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SERVING 88 SOUTH GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 54 No. 17
Thursday, April 26, 1973
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
MONSIGNOR RAYMOND W. LESSARD,
bishop-elect of the Savannah diocese chats with Father
J. Kevin Boland, Administrator Sede Vacante of the
diocese, in Washington, D.C. following Msgr. Lessard’s
arrival in this country from Rome, where he has served
for the past ten years on the staff of the Congregation
for the Bishops. He will be ordained and installed as
the Bishop of Savannah at the Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist on Friday (Apr. 27) at 4 p.m. (Reni Studios
Photo)
Church Surving Castroism
TORONTO, Canada (NC) - Religion
is reaching the young in Communist
Cuba through parents, catechism
instruction and church services,
according to two Canadian journalists
who visited there recently.
“It is the Church that offers an
organized balance to the socialist bias
that exists in Cuba’s schools and
universities, unions and young
Communist leagues,” said journalists
Marcia McGovern and Christie
Blatchford in an article in the Catholic
Register, the Toronto archdiocesan
weekly.
“Children who are taught the virtues
of Castro’s Cuba are also exposed to the
religious influence of the Church.”
The two writers, students at
Toronto’s Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute, spent 10 days in Cuba.
“Canadians are among a growing
Bishop McDonald
Bishop Andrew J. McDonald, bishop
of Little Rock, Arkansas, and formerly
Chancellor of the Savannah diocese and
pastor of Savannah’s Blessed Sacrament
parish, will celebrate the twenty-fifth
anniversary of his ordination to the
priesthood on May 8, with
concelebrated Masses at the Cathedral
of St. John the Baptist and Blessed
Sacrament church.
The bishop will be principal
INSIDE STORY
Steinmetz Lecture
Pg. 2
Know Your Faith
Pg. 5
number of tourists in Cuba. You also
see Germans, Russians,
Czechoslovakians, and Chinese but no
Americans,” Blatchford and McGovern
said.
The two said that “a piece of official
government literature given to tourists
claims that ‘churches practice their
services normally’ in modern-day Cuba.
Yet the booklet also states that ‘The
faithful do not display the militant
character one sees in other countries.’ ”
The two Canadian journalists said
that the Castro regime gives financial
support to the Church but that “in this
token effort to squelch discontent, it is
encouraging discontent.
“The classless society that looks so
inviting in theory is not working and
does not exist in the social and
economic life of Cuba. And, as
Catholics are not allowed to hold
executive positions, the bulk of people
to Mark Jubilee
concelebrant at a 12 o’clock noon Mass
in the Cathedral. Concelebrating with
him will be Father Joseph F. Ware, a
priest of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and
a native of Savannah, who will also be
observing his twenty-fifth anniversary
on May 8.
Homilist for the Cathedral Mass will
be Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke,
Cathedral Rector. In attendance will be
priests, Sisters, family and friends.
Following the Mass there will be
luncheon for priests and the families of
both jubilarians, co-hosted by Cathedral
and Blessed Sacrament parishes.
At 2:15 p.m. children at Blessed
Sacrament school will join the festivities
with prayer, bible readings, homily and
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in
the parish church, and then proceed to
the school gym for an ice cream party
and dismissal from school.
sympathetic to Christianity is made up
of the very workers Castro wants to
woo.”
Blatchford and McGovern quoted a
young man as saying:
“Catholicism and Cuban socialism
just don’t go together. I think a lot of
people believe, but know it is better not
to practice. Fathers tell their children:
‘There is a God, believe in Him.’ But
most people don’t go to church. It’s not
encouraged. Besides, people are afraid.”
Their article also brought out these
observations:
-“Religion is tolerated in Cuba-it is
recognized here, as in most Communist
states, that to oppose organized religion
is to drive it underground and make it
stronger. But beyond the superficial
tolerance, there is subtle
discrimination.”
-“Though rural churches are usually
open only on Sundays-there is often
only one priest for four or five
parishes-one can find catechism classes
in session on a Saturday afternoon in
Havana. During our visit, March
23-April 1, we saw about 155 children
at a Saturday session. This was
described as ‘standard’ by a Catholic
who helped the priest with the classes.
Religion is particularly taught in the
same seasonal patterns as in
Canada-during Lent, the Stat'ons of the
Cross were being explained.”
-“At an early morning Mass in Old
Havana-unheralded by the ringing of
the cathedral bells-about 60 people,
nearly all middleaged or older, joined
with us in the sacrifice of the Mass. It
was subdued. Dressed in Sunday
best-dark, simple clothes, clean but
little else-the people gathered in the
tiny chapel adjoining the nave of the
famous Columbus Cathedral. They
joined a choir of three to the
accompaniment of a small
(continued on Page 2)
K of C Meet
Movies, TV
Pg. 6
Theological Change
Pg. 7
At 5:30 in the evening, Bishop
McDonald and Father Ware will
concelebrate another anniversary Mass
at Blessed Sacrament church. Father J.
Kevin Boland, pastor, will be the
homilist.
The Silver Jubilee activities will
conclude with a dinner for both
jubilarians and their families.
Bishop Raymond W. Lessard will
celebrate the Convention Mass on
Saturday, May 19th at 5:30 P.M. at the
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist for the
71st Annual State Convention of the
Knights of Columbus. Bishop Lessard
will be the principal speaker at the
banquet following the Mass at 8 P.M. at
the DeSoto Hilton Hotel.
2 Cardinals to Attend
Sav. Installation Rites
Cardinal Lawrence Shehan, Archbishop of Baltimore, and Cardinal
John Cody, Archbishop of Chicago will head a list of church dignitaries
including 7 archbishops, 23 bishops and one abbot at rites ordaining
Bishop-Elect Raymond Lessard to the Episcopacy and installing him as
the twelfth bishop of Savannah on Friday, April 27 at 4 p.m.
Driscoll of Fargo, Louis Reicker of
Austin, Tex., John Russell of
Richmond, Paul Tanner of St.
Augustine, William Borders of Orlando,
William Baum of Springfield, Mo.
(Archbishop-elect of Washington, D.C.);
The colorful ceremonies at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist will be
broadcast live and in full color by station WJCL-TV, Savannah affiliate of
the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
John Marshall of Burlington, Vt.,
Vincent Waters of Raliegh, Frederick
Freking of La Crosse, Wise, and Charles
McLaughlin of St. Petersburg.
In addition, 183 priests and more
than 125 women and men Religious will
be in attendance. Dozens of priests from
as far away as Rome, Italy, Los Angeles,
Seattle, and Juneau, Alaska and from
dioceses in the Northeast, Mid-west and
the South have signified their intention
to participate in the ceremonies.
Twenty-six relatives and members of
Bishop-elect Lessard’s family will also
witness the ordination and installation
rites, along with a delegation of 23
priests, Sisters and laity from various
cities in North Dakota, the
bishop-elect’s home State.
Homilist for the Mass will be
Archbishop Joseph Bernardin,
Archbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Archbishop Bernardin is a former
General Secretary of the United States
Catholic Conference (USCC).
At Bishop Lessard’s request,
Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan of
Atlanta will be the principal Ordaining
Prelate. Assisting him will be the Most
Rev. Joseph F. Gossman, auxiliary
bishop of Baltimore, and the Most Rev.
Justin Driscoll, bishop of Fargo, North
Dakota. Bishop Lessard was ordained a
priest in the Diocese of Fargo in 1956.
After serving four years as assistant
rector at Fargo’s St. Mary’s Cathedral
and instructor at Shanley High School
there, Bishop Lessard was appointed
personal secretary to the late Cardinal
Aloysius Muench, assigned to the
Roman Curia in 1960. After the
Cardinal’s death in 1962, Bishop
Lessard became Director of Villa
Stritch in Rome, a residence for
American priests working in Rome, and
in 1963 was named to the staff of the
Sacred Congregation for Bishops.
At the time of his appointment as
Bishop of Savannah, he headed the
American Desk at the Congregation.
Among the duties assigned to this office,
were the processing of appointments of
bishops in the United States, Canada
and the Philippines; the drawing of
boundary lines for dioceses and the
erection of new dioceses and the
monitoring of Episcopal Conferences
with regard to their operational
procedures under directives of Vatican
Council II.
In addition to the two Cardinals in
attendance at the Ordination rives, the
following members of the Hierarchy will
also be present:
Communications, Archbishop Coleman
Carroll of Miami, Archbishop John
Quinn of Oklahoma City.
Bishops Paul Reeves of the Episcopal
Diocese of Georgia, Andrew J.
McDonald of Little Rock, Gerard L.
Frey of Lafayette, La., Ernest
Unterkoefler of Charleston, John
Hodges of Wheeling, W.Va.;
Michael Begley of Charlotte, Justin
Auxiliary Bishops Joseph Imesch of
Detroit, Rene Gracida of Miami, George
Lynch of Raleigh, Joseph Gossman of
Baltimore and James Michaels of
Wheeling.
The lone Abbott attending will be
Egbert Donovan of Latrobe, Pa., former
headmaster of Savannah’s Benedictine
Military School.
FRIENDS -- Bishop Joseph L. Howze quickly made friends with the
children at St. John’s Day Care Center, Albany, N.Y., when the Bishop,
who is auxiliary of Natchez-Jackson, Miss., recently visited there. (NC
Photo by Kathleen Powers)
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HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
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Archbishop Thomas Donnellan, ' # #
Archbishop Bernardin, Archbishop John AlYlOriCQIIS NQITIOCi tO CliTIQ
Heston of the Vatican Office for Social
DCCW Plans
Local Committee Chairmen for the
1973 DCCW Convention to be held in
Columbus on May 5th and 6th have
been announced as follows:
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Three Americans were named by Pope Paul VI to be
members of top Vatican administrative offices. Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros of
Boston and Archbishop William W. Baum of Washington, D.C., were named members
of the Congregation for Catholic Education. Archbishop Joseph Bernardin of
Cincinnati was named a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
Bishop Faces Trial
Convention Co-Chairmen: - Mrs.
Melvin Hardy, Mrs. Cosmos Dokos;
Convention Treasurer - Mrs. Henry
Gallman; Registration Chairman - Mrs.
John Szymanski; Hospitality Chairman -
Mrs. Robert Nolan; Transportation
Chairman - Mrs. LeRoy Cunningham;
Decorations Chairman - Mrs. Charles
Watson; Pre-Convention Festivities
Chairman - Mrs. John Wolf.
The Convention will open Friday
May 4th with Registration in the lobby
of the Ralston Hotel, Columbus, from
7:00 to 8:00 p.m. A pre-Convention
party, hosted by the Columbus Deanery
Council, will take place Friday evening
at Holy Family Parish Hall, Columbus.
LONDON (NC) - The outspoken chairman of the Rhodesian Bishops’ Conference,
Bishop Donal Lamont of Umtali, returned to Rhodesia to face a possible trial for
sedition. Bishop Lamont said on a visit here that he expects the regime of Rhodesian
Prime Minister Ian Smith to put him on trial for his opposition to racism. The
bishop’s views, which he admits are not shared by all Catholic priests and laity in
Rhodesia, were published most recently in a Rhodesian Catholic wweekly
Program for Minority Policemen
MIAMI, Fla. (NC) - A $35,000 grant to develop a training program to assist Florida
and Georgia police agencies in recruiting minority officers has been awarded to
Biscayne College for Men operated here by the Augustinian Fathers of Villanova, Pa.
Awarded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration the grant is for a project
to determine what, if any, problems minority officers have encountered that are
unique to them and subsequently to determine what, if any, impact their current
training program provides to overcome these problems. Norman C. Kassoff, chairman
of the department of public administration at the college, will be the project director.