Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, April 19,1973
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The Southern Cross
Business Office 225 Abercorn St. Savannah, Ga. 31401
Most Rev. Gerard L. Frey, D.D. President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor John E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
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Welcome to Bishop-Elect
EASTER: HE HAS BEEN RAISED UP. HE IS NOT HERE!
“Willing
To Justify”
Joseph A. Breig
Among the most piercing passages in the
Bible is this:
“ .. .said he, willing to justify himself.”
Those six words are like a blazing searchlight
exposing the corruption of our human nature
which (for want of a better term) we call
Original Sin -- the sin that goes back to our
origins in Adam.
“ .. .said he, willing to justify himself.” The
man who spoke in that fashion to Jesus was
lying to himself, and trying to lie to God.
He was pretending to himself that what he
chose to do was right and good . . . because he
did it.
Self-justification - the opposite of
repentance and reform - is at heart of our
wickedness.
For the Christian, Easter Sunday
commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus
from the dead, and symbolizes the
newness of life into which the Christian
is born after being buried with Christ in
the waters of Baptism.
It is also a pledge of the resurrection
of all men after the Second Coming of
Jesus.
For us, in the Diocese of Savannah,
this Easter takes on added symbolism,
for it signifies the newness of life to
which the diocese will rise when a new
bishop is installed next Friday.
We think there can be no denying that
when a diocese is deprived of its bishop,
Bishop
It is with genuine regret that we note
the death of Bishop Albert Rhett Stuart,
of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.
Since the Episcopal diocese is
approximately co-extensive with the
Roman Catholic diocese of Savannah,
Bishop Stuart’s duties took him to
almost all of the major cities that
comprise the Savannah diocese, so that
he was fairly well known in the Roman
something vital is taken away.
Something is missing and can only be
replaced by the presence of another
chief shepherd.
So, it is with joy and anticipation that
we await the arrival next week of
bishop-elect Raymond W. Lessard.
We extend a hearty welcome to the
members of the bishop-elect’s family
who will accompany him from his home
in North Dakota and to the host of
relatives and friends who will come to
witness his Ordination to the Episcopacy
and his installation as the spiritual leader
of the Roman Catholic community in
South Georgia.
Stuart
Catholic community, especially by the
priests and Religious.
In addition to being a devoted
Churchman and pastor, Bishop Stuart
was a gracious and affable gentleman.
We extend our deepest sympathy to
the laity, Religious and clergy of the
Episcopal diocese of Georgia at what
must surely be a grievous loss. May God
be good to a shepherd they loved well.
Make A Better
Anti-Abortion Case
Reverend Andrew M. Greeley
Copyright 1973, Inter/Syndicate
I think I have made it clear in previous
columns that I think the Supreme Court
decision on abortion was a judicial monstrosity.
The learned justices made fools of themselves,
and Nixon’s “strict constructionist”
appointments are beginning to look even more
absurd than they did at the time they were
made.
But if the decision was a totally unjustified
“raw exercise of judicial power,” I must also
say that the behavior of some Catholic
anti-abortionists is equally foolish. (And I
assure all of them who will send me their hate
mail that I don’t bother opening it, so they
might as well save their stamps.)
American Catholics have every right to
object to the Supreme Court decision, and they
have every right, too, to their conviction that
abortion is murder. However, when some
anti-abortionists yield to rhetorical excess in
their argumentation, they become quite
indistinguishable from the fanatics on the other
side.
The legalization of abortion does not mean
that a society is in danger of collapse or that
the powers of evil have taken control of it.
Abortion, lamentably, is virtually a universal of
the human condition. Together with infanticide
it is the “ordinary” form of population control
that has existed for centuries in almost every
human society.
The population explosion, for example, was
brought under control in Western Europe in the
last century by abortion and infanticide (along
with “Coitus Interruptus”). Flushing a
child down a sewer is an abominable thing, and
it doesn’t matter whether the child has been
born or would have been in three months.
Unfortunately, it is an abomination that the
human race has almost universally practiced.
(And it is an abomination from which the
so-called “Catholic countries” have not been
free.)
Whether there will be any more abortion in
the United States now that it is no longer a
crime may be open to question. Perhaps there
will be some increase, at least at first. The law
makes it easier and socially more acceptable to
destroy unborn life; but the sad truth is that
even in the United States of America unborn
life has never really been considered very
sacred. This may be another way of saying that
we haven’t got much beyond barbarism and
that our legal code has slipped back somewhat
toward the level of the savage. The human race
has a long way to go before it becomes
civilized.
Nor am I persuaded that Americans are any
more or less likely to believe that the slaying of
unborn life is moral than were our predecessors.
The rationalizations for abortion today are
sophisticated, as befits a sophisticated people.
But that they are any more convincing than the
rationalizations used in France in the
nineteenth century or in Greece in the third
century B.C. or among peasant peoples in any
century seems to me to be problematic.
Humankind has always had arguments
available for getting rid of unwanted children,
arguments which if not wholly persuasive were
at least adequate to soothe the consciences of
those involved in abortion and infanticide.
What may be changed - and it is the only real
change I am prepared to concede - is the
practice of “abortion” or “pregnancy
counseling” by which society attempts to
persuade a woman seeking abortion that her
fears and anxieties are merely the result of a
persistence of an “outmoded morality.”
Even here I am not completely persuaded of
the change. Society has always had rituals and
symbols designed to lower anxiety among those
who are doing things which are painful but
which society deems to be socially necessary.
The social function of the pregnancy counsellor
and the witch doctor is fundamentally the same
whatever the content of their reassurance.
I think a strong human and legal case can be
made against the destruction of unborn life, but
I think that case can be made most effectively
by rational, civilized, sophisticated men and
women who are secure in their own ethical
visions and are not compelled by their inner
needs toward fanaticism.
Unfortunately the hierarchy and the Catholic
intelligentsia -- each for its own reasons - has
permitted the argument against abortion to fall
into the hands of those who are in many cases
fanatics and kooks. Crusaders and self-righteous
zealots are the last ones who will be able to
make a case against something which is so
pervasively part of the human experience as the
destruction of unborn life.
AFTER THE RESURRECTION -- An angel tells visitors to Jesus’ tomb of His
resurrection in this sketch by Jean Chariot. “He has been raised up. He is not here!”
(NC Sketch by Jean Chariot)
Easter - A Time
To Start Living
Mary Carson
I’m sure Easter occurs in the Spring to help us,
understand the message of the Resurrection. As
flowers unfold from a recently barren garden,
we can more readily grasp Christ’s rising from
the dead. The earth is being reborn. It refreshes
our minds and revitalizes our spirits.
But do we let it stop there? When we see new
life around us, shouldn’t we also see the new
life within us?
Observing the new buds on a flower, we can
forget the harshness of winter. Can’t we also
look at our own accomplishments and forget
our failings?
To understand Christ’s love for us, consider
this story about a mother and daughter.
The mother was teaching her daughter to
bake. The girl made a mistake and ruined the
cake. It was inedible.
The mother could have been annoyed . . .but
it’s not likely. She would understand that the
girl was trying, and making mistakes is human.
The mother would want her daughter to try
again.
But, suppose the girl gave up, saying, “It’s no
use. I’ll never learn. I won’t try again.”
Then, I think, the mother would have real
cause for disappointment. She loves the girl, has
confidence in her. But the girl doesn’t believe in
herself enough to respond to her mother’s love.
The mother wants desperately for the girl to
trust her, to forget the mistakes, concentrate on
what she did right. . .and keep trying. The
mother would give anything . . .
Christ was willing to give anything ... In
fact, He gave His life. . .the greatest
demonstration of love.
It seems that Christ’s love for us is that
mother’s love . . .perfected.
During His Passion and Death, he suffered -
suffered enormously because of His love for us.
Why don’t we BELIEVE it? Why don’t we
TRUST Him?
So often we sound like that girl. “It’s no use.
I’ll never learn. I don’t want to try again.”
Just as the mother wants the girl to stop
Finding fault with herself, I’m sure Christ would
rather we stop dwelling on our mistakes and
weaknesses.
Christ came to save . . . not to condemn.
He died out of love . . .not vengence.
He offered us His Resurrection to teach us of
new life, new hope . . .encouragement!
If He had such confidence in us that He felt
it was worth going to all that trouble for us,
then why shouldn’t we have confidence in
ourselves? If we really believe that we’re made
in His image, then isn’t recognizing His
confidence within us, part of our living that
belief?
We all make mistakes. We all have
weaknesses. But, this Easter, let them be
yesterday’s. Forget them. Start again. New life.
New hope.
Let us be born again in the spirit and move
forward with confidence. We’re trying.
With perfect love, Christ gave us new life that
First Easter.
Let us see that new life within
ourselves .. .every moment. . .of every
day
. . .and start living!
Questions ^
And Answers
Monsignor John F. McDonough
QUESTION: I understand that in the new “Basic Teachings for Catholic Religious
Education” the old precepts of the Church have been somewhat enlarged. Can you tell
me what thev are?
ANSWER: The following is to be found in Appendix B of BASIC TEACHINGS FOR
CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION prepared by the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops:
“From time to time the Church has listed certain specific duties of Catholics. Some
duties expected of Catholic Christians today including the following. (Those traditionally
mentioned as Precepts of the Church are marked with an asterisk.)
1. To keep holy the day of the Lord’s Resurrection: to worship God by participating in
Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation:* to avoid those activities that would
hinder renewal of soul and body, e.g., needless work and business activities, unnecessary
shopping, etc.
2. To lead a sacramental life: to receive Holy Communion frequently and the
Sacrament of Penance regularly - minimally, to receive the Sacrament of Penance at least
once a year (annual confession is obligatory only if serious sin is involved).* -- minimally,
to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, between the First Sunday of Lent and
Trinity Sunday.*
3. To study Catholic teaching in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be
confirmed, and then to continue to study and advance the cause of Christ.
4. To observe the marriage laws of the Church:* to give religious training (by example
and word) to one’s children; to use parish schools and religious education programs.
5. To strengthen and support the Church:* one’s own parish community and parish
priests; the worldwide Church and the Holy Father.
6. To do penance, including abstaining from meat and fasting from food on the
appointed days.*
7. To join in the missionary spirit and apostolate of the Church.
A person (say) wants to indulge in
fornication. “Willing to justify,” he begins by
varnishing it with some such euphemism as
“premarital sex.” Soon he is wallowing in
self-praise about his great “love.” And if
possible he finds a clergyman somewhere who
will say it’s all right if it’s “a meaningful
relationship.”
One thing Christ could not abide was such
deceiving of self, such perverting of truth. He
called the self-justifiers whited sepulchers, filled
with every rottenness. He told us that when we
do such things, we are dead and decomposing
inside, no matter how we dress up our
exteriors.
Or say you hate and fear poor people;
disadvantaged people; oppressed people; ailing
and handicapped and aging people. You fear
and hate them because you don’t want to spend
yourself and your wealth to help them, and
you’re afraid they may some day take your
wealth and power from you. As if death wasn’t
going to take them anyhow!
Fearing and hating, you start beating the
drums of propaganda for abortion - for the
slaying of the unborn, the poorest of the poor.
And you hunt around for doctors and
“theologians” who will twist and torture truth
and reality to help you to “justify yourself.”
“ . . .willing to justify himself.” That’s a
broad smoothly paved highway toward hell. We
can always turn back while we have life .. . but
never as long as we lie to ourselves.
Peace
This Easter
Rev. Joseph Dean
Our nation is rising from the horrors of war.
And Christian people are working at “peace
building” as never before. The Christian
community is making use of every legitimate
means to promote the structures of a just and
lasting peace for the days ahead. One
organization that is leading the way in this
effort toward peace is a national educational
and research group called the Council of World
Without War.
However, Christian people have a right to
learn more in detail about such a council before
cooperating fully in all its programs. One way
to size up an organization is to observe who is
opposing it and why.
Recently, certain extremist groups criticized
this council for such reasons as:
1. The council had called on Hanoi and
North Vietnam to withdraw from South
Vietnam. This stance offended those who
wanted victory for Hanoi.
2. The council has refused to brand the
American military as the only villain on the
world scene, as pro-Communist sympathizers
had demanded.
3. The council has not encouraged an all out
effort toward ecumenical work. It prefers to act
within the tradition of each denomination to
stress with each group its own heritage on peace
and war issues.
4. The council does not have much
representation of minority groups, not that
they are not welcome, but minority groups
have other pressing priorities at this time within
their own communities.
5. The council has refused to advocate
blanket amnesty for all. Instead, it holds to a
position of justice tempered with mercy on the
basis of individual cases. For instance, council
president Robert Pickus stated:
“If we look at it as a question of how to help
young men caught in the tragedy of the war,
while at the same time maintaining respect for
law, it becomes a question of achieving
retroactive, selective, conscientious objection,
and establishing a generous, flexible program of
alternate service.”
Truly, we must work for peace as though
everything depended on us, while praying for
peace with everything depending on God.
Consequently, at this Easter time, men of
good will are working and praying toward that
kind of peace which the world alone cannot
give, but now possible through the power of the
Holy Spirit, renewing all sincere councils of
men and communities of people everywhere.