BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--The parish social ministry conference "Forming Communities of Salt and Light" on Oct. 11 explored the internal foundation of social ministries and external opportunities to develop them.

After citing problems of poverty, homelessness, negative media influences and decline in morality, John Carr, the director of the U.S. Catholic Conference's Department of Social Development and World Peace, opened the conference as the guest speaker challenging participants to fight them.

He encouraged the approximately 120 attendees to work together as a family of faith and care for others in their homes, families and workplaces, launching them into a day of 14 workshops on various social ministries and service opportunities. The event was sponsored by Catholic Social Services (CSS) and held at St. Pius X High School.

While remaining anchored in their faith through the Eucharist and worship, Carr encouraged the faithful to accomplish social ministry by work in conjunction with other organizations like the Georgia Catholic Conference, the Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Relief Services.

He told them of their obligation as Catholics to serve, live the Gospel and build God's kingdom in such ways as by treating co-workers and marriage partners with respect and equality and teaching children the Gospel and the social dimension of the Eucharist through religious education programs. He also cited community involvement through local city councils or school boards.

"The basic challenge is to broaden, deepen and strengthen our social ministry," Carr said, adding that Catholics should serve others of all social classes.

"We're talking about the lady who cleans the office... the corporate executive who is being down-sized and the lady on welfare who is looking for work. This is about the brothers and sisters of the people of God," he said.

"The most important mission of social ministry is in your parish and in your home."

Dangers which he said prevent individuals from realizing their social mission include self-righteousness, hypocrisy and the attitude that social work is others' responsibility.

The guest speaker reminded attendees of their power to influence society positively by the constancy of their faith, their strong sense of community and their dedication to social action.

"What brings us together...is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that social ministry of our church is not an option...but at the core of parish life."

Conference planner Myles McCabe, director of Community Relations of CSS, said following the event, "People were really glad to be together with people from other parishes to talk about social ministries. People were really excited by John Carr's message and they felt good about the specific information they picked up that they could take back to their parishes."

At a workshop entitled "Scripture, Social Teaching and Social Ministry," Tom Reichert explored the attitudes of the heart from which social ministry stems, noting the biblical paradoxes that love, nonviolence, weakness and humility lead to greatness and strength in God.

Reichert, who serves on the social concerns committee at Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta, suggested social ministry is a state of being and challenged individuals to focus on goodness when serving others and see the presence of Jesus not only in the Eucharist but in suffering people.

"Some people have the capacity to see the good in us even when we don't see it ourselves...Jesus saw the good in people and helped to bring out that good. What you dwell on you become," he said.

To live in love and follow Jesus one must risk suffering and being persecuted and ignored, he continued. One's capacity to love is related to a willingness to suffer and experience emotional pain and heartache.

While abiding in this spirit, Reichert encouraged believers to help others through small acts of charity when no one is watching, and to truly listen to people in need.

Reflecting Jesus' humble obedience to God, Reichert displayed a piece of his art with Rwandans packed in a crowd and an anonymous Christ figure among them.

The workshop emphasized that organized projects such as Habitat for Humanity draw people to social ministry and that people become less overwhelmed by societal problems when they have personal contact with those in need.

"When you can relate with people, it turns a nobody into a somebody," Reichert said.

Ron Hutchinson, a parishioner at St. Jude's Church, Sandy Springs, expressed the need for more leadership on social outreach.

"We sometimes seem to lose sight of the Gospel message as we work together... It needs to be preached -- the Gospel message of love of neighbor and the social implication of that," he said.

James Powers, representing Pax Christi in the workshop "Choosing Life Over Violence," further explored the interior emotions which affect the external actions of the social minister. As a loving heart leads the believer to self-love and acts of charity towards others, he said, a fearful heart leads believers as well as others to acts of violence.

"You see it in the streets, but (violence) is in our own lives. Violence is rooted in our fear. We're terrified of so many things threatening us," he said.

Powers noted a challenge for Christians is not to worry about surviving because they are guaranteed eternal life, but rather to focus on seeking God, loving and serving others and seeing God in them.

The same workshop offered information on the work of the archdiocesan Pro-Life Office to affirm the value of unborn life. Director Peggy Sinanian said that despite the popular perception that abortion helps women, women who have abortions are acting violently against the unborn child and experience emotional damage to themselves and their families.

Project Rachel, a national post-abortion support organization, reports that women experience nightmares and flashbacks to the abortion, feelings of hopelessness and anxiety, and alienation from God, she said. Men who have paid for abortions often seek counseling for distress which they feel they are unable to share with their wives, she added.

Sinanian said that 1.5 million abortions are performed in the U.S. annually, that Georgia is known as the Southeast's abortion capital where approximately 50,000 abortions are performed yearly in one of 55 abortion clinics.

In the Archdiocese of Atlanta, the Pro-Life Office sponsors the PATH program to help women who have experienced abortion heal. Facilitators are needed to train to work in the program in all parishes. Parishioners may also support pro-life work by joining one of 74 pro-life committees in the archdiocese, which offer books, videos, programs and speakers and are involved in legislative advocacy. They may volunteer at Catholic Social Services' Pregnancy, Parenting and Adoption program which assists pregnant women.

CSS plans to sponsor six regional meetings on social ministry beginning in January and to hold another conference next fall.