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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 53 No. 23
Thursday, June 15,1972
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
THE ROSE OF SHARON apartments, a high-rise, church-sponsored, government-financed housing facility for lower middle income
elderly, which was dedicated by Bishop Gerard L. Frey at ceremonies on June 11. The apartment complex is located at Taylor and
Habersham streets, Savannah. (Photo by Williams Studio)
FOR MUSICIANS AND CLERGY
NOBC To Host Workshops
“Freeing the Spirit” — a second annual
national workshop in Afro-American
music and worship, conducted by the
National Office For Black Catholics, has
been scheduled for July 15-23.
Jointly sponsored by the National
Office For Black Catholics, Xavier
University of Louisiana, and various
national and local black Catholic
organizations, this year’s workshop will
be held on the campus of Xavier
University of Louisiana in New Orleans.
The workshop participants will not
only be instructed in the theory and
performance of various kinds of
Afro-American music, they will also be
exposed, via lecture and discussion, to a
serious study of worship and theology —
especially from the Afro-American
perspective.
The National Office for Black
Catholics is also sponsoring another
program: “White Priest/Black Parish”, an
intensive two week seminar (July 10 to
INSIDE STORY
\
Pentecostals
Letters
Pg. 5
Pg. 8
Volunteers Honored
Pg. 9
DCCW Notes
Pg. 10
22, Ave Maria retreat house, New
Orleans) for white clergy whose ministry
is in black parishes, and for diocesan
officials whose authority and decisions
affect the lives of blacks.
cultural, theological, and socio-economic
foundations of the contemporary black
community.
This program will offer white clergy,
working in black parishes, an opportunity
to explore intensively the historical,
For further information, interviews,
etc., contact: Fr. Clarence Jos. Rivers;
NOBC. Department of Culture and
Worship, Box 20066, Cincinnati, Ohio
45220.
IN IRELAND
Breen To Be Ordained
Father Brendan Peter Breen will be
ordained to the Priesthood at All Hallows
College, Dublin, Ireland on June 18 for
service in the diocese of Savannah. Four
other priests of the Savannah diocese will
attend both the ordination rites and
Father Breen’s first solemn Mass June 19.
They are Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke
and Fathers J. Kevin Boland, Andrew
Doris and Herbert Wellmeier.
Dermot Ryan of Dublin. Officers and
Assistants at the newly ordained priest’s
first Solemn Mass will be Monsignor
Patrick J. Hamell of Birr and the Rev.
Nicholas Clavin of San Diego, California.
Lector will be Father Breen’s brother
Gabriel.
Father Breen is the son of Michael and
Kathleen Breen of Ely Place, Crinkle, Birr
in County Offaly, Ireland and a member
of St. Brendan’s parish there. He is
twenty-four years old.
After attending grammar and high
schools in Birr, Father Breen entered on
studies in philosophy at Mungret College
in Limerick and entered All Hallows
College in Dublin in 1966 to complete
theological studies. While at All Hallows
he also attended classes at University
College.
Father Breen has three brothers:
Michael, Kevin and Gabriel, and two
sisters: Kathleen and Ann.
Ordaining Prelate will be Archbishop
FATHER BREEN
APARTMENTS FOR ELDERLY
Church Sponsored Housing
Project Opens In Savannah
More than 200 persons attended dedication rites marking the official opening of the “Rose of Sharon”
apartments in Savannah last Sunday (June 11).
The 12-story complex consists of 271 apartments and is a project of Serviam Inc. a corporation sponsored by
the Catholic Church in Savannah to provide housing for elderly persons with an annual gross income of not more
than $5,115 for an individual or $6,250 for a couple.
Construction was made possible through a $3.5 million loan guaranteed by the federal Office of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD).
Bishop Gerard L. Frey officiated at the
dedication ceremonies. Representing
Southeastern Housing Consultants,
developers for the project, was Robert
Chapman of St. Petersburg, Fla., who also
spoke to the overflow dedication
audience. He said that church people,
responding to the opportunity which the
HUD program provides, have been most
generous in helping to meet the needs of
the elderly.
“Rising costs have turned the lives of
many elderly persons from a position of
security to one of uncertainty and lonely
desperation,” he declared, adding that
“years of thrift are not enough when a
person is trying to meet expenses from
limited annuities and pensions.”
Bishop Frey, in his remarks, singled
out Father Lawrence A. Lucree for his
leadership and dedication in serving as the
diitfcinator and president of Serviam, Inc.
Father Lucree is now pastor of St. Teresa’s
parish, Albany. He formed Serviam, Inc.
when he was Rector of the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist, Savannah.
Efficiency apartments rent for $85-$96
per month and one bedroom apartments
for $104-$115.
The moderate rentals “are made
possible only by the non-profit” status of
Serviam, Inc. which owns and operates
the apartment complex and by the
long-term, low interest loan secured
through HUD, Father Lucree said.
The “Rose of Sharon” apartments
provides 24-hour staffing, community
facilities and planned programs for
residents. A pamphlet descriptive of the
facility says the complex and its programs
“were all carefully developed as an
over all concept .,. .a concept responding
to the desires of retirees for security,
comfort, safety, independence and the
enrichment of stimulating social and
recreational activities shared with
others.”
The dedication program dedicated the
complex “Under the auspices of Mary,
the Mother of God and our Rose of
Sharon; in memory of that noble group
of early Catholics of Locust Grove and
Sharon, Georgia; in gratitude to the
governments of the United States of
America, the State of Georgia, and the
city of Savannah; and to the Catholic
Diocese of Savannah, to the glory of God
and the well-being of our fellow man.
Members of Serviam, Inc. are: Father
Lucree, President; Frank Finocchiaro,
Treas.; Julian C. Halligan, Sec’y.; Hue
Thomas, Jr.; Edward White, John
Fogarty, Charles Williams and John
McNamara.
Architects were Randolph Wedding of
St. Petersburg, Fla. and Thomas and
Hutton Engineering of Savannah. The
general contractor was Rives E. Worrell
Co., Inc. of Savannah.
OIL PORTRAIT OF BISHOP GERARD L. FREY gets the once-over from (1. to r.)
Bishop Frey, Father Lawrence A. Lucree and Mrs. Mamie Argust at dedication rites for
Rose of Sharon apartment complex last Sunday. Father Lucree is President of
Serviam, Inc. sponsoring agency for the housing facility. Mrs. Argust is the apartment
manager. (Photo by Williams Studio)
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HEADLINE
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HOPSCOTCH
Embargo Denounced
WASHINGTON (NC) — The Division for Latin America of the U.S. Catholic
Conference has denounced the United States’ “ineffective and cruel” embargo of
Cuba. It issued a statement saying it is “simply wrong to impose needless hardship on
those most directly affected by this policy.” The statement followed a meeting of the
Organization of American States (OAS). The statement referred to a collective pastoral
letter signed by all Cuban bishops in 1969 which said the embargo had “unjustly led to
adverse conditions for the weak, small and underdeveloped countries” and “burdened
our workers in the cities and in the fields, our housewives, our growing youth and
children and the sick.”
Massacre Condemned
WASHINGTON (NC) — Two national Catholics officials have called for a “vigorous
renewal” of Middle East peace efforts in the wake of the shootings of 24 persons by
terrorists at Lod airport near Tel Aviv. “We are alarmed and outraged at the cold and
calculated manner in which the massacre of innocent people was perpetrated,” Father
Edward Flannery and James Jennings said in a joint statement. Father Flannery is
executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations.
Jennings is associate director of the Division of World Justice and Peace, U.S. Catholic
Conference. While condemning the shootings as “an unbelievable escalation of
violence,” the two officials said they hope that “in its legitimate indignation at the
heinousness of the crime, Israel will not allow itself to adopt retaliatory measures that
would further endanger life or limb, thus giving new impetus to the spiraling violence
that has engulfed the conflict in the Middle East.”
Catholic Teachers Picket
Attorney is W. Lance Smith of
Savannah.
Notice!!!
Publication dates for the
Summer issues of The Southern
Cross are June 22, July 6, July 20,
August 3, August 17, and August
24. Copy for inclusion in these
issues should be submitted by the
Friday preceding the publication
date.
PHILADELPHIA (NC) — High school teachers picketed SS. Peter and Paul
Cathedral here in a dispute with the archdiocese over the status of five teachers - and
quickly got into another controversy with the cathedral pastor. Representatives of the
teacher’s union complained that the five teachers were told they would not have jobs
next year. School officials said that the teachers were told they would get jobs in other
schools. Msgr. James Dolan, the pastor, objected to pickets lines at his parish which he
called “one of the smallest and poorest of the archdiocese.” “As an inner-city parish,”
Msgr. Dolan wrote the teachers union, “we have our problems too, and subsistence is
one of them. Did it ever really occur to you that the American Civil Liberties Union or
any of the other notable organizations who have voiced opposition to federal and state
aid for our schools might be a better place to picket than the cathedral parish?”
Birth Control Pushed
WASHINGTON (NC) — The Senate Finance Committee has taken measures to
apply pressure on states that fail to provide birth control counseling, devices and pills
to the poor. The action came when the committee voted to levy penalties on the states
failing to set up what would be considered adequate birth control programs. The
committee hopes that the move will help curtail potential increases in welfare rolls.