The North Star Catholic / Showing mercy with our feet, hands and hearts

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We have a parishioner here in Magadan, Russia, who has struggled with alcoholism for some time. She is a mom of two sons. One is a teenager, the other an eight-year-old who is extremely handicapped and the gem of our parish.

No one dances to the entrance and exit hymns like young Slava. His name gives a hint of who he is. Slava in Russian means, “praise.” He brings such joy and simplicity to our parish, dancing with the choir as they rehearse for Mass and praising God with his whole body and heart.

I asked his mom for permission to share the following story. If it helps anyone through this disease, she asked me to please share it.

At first, she needed work so the parish hired her as a cook. We have a kids club on Saturdays for area children who come hungry for food and attention. She cooked for our staff as well as on Saturdays for the kids club. She has great talent there. But soon her alcoholism became a problem. What to do? The solution came from the people I work with on the staff. They wanted to help her find a sober life. First they offered to rent her an apartment so she could have less stress, apart from the chaos of the dirty, dark dormitory where she lived with her mom and where daily there was drinking and drugs.

The parish staff sacrificed a percentage of their salary — about five percent — to rent the apartment for her. The second act of mercy came when one young man, seven years sober, offered to be her sponsor. He has been living with me in the parish for a few months and is in the process of finding a strong spiritual foundation for his life. He would lead her through the 12 steps and take her to AA meetings. I agreed but said there must be more than just one meeting a week — three or four would be needed to set her on the right course.

I offered the parish car so they could drive to the meetings during the week. But what to do with Slava? The sisters of mercy, our Daughters of Charity offered their help. They would care for Slava while she went to the AA meetings.

We are seeing such a beautiful effect in all lives.

Mercy grows mercy. We pray Morning Prayer every day together as a team and pray for strength to not only talk about mercy but to show it. This effort is not a naïve gesture but a realistic help to someone who needs our support.

She once said that people like her are usually just thrown away and forgotten but here she feels loved.

While there is no cure for alcoholism, it is a disease than can stay in remission and a person can live a normal, sober life. Like all alcoholics she must choose the sober life, and like everyone who suffers from addiction she needs support.

Our whole parish community is committed to helping those struggling with this disease. I cannot think of one family that is not touched somehow by the disease of alcoholism. We now have two AA meetings a week in our parish hall and have sent four people to a treatment center in St. Petersburg. As a parish, we pay for the plane fare. All a person needs is the desire to face their disease and begin working on the 12 steps.

The gift of this kindness resounds in our hearts each day, and although there is no guarantee Slava’s mother will not fall again, there is hope and love and support. We can and must do this even if it costs us something. Our Lord has said: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”