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DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 55 No. 26 Thursday, July 18,1974 Single Copy Price - 12 Cents
CATHOLIC OFFICIALS REPORT:
African Drought — Number 1 Emergency
RELIEF IN MAURITANIA - Government workers provide relief
supplies - milk and dates — to people at a distribution station in
Nouakchott, Mauritania. Although there is no Catholic Relief Services
office there, Msgr. Andrew P. Landi, assistant CRS director, visited the
area to study the possibility of sending aid. Msgr. Landi conferred with
officials of the Red Crescent, Moslem equivalent of the Red Cross. (NC
Photo from Catholic Relief Services.)
LED BY FR O’KEEFE
Local Relief Effort
ROME (NC) -- Drought conditions in
Africa and the relief of millions of
suffering persons there are “the number
one emergency problem facing the U.S.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) today.”
Msgr. Andrew P. Landi, assistant
executive director of CRS, overseas
relief agency of American Catholics,
recently in Rome, reported on his tour
of several seriously threatened African
nations which he made with Msgr.
Wilson E. Kaiser, regional CRS director
for sub-Sahara Africa.
“We made contact with our program
directors in the drought areas in
Senegal, Upper Volta and the Sudan -
although the Sudan so far is almost
untouched by the drought - and with
officials of other countries which are
not yet affected by the drought
emergency,” Msgr. Landi said.
The visit of the two representatives of
the American Catholic relief agency
took them on thousands of miles of
difficult travel across distant parts of
West Africa and then to the eastern part
of the continent including Sudan and
Ethiopia.
CRS has been in Senegal and Upper
Volta since 1958, Msgr. Landi said. “We
toured many of the water projects,
including well digging and earthen
dams,” he reported. CRS, working along
with other church and religious
organizations as well as national
governments, has provided tools for
project work and food for those
working on projects as part of self-help
incentive programs, Msgr. Landi said.
In the Islamic Republic of
Mauritania, CRS has no office, Msgr.
Landi said. “But we have sent relief
goods into the country and are studying
the possibility of sending in someone
there. We were received by the secretary
general of the Red Crescent, the Moslem
equivalent of the Red Cross,” he said.
“The secretary general said his
country would welcome CRS if they
would set up a nutritional program for
mothers and children,” he said. He also
noted that relations between Moslems
and Christians are so excellent in that
country that the vice president of the
Red Crescent organization is a Catholic
who is president of Mauritania.
The two Catholic American relief
officials also visited Mall and Niger to
study drought refugee problems. CRS
has made several contributions through
Caritas-Niger, Niger’s Catholic charities
agency, to aid some 20,000 refugees in
camps in Niger.
In Togo, the two priests surveyed a
special CRS program sponsored for the
aid and assistance of lepers. Togo is not
a drought nation, but 19 French and
German volunteers plus 80 local
volunteers, helped by American
Catholic relief funds, have been making
a census to locate how many lepers exist
in the country.
Msgr. Landi said that “so far 400,000
people have been interviewed - about a
third of the population - and 3,000
lepers have been located. Once located
we provide special food and medical
assistance programs.”
Ethiopia “is among the biggest
problems at the moment,” the
American priest said. “There are some
three million persons there who have
been affected by the drought. While no
one can document clearly how many
thousands have died from the drought
so far, today the problem is not so
much of dying from starvation, but of
dying of the results of malnutrition,
diseases such as cholera, small pox,
measles and digestive infections.”
A couple of years ago, said Msgr.
Landi, “We used to speak of the west
African drought emergency. Now we
must talk about the African drought
fund. Experts report that the desert, for
some unknown reason in some areas is
moving south as fast as 30 miles a year.
As it moves south the nomad
population is forced to move, and the
cities still free of the desert’s movement
are filling up fast.
“For us at CRS the African drought
is the number one emergency problem
today,” Msgr. Landi said.
Father Michael O’Keefe, pastor of St.
Joseph’s Church, Waycross, is
spearheading a drive in Georgia to help
the drought striken area in the Sahelian
Belt of North Africa.
The countries of Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Upper
Volta are hard hit by the lack of
rainfall.
The Georgia Drive has a goal of
$10,000.00 which will be sent to
Catholic Relief Services to help supply
dried milk to the area. To date the drive
has netted approximately $3,000.00
with contributions coming from
individuals from Atlanta in the north, to
Savannah and Glynn County in the
south.
The largest single donation was the
Sunday Collection (July 7) from St.
Joseph’s parish Waycross in the amount
of $1,228.96. The First Baptist Church,
Waycross contributed $484.71 and the
First Christian Church has given
$100.00. Catholic Churches is
Savannah, Statesboro, Cordele,
Savannah Beach, and Americus have
also contributed to the fund.
Contributions may be sent to the
Sahelian Relief Fund, care of Rev.
Michael O’Keefe, P. 0. Box 732,
Waycross, Georgia 31501.
COLLECTION FOR DROUGHT VICTIMS - Saint Joseph’s, Waycross,
donated their entire Sunday (July 7) collection in the amount of
;$1,228.96 to Sahelian Relief. Father Michael O’Keefe, pastor, is pictured
with Parish Council members (1. to r.) Miss Iris Anderson, Mrs. Ann
O’Connell, Bill Oxley, Bob Tonning, Mrs. Sheri Scott, Mrs. Meg Stebler.
U.S. BISHOPS:
| 6 Catholicism Changing 9 not Collapsing’ f
Diocesan Pilgrims
D.C.C.W. Notes
j: WASHINGTON (NC) - “American Catholicism is
'• changing, not collapsing,” said the bishops of the United
?. States in a state-of-the-Church paper prepared for the World
Synod of Bishops meeting in Vatican City this fall.
£ The synod theme is evangelization and the U.S. bishops
agreed that “effective evangelization lies at the heart of what
is needed now.”
But in order to evangelize effectively, the Church must
first understand what that means now and, second,
“determine which (means) can best reach and touch minds
and hearts today.”
These evaluations are contained in “A Review of the
Principal Trends in the Life of the Catholic Church in the
United States,” written by the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops and released June 24. The full text of the
document will be found on Page 3.
Muni
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
it
U.S. Eucharistic Congress in 1976
PHILADELPHIA (NC) -- Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia has announced that
Pope Paul VI has granted approval for the celebration of the 41st International
Eucharistic Congress to be held in Philadelphia in 1976. Cardinal Krol made the
announcement after receiving a letter from Australian Cardinal James Knox, president
of the permanent committee on International Eucharistic Congresses, which conveyed
the Pope’s approval of Philadelphia as the site for the congress. No exact dates have
been set for the congress, but according to Ed Devenney, news director of the
Philadelphia archdiocese, it is scheduled to begin sometime in early August of 1976,
the U.S. bicentennial year.
Bishops, Scholars Meet
WASHINGTON (NC) - A group of Catholic bishops and scholars meeting here cited
the need to work together more closely and agreed to search for “practical
mechanisms for collaboration” between bishops and scholars. They also called on
bishops to exercise their teaching role more actively and urged that Catholics be better
educated in the difference between faith and theology. The meeting was called by the
U. S. bishops’ Committee for Liaison with Priests, Religious and Laity. It drew
together five bishops and representatives from the major Catholic societies of scholars.
Subsequently the Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops (NCCB) voted unanimously in favor of continuing the dialogue.
NCCW Reaffirms ERA Opposition
ST. PAUL, Minn. (NC) - The executive committee of the National Council of
Catholic Women (NCCW) reaffirmed its opposition to the proposed Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution, and urged its member councils to fight
against ratification in their own states, or to work for repeal of ratification in states
where the amendment has already been passed. The committee argued that women
already enjoy a theoretical equal protection by the Constitution under the 5th and
14th Amendments, that the ERA would destroy significant present laws that favor or
protect women, and that the ERA would bring a “drastic and insidious” change
endangering the whole family life structure in the United States. At its three-day
meeting here June 27-29, the 37-member executive committee also issued a statement
against obscenity, pledging to “make every effort to implement action that will
overcome this serious threat to our society.”
Washington Auxiliary Bishops
WASHINGTON (NC) - Pope Paul VI has named two auxiliary bishops for the
Washington archdiocese, one of them a black. The city of Washington is
predominantly black, although a majority of the Catholics in the whole archdiocese,
which includes parts of Maryland, are white. Black Catholics in the archdiocese have
been calling for the appointment of a black bishop. The new bishops-designate are
Msgr. Thomas W. Lyons, 50, pastor of St. Thomas Apostle Church here, and Father
Eugene A. Marino, 40, vicar general of the Josephite Fathers, a congregation founded
to work among blacks. The appointments were announced here by Archbishop Jean
Jadot, apostolic delegate in the United States.
Sweeping Anti-Abortion Move Defeated
WASHINGTON (NC) -- By a 2-to-l margin the House of Representatives has
defeated a sweeping amendment that would have banned the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare (HEW) from paying for abortions, abortion research of
abortifacient drugs and devices. The amendment would have affected HEW-sponsored
health care centers and family planning programs as well as Medicaid programs. The
amendment, defeated by a 123-247 vote, would also have prohibited promotion of
abortion with HEW funds or support of research into methods of abortion. Coercion
of states or schools receiving federal aid to provide abortions or health insurance
covering abortion would also have been banned.
Human Experimental Bill Passes
WASHINGTON (NC) - Congress has passed a bill providing for the establishment of
a commission to study the ethics of government-sponsored biomedical research on
human subjects including research on fetuses and experimental programs involving
prisoners, minors and the mentally incompetent. The U. S. Catholic Conference
opposed the bill because of the wording of a “conscience clause” in the legislation.
That clause allows individuals to refuse to participate in health care procedures
contrary to their religious beliefs or moral convictions, without fear of any penalties.
But the language of the clause does not provide the same protection for institutions,
including Catholic hospitals. Under the bill a two-year commission of 11 experts from
various professional fields including ethics and theology would study problems
stemming from technical advances in government-sponsored biomedical research.
Included would be a thorough study of fetal research, why it is done and whether
alternatives are available. While the study is being conducted, HEW would be banned
from supporting or conducting research on living fetuses before or after an induced
abortion, except to save the fetus’ life.
Priestly Life Committee Goals
WASHINGTON (NC) -- The Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), along with its priest advisers, met
here for the first time as a full committee June 19-21 and drew up goals and objectives
expressing the purpose of the committee. The goals cover a broad area of priests’
concerns, from ministry, education and personnel to communications, research and
scholarship. Msgr. Colin A. MacDonald, executive director of the committee’s
secretariat, said that within the stated goals and objectives “priorities and specific
programs. . . will be adopted from time to time according to the need and the
discretion of the committee.” The committee decided initially to stress three areas of
concern: --“Continuing education, with particular emphasis on spiritual renewal of
priests. - “Ways of affirming and supporting priests in their lives and work. -
“Personnel problems, in particular the distribution of clergy.” The basic purpose of
the committee, which was established by the U. S. bishops at their annual meeting last
November, is to serve the NCCB in the area of the concerns and needs of American
priests, and to help the bishops respond to those needs.