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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 53 No. 39
Thursday, November 9,1972
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
Bp. McDonald
Wires Welcome
Bishop Andrew J. McDonald, Bishop
of Little Rock, Arkansas and former
priest of the Savannah Diocese, sent the
following message to Bishop Frey:
“The priests, Religious and laity of the
Diocese of Little Rock join me in joyful
and prayerful greetings as you come to
one of the sister dioceses of this province.
“As we will be united in work, let us
be united in prayer and in spirit for the
spreading of the good news of Christ
crucified.
“While your leaving Savannah is a great
loss, it is our prayerful hope that your
successor to the venerable See of
Savannah will be another outstanding
Shepherd of Souls.”
Mixed Emotions
For Bp. Frey
“It is with mixed emotions that I have
received the news of my appointment by
the Holy Father as Bishop of the Diocese
of Lafayette.
“The Diocese of Savannah has been my
home for five years. I will leave
regretfully, and with sadness, a gracious
people, a dedicated clergy and body of
Religious, as well as an area that is truly
hospitable in the best traditions of our
beloved southland. My stay in Savannah
has been for me the source of much
fruitful exper*# ce consolation. It has
been all too short, but its influence on
my ministry will be lasting.
“As I assume my new responsibilities in
one of the larger Dioceses in this country,
I will carry with me many fond memories
of my service in Georgia.”
Bishop Frey
Church Anti-poverty Drive
Gears up for November Effort
Savannah Bishop Named
To Head Louisiana See
WASHINGTON (NC) -- Pope Paul VI has named Bishop Gerard Frey of
Savannah, Ga., bishop of Lafayette, La., after accepting the resignation of
Bishop Maurice Schexnayder, 77, who had headed the Lafayette diocese
since 1956.
Archbishop Luigi Raimondi, apostolic delegate in the United States,
said the Pope accepted Bishop Schexnayder’s resignation for reasons of
age and health.
Bishop Frey will head a diocese
of 395,000 Roman Catholics, or ten times
the number of Catholics in the Savannah
diocese.
As bishop of Lafayette he will be the
chief shepherd of 293 priests, 421 nuns
and 37 religious Brothers. The Louisiana
diocese comprises 11,090 square miles
and embraces much of the so-called Cajun
country of the state, where the French
language is still spoken. This is the region
settled by French Canadians displaced by
the British in the 18th century and
provides the background for the well
known epic poem “Evangeline.”
Before being named bishop of
Savannah on May 31, 1967, Bishop Frey
had been a priest of the Archdiocese of
New Orleans where he served as a pastor
and in Religious Education posts for the
archdiocese. He was one of four U.S.
pastors invited to Rome to take part in
Vatican Council discussions on the work
of parish priests.
Since coming to the Savannah diocese,
Bishop Frey has expanded what had been
the Diocesan Office of the Confraternity
of Christian Doctrine (CCD) into the
Diocesan Department of Christian
Formation (DCF). This office has
received nation-wide recognition for adult
religious education programs it has
originated. With co-ordinators in four of
the diocese’s urban deaneries, the DCF
develops and conducts education
programs on the elementary and
secondary school levels as well.
The Diocesan Office of the Social
Apostolate (OSA) also owes its existence
to Bishop Frey. Like the DCF, the Social
Apostolate is established in the urban
deaneries of the diocese and supervised
by deanery coordinators. The diocesan
office implements and expedites policies
developed by the Diocesan Social
Apostolate Commission.
almost every parochial school in the
diocese now has one, composed of clergy,
religious and laity.
In addition, an area school board has
been instituted in the Savannah area. The
board is composed of representatives of
all the Catholic schools in the Savannah
area, both elementary and secondary. The
main thrust of the area board is the
sharing of common problems and the
development of solutions.
The concept of sharing responsibility is
also reflected in Bishop Frey’s
establishment of a clergy personnel board
which assists him in the placement of
diocesan priests.
A Priests’ Senate composed entirely of
priests elected to the Senate by the
Religious and Secular clergy of the
diocese also enjoys the confidence of
Bishop Frey.
Another representative body, the
Diocesan Senate of Religious, was also
established by Bishop Frey. Its
membership is elected by the Religious
Sisters and Brothers serving in the
diocese.
Under his leadership, four new parishes
have been erected in four years and
numerous mission churches constructed
and staffed.
In November of 1967, Bishop Frey was
named to a three-year term as Episcopal
Advisor to the Theresians, national
religious vocations organization for
Catholic women.
He is a member of the Education
Committee of the United States Catholic
Conference, having been named to the
committee in 1968.
Bishop Frey has two brothers in the
priesthood - Rev. Msgr. Andrew W. Frey
of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, La., and
Rev. Jerome V. Frey, S.M., a member of
the Marist Fathers.
Bishop Frey was born in New Orleans,
May 10, 1914, where he attended St.
Vincent De Paul elementary school, St.
Joseph Preparatory Seminary and Notre
Dame Seminary. He was ordained on
April 2, 1938, by the late Archbishop
Joseph F. Rummel of New Orleans.
He served as a curate in Our Lady of
the Holy Rosary parish, Taft, La.; St. Leo
the Great and St. James Major parishes in
New Orleans, and as pastor of St. Frances
Cabrini parish, New Orleans, and St.
Francis De Sales parish, Houma.
He was also director of the
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a
diocesan consultor, and director of
seminary pastoral training and the social
apostolate.
He was a priest observer from the
United States at the Second Vatican
Council and appointed Bishop of
Savannah in 1967.
Bishop Schexnayder was born at
Wallace, La., Aug. 13,1895, and attended
St. Joseph’s Seminary, St. Benedict, La.;
St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, and the
North American College in Rome. He was
ordained in Rome on April 11,1925.
HEADLINE
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HOPSCOTCH
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Catholics Protest
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (NC) - “Poverty is
what happens when people give up caring
for one another.” That is the theme of
this year’s Campaign for Human
Development (CHD), and teaching people
to care is the purpose of the CHD’s
educational arm.
Funded by $105,000 from last year’s
$7.2-million collection, the CHD
educational division has been developing
programs to teach America’s Catholics
what poverty really means.
The 1972 Campaign will culminate in a
special collection to be taken up in all the
churches of the Savannah diocese on
Sunday, November 19.
“We want to get into their attitudes,
not just their heads,” said Frederick J.
Perella, Jr., assistant educational
coordinator for the CHD.
Perella explained that the CHD’s
educational program is more than just
informational - it is “value education.”
“Our goal is behavioral change,
INSIDE STORY
Eucharistic Congress
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Startling Shift
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"Trick or Treat”
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Cook’s Nook
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attitudinal change,” he said. He said that
the American people simply do not
realize the extent of poverty in the
United States, or the conditions that
cause it.
More importantly, he said, Catholics
do not fully realize what they can and
should do as Christians to combat
poverty. The CHD’s educational program
is geared to developing “an awareness of
what the Church has said about social
justice,” Perella said.
CHD’s educational campaign is actually
two-pronged. “At our offices here we
work primarily on formal or structured
educational situations,” Perella said. “The
U.S. Catholic Conference’s Division of
Creative Services in New York works with
the mass media and in what are generally
called ‘impact’ situations.”
Last year the two staffs collaborated to
develop 10 educational “modules” on
poverty for use in Catholic elementary
and secondary „ schools. The modular
approach was used, Perella said, because
“few teachers would" take a whole
curriculum. So we wrote it in sections,
self-contained units or modules. That way
teachers are able to pick units and
incorporate them into other courses.”
Several dioceses are using the modules
experimentally, Perella said, and
comments on their effectiveness will help
the CHD to develop future programs.
The educational office has also
compiled and distributed a 39-page
“Poverty Profile” devoted to replacing
myths about poverty with facts. It points
out, for example, that:
“By government standards, 60 percent
of the poor are children under 18 or
elderly persons over 65.
“(Over-all) 75 percent of poor people
are really not capable of working. Of the
25 percent capable, 23.6 percent (6.2
million persons) do work full or part
time. 95 percent of all poor capable of
work do work!”
The educational office is also
developing programs for training
seminarians and nuns, and it is working
on the possibility of programs at the
college level.
The effects of these educational
programs will not be seen for a long time.
Education is a “developmental process,”
Perella said. “It will take several years just
to get it under way.”
In November, 1969, the U.S. Catholic
bishops pledged themselves to raising $50
million to fight poverty in America.
From that pledge came the Campaign
for Human Development, which officially
began with a nationwide collection Nov.
22, 1970. The first annual collection
netted $8.6-million to help the poor.
Personnel Committee
The Priests’ Personnel Committee of the Savannah Diocese will meet Tuesday,
Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Chancery, Savannah. Priests who have any items they
would like discussed are urged to contact a member of the committee.
Committee members are Revs. J. Kevin Boland, John Cuddy, Brendan Timmins,
Robert Mattingly, Eamonn O’Riordan
Under the leadership of Bishop Frey,
all parishes of the Diocese now have
pastoral councils. Deanery pastoral
councils and a Diocesan Council have
been formed. These councils were
instrumental in channelling “grassroots
opinion” regarding the feasibility and
desirability of a National Pastoral
Council, to the United States Catholic
Conference.
A strong believer in shared
responsibility, Bishop Frey has urged the
formation of parish school boards and
‘Tempo’ Begins
In Macon Parish
By Mrs. R.W. Hurley
The enthusiastic response given to the
THRUST series of lectures completed last
week by Father William Coleman pastor
of St. Joseph Church, Macon, has resulted
in a new but similar program which will
be presented on a monthly basis
beginning in December.
The new program is called TEMPO and
will again deal with topics of current
interest in light of Old and New
Testament teachings. Father Coleman will
continue to lead the program which will
be held on the first Thursday of each
month at 10:30 AM at St. Joseph’s
Center, 538 High Place. Nursery facilities
will be available and the public is
cordially invited.
Overflow crowds attended both the
Wednesday evening and Thursday
morning sessions of the five-week
THRUST series with many visitors
coming from other churches. However,
for TEMPO, only the Thursday morning
session will be held. Those attending the
final THRUST Lecture gave their hearty
approval to TEMPO and suggested topics
that they would like discussed.
SAIGON (NC) - More than 10,000 Catholics of North Vietnamese origin
demonstrated here to protest the proposed peace agreement between the United States
and the North Vietnamese. In a well-organized demonstration, older Catholic laymen
supervised the crowd, made up mostly of young people. Many of these present said
they had been encouraged at Masses to join the demonstration, but few of the priests
who direct parishes in the villages populated by refugees from the north in Bienhoa
province east of Saigon were present. One of the documents given to the press by the
organizer of the demonstration criticized Henry A. Kissinger, President Nixon’s advisor
on national security.
Priest Heads CEF
WASHINGTON (NC) - Msgr. Edward F. Spiers of the Columbus, Ohio, diocese has
become the first priest to be named national executive director of the Citizens for
Educational Freedom here. Msgr. Spiers, who holds a doctorate and has written on
income tax credits for parents of nonpublic school children, is a former member of the
Office for Educational Research at Notre Dame University. The Citizens for
Educational Freedom organization is a 13-year-old non-sectarian and non-profit group
advocating the rights of parents in nonpublic education.
CRS Gets New Chief
NEW YORK (NC) - James D. Noel, who has worked for U.S. Catholic Relief
Services in central and South America since 1955, has been named director of the
organization’s socio-economic department. Noel, who will be stationed at the relief
agency’s world headquarters here, will be in charge of developing training programs for
assistance projects overseas and seeking support from foundations, industries and
service groups for CRS work.
Papal Trip Eyed
SYDNEY, Australia (NC) -- “The Pope would dearly love to come back to Australia
to attend the Eucharistic congress in Melbourne in February,” Cardinal Norman Gilroy
said here on his return from Rome. Pope Paul, he added, will decide about the trip
before Christmas. The 78-year-old cardinal, the former archbishop of Sydney, was in
Rome for a meeting of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The international Eucharistic Congress will be held in Melbourne Feb. 18-25.
Devaluation Hits Poor
LA PAZ, Bolivia (NC) -- Archbishop Jorge Manrique of La Paz asked government
authorities for direct subsidies to low-income families, the group hit hardest by the
recent 67 percent devaluation of the Bolivian peso. After conferring with President
Hugo Banzer, the archbishop told the Catholic daily Presencia here that “we trust the
social awareness of these leaders in providing for the needs of the poor.” Government
officials said the devaluation affected mainly the middle class. The monetary
devaluation of October triggered a series of violent demonstrations by workers
blocking the streets of La Paz.