A Letter From the Publisher

By Richard B. Thomas

This week's cover story, an unusual and intimate encounter with a group of people living in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, is rooted in a particular locale, across Upper New York Bay from the glittering office towers of Manhattan and within sight of the Statue of Liberty. But the setting could have been any town or neighborhood in America where people are struggling against poverty and distress -- and where other people are reaching out to help and comfort them. Hardship and helping know no season, of course, but it seemed that Christmas week would find Americans readier to respond to such a story.

Senior Writer Roger Rosenblatt, who reported and wrote the story, decided early on to focus on Sisters Geraldine and Mary Paul and their Center for Family Life. "These two remarkable nuns, carrying out their vows to practice charity, came in 1978 to an area that was as poor and dangerous as you could find in New York City," says Rosenblatt. "But theirs was no ordinary social welfare agency: they were responding to the real needs of the neighborhood."

Over a period of six weeks, Rosenblatt met with countless residents of Sunset Park. By agreeing not to use their real names and agreeing to change some details of their lives, he persuaded them to talk with extraordinary candor. He also drew on copious background information provided by Reporter- Researcher Zona Sparks about Sunset Park.

As his reporting progressed, Rosenblatt came to see that poverty was "only the context for a fundamental exchange between the nuns and their clients, between giving and needing. This story is about a group of people who simply do not want to lie down and die, and about another group of people who refuse to let them." Capturing this Sunset Park spirit are illustrations by Martin Wong, a Chinese-American painter making his first appearance in TIME.

On Sunday, Dec. 29, a syndicated TV network of 104 stations, assembled by LBS Communications, will broadcast a one-hour special called TIME's Man of the Year. Produced by Reeves Communications, with Eric Sevareid as host, the program is the first-ever look at how TIME's editors, writers and correspondents select the Man of the Year and produce the stories for the cover package. Consult your local listings for time and channel. The documentary will be repeated in most areas during the following two weeks.