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PAGE 2 - The Southern Cross, August 24, 1972
STRONGHOLD DESTROYED -- A British tank battered of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Troops destroyed both
through an IRA street barricade July 31 in the Creggan district Catholic and Protestant no-go areas. (NC Photo)
CARDINAL S4YS:
Marriage Discipline Unchanged
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Vatican
has declared that “dioceses are not to
introduce procedures that are contrary to
current discipline” on divorce and
remarriage, Cardinal John Krol of
Philadelphia, president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB),
said in a statement issued here.
Although Cardinal Krol did not
mention individual dioceses, his
statement came in the wake of a
controversy over the Baton Rouge, La.
diocese’s initiation of a “good
conscience” procedure which allows some
remarried Catholics to receive the
sacraments.
While the question of admitting
divorced and remarried Catholics to the
sacraments is under study by the Holy
See and the NCCB, Cardinal Krol said, “It
would be rash to conclude that a study
must necessarily lead to change of
principles or procedure, or that a study
precludes the possibility of reaffirmation
of current discipline.”
The Holy See’s position was expressed
in a letter to the NCCB, Cardinal Krol
said. An NCCB spokesman said the
conference was not authorized to release
the Holy See’s letter. The spokesman
added:
“Neither Cardinal Krol’s statement nor
the letter from the Holy See makes any
comment on individual dioceses. I think
it is fair to say that both the letter and
the statement were occasioned less by
actual practices in particular dioceses -
concerning which specific information is
lacking at this time - than by the
possibility that many sincere people may
have been confused by reports about
alleged departures in some places from
accepted procedures in marriage cases.”
Last June, Bishop Robert E. Tracy of
Baton Rouge announced that the diocese
had set up procedures for allowing
Catholics who have divorced and
remarried to receive the sacraments. By
the procedure, called a “good
conscience” procedure, the Church
recognizes the good conscience of a
person who sincerely believes that his
first marriage was not a true marriage and
that his present one is.
Such decisions apply only to cases
where annulment of any previous
marriage appears impossible, Claretian
Father Joseph Peplansky, a member of
the Baton Rouge diocesan “good
conscience committee,” said at the time
of the announcement of the procedure’s
institution.
Informed of Cardinal Krol’s statement,
Father Joel LaBauve, vice-chancellor of
the Baton Route diocese said, “As far as I
know, we have not been informed that
what we instituted is not in conformity”
with present Church discipline.
Father LaBauve said that officials of
the Baton Rouge diocese had not sought
permission from the Holy See to set up
the good conscience procedure because
they believed, after consultation with
canon lawyers and theologians, that the
local bishop had the right to institute
such procedures.
Following the Baton Rouge
announcement, it was learned that several
other U. S. dioceses had already
instituted similar procedures. These
included Portland, Ore.; Birmingham,
Ala.; and Boise, Idaho. A spokesman for
the Chicago archdiocese said that
occasional “good conscience” cases were
handled there but said no uniform
procedure had been instituted.
The Baton Route announcement
prompted a flurry of statements in
dioceses around the nation. Some
officials of other dioceses questioned the
Baton Rouge procedure, particularly its
implications with regard to the Church’s
teaching on the indissolubility of
marriage.
In his orginial announcement,
however, Bishop Tracy repeated his
commitment to the Church’s teaching on
“the sanctity and life-long character of
the marriage vows and married life.” The
procedure he said, was based on “pastoral
responsibility of healing and forgiveness.”
In his statement Cardinal Krol
acknowledged the Church’s “anxiety and
anguish” for Catholics with problem
marriages.
“The Church responds to the
imperative imposed upon it by the
ministry of compassion, mercy and
reconciliation, but must also respond to
the grave imperative imposed by the
ministry of correction. The Church must
be faithful to her children, by recalling
them to fidelity to Christ and to the
Gospel,” Cardinal Krol said.
“The problem is not local to any one
diocese or nation. It is a problem found
in the entire Church. There are no facile
solutions and reputable theologians and
canonists acknowledge the complexity
and gravity of the problem and do not
venture any ready solutions. Bishops,
motivated by deep pastoral concern for
people in difficult marriage situations,
continue to explore thh question, without
presuming to hold out hopes - which
could well be disappointed - of finding
an easy or early answer.”
Informed of Cardinal Krol’s statement,
Bishop Tracy said he was “delighted”
■that the Holy See is undertaking a study
of good conscience cases.
“In view of this development,” Bishop
Tracy said, “our diocese stands ready in
loyalty and obedience to the Holy See to
follow current discipline in the matter
while awaiting its final disposition from
Rome and our clergy will be instructed
accordingly.”
Father Joel LaBauve, vice-chancellor
of the Baton Rouge diocese, explained
that the diocese would discontinue the
good conscience procedure set up last
June until the Vatican announces a
decision on such procedures. Whether or
not Catholics who have divorced and
remarried can approach the sacraments
will be decided by such individuals and
their confessors, as has been the case in
the past Father LaBauve said.
IN NORTHERN IRELAND
Extremists’ Support On Wane
BY ERNEST A. OSTRO
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (NC) -
Since their provincial Northern Ireland
government at Stormont was suspended
by the British in March - and for all
intents and purposes abolished - Ulster
Protestants have reacted sharply.
Almost immediately William Craig, a
former Stormont minister fired for his
rabid anti-Catholic policies, organized a
movement called the Ulster Vanguard.
This catch-as-catch-can collection of
diehards and hangers-on staged marches,
rallies and occasional work stoppages in
March and April. These were designed to
demonstrate to the British - and
especially to William Whitelaw, the
minister appointed to run Ulster and to
seek a way out of the troubled situation -
that any concessions to Catholics would
be resisted forcibly by the Protestants.
At one point, the suspended Stormont
prime minister, Brian Faulkner, appeared
on a platform with Craig at a Vanguard
rally and appeared to lend the movement
his support.
Craig’s and the Vanguard’s position
was simply that any concessions to
Catholic demands for a government and
society that treated the Protestant
majority and the Catholic minority fairly
were unacceptable because they would
inevitably lead to Ulster’s reunification
with the largely Catholic Republic of
Ireland to the south.
The Vanguard maintained that
majority rule was the only fair way of
running the province - despite the
obvious facts that Ulster’s million
Protestants had used their numbers to
keep Northern Ireland’s 500,000
Catholics from a fair share of housing,
jobs, education as well as other social and
political opportunities for more than 50
years.
Whitelaw did not cave in to the
Vanguard. For the first time in 100 years,
the British government did not give way
to Orangemen’s threats. Whitelaw
proceeded softly, trying not to offend
Protestants openly as he made more and
more concessions to Catholic opinion.
Protestants responded by putting
together a new, paramilitary organization
which they called the Ulster Defense
Association (UDA).
The UDA staged parades through the
streets of Belfast, Londonderry, and
other cities - and the kids loved it.
Masked men in motley military garb -
chiefly the local version of army fatigues
or “battle dress” as it’s known hereabouts
- wound through the streets as orators
shouted of the awful things to come if
their demands were not met.
In desperation, the UDA threw up
barricades around some Protestant
neighborhoods, designating them “no-go
areas.” These were similar to those set up
by the IRA and their sympathizers in
Catholic areas to prevent the
once-frequent night raids on Catholic
homes by British soldiers ferreting out
alleged terrorists.
Whitelaw did not ignore Protestant
opinion. Nor could he afford to ignore
completely threats of vigilante violence.
More than 100,000 guns were known to
be in protestant hands - weapons not
turned in when the “B Specials,” a
military auxiliary to the Royal Ulster
Constabulary (police) were disbanded in
late 1969. The “B Specials” had been
Protestant almost to a man.
But events overtook the UDA, as they
had the Vanguard. Early on the morning
of July 31, the army - reinforced by
4,000 men and by tank-bulldozers -
demolished the Catholic and the
Protestant barricades and occupied the
no-go areas, reuniting them with the rest
of Ulster. The previous week, Catholic
political leaders had agreed to begin new
talks with Whitelaw and with Unionist
party leaders on the future of Ulster. It
now appears likely that the Dublin
government
the talks.
will also be invited to join
Whitelaw also risked an all-out shoot
’em up with the UDA. This did not
materialize either. Barricades defining
Protestant no-go areas went down as
peacefully in front of the bulldozer
blades as those in Catholic sectors.
In eliminating the no-go areas,
Whitelaw took a twofold risk that appears
to be paying off. He risked a battle royal
in the no-goes, chock full of civilians,
with the IRA. The casualties might have
been staggering.
They were not. The IRA had fled|
when the troops arrived. Altough tb
gunmen have not stopped shooting a
bombing, their sanctuaries in Catholic-
homes - where they were sheltered partly
from fear and partly out of sympathy -
are sharply curtailed if not quite at an
end.
With talks now in the cards, Protestant
opinion is sharply divided. Masked UDA
men, who refuse to a man to be
identified, still talk ominously of
“meeting violence with violence.”
On a more sophisticated level, the
once-dominant Protestant Unionist party
politicians’ public statements are hardly
less unyielding. But privately, it is
conceded that they will have to find what
amounts to a new form of government
for Ulster - one that insures that
two-thirds of the population can never
again use its numbers to dispossess the
other third.
Some even acknowledge that a united
Ireland is the only long-range solution.
But for the present, many agree with
Dr. Maurice Hayes, the former chairman
of the Northern Ireland Community
Relations Commission, who pins his
hopes on Whitelaw and the forthcoming
talks as “the sole remaining hope for
peace here.”
MILITANT ORGANIZATIONS are not new in Ireland.
Throughout the island’s history groups such as the Irish
Republican Army have been formed to oppose British
domination of Ireland. In the three-year-old crisis which has
wracked Northern Ireland, militant organizations have played
a major role, with the Provisional and Official wings of the
IRA on the Catholic side and such groups as the Ulster
Defense Association on the Protestant. Both sides are armed,
both have staked out territorial strongholds and both are
willing to use violent means to achieve their goals. At left, a
masked IRA “Provo” gunman peers around a corner in one of
the “no-go” areas of Londonderry. At right, members of the
Ulster Defense Association train. They are using sticks to train
with but boast of having an arsenal of automatic pistols, rifles,
submachine guns and grenades. (RNS Photo)
Progress Of Catholicism In South Georgia
(Sixth part of a thesis by Michael C. Booker on the progress of Catholicism in South
Georgia as reflected by Catholic growth in Valdosta. It was written by Mr. Booker as
his thesis for a Master of Arts degree from Valdosta State College and was accepted by
College Authorities in October, 1971.)
As Lakeland’s Catholic population
continued to grow, so too, did Valdosta’s.
With the increase of business activity and
the creation of new enterprise in the
locality, Catholicism in Valdosta began to
grow more rapidly in the 1940’s. In 1945,
the Langdale Company was established
with twelve employees. In 1946, the
Dowling Bag Company began operation
with fifteen employees, and in 1948, the
Metal Products plant opened.
By 1969, the companies employment
figures were 500 employees, 375
employees, and 1,500 employees
respectively. The increase in military
personnel at Moody Air Force Base and
the increased enrollment of college
students at Valdosta State College
probably contributed to the growth of
Catholicism also.
In 1941, Father John J. Kennedy,
author of THE MEN OF THE WEST: A
ROMANCE OF IRELAND’S FIGHT
FOR FREEDOM, succeeded Father
Deimel and ministered to the community
for twelve years. Father Kennedy was a
powerful orator who, when upset, would
lean forward on his toes and verbally
chastise the parishioners.
He also was a man who well
understood the needs of his people;
Father Kennedy was down-to-earth in
nature, a “man’s man,” and was involved
with the individual within the parish. He
was sensitive to the needs of
non-Catholics and potential converts, and
is credited with being the Father of
Ecumenism in Valdosta.
Father Kennedy had a weekly radio
program over a local station in which he
lectured on Catholicism and its principles.
Instead of alienating the local Protestants,
he earned both their respect and their
admiration. Father Kennedy was admired
so well that when the community learned
that he was to be transferred, a group of
Catholics and Protestants gave him a
going away party at the Daniel Ashley
Hotel.
The party was attended by over 200
people, both Catolic and Protestant , and
even the waitresses thought enough of the
man to give him a gift.
The succession of priests which
followed Father Kennedy was somewhat
rapid. Father John J. O’Shea, who began
the fund drive to purchase land for a new
school, replaced Father Kennedy in 1953,
and ministered the area for three years.
In turn, Father O’Shea was followed
by Father, now Monsignor, Marvin Le
Frois who served for only nine months,
from 1956 to March 1957. In March,
1957, Father Thomas Payne, Valdosta’s
Building Priest, replaced Father Le Frois
and for twelve years, was an instrumental
figure in the growth of Catholicism in the
community.
Shortly after arriving in 1957, Father
Payne discovered that the 140 person
capacity church in North Ashley Street
was too small. After searching and
evaluating the best site for the
construction of a new church, he decided
in favor of some property on Gornto
Road. It was somewhat removed from the
thoroughfare, yet, in a growing area of
the city.
In May, 1958, Cooper M. Childress of
Daugherty County, Georgia, and Francis
B. Childress of Duval County, Florida,
sold to the Most Reverend Gerald P.
O’Hara, ten acres on Gornto Road for
$18,500. Later, Father Payne purchased
an additional three acres at a cost of
$5,500. The extra land made it possible
for the Church, school, and convent to be
erected upon the same site.
The additional acreage also was needed
to have a sufficient drainage for sewage.
Valdosta School
Although a new church was needed
badly by this time, it was the school
building that was built first. By 1957, the
school enrollment had risen steadily from
twenty-five students in 1941 to 175
students, and the existing school building
was less than adequate for the influx of
new students. Three explanations may be
offered.
One was the increase of personnel at
Moody Air Force Base which, because of
the Korean War, was reactivated in 1941.
Secondly, the student enrollment at
Valdosta State College had continued to
increase. Third, the business
opportunities in Valdosta attracted
people from the predominantly Catholic
Northern Communities.
Another point is in January, 1958,
ninety Catholic students were burned to
death at the Queen of Peace Catholic
School in Chicago.
The fire impressed upon the Catholic
community that the old school was a Fire
hazard and should be replaced by a new
modern school. The people within the
parish supported the call for a new
school, and after accepting bids and
reviewing the bidder’s qualifications, the
architects and builders were chosen.
The architects were Thomas and
Hutton of Savannah, and DeGange and
Company of Valdosta contracted to build
the school at a cost of $76,000. In 1959,
the construction team broke ground for a
four classroom, kindergarten school
building. Completed by the new school
year, the building was dedicated by
Bishop Thomas J. McDonough on
September 18,1959.
The Sisters were elated with the new
school, and one Sister remarked, “After
many years of waiting, a long-awaited
dream became a reality. The new St. John
The Evangelist School opened its doors to
our faculty and students on the birthday
of our Blessed Mother, September 8th.”
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