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SERVING 88 SOUTH GEORGIA COUNTIES
‘LABORERS ARE FEW’
Pope Expresses
Concern About
Vocations Lag
VATICAN CITY (NC)—The
Church today finds itself in the
painful position of not being able
to answer the world’s call for
help because of a lack of vo
cations, Pope Paul VI said at
a weekly general audience.
“While on one hand,” said
Pope Paul, “the present need
' those who will consecrate
selves to the love and wor+
ship of God and the service of
their brethren, increases, on the
other hand the number of volun
teers for the cross and the glory
of God is decreasing in many
regions of the world, even in
those which were once the most
flourishing and fertile in
generous and pure souls dedi
cated to the Gospel.
“The Church thus finds itself
in a painful and at times troubl
ing position,” he continued. “It
has before it a world open to its
mission, a world which seems in
sensitive and dissident, but in
fact awaits and implores ‘Help
us!’ But (the Church) cannot.
“The Church cannot because
it lacks the men and women who
have accepted the call to give
themselves to Christ and to the
salvation of the world. Jesus
Himself, you recall, experienced
this sorrow, which was then to
become perennial in the hearts
of His apostles; ‘The harvest
indeed is great, but the laborers
are few’ (Matt. 9, 37).”
The Pope linked his thoughts
with the previous Sunday’s world
wide observance of Vocation Sun
day and with the Sunday’s Gospel
of the Good Shepherd.
The voice of the Good Shep
herd calling each of his sheep
by name expresses itself, Pope
Paul said, “in two different,
wonderful and convergent ways.
There is the inner way of the
Grace of the Holy Spirit, the
ineffable way of inner attraction
in which the silent and powerful
voice of the Lord exercises on
the fathomless depths of the hu
man soul.
“And there is the external,
sensible , human, social, juri
dical and concrete way, the way
of the qualified ministry of the
word of God, the way of the
apostle, the way of the
hierarchy—the indispensible in
strument instituted and willed by
.Christ as the vehicle entrusted
with the task of translating into
experiential language the mes
sage of God’s word and precept.”
The Pontiff called upon “all
those who have the grace, the
supreme fortune of belonging to
the Church, of having the Chris
tian vocation” to reflect on the
need for vocations to the priest
hood and the religious life.
“And let those reflect also
who feel in this sublime but
common call an invitation more
direct and profound, more de
manding but sweeter. Let them
ask themselves whether the Lord
does not want something more
than common faithfulness,
whether He does not want every
thing, whether He does not want
that sacrifice which seems to
annihilate one who accepts it,
giving him instead that new ful
ness which has been promised
to the generous . . .and the
strength which makes everything
easy and everything possible.”
REDS LOSING
•Latin American
War Of Radios
MARYKNOLL, N.Y. (NC)—A
communist propaganda maneuver
to undermine a Catholic mission
project in Latin America has
proved to be “extremely ineffec
tive” after five months.
For the past five months, Ra
dio Moscow and the “radio
schools” have been engaged in a
war of words—and the communist
are losing that war, says Father
Kearns.
When Radio Moscow began last
December to beam broadcasts to
South America in Quechua, a lang
uage spoken by more than 10
million Indians living in Peru,
Bolivia, Equador and northern
Argentina, it placed itself in di
rect competition with the edu
cational broadcasts of the
“radio schools.”
Radio Moscow is ineffective
^femse the people to whom it is
electing broadcasts do not have
receivers.
“The Indians are too poor
to own radios,” explained Fat
her Kearns. “We have to give
them radios in order to reach
them. These are fixed-frequency
receivers, which means that they
can only be used t o pick up our
broadcasts. This prevents the
communists from using our
radios for their propaganda.”
While Radio Moscow is con
centrating on communist propa
ganda and entertainment,” the
“radio schools” are teachingthe
Indians a wide range of subjects—
Spanish, arithmetic, religion,
history, health, animal husbandry
and the dangers of communism —
in order to raise their stan
dard of living and help them
play a greater role in their
Spanish-speaking countries.
RICHARD CARDINAL CUSHING,
saying he is “ fine for the shape
I’m in,” returned to “limited
duty,” as he described it, (May
1) by attending a luncheon-fas
hion show sponsored by the Cath
olic Daughters of America in
Boston. The Cardinal thanked his
friends and well-wishers all over
the world for their prayers during
his February surgery and subse
quent recuperation.
(NC Photos)
ORDINATION OF FATHER SIMMONS begins as chanters sing Litany of the Saints. The ordination
candidate for the Priesthood lies prostrate while was the first to take place in the Diocese since 1960.
(Ledger-Enquirer Photo)
DISPLACES VENEZUELA ON RED LIST
Colombia Becomes New Top Target
Of Communists In Latin America
FATHER SIMMONS
C oncelebrated
Mass Highlights
Ordination Rite
By J. R. Barmann, S.J.
(N.C.W.C, News Service)
BOGOTA, Colombia—Colom
bia has become the number one
target of the communists in South
America in the opinion of obser
vers here.
Until last year the top Red
target seemed to be neighbor
ing Venezuela. But vigorous an
ticommunist measures by the
government of that oil-rich na
tion, and the fact that it is cur
rently enjoying unprecedented
prosperity, seem to have stop
ped the Reds there.
The reverse is true here in
Colombia where, observers say,
communist plans are moving a-
head with terrifying speed.
Their assessment of the situa
tion was echoed in the April 29
statement of the Colombian bis
hops which called for “a nation
al crusade to save the country,”
The bishops said the “greatest
danger facing the Church and
the whole nation is the com
munist advance,” and added that
they know “Colombia is one of
the principal objectives of the
international communist move
ment in Latin America.”
“Red leaders recruited here
and abroad,” the bishops de
clared, “are methodically agi
tating within the universities and
among the workers and farmers.
Communist guerrillas have been
trained outside the country and
well known communists hold re
sponsible positions in various
trade unions, student organiza
tions and even in the govern
ment."
The communists got their first
real foothold in Colombia during
the political civil war of 1948-
1953. With the assassination of
the popular Liberal partyieader,
Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, in 1948
during the Pan-American Confe
rence in Bogota, open warfare
between Liberal and Conserva
tive party guerrillas broke out.
The communists infiltrated the
guerrilla bands and kept the con
flict going for five years. In 1953,
the army under Gen. Gustavo
Rojas Pinilla siezed power but
was unble to clear out the
“bandits” and put an end to the
“violence,” as it is called in
Colombia. The communists and
bandits became entrenched in
their mountain hideaways. Five
years later the national truce
i
between the warring political
parties failed to break up the by
then independent guerrillas.
Some of the bands really were
just bandits, but others were
communist undergrounds. With
the coming of Castro to power
in Cuba in 1959 the communists
bands began to receive arms and
help. A national plan was formed
and has been advanced swiftly.
The first phase of the Red
plan was a series of robberies
to finance operations. For almost
a year banks were held up all
over the country at the rate of
almost one every four days. The
Colombian police were unable
to cope with the organized na
tional crime wave. The plan was
so successful that everybody with
sticky fingers tried to get into
the act, causing a lack of con
fidence in the government and
the police and a financial crisis.
People began to send their money
out of the country. The value
of the peso started its down
ward trend that has by now reach
ed the lowest point in 30 years.
The second phase of the com
munist campaign involves kid
napping. In the past nine months
the wave of kidnappings has put
the country on the brink of chaos.
The number of rich industrialists
and business men or members of
their families that have been kid
napped reaches into the hundreds.
In March the former secretary
of state and one of the richest
men in the country, Harold Eder,
was kidnapped and killed. In
April, Oliverio Lara, the famous
jungle industrialist who had car
ved an agricultural empire out
of the Colombian wilderness, was
kidnapped and is still missing.
The list goes on and on.
The inability of the govern
ment to cope with the situation
has allowed the campaign of ter
ror to get completely out of
hand. The Bogota police force
for instance has gone to the
extreme of arming housewives to
protect their children from kid
napers. The ordinary Colombian
policeman, who earns $10 a week
and is often illiterate, is no match
for the trained communist.
The results of the campaign
are disasterous for the coun
try. The small educated weal
thy group and the business men—
seem completely intimidated by
the terrorists. With their money
already in foreign banks, mem
bers of the upper class are
rapidly leaving their homeland
for safer territory. -
The power vacuum caused by
the government’s inability to act,
the crime wave, the flight of the
normal leadership group and the
financial crisis, leaves the com
munists a golden opportunity.
The only major institution to
try to stand up to the crisis
is the Church.
In their April 29 statement
the bishops noted that they are
“deeply troubled by the present
state of the nation and by the
many and serious problems which
threaten the stability of institu
tions. These problems can lead
us to anarchy and chaos if they
are not quickly remedied.”
The statement added that the
“violence — which has taken
more than 200,000 lives in this
nation of 15 million people in
the past two decades--“has
planted hatred in many hearts
and had very serious repercus
sions on both the country’s eco
nomy and its prestige in other
countries.”
Because of the “violence,” it
went on, poor farmers have pour
ed into the cities for protection,
causing serious overcrowding
and a grave unemployment prob
lem. This situation, it said,
has been aggravated by the de
parture of leading citizens and
the flight of capital, which the
bishops denounced as unpatriotic.
It is feared that as the work-
less grow more and more des
perate, they will take to the
streets to be organized by the
communists for rioting aimed
at overthrowing the government.
Pointing out that, fear, panic,
pessimism and hopelessness are
major factors in the nation’s
crisis, the bishops called for a
united effort of all Colombians
to cooperate in ending the
violence.
Their call has been followed
by a feeling of renewed hope and
gratitude at finding energetic
leadership in a generally leader-
less situation.
The Rev. William Francis Sim
mons became the newest priest
in the Diocese of Savannah amidst
colorful and impressive ordina
tion rites conducted last Saturday
at the Church of the Holy Family,
Columbus.
Father Simmons received the
Sacrament of Holy Orders from
the Most Reverend Thomas J.
McDonough at a concelebrated
Mass at 9:00 A.M.
It marked the first time an
ordination was ever held in Co
lumbus and the first concele
brated Mass ever offered there.
Father Simmons, born in Char
leston, S.C. has lived most of
his life in Columbus, where he
received his elementary school
education at Holy Family school.
He is a 1957 graduate of St.
Bernard’s High School at Cull
man, Ala., and began his prepa
ratory studies for the priest
hood at Cullman at St. Bernard’s
Seminary. He was graduated from
St. John’s Home Mission Semi
nary, Little Rock, Ark. in 1961.
He has been a theological stu
dent at St. Mary’s Seminary,
Baltimore, Md., since 1961.
Present at Father Simmons’
ordination were his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. William F. Simmons
of 2337 Laurel Drive, Columbus
and two brothers, Bernard and
David, also of Columbus.
A sister, Sister Mary Pious,
the former Becky Anne Simmons
was also present from Charles
ton.
After having been ordained by
Bishop McDonough, Father Sim
mons joined with the Bishop and
ten other priests in offering the
LONDON, Ont. (NC)—In a pro
gram designed to train poten
tial Catholic lay leaders, Regina
Mundi minor seminary here has
announced that beginning in Sep
tember it will enroll not only
boys who wish to be priests but
those who are not thinking of the
priesthood.
Father J. P. Finn, rector,
said the new plan envisions the
seminary as a “school of Chris
tian leadership.”
PRESIDENT of the National
Council of Catholic Men, elec
ted at recent convention in Dal
las, is John F. Donnelly, Holland,
Mich., executive. He succeeds
Frank Heller of Dallas. (NC
Photos)
Sacred Liturgy.
A special feature of the or
dination Mass was the presence
of the entire student body of St.
John Vianney Minor Seminary
from Savannah. The seminarians
served as a choir for the Mass,
under the direction of Father John
Fitzpatrick, seminary instruc
tor, singing harmonic and poly
phonic Latin motets, as well as
English hymns.
Joining with the newly ordained
priest and Bishop McDonough in
concelebrating the Mass were
Father Simmons’ pastor, for
many years, the Rt. Rev. Her
man J. Deimel, formerly pastor
of the Church of the Holy Family
and presently pastor of St.
Anne’s. Father Simmons has
lived in both parishes.
Other concelebrants were Fa
thers Arthur A. Weltzer, Pastor
of Holy Family; William P. Dowl
ing, pastor of Our Lady of Lour
des; Ignatius Behr, S.D.S., pas
tor of St. Benedict’s Mission;
George James, Moderator of Co
lumbus’s Pacelli High School;
Walter di Francesco, assistant
pastor of Holy Family; Timothy
Ryan, assistant pastor of St.
Anne’s; Austin Martin, S.D.S.,
assistant pastor of St. Benedict’s
Mission; the Very Rev. William
V. Coleman, Vice-chancellor of
the Diocese and Rector of St.
John Vianney Minor Seminary,
and Father Joseph Stranc, in
structor at the Seminary.
Ceremonies were under the
direction of the Rt. Rev. Msgr.
Andrew J. McDonald, Chancellor,
assisted by the Rev. Kevin Bo
land, Seminary instructor.
Father Simmons celebrated his
first Solemn Mass at 12; 30 P M.
Sunday, at St. Anne’s Church.
Up to now the seminary has
accepted only boys of high school
age who had an explicit desire
to become priests.
Under the new arrangement, it
will enroll those who believe
they have a vocation to the priest
hood, those who are not sure of
their vocations but wish to find
out, and those who are not pre
sently considering the priesthood
as a way of life but are judged
to be potential leaders.
“We want a school with clear
unity of purpose to develop the
totality of the adolescent Chris
tian person,” Father Finn said.
He said the plan “does not
represent a revolution over
turning the conventional prin
ciples of seminary training; it
merely repudiates some methods
within a traditional framework
in order to form more effectively
priests and solid Christian lay
men.”
He noted that in the past, when
the aim of the seminary has been
considered to be exclusively the
formation of future priests, some
parents felt that there was a
stigma attached to those boys
who left the seminary.
“We feel this objection would
be satisfied for these parents
by the new concept proposed,’’
Father Finn said.
* *
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
NATION
College Pickets Hit
BOSTON (NC)—Catholic college students here heard a U.S.
senator criticize collegians who take part in peace and disarma
ment demonstrations and urge them to “make a thorough study of
the rise of nazism. ” Sen. Henry M. Jackson of Washington, de
livered a lecture at Boston College. He said a study of nazi his
tory would show that Hitler “built the German war machine while
the deomcracies were preaching disarmament and neglected their
military preparedness.”
S. AMERICA
B.C. Can't Help
LIMA, Peru (NC)--Peruvians were told by an economics special
ist that a more aggressive use of national resources rather than
population limitation is the answer to the country’s growth prob
lems. The speaker was Dr. Jorge Bravo of the University of
Agriculture, who contended that birth control is economically ruinous.
He said Japan today is feeling the lack of youth in its population
and is worried that “it has lost its motor,”
FAR EAST
Viet Cong Meeting
SAIGON (NC)--A Catholic priest arranged a meeting between
the Viet Cong and an American civilian subsequently captured
by the communists while searching for his lost airman brother.
Reports reaching here 'said that Donald Dawson, 25, of Costa
Mesa, Calif., is being held captive by the Viet Cong deep in com
munist territory. Dawson went into the area after hearing rumors
that the body of his brother, Daniel, 27, had been located.
TO TRAIN LEADERS
Seminary Course
Includes Laymen
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