Louisville Courier-Journal, KY
June 4 2005
Church helps refugee family settle in Parish assists with housing,
furniture
The Taleb family was photographed this week in front of its new home
in Buechel. From left were mother Knarik; Khamdi, 8; Malik, 18; Lili,
14; Usan, 22; Muhamed, 20; and father Hasanin. St. Gabriel the
Archangel Catholic Church and Catholic Charities rented the
four-bedroom house. (BY ARZA BARNETT, THE COURIER-JOURNAL)
QUICK TAKE
Name: St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church
Address: 5505 Bardstown Road
Services: Sunday Mass, 7:30, 9 and 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.; Saturday
Mass, 8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m.; daily Mass, Monday through Friday, 8:15
a.m.
Congregation: About 2,000 families
Telephone: 239-5481
Web site:
By Christopher Hall
Special to The Courier-Journal
On Wednesday afternoon a small cluster of people stood anxiously
waiting at the arrival gate at Louisville International Airport.
Members of St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church, with a
representative from Catholic Charities, were ready to greet a family
they’d never met before.
St. Gabriel, which is in Fern Creek, and Catholic Charities are
co-sponsors of a refugee family of seven, whose tortuous journey over
the last five or six years has taken them from Armenia to Azerbaijan
to Russia, and finally to Louisville.
The Taleb family — Hasanin Qaid Mohammed Taleb and his wife, Knarik
Taleb, and their four sons and a daughter, ages 8 to 22 — arrived
about 1:30 to be greeted by hugs, handshakes and signs saying
“Welcome Home.”
Catholic Charities brings hundreds of refugees and immigrants to
Louisville each year. Perhaps five families a year have the help of a
co-sponsor parish such as St. Gabriel or frequent co-sponsors St.
Margaret Mary and Holy Trinity, according to Gail Dupre,
community-resource developer for the Migration and Refugee Services
of Catholic Charities.
For several months, a committee at St. Gabriel headed by Sister Ruth
Ann Haunz, a pastoral associate, and two church members, Glendon
Smith and his 17-year-old daughter, Abbey, has been preparing a place
for the refugee family.
The church and Catholic Charities rented a four-bedroom house in
Buechel, and church members organized drives to raise money and
gather household supplies and furniture.
“We’ve been anticipating this day for five months,” Glendon Smith
told a friend at the airport.
The rent will be paid by Catholic Charities from federal grant money,
Dupre said. The U.S. Conference of Bishops contracts with the federal
government to help resettle refugees regardless of religious
persuasion, she said.
At the airport, Dupre said that she wasn’t sure why the family had
fled its homeland but that it could be because of their ethnicity or
mixed marriage.
Hasanin Taleb is an Arabic Muslim from Yemen, and his wife is an
Armenian Christian, Dupre said.
“These are folks that are seeking refuge from persecution,” Dupre
said.
Members of the church have made a six-month commitment to assist the
family and have formed committees to help the family with
transportation and other needs. Catholic Charities also will help
with job searches and learning English.
Dupre said the relationship between refugee family and church usually
lasts far longer than the six-month commitment.
“The tough part is getting people organized, and Sister Ruth Ann and
Glendon have done a tremendous job at St. Gabriel,” Dupre said. “It’s
yeoman’s service. They coordinated everything.”
The church’s pastor, the Rev. John Stoltz, called his congregation’s
work a ministry of hospitality and a “wonderful Christian witness.”
Hasanin Taleb said through an interpreter Wednesday that he and his
family were very tired, and happy to have finally arrived.
“We have been working for almost five or six years to come here,” he
said. “It’s very good.”
“We are so happy,” the oldest son, Usan, 22, told one of the church
members as they walked down the airport concourse toward the baggage
claim, ready to go to their new home.