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BY PRISCILLA GREEAR
Staff Writer
CARROLLTON--A Saturday night on the town for Joy and Ned Gilliom means
loading up in the parish van at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church and heading
out to a trailer park, public housing and other Hispanic neighborhoods to pick
up poor Latinos with no transportation to Mass.
Approaching downtown at dusk Oct. 16 in the tan van, the semi-retired couple
stopped by a mint green house where they picked up Alejandro Gonzalez and his
nephew Reginaldo, who moved to this country from Guatemala about a year ago and
don’t speak English. The Gillioms have been giving the family a ride for
about nine months. The two men and about six other family members used to live
together in a Carrollton trailer park.
The second stop was the Brookwood apartments, a fixture on the
Gillioms’ route. They waited 15 minutes before learning that Mass-goers
there had already gotten a ride.
Offering a lift for both the body and the spirit, the Gillioms drove the men
to OLPH for the weekly 7 p.m. Spanish Mass.
While Ned remained in the van, Joy, who is learning Spanish, went inside
where she greeted and gave out programs to some of about 50 Hispanics in the
joyful congregation and joined in the Mass.
Then the couple waited as seminarian Dayro Rico led a religious education
class in Spanish after Mass, before taking the men back home.
The number of people needing a ride “can run anywhere from zero to 12.
One time we had to make two trips,” said Joy, who began the transportation
ministry to and from church with her husband nearly a year and a half ago.
They’ve made an average of three stops every Saturday and parishioner Luis
Almodovar faithfully drives when they’re unable. Some who’ve been
picked up since the ministry started still need rides to Mass, Joy said.
“Usually it’s the young ones that get cars, the children,”
she said. “Brookwood is always a stop because we have people going in and
out of these apartments all the time and we have also gone to public housing
because people move in and out all the time.”
She added that some people don’t show up because they have to work. At
one time they offered transportation to three families who had to live in a
single apartment at Brookwood until they pulled together enough money to afford
better living arrangements.
Ned, who always takes the wheel, said that they are always picking up
different people and that many eventually find other means of transportation.
“They meet people at church. They get rides. Some of them get their own
cars.”
Although the Anglo couple speaks little Spanish, they are working to help
OLPH reach out and welcome the growing Hispanic community around Carrollton.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that rural Carroll and Douglas counties are
home to approximately 3,100 Hispanics.
Alejandro, who has no car, is grateful for transportation to the weekly Mass
he regularly attends.
“Because of the couple we are able to go to church … The church is
very important for us,” he said. “The church is the only organization
that fights for the well-being of the common people … The church is the
only organization that can help (immigrants) with problems.”
He and the majority of Hispanics in the parish come from Mexico, Honduras
and Guatemala and work as migrants or in chicken factories, restaurants or
landscaping. Parishioner Josey Arbizu, who has helped lead the ministry for
five years, said while there is a small group of professional, bilingual
Hispanics, many are undocumented and come for a while and then move on for more
work. Most do not register in the parish, reluctant to give personal
information.
Arbizu, who also helps with transportation and Bible study, said those who
minister must spend time listening to the Hispanic people, in order to gain
their trust.
“These people are very protective. They go to you and you have to spend
time with them and they will open their heart.”
In addition to the Spanish Mass, the ministry led by the seminarian and
established about 10 years ago offers RENACER (RENEW) 2000, teaching on
Scripture and the sacraments, retreats and occasional help with immigration
issues. The Mass and transportation services are advertised on the radio and
Rico occasionally holds services in Spanish downtown. He and Arbizu make house
calls to invite Hispanics to the parish and the seminarian hopes to increase
outreach to youth.
“They need our assistance because they are our brothers and sisters in
God in Jesus Christ,” Rico said.
Alejandro, who left behind a wife and eight children in Guatemala, is one of
those who appreciates the parish outreach. He came to the U.S. to escape the
deep poverty in Guatemala and to find work to support his family. He hopes his
family can eventually join him and his children can get an education. He said
he would like to attend more church activities, but is unable to because he
works nights at a poultry plant.
“We are here out of need. In Guatemala there is suppression,
poverty,” he said. “God helped us to get here.”
Recalling the struggle of his fellow Irishmen coming to America a century
ago as poor immigrants, Father John Farrelly, the pastor, said it is the
church’s Gospel obligation to reach out to Hispanics.
When Father Joseph Fahy, CP, the former Mass celebrant in Carrollton, went
on a sabbatical in October, Father Farrelly began celebrating the Mass,
although he speaks very little Spanish.
“It’s my way of reaching out to the community,” he said.
“The people appreciate the fact that I, as a pastor, am reaching out to
celebrate in their language … (I hope) for the Spanish-speaking community
to realize that they are an integral part of the community.”
The pastor said there is still much outreach to be done to all area
Hispanics.
“In many ways we’re only touching the tip of the iceberg in terms
of who we’re reaching. There are so many Spanish-speaking people in the
area we’re not reaching,” he said. “This is what we’re
about--to have a community of faith.”
Father Farrelly is grateful to Rico and seminarian Thony Jean, who served in
the parish in the past, for building up the ministry. Many volunteers help,
including Arbizu and Kathy Bell and her son, Kevin, who provided child-care
this summer during the Spanish Mass and who have taught English class. He said
the Gillioms’ work is “extraordinary.”
“Their fidelity is so wonderful--that they can be counted on …
They’re always faithful to give up all their Saturday evenings for
that,” he said. “It’s a big expression of the sacrament of
marriage--how Christ works through that sacrament … In their love for each
other they reach out to so many others. It’s beautiful.”
The Gillioms began the ministry after Joy got word from an ESL student that
many Hispanics were unable to attend Mass because they lacked cars. She
discussed the idea with Ned, who volunteered to drive. She’s now studying
Spanish through tapes and the computer and following Mass leads the rosary in
Spanish in preparation for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The couple’s goal is to bring the Latinos together and “help them
to help themselves” by building up their community. Joy also hopes to link
the Hispanic and Anglo communities.
“We’re such a segregated group,” she said. “While the
pope is calling for ecumenism, we don’t even have it within our own
parish. What I’m trying to do is bridge the gap and show them that
they’re welcome.”
Her biggest frustration is when people she picked up don’t tell her if
they get a ride home with someone else. “They don’t tell us because
they don’t speak English and I get upset because we don’t want to
leave anybody in the middle of the night 10 miles from home.”
Ned, who lacks an ear for languages, said his biggest challenge is trying to
schedule pick-up times and places with the language barrier. But since he
joined the church in 1998, “helping make attendance at Mass and social
activities possible for those others who might not be able to come makes me
feel closer to the OLPH community.”
Together, the Gillioms are rewarded by the Hispanics’ gratitude and
joy.
“It’s just working out very well. It’s very rewarding. These
people are so grateful. They all smile and say thank you. That’s all you
need,” Joy said.
One expression of gratitude was when a new mother brought her newborn on the
van for Mass.
“They brought the baby with them and it was just born and I think that
baby was a day old … She brought that baby to show us, too,” Joy
said.
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