By Monsignor Noel C. Burtenshaw

Vincent Lavery was thinking about liberty on Sunday, July 6. It was the thirtieth anniversary of his arrival in the U.S. from his native Ireland.

But he was also thinking of liberty for Northern Ireland. The founder of the Children’s Committee Ten is always thinking about liberty for Northern Ireland. Not political liberty, but freedom for children caught in a prison of violence and hate.

Vincent was in Marietta, Georgia Sunday, July 6. He was surrounded by his favorite people – children. Protestant and Catholic children on vacation from their native Northern Ireland. Thanks to Atlanta host families, 54 such children will spend six weeks in Atlanta, taking vacation from the dangers and the violence of their home nation.

“We call our program Children’s Committee Ten,” says Lavery, a teacher from Fresno, California, “because we want to make the effort for all children for a 10-year period. It’s not just the Irish. This year we are bringing Muslim and Christian children from Lebanon. We want peace for them too.”

Vincent Lavery got the idea in 1981. The following year the program began. In 1982 they brought 80 children to the U.S. This year 200 came, 54 to the Atlanta area.

“The program is simple,” says Lavery as he stands in the hot sun, surrounded by happy Irish faces, aglow with cool ice cream. “We raise money to bring them over, organize host families and then when they return bring them together for a Christmas party.”

That is the program, but there is more. The children are Protestant and Catholic. In Belfast they never have had the opportunity to mix. Here on vacation the host family is expected to take a Protestant and Catholic for the summer. So the bonds that cannot form and flower into peace at home, may take root in this summer of ’86. There have been barriers broken in the short few years of the program’s existence. More loving friendships will take place.

On Sunday, July 6, the children held their first picnic together. There were sunburns everywhere, but there were smiles and the happy banter of children too. There were no barriers to be seen.

Three Catholic parishes in the Atlanta area were involved along with many Protestant churches. The Catholic communities are St. Ann’s in East Cobb, Corpus Christi in Stone Mountain and Holy Trinity in Peachtree City. Other Catholic families are also hosting children.

Last year and again this year, Fred and Karen Kloman were the force behind the program. The Klomans live in Marietta and gave their spacious home for the picnic. Out in Corpus Christi the John O’Kanes are the force and in Peachtree City it is Robert and Penny Stalder who are the organizers.

“It has been a lot of work,” says Fred Kloman, “but it has had great results. As you can see, the kids are having a great time, but so are the host families. We’re off to a good start.”

The 54 children, most hailing from the city of Belfast and surrounding areas, were accompanied by two clerics in their travels. One is a young priest from West Belfast, Father Matt Wallace, and the other, an Episcopal priest, Reverend Jimmy Arbuthnot.

In a nation where Catholics and Protestants are reluctant to mix, both men had no difficulty teaming up as models of good friendship. They were a fine example for the program and for the children. Both expressed gratitude for the program and the American families who sponsor it.

So the work of Children’s Committee Ten goes on. It gives delight to little lives and creates friendship where once only suspicion existed.