By Thea Jarvis, Staff Writer

ATLANTA – The Village of St. Joseph is a peaceful place to be in this season of mall mania and holiday hoopla. A year-round gift to troubled children from the Catholics of North Georgia, the Village symbolizes the deepest meaning of the Christmas feast.

Carved from 12 acres of rolling pine forest off Camp Creek Parkway in southwest Atlanta, the Village’s quiet campus is a welcoming haven for young people whose lives have become unmanageable.

“Each has come from some situation where there has been upheaval,” explained Village director Charles Bright, Jr. “They are situations not of their own making.”

As a full-service residential treatment center owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Atlanta, the Village provides year-round, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service that includes psychotherapy, schooling, room, board and recreation for a maximum of 48 emotionally disturbed and/or learning disabled residents aged 11 through 16.

In its stone-faced campus cottages, schoolrooms and chapel, Villagers are given clearly stated boundaries and a reliable framework within which to learn how to make good choices.

“It’s the most critical work we can do as a church,” said Father Pat Bishop, pastor of Transfiguration Parish in Marietta and former Village staff member.

As a seminarian assigned to the Village during the summer of 1967, Father Bishop swept pine straw from Village sidewalks, played basketball with residents and took them to the movies. Later, he often stopped by for visits during seminary breaks. Two young Village friends came to his ordination in 1974.

“They’re good kids with some problems,” Father Bishop said, “always very spontaneous, open, loving.”

When Charlie Bright and Village staff added a spiritual component to residents’ weekly schedules last year, Father Bishop and members of the Transfiguration choir led the first service.

“I’m very impressed with (Bright’s) determination to have a Christian presence with such a varied (resident) population,” Father Bishop said. Some 30 percent of the Villagers are Catholic.

On a sun-dappled Advent afternoon, 35 young people who currently comprise the Village student body sit cross-legged or on their knees while admissions coordinator Cooper Foote conducts another in a series of ongoing spiritual programs, held this week in the spacious Village gym.

Cooperative and respectful, enjoying exercises designed to enhance self-esteem and tap into their spiritual centers, students interact the way most adolescents would, laughing and clapping, singing self-consciously, glad to be out of the classroom.

“For many, this is the healthiest environment they’ve ever been in,” said Bright, seated behind the Villagers while monitoring the session. Despite serious problems that bring them to the Village, residents show amazing resiliency, he feels.

“The kids cover a wide swath of pathologies, but their normalcy continues to come through. They don’t hold problems over each others’ heads. They operate like 35 brothers and sisters.”

Chatting with Bright about upcoming changes in the Village dress code, an articulate tenth grader is looking forward to more relaxed rules governing young men’s earrings.

“I hope they hurry up with it,” he says with a smile.

When school and family problems became more than he could handle, he said, “I felt like I needed (the Village).” Now, after six months of Village life, he finds “it’s a lot safer here” than in a regular school environment.

Structure set against a background of loving care and health relationships is the cornerstone of Village life.

“(It) provides safety and security,” said Bright, an experienced therapist whose overriding concern is the well-being of Village youngsters. “Kids are better behaved because of it.”

A typical day begins with 7 a.m. wakeup in one of four cottages. Houseparents supervise chores and cleaning before a resident heads for breakfast at 8 a.m.

From 8:30 until 3 p.m., a Villager attends one of five fully accredited middle or high school classrooms, each staffed by a certified teacher and an aide, where individualized, self-paced learning is encouraged. The last hour of the school day is devoted to homework.

Supervised free time occurs after school unless group therapy is scheduled. Supper is served in the cottages at 4:30 p.m. followed by cleanup and recreation. At 7:30 p.m., the evening begins to wind down with showers and a cottage wrap-up session to discuss the day’s progress. Lights go out anywhere from 8:30 until 10:30 p.m., depending on a Villager’s age and disciplinary restrictions.

On weekends, residents not home visiting family follow a somewhat less structured, but nonetheless fully supervised routine.

This year, under Bright’s direction, the Village staff of four master’s level therapists moved their offices from the administration building to the cottages to provide a stronger presence to young residents.

Jackie Marcinko, a Christ the King parishioner and former Village houseparent, now therapist at the girls’ cottage that houses nine young women, said such availability is “a great benefit” to residents and staff alike.

“I’m right there to be on hand, to let the kids come in as they need to,” said Mrs. Marcinko, whose open door policy encourages informal drop-ins. She and other therapists now stay for supper, which helps houeparents enforce values and discipline. “A lot of (role) modeling occurs then, more so than at formal times,” she said.

Mrs. Marcinko believes strongly in the service the Village offers children, regardless of their religion or background. “We deal with kids and families in a very respectful way, encouraging them to work on their issues so they can come back together,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is for kids to go home to their families.”

A family’s willingness to change and grow is prerequisite to a child’s admission to the Village. Family therapy, scheduled twice a month, is a requirement of Village life just like residents’ once-weekly individual and twice-weekly group sessions.

Referrals to the Village are made by mental health professionals, hospitals, schools and government agencies, so Villagers come from a broad range of social and financial backgrounds.

“It’s an open program – no fences, no locked doors,” said Bright. “Every kid is hand-picked to be here.”

Most residents remain at the Village 18 months to two years, progressing through four levels of emotional and behavioral achievement until they are ready for long-term family life and reintegration with the larger adolescent population.

“We are providing a service for kids who need our help in the greater community,” said Carroll Sterne, Secretary for Catholic Charities, which oversees village operations.

Sterne, who is at the Village at least once a week meeting with director Bright and visiting informally with residents, said the Village is known for giving “quality care in a quality facility.” As a Catholic institution, “that’s our mission, to provide young people with a place to turn their lives around.”

If more Catholics knew about the Village and the help it holds for young people and their families, said Bright, they would be justly proud of their part in its work.

“The Village is a well-kept secret,” he said. “I would like for every parish in the archdiocese to know that there is a Village of Saint Joseph owned by his or her church.”