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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 53 No. 31
Thursday, September 14,1972
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
Pope Eliminates Subdiaconate;
Minor Orders to be Reformed
A ING BISHO p ANDREW J. McDONALD (second bishop from right in photo) arrives in colorful procession at the Cathedral of St.
Andrew where he was installed as fifth bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas (Sept. 7). Bishop preceding him is Most Rev. Albert L.
Fletcher, whom he succeeds. Following the new bishop are Archbishop Philip Hannan of New Orleans and Archbishop Luigi
Raimondi, Apostolic Delegate in the United States.
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul VI
has issued two new decrees that eliminate
the order of subdeacon, clarify the role of
deacons and reform the Church’s
discipline for tonsure and the minor
orders for priesthood candidates.
The minor orders, now called
“ministries,” have been opened up to
laymen as well as candidates for the
priesthood and diaconate, but they are
still restricted to men and unavailable to
women.
The two documents, apostolic letters
issued in the form of motu proprios
(issued on the Pope’s own initiatives), are
dated Aug. 15, 1972, but were for public
release on Sept. 14. The decree on
tonsure, minor orders and the
subdiaconate is called Ministeria
Quaedam and the one on the diaconate is
Ad Pascendum.
They contain the following key
reforms, which will go into effect Jan. 1,
1973:
--Tonsure will be replaced by “a rite of
admission for candidates to the diaconate
and to the priesthood.” The traditional rite
of tonsure, a symbolic cutting of the
priesthood candidate’s hair, has also
signified entrance into the clerical state
INSIDE STORY
School Page
Editorials
Pg. 3
.....Pg. 4
Israelis Frustrated
Pg. 7
Cook’s Nook
Pg. 8
and incardination (attachment to a
diocese or religious order). Incardination
and the entrance into the clerical state
will be joined to the diaconate by the
new norms.
-The traditional four minor orders will
no longer be called “orders,” but
“ministries.” The conferring of these
ministries will be called “installation,”
not “ordination.” Only two of the
ministries will be kept for the whole
Church - lector (reader) and acolyte
(server at the altar).
-Other ministries, such as porter,
exorcist and catechist, will be available to
particular regions under certain
circumstances.
-Laymen may be installed into these
ministries. “They are no
longer . . .reserved to candidates for the
sacrament of Orders,” said the document
on minor orders. However, these
ministries will still be closed to women.
“In accordance with the venerable
tradition of the Church,” the decree
stated, “installation in the ministries of
lector and acolyte is reserved to men.”
-The subdiaconate, once called the
first of the “major orders,” will no longer
be conferred. The principal duties of the
subdeacon, reading the scriptures and
assisting the priest at the altar, have been
taken over by the ministries of lector and
acolyte.
-The commitment to celibacy, once
made before receiving the subdiaconate,
will be made by all priesthood candidates
and all unmarried candidates for the
permanent diaconate in a special rite
preceding ordination to the diaconate.
The main purpose of the reform, said
Pope Paul, is to adapt present practices
“to contemporary needs,” relating the
Church’s ministries and orders to their
actual functions.
Don’t Worry, Governor !
By F J. Donohue
Guests at a dinner for Bishop Andrew J. McDonald, held after rites installing him
as the fifth bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas, didn’t have to wait long before
being treated to a sample of his quick wit and warm humor.
Mumblings of awe were clearly audible throughout the great banquet hall of
Little Rock’s Pleasant Valley Country Club after the reading of a congratulatory
telegram from President Richard M. Nixon.
Talks which followed the reading of the telegram were equally impressive as
accolades were heaped upon both retiring Little Rock bishop, Albert L. Fletcher
and Bishop McDonald. Adding to the solemnity of the occasion was the presence
at the head table of Arkansas Governor, Dale Bumpers.
When Bishop McDonald rose to speak, he placed a hand on the shoulder of
the governor (a Democrat facing Republican opposition in his bid for another
term as the State’s chief executive) and smiled broadly, with a twinkle in his eye
which is familiar to thousands of Savannahians.
“Governor,” he said, “don’t you worry about the telegram I just got from
Dick!” The hall erupted into laughter, with Bishop McDonald’s being heard over
everyone else’s.
Said a Little Rock woman across the table from me, “We’re just going to love
him to death.” I believe it.
Bishop McDonald Is
Installed in Arkansas
Special to THE SOUTHERN CROSS from
THE GUARDIAN, newspaper of the
diocese of Little Rock, Ark.
For only the fifth time in its 128 year
history, the diocese of Little Rock has a
new bishop.
Bishop Andrew J. McDonald, former
vicar-general of the Savannah diocese and
pastor of Savannah’s Blessed Sacrament
parish was installed last Thursday (Sept.
7) as Ordinary of the Arkansas See in
simplified but colorful and impressive
rites held in the Little Rock Cathedral of
St. Andrew.
Installing prelate was Archbishop Luigi
Raimondi, Apostolic Delegate in the
United States. He was assisted by
Archbishop Pnilip M. Hannan of New
Orleans, Metropolitan of the New Orleans
Province which includes the Little Rock
diocese.
In a moving homily delivered by
Bishop Albert L. Fletcher, who recently
retired as the fourth bishop of a diocese
which includes the entire state of
Arkansas, the prelate welcomed Bishop
McDonald. Noting that “longevity has
been a characteristic of your four
predecessors,” bishops Andrew J. Byrne,
Edward Fitzgerald, John Morris and
Albert Fletcher, he expressed prayerful
hopes for a long and fruitful episcopal
ministry by the new bishop.
Five archbishops, 24 bishops, two
abbots and a host of priests and Religious
were in the capacity throng attending the
installation ceremonies.
Together with all of Bishop
McDonald’s brothers and sisters and a
number of his cousins, nephews, nieces
and other relatives, about fifty other lay,
clerical and Religious members of the
diocese of Savannah were also present.
It was a magnificently colorful ritual
with liturgical music by a choir of
Arkansas seminarians adding to the
grandeur. The procession, which began a
block from the Cathedral at the Hotel
LaFayette, where 150 priests vested for
the occasion, moved up Little Rock’s
Louisiana Street to the Cathedral rectory,
where the robed and mitered prelates
moved into the line.
Thirty Fourth Degree Knights of
Columbus in red and blue capes and
plumed cermonial hats provided a
colorful honor guard for the procession
and ceremonies.
Impressive in its solemnity was the
reception of Holy Communion by several
hundred participants and members of the
invited congregation.
After receiving the consecrated Host
from Bishop McDonald, each
communicant proceeded to a table on
which rested ten or twelve silver cups
from which each received the Precious
Blood of the Lord.
As the Mass, of which the installation
rites were a part, drew to a close, Bishop
McDonald moved to the pulpit where he
addressed the assemblage briefly,
invoking God’s blessings on his new
ministry, and expressing gratitude for the
warmth of his reception, asking the
cooperation of the faithful of the diocese
and paying tribute to his predecessor,
Bishop Fletcher.
the people of the diocese of Savannah.
Speaking for the faithful of the Little
Rock diocese was Bishop Fletcher.
At the close of the dinner, Bishop
McDonald once again expressed his
happiness at being assigned to the
Arkansas See, reiterating what he had said
in Savannah at his farewell dinner,
“thankful for my Savannah citizenship
and my Georgia citizenship, I am aware
that in coming to Little Rock, I come to
‘no mean city’ (a reference to St. Paul’s
characterization of his native city,
Tarsus).
The concluding remarks were delivered
by Archbishop Raimondi.
Many representative from the
Savannah diocese left for home on
Thursday afternoon or very early on
Friday morning. However, a sizeable
contingent was on hand for a private Mass
celebrated in St. Andrew’s Cathedral by
Bishop McDonald at 10 a.m. Friday
morning.
A public reception for the new bishop
by the people of the Little Rock diocese
was held from 2 to 5 P.M. Sunday.
MEMBERS OF BISHOP ANDREW J. MCDONALD’S FAMILY bring the Eucharistic
Gifts to the sanctuary during Mass at which he was installed as bishop of Little Rock,
Arkansas.
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
Day of Recollection
A Day of Recollection for women of the Savannah area will be held at the
Carmelite Monastery September 23rd from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Conducting the exercises
will be Father Wilfred Dumm, O.S.B. of the faculty of Benedictine Military School.
Women of the area are invited to come and bring a friend. Participants should bring a
box lunch and a chair. There will be a fifty-cent cover charge. For further information,
call Mrs. Stella Schneider at 352-1758.
Munich and Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile (NC) - Cardinal Raul Silva of Santiago condemned “the horrid
political crime” against Israeli Olympians in Munich only a few hours after he warned
his own countrymen against civil waL “We least expected to get such a tragic message”
from the Olympic Games, where friendship, fraternity and man’s emulation were at
play,” the cardinal said. “We have said it so many times: a political crime makes the
cup of bitterness overflow, for it brings victory to hatred. And hatred poisons and kills
the soul of society.” Two days earlier Cardinal Silva had asked his fellow Chileans to
curb political passions or face “the apocalyptic specter of fratricidal war.”
Fatima Pilgrimage
At the end of his talk, the Cathedral
rang out with thunderous applause,
lasting for one full minute.
The final address at the Cathedral was
delivered by Archbishop Raimondi, who
commended Bishop Fletcher, commented
on the responsibilities being assumed by
Bishop McDonald and on the dignity of
the episcopacy. He concluded by
imparting to the congregation the
personal blessing of Pope Paul VI.
The installation ceremonies were
followed by a dinner held at Little Rock’s
beautiful and scenic Pleasant Valley
Country Club. Monsignor Daniel J.
Bourke, Comptroller of the Savannah
diocese and Rector of the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist addressed between
four and five hundred guests on behalf of
FATIMA, Portugal (NC) - Hungarian Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, now living in
exile in Vienna, has accepted an invitation to preside at the Oct. 13 pilgrimage
commemorating the 55th anniversary of Our Lady’s final apparition here at the famed
Marian shrine. The 80-year-old cardinal, who ended 15 years of asylum in the U.S.
embassy in Budapest last September, expressed the wish last December to visit Fatima
to pray for Hungarians dispersed throughout the world. First arrested by Hungary’s
communist regime in 1948, the cardinal was convicted the following year of espionage,
treason and illicit dealing in currency. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he served six
years and was released in July 1955. Then placed under house arrest, he was freed
during the brief uprising in October 1956.
Pope Urges Peace
CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy (NC) - Pope Paul is dedicating his visit Sept. 16 to the
Eucharistic congress in Udine, in northern Italy, to peace in Vietnam, Ireland and the
Middle East and for an immediate cessation of reprisals by Israel against Arab nations.
The Pope made this clear in his address to visitors at his summer home here Sept. 10.
Reflecting on “the events of these days, those of Munich and those which quickly
followed in the Middle East.. .(and the events in) Vietnam and Ireland,” the Pope
said that the aid of God must be sought “before these events become more tragic.”