Sharing Herself : A changed, self-centered society is making it harder for Jean Forbath to help the needy. But she is able to find good even in the probable closing of SOS.

The paper clip is rusty and the words are fading. But the statement from the nation’s Catholic bishops that changed her life 20 years ago still carries a spiritual wallop for beleaguered Costa Mesa social activist Jean Forbath.

The message asked Catholics to root out poverty and oppression through “creative and positive action.”

“The task is urgent,” it said. “The time is short. The church is in a strategic position to give moral leadership and support to the private and public sectors by taking positive and serious steps to wage war on misery and to struggle against injustice.”

Back then, such a task seemed possible to Forbath, an Irish-Catholic schoolteacher and graduate of Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles who took the words literally. Consequently, she and her husband, Frank, founded Share Our Selves, a major source of emergency aid to Orange County’s homeless and indigent, directing work there for two decades without pay. Renowned in the county as a crusader and visionary, she has just been elected to her second term as chair of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, the county’s civil rights office.

Now 59 and a mother of seven, Forbath sees the world around her changing.

In Costa Mesa, the city where she lives and works, council members have not only yanked the lease for SOS, pleasing some neighbors who complained about derelicts, but also voted to withhold all but medical aid from illegal immigrants, a controversial action whose legality is being evaluated by federal officials.

‘Fearful, Self-Centered’

“There’s been a big change in the last five years,” Forbath said. “A backward swing that’s fearful, closed and more self-centered. It has become acceptable to be selfish. Your own property, your own family first. Probably it’s always been that way. Now we talk about it without being ashamed.”

Recent events have led Forbath to question God. But she remains committed to her faith and what she sees as a Christian responsibility to “come to grips with the human condition and try to improve it.”

Launched in 1970, SOS was first operated by lay Catholics at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and aimed, following the bishops’ directive, to attack the root causes of poverty and suffering: malnutrition, ignorance and the lack of long-range medical care.

But the need for emergency care was so overwhelming that Forbath’s volunteers changed their tack. They have spent 90% of their time since “putting our fingers in the dike,” responding to immediate needs of food, clothing, shelter and health care, Forbath said.

With her remaining time, Forbath has become a familiar presence before city councils, county supervisors and congressional committees, testifying on issues of welfare, low-income housing and indigent medical care.

Her basic message to politicians and bureaucrats: “We have to get past charity to justice.”

Forbath explains: “There are always good people who try to help. But when it comes down to zoning regulations and how tax money is spent, that’s when we balk.”

In 1978, a new pastor at the St. John parish sought to take control the SOS operation away from the lay leaders. Forbath lost an appeal to then Bishop William R. Johnson. As a result, SOS broke from the church and became a secular organization.

She was devastated at first but came to view the split as “God’s way of helping us expand our faith.” Support for SOS came from Jewish temples, mainstream Protestant churches as well as secular organizations and individuals. Her view of “church” grew from insularity to oneness with other religions, she said. While the Catholic church remains “the true church--for me,” she said she now defines “church” as people “working together to find a true path to God.”

Forbath said she has been criticized by Christians for not proselytizing those she helps. Instead, she prefers to show her faith through example.

“Some Christians believe you achieve salvation by faith alone,” she said. “I believe you have to continually act out your faith. We are a pilgrim people, always seeking out perfection.”

Her faith is not vertical, she said, meaning between herself and God alone. “I believe we come to know and love and serve God in those we meet and come in contact with.”

In Touch With Suffering

She calls it a “wonderful opportunity” to “know the suffering” of derelicts, homeless alcoholics and immigrants steeped in poverty.

Once, she said, a Mexican woman with no money told her her son lay dying in Mexico. “She wanted to see him before he died. We were able to help her buy tickets. She took my hand and kissed it. It was a revelation of God’s presence. You feel you’re being used as an instrument. It’s very humbling. You realize if you weren’t there, it wouldn’t happen.”

Father Jaime Soto, vicar to Latinos for the Diocese of Orange, called Forbath one of the rare people who rise above “the temptation to understand religion in terms of church and family.”

“It’s difficult for us as Americans to articulate any sense of value outside of ‘me,’ ” he said. “We’ve lost the ability in private and public language to be able to talk about transcendent values, something just being good for itself.”

Despite an outpouring of support for SOS, Forbath said she is prepared to close in January.

Typically, she sees a silver lining. “Every blow we’ve had--and I don’t mean to sound Pollyanna-ish--has brought some good.

“I hope it would be such a dearth to the county that more agencies would come forward. Already agencies are saying, ‘What would we do if you’re not here?’ ”

As chairwoman of the Human Relations Commission, Forbath would like to sponsor a white paper on what appears to be growing instances of misanthropy in the county. “Orange County has changed so rapidly the last few years, we need to take a look at who we are. Are we the image of the beautiful people in Newport Beach behind guarded gates? Or are we people who are open to the beauty of varied races and national mixes? Obviously, we are no longer a white, middle-class bastion. How are we accepting it?”

In any event, she said, she will continue to act on her 20-year-old commitment.

“My goal,” she said, “is to establish a just society.”