By Father Jerry E. Hardy

Fifty-five delegates and alternates to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council braved a damp and cool Saturday morning to meet at the archdiocesan Center. The meeting had a single item on the agenda: presentation of programming on the archdiocesan priority of poverty.

At the January meeting, poverty had been indicated as the most pressing need to which the archdiocese should address itself. Since that time, the executive committee has been preparing the programming for presentation back to the delegates.

Reception of the seven-project packet was enthusiastic. President Gene Stelten introduced the presentation by reading excerpts from a cover letter written by Father Jerry E. Hardy, priest secretary to the Council. "During the weeks and months since last we met, a lot of work has been done in an attempt to translate your selection of an archdiocesan priority into some workable programs. This packet is the result of that work. It is not, however, a finished product, but rather a suggested skeleton model that the executive committee offers you for openers. It remains for you to flesh it out and give it life, movement, and personality.

"What have we tried to do? Basically, to attack poverty on the cause level rather than on the symptom level only. In doing that, we have tried to keep our goals and our resources in a realistic relationship to each other. Then, too, we wanted to present you with a tool, an instrument, a vehicle that was useful and practical, one that was flexible enough to allow for a lot of variety and concrete enough to achieve some practical results.

"I cannot tell you that this program will erase poverty from our midst. I cannot tell you that it will touch all the people who are locked in by inequity. But, I can tell you that it represents a tangible attempt to mobilize the Church in North Georgia in a concerted effort towards doing something even the sign value of which can be productive of much good."

Clint Rogers, chairman of the board of Catholic Social Services and the man who has made the greatest contribution in drafting the program then gave a run-down of what the Church has been and is doing in the area of poverty. He singled out the recent funding of rural co-op projects with the local share of the Human Development Fund, as well as inner-city efforts massed through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.

Father Hardy spoke next, indicating that the thrust of this effort by the Pastoral Council seemed well-harmonized with the posture of the Church at large. Referring to the text of a document on World Justice which will be considered at the Synod of Bishops next October in Rome, he said it appeared that "our program is a sort of local anticipation of what the bishops will be considering. Whatever else it is, this program is an attempt at a local translation of the gospel's consistent message of justice and love for all men, a message Jesus never hesitated to deliver to the men and women of his day."

Delegates then chose the program in which they would like most to be involved. It was pointed out that they were not obligating the parishes they represented to a particular program but were choosing personally to work on developing the specifics of it.

Programs include the following:

1) Education component:

a) Operation "Eye Opener"

b) Promotion, publicity, public relations

2) Rural Component:

a) Food Program

3) Urban Employment Component:

a) Domestic Workers Program

b) Day Care Centers Program

c) Business Leaders Equal Opportunity Program

4) Urban Housing Component

a) Low-Income Housing Program

b) Open Housing Programming

Archbishop Donnellan indicated his delight at seeing such enthusiasm in the group. Referring back to the spring meeting of last year, he repeated his confident feeling that "we are on the verge of something very good here." Present for the first time were four new youth delegates. Jack Jenkins and Karen O'Keefe represent the Catholic high school students and Eddie Lorenz and Carol Kenney represent the school of religion students of the archdiocese.

Committees thus formed by those delegates interested in particular areas are to meet before June 15 to report on the progress of developing specifics in each program to fill out the project outlines presented at the meeting.