|
By Nancy Badertscher
Special To The Bulletin
BUFORD--Father Jimmy Adams has left Prince of Peace Church
in Buford to respond to his second call from God by serving
the needy in Nicaragua.
His first call lead him to leave a career in engineering
for the priesthood. His second grew out of efforts to find a
social cause that the youth group at Prince of Peace could
embrace.
The youth group and Father Adams found their mission in
fund raising to support the work of Father Marco Dessy and
Food for the Poor in Chinandega, a poverty-stricken area of
northwest Nicaragua.
They were able to put a face to those they were helping
last summer when Father Dessy and a youth choir from
Chinandega were able to arrange their schedule to fit a
week-long trip to Buford in between performances in Houston
and Miami.
“It was one of the best weeks of our lives,” said John
Bland, a Prince of Peace parishioner who hosted Father Dessy
and the youth choir.
The week was a mix of fund-raisers and fun and was so
inspiring that Father Adams kept delaying the start of his
vacation so he could stay with Father Dessy and the youth,
Bland recalled. Father Adams also made plans to link up with
Father Dessy and the choir in Miami.
“On the way down, between Macon and Gainesville, is when I
got the call,” Father Adams said. “I literally heard the Lord
telling me to go to Nicaragua. It was as strong a call as when
I got the call to the priesthood.”
In Florida he told Father Dessy. “He smiled the biggest
smile,” Father Adams said.
On his return to Atlanta, he asked Archbishop John F.
Donoghue to release him to go to Nicaragua.
“He said he would do it if he had enough priests to fill my
place,” Father Adams said. “He said it was going to take a
year or so.”
In October, when Chinandega was devastated by Hurricane
Mitch, Father Adams asked that a special collection be taken
up and raised $11,000, Bland said.
Then this year over spring break, Father Adams, Bland, 16
other adults and 20 teens went to Chinandega to help with
home-building projects and see firsthand the plastic-covered
huts and a dump, where families and animals both search for
food.
“It was powerful for everybody,” Father Adams said.
“What struck me the most were the children--how strong
everyone’s faith was, even though there was so much poverty,”
said Sarah Bollinger, 16, a rising junior at Collins Hill High
School.
They came home more committed to helping the residents of
Chinandega and permanently bonded to them. Father Dessy made
each of the Prince of Peace contingent a godparent to one or
more of the newly baptized Chinandegans.
“The youth group was amazed at how humble and open people
are who don’t have anything,” Bland said. “I think they saw
the face of Christ in the Nicaraguan kids.”
Father Adams received word from the archbishop on his
return from Chinandega that his release was being granted. But
his five-and-a-half-year bond with Prince of Peace is not
ending.
The church and youth group, which have raised about
$150,000 for the Nicaraguans, have established a nonprofit
organization, Amigos for Christ. The group just sent a check
for $21,000 that will cover the cost of having a van converted
to a medical unit and will pay the $500-a-month salary for a
doctor to staff it, Bland said. Other projects will be funded,
largely based on the recommendations of Father Dessy, the
American Nicaraguan Foundation and soon Father Adams, Bland
said.
Father Adams also expects to be back at Prince of Peace
when he returns to the United States to raise awareness of and
support for the missions of Father Dessy and others in
Nicaragua.
On Sunday, July 25, when Father Adams celebrated his final
Masses and shared in one last parish picnic, his parting words
to parishioners were, “I will miss you, but I will take you in
my heart.” | 
