By Thea Jarvis

Father James Caffery, MS, pastor of St. Matthew’s Church in Fairburn, along with six of his parishioners, was among the first in the archdiocese to participate in parish team training.

The philosophy and methodology it offered enhanced the way the parish family was already responding to the pervasive problem of substance abuse.

The church had been galvanized by the death of a 22-year-old parishioner who had died in a single car accident after ingesting alcohol. The young woman had begun drinking at the age of 13, her parents told Father Caffery following the accident. Despite their efforts to stop the progress of her alcoholism, their daughter continued to drink. Her disease had baffled and frustrated the woman’s parents, who asked Father Caffery to speak openly about it during her funeral.

What followed could only be described as the hand of God, Father Caffery said. After the funeral, the priest decided that secrecy, confusion and misinformation about addiction – to alcohol, drugs, food or life-endangering behavior – was something that could be addressed in a parish setting. He approached parishioners he knew to be involved in Alcoholics Anonymous and Alanon, a fellowship of families and friends of alcoholics, and asked if they would share information with the parish at large.

“Let’s not make this a private organization,” he had told his friends. “It was something that needed to be talked about.”

Eventually, he and six others broke anonymity and spoke to the parish. They made themselves available individually and as a group to anyone with an addiction problem and became a reference point for parish education on dependency disease.

When Prevention Services’ team training was introduced, Father Caffery said, “We got right into that,” sending the core of parishioners already in place.

At St. Matthew’s, the CHART team is the SMART team: St. Matthew’s Addiction Referral Team. Every third Thursday, the team offers an educational program on dependency and addiction. The sessions are open to all, and because presentations are informational, there is no stigma attached to attendance.

“I May Have a Little Drinking Problem” is the latest in the series, Father Caffery said. Other talks involve 12 Step thinking and more clinical approaches to dependency.

The SMART team has tapped into Anchor Hospital, a treatment center on nearby Old National Highway, which makes its resources available to the parish and whose counselors sometimes address the group.

Addiction is a disease, “a primary disease like sugar diabetes,” said Father Caffery. “If you let it go, it’s going to kill you.”

St. Matthew’s SMART meetings offer an alternative to the isolation often experienced by those affected by addiction.

“They feel like they have someone to walk the journey with,” Father Caffery said. “It’s something to be talked about in a Christian setting.”

The 360-member parish has had up to 22 people attend the SMART gatherings, Father Caffery said, and he has noticed at least one newcomer at every meeting.

He is careful to note that SMART is not AA or Alanon, but an information and referral outreach.

“You can’t drag people in but you can let them know you’re here,” he said.

Remembering the young woman whose tragic death launched the parish on its ministry of recovery and prevention, Father Caffery said her tragedy has given life and hope to others.

“The greatest gift she has given us,” greater than the donation of her organs for the bodily health of others, “is that we can talk about her disease,” he said.