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The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 54 No. 31
Thursday, September 13,1973
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
Holy Trinity Church -- century-old landmark in downtown Augusta
100 YEAR-OLD AUGUSTA EDIFICE
Holy Trinity Church Re-dedicated
By Rev. F.J. Donohue
More than forty priests from all areas
of the Savannah diocese and from the
Diocese of Charleston, S.C.
concelebrated a Mass dedicating 110
year-old church of the Most Blessed
Trinity in Augusta on Aug. 29. Principal
celebrant and homilist was Bishop
Raymond W. Lessard.
In attendance were hundreds of the
laity of Holy Trinity and Augusta’s
other parishes as well as a large group of
the city’s Religious.
tribute to “the glories of our ancestors
in the faith, of priests and people who
were determined against formidable
odds to build for themselves a worthy
house of God, to make of themselves a
worthy people of God.”
He said that the history of Holy
Trinity parish “is marked with the trials
of pioneers and the consolations of their
burning faith and persevering hope,”
but noted that “it is the history of
contemporary citizens as well, of us
today, as we struggle in the new
circumstances of current needs to give
expression as God’s people to that same
faith and hope.”
The bishop defined a parish as “first
and foremost an assembly of believers
gathered together to pray . . .to worship
God as a family, to celebrate together
the great mysteries of our salvation.”
Citing the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist as “the greatest act” of the
parish family, and as a source of unity
(Continued on Page 2)
STEPS-UP BOYCOTT
Chavez Eases Picketing
The United Farm Workers Union
(UFWU) has sharply reduced its
picketing in California and sent 500
farm worker families to 63 cities in the
East to help spur the nationwide
boycott of lettuce and grapes.
The Teamsters Union, which is
locked in a battle with the UFWU for
the right to organize the farm workers,
maintains that the shift in UFWU
strategy has come about because the
Cesar Chavez-led UFWU has virtually
lost the struggle and is looking for
tactics which will rejuvenate the union.
All UFWU picketing in California -
except for two ranches - has ended
because, according to a UFWU
spokesman in San Francisco, the $1.6
million given to the union by the
AFL-CIO, the parent organization, has
been depleted.
Although sending 500 families to 63
cities will take much money, the
spokesman said, the total will be less
than having to pay strike benefits to
people on the picket line.
An additional 300 families will be
sent to major cities in the West after the
UFWU’s constitutional convention Sept.
21-23 in Fresno, Calif.
The emphasis on the nationwide
boycott, the UFWU spokesman siad,
was taken also because the UFWU could
“no longer insure the safety of the
members” who were on the picket line.
One UFWU member was killed on
the picket line, and another was killed
in a controversial incident involving a
policeman.
A spokesman for the Teamsters said
he did not think the boycott would be
any more effective than the recent
picketing.
He also noted that sending 500
families to various cities in the East
would “cost a lot of money.”
The charge that the UFWU strikers
would not be safe on the picket line, the
Teamsters spokesman said, is untrue
because “they brought on their own
violence.”
“CHARITY UNLIMITED”
Hospice Marks 10th Anniversary
PHILADELPHIA (NC) - “These men
needed dignity, a chance to sit down at
a table and eat a meal, a clean place to
sleep, free of lice, roaches and vermin.”
Msgr. Anthony O’Neill was explaining
why he started St. John’s Hospice, a
place where lonely and hungry men can
come not only for a free meal but also
for a night’s rest in a clean bed.
Since its foundation 10 years ago, St.
John’s has served more than three
million meals, provided more than
200,000 nights’ shelter, given out more
than a million articles of clothing and
assisted more than a thousand needy
families.
All this has been done free, no
questions asked, in accordance with the
motto of the Little Brothers of the
Good Shepherd who staff the hospice:
“Charity Unlimited.”
Those who have come to the hospice
here for food or lodging “range in age
from 21 to 72,”. said Brother Mark,
director of the hospice. “Some have
personal problems, with their wives,
their families, alcohol or drugs. Some
are former mental patients. The only
common denominators are hunger and
loneliness. That’s why they come here.”
Before he started the hospice, Msgr.
O’Neill, pastor of St. John the
Evangelist parish in Philadelphia’s Skid
Row section, had been handing out 400
sandwiches a day to down-and-outers
who came to the rectory.
“Most of these men were not
alcoholics, but people who couldn’t
cope with the pressures of daily living,
and accepted rather than wanted the life
of a transient,” Msgr. O’Neill said. “We
would do what we could for them at the
rectory, but there were too many of
them, and we couldn’t turn the rectory
into a soup kitchen or a men’s
dormitory. We needed to find another
place.”
without food, from the day it first
opened.”
“The men are amazed to find out
that there are no strings attached,”
Msgr. O’Neill said. “We never coerce
them into attending Mass or devotions -
we invite them, and they can come if
they wish. We never ask or encourage
them to rehabilitate themselves - we
help them if they wish. We offer them a
chance to come to God, which they can
avail themselves of if they wish.”
“We think we have been able to
rehabilitate some of them,” he said,
“but only God knows the real results.”
“SKID ROW” HOME FOR MEN -- Msgr. Anthony J. O’Neill (right)
talks with Brother Mark, director of St. John’s Hospice for Men in
Philadelphia.
If
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
"Not Really Living”
An ecumenical note was struck by the
presence, in choir robes, of Father
Harry Shipps, Rector of St. Alban’s
Episcopal church, Augusta.
In his homily, Bishop Lessard paid
INSIDE STORY
School Aid
Pg. 2
Privacy in Danger
Pg. 3
Book Review
Pg. 6
Rosary
Pg. 7
BISHOP AND PRIESTS listen to a liturgical reading during dedication
Mass. In the sanctuary are (1. to r.) Father John Kenneally, an unidentified
altar boy, Father Michael Burke, Bishop Lessard, Father William O’Neil,
Father William Simmons, pastor of Holy Trinity parish.
He looked for a building outside the
Skid Row area - “I didn’t want to be
too close to the taverns” - and in
September, 1962, Cardinal (then
Archbishop) John Krol of Philadelphia
gave permission to buy the building that
has housed the hospice.
Earlier that year, Msgr. O’Neill, on a
visit to New Orleans, had become
familiar with the work of the Little
Brothers of the Good Shepherd, an
order founded in 1951 by Brother
Matthias Barrett to serve the “men of
the road.” Archbishop Krol arranged
with Brother Matthias to have four
Brothers brought to Philadelphia.
After renovating the building, the
Brothers began a process that has
continued through the years, making
the rounds of food wholesalers and
retailers to seek their help.
“Most of these merchants are
Jewish,” Msgr. O’Neill pointed out,
“and we had thought that our job
would be difficult, but they were eager
to help, and we can thank our Jewish
friends that the hospice has never been
WINTER PARK, Fla. (NC) - “Five specialists told us he was not really living,” saio
Mrs. Lester Wojcik, whose son Paul had been injured beyond recovery in an autc
accident. The tubes of the artificial respirator “simply forced his breath in and out,’
she said. The Wojciks said they were told by the doctors that Paul could be kept alive
but his brain was so severly damaged that the machines registered no activity. In
addition, the doctors said his condition would deterioriate quickly and two persons
were hovering near death in need of kidney transplants. After consulting with their
parish priest, the Wojciks agreed to let the doctors stop Paul’s life-support systems and
use his kidneys to save the lives of the other patients.
Priest Raps Bishops
St. PAUL, Minn. (NC) - A pastor in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese took out a
full-page ad in the Catholic Bulletin here to denounce the bishops of Minnesota for
their support of the United Farm Workers’ Union. Msgr. Arthur H. Durand objected to
the endorsement by the bishops of a boycott of grapes and lettuce. He said the United
Farm Workers movement has from its earliest beginnings been linked “with the
Communist network of revolutionalry front organizations and aspirations.”
Confession to be Aired?
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (NC) -- The bishops of Kentucky and Tennessee formally
requested a general discussion at the next U.S. bishops’ meeting on the Vatican’s
recent declaration concerning first confession and first Communion. The declaration
called for an end to all experiments in delaying first confession until after first
Communion. A discussion of the declaration and its implementation “will
undoubtedly be of great interest and concern to the body of bishops,” Archbishop
Thomas McDonough of Louisville said in requesting the discussion.