
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994                   TAG: 9408250053
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID BRIGGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MINISTRIES FOR DISABLED STRUGGLING

No one in Ginny Thornburgh's church ever asked why she left her third son at home during Sunday worship. They didn't ask about the mentally retarded boy, and she assumed he would be unwelcome.

But just how little her church cared about her disabled child became clear when Thornburgh's fourth child was born. This baby was not handicapped, and her fellow congregants told her all about the nursery and implored her to bring the child.

"That's when it hit me, and I've never rested since," she said.

Thornburgh, wife of former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, is now the director of the religion and disability program of the Washington, D. C.-based National Organization on Disability. Her son, Peter, goes to a church where he assists the minister at worship.

But such gains may soon be in danger of slipping away as several denominations cut back on disability ministries due to budget woes.

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by CNB