wfn.org | "It's time to smash the stigma around this illness!"

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6631 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

12-June-2001
GA01073

"It's time to smash the stigma around this illness!"

by Sue Boardman

LOUISVILLE, June 12 - An impassioned William C. Moyers, Jr. addressed the
annual General Assembly  gathering of the Presbyterian Network on Alcohol &
Other Drug Abuse at a luncheon remarkably devoid of chicken on Tuesday, June
12. Undergoing extensive restoration, Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral,
Louisville's oldest house of worship, was an intriguing site for the meeting
focused on recovery from addiction and attended by Assembly participants,
members of Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association and the
board members from Intervention Resource Center, Inc., a local program
dedicated to saving lives through the intervention process.

	Moyers, a member of House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minn.,
and president of the Johnson Institute Foundation, headquartered in the Twin
Cities area, spoke movingly of his own struggle with addiction recalling the
days when his editors considered him an "aggressive, accomplished,
enthusiastic journalist who never missed a deadline" and his faith community
knew him as "one who sang in the choir, taught Sunday School, and
volunteered in the food pantry. No one knew," he said, "that people like me
were addicts."

	Clean and sober for years now, Moyers works to educate community and church
leaders about the disease of addiction, the process of intervention, and the
path of recovery. A program supported by Johnson Institute known as Faith
Partners is currently being field tested in Minnesota and Texas. The team
ministry approach brings training tools into congregations, empowering
church leaders to recognize problems with addiciton, and provides frontline
resources for recovery, which program leaders compare to a journey of faith.

	A lively round of questions followed the address. Moyers told participants
they should "be outraged" that treatment is dead and gone away in this
country for middle class people who cannot afford to pay for treatment their
insurance will not cover. Suggestions for interested clergypersons included
getting educated, helping people learn that it's ok to ask for help and
visiting an open Alcoholics Annonymous meeting.

	Recounting his arrest following a night of college-aged drinking, Moyers
recalled that "it was news because my father was Bill Moyers but no one, not
even the pastor who welcomed me into the church, assured me that my prayers
had been heard and I was forgiven, asked if I wanted or needed help."

	"I have come a long way," Moyers concluded. "So too has the way the faith
community responds to drug and alcohol problems."

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