At 90, retired priest still works to help impoverished region of Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Kentucky — With all eyes now targeted on the havoc wrought by Hurricane Ian, the continuing restoration from devastating floods that hit jap Kentucky greater than two months earlier than has fallen out of the headlines.

Bodily and financial reduction continues to reach to assist storm victims within the Bluegrass State, however there may be one other story of wrestle and survival in Kentucky that goes on unabated.

Individuals who stay on the opposite aspect of the mountain and for essentially the most half unaffected by the floods have misplaced every thing with the closure of the area’s coal mines. They usually had treasured little to start with.

Father Terence E. Hoppenjans, 90, is aware of the wrestle of the folks and communities of jap Kentucky all too nicely from his many years of ministering to them.

Father Hop, as he prefers to be referred to as, has lengthy envisioned — and lobbied for — a “mountain ministry” to offer folks on this area — essentially the most impoverished within the U.S. — with nearly steady year-round assist.

“I served as a priest in three ‘missions,’ which is what the small communities or parishes are referred to as — that lined almost seven counties, but in addition labored in two and a half further counties for eight years,” stated the priest.

He retired July 1, 2021, from St. Michael Church in Paintsville, Kentucky, the place he started serving in 1997.

“I’d have fun Mass generally in six locations per week, and generally extra, with two associates,” Father Hop defined, describing the mission church buildings. “Catholics are so few in quantity,” he stated, “these parishes can’t survive on their very own.”

“Once I first arrived, it (the world) was primarily wood homes with material ceilings lined with paper on the within, and in a whole lot of locations (there was) no operating water or electrical energy,” he recalled. “The coverings have been used to maintain out the chilly air, however the high quality (of the dwellings) diversified in other places.”

At one level, Father Hop famous, coal mining “flourished in Pike and Breathitt Counties, however when the business died, the individuals who had trusted it turned unemployed and unemployable. They have been out within the chilly and depending on authorities checks.”

He was ordained a priest in 1955 within the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky, serving in a number of parishes that later turned a part of Lexington Diocese when it was created in 1988.

In retirement he has a giant aim: to unite the Lexington/Bluegrass space “into giving this area the assistance that it wants.”

“In getting ready for my retirement, I prayed about what God would need me to do and I got here up with the concept that he wished me to make our diocese actually a mission diocese. This meant to me that everybody turns into conscious of the wants of the small toddler church buildings that exist in most areas of our diocese,” the priest stated in a March 25 attraction letter he despatched out.

“With the approval and encouragement of the bishop (Bishop John E. Stowe), I’m reaching out to the Lexington space to ask for volunteers to work within the missions,” the priest wrote. “One of many best wants there (in jap Kentucky) is the upkeep of bodily amenities — together with caring for tools and constructing supplies.”

In an interview with Catholic Information Service, the priest stated he “raised thousands and thousands of {dollars} between 1977 and 2022 from an attraction letter which I wrote and despatched out all around the nation.”

The funds have gone “largely to assist the entire needy on this space, however we additionally constructed two church buildings in other places, a rectory, a faculty and a parish corridor,” he stated.

He’s grateful to have acquired monetary help and “serving to arms” from outdoors the diocese, together with from the St. Joseph Mission Staff, “who’re very efficient of their ministry to the poor.”

Father Hop added that he is aware of there have been some folks from throughout the diocese “who’ve volunteered their assist, however their complete is nowhere close to the quantity that we might doubtlessly use.”

He stated he despatched out his March 25 attraction letter to Lexington parishes “and several other monks did put it of their church bulletins,” however he stated he has not but seen “any bodily response.”

“My mindset stays one in every of a relentless readiness to assist these missions — all 33 of them — and to assist them sustain their evangelism,” Father Hop stated.

“The diocese helps financially, however the folks in these mission households are incapable of making an attempt to assist themselves; it’s as much as us (within the diocese) to maintain all of the properties up,” Father Hop stated. “We’d like assist from them.”

Whereas describing assist from “outsiders,” just like the St. Joseph Mission Staff, as “very efficient,” he’s actually trying to get extra folks contained in the diocese to take an energetic function on this effort.

Amongst those that know the area’s wants and share the issues of Father Hop about the best way to meet these wants is Glenn Greenwell, a member of the Knights of Columbus Council primarily based at St. Francis Xavier Church in Mount Washington, Kentucky.

He is also chairman of the Stewards of Appalachia, a nonprofit group.

“We turned a nonprofit trigger in 2010, and have been aiding the mountain communities of David, Garrard and Louisa communities and basically all over the place there’s a want,” Greenwell instructed CNS.

“This area is the poorest in Kentucky, and as we mentioned one of many poorest within the U.S., when the mines closed, the nice paying jobs have been gone too, and now we convey a variety of donations to its residents comparable to furnishings and private care gadgets,” Greenwell stated.

“In the beginning nonetheless, we offer crucial house repairs, whereas additionally delivering donations each month, and once we buy constructing supplies, any cash left over goes to different service teams,” Greenwell defined.

Many Knights of Columbus go on the Stewards’ help outings, and are complemented by folks from different church buildings in Kentucky.

Since 2014, the Stewards of Appalachia have labored by way of St. Vincent Mission in David, Kentucky.

“It (the mission) operates a meals financial institution, house restore, and lots of different packages on this neighborhood and the encircling space,” Greenwell stated.

Father Robert Adam, 33, described among the challenges of ministering to parishes in jap Kentucky.

He travels between two parishes: St. Francis of Assisi in Pikeville, inhabitants about 6,642; the parish has 100 registered households; and St. George in Jenkins, inhabitants 2,203 or much less; the parish has 20 energetic households.

“Touring one strategy to a parish takes 40 minutes, and your automotive will get worn out pretty rapidly; I have fun every day Mass at St. Francis, adoration at each parishes on an alternating schedule, a.m. and p.m. — and two further Plenty each Friday and Sunday,” Father Adam stated.

“Though the largest bodily want continues to be cash, folks right here have lengthy suffered from a way of hopelessness, they usually want a cause to stay — to get away from bed,” he instructed CNS.

“What this space doesn’t want is a knight galloping by on “a white horse, however as an alternative assist in determining how folks can grow to be self-sufficient,” Father Adam stated.

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Editor’s Notice: These concerned about volunteering house restore abilities they’ve ought to despatched a letter to Father Terence Hoppenjans, 2724 Inexperienced Valley Ct., Lexington KY, 40511 or name him at (859) 309-3474.