BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Approximately seven to eight hundred supporters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home and of the Hawthorne Dominicans who serve there gathered Nov. 5 for their 41st annual Champagne Luncheon.

Opening the event at the Atlanta Hilton & Towers, Mary Hicks, auxiliary president, and Gail Vrana, luncheon chair, expressed appreciation to the sisters for their free care of those terminally ill with cancer.

Archbishop John Donoghue, in his message, praised the sisters and Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, who founded the order in 1896. Hawthorne Dominican sisters now staff seven homes in the U.S. caring for those with cancer whose resources have been exhausted.

"This great woman experienced one of the most terrible things that can befall anyone, the death of a child," Archbishop Donoghue said.

"But because of her great compassion, like that of the Lord she served, she was able to open her heart, not just to the countless she served personally, but also to the women who follow in her footsteps, and who labor so productively, and with such grace, in our midst today."

The archbishop thanked the home's supporters for providing the volunteer and fund-raising efforts that enable the charitable work of the sisters to continue.

"The need for support, for encouragement, and for assistance, like the suffering itself, goes on and on--but thankfully, God has raised up in the hearts of people nearby, the desire to be a part of this mission to bring mercy and kindness to those in great need," he said. "God bless you all for the untiring work and dedication that you bring to the cancer home."

He also offered words of encouragement to those living at the home and said their suffering draws others to Christ.

"We wish to thank those who are at the center of this undertaking--the sick and the dying. For from their souls, from their suffering, from their helplessness, we are drawn nearer to the Lord than by any other means. Our patients who are passing their final hours under the protective canopy of the cancer home, somehow embody the mystery that brings life out of death, the mystery of Christ Himself and of salvation itself."

At the luncheon, Sister M. Raphael Kennedy, OP, who came to the Atlanta home in 1984, described the sisters' labor as joy.

"Our joy is really helping the patients. There's something different about the patients...They don't feel like a burden because (the sisters) enjoy what they do," she said.

Sister M. Florence Gilmore, OP, superior in Atlanta for the past two months, described the nature and goal of their nursing care to those of any religion, race or social background.

"We accept (residents) as they are and where they are at," she said. "Our main work is to make them as comfortable as they can (be) in their last days."

When patients arrive, she said, "Some of them are angry and frightened and don't know what to expect. We treat them with love and acceptance."

Carolyn Burns, whose mother entered the home at the age of 41 and died there in 1954, affirmed that description.

"They helped when no one else would," she said. "We had no money. My mother had nothing--and I'm not Catholic, I'm a Baptist...These people took us in when no one else would."

Following her mother's death, "the care that was shown to me continued," she added. "They knew what I was going through."

Sandra Bartenfeld's sister, Irene Wood, stayed there for three months. "She got very good care," Bartenfeld said. "She was bedridden and after the first week or so she didn't know where she was. They took care of her and did what they could to make her comfortable...They try to make it as peaceful as possible for the patients."

Dee Dronzek, president of the Northlake Elks Lodge Auxiliary, attends the luncheon yearly and said the auxiliary donates food, money and goods, including pajamas, sheets, candy and paper products to the home. She is particularly impressed by its cleanliness and patient comforts, including television sets, beauty and barber shops and landscaped grounds.

Alberta Welsh, a member of the OLPH auxiliary and of Holy Family Church in Marietta, said her mother died of cancer when she was nine. She and other auxiliary members in parishes gather monthly to sew cancer pads from old sheets and pillow cases for patients to rest on.

During the luncheon, a video was shown describing the comforts of the "home" with Atlanta's oldest and largest oak tree on its grounds. The piece also noted that the home not only serves the poor but also middle-class families unable to afford the financial impact of cancer.

Entertainment was provided by concert pianist Mac Frampton, with drum and bass accompaniment, who performed songs including "Music of the Night" from "Phantom of the Opera" and the theme from "Forrest Gump." Tenor soloist Sam Hagan concluded the entertainment singing "Go Tell It On The Mountain."

Appreciatory remarks were also made by William Pike of Pike Family Nurseries, a committed supporter of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home.

Eight sisters run the home which serves up to 48 men and women. It is solely supported by donations and fund-raising efforts, including the Medical Supply Fund and the Champagne Luncheon, put on by the home's 600-member auxiliary founded in 1940.