old way, we’re not being as open as we ought to be. If we keep our eyes open and become aware of what’s happening to us and world around us, and try to correct our course, then we’re in good shape. I hope we’re open to change, and change with it. Father Beiting: When we reach our goals, we’ll seek God in the beauty of his land. If we care about our neighbor and believe God is in charge, we have to be hopeful. if Margaret Gabriel, who came to CAP as a volunteer in 1977, is the editor of The Mountain Spirit.

The Mountain Spirit

Letters to the Editor The Mountain Spirit provides the means for us interested in the work of the Christian Appala chian Project to stay abreast of the needs of the people they serve and to highlight their success. Mr. and Mrs. Donald P. Connelly Newark, Del. God bless you all. “Whatever you do unto the least of these you do unto me.” Your reward will be great in heaven. Even now you must be encouraged to see people pull themselves out of seemingly hopeless situations and go on to help themselves and others because of how you teach them. Martha Lee Gerber, Calif. My daughter taught school in Perry County for ten years so I became interested in the moun tain people. I pray that the poverty conditions will improve and through Christians it can. I do enjoy The Mountain Spirit. Mrs. Ralph Bender Ravenna, Ohio I appreciate the work of the Christian Appalachian Project. I really like the fact that the ministry in Christ is to help people learn how to help them selves. Thank you for all your work. May God continue to bless this ministry.

I enjoy reading The Mountain Spirit very much. I commend the CAP people who are helping the underprivileged people of Appala chia. It is so sad to know there are so many people so poor. Bless you for all your help, you are in my prayers. Joan Kroseavage Fairless Hills, Pa. I love your publications and look forward to receiving the magazines every other month. I am especially thrilled to learn of the success and impact your programs have on the partici pants. Jennifer E. Mitchell Brooklyn, N. Y. I loved “The Mountains of My Childhood” by Garry Barker in the January-February 1995 issue of The Mountain Spirit. I have read it so many times I know it by heart. The family loyalty and the rich history of the Appala chian people is an inspiration to me and I am sure to others, as well. The Mountain Spirit has prompted me to delve more deeply into researching Appala chia, both past and present. Mrs. Linda Kresin Long Beach, Calif.

You do a wonderful job getting the news out about the Appala chian people and of the great job Father Beiting is doing. God bless you all.

I am interested in your work, Enjoy the newsletters and books. I was born and raised in Breathitt County and graduated from Mount Carmel High. My husband died of cancer in June of 1991. We retired in Michigan. I retired from state civil service with 30 years service. Keep up the good work and God bless you all.

Mrs. L. B. Denny Ventura, Calif.

Emogene Hea Ashland City, Tenn.

Jacque Gayle-Norberg Mesquite, Texas

January-February 1996

I am so glad that you are helping people to help themselves, without government tax dollars. I am glad to help, albeit, a little. God bless you. Maria E. Lunger Santa Barbara, Calif.

The work you are doing is very important and I hope to meet some of your people and see firsthand in the next year or two. When my schedule permits, I may even serve as a volunteer in the future. God bless all of you and the people you serve. Frank S. Kelly Pasadena, Texas My thoughts and prayers go with you daily as you care for and give hope to so many. I hope one day to be able to get down to your area and see your work first hand and volunteer. I spend time in West Virginia and am wondering if you have any projects going on there. I spend time mainly in the Elkins-Greenbank area. Patricia Phillips Wilmington, Del.

I wish I were able! But my health is failing. I wish I could do more, but my strength is gone! Keep up the good work, adminis ter your love. God go with you. William D. Saw tell Boston, Mass.

Letters to the editor are welcome. They should not exceed 150 words in length, and we reserve the right to edit them for space. Address letters to The Mountain Spirit, Christian Appalachian Project, 322 Crab Orchard Road, Lancaster, Kentucky 40446.

The S u n sh in e C en ter It's hard to believe that such a lofty goal as '’breaking the cycle of poverty would be going on in CAP's Sunshine Center. It looks like just plain fun! The Sunshine Center, however, is one of six CAP child development centers. When the centers began in the middle 1970s the focus was primarily on children. Today, however, CAP child development pro grams focus on the entire family — moms, dads, sisters, brothers, even grandmas and grandpas.

♦ 24

Photos by Margaret Gabriel

♦ The Mountain Spirit

to 66

F irs t, a n d m o s t im p o r ta n t,

T h e y c o u ld also lin k f r a g m e n te d

in a c c o rd w ith o u r r e c o m m e n d a tio n

s tru g g le s

fro m th e S y n o d d o c u m e n t,

fro m d iffe re n t p a r ts o f th e re g io n ,

J U S T I C E IN T H E W O R L D ,

a n d e v e n o u ts id e th e re g io n ,

w e w o u ld like to c o m m e n d w h e re th e y exist

th u s s u p p o r tin g h e a lth y lo c a lism

a n d r e c o m m e n d w h e re th e y d o n o t

w ith th e ric h n e s s o f a w id e r n a tio n a l

C e n te r s o f R e f le c tio n a n d P ray er,

a n d in te r n a tio n a l n e tw o rk .

in th e s e rv ic e o f a c tio n , th r o u g h o u t th e re g io n .

I n a d d itio n , w e w o u ld like to k n o w in w h a t w ay

S u c h c e n te rs c o u ld

th e C h u r c h m ig h t c o o p e r a te

in te g r a te th e a n a ly tic a l so c ial sc ie n c e skills

w ith o th e r m a jo r in s titu tio n s

a n d t h e p r o f o u n d s p iritu a lity n e c e s s a ry

o f th e re g io n ,

fo r p e rs e v e r in g c re a tiv ity

p r o v id e d th e y a re o p e n

in th e s tru g g le fo r ju s tic e .

to th e v o ic e o f th e p o o r. “T h is L a n d is H o m e to M e ”

♦

by Margaret Gabriel

♦ The Mountain Spirit

■ I f hen Benedictine Sister Judy Yunker read the Appalachian bishops’ pastoral letter “This Land is Home to Me” in 1976, she knew what she needed to do. With another Benedictine, Sister Eileen Schepers, Sister Judy left her community in Ferdinand, Indiana, to live and work in the Benedictine mission in Dwale, Kentucky. The mission was started in Floyd County by two Benedictine sisters, also as a response to the bishops’ pastoral letter. “I don’t know why it touched me so deeply, but I had been in Latin America for seven years. After I came back to the states, I seemed to need more of a challenge,” Sister Judy said. “After reading the pastoral, I knew that this was where I needed to be.” The description of the beauty of the land and its inhabitants, despite the exploitation of natural resources and powerlessness of the people, paralleled Sister Judy’s experience in Latin America. Hoping to share the spirit of the Appalachian people by sharing gifts and resources, Sister Judy and Sister Eileen lived in a number of the different areas in Floyd County, renting homes until they were able to purchase property. In the summer of 1982, with four sisters in the community, The Dwelling Place was designated a dependent monastery, truly a center of reflection and prayer as recommended by the Appalachian bishops.

“Every monastery is a place of peace and beauty,” Sister Judy said, “but here in the mountains we have that peace and beauty in nature. For some that’s a blessing, but for others, that isolation is a cross.” Long-time readers of The Mountain Spirit might remember other stories about the Dwelling Place. In 1982, the magazine reported on four sisters living in commu nity at Blue River. An update in 1985 told of nine women, four professed sisters and five in formation, moving to Mount Tabor. Today, the community at Mount Tabor includes four professed sisters and one postulant. In the years that she has lived in the mountains, Sister Judy has learned that the culture does not suit everyone, even if, initially, they believe it will. “We’ve had a wealth of vocations. Some have stayed here and others have trans ferred to Ferdinand. Some people just can’t manage the isolation and inavailability of metropolitan areas. When they begin, they hope that their ideal of working with the poor can overcome that,” Sister Judy said.

There was great rejoicing in the community the day in 1993 when the Federation of St. Gertrude the Great voted to give the Dwelling Place Monastery the status of an autonomous monastery, the only monastery in the Catholic Diocese of Lexington. The sisters of the Dwelling Place Monastery state their mission, saying, We are a monastic community of women, who seek to live the Gospel message through common prayer and work. Listening to the needs of the people of Appalachia, we commit ourselves to: - Educate in Christian values - Create a prayerful and peaceful environment into which we welcome others - Promote reverence and care for all of God’s creation.

January-February 1996

. . .

thiscommunity started as a result o f that letter. ”

Sister Kathleen Weigand realized that she had a vocation to the community of the Dwelling Place after visiting the sisters in the early 1980s. She says that she has had Benedictine sisters as role models as far back as her high school years, calling them “wonderful models of faithfulness. But when I stepped on the property at Blue River, it hit, and I knew this was some thing that I needed to look at.” Sister Kathleen had never heard of “This Land is Home To Me,” before moving to Kentucky as a Christian Appalachian Project volunteer. “But then I realized it was important to become acquainted with it because this community started as a result of that letter.” Sister Carolyn Lambert says that her love for Appalachia blended with her desire to enter religious life led her to the Dwelling Place. She, too, was a CAP

volunteer who came to feel at home in the mountains. “I knew that I wanted prayer and community and that the strength of those would flow into my work,” Sister Carolyn said. Although reflection and contemplation is an integral part life at Mount Tabor, the sisters take the roles of social activists through the jobs that they hold. Sister Judy, Sister Carolyn and Sister Kathleen teach at the Mountain Christian Academy in Floyd County, just down the mountain and a few miles from the monastery. Sister Eileen teaches adult living skills at the Greenhouse Sheltered Workshop for Mountain Comprehensive Care. The sisters maintain themselves, their build ings and their ministries with their salaries and donations. Sister Judy explains that they could not survive without the income from their jobs, and that it is also important to them to share the gifts that they have been given. Their jobs utilize a good portion of these gifts, but hospitality, a particular charism of Benedictine communities, is an abundant gift, as well. The Dwelling Place has always had a special brand of hospitality. A guest might

At Mount Tabor, the Benedictine lifestyle of “ora et labora ” (pray and work) sometimes involves a John Deere tractor.

The Mountain Spirit

COURTESY THE DWELLING PLACE

the number of people that we pray for. They said that that gave the monastery charisma and awe.” The story which appeared in The Mountain Spirit in 1982 referred to the sisters as “peace makers in an area racked by violence.” Sister Judy believes that in the years since 1982 violence in the area has lessened somewhat, but circumstances are pointing to an increase. “If the Republican budget goes through and money begins to be allocated through Frankfort, we won’t have much. I’m afraid that the poor will have to steal from each other to survive.

Sister Carolyn Lambert.

As the sisters of the Dwelling Place Monastery activated the recommendations COURTESY THE DWELLING PLACE

rouse herself to attend morning prayer with the sisters at 6:00 or listen to the bells which call to worship, then blissfully drift back to sleep, knowing that she will be remembered in prayer. Lately, with the completion of the Mount Tabor Retreat Center, the sisters have been able to publicize their retreats, both directed and private, and have realized their aspiration of creating a center of reflection and prayer.

“Tons of ladies are getting GEDs, but there are no jobs. There are fewer nursing jobs now than there were ten years ago. It’s almost like we’re educating people for dreams that aren’t there. It’s a potential bed of violence.”

“People come here seeking peace,” Sister Judy said. “They take what peace they need, but everyone leaves some peace, as well. It’s sort of like those boxes of pennies you see in the grocery store. Need a penny? Take one. Have a penny? Leave one. People share what they have and take what they need.” There are several groups from through out the diocese of Lexington, some from over one hundred miles away, that make regular retreats at The Dwelling Place. “They find this a peaceful and prayerful environment,” Sister Kathleen said. “In fact, they commented once on the number of people that have been here to pray and January-February 1996

Sister Kathleen Weigand.

breads benefit a religious community. “If we take over the job, all the profit will go to religious communities.” The sisters are also investigating the publication of two projects: a reading program that was created by a volunteer, a reading specialist from Chicago who is a retired a public school library; and a children’s book that Sister Judy has written, which, she hopes, will instill in Appalachian children pride in their heritage. “We want to use our talents to help ourselves and to give employment to other women in the area.”

Sister Eileen Schepers. of “This Land is Home To Me,” so are they already practicing the counsel of “At Home in the Web of Life,” the Appala chian bishops’ recently published compan ion piece to the 1975 letter. “This new pastoral encourages sustain able communities. When we were reading the pastoral and dramatizing parts of it, some of the other sisters said, ‘that’s what you are,”’ Sister Judy said. Since their early days in Blue River, the sisters have grown their own food, raised their own animals, cleared own their land, and helped build their own homes. “I don’t know if they looked at us, but that’s who we are,” Sister Judy said. In addition to their public jobs, the sisters continue to try to provide them selves with as many necessities as possible. With three of their five salaries dependent upon the Mountain Christian Academy, they are prudently exploring other avenues of income so that the community will be able to sustain itself apart from those salaries, if need be. “We’re looking into distributing hosts for the Perpetual Adoration Sisters in Clyde, Missouri,” a contemplative order whose main role is making altar breads, Sister Judy said. The breads are distrib uted now by a secular group, meaning that only a portion of the profits from the

Sister Judy believes that the presence of religious women in Appalachia is the resulting gift of “This Land is Home to Me.” She goes on to say that these women create models of sustainability, such as the one at the Dwelling Place, and that these models will enable “At Home in the Web of Life,” to have an impact similar to “This Land is Home to Me.” “We wouldn’t be here if it hadn't been for the pastoral. The stability of the religious women in this area has been the gift of the church to the area. Eileen and Kathleen and I have been in the diocese longer than any of the other sisters in the area. Others who went before us have died or have had to go back to their communities because of poor health. Many women came in re sponse to the pastoral, and many of us are still here.” Before her time as a long-term CAP volunteer, Sister Carolyn spent several summers in Kentucky with CONCERN, a group that conducts Bible Schools each year. “Even that first year, I saw that volunteers come and go. The people don’t know how long you’re going to be here, so they don’t know it they can depend on you. I could see that you could make a bigger difference to people if you said you were going to stay. You could be counted on,” Sister Carolyn said. This gentle determination of the sisters of the Dwelling Place to stay, to be counted on as friends, neighbors and peacemakers in Appalachia can be seen as illustration of both “This Land is Home to Me,” and “At Home in the Web of Life,” as they form not just a center but a sustainable commu nity of reflection and prayer. i

The Mountain Spirit

A New Mom Returns the Favor Amy, a CAP volunteer from Chicago, had a call from Ruth who was eight months pregnant and needed help obtaining a baby bed, receiving blankets, baby clothes and diapers. Ruth and her husband, Louis, had been living in a three-room apartment with their three- and five-year-old daughters. Louis worked in temporary landscaping jobs and snow removal, but the added expenses of a new baby could not fit into their already strained budget. Amy was able to collect the needed items shortly before the family welcomed home a beautiful baby girl. When they were visiting after the baby was born, Ruth told Amy that her uncle would be moving soon and had some furniture he wanted to donate. She said that since CAP had been so helpful during her pregnancy, she wanted us to have his donation. “I gladly accepted the pieces, and Ruth was pleased to know that she had been able to return CAP’S favor.” Over the next few months, Ruth became a valuable resource for Amy and needy families in the area, as she collected donated furniture from family and friends. As her baby girl grew, she returned baby clothes, neatly cleaned and pressed. “Ruth always commented on how good it felt to help someone,” Amy said. As Ruth and Louis have settled into a routine with their growing family, Ruth has begun to study for her high school equivalency diploma and Louis has been able to work overtime, enabling the family to rent a larger home. Amy drove by the house recently and saw the family sitting in their front porch swing of their new home. “They smiled and waved as I drove by — it was the greatest thank you I could have hoped for,” Amy said. “I wish I could have shared it with all of the CAP donors who made their success possible.” All of us working together — Amy, Ruth, Louis, and CAP’S dedicated donors — made this story possible. A gift of $20, $30, or $50 to use where it is needed most will help us to assure this kind of success for another family.

Where Have we Been? Where Are We Going? •

In 1983 Kentucky was ranked 45th nationwide in per capita

income. By 1991, that ranking was 39th. •

Between 1980 and 1991 Kentucky’s per capita income

grew annually by 6.2%, although the median income per household lagged 25% behind the national average. •

In 1991,43 Kentucky counties, most of them in eastern

Kentucky, had a family poverty rate twice the national average. This was a major improvement over 1960 when the poverty rate was twice the national average in over 100 counties. •

In 1989, Kentucky teacher salaries were 19% lower than

the U.S. average. By 1991, they had improved to about 13% below the national average and were the highest in the region.

CHRISTIAN APPALACHIAN PROJECT 322 CRAB ORCHARD ROAD LANCASTER, KY 4 04 46 TheMountain Spirit Address Correction Requested

CAROLYN SUE MARKS 4430 KY. HWY 643 WAYNESBURG KY 40489

NON-PROFIT ORCANIZATK U.S. POSTAGE PAID Christian Appalachian Proie