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SERVING 88 SOUTH GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 54 No. 19
Thursday, May 10, 1973
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
BROTHERLY LOVE and peace were demonstrated
by Pope Paul VI and Coptic Patriarch Shenouda III of
Alexandria, Egypt, with an embrace and exchange of
messages in St. Peter’s Basilica (May 6). The Coptic
Church thus moves into closer relations with Rome,
from which it has been formally separated for more
than 1,500 years. Patriarch Shenouda, who called this
separation a “sad inheritance,” is the leader of an
estimated 22 million Coptic Christians in Egypt,
Ethiopia and other countries of the Near East. (NC
Photo)
Pope, Coptic Patriarch Meet
BY JAMES C. O’NEILL
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The kiss of
peace between two ancient Christian
Churches that have been divided for
more than 1,500 years on theological
problems was offered in the solemnity
of St. Peter’s Basilica May 6 by Pope
Paul VI and Coptic Orthodox Patriarch
Amba Shenouda III of Egypt.
Pope Paul and Patriarch Shenouda
took part in a ceremony in St. Peter’s to
mark the 16th centenary of the death of
St. Athanasius the Great, honored by
both Churches as one of the most
important saints of the early Church.
The patriarch was the guest of Pope
Paul for a full week in Rome -- May
4-10. On May 6, he attended a Mass
presided over by Pope Paul in St.
Peter’s. Above the Altar of the Chair of
St. Peter, the bronze figure of St.
Athanasius loomed large in his figurative
support of the Roman Catholic papacy.
The Pope spoke in Italian and
recalled that ‘cultural, political, as well
as theological reasons, have been used to
justify, and even deepen, a division”
between the two churches. But, he
INSIDE STORY
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"Know Your Faith"
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Maritain Era
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added, it was a division “that should
never have existed.
“We cannot ignore,” he continued,
“this painful inheritance. We recognize
we must do much to overcome these
wicked effects. Above all, we are
determined to make sure that this sad
inheritance will not continue to
influence our relations.”
The Coptic patriarch, commenting in
English on the ancient differences said
that “after 15 centuries of study,
examination and controversy both on
theological and public levels, we are
undoubtedly on much nearer grounds
than our ancestors of the fifth and sixth
centuries.”
Patriarch Shenouda said that tensions
between the two churches have been
greatly reduced over the centuries and
added:
“The world of today, suffering from
movements of athestic, materialistic,
sceptic or immoral natures, is in a
drastic need for the cooperation of
churches so that proper human
conscience will find support in the 20th
century.”
Both Pope Paul and the patriarch
touched on the mutual exchange of
messages, visits and gestures of good will
that have foreshadowed the present
visit. Among them was the Pope’s
decision in 1968 to return to the Cairo
offices of the patriarch a relic of St.
Mark the Evangelist that had been
preserved in Venice for centuries after
the spread of Islam through what once
had been the “Christian East.”
Reviewing the developments on both
a personal and theological level since the
beginning of the council in 1962, Pope
Paul said: “We recognize in these events
the sign of God: “This is the favorable
moment which the Lord is giving to us.
“We share with Your Holiness the
determination to take advantage of
these signs, with the full awareness that
there still exist some obstacles on the
theological, psychological and
institutional level to overcome. We do
not deny they exist, but we refuse to be
afraid.”
The patriarch said he welcomes a
movement toward common action
between the two churches and declared:
“May we, through His providence,
which is the work of the Holy Spirit,
and for the sake of His kingdom, find a
proper place for Him in every heart and
exhort the expansion of love, goodness,
peace and justice in His world.”
Political overtones were almost
completely absent from the patriarch’s
talk, but there seemed to be some
political import in his concluding
remarks. The patriarch, who heads a
church that is among the largest and
most ancient churches of the Middle
East and who lives in Cairo, mingled the
themes of the heavenly and earthly
Jerusalem in closing his address to Pope
Paul.
“At this historic moment of this
blessed day,” the patriarch said, “lift
our hearts to heavenly Jerusalem, where
we all hope to have lodging. Around the
sacred throne of the one God gather the
angels and human saints as one family,
headed by one Lord and Father whom
we all worship, serve and feel happy to
watch.
“We also remember the earthly
Jerusalem, the city of God, in whose
streets He strode and taught, where he
was crucified, died and rose again from
the dead and ascended to the sky.
“We cannot forget the sufferings of
the Holy Land and the Middle East,
which was blessed by Christ’s world and
life during the period of Incarnation.”
The patriarch’s final words were:
“May Christ’s love move us to exert
more common effort for the return of
peace to the land of peace -- a peace
based on justice and truth . . .May we
worship Him with righteousness all our
life. We humbly beg for Your Holiness
and the Church all peace from the Lord,
to whom glory and reverence be forever,
Amen.”
Holy Year Is Announced;
Theme - “Reconciliation”
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- The new Holy Year announced by Pope Paul
VI May 9 is devoted to the theme “Reconciliation” and is aimed at the
“interior renewal of man.”
Each bishops’ conference throughout the world is to establish a special
committee to direct national observances of the Holy Year, which begins
Pentecost Sunday, June 10, and ends in 1975. Observances of the Holy
Year will actually go on for about two years.
Cardinal Jean Villot, papal secretariat
of the state, in a letter to the world’s
bishops, said that the coming Holy Year
will have a “new character” and new
emphases distinguishing it from previous
observances of this kind. The last Holy
Year was celebrated in 1950.
A Holy Year is a time when special
indulgences are granted to Catholics
under certain conditions. So-called
ordinary Holy Years are those that
occur at regular intervals (every 25 years
in modem times). Extraordinary ones
may be proclaimed at any time for some
special reason.
A document -- entitled “The
Essential Characteristics of the Holy
Year -- that accompanied the cardinal’s
letter explained that the new Holy Year
will have “a special significance, in that
it coincides with the 10th anniversary of
the closing of the Second Vatican
Council, which was meant as a solemn
appeal of the Church to all her members
to undertake for the salvation of the
world a profound renewal of spirit,
structures and pastoral organization.”
Unlike previous Holy Years, which
were first celebrated in Rome, this
observance will begin in the local
churches, with activities converging on
Rome in 1975.
“The purpose of this procedure,” the
document explains, “is to ensure that
the Holy Year is brought home
personally to every member of the
Christian community, to underline the
importance of the local churches in
harmony with the spirit of the Second
Vatican Council, and finally to avoid
the situation in which it would become
a privilege of the category of people
who have the means to go to Rome.”
Speaking of the pilgrimages to Rome
in 1975, the document says these
should be “representative of the local
churches from which the various groups
come; these latter will be aware of the
spiritual burden which they fraternally
undertake.”
The Vatican document concludes
with directives to bishops’ conferences
throughout the world for organizing and
carrying out Holy Year activities.
Among these it urges efforts “as far as
possible to secure the participation of
the separated brethren . . .in order to
have cooperation in the areas of piety,
charity and penance . .
“Care shall likewise be taken to give
to the celebration of the Holy Year a
radiating expansion reaching the widest
sectors of humanity, including those
who do not believe, by involving them
at least in those initiatives that have as
their common purpose reconciliation
and peace.”
The Vatican document says also that
“the Church is aware that a return to
God is indispensable in order also to
attain the reestablishment of Christian
unity and in order to give peace to all
men, who are striving for tranquility in
the midst of disquieting events.”
In view of these considerations, the
document continues, “the coming Holy
Year will have as its fundamental
purpose the Christian’s commitment to
an act of profound conversion,
‘metanoia,’ that brings him closer to
God and affects the ecclesial
community and temporal communities
as well.”
“It will be a great penitential act
involving the whole people of God and
leading it, through meditation, prayer
and the celebration of the Eucharist, to
a deeper and hoped-for personal and
community reform.”
In summary, the document says,
“the Holy Year will offer to all men the
opportunity for genuine reflection upon
the basic values of life directed towards
a new seeking for Christ.”
“The Holy Year will be concerned
more with the interior life of the spirit
than with the external manifestations; it
will be directed toward the world that
the Church wishes to serve, that the
world may believe . . .
“It will call for and promote works
of piety, penance and charity, as a sign
of renewal in faith and as the condition
for gaining the indulgences which will
be more abundantly granted in the
name of and as the gift of the infinite
and almighty saving mercy of the
Lord.”
JACQUES MARITAIN DIES -
Jacques Maritain, the renowned
Roman Catholic philosopher who
has been reckoned among this
century’s most influential
thinkers, died in Toulouse,
France, April 28, at a religious
community house where he lived
in retirement since 1960. He was
90 years old. (RNS Photo)
Telecast
May 20th
WJCL-TV (Channel 22)
will re-broadcast the
ordination and installation of
Bishop Raymond W. Lessard
at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May
20th.
Savannah’s ABC Network
station aired the installation
live on April 27th and is
re-broadcasting the event for
those who missed it or wish
to view it again.
Franciscans to Celebrate Jubilee
BY SISTER MARIAN O.S.F.
Elizabeth Hayes born in Guernsey,
England, the daughter of an Anglican
Minister, was destined to be led by the
Spirit through many paths before
becoming the Foundress of the
Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the
Immaculate Conception.
This year marks the Centenary of the
establishment of her Community in the
United States.
On Sunday, May 20, at 3:00 p.m.,
Bishop Lessard will celebrate a Mass of
thanksgiving in the Cathedral in honor
of the Sisters’ Centenary. All are invited
to attend and to join with the
Franciscan Sisters in offering their
gratitude to God for His many graces
and blessings over the past one hundred
years.
Mother Mary Ignatius Hayes, in
1855, while the Abbess of an Anglican
Congregation, became a convert to
Catholicism and was inspired to seek the
fulfillment of her ardent desire to bring
Christ to all those who as yet did not
know Him. Her burning zeal for the
salvation of souls strongly urged her to
found a Congregation devoted to the
foreign missions.
In 1866, Pope Pius IX sanctioned the
rule of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters
of the Immaculate Conception as
presented to him by Mother Ignatius.
He urged her to set to work wherever
she could do good, it was not until
1873 that Mother Ignatius’ hopes were
realized and her first mission in America
was opened in Belle Prairie, Minnesota.
Mother Mary
Ignatius of Jesus
In December, 1878, with the serene
faith characteristic of the strong and
unbounded reliance on Divine
Providence Mother Ignatius temporarily
left Belle Prairie in search of other
mission fields.
The choice of a field of labor lay in
Augusta, Georgia for her first
foundation among the Black people.
The prospect of assistance from these
Missionary Sisters was warmly
welcomed, and through the earnest
entreaties of Rev. Father McMahon,
pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Augusta,
Mother Mary Ignatius was influenced to
open an orphanage for girls there.
In 1897, a second mission was
established in the South when the
Sisters agreed to undertake the
administration of an orphanage for girls
in Savannah. This home was, in 1897,
under the direction of a community of
Black Sisters - Mother Beasley and three
companions. It was in response to the
earnest request of Mother Beasley for
help that the Franciscans’ second
foundation in Georgia was begun.
As to Mother Beasley and her
community - one died shortly after the
Franciscans took charge of the home;
another left to join a Black congregation
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