October 2
| 2022
VOL 32 NO 2
IN THIS ISSUE OF HONOR THE ROOM B1 MEDAL A5 RECALLING A4 MAKING KCHS, Sacred Heart host QUEEN AND HER FAITH FOR CHRIST Good Shepherd catechesis at work
Seftons share experiences with the royal family
activities for recipients of hallowed military award
He dwells among us ......................... A3 Parish news ....................................... B4 Diocesan calendar ............................ B5 Columns ............................................. B6 Catholic schools ............................. B10 La Cosecha ............................Section C
‘A match made in heaven’
Catholic Charities, St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic partner to provide health care in Scott Co. By Bill Brewer
JIM WOGAN (2)
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atholic Charities of East Tennessee and St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic are partnering on a unique ministry that provides a shot in the arm to health care in Scott County, which has joined the ranks of rural areas where the dedicated practice of medicine is at risk. The leaders of St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic and Catholic Charities announced on Sept. 20 at St. Jude Church in the Helenwood community of Scott County that they are combining resources to offer free health care to the uninsured in the area. It marks the first time that Catholic Charities and St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic have offered joint services at one location. “It’s a match made in heaven. It is the perfect coming together of the right resources, the right services at the right time to meet the need in the community. We want to make sure that we do serve the local community here. We’re very excited to be involved and welcomed to Scott County and to be able to meet that critical need,” said Martin Vargas, executive director of St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic. Lisa Healy, executive director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, said the Diocese of Knoxville social services agency has been working with St. Jude since early 2021 to convert the parish rectory into space for Catholic Charities’ sixth Pregnancy Help Center. The remodeling was completed late last year, and the Pregnancy Help Center began assisting mothers and fathers in December. At the same time, discussions were taking place to bring the mobile clinic to Helenwood, where there has been an acute health-care shortage. Scott County announced in 2016 that its only hospital was closing because the hospital’s parent company was filing for bankruptcy. However, a buyer stepped in and purchased the facility later that year. The Oneida hospital, which had previously closed in 2012, has operated as Big South Fork Medical Center since August 2017.
Teamwork Martin Vargas and Lisa Healy, center, exchange a high-five as they cut the ribbon on the official opening of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee's Pregnancy Help Center and St. Mary's Legacy Clinic's newest site in Scott County at St. Jude Church. Also pictured are, from left, Mary Ann Toennisson, Sister Mary Lisa Renfer, RSM, Sandi Davidson, Kim Brach, Dallas West, and Sister Celeste Mary Poche, RSM. Open for ministry Sandi Davidson of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee stands in front of the diocesan social services agency's newest Pregnancy Help Center in Helenwood in Scott County. The center occupies a building that formerly was the rectory for St. Jude Church. St. Mary's Legacy Clinic also will offer health care from that site.
Helenwood continued on page A14
Our Lady of Perpetual Help celebrates milestone Chattanooga parish and school hold events to mark 85th anniversary By Jim Wogan
JIM WOGAN
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he list is long and illustrious, but Father Arthur Torres did a good job reciting from memory the names of some of the pastors who have served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish during its 85 years in Chattanooga. “Father (Harold) Shea, Father Joe Brando, Monsignor Al Humbrecht, Father Mike Nolan, Father Jim Vick. It's a blessing for me also to be a pastor here,” Father Torres said. After serving as parochial administrator of OLPH since 2020, Father Torres was named pastor of the parish this year. On Aug. 28, he joined Bishop Richard F. Stika and associate pastor Father Zach Griffith in the celebration of a Mass commemorating the establishment of the parish and the adjoining OLPH school 85 years ago. “I would be hard pressed to find flowers today in Chattanooga. The ones here at the church are so beautiful as we celebrate some-
For many more years Bishop Richard F. Stika delivers the homily during Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chattanooga on Aug. 28. thing magnificent — 85 years of the existence of this parish, founded in 1937,” Bishop Stika said in his opening remarks. “We give thanks to almighty God for
the presence of this parish and this community.” Our Lady of Perpetual Help isn’t the oldest parish in the Diocese of Knoxville, but it certainly has seen
its share of history. The church was built on about 40 acres of land—the former Anderson farm—on South Moore Road in the East Ridge area of Chattanooga. Masses were celebrated at Brainerd Junior High School until the church was completed in September 1938, according to The History of the Diocese of Knoxville, a book written and edited by Dan McWilliams in 2013. Among its clergy was Father James D. Niedergeses, who was named bishop of the Diocese of Nashville in 1975. Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, which sits next to the church, also was launched in 1937 with the help of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Dubuque, Iowa. Students were originally taught in the Anderson farmhouse. “I think like in all parishes, the parishioners here, in a good sense, feel that they own the parish, that this is really their home, both the OLPH continued on page A13