By Rita McInerney, Special To The Bulletin

ATLANTA—Toni Miralles’ “family” of Faith and Sharing students, Will-A-Way campers and Valentine dancers attended her funeral Mass Sept. 19 at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Sandy Springs.

As the beautiful liturgy neared its close, they lined up at the foot of the altar, faced the congregation and offered “His Banner over Me Is Love,” singing and signing their hymn with such exuberance many in the congregation joined in. It was a moment of grace for everyone. For the singers it was a special gift to the woman who had shown them how Jesus loved them.

Mrs. Miralles, wife of Joe and mother of three sons and two daughters, began her ministry for persons with disabilities after searching for and finding nothing in the way of religious education for her daughter Felicia, born mildly disabled. The faith teaching she began in 1969 gradually attracted other parents and their physically and mentally disabled children to St. Jude.

Mrs. Miralles died just a few months after her close friend and mentor, Dorothy Miller, a former Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, whose own mission was to help people with disabilities become as self-sufficient as possible.

Parents and children came to St. Jude Church from Conyers and Carrollton, Dunwoody and Doraville, Dahlonega, Forest Park, Kennesaw, Hapeville, Lilburn and Stone Mountain. She offered an answer these parents were unable to find in their own parishes. Young volunteers, some siblings of the students, were eager to help—teaching the youngsters one on one in Sunday school, supporting them in their recreation.

Through the years, St. Jude parishioners supported the ministry wholeheartedly and came to know the class members as they shared their gifts at parish Masses as altar servers, lectors, musicians and greeters and at Faith and Sharing Day celebrations which included a covered dish supper twice each year.

As the ministry grew, her students developed their appreciation for nature and their social skills at Camp Will-A-Way and at the annual Valentine dance.

“She had all the people here that she wanted. Her biggest joy would have been seeing them singing,” Sister Eileen Murray, GNSH, said after the Mass. A minister to the elderly, Sister Murray’s office was next door to Mrs. Miralles’ in the parish D’Youville Center.

In 1997 the Grey Nuns chose Mrs. Miralles to receive the annual award named for their foundress, St. Marguerite d’Youville. Mrs. Miralles also received an award in 1993 from the Georgia Association for Retarded Citizens.

Sister Murray said she thanks God daily that Father David Talley, who began his priesthood as a parochial vicar at St. Jude Church and gave the homily at the funeral Mass, always supported and empathized with Mrs. Miralles and her ministry. He is currently chancellor and archdiocesan director of vocations.

“A prophet is not one who foretells the future but one who makes the future,” Father Talley told the congregation, calling his friend such a one.

“That’s what Toni did in this parish,” Sister Murray said. “And she had a lot of support.”

“Toni had to say what she had to say. She was so strong. She could stand on her strong principles” and fight for the needs of her students, Sister Murray added, whether it was more parking for the handicapped, better lighting near the altar, more amplification, pew cuts for wheelchairs or large print missalettes.

She did “whatever had to be done for the betterment of people who did not have clout,” Sister Murray declared. “She was stupendous as far as that was concerned. We have a duty to be on their side, pushing for them, as believers of the radical Gospel ... We have got to be with Christ in this.”

Marilyn Anderson, director of religious education and OCIA, and Trish Johnson, parish life office coordinator, helped in the Stapleton Center as lunch prepared by parishioners awaited the return of family and friends from Arlington Memorial Park.

Johnson said she found Mrs. Miralles a person who “could empathize immediately—mother to mother,” when she told her about seeking help for her younger son who suffered from a multitude of problems.

“Toni knew all about battles with bureaucracies and the negative attitudes of many, even in the church, toward the ‘challenged child.’ There was immediate rapport and sympathy that was very comforting. Toni could present a ‘hard’ exterior; her heart was understanding and warm. I am glad I saw that.”

Anderson commented on another of her strengths. “She was a marvelous liturgist. How quickly she gleaned the meaning of Vatican II. She was a church minister in no uncertain terms.”

Toni Miralles changed Tricia Miller’s life in the early 1990s when she suggested that her students invite members of the St. Jude singles group to their Valentine dance. The young woman attended with a girl friend. That evening, a mutual friend introduced her to David Miller. He knew right away she was the girl he wanted to marry.

“We volunteered at camp (Will-A-Way). I wanted to see what kind of a man he was.” She liked what she saw, they married and have three young children.

“I wanted to be part of Toni’s ministry,” Miller continued. For one, her sister had learning disabilities as a child. For another, she was touched by Mrs. Miralles’ love and ability to help people with disabilities participate fully, gain accessibility and show that people with disabilities have gifts to share and can help others.

Recently Mrs. Miralles, who was planning to retire, asked Miller to take over the ministry.

Miller calls Camp-Will-A-Way “a little bit of heaven,” where campers help the volunteers see “the importance of giving and sharing without barriers. They are not hesitant to show their feelings while singing and praising God. It’s not a show but truly from the heart. We learn to appreciate the challenges people with disabilities experience every minute of their lives.”

Volunteers are needed for the ministry immediately, she said, to serve as instructors for the 20 or so people with disabilities who attend Sunday school. Last year there were 20 volunteers who taught students one-on-one. The number was down to nine this year. And classes are resuming after summer recess.

In the classes, Miller explained, the children and adults with disabilities “share, have feelings, worry about tomorrow, about parents, health, relationships. They worry about people having difficulties. They teach me how to listen well.”

The young mother said Mrs. Miralles asked her some time ago to think about the ministry.

“I would come in every once and a while. She had already been training me.” In her quiet way, Miller said, Mrs. Miralles “always encouraged people to achieve more than they thought they could.”

Miller is taking on the ministry sooner than anyone ever expected. Not long after Toni, her husband and Felicia returned from a cruise just a few months ago it was discovered she had cancer.

“I always told her ‘thank you’ for making me part of such a wonderful ministry,” Miller said. “Her presence and her spirit will touch people forever.”

“Toni’s dream,” Miller said, was to have one central office in the archdiocese for people with disabilities where parents could find needed information and support.

One of her favorite songs, the young woman said, was “Weave One Heart,” by Marty Haugen. It summed up what she did: Weave one heart from many strands; Come, Let us be a family; God be praised through our working hands; We are called to be a family.

That was a song sung often at Camp Will-A-Way held each Mother’s Day weekend at Fort Yargo, a state park in Winder designed for people with disabilities. Campers can enter the pool from a ramp and a special pontoon boat takes them out on the lake to fish. Volunteering for camp proved habit-forming for families as well as individuals.

Libby Blanton said her son Drew, 28, “lives for Camp Will-A-Way. It’s the only place he’s ever felt totally accepted and loved. He thinks we ought to have it more often.” He knows also when the Faith and Sharing Day celebrations are coming up and loves to dance at the gala Valentine dances. He uses both a wheelchair and walker, the latter for the dance.

Drew suffered serious head injuries in a car accident as a small child. He is now living on his own in a specially equipped apartment.

“Every year I marveled at how Toni had camp organized. I’m just talking about all the mechanics, let alone all the love. To me, she was a martial sergeant at arms person who got everything organized ... The teenagers were not always happy,” Libby Blanton commented.

The two mothers met years ago at a meeting of the National Catholic Office for People with Disabilities in Portland, Ore. “She nagged me to bring Drew to Sunday morning faith and sharing.”

Drew started attending in 1990 and her daughters Sarah and Kate began volunteering when they were 12. Many volunteers, including her daughters, “go off to college and come back for the camp. They’ve grown up with it.”

From her own experience and encounters with other parents, Libby Blanton knows how “sporadic” are the attempts of many parishes to make it easier for people with disabilities. “So many obstacles are created. If Jesus acted like this, Christianity would never have happened.”

Robert and the late Mary Byrne Callahan had 10 children. One daughter, Anne, was slightly retarded. She joined the class at St. Jude after Dorothy Miller moved her ministry for and with people with disabilities from Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Atlanta and started the Elaine Clark Center.

The young Callahans volunteered wholeheartedly with Toni’s ministry as they had with Dorothy Miller’s. Anne and Felicia became close friends. So did their parents.

Before Anne died from cancer in 1988 she was paralyzed for five years, her father said. She was 26.

She still went to class, the camp and dance, he said. “She liked the liturgies and was one of the readers.”

“Our kids just loved the camp, They took their girlfriends, later their wives. It became a big thing with the family.”

Dennis, the youngest of the nine Callahans who volunteered, said, “As far as I know, every single one of us volunteered at camp.” And to the best of his recollection, most of the younger ones taught at the special Sunday school at St. Jude.

Campers, including his sister, Anne, and volunteers were a close-knit group. And Mrs. Miralles, he said, “walked a fine line ... trying to make it as much fun for everyone as well as remaining aware of the campers’ needs.” And, he added, with Toni and his mother “being best friends,” he had to be on his best behavior.

Chip Polosky began volunteering 20 years ago as a teenager. Even though he lived in Columbia, S.C., for the last eight or nine years, the camp remained part of his life. He drove back to Atlanta each year to help. He is now an echo cardiographer in St. Paul, Minn., working toward certification qualifying him to work with pediatric patients.

Early on, Polosky said, “Toni introduced me to the (Dorothy) Miller family.” Chris Miller, one of Dorothy Miller’s 11 adopted children, became a special friend.

Volunteers, he said, “were pretty much there to strongly encourage campers to do what they can,” making their beds, sweeping the floor, clearing dishes after meals, preparing for the Mass.

He won’t forget the moment Toni Miralles told the campers at the Mother’s Day Mass of her plans to retire at the end of the year. As each camper presented her with a carnation “her face was shining with love for all those kids.”

“You come to the camp with tons of energy and leave exhausted, but with good memories for the rest of the year,” he explained.

This year a quilt created by campers was presented to Mrs. Miralles at camp. Handprints with their names above linked each camper to their teacher. A line from “Weave Us Together” had a place on the quilt. It was displayed at the Stapleton Center where family and friends gathered after her burial.

Through Joy Fuchs of Marietta, Mrs. Miralles became interested in Faith and Light, an international ecumenical association with mentally handicapped people, their families and friends started by Jean Vanier. He is also the founder of L’Arche communities for people with disabilities established in many countries.

Joy Fuch’s daughter, Gretchen, 22, was involved with the St. Jude Faith and Sharing celebrations for several years.

With Faith and Light, “Gretchen sees her friends in a small community atmosphere and the parents have bonding,” Mrs. Fuchs said.

The group meets monthly in a Christian setting for Scripture reading and prayer led by a spiritual director.

They are currently without one since the priest who was serving the group has been reassigned to Washington.

There are six or seven Catholic parishes, including St. Jude and St. Ann in Marietta, and other Christian churches represented at the meetings.

“There are many of us who came from Toni’s ministry—a beautiful person, with the Spirit moving in her. She touched a lot of us. I feel she would be happy that her ministry is growing and alive, reaching out to many families and individuals,” she said.

Father Richard Morrow, who gave the homily at the wake service, spent eight years on “the same team at St. Jude” with Mrs. Miralles when he was pastor there.

She frequently used Jesus’ words on the cross, “I thirst,” in discussing the children with him—how, in their innocence, they thirst for God and signs of His goodness.

“She did her best to love these children as Jesus loved and still loves her,” Father Morrow said. “If she had retired she would not have slackened in her intensity of love for them.”

“It was God’s will for her, that’s the way she looked at it. Just as it was Mary’s role ... as she stood at the foot of the cross. We are called not just to praise her but also to follow her example. Be good to all children and especially these children she looked after.”