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Eastern Europe
“Orphans of Alcoholism” is a phrase to describe a big problem throughout Eastern Europe, especially in former Soviet-bloc countries. The ravages of atheistic-communism can be seen in this part of the world through the many children abandoned by their parents. These parents are usually alcoholics, without hope, and lacking any initiative to take care of themselves or those around them. Miles Jesu’s Orphans of Alcoholism Program is a place where these children not only receive the care, love, and attention they need, but is also a place of Christian formation where these youths can become the leaders upon whom their own nation can depend as building blocks for the future.
There are many street boys who come every day to our soup kitchen. They are often dressed in ragtag, tattered clothing, and, at first look, you cannot always distinguish between girls and boys. Pasha is one of them. I knew him for a long time since we started helping the street boys on the streets. Bob, one of our members here, asked me, “Who is that girl you were talking to?” He was standing right next to us but Pasha resembled a girl in his features with his long hair and a hat that is usually worn by girls. He also had oversized, dirty clothing and a strong odor.
His story is pretty common for the many of those who come to our soup kitchen. Pasha is 16. He said you can call me “Fly” (his name means “of a fly”). He is the only child of his parents. So far he has finished (as he says) nine classes of secondary school. The problems began when he was 11. He could not get along with his father, who drinks, and they argued a lot. Since then, he began living in the streets. He would come home only one or two times a month. The nights he spent at the home of one of his friends or in abandoned buildings. Pasha says that living on the street makes him wild and he feels the need to go home to get rid of the “wildness.” Then he goes back to the street which attracts him and where he has all his friends. In winter, when it is cold, he visits home more often.
Once Pasha’s father put him into a psychiatric clinic because of his street life but Pasha said that his mother took him out of the clinic after four days. On another occasion, his father got so furious that he struck Pasha's mother in the head with the phone. Pasha reacted strongly in retaliation by getting three of his friends to beat up his father.
When i asked him what he does to get food, he said that now he visits our soup kitchen. Before, he had to beg for money on the street. Pasha said that when he honestly begged for the money for a piece of bread and a beer he used to receive more then if he just asked for money for bread. Pasha says that he doesn’t sniff glue, like many others, but that he likes alcohol: “Yesterday we finished one bottle of vodka for five people.” He said it was common for the street kids to share the spoils.
In summertime, Pasha earned money doing some minor jobs: he was the busboy in a restaurant for two weeks, delivered newspapers, and worked as a courier, earning several dollars a day. Some of the boys he knows are earning money from prostitution but Pasha said that he won’t stoop so low.
His parents do not believe in God and Pasha doesn’t know about religion. But Pasha said that he visits the church from time to time, especially at difficult moments of life. He said that people there are very kind towards him and he often receives money without even begging.
Pasha’s present hope is connected with a divorce process which his mother is pursuing. He said when his mother divorces his father, they will exchange their three-room apartment for two separate apartments and he will be able to live at home with his mother.
When i asked him what advice he would give to the boys like himself, he said: “Don’t live while thinking only about today but think about the future and don’t slide down morally to the level of bums.”
Would you consider making a donation to support the Miles Jesu Missions? You can make a donation online or call us at 1-800-654-7944.
Another Story
The teachings of the Catholic Church fully encompass the total care of every individual, and are described most beautifully and courageously in the document, Evangelium Vitae. As medical professionals we are obligated to care for the health of a person from conception till death and to provide health care which looks for the good of the entire person, body and soul.
The culture of death is ferociously strong in many parts of the world today. But as we read in the book of Wisdom: “God did not make death, and He does not delight in the death of the living. God created man for incorruption, and made him in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it.” (Wis 1:13; 2:23-24) The Church’s teachings give life, not death, to all who hear them and put them into practice. In Evangelium Vitae the Holy Father pleaded: “To all the members of the Church, the people of life and for life, I make this urgent appeal, that together we may offer this world of ours new signs of hope, and work to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase and that a new culture of human life will be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilization of truth and love.” (EV, 6)
One example of how implementing the Church’s teachings on the Gospel of life is bringing new hope into the world is the story of our young friend Tatiana, who many months ago had started coming to our center for street kids in the former Soviet Union run by members of our Epiphany Medical Mission. Like so many of the others, after leaving her broken family, Tatiana had fallen into drug abuse and prostitution. Then her boyfriend, Sasha, decided to bring her home to live with him in his mother’s communal apartment (one small apartment shared with other families).
When she announced to her friends that she was pregnant, they asked, “Well, what are you waiting for?” For most pregnant street girls, abortion is considered the only option. It is not uncommon among them to have had five or six abortions by the age of 18. For them, to go through pregnancy and to have a child is something unimaginable. When Tatiana’s stepfather found out about her pregnancy, he gave money to her mother to pay for the abortion. But her mother spent the money on alcohol and did not tell him about it. After that Tatiana had to take to the streets again.
When Tatiana disclosed to us that she was pregnant and was considering aborting her child, we promised to support her the whole way through her pregnancy and afterwards for as long as she and the baby would need our help. She and Sasha had both been coming to our center for a long enough time to have developed a trust in us. So, thanks be to God, Tatiana decided not to abort her child and now has a beautiful girl, Natasha. She is the first baby of our center. She is in this world today because her mother was confronted with the truth and beauty of the Gospel of life.
Now that Tatiana and Sasha are parents, their outlook on life has changed. They are starting to become more responsible, trying to get rid of their bad habits, and are more serious about getting jobs. The other girls at our center saw how we were faithful to our promise in helping Tatiana. Now they know we will help them if they find themselves in the same situation.
Another girl who had been coming to our center, Sveta, became pregnant a short while after Tatiana and also sought our assistance. She had been considering abortion until we promised her support, and then she too kept her baby. Thanks to this baby girl, she and her boyfriend Peter have changed their lives for the better. They moved away from the city (a source of temptations for them) to a village where Sveta’s parents live. Peter now works with Sveta’s father in a factory making a living. Sveta stays home with her mother and her child. Amazingly they have both stopped narcotic use and are trying to give a good life to their baby.
“The Church knows that this Gospel of Life which she has received from her Lord, has a profound and persuasive echo in the heart of every person—believer and non-believer alike—because it marvelously fulfills all the heart’s expectations while infinitely surpassing them.” (EV, 2) Please pray that the Lord might continue to bring new life into the darkness of this world assailed from every side by the culture of death.
And let us pray to the Blessed Mother: “The one who accepted ‘Life’ in the name of all and for the sake of all; she is thus most closely and personally associated with the Gospel of Life. Mary’s consent at the Annunciation and her motherhood stand at the very beginning of the mystery of life which Christ came to bestow on humanity (cf. Jn 10:10). Through her acceptance and loving care for the life of the Incarnate Word, human life has been rescued from condemnation to final and eternal death.” (EV)
Her Child “is also a figure of every person, every child, especially every helpless baby whose life is threatened, because—as the Council reminds us—‘by his Incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every person.’ It is precisely in the ‘flesh’ of every person that Christ continues to reveal himself and to enter into fellowship with us, so that rejection of human life, in whatever form that rejection takes, is really a rejection of Christ. This is the fascinating but also demanding truth which Christ reveals to us and which his Church continues untiringly to proclaim: ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me’ (Mt 18:5); ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Mt 25:40)” (EV)
May He be the center of all human life!
Would you consider making a donation to support the Miles Jesu Missions? You can make a donation online or call us at 1-800-654-7944.
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