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Austin Center finds its roots in Augustine
Amanda Vail '02
 "I
talked to you as friends talk." Inspired by these words of St. Augustine,
The Rev. Paul Morrissey O.S.A., '61, ENG founded the Austin Center for
Counseling in the basement of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in the
Bronx in 1992. The Center offers a team of professionally trained religiously
diverse psychotherapists who integrate psychology and spirituality in
an effort to promote a healthy emotional and spiritual life. Straddling
what is often referred to as the First and Third world communities of
New York, Austin Center has grown to include offices in the affluence
of New Rochelle as well as Yonkers, N.Y.
Moved to open the center as he walked
down the streets of St.Tolentine of Nicholas parish, Morrissey was struck
by the grief and anguish and anger expressed through the many murals and
street art of the local young people. The community, ravaged by the AIDS
crisis and the pain of losing its mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers
to the epidemic touched him deeply. As Augustine so aptly writes
in his "Confessions" when we lose something and go to seek it even if
we do not know what we have lost or what we are seeking we still retain
the image and "we seek for the thing until it is restored to our sight."
When sight is restored, the healing process begins. Recalling Augustine
asking, "Where could I flee from my heart?" Morrissey opened shop and
his small staff began to reach out to this troubled community in many
different ways.
Overcoming the stigma attached to therapy
as well as a lack of finances was one of the many obstacles Austin Center
had to face. Although the bilingual staff helped break through language
barriers and the Lazarus Fund raises money for those who cannot afford
therapy, there still remains a cultural and generational bias which inhibits
people from seeking help. Therapy is often viewed as a lack of faith.
The long standing mistrust between religion and psychology sometimes makes
it difficult to introduce the spiritual dimension into therapy. Slowly
the attitudes are changing and the clergy and therapists are recognizing
that human development and spiritual development share a synergy that
must be acknowledged in order to treat the whole person, not just the
symptoms.
 One
method the staff at Austin Center developed to promote healing outside
the traditional walls of the clinic was the sponsorship of the "Cry To
God Quilt Project." This project brought together community members who
had lost loved ones to AIDS under the auspices of a Church-sponsored support
group. Telling their stories through the quilt, much as Augustine did
through his "Confessions", brought the pain of long festering wounds out
of hiding. The act of carrying those panels in procession to the altar
at Sunday night Liturgy became a source of healing for the whole parish
community as they shared in their neighbor's pain and bravery.
Sometimes, like Augustine,
we want to seek, but are hindered by our human frailties. The Sacrament
of Confession/Penance consciously calls on God's help through the priest
in order to be forgiven or to forgive but what if that hurt is too deep
or long standing to be let go of immediately? "A person may need the help
of psychotherapy in order to be open to forgiveness," says Morrissey.
One example is a middle-aged Hispanic woman whose husband had left her
for a younger woman after they had raised two children, "I came to see
you downstairs here at Austin Center because I don't want to forgive my
husband." she told Morrissey. After working with a therapist for
a year, she was ready to forgive and celebrated this with the priests
"upstairs' in the Sacrament of Confession. Another former patient felt
that bringing the dynamics of religion and psychology into the healing
process enabled the therapist to "approach my problems with a two-pronged
strategy. I was able to expose my developing spirituality as well as my
problems with everyday life."
November 2002 marks the 10th
anniversary of Austin Center. The occasion will be commemorated by the
inaugural presentation of the Adeodatus Award. The award will be presented
to Villanova alumnus and advisory board member of Austin Center, Dr. John
Shea, O.S.A. '64 professor of pastoral counseling at Fordham University
and Dr. Margaret Kornfeld, past president of the American Association
of Pastoral Counselors in celebration of the pastoral counselor's
role in helping people of faith discover light where there may only seem
to be darkness.
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