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Vol. 44, No. 3V
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WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
OF THE DIOCESE OF
SAVANNAH
The Day The Lord Has Made
By
ST. JOSEPH’S DAY AT LITTLE SISTERS—Mrs. Patricia Cullum (r.) and Father Law
rence Lucree (center) act as waiters, while Bishop McDonough fills plates for guests
at Home of Little Sisters of the Poor, Savannah, on St. Joseph’s Day. Other priests from
Savannah and surrounding area also assisted in serving annual banquet.
Sudan’s Christians
Fear Mass Slaughter
KAMPALA, (NC)—Uganda—
The half million Christians in
the southern Sudan fear that
/massacres are not far off for
them, now that all their mis
sionaries from abroad have
been forced out by the Moslem
government.
This widespread apprehen
sion is reported by refugees ar
riving in this neighboring
capital. They brought another
report that may indicate a new
pattern in Sudan’s drive against
Christians. It is that mission-
ers will soon be expelled from
northern Sudan, where the tiny
Christian body has not yet been
touched by government repres
sion.
(In Verona, Italy, two expel
led mission prelates told news
men they expected a campaign
of genocide, or mass killings,
now that the southern Sudan has
been cleared of outside witness
es. Bishop Sisto Mazzoldi,
Apostolic Vicar of Juba, and
Msgr. Domenico Ferrara,
Apostolic Prefect of Mopoi,
said:
(“We Catholic missioners
BISHOP S OFFICE
225 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia
Dearly Beloved in Christ:
Our Church is intimately connected with sacrifices be
cause Christ, the Savior of Mankind, has told us "If you
will be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me."
The cross is a sign of spiritual victory fabricated with
generous but demanding sacrifices.
During this holy season of Lent, we have afforded, almost
innumerable, occasions of evaluating the priceless treas
ury of Our Holy Faith. The lessons depicted in the words
of sacred scripture intimately touch our lives. We know
that the life of Christ upon earth was replete with acts of
sacrifice interspersed with love and benediction for all
mankind. We cannot therefore, be insensible to the neces
sity of praying, of fasting and of performing good works.
Christ fasted for forty days and forty nights as a pre
paration for bringing you and me the ultimate of all
spiritual joys, the holy sacrifice of the Mass. We are ever
indebted to Christ, Our Eucharistic King, for refreshing
our spiritual thirst with this divine deposit of our Holy
Faith.
As we prepare to welcome the Risen Christ on Easter
Day, we must believe in this glorious miracle with the
faith of a child. The first resurrection is again repeated
so that all men will be enabled to rise up with Christ to a
new life born in sacrifice and love. Surely, too, we can
say with a holy heart and a dedicated purpose, the victory
over the cross has not been in vain.
In keeping with the true notion of Easter, we approach
you to help us carry out Christ’s work upon earth. Is
there a more cherished duty than that of giving love to
those who stand so close to God through the work of Catholic
Charity.
Our children at St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s Homes look
to you for help. The poor and the needy ask you to extend
a cup of water in His Divine Name. Catholic Charities give
all of us an excellent opportunity of sharing in all the mira
cles of Christ.
On Easter Sunday, please be generous to the Charity
Collection just as Our Christ has been to you. Envelopes
will be distributed to you for this special collection. A
gift of ten dollars from every wage earner will enable us
to continue to bring the charity of our Church to all those
who look to you and to me for help. If I can estimate your
charity on Easter Sunday according to the measure of your
generosity in the past, I am confident that our work of
charity will be sustained and richly supported.
Begging the Risen Christ to bless you and your loved
ones and promising you a special intention in my masses
and prayers, I am,
Devotedly yours in Christ,
Bishop of Savannah.
deported from the Sudan follow
ing a decision taken by the Coun
cil of Ministers at Khartoum on
February 26, 1964, affirm that
the reason the Sudanese govern
ment has made us leave the
country and the reason it has
placed severe restrictions on
the movements of foreign mer
chants who are still there is that
it does not want any witnesses
to the measures of violent re
pression and reprisal which the
Arab police and soldiers have
already started to adopt against
the innocent populations of the
closed districts’ and which are
in the technical form of geno
cide.’’
(The “closed districts’’
leftover from the former
Anglo-Egyptian administration
include the entire southern Su
dan. No foreigners may enter
them without express govern
ment permission.)
Those here who expect vio
lence on a wide scale point to
the systematic way in which the
Sudanese government is sealing
the southern provinces from
"foreign eyes," a term used by
officials. The expulsion of mis
sionaries from outside, both
Catholic and Protestant, was
accompanied by an order to
foreign traders forbidding them
to travel except within three
towns.
The government’s intent to
use terror and death has already
been revealed in individual in
stances. One expelled bishop
said that 15 Catholics had died
from tortures after imprison
ment in recent weeks. A report
ed method of torture is to apply
pepper to the faces and wounds
of those already seriously
injured by lashings.
Requiem For
Archbishop
Gercke, 89
TUCSON, Ariz. (NC)—Death
severed a link with Arizona’
pioneer statehood days when it
claimed 89-year-old Arch
bishop Daniel J. Gercke here
Solemn Requirm Mass for the
prelate who served 37 years as
the third Bishop of Tucson be
fore his retirement in 1960
was offered (March 24) in St
Augustine’s cathedral here.
James Francis Cardinal Me
Intyre, Archbishop of Los An
geies, presided as the final
homage was paid the prelate
who gave 63 years to the priest
hood. Tucson’s Bishop Francis
J. Green, who succeeded Arch
bishop Gercke in 1960, offered
the Mass and Auxiliary Bishop
Timothy Manning of Los An
geies gave the sermon.
Archbishop Gercke died
(March 19) at the cathedral
rectory here where he had re
sided in his retirement.
Abbot Alban Boultwood, O.S.B.
Acknowledgment is made to
Helicon Press, Baltimore,
Maryland, for permission to ex
cerpt the following chapter from
the recently published ALIVE
TO GOD.
4c # *
The great theme, constantly
recurring in the Church’spray
er in these days of Paschaltide,
'This is the day which the
Lord has made: let us rejoice
and be glad in it" (Ps., 117:24).
Easter Day is in a special way
the "Lord’s Day," and will al
ways be the center of the
Church’s life on earth. Every
year will turn around it; even
every week will have its Dies
Dominica, its feast of the Re
surrection each Sunday, from
which all our life will flow.
The great homilies in the
breviary try to express some
thing of the unique character of
Easter, this feast of feasts,
solemnity of solemnities. They
point out its all-embracing uni
versality. Other feasts are
feasts of the living, but this
is a feast both of the living and
of the dead, of all those holy
souls who had passed through
the portals of death, but await
ed the coming of Christ to open
for them the gates of heaven.
is the feast both of angels
and men, who will fill by their
redemption the sad spaces in
the heavenly choirs. On our
earth itself, it is the feast both
of saint and of sinner, the vo
cation to glory and to redemp
tion.
But above all, Easter is the
feast of our Lord Jesus Christ
himself; his supreme manifes
tation and victory. It is his
hour." And even if we our
selves, in our dull and sinful
clay, yet know something of
Easter joy, what must have
been the joy of the risen Christ
himself? His humanity now
wholly transfused and trans
formed by the beatific vision,
his mission of divine mercy and
love now perfectly fulfilled, his
victory over sin won, his holy
kingdom established on earth,
his Godhead proclaimed for
ever in his miracle of the Re
surrection. No failure or sins of
ours can ever destroy this vic
tory of Christ, and the supreme
sign of his victory is the Re
surrection, perogative of God
alone.
In the other miracles of
Christ, although they were all
of course effected by his divine
power, he chose to make use
in some way his humanity: his
healing touch, his word of po
wer, the sacramental symbo
lism of human senses and signs
for our instruction and to fore
shadow the sacraments of faith.
But in the Resurrection, the
human body of Christ lay life
less in the grave; its sacrifi
cial oblation was completed,
"it is consummated.” Now, for
all other men, death puts an
end to their doing and being;
we even speak of them in the
past—"he was," no longer "he
is.’’-^iLat with Christ, when his
human mortality has rendered
its sacrifice to the full, when
all human life and power is
expended, then it is that he says
Resurgam, "1 will arise,” in
his own divine power. Lord of
life and death, eternal God and
son of the living God, he mani
fests himself most clearly,
most essentially, through his
death and resurrection.
The sealed tomb, the special
guards, the crowds summoned
by the Sanhedrin to witnes s his
death his end, must instead
bear witness to his eternal life,
his unceasing beginning. It is
to this that we pledge our faith
as we mark the paschal candle
with his cross and say those
triumphant words: "Christyes
terday and today, the beginning
and the end, the Alpha and the
Omega, his are the seasons and
the ages, to him to glory and
dominion through all the ages
of eternity” (Easter vigil li
turgy).
The lumen Christi, the light
of Christ that shines forth at
his resurrection, is first of all
the radiance of his Godhead, to
which we give our faith for
ever. But it is also the light
of the divine truth that Christ
came into the world to teach us.
For the light of Easter tells us
first, that God loves us with an
^,r>|inite love, and that because
' of this love he sent his only be
gotten Son to save us. And that
this Son most faithfully and per
fectly fulfilled this mission by
his passion, death and resur
rection; that he redeemed us,
and called us to his perfect
light. This is the great call of
Easter, our great vocation to
the risen life.
“If you be risen with Christ,
seek the things that are above"
(Col. 3:1). Can we do this? Can
we live this new life truly with
him? There are probably many
ways in which we ought to con
sider humbly and carefully this
question, with sorrow for the
past and amendment for the
future. But, at Easter time,
isn’t the real answer: "Of
course we can." All our Easter
joy arises because this newness
of life is precisely Christ’s own
Easter gift to us, a victory that
he has won in us and for us.
It is for this that he has enlight
ened us with the light of faith,
cleansed and created us anew
with the water of baptism,
sealed us with his holy oils,
nourished us with his own liv
ing Body and Blood, the very
pledge and substance of eternal
life.
During the Easter vigil, the
deacon, after he has carried
the pa'schal candle into the
church, sings the Exultet, in
which he refers to this Easter
night as a kind of sacrament:
"this is the night which deliv
ers all who believe in Christ
from the darkness of sin and
worldly vice, and restores them
to grace and holiness.” Our
true Easter joy, therefore, is
not a matter of some spiritual
thrill, or even, mainly of good
resolutions. Many people never
do feel much religious emotion,
especially at the great festivals.
But the essential fact of Easter
is beyond the senses, since it
is sacramental, and has its ef
fects deep in the soul, where
Christ enters with his saving
grace, to consecrate and sanc
tify.
By this gift of the risen Sav
ior in our soul, we are called
to live eternal life, risen life,
here and now upon earth; to
be heavenly minded, not earth-
continued on Page 3)
Savannah April 10, 11, 12
DCCW Convention
Speakers Named
Right Reverend Monsignor
John C. Knott and Mrs. Joseph
A. McCarthy will speak at the
Twenty-fifth Annual convention
of the Savannah Diocesan Coun
cil of Catholic Women. The
three day meeting will be held
at the DeSoto Hotel, Savannah,
April 10, 11 and 12.
Monsignor Knott will be the
guest speaker at the Civic Night
Reception.
A native of Connecticut, Mon
signor Knott was ordained in
1939. He has been engaged in
parish work as an assistant and
administrator and also has ser
ved as a chaplain in the United
States Navy.
He has done graduate work at
the Catholic University of Am
erica in the field of marriage
and the family and has worked
extensively in the promotion
of the Cana Conference Move
ment in Connecticut.
Monsignor Knott was full time
director of the Marriage and
Family Apostolate of the Arch
diocese of Hartford for eleven
years. He is the author of nu
merous articles, among them
the weekly syndicated column,
"Everyman’s Family."
Monsignor Knott has been the
director of the Family Life Bu
reau N.C.W.C. since 1961. He
was elevated to the rank of
Domestic Prelate with the title
of Right Reverend Monsignor,
December, 1962.
Mrs. McCarthy, president of
the National Council of Catholic
Women will be the guest speak
er at the banquet, Saturday,
April 11.
Mrs. McCarthy received the
title of President of the Nation
al Council of Catholic Women
following her election at the
NCCW national convention, No
vember, 1962. This title came
U. S. Government Official
to her after many years of ac
tive participation in a wide
variety of offices in organiza
tions, ranging from her parish
(Continued on Page 2)
Disputes
Stand In
WASHINGTON (NC) — The
theory that Federal aid to
church-related schools would
violate the principle of Church-
State separation was assaulted
here by a top U. S. Government
official.
In the current controversy
over U. S. aid to education, Un
der Secretary of Labor John
F. Henning said opponents of
such assistance to parochial
and other private schools con
tend that the first amendment of
the Constitution is the chief ob
stacle.
* ‘The first amendment was
designed by the foundling fath
ers to prevent establishment of
a kept church in this country
and it has worked effectively,’’
Henning said. Some forms of
Federal aid to church-related
schools would be valid, he said,
if the amendment’s constitu
tional principle of separation of
Church and State was the only
hurdle in the path.
Henning, speaking (March 22)
at the annual Communion
Breakfast of the Men of St.
John's, an organization of fa
thers of students, and the alum
ni association of St. John’s Col
lege High School, characterized
the Catholic school system as
"the jewel of Catholicism in the
United States."
Church-State
School Issue
He denounced proposals ran
ging from cutting grades to do
ing away entirely with Ca
tholic elementary schools. The
Labor Department official ack
nowledged that in certain
localities some economie s must
be practiced in Catholic
schools, but he insisted that
curtailing the system is not the
answer. He declared that the
Catholic Church in this country
will begin to decline if the Ca
tholic school system is aban
doned.
From the earliest days, Hen
ning said, education in this
country has been rooted in
church-related schools. He said
it is unfortunate that Protes
tantism to a great extent aban
doned the field of higher edu
cation, clearing the path for
widespread secularism.
It has cost Catholics billions
mrs. McCarthy
Dedicates
Hospital
Chapel
His Excellency Bishop Tho
mas J. McDonough dedicated the
Chapel of the Sacred Heart,
Milledgeville State Hospital, on
Thursday, March 19th.
The Chapel is the Catholic
portion of the "Chapel of All
Faiths” which was recently
constructed at the Hospital.
More than thirty priests from
throughout the State of Georgia
attended the rites.
The official representative
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
was Monsignor Joseph G. Cas
sidy, Vicar General.
of dollars and many years of
sacrifice to build the present
school system, Henning said,
while additional millions are
needed yearly to maintain it.
But the system as it exists to
day is well worth the cost,
since more men trained in Ca
tholic schools are in the main
stream of American life than
ever before in history, he de
clared.
Henning said that since the
end of World War II enrollment
in Catholic schools has increas
ed 129%, compared to an en
rollment increase of 69% in the
nation’s public schools.
Henning, the father of seven
children and an alumnus of
St. Mary’s (Calif.) College,
classified himself as an ardent
opponent of the idea that paro
chial schools create Catholic
ghettos.
Bishop To Present
Altar Boy Awards
For the fourth consecutive year Bishop Thomas J. McDon
ough will honor the outstanding altar boys of the Diocese.
On April 19th he will present the Vianney Award at Saint
John’s Seminary, Savannah, to approximately two hundred
boys chosen by their pastors as the outstanding altar boys
of their parishes.
The Vianney award program began four years ago in an
effort to show recognition to the young men of the diocese
who serve God at the altar. Bishop McDonough had long
been concerned in seeing awards given to the children of
the diocese for scholarship, athletics and leadership while
this most important part of a boy's life went unrecognized.
In 1961 che awards were given at Saint John’s Seminary
to one hundred and forty boys. The following two years saw
the awards given in various cities of the diocese because of
the building program then in progress at the seminary.
When the building program was completed, last year, the
program returned to its original home.
Last year a new facet was added to the program, the
parent’s entertainment program. For the first time the par
ents of the boys receiving the awards were invited to spend
the afternoon and evening prior to the granting of the awards
at the seminary. An interesting program of activities was
arranged for them while their boys ran the length and breath
of the grounds or played in various athletic contests con
ducted by the seminarians.
This dual program will again by held this year with invi
tations being sent to proud parents sometime during the
coming week.