Cáritas Addiction Ministry: Being 'Seen'
Participants paint in an art workshop at Cáritas Addiction Ministry (Photo taken with participant permission) One of the things I first noticed about Angela was the way that she hugged people. She holds you for a while in her arms and closes her eyes, signalling this isn't a normal goodbye hug. When she hugged me for the first time, I hadn't had such a tender moment with someone since leaving for Chicago; crying in the arms of my parents at the airport, I was overwhelmed by the reality of leaving for an entire year. Sometimes I can feel suffocated by a hug, but with Angela I almost wept with gratitude. Adjusting to my new life in Argentina had been emotionally taxing and physically draining for many months. In that hug, I felt acknowledged, important, and safe. Angela does patient intake at Cáritas ' Pastoral de Adiciones (Addiction Ministry). The program is funded by the Catholic Diocese of Oberá, and my Lutheran church community, Iglesia Olaus Petri, has made the
