MORRISTOWN For decades, churches have allowed Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous groups to meet in their basements, but that’s not enough anymore, the Rev. Sidney Williams told some 60 clergy people from across the state who gathered Wednesday in the pews of his Bethel AME Church.

Not with the state drug overdose rate, driven mostly by opiates, up 71 percent since 2007, a statistic compiled by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey’s Do No Harm Symposium was geared for faith-based leaders who want to learn more about the opiate epidemic and how they can help. It was co-sponsored by the Community Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Morris and the New Jersey Division of the DEA.

“This past Sunday, we had someone preach here who is on probation and in recovery and who happens to be a divinity school professor,” Williams said. “It’s important for people to see that people in recovery are not marginalized in our basements or fellowship hall on some night of the week nobody else is using the space.”

Seeing and hearing people in recovery preach, he added, reduces stigma and gives a congregation a chance to hear someone talk about the Gospel in a new way.

The symposium featured eight presentations by local, regional, and state leaders in recovery, prevention, and law enforcement, all geared for a religious audience. In the past, such gatherings have targeted physicians, pharmacists, and law enforcement officials.

“At this point we’re thinking of clergy as first responders,” said Barbara Kauffman, coalition coordinator. “People in trouble with addiction do approach them and, through the years, we’ve gotten a lot of calls from clergy asking us: What should I do? Where do I go?”

Clergy in the audience took notes on statistics and grabbed fliers and brochures on rehab and recovery services. They also made personal contacts with those who offer the services. Those relationships, made in advance, are invaluable, according to Williams, who told the story of Barry Roach, the very first person his church reached out to help. During services, Roach would nod off because he was high on heroin.

One Sunday, Williams recalled, he told the faithful that, together, they would help Roach. Together, they all raised bail money, but the next step flummoxed him.

“On Monday, I didn’t have a clue,” the pastor said. “I called all my pastor friends and asked, ‘Can you help me?’ Every number they gave me was a closed door. Since then, I’ve committed to get to know the programs. We want to get involved but when the day comes again, and we don’t have a relationship with these centers, it’s difficult.”

Knowledge, too

Speaker after speaker presented the psychological and family dynamics of addiction and recovery. Pastor Jacquelyn Oliver of Holy Temple Ministries in Easton, Pa., and program director of Family Support Organization of Essex County, said she learned a lot from Tony Polizzi of the New Jersey Prevention Network about how an addict’s whole family is affected.

“When you have that person who’s that substance user, they isolate the family and they live in silos,” Oliver said. “It’s our time to help the family begin to heal.

“As pastors, we facilitate healing biblically through intimacy and relation with God,” she added, “but, you know, the Scripture says first there’s the natural, then there’s the spiritual. We have to learn how to deal with these situations in the natural with the resources in the community—the rehab facilities and the counseling that helps the family come back together—as well as bringing that spiritual component.”

Meanwhile, the Rev. Cynthia Black, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, was taken aback by the sheer magnitude of the opiate problem as outlined by Dennis Mihalopoulos, assistant special agent in charge of the New Jersey Division of the DEA.

The U.S., he said, consumes 99 percent of the world’s hydrocodone, 78 percent of the world’s oxycodone, 57 percent of the world’s morphine, 51 percent of the world’s hydromorphone, 51 percent of the world’s methadone, and 31 percent of the world’s fentanyl. Yet, Americans comprise 5 percent of the world’s population.

“That’s appalling to me,” said Black, who came to learn ways to support her congregation’s ministry to people in recovery.

Commitment first

The first step to helping those struggling with addiction is for churches to want them in their congregations, said Glen King, executive director of Freedom House, a drug or alcohol rehab center in Glen Gardner.

The second is to understand that there’s a lot to know about addiction.

“A lot of clergy believe healing is a matter of laying on of hands,” King said. “I do believe in the Holy Spirit, but I know that this is a process. I always refer back to Ephesians 4:22-29. It talks about the falling away of the old man, which is corrupt, and putting on the new man. That’s a process.”

After embracing a desire to help, and gaining knowledge, houses of worship can take well-informed steps to welcome, integrate, and help those whose lives have been hijacked by substance abuse.

Ideas included promoting awareness in the church bulletin, as suggested by Rebecca Alfaro, deputy executive director of the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. Angelo Valente, executive director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, said it offers public service announcements, with a variety of messages, that churches can insert into their bulletins.

Sam Pirozzi, director of Mrs. Wilson’s Treatment Services for Women in Morristown, offered to send staffers to talk to congregations about addiction.

The event was capped off with a visit by Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno.

“You all signed up to help addicts who are diseased kids—some adults,” she said. “If you’re not successful, we’re going to lose a whole generation to drugs. We’re well on our way to that right now so you need to get the tools you need to be successful.”

Each clergyperson received “Preventing and Addressing Alcohol and Drug Problems: A Handbook for Clergy,” produced by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

For more about the Community Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Morris, visitwww.safehealthymorris.org.

Lorraine Ash: 973-428-6660; lash@dailyrecord.com