Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2 — The Southern Cross, December 11,
Editor:
As many of us are very
interested and confused in all
the changes in our church
after almost 2,000 years of
peace and tranquility in its
worship, can you give us a
resume of WHY and WHO is
changing and writing the new
liturgy so different from the
prayers which most of us
knew by heart and loved.
And now we hear that
more changes are coming.
We, the members, are most
confused and why do the
changes come by piecemeal,
as though the minds of the
changers are not in accord?
Save Your Money!
IANTIC
NK
AM) TRUST COMPANY
27 Bull on the Square
God knows the whole
world is in such discord and
fighting, it seems too bad the
church had to choose THIS
time to confuse even GOOD
Catholics dedicated to the
love and worship of Christ for
2,000 years.
Stella Strous
Savannah
P.S. Our lovely old hymns
also have been tossed out.
Change does not necessarily
mean improvement.
Editor’s Note: The
reader’s letter is, we think,
representative of the thoughts
of many Catholics who find
the rapidity of change in the
Church difficult to accept.
But all should bear in mind
PROFESSIONAL OPTICAL
SERVICE
Lamar J. Keller,
125 East Hall St.
Phone AD 6-5210.
For Wedding Invitations
It’s
THE ACME PRESS
1201 LINCOLN STREET
PHONE 232 6397
FLOWERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS
Richardson Florists Inc.
1220 WHEATON
232-3158
SAVANNAH, GA.
In Savannah
Am>
OGLETHORPE
MARBLE & GRANITE CO.
MILTON J. LITTLE
EAST BROAD at WALDBURG ST.
that the changes, particularly
the changes in liturgy to
which our reader refers, are
not simply the work of some
small clique of people
interested in change for the
sake of change.
The updating of the
Liturgy was authorized both
by the fathers of Vatican
Council II, that is, the world’s
bishops and by the Holy
Father. The main reason for
introducing changes was to
make the Church’s official
worship an action not only of
the priest, but of the whole
People of God - to promote
greater participation by the
entire Christian Community,
and to make worship more
relevant to modem life.
The overwhelming weight
of opinion seems to suggest
that the changes have
sccomplished this to a very
desirable degree. The changes
to be introduced, perhaps
early next year, are intended
to make the Liturgy even
more meaningful and
understandable, It is doubtful
that after these latest
changes, very much will be
altered either in the texts or
the form of the Mass for a
long time to come. The
reason these latest changes
have not come earlier is that
the Bishops’ Commission for
English in the Liturgy
includes liturgists from every
nation in which English is the
language of the people and it
took a long time for all of
them to agree on the
translation, which must be
the same for all
English-speaking countries.
In closing, we might note
that there have been many
stormy eras in church history.
Ours is not unique. WE just
weren’t around for the
others.
Augusta
McMahon
Mechanical
Contractors, Inc.
540 Bohler Ave. Augusta, Ga.
733-2297
PHILIP BATASTINI
TAILORS —CLEANERS
407 - 12th ST.
FA 2-5900
COLUMBUS
■ I IIII! .I I ■ -
AUTO REPAIRS
Savannah Radiator
Co.
315 West Bay Street
Savannah, Georgia
Don Auld’s
PRESCRIPTION SHOP
Since 1»S*
Pick-up & ndnery
233-4981
1910 Abercora
Savannah
D ORIS
JEWELERS
AUGUSTA,GA.
*)nc.
0:
V
4
PACKAGING, VENDING, SERVICE PRODUCTS
IN PAPER AND PLASTIC
t550 TV'UqAtydiM* IRaad
NCCM Consultants
STUDENTS HONORED — Three eighth grade students of Albany’s St. Teresa School were
honored recently by Albany K.C. Council 3607. Lori Williams, John Lewis and Shonna Hopson
were the first, second and third place winners in an Essay Contest sponsored by the Knights. Essay
title was “Thanksgiving 1969’’. Here, they receive awards from Paul W. Laramore, Chairman of
youth and Family Activities Committee,
SOME ACTION SEEPS THROUGH
Talk Dominates Wash.
Conference On Hunger
BY KIM LARSEN
WASHINGTON
(NC)--After three days of
deploring hunger in the
United States, delegates to
the White House Conference
on Food, Nutrition, an;
Health turned their backs on
a proposal that might have
forced President Nixon to act
immediately on the deplored
situation.
So declared a group of
activists who, at the
conclusion of the conference,
railroaded through a motion
asking the delegates to stay in
session until the President
acted immediately.
But most of the delegates
said they believed they had
done their work and elected
to go home. They did
approve five major
recommendations, which, if
carried out by President
Nixon, could do much in
eliminating hunger in the
United States.
Because the more than
3,000 delegates did not hear
Dr. Jean Mayer, conference
director, adjourn the meeting
as a group led by Father
Ralph Ruiz of San Antonio
took over the platform, no
one stirred as the priest
declared the ayes had it on
the motion to stay in session.
At that point Mayer came
back to the podium and
announced that he had
adjourned the conference
several minutes earlier. About
three-fourths of the delegates
then got up and started for
the exits.
Father Ruiz and his group,
representing the minority
groups in the country,
shouted at the delegates to
stay.
“Are you going to turn
your backs on the hungry?”
Shouted an activist.
“If you walk out without
an answer (from Nixon) you
will be as guilty as the
President.” declared another.
The conference had
already called upon Nixon to
declare a hunger and
malnutrition emergency in
the United States.
Under existing authority
the President could free funds
and implement programs to
feed all hungry Americans
this winter, the delegates
contended.
They also demanded a
minimum guaranteed cash
income with a floor of
$5,500 annually for a family
of four.
Other recommendations
made by the conference
included interim food
programs seeking reformation
and expansion of present
food plans, universal schoc..
food programs which would
provide free breakfasts and
lunches to all children, and
shifting the government’s
hunger and nutrition
programs from the
Department of Agriculture to
the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare.
These recommendations
were made by the combined
Task Forces on Voluntary
Action by Women, Religious
Organizations, Consumers,
Community Organizations,
Health Organizations, Faculty
and Students, and Organized
Labor
Conference participants
took to heart Nixon’s
admonition that the hungry
run their own lives with
resource assistance from the
government.
Nixon also . ,<ok some
action by instructing the
Secretary of Agriculture to
extend the food stamp
program to every county in
the United States which at
present does not have it. He
asked that this be completed
within six months.
Nixon instructed the
agriculture secretary to use
the utmost speed in getting
maximum benefits for the
program.
The President also agreed
to meet with Task Force
members to find out the
direction the nation must go
to meet the hunger
emergency.
Nixon’s actions were
announced by Mayer just
before he introduced Sen.
Walter F. Mondale of
Minnesota, who declared that
Nixon and his administration
have failed to clearly support
measures designed to end
hunger among the nation’s
poor.
Mondale said he was
pleased with the President’s
announcements, but pointed
out that they do not contain
a call of national
responsibility to feed the
hungry.
The Minnesota senator was
interrupted with wild
applause throughout, his
address and was given a
standing ovation at the end.
But there was a large segment
of conference delegates which
did not participate in the
standing ovation. They were
also the first to leave when
Mayer announced he had
adjourned the conference.
The conference’s demands
for adequate income for the
hungry and reformed food
programs seemed to be
echoes of demands made
earlier by various church
officials and groups.
Pope Paul VI has appealed
several times for the
establishment of a world fund
against hunger. He first made
the suggestion in 1964 when
he visited India and repeated
it in his encyclical,
Populorum Progressio, and
before the 15 th general
conference of the United
Nations’ Food and
Agriculture Organization.
The Pope continually
reminds his audiences that
the majority of humanity is
hungry. White House
conference delegates were
quick to point out that
hunger in the United States is
as great as it is in many of the
developing nations the Pope
is greatly concerned with.
Three religious groups last
fall asked the House
Agriculture Committee to
adopt nine recommendations
in reforming the nation’s
food stamp program.
Representatives of the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, the National
Conference of Catholic
Charities, and the National
Council of Churches, in joint
testimony, called the hunger
problem in the United States
“morally outrageous”
because “hunger and
malnutrition exist in this
country needlessly.”
This was repeated again
and again by most
participants in the White
House conference. The
concern of religious
institutions was shown by the
high number of clergymen in
attendance at the three-day
session.
Besides priests like Father
Ruiz pleading for the nation’s
hungry, the conference
attracted Church figures such
as Bishop Raymond Gallagher
of Lafayette, Ind., who was
among the Task Force group
called to the White House to
discuss the conference’s five
recommendations with
Nixon.
FIRST COMMUNION — On the vigil of the parish feast, the
children of Immaculate Conception, Augusta, received their
First Holy Communion. Pictured with the First Communicants
are the pastor, Rev. John J. Sheehan and Sister Mary James,
their teacher.
(continued from page 1)
the consultants wanted
Catholic education, did not
feel that every Catholic
should spend all his time in
Catholic schools, but thought
it was desirable that most
Catholics spend at least some
of their time in Catholic
schools,” Father Greeley said.
He reported the
consultants were evenly split
on the qualificaion of the
teachers in Catholic schools
with 38% thinking they were
as well-qualified as teachers in
public schoos, 39%
disagreeing, and 23%
responding they did not
know.
“Since most of the studies
that have been done on the
qualifications of Catholic
teachers would indicate that
they are .. .as well qualified
as public school teachers, one
is forced to conclude that
Catholic educators still have a
relatively weak image among
the elite laity in the Church,”
Father Greeley said.
The consultants had even
more reservations about
Catholic parents, Father
Greeley stated. Only 12%
thought that most Catholic
parents are capable of giving
their children a good religious
education and 56% thought
that even if parents did a
good job Catholic schools
were still necessary. A similar
percentage also thought that
Catholics did not have a clear
idea of why they were
sending their children to
Catholic schools.
Father Greeley said such
“sweeping and devastating”
criticisms suggest an area of
further research among
American Catholics.
Seventy per cent of he
consultants supported the
idea that more finances and
personnel should be given to
programs like the CCD-even
though 74% did not think the
CCD does a good job as
Catholic schools.
Some 61% did not approve
of the present allocation of
Church resources among
schools, implying that CCD,
Newman, and other
educational programs were
not getting a fair share of
funds.
“There are obviously
certain problems involved in
this pattern of responses,”
Father Greeley said. “More
money should be given to the
non-school programs but the
school programs should be
maintained, especially
because they are more
successful than the non-school
programs.
“One is forced to
conclude,” said Father
Greeley, “that more money is
needed for the whole system
of Catholic education than is
presently being spent.”
A total of 81% of the
consultants endorsed a higher
priority for adult
education-but only 31%
thought most Catholic adults
would be willing to
participate in such programs.
Father Greeley said “the
evaluation of the potential
influence of adult education
by the consultants does not
offer much grounds for
optimism.”
Approximately three
quarters of the respondents
endorsed stronger support of
the Newman apostolate and
only 28% though attendance
at non-Catholic schools was
likely to expose young people
to harmful religious and
moral influences.
More than 90% thought
that lay people should have
more of a voice in setting
policy for Catholic schools
and that laymen should be
represented on parochial and
diocesan school boards. Only
24% thought these boards
should be merely advisory
and 72% thought they should
be elected rather than
appointed.
“The message of the
consultants . . .is clear,” said
Father Greeley. “The lay
people should be dealt into
the game.”
THINKING
CHRISTMAS
THE HOLY FATHER’S MISSION AID TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCH
Store window displays and newspaper adver
tisements remind us that Christmas is not too
far off. ... Is Christmas shopping a problem
for you? What to give at Christmas to your rela
tives and friends need not be a puzzle any
longer. . . . Use our newly designed Christmas
Gift Cards featuring a full color picture of ‘‘Our
Lady of the East”. . . . Complete your Christ
mas gift list now. It’s simple. Select a gift from
the list below, send us the person's name and
address with your donation—and we do all the
rest. We’ll send that person or persons a Gift
Card before Christmas, saying what you have
done. ... At the same time your meaningful
gift will give millions of people the Hope of the
Christ Child.
A TRULY
CHRIST-LIKE
CHRISTMAS
GIFT
CHRISTMAS
SHOPPERS’
GUIDE
MASS IN
THE
HOLY LAND
$1080 Train a native priest
$ 300 Train a native Sister
$ 100 Perpetual Family Membership in the
Catholic Near East Welfare
Association
$ 100 Mass kit for a missionary priest
$ 75 Altar for mission chapel
$ 50 Set of Vestments
$ 40 Chalice or Ciborium
$ 25 Tabernacle or Crucifix
$ 25 Individual Perpetual Membership
$ 15 Sanctuary Lamp
$ 10 Annual Family Membership
$ 10 Food Package for a Refugee Family
$ 5 Sanctuary Bell
$ 2 Individual Annual Membership
Our missionary priests in the Holy Land will be
pleased to offer promptly the Masses you re
quest at Christmas. Simply send us, with your
offering, the names of your friends and loved
ones, living and deceased.
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
A GIFT The good you can do by remembering the mis-
FOR ETERNITY sions in your will goes to your credit eternaliy.
Our legal title: Catholic Near East Welfare
Association.
Dear
Monsignor Nolan:
© AX
ENCLOSED PLEASE
FOR
FIND $
Please
NAME
return coupon
with your
STREET
offering
CITY
STATE 7IP mnF
THE CATHOLIC
NEAR EAST
WELFARE ASSOCIATION
NEAR EAST
MISSIONS
TERENCE CARDINAL COOKE, President
MSGR. JOHN G. NOLAN, National Secretary
Write: Catholic Near East Welfare Assoc.
330 Madison Avenue*New York, N.Y. 10017
Telephone: 212/YUkon 6-5840