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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 15,1973
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The Southern Cross
Business Office 225 Abercorn St. Savannah, Ga. 31401
Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, D.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor John E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Send Change of Address to P.O. Box 10027, Savannah, Ga. 31402
Published weekly except the second and last weeks
in June, July and August and the last week in December.
At 601 E. Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Subscription Price $2.76 per year by Assement Parishes Diocese of Savannah Others $5 Per Year
Campaign
For Human Development
Catholics have grown accustomed to
second collections. About twelve times
each year they are asked to help some
worthy cause by contributing over and
above the amount which they give to
support their parish.
Sunday, November 18 we will be
asked to turn with compassion to the
poor people in our country. There are
35 million of them.
The money we contribute will be
pleasing to God for Jesus tells us, “I was
hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was
thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a
stranger and you took me in; naked and
you covered me . . .As long as you did it
for one of these, the least of my
brethern, you did it for me.” (Matthew
25:35 - 36,40)
The gospel tells us why we should
help the poor - we are all brothers in the
Lord. We help the poor because we love
all our brothers.
But the poor who receive our
sacrificial offering dropped in the basket
want to be helped with their self-respect
intact. That is why the Campaign for
Human Development deserves our
support. CHD insists that the money
distributed to the poor must be for “self
help.” The poor must demonstrate how
the money will help them help
themselves - and that is exactly how the
poor want to receive assistance. The
money we give to the poor through CHD
helps overcome the helplessness of the
poor, who are the victims of unfair
treatment. CHD helps give the poor the
same chance which other Americans
have had which has been denied the
poor.
Consider these facts! By U.S.
Government standards a family of four is
considered to be poor if the income is
below $4,200.00 a year. If a family of
four had that minimum income they
could spend $1.00 a day per person for
food; $110 a month for rent or
mortgage; $110 a month for clothing,
doctors, furniture, electricity, heat,
transportation, school expenses,
entertainment. By these standards 29
million Americans are poor for they do
not even have this minimum income. We
add another 6 or 9 million to the poor of
America when we acknowledge those
whose income is so marginal that it
cannot sustain any sudden emergency
such as job layoff, illness or injury.
Who are America’s poor? Again using
U.S. government figures we see 60% of
the poor are children under 18 or
persons over 65. Physical disability
accounts for 4% of the poor. 10% of the
poor are women between the ages of 19 -
64, most having dependents, who cannot
afford day care center. Statistics show
that 95% of the poor who are able to
work actually do work. Contrary to the
impression many have only 1% of
welfare recipients are able bodied men.
What does poverty do to a person? It
causes frustration and powerlessness.
Because they are poor, they cannot
influence political, government, social,
economic and educational systems or the
people who control them. They live in
fear and dependency.
Imagine how the father of a poor
family feels! He knows his children are
hungry. His wife has to struggle to make
ends meet. There is no money for nice
clothes. Recreation is not available for
there simply is no money to spend. A
vacation is out of the question.
The picture is grim, isn’t it? And when
we think of the affluence in our land,
poverty is sinful! We spend millions on
reducing pills and pet foods! A two
dollar movie is ordinary expenditure for
many. The latest fashions are all most of
us will wear.
We must as Pope Paul VI states,
“break the circle of poverty.” Let us be
thankful that we as Catholics have at
least attempted to organize a national
effort to meet our responsibilities in
justice to the poor of America. The
Campaign for Human Development is an
excellent way for each one of us to do
something. Dig down deep in your
pocket or purse! The poor are not
begging. They are seeking what is theirs
in justice.
If each of us shows compassion; if
each of us acknowledges the existence of
poverty; if each of us gives a truly
Christian response, we will better
understand the meaning of this year’s
slogan of the Campaign for Human
Development, “Making us all less poor.”
- FATHER JOSEPH WAHL, C O.
OUR PARISH
“Who cooked those wonderful turkey dinners
in the convent, Mary Ann?”
‘Professionalism’ Problems
In the Priesthood
Reverend John Reedy C.S.C.
Some time ago I did an interview with a
priest who travels around the country far more
than I do. Almost always he meets with groups
of priests from the local area.
I sought his impression of the mood of the
Church, as reflected in the concerns and
attitudes of these men. Behind my questioning
was the suspicion that the uproar and confusion
of recent years had less impact on the lives of
these priests than one would expect from the
passionate protests of pious propagandists.
(Spiro might be gone, but his impact lingers
on.)
The traveller confirmed my suspicion, but he
made an interesting distinction. He said there
was a good deal of confusion and unrest,
particularly in the priests’ inability to feel
secure, confident and committed in the services
they offered their people.
It’s hard, he explained, to whip up great
enthusiasm for a particular pastoral program if
you fear, at least in your emotions, that
somewhere an “expert” is writing an article or
an official is preparing a decree that will blow
that program out of the water.
Still, as he explained it, this concern exists
on a plane split off from the everyday work and
satisfaction experienced by most priests in their
services to parishioners.
“The real satisfaction,” he said, “which
keeps most of these men going — and makes
sense of their lives — has little to do with
hassles over theology and policy. It comes from
their own recognition of what they contribute
to people in the important moments of their
lives, in helping them celebrate the joys of
birth, marriage, a wedding anniversary, in
sharing their anxiety over difficult family
problems, in mourning with them as they
encounter disappointment, suffering and death.
All of this makes a lot of sense to me; I have
experienced such satisfaction; I have seen, with
some amazement, how much my presence can
mean to people in these moments.
However, because of my work, I usually
encounter such occasions only when they are
experienced by people who are close to me.
Because I am involved in their lives, I am also
affected by the emotions they are experiencing.
In such circumstances, it’s not too difficult
for me to express those feelings in the liturgy of
a funeral or a wedding. Though I hate the idea
of being an emotional dishrag, it’s not unusual,
in such circumstance, for my eyes to glaze over,
for my voice to break.
While I’m embarrassed by such a show of
emotion, I also understand that it can say more
to my friends than all my words can.
But what if I had three or four funerals a
week, along with two or three weddings? For
each of the families involved, this experience is
deeply personal and emotional. Aside from
things like glazed eyes and cracking voice, could
I really avoid “professionalizing” the service,
running through a liturgy, a formula which
would be a carbon copy of those offered a
hundred times a year?
I have been subjected to funeral home
services in which the house clergyman is
brought in for an all-purpose memorial
ceremony. Some of these have been grotesque
in their inappropriateness for the people being
served. Thank God, the Catholic liturgy has an
objectivity of ritual and significance which
avoids such a monstrosity, even if it often
seems cool and distant.
Most priests are, I believe, sensitive enough
to recognize the problem of professionalism —
of dealing with joys and sorrows as so many
“cases” or “jobs to be done.”
I’m impressed and bewildered by those
pastors who manage to break through this
difficulty, to communicate their personal
concern for the lives of many parishioners. At
the same time, I feel deep compassion for those
priests who cannot manage it; many of them
suffer with their own sense of this inadequacy.
A businessman, a professional man can find
meaning and satisfaction in his family even
when he has difficulty maintaining respect for
his work.
If a priest loses respect for his service, there
is nothing else. The emptiness is devastating.
This is a dimension of rectory life which
parishioners should understand; such
understanding might even enable some of them
to minister to the men who seek to serve them.
Someday I’ll Learn
To Say a Rosary
If the Blessed Mother scores points for
trying, I’m in good shape on my Rosaries. I
start lots of them. The trouble is, I rarely finish.
If I wait till I go to bed in the evening, I fall
asleep. If I start one during the day, I say
decades with 45 Hail Marys.
Distractions. Distractions. Distractions. I
begin; but here’s what happens:
THE ANNUNCIATION - good news brought
by a special messenger: the mailman is at the
door with a letter from a friend I haven’t heard
from in years. . . my daughter just came in
with a 100% on a test. . .
THE VISITATION - the sharing of good
news: I must run next door and thank my
Mary Carson
neighbor ... her daughter had been coaching
my child . .. before I forget, I’d better call my
mother. . .
THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD - the
Beginning: just look at the sun streaming in the
window on the first blossom on that
begonia... I’d better start a load of
laundry.. . and put supper on. . .
THE PRESENTATION - offering to God:
“Mom, can you pick me up at school?” “Mom,
will you help me with my homework?” “Mom,
I caught my jacket, and it ripped a bit. Could
you mend it?”
THE FINDING IN THE TEMPLE - the joy
of seeing Christ: my little one is coming, a
grubby fist offering a bunch of wildflowers . ..
arrange a bouquet with her. . . wash her up.
Nothing is quite as radiant as a freshly scrubbed
little face . . . especially one glowing with
satisfaction . . .
THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN - mental
suffering: my daughter is late getting home . . .
Dear God, help my son make a good impression
on his interview ... I wish they’d call... . .
THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR -
physical pain: I’m so tired ... I must get more
sleep .. . my legs are killing me . . . but I’d
better go get the rest of the laundry . . .
THE CROWNING WITH THORNS - honor
to disgrace: the paper’s just come. . . my
heavens ... on the front page ... he was such a
fine boy ... his parents so proud of him ... I
wonder what made him do it. . .
THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS - the
strength to go oon: look at these food
prices . .. well, I’m going to do my grocery
shopping, and I’m going to stay within my
budget. . . somehow . . .
THE CRUCIFIXION - final, irreversible: the
garage just called. They can’t fix the car. While
supper’s cooking, I’ll dust the living room. I’ve
dropped the plate from my
great-grandmother . .. shattered . . . and what is
that smell? Supper’s burning!
THE RESURRECTION -- renewed Spirit:
okay, I’ve salvaged the supper. . . Grandma’s
plate is glued ... it won’t be the same, but it
will still remind me of her . . . and as for the
car. . .
THE ASCENSION - going ahead to new
frontiers: my husband has just called, and he
has been promoted in his job . . . maybe we can
re-paint the kitchen this week-end. . .
“Mommy, come meet my new friend.”
THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT -
inspiration: a conversation with my
daughter ... the words came just right. .. she
had been in such turmoil. . . what a joy to have
helped her . . .
THE ASSUMPTION - the lifting of a
Mother’s Spirit: what a pleasure, to survey a
clean living room... to hear the children
laughing . .. my husband will be home from
work any moment now . ..
THE CORONATION - honor to a Mother:
“Gee, Mom. This dinner tastes good!”
So many distractions.
When Jesus brought the Blessed Mother a
bunch of wildflowers in His grubby little fist, I
wonder if He had to wait till she finished her
prayers?
O’Connor
Meet Archie
Joe Brieg
Carroll O’Connor does not understand
Archie Bunker.
Let us be emphatic about it. O’Connor does
not come within miles of understanding Archie,
whom he plays in the remarkable television
series, “All in the Family.”
To me, this astonishing conclusion seems
inescapable in the light of an interview with
O’Connor which was published in the October
issue of St. Anthony Messenger.
O’Connor, as quoted by the Messenger’s
associate editor, Franciscan Father Jack Wintz,
comes across as something of a solemn,
humorless, knee-jerk liberal - much more so,
even, than the son-in-law whom Archie calls
“Meathead.” Either that, or O’Connor felt that
he must spout the camp-follower liberal line,
lest he be dismissed as weird in the weird world
known as Hollywood.
Pause upon that point. Liberalism once
involved large-heartedness, reasonableness,
tolerance, kindliness, good humor and
willingness to listen for the truth in every point
of view.
Nowadays, either you obediently parrot the
liberal positions, or the liberals consign you to
outer darkness as a stone-age reactionary. The
only freedom of expression which today’s
“liberals” really respect is their own. They
screech against censorship, but themselves
exercise a deadening censorship of intellectual
and journalistic tyranny.
Carroll O’Connor, in the Messenger
interview, struck me as much more innocently
and compulsively “liberal” than Archie Bunker
is innocently and compulsively bigoted.
Further, Archie’s bigotry is profoundly human,
sincere and even warmhearted behind his gruff
exterior, whereas O’Connor’s liberalism seemed
like a needle stuck in a phonograph record.
O’Connor told Father Wintz, without
qualifications or distinctions, that he favors
all-out amnesty, “women’s lib,” optional
celibacy for priests, and more involvement of
the clergy in politics. I doubt that his
understanding of any of these matters is more
than skin deep.
And O’Connor said further (I quote) “Archie
Bunker is a man who is having a sour life, who
comes home every day mad at the world . . .
and whose inability to get joy out of life is due
to his fundamental errors.”
Bosh. Carroll O’Connor should leave the
interpreting of Archie Bunker to the writers
who created him and keep him alive and well.
Archie gets more real joy out of life in half an
hour than a thousand solemn “liberals” in a
thousand years. Does O’Connor really not
realize that Archie loves Edith, and Gloria, and
the Meathead, and his black neighbors, and the
guys at the neighborhood bar, with a great
secret love and happiness which his hidden
sentimentalism will not allow him to show
openly?
A Covenant
For Thought
Rev. Joseph Dean
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Do you have a personal covenant with God?
Do you have any agreement or personal
contract with the Lord Jesus? Many people do.
We can enter into a covenant with God only
because He has already offered a covenant to
us. He had made us promises that we can accept
and even claim. We can base our lives on these
promises and make promises of our own. We
can promise to turn to Him, to reach out for
what He has to offer, to accept His life, and to
let His other sons and daughters in His covenant
help us.
We can make an agreement with the Lord to
do whatever will allow God to give us the gifts
He has for us. One activity is to pray and to
meditate daily on His sacred word. Another is
to share with others in prayer, in discussion, in
growing in the life of the spirit.
As a beginning we can make an agreement to
read one chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel each day,
or at least 10 verses.
To make this covenant with God, say the
following prayer:
Father, I want to find a new relationship
with you and the new life you are promising. I
want to know you more fully. I want to have
you change my life and give me the power to
live in a better way.
To allow you to do this, I promise to set
aside 15 minutes each day to seek you on my
own, to pray with some church community
each week, and to share with others in how I
am growing and what difficulties I am
experiencing.
I wish to allow you the chance to give me
those things you have promised.
Help me realize that a covenant is a way of
entering into a personal relationship of
committed love with you. Amen.