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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
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Vol. 53 No. 8
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Thursday, February 24,1972
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
Bishops’ Board Votes Support To Catholic Press
WASHINGTON (NC) - Deeply
concerned about the special difficulties
facing Catholic newspapers, in part
because of substantial postal rate
increases, the U. S. bishops’
administrative board voted unanimously
to reaffirm their commitment and
support for what they said is “our
principal medium of communications.”
The vote by the U.S. Catholic
Conference (USCC) board came after it
heard a report from Bishop Edward
McCarthy of Phoenix, Ariz., regarding
Catholic newspapers and NC News
Service.
Bishop McCarthy heads a special task
force of the USCC Communications Com
mittee assisting NC News which, he said
in an interview after the board met, is the
lifeblood of Catholic newspapers in the
United States and throughout the world.
The task force report is to be sent to
all the American bishops and to NC
subscribers. Describing his report, Bishop
McCarthy said he told the 25-member
board chaired by Cardinal John Krol of
Philadelphia, president of the nation’s
conference of bishops, that his task force
found many positive aspects.
He cites among them these signs: seven
new diocesan publications established in
the past year; 10 more Catholic
newspapers today than during the
1962-65 Vatican Council; 46 newspapers
reporting higher circulation now than last
year.
“Contrary to pessimistic reports, there
are good things happening in the Catholic
press,” the Arizona bishop observed in
the interview. He said Catholic editors
credit much of this new growth and life
to NC services.
Bishop McCarthy said he reported that
NC’s religious education series, Know
Your Faith, played a key role in raising
new subscriptions in many dioceses. For
example, he said, 32 of the 46 papers
showing increases over last year carry
Know Your Faith regularly.
The task force found that NC’s field
service program assisted some 50 diocesan
papers in cutting their costs and
increasing their circulation and
advertising income. This continuing
business and editorial consulting service
provided subscribers with a service worth
more than $500,000 to them, he added.
Bishop McCarthy said the postal
increases of last May hit diocesan
newspapers very hard, resulting in
financial difficulty for many of them and
for NC News, the only Catholic news
service in the United States.
He also reported that the task force
found another very serious concern,
namely, an apparent concerted effort to
discredit NC News. He pointed out that
this campaign should not be confused
with legitimate, welcomed criticism.
Since NC News is not considered a
conference house organ, he said the
service will “reflect honestly information
on life as it is lived . . .given in the
interest of truth.”
The board also heard from another
member of the task force, Msgr. Robert
Peters, editor of the Catholic Post of
Peoria, Ill. He said he related to the board
that four out of five editors of Catholic
newspapers polled by the NC & CPA
Liaison Committee are enthusiastic
“about the new, imaginative and
innovative services of NC News.”
However, he added this does not mean
that they think NC is perfect.
“They have their faults just like all of
us,” he said, “and they are the first to
admit it.”
A number of recommendations were
made by the task force. One was a
request for time at the next general
meeting of the bishops for a presentation
on the communications needs at the
national and diocesan levels.
A substantial portion of such
presentation would be devoted to an
explanation of the proposed USCC-NC
wire service to newspapers and
chanceries.
This new system will open up great
new futures in communications, Bishop
McCarthy said, and indicates “we are very
much alive.”
After the task force report, the
administrative board voted unanimous
approval of the following resolution:
“Recognizing the increasing
importance of communications in the
comtemporary mission and service of the
Church;
“And recognizing the special
difficulties due substantially to postal
rate increases being experienced at this
time by Catholic newspapers, our
principal medium of communications;
“This board expresses its deep concern
and support for Catholic newspapers and
for the NC News Service which is vital to
them. It reaffirms its commitment to the
combined operation and continued
improvement of NC News;
“And during this Catholic Press Month,
1972, it asks that bishops throughout the
nation join in this expression of support
and commitment.”
In addition to Bishop McCarthy and
Msgr. Peters, other members of the task
force are: Archbishop Ignatius Strecker
of Kansas City, Kan.; Bishop Joseph T.
Daley of Harrisburg, Pa.; Thomas
Murphy, chairman of the board of Capital
Cities Broadcasting.”
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IN CHURCH
Include
Chinese
ST. COLUMBANS, Neb. (NC) - On
the eve of President Nixon’s visit to
Communist China, the Columban Fathers
here said they wish to renew their
missionary work in China - among “the
most numerous and greatest of the
world’s peoples.”
“The Church of the future cannot be
genuinely Catholic unless it is in
substantial measure Chinese,” the
Columbans said in a statement.
Father Hugh O’Rourke, Columban
North American director, pointed out
that President Nixon’s visit coincides with
the 60th anniversary of the very week
that Columban founder Bishop Edward
Galvin left for China.
“Ever since, the Columban Fathers
have felt especially close to the Chinese,”
said Father O’Rourke. “For over 30 years
we lived and suffered with this great
people through the turmoil of war and
natural disaster and revolution.
“Perhaps our suffering has been part of
the birth pangs of a new world . . .a world
whose shape is not yet ours to see.”
Some 150 Columban missionaries,
including Bishop Galvin, were expelled
from China in the early 1950’s, along
with all other foreign missioners. Said
Father O’Rourke:
“Our work was interrupted then, but
sooner or later, we hope, we will return.
We owe it to our origins in China, to the
men who lived, suffered and died there.
And we owe it to the Church of the
future.”
The more than 1,000 Columban
Fathers are now serving in missions in
Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Burma,
Chile, Peru and Fiji.
In Confirmation
Is there a way out? The troubled boy pictured here seems unable to come to grips with the world and its problems. Mankind is
always being faced with great tasks that must be done. Crisis follows crisis in international affairs, in cities tom by riot, and even
within the circle of our own families. The problems seem to have no solution.
The photograph shown here appears on the cover of leaflets to be distributed in all parishes in the Diocese on February 27th, the
second Sunday of Lent. During this week a study is made of the sacrament of Confirmation, which is seen as God’s way of assuring
us that He will be with us and that we can overcome in the struggle to make the world into His kingdom.
The week’s theme, introduced in sermons on Sunday, will be developed further in discussion sessions and classroom activities
during the week. The leaflets are taken home, and are used for adult and high school discussions. Elementary school children will
use photographs reprinted in the SOUTHERN CROSS for picture-study.
(Photo by Edouard Luntz, from the film “Les coeurs verts”. Selected from the World and Faith collection of Pflaum/Standard.)
MISSOURI INDIANA
Bishop Frey On
Seminary Tour
Bishop Gerard L. Frey interrupted his “live-in” at parishes and
institutions of the Augusta Deanery this week to visit students studying
for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Conception,
Missouri and St. Meinrad’s Seminary, St. Meinrad, Indiana February
21-23.
The bishop’s first call was at Immaculate Conception, where he visited
with four seminarians in college and philosophy studies. They are:
Robert Anthony, John Lavin,
Lawrence Hotard and Dennis Brickel.
Anthony is a Senior, formerly from
Sacred Heart parish, Augusta. Lavin, also
from Augusta, is a member of St.
Mary’s-on-the-Hill parish. Lavin, too, is a
Senior.
Hotard is a Junior from Holy Family
parish, Columbus and Brickel is a first
year student from Holy Spirit, Macon.
After leaving Immaculate Conception,
Bishop Frey flew to St. Meinrad’s where
he met with four more college-level
Seminarians.
Studying at the Indiana school are
Robert Cushing, a Senior from Meridian,
Mississippi; Benedict Swiderek of Our
Lady of Lourdes parish, Columbus, also a
Senior, and two second year students.
The Sophomores are Dean Carl Broom,
Jr., of St. Joseph’s parish, Blackshear and
Michael Lubinsky from North Highlands,
California.
Upon his return from St. Meinrad’s,
the bishop will resume his interrupted
visits to the Augusta and
Valdosta-Brunswick deaneries.
Next month, Bishop Frey will visit
seven other seminarians pursuing studies
at three seminaries and one college from
March 23rd to 25th.
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH V *
Fewer Children Planned
WASHINGTON (NC) — Young American wives are planning to have fewer children,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau - a trend which some population experts say adds
to the evidence that zero population growth in the United States may be a long-range
possibility. The new Census survey-compiled from 1971 interviews with 15,000
American women - indicated that the average number of children young wives
between the ages of 18 and 24 plan to have is 2.4. A similar Census study in 1967 put
that figure at 2.9.
Chinese Honor Ancestors
TAIPEI, Taiwan (NC) — Rites honoring ancestors were performed in all churches of
Taiwan Feb. 15, the Chinese, or lunar, New Year. It was the first time in the history of
the Church in China that the bishops directed that such rites be held. The secretariat
of the Chinese Bishops’ Conference this year published prayers and readings for a
special Chinese New Year Mass and laid down guidelines for a ritual to honor the
ancestors of the Chinese people. It is 230 years since Pope Benedict XIV forbade
participation by Catholics in rites honoring ancestors when he issued Ex Quo Singulari,
the papal decree of 1742 that ended the famous Chinese rites controversy which had
bedeviled the Church in China for more than a hundred years.
Priests Quit NFPC
JOLIET, Ill. (NC) - The Priests’ Senate of the Joliet diocese has given up
membership in the National Federation of Priests’ Councils after conducting a poU
among priests in the diocese. The poll showed 87 priests were in favor of the Priests
Senate dropping its NPFC membership, 61 wanted to retain it, and 14 had no opinion.
The Senate then voted 13 to 2 for dropping its NFPC membership. About four years
ago, the Joliet Priests’ Senate voted to affiliate itself with the NFPC. The move proved
unpopular with some priests who did not wish to lend support to the NFPC, which
they considered to be too radical.