Newspaper Page Text
/
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 55 No. 24
Thursday, June 20,1974
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
FOR U.S. TRIBUNALS
Pope Grants Extension of Marriage Court Norms
PILGRIMMAGE LEAVES SAVANNAH. A group of
25 persons, led by Bishop Raymond W. Lessard
embarked on an eighteen day tour of religious shrines
in Ireland, France and Italy June 10 at Savannah
AS PRIEST
Municipal Airport. The priest in the photo is Msgr.
Daniel J. Bourke. Bishop Lessard was not able to be
present when the photo was made. He joined the group
in Dublin the next day.
Father Galvin Marks 40 Years
Congratulations and best wishes are
pouring in from all sides to Father John
Galvin, former Pastor of St. Peter Claver
Church, Macon, who was ordained a
Priest 40 years ago this month, on June
11, 1934, at Newery Cathedral, Ireland.
Like St. Paul who heard the young
man’s call “Come over to Macedonia
and help us”, Father Galvin heard the
call to work in Africa, what was known
as the “lonely white man’s grave”,
where in fact, three of his class mates
passed away within a year of their
arrival in Nigeria.
After that, he was assigned by his
Superiors to work in the Diocese of
Savannah among the Negro people, a
task near and dear to his heart, and a
people full of faith and devotion. His
first appointment was Pastor of St.
Anthony Church, Savannah, a struggling
Mission, but where the people were so
happy to have Christ’s message delivered
to them. As the Bible says, “the blind
see, the deaf hear, the poor have the
Gospel preached to them” and the
underprivileged really love God and His
message of salvation.
His final assignment was Pastor of St.
INSIDE STORY
SALT Program
Pg. 2
'Share Our Faith’
Pg. 3
Fr. Galvin
Peter Claver Church, Macon, where he
has been well nigh 20 years and where
he has seen great progress in all walks of
life.
In his long and successful priestly life
working under three Bishops in Nigeria
and five in Savannah, he has
experienced no crisis, but believes the
Priesthood is the greatest dignity God
has bestowed on a man to carry on His
work as an Ambassador of Christ and a
dispenser of the mysteries of God.
He finds the people of Macon the
cream of the crop with their deep
religious faith. As the Bible says, “they
walk by faith and not by sight.” When
he retired three years ago, the good
people said to him as the deciple said to
Christ on His way to Eamaus “Stay with
us, it is towards evening and the day is
now far spent.”
He still helps out if called upon as his
philosophy is, “It’s better to wear out
than to rust out, or dismiss me not from
service Lord, but train me to thy will.
For even I in fields so broad some duties
may fulfill, and I will ask for no reward,
but to love and serve thee still.”
He will offer a Thanksgiving Mass on
July 23 at 11:00 A.M. at St. Peter
Claver Church and a party will be held
in his honor in the social hall that
evening from 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. Everyone
is invited to attend, the more the
merrier. We wish Father Galvin many
more years of health and happiness in
his retirement.
Ordination in Macon
Movies
Cook’s Nook
Pg. 5
Pg. 6
Vincent Orlando, S.J. will be
ordained to the priesthood on June 22,
in St. Joseph Church, Macon. His first
Mass will be celebrated on Sunday, June
23.
Father Orlando is the son of Mrs.
Celeste A. Orlando of Macon and
the late Mr. Orlando. He attended St.
Joseph Parochial School and Lanier
Junior and Senior High Schools in
Macon.
After high school, he went to
Georgetown University in Washington,
DC, where he studied under the Jesuits
for one year.
Father Orlando entered the Society
of Jesus on August 29, 1960, at Grand
Coteau, La. In 1964, he began
philosophical studies at Spring Hill
College, Mobile, Al., graduating with a
Bachelor of Science degree in
mathematics. He continued his studies
in mathematics in a master’s program at
Case-Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, Oh.
For three years (1968-1971) he
taught at Jesuit College Preparatory
School in Dallas, Tx., where he was
chairman of the mathematics
department.
In September of 1971, he began four
years of theological studies in Lyons,
France.
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Vatican
has extended the 23 special marriage
court norms being used in the U. S.
Church “until the new order of
matrimonial court procedure is
promulgated (made into law) for the
Latin Church.”
In a letter to Cardinal John Krol of
Philadelphia, president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops
(NCCB), Cardinal Jean Villot, papal
secretary of state, said the Pope has
approved the U. S. bishops’ request to
have the norms extended, for “the good
of souls.”
The action resulted from a special
meeting last February between Pope
Paul VI and a six-man delegation sent to
Rome by the U. S. bishops to plead for
an extension of the norms because of
critical pastoral need.
Under the norms the procedures for
annuling marriages are made easier and
faster. An annulment is different from a
divorce -- which the Church does not
accept - in that it is not a dissolution of
a valid, consummated marriage, but a
judgment that there are solid, adequate
reasons for believing the marriage was
not truly valid in the first place.
The norms, first granted in 1970 and
extended for one year last June, would
have expired June 30 if the new
extension had not been granted. The
Church in the United States would then
have had to return to the lengthier,
more difficult marriage court
procedures that now« prevail in the
Church through most of the world.
Largely because of the easier
procedures of the last four years, the
number of annulments granted in the
United States per year has increased to
about 10 times the number granted a
few years ago.
Some Church lawyers have speculated
privately that if the U. S. norms were
extended it would probably hasten the
publication of the new general
matrimonial court law that the Vatican
has been working on for years as part of
its project to revise the whole law code
of the Church.
The reason for this, the lawyers said,
is that bishops in other countries may
soon request simplified procedures
comparable to those granted to the
United States - and the Vatican will
want to head off this trend by putting
out a new worldwide law quickly.
In his letter to Cardinal Krol, dated
May 22, Cardinal Villot said the Pope
has agreed to extend the special norms
for the United States, but each bishop,
as in the past, must petition the NCCB
for permission to use the norms in his
own diocese.
The Pope also urged better sharing of
marriage court personnel to alleviate the
problems of smaller dioceses that do not
have a sufficent number of sufficiently
qualified personnel to handle their
marriage cases.
“The Holy Father,” Cardinal Villot
wrote, “is hopeful that the
better-staffed and better-equipped
tribunals (courts) will assist those not so
well endowed so that only where serious
necessity requires it there be need for
recourse to the use of certain
faculties. .
Besides cautioning against the use of
the special norms except in cases of
necessity, the Pope ruled that the NCCB
must set up a small committee to study
the bishops’ requests for permission to
use the norms and respond to them.
This committee must also draw up
norms for submitting such requests.
Bishop James S. Rausch, NCCB
general secretary, has written to the
U.S. bishops telling them that Bishop
Bernard Flanagan of Worcester, Mass.,
chairman of the bishops’ committee on
canonical affairs, has undertaken to
develop proposals to comply with the
additional terms of the newly extended
norms.
In the meantime, Bishop Rausch said,
interim measures have been established
until the committee can be formed and
the norms for request can be drawn up.
The major effect of the 23 norms is
that many marriage cases that once took
a long time to bring to a conclusion can
now be carried through in a shorter time
with fewer trained personnel required to
carry out the work.
Some cases that once had to be
appealed to higher courts before a final
judgment could be made, can now be
settled without going through the
appeal process. 1 iiC
procedures also cut down on paper
work and allow fewer judges to hear a
case.
The American norms also allow
greater flexibility in the geographical
location of a case, which is a matter of
importance because of the mobility of
today’s American population; and they
shift the weight of evidence from the
relatively difficult criterion of “moral
certitude” that a marriage is invalid to
the more general criterion of judging a
case by the “prevailing weight” of
evidence.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick Dies
Mrs. Barbee Porter Fitzpatrick, of
Savannah, died June 11th. She was the
mother of Father John Fitzpatrick, of
Aquinas High School, Augusta, and Mrs.
Robert McBride of Savannah. She is also
survived by her husband, John J.
Fitzpatrick, a sister, Mrs Max English of
Boynton Beach, Fla.; four
grandchildren, a niece and a nephew.
More than twenty priests joined
Father Fitzpatrick in a concelebrated
Mass of the Resurrection at Sacred
Heart church, Savannah, June 14th.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick was bui ed at
CuumV vl. .i>. L >C 1 , .
25th ANNIVERSARY - Monsignor Marvin J. Lefrois, pastor of St.
Mary’s on-the-Hill, Augusta, celebrated the 25th anniversary of his
ordination to the priesthood on Wednesday, June 5th. Pictured at Mass
marking the occassion (1. to r.) Fr. Dermot O’Mahony, Msgr. LeFrois, Fr.
Patrick J. Shinnick, Fr. John Fitzpatrick, Msgr. Daniel J. Bourke.
Following the Mass, Msgr. LeFrois was honored at a reception held on the
church grounds.
Support for Bill
Vincent Orlando, S.J.
WASHINGTON (NC) - The U.S. Catholic Conference has started strong support for
a bill to halt U.S. importation of Rhodesian chrome. Speaking for the USCC, Bishop
James S. Rausch, general secretary of the USCC, said in a letter to members of
Congress that economic sanctions were legitimate means of protesting racially
exclusive policies in Rhodesia.
Court Upholds Decision
WASHINGTON (NC) - The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court decision
invalidating a New Jersey law which reimbursed parents for part of secular textbook
costs and furnished auxiliary services to nonpublic schools. The district court ruled
that the law had the primary effect of advancing religion and led to excessive
government entanglement with religion.
Reports on Chile Church
MEXICO CITY (NC) -- Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of the ruling Chilean
military junta, said in an interview published here that although the Chilean clergy “is
infiltrated by Marxism and some priests have been involved with extremist guerillas, I
don’t believe that the Chilean Catholic Church is dominated by Marxism.” Pinochet’s
statement was the first response by a high Chilean government official to the charges
made last April by the Chilean Bishops’ Conference in a statement strongly critical of
some of the junta’s policies.
Catholics Must Be Builders
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- Catholics must be “builders, not demolition crews of the
Church,” Pope Paul VI said in an appeal for unity he made to crowds in St. Peter’s
Square. Pope Paul spoke sharply against a tendency toward “an excessive and false
pluralism” that, he said, is attacking the unity of the Church from within.