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PAGE 8—The Southern Cross, December 6,1973
DCCW Notes
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SISTER JULIE MILLER OF SAVANNAH, takes lessons on the ancient
Japanese instrument, the “Koto,” from two Tokyo friends. Sister Julie is
an apt pupil being already an accomplished musician. Sister Julie Miller is
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Miller, Savannah. She is a graduate of
St. Vincent’s Academy, Savannah, and of Mary Rogers College, New
York. She has lived in Japan since 1969.
Maryknoll Sisters
Work in Japan
BY FR. MICHAEL SMITH
GUEST COLUMNIST
WHOSE CONCEPTION WAS
IMMACULATE?
Was it Jesus’? Mary’s? or both? I’ve
asked this question in slightly different
words a number of times on the
occasion of this feast. Frequently I have
been amused to find out that many
Catholics faithfully observing the
holyday are celebrating the wrong
conception.
Asked about the Immaculate
Conception they will tell you that it
refers to Jesus being born without the
help of a human father, without the use
of sex. Of course this is also an
orthodox Catholic belief, but it is
properly called the doctrine of the
“Virgin Birth.” The Immaculate
Conception refers to the conception of
Mary, not that of her son.
Once we straighten out to what we
are referring in the doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception it still has not
had a lot of meaning for many
Catholics. It was a big day, the patronal
feast of the United States, a day you
went to Mass. But somehow it lacked a
whole lot of personal meaning. In fact,
the doctrine seemed to make Mary so
holy, so pure, so unique, that she was
way out of our reach.
Would it not be incongruous, though,
if she who was so intimately involved in
God’s great effort to draw as close to
man as possible should end up above
our human lot?
To capture the real meaning of the
doctrine we have to start off by
realizing that Mary is a creature of God
-- made out of nothing -- just like
ourselves. All she has and is comes from
Him. The doctrine of her full and
complete victory over sin is not meant
to put her out of our class. It is meant
to be a living proof of what God can do
for those “in our class.”
Mary was one of our class. But she
was also the one of us who became most
intimately involved with Jesus. Her life
was not only touched by Him, it was all
wrapped up in Him. Because of this, sin
had no hold on her. She is a concrete
sign to us of what Jesus can do. The
victory He gave to her is the victory He
came to win for all men.
All of us need a little more hope.
Really we need a lot more. So often we
are just not what we ought to be. At
times we feel intensly the burden of our
weakness. Almost despite ourselves it
seems we keep doing the same old
things, over and over again. And it is not
just us, but all around us. Our world is
not what it ought to be. Somehow we
have to believe things can get better.
Our Catholic understanding of Mary
can help us have this kind of hope. We
can look to her and have a living proof
of what Jesus can do with the likes of
us. The bishops assembled at Vatican II
put this very beautifully when they
wrote:
“In the bodily and spiritual glory
which she possesses in heaven, the
Mother of Jesus continues in this
present world as the image and first
flowering of the Church as she is to be
perfected in the world to come.
Likewise, Mary shines forth on earth,
until the day of the Lord shall come, as
a sign of sure hope and solace for the
pilgrim People of God.” (Constitution
on the Church)
Hail Mary. You are full of grace, full
of the grace that your Son intends also
for us. Pray for us sinners, pray that we
and our whole world will share more
fully in the victory He has already
shared so completely with you.
TV HIGHLIGHTS
DECEMBER 9th, Sunday 1-1:30
p.m. (ABC) DIRECTIONS: “New
Church Music” - a documentary on
contemporary directions in liturgical
music.
DECEMBER 9th Sunday 5-6 p.m.
(NBC) RELIGIOUS SPECIAL: “The
Subject of Dying.”
DECEMBER 10th, Monday
7:30-8:00 p.m. (PBS) MCKONEY’S
FERRY: CHRISTMAS 1776. Comforts
of home, Christmas Eve 1973, will
contrast with Christmas Eve 1776 as
George Washington’s victories at the
Battle of Trenton are recreated.
DECEMBER 12th, Wednesday
9:30-10:00 p.m. (PBS) WOMAN: “THE
WORKING MOTHER AND DAY
CARE” - an investigation of day care
centers, different types available, how
to set up centers, and a look at new
legislation concerning day care.
BY SR. PATRICIA JACOBSEN, M.M.
In highly institutionalized Japan
where nearly everyone is literate and the
high standards of education are
centrally regulated, top-flight Keio
University invites an American Sister to
teach English in its high school and
college divisions. From Keio will come
many of Japan’s future professionals
and leaders. Maryknoll Sister Maria
Albrecht, who has lived in Japan for ten
years, accepted the invitation and now
teaches five classes of 40 pupils each
two days a week. She has also taught
English to Buddhist monks, students of
a Buddhist school, kindergartners,
neighborhood children and
businessmen. Three days a week she
goes into Tokyo’s dwindling slums to
work in the nursery school and other
projects of Friendship Volunteers, an
ecumenical group she has been
associated with for more than three
years.
Nearly every Maryknoll Sister in
Japan is a part-time or full-time English
teacher. Sister Kathleen Callanan, a
physicist working at a government
research laboratory, teaches English
after work hours. Sister Mary
McCormack teaches English in an Osaka
college when she is not translating
Japanese folklore into English. When a
Japanese school was opened in Hong
Kong, Sister Mary Berchmans Flynn was
asked to head the English studies
program and participate in all school
activities.
Why a demand for English that
reaches even into monasteries?
“It is painful for me to hear that the
present Japanese passion for studying
English is only for its practical use in
business, tourism and traveling,” says
Maryknoll Sister Suga Fujino whose
first contact with Westerns was at the
age of 19 in her town of Ise, famous for
Shinto shrines and cultured pearls.
“Why do Japanese want to study
English? It is a necessity. In their
travels, what are they running after?
They are searching for their place in the
world community.”
Sister Suga strongly believes that we
profit not only from getting to know
something of another’s culture but that
study of another culture greatly assists
us in knowing our own. “I have learned
more about myself from being with
Westerners. I can appreciate my own
culture far better than before. And I
hope that along with learning something
of Japanese culture, Westerners in Ise
and in other parts of Japan know
themselves and their culture better. This
is one of the most important signs that
we are bridging cultures and enriching
one another.
“The Japanese have worked very hard
for the prosperity they now have. Not
many years ago most were struggling to
get enough to eat. And when people
work so hard, they reach a point where
they ask, ‘What are we doing?’
“People in Japan are not satisfied
with their life as it is. They know that
they, too, are exploiting people and
resources in less developed countries.
They do not see clearly what they
should do about it but they want to do
something. The younger generation is
ready to begin. ”
One effort has been a peace corps,
the Japanese Overseas Cooperation
Volunteers, founded in 1965 and now
sending 325 volunteers to eight
countries in Asia and Africa. Sister Julie
Miller has been working with this group
teaching English and other cultural
subjects. Another effort is PHP (Peace,
Happiness, Prosperity) magazine that
encourages writers from all over the
world to share their values and discover
what they have in common.
Sight-seeing is far from being the
chief reason for the upsurge of Japanese
tourists, in the opinion of Sister Suga.
Tourism also represents a search to see
one’s people in relation to others. The
search is greatly facilitated when they
have the language to communicate with
others.
When 40 students from Kawai Jyuku
School for adult education and college
preparatory courses returned from their
study tour of the U.S. two years ago,
they agreed that the highlight of the
experience was the two weekends they
spent as guests of American families in
Greenwich, Connecticut and Albany,
New York. During the five week stay at
Pace College in Pleasantville, New York,
they studied English every morning with
Maryknoll Sisters at Mary Rogers
College. Because they knew so little
English they had worried about staying
with families, about being separated
from the group.
But security is not the only reason
Japanese form groups wherever they go.
This is part of their formation from
earliest childhood, Sister Suga explains.
“We are never alone. The sliding doors
between rooms in our homes are very
thin - unlike the heavy walls and thick
doors that close off rooms in your
homes - and we can always feel the
‘vibrations’ of those on the other side of
the partition. We cannot think of
ourselves apart from the group.”
Japanese appreciate, however, that in
Western cultures and in Christianity
there is much emphasis on the
individual and they are interested in
individual and Christian values. Sister
Margaret Sehlstedt, who teaches English
at Jesuit-run Sophia University in
Tokyo, feels that by seeing the life of
the Christian community in the convent
where students are welcome, in the
University, in the parish, Japanese
students see how individual and group
values merge and serve one another.
Maryknoll Sisters working in Japan
try to be available for whativer the
Japanese ask of them, in pastoral and
social fields as well as educational. They
operate one school, a high school in
Yokkaichi, opened in 1963 at the
request of the people there to help take
care of a sudden influx in population
when several large chemcial companies
moved there. But for the most part
Sisters work in a variety of institutions.
With Sister Margaret Sehlstedt at Sophia
are Sister Mary Nagashima, who also
teaches English, Sister Rose Marie
Ceccini, teaches the sociology of
religion, and Sister Jean Michalec, who
teaches biochemistry.
One of the reasons Sister Kathleeen
Callanan is so welcome at the
government research laboratory is that
she influences attitudes toward failure
in research. In an achievement-oriented
society where failure is especially
humbling and where further funds may
depend on successes, Sister Kathleen is
helping young researchers to expect and
accept failures in research that often
yield new understandings and future
successes. Sister Sophia Aihara teaches
English literature at Sacred Heart
School in Tokyo.
By teaching English and by their
presence in a variety of educational
works, the Sisters hope to help their
Japanese students better communicate
on a practical level, but more than that,
to admit them to the thinking in other
cultures and to friendship with persons
formed by these cultures.
MEDICAL
HOME
Accommodations for 31 Patients
Planned Socials
TV m Every Room
Chorus and Church Service Weekly
• RN Living on Premises
• Semi-Private Rooms
•Special Diets
• Nurses On Duty
24 Hours A Day
Supervisor - Mrs. Tina Von Waldner, R.N.
Administrator - Charles Von Waldner
Individual Care • Catholic Management
Regular Staff With Chief Of Staff
5609 Skidaway Rd. Phone 354-2752
Savannah
Can it
Liberty National
Bank
A Trust Company of Georgia Affiliate
Member FDIC
' >
Around The Diocese
<— —>
Obituaries
* I Mrs. Duella H. Hallman of Augusta, November 28th
* Mr. Charles Walsh Groves of Savannah, November 28th
* Mr. Robert Crotty McLaughlin of Savannah, November 28th
* Mr. Nicholas Joseph Frizelle of Savannah, November 29th
* Mr. Lawrence R. Arndt of Savannah, November 29th
* Mrs. Maria Gude formerly of Savannah, December 1st
* Miss Patricia C. Brown of Savannah, December 1st
* Mrs. Dorothy McDonough McNally of Savannah, December 1st
* Mr. Addison M. Hilton of Savannah, December 2nd
Marriages
Miss Frances Regina Goettler and Mr. George Edward Perry Jr. both of
Savannah, Ga., November 25 in the Nativity of Our Lord Church, Thunderbolt,
Ga.
Miss Rosa Margarita Diaz and Mr. William Michael Doggette, both of Augusta,
Ga., November 30 in St. Joseph Church, Augusta.
Necrology
* Rev. Richard J. O’Brien, Dec. 12, 1894
* Rev. Denis Begley, Dec. 13, 1968
* Rev. Bernard J. Doyle, Dec. 14, 1#79
Cabrini Cake Sale
A bake and pantry sale will be sponsored by the St. Frances Cabrini Women’s Club,
Savannah, on Saturday, December 8 from 9:30 to 5:00 at the Chatham Plaza in the
store between Corky’s and The Beehive. Mrs. Thomas C. Fitzgerald, Mrs. James M.
Taylor, and Mrs. Robert T. Merchen are in charge of the arrangements.
Augusta Advent Series
Mrs. William Boatwright will speak on
Gift-giving at the family oriented
Advent Program this Sunday morning at
ten o’clock at St. Mary’s on the Hill
Parish Hall. She will explain the true
meaning behind gift-giving; that is,
self-giving.
Those participating will be
encouraged to make inexpensive
Christmas gifts and to use the money
saved to bring Christmas to the needy.
“This program designed to create the
right kind of Christmas has for its aim
to put Christ back into Christmas and to
bring the family closer together as a
worshiping unit. I am happy that nearly
one hundred parishioners participated in
the first program on the Advent Wreath
and hope that even mare will be present
for the othe;lectures,” said Monsignor
Marvin J. Le Frois, Pastor.
On December 16 and 23, Christmas
Cribs will be on display and Christmas
Customs and their Origins will be
discussed.
Mrs. William Boatwright
Readers Reply
Editor:
As a parishioner of the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist in Savannah, I want
to thank the Southern Cross for the
front page photograph of the Centennial
ceremony commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the laying of the
cornerstone.
I do feel, however, that the homily
given by Father Lawrence A. Lucree, a
former rector of the Cathedral, was an
important part of the ceremony and
that Father Lucree should be
commended publicly for a job well
done.
Mary Daily Holmen
Savannah, Ga.
THE COOK’S
NOOK
BY THE CHEF
ORANGE BREAD
By Mrs. Corine Berry of Columbus, Georgia
Ingredients
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of sugar
Va cup shortening
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup candied orange peeling
1 /3 cup syrup from peeling or 1 cup of
orange marmalade
Sift flour and measure. Sift again with baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut shortening
into the flour mixture; add milk to the well beaten eggs and mix thoroughly with the
flour mixture. Stir in orange peeling and syrup. Bake in a moderate oven for 50
minutes.
DEEP FRIED SALMON PUFFS
Ingredients
1 Va cups drained canned salmon
Vi cup buttermilk
2 eggs
Va teaspoon salt
Vi cup flour
Va teaspoon soda
Blend all ingredients thoroughly. Drop mixture by spoonfuls into hot fat (375
degrees). Fry until golden brown. Serve immediately.
(You may use corn oil for a healthier dish.)
Please dear readers hurry with Xmas recipes and submit Xmas menus too for a
smorgasbord or a course meal. Send all quickly to The Cook’s Nook, care of The
Southern Cross, Box 232, Waynesboro, Georgia.