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Official
Newspaper For
The Diocese Of
Savannah - Atlanta
t Mnlltlin
PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Georgians Irre
spective of Creed”
Vol. XXXVI, No. 14 MONROE, GEORGIA, SATURDAY; DECEMBER 10, 1955. 10c Per Copy — $3 a Year
CATHOLICS RENEW DECENCY PLEDGE DECEMBER 11TH
re-
The new Nurses’ Home for St. Joseph’s Hospital, Savannah, was dedicated by His Excellency
Bishop- Hyland at ceremonies held Dec. 8th. The $425,000 building will provide classrooms and
living quarters for about 75 student nurses. The school now has 58 students and is quickly build
ing up to maximum capacity. ’ —(Photo Andrew Bunn).
Vatican Decree—
FAR REACHING CHARGES IN
ENTIRE HOLY WEEK LITURGY
(By G. R. Brunsi)
(Radio, NCWC News Service)
VATICAN CITY—Far-reaching
changes in the entire Holy Week
liturgy, involving Palm Sunday,
Holy Thursday, Good Friday and
Holy Saturday, have been decreed
by the Sacred Congregation of
Rites.
A new Holy Week Ordo, which
will be issued within a few days,
will go into force on Palm Sun
day, 1956. The decree is binding
for all Catholics following the
Latin Rite.
The most important changes
provided by the decree can be
summarized as follows:
First, all liturgical functions on
Holy Thursday, Good Friday and
Holy Saturday must be held dur
ing the afternoon or evening.
Second, the faithful can receive
Holy Communion on Good Fri
day, following the afternoon serv
ice.
Third, the Lenten fast and ab
stinence henceforth ends on the
midnight of Holy Saturday rather
than at noon, as at present.
These changes were outlined in
a decree dated November 16 and
signed by His Eminence Gaetano
Cardinal Cicognani, Prefect of the
Congregation of Rites: and Arch
bishop Alfonso Carinci, secretary
of the Congregation.
An authoritative article accom
panying the text of the decree was
published by Osservatore Roma
no, Vatican City newspaper. It
said the changes ordered are per
haps the most important in litur
gical matters since 1568 and 1570
when Pope Pius V, in carrying
out decisions of the Council of
Trent, published a reformed Ro
man Breviary and Roman Missal.
The author of the explanatory
article is Franciscan Father Ferdi-
nando Antonelli, a high official of
the Congregation of Rites.
The documents, whose Latin
texts filled the entire front page
of Osservatore, consist of the de
cree ordering the reform of the
liturgical rules for Holy Week,
and instructions to Bishops and
clergy for carrying these rules
into practical effect.
The new rules are contained in
the Ordo Hebdomandae Sanctae,
which has been printed by the
Vatican Polyglot Press and will
be available within a few days
from the Vatican Bookshop. This
new Ordo will completely replace
the Roman Missal from Palm Sun
day through the Easter Vigil
services.
According to Father Antonelli’s
article, the most important change
made in the Palm Sunday liturgy
is that reducing the ceremony of
the blessing of the palms to its
“primitive sobriety” and restoring
to full solemnity the procession.
Masses on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday of Holy Wefek re
main unchanged, except for a
modification of the reading of the
Passion. Like the Passion of St.
John, which is read on Good Fri-
(Continued on Page Twelve)
NEW NURSES' HOME
BISHOPS CALL FOR CRUSADE
OF INSTRUCTION, GUIDANCE
ON MORAL TRENDS IN MOVIES
A rising tide of moral laxity in
movies has prompted Catholic
bishops of the United States to
call for a crusade of instruction
and guidance on moral trends in
motion picture entertainment.
Acting on a report of the Most
Rev. William A. Scully, bishop of
Albany and chairman of the
Bishops’ Committee on Motion
Pictures, the hierarchy has ap
proved plans calling for revitali
zation of the aims and purposes
of the National Legion of Decen
cy. The crusade will reach into
every one of the Church’s 131
archdioceses and dioceses to cor
rect the apathy of many people
and to arouse Catholics to vigor
ous protest over the. increase in
objectionable films.
Bishop Scully told the assem
bled cardinals, archbishops and
bishops of the United States at
their annual meeting here last
week, that the Legion this year
has listed the largest percentage
of objectionable films in its his
tory. The Bishops’ Committee no
ted with regret that the number
of offensive films in the B cate
gory (morally objectionable in
part for all) had increased 11 per
cent over 1954.
that the greater amount of offen
sive material stems from an in
creasing reluctance by producers
and exhibitors to accept their full
responsibility for the moral and
social character of theatre enter
tainment. It was pointed out that
the bishops have praised the Code
several times in the last 20 years
as being based on the Ten Com
mandments and on the traditional
FIRST MASS
OFFERED AT
GIENNVILLE
GLENNVILLE, Ga. — What is
believed to have been the first
mass in the history of Glennville,
Tatnall county, Georgia, was of
fered here on Sunday, December
4th, at 4:30 p.m. The celebrant
of the mass was the Rev. Rob
ert B. Rademacher, assistant
Rector of St. Matthews Church,
Statesboro.
Through the kindness of Mr.
The bishops also felt bound to
reprove laxity in applying the
Hollywood Production Code and
a tendency to distort and evade
its principles and rules. They felt
and Mrs. Cannady, the mass was
offered in a room of the Five-
Point Cafe, situated on the east
ern outskirts of Glennville at the
junction of the Reidsville and
Lanes Bridge highway. The mass
was attended by 17 persons of
whom six received Holy Com
munion.
Glennville is located about 35
miles from the nearest Catholic
Church, which is in Statesboro.
moral standards of a Judeo-Chris-
tian culture.
The Albany prelate cited two
recent and pertinent statements
of His Holiness Pope Pius XII on
motion pictures, in which the
Holy Father encouraged the pro-
(Continued on Page Fourteen)
ST. MARY’S, AUGUSTA
_ '"iwi mWHtf ■'Hi' l HWlllllMii i , - -
First Masses were offered in the new St. Mary’s-On-the-Hill Church, Augusta, on Dec. 8th,
re Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Very Rev. John J. Kennedy, V. F., is pastor of the
„„r whwh will sent 75(1 nersons. —(Morgan Fitz photo by Robert Symms).
Legion Of
Decency Pledge
In the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.
I CONDEMN indecent and
immoral motion pictures, and
those which glorify crime or
criminals.
I PROMISE to do all that I
can to strengthen public
opinion against the produc
tion of indecent and immoral
films, and to unite with all
who protest against them.
I ACKNOWLEDGE my ob
ligation to form a right
conscience about pictures that
are dangerous to my moral
life. As a member of the
Legion of Decency, I pledge
myself to remain away from
them. I promise, further, to
stay away altogether from
places of amusement which
show them as a matter of
policy.