Newspaper Page Text
EIGHT
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
SEPTEMBER 3, 1955.
CONVENTION HEARS CALL FOR
MORE VOLUNTEERS FOR NCCS
PROGRAM IN V. A. HOSPITALS
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
ST. PAUL, Minn., — The need
for more Catholic women “with
the hands of Martha and the
mind of Mary” in the volunteer
program of the National Catholic
Community Service for Veterans
Administration hospitals was un
derscored by a speaker here.
She was Philomena F. Ker-
win, national director of the
NCCS-VA Hospital Service, who
told the biennial convention of
the International Federation of
Catholic Alumnae that “approx
imately 30 per cent of the 110,-
318 patients in the VA hospitals
are Catholic.”
Miss Kerwin, who has visited
140 VA hospitals throughout the
country, said that the purpose of
the' NCCS-VA Hospital Service
is to provide special assistance
to the chaplains and to organize
and coordinate Catholic volun
teer activities in the VA hospital
program. Another purpose, she
stated, is to stimulate the work
of Catholic organizations in pro
viding volunteer services to
these hospitals.
“Today the NCCS-VA Hospital
Service has been inaugurated in
171 Veterans Administration hos
pitals throughout the nation,”
Miss Kerwin stated. “It is oper
ating in 948 archdiocese and
dioceses. The program is dedicat
ed to Our Blessed Mother under
her special title of Our Lady,
Health of the Sick. Our Lady’s
colors of blue and white are
reflected in the armbands of the
volunteers. . .”
“Working in close cooperation
with the chaplains,” Miss Ker
win continued, “the volunteers
of the National Catholic Com
munity Service are organizing
altar societies, taking care of al
tar linens for hospital use, and
repairing vestments.”
She cited for special mention
the members of the “wheel chair
brigades.” These are made up
of volunteers who “cheerfully
sacrifice that extra hour of sleep
on Sunday morning to come to
the VA Hospital to escort to
Mass the wheelchair patients
and other patients who other
wise would not be able to at
tend.”
“Participating in the general
program for hospitalized veter
ans, the NCCS volunteers render
many other services, such as
reading to bedfast patients,
writing letters and shopping for
them, and feeding patients who
are paralyzed or' cannot help
themselves,” the NCCS official
said. “Their services are not con
fined to Catholic patients, for
they serve all patients without
religious distinction,” she added.
Miss Kerwin made a special
plea for increased interest in
the volunteer program for ment
al patients.
“Statistics show that 50 per
cent of the patients now in the
VA hospitals are mental cases,”
she said. “The peak of the pa
tient case load in these hospitals
will not have been reached until
1975 when at least 60 per cent
will be neuro-psychiatric. The
story of the lack of interest on
the part of the'relatives of some
of these mental patients shocked
the nation a few years ago when
it was revealed that some had not
had a family visitor for a period of
two years.”
The NCCS official cited other
activities of the NCCS volunteers
in the VA hospital program, such
as supplying religious material
to the chaplain for distribution,
sponsoring ward parties and
social events and assisting in the
occupational therapy work for
veterans.
Stressing the important con
tributions the delegates of the
International Federation of Cath
olic Alumnae could make to the
nation-wide program, Miss Ker
win said: “There is a need in
this program for women, with
the hands of Martha and the
minds of Mary to serve the sick
—those whom Christ has chosen
to share His Gross.”
Argentine
Catholics
Apprehensive—
(Continued from Page One)
been passed by the lower house
of Congress.
In the lower house a deputy
of the opposition Radical Party,
Carlos Peretti, introduced a bill
demanding that the government
“remove any barrier” to the re
turn to Argentina of the two
prelates expelled from the coun
try June 15. These are Auxiliary
Bishop Manuel Tato of Buenos
Aires and Msgr. Ramon Novoa,
pro-vicar general of this arch
diocese, both of whom are now
residing, in Bogota, Colombia.
These developments in the Ar
gentine situation took place af
ter three days of rioting shook
the nation. The riots began on
the feast of the Assumption
(August 15), which the govern
ment had earlier declared was
no longer an official holiday.
Catholics, however, prepared
to attend Mass, not to work and
not to send their children to
school on the feast of the As
sumption. The Ministry of Edu
cation then announced that those
not attending school on Assump
tion Day would be punished.
On the feast of the Assump
tion, as riots broke out here and
in other cities, the government
announced that it had uncovered
a plot on President Peron’s life
led by “Catholic nationalists.”
According to reports, some 200
persons were arrested, ipcluding
three priests. A prominent'Cath
olic lawyer, Mario Araadeo, was
named by peronistas as one of
the plot’s ringleaders.
In Cordoba the same day
police battled students staging a
demonstration against the gov
ernment’s Assumption ban.
Rioting continued in Buenos
Aires and other cities on August
16 and 17. In the city of Eva
Peron (La Plata) more than 40
’students were reported arrested
for demonstrating on behalf of
fellow students who had been
punished for not , attending
school on Assumption Day. Dur
ing the riots priests were warn
ed by Church authorities not to
appear in the streets in their
cassocks.
Blame for the riots, which had
come to an end by August 18,
was put on Catholic priests by
Minister of Interior, and Justice
Abrieu. He charged seven priests
with* conducting a “campaign of
disobedience” against the gov
ernment. He said that no action
had been taken against these
priests, but that they would be
reported to their ecclesiastical
superiors.
Bishop Thomas K. Gorman of
Dallas- Fort Worth offered a
Pontifical Requiem Mass here in
observance of the first anniver
sary of the death of the late
Bishop Joseph P. Lynch of this
diocese. Bishop Lynch governed
the diocese for 43 years and at
the time of ,-his death was the
senior member of the Hierarchy
in point of service.
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