COQUITLAM, B.C. (CCN) — On a sunny Thursday afternoon in August, a group comprising Catholic and Protestant volunteers, addiction-recovery professionals, civic politicians, recovering addicts, representatives of a Catholic, family-run philanthropic fund and a Catholic priest crowded into the living room of a modest home in suburban Vancouver to celebrate what one participant called “a little miracle.”
They came together to mark the opening of Hope House, operated by the Christian-faith-based Talitha Koum Society (TK), which provides addiction-recovery services to women and their young children.
“This was only a dream last year,” said society president Mary O’Neill, a member of St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Port Moody, B.C. “But then everything came together.”
O’Neill said the society first received a commitment for operational funding from the Bitelli Family Foundation, which is a philanthropic vehicle for a North Vancouver Catholic family, and then a commitment for further funding to support house-rental costs from CA Church of Coquitlam, a Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination.
When Talitha Koum finally found a landlord willing to rent to it, volunteers emerged from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul at All Saints Parish in Coquitlam to assist with last-minute deep cleaning and painting.
Talitha Koum, a registered charity, also received several grants this year from the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s new Living Waters Fund, which assisted in the society’s overall operations.
The fund was established by Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver last year to support Catholic ministries and “partner” organizations that help women facing adversity.
“Around TK, we always say that God will provide,” O’Neill said. “And he sure did this time. You could call Hope House just another little miracle in the life of Talitha Koum.”
Hope House is Talitha Koum’s fourth facility and its second “bridging home,” providing low-cost accommodation and ongoing support for program graduates with young children. Its first bridging home, Redemption House, is for single women.
The society also operates two homes for women enrolled in its 12-step recovery program: Starr House, named for TK’s late founder, Starr Peardon, and Gianna House, named for the patron saint of mothers, St. Gianna Molla. Starr House is owned by B.C. Housing, a provincial government agency, and Gianna House is co-owned by TK and the City of Coquitlam.
Inspired by Jesus’ words, “Talitha koum,” meaning “Little girl, get up,” (Mk 5:41, NRSV), the charity is rooted in Christian values, and maintains an approach to addiction recovery best summed up by its commitment to “love its clients back to living.”
Founded 27 years ago by Peardon — a convicted drug dealer who found God and sobriety, converted to Catholicism and bankrolled by a then-secret $10,000 donation from a Catholic priest — TK’s approach mirrors the Catholic Church’s modern insights into addiction recovery.
Where the Church once viewed addiction as a bad choice or moral failure, for decades it has maintained a holistic understanding that integrates science, psychology and theology. The late American Catholic theologian Father John C. Ford once explained the Church’s modern approach is to treat addiction as a complex “triple sickness” affecting the body, mind and soul.
This insight also mirrors that of Vancouver emergency-room physician and author Quentin Genuis, who wrote in his 2025 book, “Recovering People: Addiction, Personhood, and the Life of the Church.”
Genuis wrote that recovery can best be sustained with a return to physical, moral and spiritual order that particularly rich 12-step recovery programs can offer.
The Archdiocese of Vancouver’s mental health ministry coordinator, Jane Waldock, said the work of TK and of two Catholic recovery charities — Luke 15 House in Surrey, B.C., and Sancta Maria House in Vancouver — complement and augment her ministry.
“I see these communities as a resource for our mental health ministers,” Waldock said in an interview.
Father Gianni Carparelli, who founded the Caritas School of Life in Vaughan, Ontario, said TK’s approach to addiction recovery seems to mirror the holistic approach of Caritas in treating addiction
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Father Carparelli, now retired and living in Italy, said in an e-mail interview that an addicted person’s building of a new way of living requires more than just staying away from drugs. “We must rebuild a person’s psychological and spiritual foundations across body, mind and spirt simultaneously.”
“We must help them handle life on life’s terms — developing responsibility, reliability, trustworthiness, honesty, generosity, patience and a readiness to listen and help,” he added. “In short, empowering them with everything that makes us truly human and compassionate.”
Pointing to the meaning of “talitha koum,” Father Carparelli said in the context of addiction recovery, “it means, ‘My friend, rise up and walk again using your own strength, not the crutch of drugs.’”
Speaking at the opening of Hope House, Nicole Bitelli said her family’s foundation supported both Hope and Redemption houses because of the family’s personal experience with addiction and recovery and Talitha Koum’s Christian foundation.
“We are so overjoyed to see this come to life,” Bitelli said. “It is so meaningful to be part of this project, so filled with God’s grace, that is helping women to transform their lives. We hope that our example encourages others to do the same.”
Also attending the celebration was one of Hope House’s first residents, Erin, a 34-year-old mother of a four-year-old daughter. She said in an interview that Talitha Koum’s 12-step program was key to her recovery.
She said completing Step 5, which involves admitting to another person all the wrongs one has done, was transformative. “All of a sudden a light bulb went off in my head and that is when I said to myself, ‘I trust God.’ I finally really trusted him as much as I could,” she said.
Erin, who currently mentors and supports TK clients, said she is thankful for the ongoing, family-like support she continues to receive, even after completing the 12 steps.
“I feel like I fell through the cracks and was caught by TK,” she said. “It just blows my mind that I am here and I’m connected to women, I have a job that I love, I have my daughter with me. I’m kind of speechless at how great TK is.”
Father Larry Lynn, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Coquitlam, blessed Hope House during the gathering.
“Talitha Koum is a real bright light in the area of recovery for addicts and rehabilitation of women,” said Father Lynn, a retired filmmaker who became a priest after his wife died. “It was started to attend to the needs of women who, for as many reasons as there are women, have ended up with destructive lifestyles and often go to prison.”
He said founder Peardon was a bank robber, addict and recidivist “who was finally touched by the Holy Spirit to find another way — a way out of the destructive cycle she was in. She saw that way not just for herself, but for all the women who fall into addiction and poor life choices.”
He said he began volunteering with Talitha Koum before becoming a priest and was later “blessed” to serve on TK’s board of directors for several years.
“In the 18 years I have known TK,” Father Lynn said, “I can say it’s a joy to see women, who have been through hell, succeed in life and be able to witness them living the beauty of a healthy and happy life.”
Terry O’Neill is a member of the board of the Talitha Koum Society.
