BY GRETCHEN KEISER

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--A full ballroom of 1250 people gathered Oct. 18 to support the work of nine sisters who give free nursing care to people dying of cancer who have no means to pay.

The small group of Hawthorne Dominican nuns, wearing white and black habits, were dwarfed by the huge crowd attending the glittering annual luncheon given by the auxiliary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home. This is the 40th year for the auxiliary's luncheon and the 100th year of the ministry to cancer sufferers in the United States.

OLPH home in Atlanta opened in 1939, as an outreach of a religious order begun in 1896. Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, a convert to the Catholic faith, began the work in New York City at the age of 45 caring for poor and outcast cancer sufferers and leaving her intellectual and social circles behind.

"Wherever I go throughout this archdiocese, no institution of the Catholic Church is mentioned to me more often than the Cancer Home, and no ministry of the Church is more respected and held in awe," said Archbishop John F. Donoghue at the luncheon at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

"No one impresses us, no one has to force to change us more in our souls, than those who take literally the commands of Christ to serve the poor," he added. "We here in this archdiocese, and people throughout the Southeast, are especially favored in having the visible witness of the Hawthorne Dominicans to teach us and to remind us exactly what a large and fruitful field the work of salvation encompasses."

The home near the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and Olympic Stadium is a tree-shaded oasis in an urban environment, where patients are cared for without payment. The sisters who provide nursing care are assisted by a staff and by a network of volunteers. A tribute to their work by WXIA-TV was aired at the luncheon, showing the Hawthorne Dominicans receiving the most recent 11 Alive Community Service Award in recognition of their loving and unconditional service to others.

Also speaking at the luncheon were Sister Valentina Sheridan, RSM, who gave a tribute on behalf of the Mercy sisters serving at St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta, and Frank H. Maier, honorary chairman of the luncheon and chairman of Maier & Berkele jewelers, whose family has supported the work of the home for many years.

The luncheon committee was chaired by Gloria Harrison Stewart and worked for many months on the various aspects of the fund-raising event, which entirely benefits the home. The auxiliary has been in existence since 1940. Parishioners and priests from throughout the archdiocese filled tables as did supporters of the home from throughout the wider community. Following the luncheon, trumpeter Cecil Welch and Company provided entertainment.