April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
WORKS OF MERCY
Mother Teresa Community serves Albany's South End
Mr. Haviland said his addiction to alcohol and cocaine cost him his nursing license, his 32-year marriage, his house and his car. But on his first day at the Mother Teresa Community - part of the statewide Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment program (PYHIT) - he seemed hopeful.
"It offers them the opportunity to give them a fresh start," explained Rev. Peter Young, the program's founder and a retired priest of the Albany Diocese.
Father Young acquired the former Our Lady Help of Christians Church and rectory when the parish closed in 2002 and began the Mother Teresa Community, a joint project with diocesan Catholic Charities.
"Wherever I see an abandoned building that can house people, I try to get it," said the priest, whose programs span 118 locations and employ more than 600 people throughout New York State.
Catholic presence
The Mother Teresa Community started as a way to maintain a Catholic presence in Albany's South End. Today, it has a food pantry, community meals, housing for about 100 men each year and a 4 p.m. Mass on Sundays. Catholic Charities sponsors its New Day Art after-school program.
"We're sort of anchoring the community there," Father Young said of the neighborhood. When he visits, members of the community approach him for help finding food, navigating the public assistance system and adhering to their probation guidelines.
He calls it a ministry of presence.
"You have to become a part of the neighborhood in order to evangelize," he said. The priest connects Muslims to imams, Baptists to pastors and Catholics to the Church: "I tell them that they have to realize that God is boss. It's just trying to get them back on the 'God track.'"
Some formerly homeless or incarcerated residents contribute a small stipend from their public assistance income; others have nothing to offer. PYHIT defrays about $50,000 of the annual cost to heat, light and maintain the 131-year-old church.
Please help
When Father Young seeks public funding for all his programs, he boasts that he has saved taxpayers more than $13 million by turning his clients into taxpayers themselves. Some visitors donate to the Mother Teresa Community, but many don't even know the church building is still in use.
Rev. Simon Udemgba, volunteer pastor and counselor for the community for a year, calls the Mother Teresa Community a "recovery parish" for addicts and people down on their luck.
"You come because you want to come, not because somebody expects something from you," said Father Udemgba, who is a licensed psychologist. "They just feel at home."
About 70 people attend Mass there weekly; between 15 and 20 gather at the residence for dinner, which residents cook and serve.
"A meal is evangelization, too, because our savior gave us the Eucharist in the form of a meal," said Father Udemgba.
The priest said his time with the Mother Teresa Community has been rewarding both professionally and spiritually. He sees Father Young as a mentor: "He's making a difference, going into the inner cities. When I see him, it's like, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up.'"
The Peter G. Young Foundation will host a fundraiser July 18 at the Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga Springs. For information, call Margie Riley, 463-8485.[[In-content Ad]]
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