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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
VoL 52 No. 27
Thursday, August 5,1971
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
“Sister Fixit”
Sr. Mary John works at a few of her many tasks as all-around handy sister for the Ursuline Convent in Belleville, Illinois. In this
composite photo, Sister Mary John clamps one of her current projects in a vise (left) in her well-supplied workshop. At far right are
some of the power tools she uses while inset (below) shows Sister sharpening one of her tools. (NC PHOTO, courtesy The Messenger)
Pope Lashes Evils Of Day
Which Lower Mans Dignity
By Patrick Rilev
CASTELGANDOLFO,
Italy (NC) — Pope Paul VI
slammed out at abortion and
other evils which lower man’s
dignity.
The Pope’s words were
contained in a speech that
was controlled in language
but not in impact and
delivered to thousands of
tourists attending his weekly
general audience at his
summer villa here July 28.
Man’s dignity calls him to
the heights of “an innate and
sacred beauty,’” but license in
the guise of liberty lowers
man to the levels of lust, the
Pope insisted.
In his direct attack on
abortion, the Pope first of all
called on parents to safeguard
the unborn child.
“Parents, first of all, the
operators and ministers of
human life, must hold in the
highest respect the dignity of
the human being,” he said.
“They must do this from the
very moment of conception
in the mother’s womb.”
Then with drama and
emotion he added: “It is
horrible to think that they
themselves may be
murderers.”
The Pope explained that
his speech was not meant as a
treatise on the vast subject of
the dignity of man lest it
“lead us to deplore bitterly
the offenses” perpetrated by
a permissive society.
These offenses he listed as
“immodest fashions,
frivolous, passion-arousing
plays, immoral behavior,
pornography perfidiously
distributed, and a provocative
distortion of a sane and
prudent sexual education.”
Among other evils running
amok in today’s
permissiveness, the Pope cited
the “anesthesia of the moral
conscience for the benefit of
the sensual conscience.”
The Vatican Council had at
heart the well being of man,
the Pope said, and placed on
the post-conciliar Church the
duty of reconstructing an
authentic and Christian
mentality of man.
This new outlook on man,
the Pope said, must include
“out being, our life, our
rights and duties and our true
destinies.”
Man is partly responsible
for a failure to value himself
highly, but the Pope blamed
those who define man as a
mere animal and deny the
spiritual qualities by which
man can raise himself to
greater heights.
Quoting the council
document on the Church in
the Modern World, the Pope
concluded:
“There is a growing
awareness of the exalted
dignity proper to the human
person. This is because man
stands above all things and his
rights and duties are universal
and inviolable. The ferment
of the Gospel has aroused and
continues to arouse in man’s
heart the irresistible
requirements of his dignity.”
HEADLINE /•*»
HOPSCOTCH T t
Forum On Synod Topic
ST. LOUIS (NC) — A public forum on world justice and
peace will convene here in September, a few weeks before it
becomes one of the topics before the World Synod of Bishops in
Rome. The forum was announced by Cardinal John Carberry of
St. Louis, who invited all individuals and groups in the
community to present their views at the three-and-a-half-hour
forum, Sept. 8. Cardinal Carberry said those wishing to make
presentations should submit them in writing to him, along with
a one-page summary and a brief background of the organization
or individual, before Aug. 21. Cardinal Carberry, who is one of
four UJS. bishop delegates to the synod, said: “In making my
presentation to the synod, I would like to know the viewpoints
of groups and individuals in American society, and particular,
St. Louis.”
S. F. Admission Policy
SAN FRANCISCO (NC) — Archdiocesan school
superintendent Father Bernard A. Cummins has outlined
admission policies aimed at preventing parents from transferring
their children from public to Catholic grade schools to avoid
integration. In early July, Federal District Judge Stanley A.
Weigel ordered the San Francisco school board to integrate its
schools by opening day this fall, Sept. 7. Two integration plans
- both involving the use of busing - are currently under
consideration. Father Cummins cited “some concern in the
community that our role could be negative” if parents try to
enroll their children in Catholic schools to bypass the court
order. “Even the appearance of such a trend would be
detrimental to the community effort and would be at odds with
the basic philosophy and objectives of the Catholic schools,” he
said in a July 29 statement.
USCC COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENT
Pastoral Council Said
‘Not Feasible Now’
POMFRET, Conn. (NC) — It is not feasible to create a national pastoral council at this time, a special steering
committee of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) advisory council announced at the conclusion of its
three-day meeting.*
The committee recommended, however, that “some structure .. .through which representative priests, Religious
and laity can share with the bishops in the decision making process” be established until the time is ripe for the
national council to ease “widespread disillusionment” among Catholics.
Strike!!!!
Father Walter DiFrancesco, umpire of Benefit game between
Sacreo Heart L. 1.0. and K.C. Council 4i /1, calls one ngni ovei
the plate and knee-high. Proceeds went to Warner Robins' drive
to purchase kidney machine for Wendall Harris. Batter is Bill
Gates, catcher is Mathis Gutierrez.
FOR KIDNEY MACHINE
W. Robins Parish
Aids Fund Drive
The 15-member
committee, chaired by Msgr.
J. Paul O’Connor, chancellor
of the Youngstown, Ohio,
diocese, also recommended
that the advisory council of
the USCC possibly serve as
that temporary structure-a
working model for future
development of a body which
would implement shared
responsibility for the church.
The committee composed
of advisory council members,
who were asked by U.S.
bishops last year to determine
whether a broadly
representative national body
should be established to help
the work of the Church,
declared:
“The desirability of some
structure on a national level is
evidenced by widespread
disillusionment among
elements of the people of
God whose morale has in
effect been destroyed by
their felt lack of
communication with the
established Church and by
the unfulfilled desire to feel
included in the process of
renewal. The Church’s need
to establish a renewed
creditability with significant
numbers of her people lends
importance to the process
and structure of an
instrument such as a national
pastoral council.”
However, the committee
said, “from its study and
consultation the steering
committee concludes that a
national pastoral council
which would be a fully
developed structure with a
constit ution^ by-laws,
functions and competency
clearly delineated and which
would have creditablility and
be understood and accepted
by the people of God is not
feasible now.”
The bishops had asked the
advisory council to appoint a
committee to make such a
decision after it was suggested
that a national pastoral
council might play a (
democratic role at the
national level similar to that
played on the diocesan level
by diocesan pastoral councils.
The Second Vatican
Council’s Decree on the
Pastoral Office of Bishops
recommended establishment
of such diocesan councils “to
investigate and to weigh
matters which bear on
pastoral activity, and to
formulate practical
conclusions regarding them.”
Specialists in a number of
different fields, together w^. v
representatives of 97 dioceses
and 36 national Catholic
organizations, participated in
an interdisciplinary
consultation on a national
pastoral council which the
steering committee sponsored
at Mundelein College,
Chicago, last August.
Their deliberations and a
summary of opinions on the
concept of a national pastoral
council were later published
by the USCC to solicit
grassroots opinion.
Diocesan representatives
were given six months, after
the publication of these
materials, to gather the
reactions of the people of
their diocese or organization
to the idea of a national
pastoral council and submit
reports to the steering
committee.
It was on the basis of these
reports that the committee
reached its conclusion on the
feasibility of a national
pastoral council. The
committee plans to present
its full report to the advisory
council in September.
The CYO of Sacred Heart
Parish, Warner Robins joined
in a community effort to help
raise $25,000, in one day, to
aid a young man, Wendall
Harris who has been stricken
with a kidney disease.
Wendall and his mother
had been traveling to Atlanta
two times each week in order
for him to receive the
treatment he needs to survive.
He must be hooked up to a
kidney machine for 16 hours
each week.
The money was needed to
purchase the machine and
supplies to use it. Besides the
machine, an addition to his
home to house the machine is
needed as well as
airconditioning for the room.
A 24 hour Radio-thon was
held by radio station WRBN
to raise the money.
The CYO challenged the
Knights of Columbus Council
No 4371 to a softball game to
help in this fund-raising
community project. They
raised $205 by selling tickets
to the game. The scoreboard
was 18-17 in favor of the
Knights.
Greets Pilgrims
TV Movie Reviews Pg. 2
Pope Paul VI greets pilgrims and tourists in the garden of the
papal estate at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo, July 28.
The visitors were greeted here after the audience hall was filled
to capacity. The Pope used the occasion to cite specific “ways
in which modem life degrades the dignity of man. (NC
PHOTO)
Movie Guide Pg* 3
Pastor Bills School Board Pg. 6
Readers’ Reply Pg* B