Forty-seven North Georgia Catholics braved a Friday night drizzle in Gainesville to take part in workshop session of the Pastoral Council's "Operation Eye Opener."

The session had been set up at the request of the rural pastors in the North Georgia area to deal more specifically with rural problems and programs than the other sessions of "Eye Opener" had been able to.

Father Jerry E. Hardy, Priest-Secretary for the Pastoral Council, pointed out that it was one more way the council was trying to be helpful in getting the Priority Program Against Poverty off the ground. "Some of the men in the outlying areas had indicated they wanted some programs that had more of a pointedly rural character to them, so that's what we tried to come up with," he added.

The format of the meeting was similar to those held in the three deaneries of the archdiocese over the past three weeks. There were several brief presentations followed by a lengthy open discussion session during which suggested methods of implementation were discussed. Two of the speakers, Rhett Baird and Ben Goldsmith, were EOA resource personnel secured for the meeting by the Office of Urban Affairs. This agency is handling all of the coordination and follow-up for the Pastoral Council program

Sister Janet Valente, director of the office, said she felt the meeting in Gainesville was a success. "The number of people and their enthusiasm were really very encouraging. I had the feeling that they were there because they were ready to get going on concrete projects," she said.

The workshop provided a lot in the way of concrete alternatives for rural parishes to adopt. Baird's presentation touched on the importance of a strong and active political group in rural areas. In line with that, he mentioned a very simple transportation program that could be implemented by a single parish or an ecumenical group.

This consisted of providing transportation to and from polling places, registration drives, and similar voter-oriented assistance projects.

He was quick to point out how such a project could easily be expanded or continued year-round to provide transportation for obtaining health care or food commodity distribution.

This particular presentation tied in with the Rural Food Program presented by Father Bob Berson. Emphasizing the need for family-to-family involvement in a non-patronizing way, Father Berson also stressed the importance of maintaining adequate transportation so that poor people avail themselves of help they would otherwise forfeit.

Mrs. Ruth Lammers, a member of the executive board of the Pastoral Council and a parishioner of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, presented a detailed "how to" approach to the question of day care centers. Pointing to what can be done with a little money and a lot of cooperative effort, Mrs. Lammers outlined the procedural steps for setting a modest day care operation.

Archbishop Donnellan attended the meeting along with Father Noel C. Burtenshaw, chancellor of the archdiocese. The archbishop thanked the people for their obvious interest and goodwill, but went on to urge them to secure the active involvement of their parish communities.

Returning to a theme that he has underscored throughout the Eye Opener sessions, the archbishop said, "This isn't the priority just of the Pastoral Council or of the Council's executive board, nor is it just another program. This is truly to be the priority for all the people of God in our archdiocese and it represents a unique effort here."

Pastors attending the meeting were Fathers Tom Kenny (Gainesville), Mert McMahon (Clarkesville), Henry Gracz and Ray Horan (Athens), Gerry Peterson (Cleveland), and P. J. Padden (Toccoa). Several of the men brought with them OEO or county welfare coordinating personnel.