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By Nancy Badertscher
Special To The Bulletin
BUFORD--Father Jimmy Adams has left Prince of Peace Church in Buford to
respond to his second call from God by serving the needy in Nicaragua.
His first call lead him to leave a career in engineering for the priesthood.
His second grew out of efforts to find a social cause that the youth group at
Prince of Peace could embrace.
The youth group and Father Adams found their mission in fund raising to
support the work of Father Marco Dessy and Food for the Poor in Chinandega, a
poverty-stricken area of northwest Nicaragua.
They were able to put a face to those they were helping last summer when
Father Dessy and a youth choir from Chinandega were able to arrange their
schedule to fit a week-long trip to Buford in between performances in Houston
and Miami.
“It was one of the best weeks of our lives,” said John Bland, a
Prince of Peace parishioner who hosted Father Dessy and the youth choir.
The week was a mix of fund-raisers and fun and was so inspiring that Father
Adams kept delaying the start of his vacation so he could stay with Father
Dessy and the youth, Bland recalled. Father Adams also made plans to link up
with Father Dessy and the choir in Miami.
“On the way down, between Macon and Gainesville, is when I got the
call,” Father Adams said. “I literally heard the Lord telling me to
go to Nicaragua. It was as strong a call as when I got the call to the
priesthood.”
In Florida he told Father Dessy. “He smiled the biggest smile,”
Father Adams said.
On his return to Atlanta, he asked Archbishop John F. Donoghue to release
him to go to Nicaragua.
“He said he would do it if he had enough priests to fill my
place,” Father Adams said. “He said it was going to take a year or
so.”
In October, when Chinandega was devastated by Hurricane Mitch, Father Adams
asked that a special collection be taken up and raised $11,000, Bland said.
Then this year over spring break, Father Adams, Bland, 16 other adults and
20 teens went to Chinandega to help with home-building projects and see
firsthand the plastic-covered huts and a dump, where families and animals both
search for food.
“It was powerful for everybody,” Father Adams said.
“What struck me the most were the children--how strong everyone’s
faith was, even though there was so much poverty,” said Sarah Bollinger,
16, a rising junior at Collins Hill High School.
They came home more committed to helping the residents of Chinandega and
permanently bonded to them. Father Dessy made each of the Prince of Peace
contingent a godparent to one or more of the newly baptized Chinandegans.
“The youth group was amazed at how humble and open people are who
don’t have anything,” Bland said. “I think they saw the face of
Christ in the Nicaraguan kids.”
Father Adams received word from the archbishop on his return from Chinandega
that his release was being granted. But his five-and-a-half-year bond with
Prince of Peace is not ending.
The church and youth group, which have raised about $150,000 for the
Nicaraguans, have established a nonprofit organization, Amigos for Christ. The
group just sent a check for $21,000 that will cover the cost of having a van
converted to a medical unit and will pay the $500-a-month salary for a doctor
to staff it, Bland said. Other projects will be funded, largely based on the
recommendations of Father Dessy, the American Nicaraguan Foundation and soon
Father Adams, Bland said.
Father Adams also expects to be back at Prince of Peace when he returns to
the United States to raise awareness of and support for the missions of Father
Dessy and others in Nicaragua.
On Sunday, July 25, when Father Adams celebrated his final Masses and shared
in one last parish picnic, his parting words to parishioners were, “I will
miss you, but I will take you in my heart.”
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