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SERVING 88 SOUTH GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 54 No. 16
Thursday, April 19,1973
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
BISHOP-ELECT RAYMOND W. LESSARD finishes
some last-minute paper work in his office in Rome
shortly before his departure April 12 for the United
States.
Interview with Bishop-Elect
BY DOUG CLARK
Mr. Clark is a First year Theology
student studying at the North American
College in Rome for the priesthood in
the diocese of Savannah. THE
SOUTHERN CROSS is grateful for the
following interview which Mr. Clark had
with bishop-elect Raymond W. Lessard
in Rome two weeks ago.
No one at the Public Consistory on
March 5 knew why Msgr. Raymond W.
Lessard entered wearing a (borrowed)
purple cassock with a bishop’s rochet
over his arm. I sat through the
impressive ceremony at which Pope Paul
VI presented the scarlet biretta to 30
new Cardinals without paying any more
attention to the young American
monsignor. On the way out, I learned
that the Pope had announced Msgr.
Lessard’s appointment to the diocese of
Savannah at the private consistory
earlier that morning, and had even
revived an old custom by calling the
then-secretary of the Congregation for
the Bishops into the consistory to
bestow upon him the rochet.
I was privileged to meet him that
same evening and to get to know him in
the following weeks. I was further
honored to have the opportunity to
interview for the Southern Cross this
talented, intelligent man whom the
Holy Father has selected to serve as
Savannah’s chief pastor.
INSIDE STORY
ROW Story „
Pg» 2
Know Your Faith
Pg. 5
Film Ratings
Pg. 6
DCCW Convention
Pg. 7
Father Ray Lessard was ordained for
the diocese of Fargo, N. Dak., on Dec.
16, 1956 in the chapel at the North
American College. His first priestly
assignment was as an assistant pastor in
Fargo. “Those were the happiest years
of my life,” Bishop-elect Lessard says.
“I’m very, very glad to return to the
U.S. as a pastor, certainly of a larger
flock, but still as a pastor.”
He left Fargo in 1960 to return to
Rome as secretary to Aloysius Cardinal
Muench, who was until then Bishop of
Fargo and Apostolic Nuncio to post-War
Germany.
“Cardinal Muench, although in the
decline of his life while in Rome, taught
me what it means to be a man of the
Church,” Msgr. Lessard recalls. “His
outlook was truly catholic, universal. He
willingly had undertaken the difficult
assignment to Germany and then
accepted his semi-retirement in Rome
with eagerness. His was a remarkable
ability to approach what might seem to
be an institutional, bureaucratic role in
a pastoral light, with a manly and
reasonable, yet not servile, loyalty to the
Pope, a loyalty which was very
profound. His influence on me was very
great.”
“When Cardinal Meunch died in Rome
in 1962, Carlo Cardinal Confalonieri
was called on, by chance, to celebrate
the Requiem Mass at St. Peter’s. Little
did I know that I would work for him
for the next ten years. His influence on
me was comparable to Cardinal
Muench’s. While I worked under him in
the Congregation for the Bishops
beginning in those exciting years of the
Second Vatican Council, I had a chance
to put into practice what I’d seen in the
work of Cardinal Muench, the universal
dimension of the man of the Church.
“I started out doing routine office
work and ended up in charge of the
North American section, dealing with
questions involving diocesan structures
in the U.S., Canada and the Philippines.
This satisfying and rich experience was a
further occasion to see things in greater
perspective-next to my desk were the
South American and European desks, so
there was a sharing of common
problems and concerns, sort of a
cross-fertilization.
“Now I guess I can boast about being
adaptable to different people, different
places, from Fargo to Rome, and now
to Savannah. I don’t worry about
getting nostalgic.”
Named a Chaplain to Pope Paul in
1971, Msgr. Lessard also served as
superior of the Villa Stritch residence
for American priests working in Rome.
He found time to earn the Licentiate
degree in both Theology and Canon
Law and to do thesis work on
ecumenical ecclesiology. “I believe that
there is a great need for the churches to
stand together to combat the complete
secularization that has changed, almost
paganized, the whole atmosphere of our
country, especially with respect to
human life itself. We haven’t paid
enough attention to Vatican II’s decree
AD GENTES, thinking that missionary
work was somehow confined to the
“Third World” nations. The biggest
missionary challenge today is right in
our own back yard.”
When I asked Savannah’s Bishop-elect
what sign of hope he saw in the midst of
all the discouraging trends back home,
he replied without hesitation, “young
people. If guilty of excesses and
overenthusiasm, they are still idealisitc
and a constant reminder to us of what
our own ideals should be. They are a
stimulus to make us think, respond,
and, I guess you’d say, become more
authentic. Our job is to direct them, not
to suffocate them.”
Bishop-elect Lessard finds the task
that lies ahead for him in Savannah
“thrilling.” “I see as my immediate
responsibility the local church in
Savannah. But a bishop, as a sign of
faith and charity, according to Vatican
II’s decree CHRISTUS DOMINUS, has
responsibilities to the other local
churches, and through the center,
Rome, to the universal Church-the
Body of Christ. I see my appointment as
a more intimate sharing with the Pope
of his concern for the universal
Church.”
As Pope Paul left the private
consistory on March 5, and the
Cardinals congratulated Bishop-elect
Lessard, Terrence Cardinal Cooke.
Archbishop of New York, said it all
when he said, “Ray, welcome home.”
Bishops to Hold Spring
Meetings in 12 Locales
WASHINGTON - Three hundred U.S. Catholic bishops and key priests, religious and laity will meet in a
dozen locations around the country this spring to discuss ways of promoting greater respect for marriage, youth,
and the dignity of human life in society today.
The regional meetings will replace the spring general meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops
(NCCB) held in previous years. Starting this year, all the bishops of the country will ordinarily meet together in a
body only once a year, in November.
The spring regional meetings of the
bishops have been organized on a
geographical basis, corresponding to the
12 geographical regions of the NCCB.
Priests, religious and lay people will take
part in the meetings as non-voting
participants in each of the regions.
The topics for the meetings were
suggested and voted on by the bishops,
with “Christian Marriage and Family
Life” and “Youth and the Church”
receiving the most votes in a mail ballot.
Following the Supreme Court’s abortion
decision in January, the subject of
pro-life activities was added at the
suggestion of the bishops’ Committee
on Pro-Life Affairs.
Besides the common agenda to be
discussed in all 12 regions, each region is
also at liberty to discuss matters of
particular regional interest.
Documentation on the general topics
for the regional meetings-and a set of
questions for discussion-have been sent
to each of the bishops in the country by
the office of the NCCB General
Secretariat. Reports from the regional
gatherings will be submitted to NCCB
headquarters in Washington, collated
there, and subsequently presented to
the NCCB Administrative Committee.
Included in the documentation are a
number of specific recommendations
formulated by a committee of family
life specialists to further the pastoral
ministry to marriage and the family.
Among them:
-The development of a theology of
lay spirituality which will enable adults
(Continued on Page 7)
Death Claims
Bishop Stuart
The Right Reverend Albert Rhett
Stuart, the sixth bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Georgia, died Tuesday
evening (Apr. 17) at St. Joseph’s
Hospital, Augusta. Bishop Stuart was
well known to many clergy, Religious
and laity of the Savannah diocese and
took part in the installation of
Savannah’s former bishop, Gerard L.
Frey;
SEZ WHO? - Referee Tony Backhoff finds that kickball players disagree
with one of his calls during a Saturday session of an ecumenical day camp
in Norwood, Ohio. Backhoff is one of seven seminarians from Mt. St.
Mary who work with members of Salem United Church of Christ in
staffing the camp. (NC Photo by Anne Bingham)
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
Death was attributed to a heart
attack Bishop Stuart suffered while
visiting Augusta last month.
He retired as bishop of the Diocese of
Georgia in February of this year, being
succeeded by the Rt. Rev. George Paul
Reeves.
A native of Washington, D.C., Bishop
Stuart was ordained in 1931. In May of
1954 he was elected Bishop of the
Georgia Diocese.
Bishop Stuart
Priest Calls Pope Heretical
VATICAN CITY (NC) - A passionate French priest, who maintains Pope Paul is
heretical, tried to bring his bill of indictment before the Church’s supreme judge, the
very Pope he is accusing. But at the bronze gates of the Pope s residence the
ulta-conservative priest, Father Georges de Nantes, and some followers were blocked
by a polite yet unyielding line of Italian police. The priest and his followers then
walked to the middle of St. Peter’s Square, where Father de Nantes declared that the
Church is filled with Communists, and its monasteries as well. After silent prayer, all
facing the Pope’s window on the top floor of the apostolic palace, the group departed.
Nuns Blast Ordination Study
CHICAGO (NC) - The National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) scored as
“self-defeating,” “retrogressive” and “anti-ecumenical in substance” a study on
ordination of women by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pastoral Research and
Practices. The 1,800-member Sisters’ group, which has its headquarters here, said that
the study, “Theological Reflections on the Ordination of Women,” contained only
arguments against the ordination of women. The group suggested the U.S. bishops
listen carefully to American women scholars on the issue, subsidize American men and
women scholars who support the ordination of women, and invite women theologians
to address them at their annual meeting.
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WJCL-TV to Air Installation
Station WJCL-TV, Channel 22 in Savannah, will televise the ordination and
installation of Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, live and in color beginning at 4 p.m.
on Friday, April 27. WJCL-TV, an affiliate of the American Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC), also televised the episcopal ordination of Bishop Andrew J.
McDonald last September.
J