Crisis touches Diocese

Sister Anne Bryan Smollin, CSJ, executive director of Counseling for the Laity, has noticed that some adults are tuning out news of the conflict. There may be several reasons for that, including 24-hour access to news.

"We get it instantly from the internet, television and newspapers," she said. That constant coverage make news events more of a TV program than an account of what's really happening in the world. For some people, this causes the news to become background noise.

Other people are tuning it out because the accounts from Kosovo are so intense. "The pictures in the paper rip your heart out," she said, adding that watching the scenes can be traumatic, especially for young people, who seem to be most in tune with what's happening. "The teens are talking more seriously than adults," Sister Anne said, and are concerned about the extent of the U.S. involvement and whether a draft will be reinstated.

She encourages adults to listen to the concerns of youth and children. "We have to create security for our children," she said. "Adolescents need someone to talk about it with who won't brush it off and who can help them process it. For little kids, we have to answer honestly. For them, it's another television show; it's not real."

Students at Bishop Maginn High School in Albany are some of the teens concerned about the war in Kosovo. Seniors were awakened to the crisis in Susan Silverstein's theology class. One morning prior to class, she read a newspaper article about a mother with three small children who was forced to flee. The woman's three-week-old baby froze to death.

Mrs. Silverstein was so moved by the story that she read it as part of the class prayer and asked the students to put themselves in the mother's position. Then the students were asked to write about what they thought it would be like to be forced to leave their home in the middle of the night without being able to take anything with them.

The students said this assignment helped them personalize the conflict. "I watched the news," said senior Chris Richards. "I wasn't thinking much about it. We were bombing a tyrant, not people. [The assignment] opened my eyes to how bad it really is."

Classmate Tara Malone said that every day she is faced with her own concerns, but seeing how the refugees are suffering "helped me put things into perspective. These are real problems and real fears. It's helped me reprioritize what's going on with me. Because I was in class, I was forced to listen [to the news account]. Once you confront it on a personal level, it's not as scary to watch it in the media."

Watching the events unfold in Kosovo has raised some fears for the youth, the teacher said. Some wonder if the events in Kosovo will lead to another world war. If it does, they wonder if they will be drafted and if they will have to postpone college.

Despite those fears, when asked whether or not the United States should be involved, Mrs. Silverstein said, her students think the U.S. has an obligation to assist. "They say we can't let it happen," she said.

Several of the students said the situation reminded them of the Holocaust and they couldn't stand by letting it happen. Tara said, "It's our chance to not let it happen again."

Classmate Will Daley said youth need to pay attention to the news. "As teens, we have to watch it," he said. "We're the next generation. We're going to have to stop it if it happens again."

The school has plans to raise money to benefit the refugees.

Other schools, like Catholic Central High School in Troy and St. Mary's School in Ballston Spa, have already raised money. Contributions from these schools, parishes and individuals were sent to Catholic Charities and will be forwarded to Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The total so far is $5,417.

While there is no plan for a single diocesan collection to aid the refugees, Rev. Geoffrey Burke, chancellor for personnel and public information, said parishes interested in aiding the refugees can donate to CRS through Catholic Charities.

Christ Sun of Justice parish in Troy will have a collection after Masses this weekend, said Alice McLoughlin of the parish's social concerns committee. The parish is located on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, whose students come from many countries; as a result, opinions on the conflict in Kosovo are varied.

"We have an international community," she said. "We have people getting information from both sides. We're hearing about the deprivation of the Serbs. There are those who view NATO and Americans as the enemy. There's at least two sides to every story."

Ms. McLoughlin said that while news of the war is disturbing, members of the social concerns committee are watching closely. "We felt it's our obligation to know what's going on," she said. "Even though it's awful, we're reading and watching the news."

St. Anne's Church in Waterford also took up a special collection to benefit the Kosovo refugees. Sue Smith, parish secretary, said that the pastor "thought we should do something right away. We did the same for the tornado [survivors.]"

Parishioners responded to the announcement of the collection with applause and contributed $1,477. "They opened up their heart to the people," she said.

(Contributions for relief of the Kosovo refugees can be made through Albany diocesan Catholic Charities. They will be forwarded to Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief agency of American Catholics. Donations can be sent to Catholic Charities, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany, NY 12203. Write "Kosovo" on the memo section of the check.)

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