I learned that Msgr. Ralph Beiting died yesterday. Beiting was the founder of the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) and was a Catholic missionary in eastern Kentucky since 1950.
My sister spent a year working with Msgr. Beiting in the 1980s. She met her future husband there also.
Msgr. Beiting soon found out after being assigned to that part of the country that to minister to the people there would require he attend to their financial and material needs as well as their spiritual. Back in the 50s, Catholics were not welcome in that part of the country. It took a while for him to gain the trust of the people there.
Beiting built churches, raised money, founded the CAP, and celebrated over 60 years of priesthood in Appalachia.
Here is the link to an interesting article in a Kentucky newspaper:
www.wvxu.org/news/wvxunews_article.asp?ID=10283
May he rest in peace.
