Newspaper Page Text
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The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 55 No. 37 Thursday, October 24,1974 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents
SOUTHEASTERN REGIONAL MEETING
2,000 ‘Charismatics’
Convene in Augusta
CANDLELIGHT SERVICE. Bishop Raymond W. Lessard lights candle
for youthful participant at last week’s Charismatic Renewal Conference in
Augusta, during ceremonies at which Baptismal Vows were renewed.
(Photo by Rogers Studio)
A
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
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BY J.E. MARKWALTER
Augusta’s Bell Auditorium was
illuminated, last Saturday evening,
solely by the light from candles held by
those attending an Evening Mass.
Approximately 2,000 persons
attended the Liturgy, which was a high
point of the 1974 Southeastern
Regional Charismatic Renewal
Conference (Oct. 18-20). It was the
largest group of Charismatics ever to
meet in Augusta. The candelight
ceremony was held at the conclusion of
the Eucharistic Service and the flames
symbolized the light of Christ
illuminating the darkness of the world.
Savannah’s Bishop Raymond W.
Lessard was the principal celebrant and
he was joined by thirty priest
concelebrants.
In welcoming the conference
participants on behalf of the “saints” of
the Diocese of Savannah, the bishop
made reference to the words of Pope
Paul, spoken only this past Wednesday
(Oct. 16) at his weekly audience. He
said the pope spoke of “our need, and
the need of the church for a ‘New
Pentecost.’”
“The thrust of the Holy Father’s
words,” he continued, “was really very,
very simple and yet so very complete.
He' stressed our need for grace when he
said, ‘grace is the revelation of the Holy
Spirit, the foremost gift which expresses
itself to us in charity, love for the
Father, community, by virtue of
Christ’s redemption in the Holy Spirit.’
“Pope Paul reminds us that this gift,
this grace will be made manifest in our
midst by an abundance of other gifts.
Not only must we recongize the
fundamental need for this gift, this
grace -- we must be prepared for it. He
tells us very simply what we must do by
listing some of the conditions,
conditions that demand faith, humility
and penance.”
Boston 'Racism’ Scored
BOSTON (NC) -- The National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice (NCCIJ)
has decried what it called “the racism, lawlessness and violence of the white people of
South Boston” and attacked President Gerald R. Ford for giving “moral support to
racism in South Boston and across the country.” In a statement released here, the
NCCIJ board of directors said they felt “a special pain and shame because so many
people in South Boston share with us the Catholic faith.” The NCCIJ called on
Catholics in South Boston to support observance of law and constitutional rights and
to condemn racial hate and violence.
Christian-Moslem Relations
ROME (NC) - Melkite-rite Patriarch Maximos V. Hakim of Antioch told a
discussion group here that relations .between Arab Christians and Moslems improved as
a result of last year’s Arab-Israeli war. The patriarch said that especially in Egypt, “the
war with Israel bettered the conditions of rapport between Arab Christians and
Moslems because Moslems and Christians died together on the battlefields.”
Church Investment Policy
COLUMBUS, Ohio (NC) - As investors in modem U.S. corporations, churches have
a moral responsibility to take action against companies that exploit the poor, pollute
the environment and produce weapons for the willful destruction of human life. That
was the theme of the Ohio Ecumenical Institute on Social and Moral Dimensions of
Corporate Investments held here. “Monitoring corporate investments could become an
area in which the church could make a more significant contribution to society.” said
Msgr. Benedict Franzetta of Youngstown, Ohio, chairman of the institute.
Mission to Prostitutes Urged
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Cardinal Pericle Felici, president of the Vatican’s
Commission for the Revision of Canon Law, has appealed to the world Synod of
Bishops to follow Christ’s example and evangelize prostitutes. “They are often poor
and despised by others,” he said, “therefore works of evangelization and full liberation
for them are more urgent. These works can best be carried out, so far as those women
are concerned, by female psychologists and other women and also by the very prudent
man of mature age. By men and women who are holy.”
Syrian Anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON (NC) - Three interfaith leaders have asked the U.S. State
Department to use America’s new diplomatic ties with Syria to gain recognition of
human rights and the right to emigrate for Syrian Jews. They said Syria is deliberately
denying human rights to the 4,500 Jews in the country. Syrian Jews suffer from
restrictions on their movement, business activity and employment, and are in danger
of arrest, dentention without counsel, torture and murder, said the Rev. David Hunter,
deputy secretary of the National Council of Churches; Father Edward Flannery,
executive secretary of the Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the
American Jewish Congress.
In his homily during the Mass, Father
Roy Cox, pastor of Savannah’s St.
James Church, speaking of the
Charismatic Movement, said he wanted
to reflect on three things:
“What God HAS done, what He IS
Doing, what, as far as we can predict,
He wants to do in the future.”
Father Cox said that “one thing is
certain in the Life of the Spirit. We’ve
got to constantly press on, to grow up
into the full stature of Christ, Our Lord.
So let’s go beyond the initial teaching
about Christ... to advance in maturity.
Let’s not lay the same foundations over
and over again. God permitting, we shall
advance.”
He told his audience that they had to
ask themselves a serious question “right
now! What is the Word that God is
speaking to us in and through the
Charismatic Renewal? Is it just that He
wants us to have spiritual thrills? Or is it
part of some kind of master plan that
He has to save the world? That is the
question!”
Father Cox said he felt that God’s
plan is:
“1. To save us, as a people, through
His son, Jesus - not to save us as
individuals, all by ourselves.
“2. This people of God is to take the
shape of a household or family,
consisting of concrete, local groups -
‘bodies of Christ.’
“3. This local ‘body of Christ’ must,
in unity of mind and heart and body
witness to the fact that Jesus is the Son
of God Who was sent by the Father to
give eternal life. God empowers this
local ‘body’ to witness that its members
are the disciples of Jesus.”
“This witness,” he said, “is critical, so
that other people, who feel called by
God, will be able to join us with
confidence.”
Earlier in the day, Father Michael
Scanlon, President of Stuevenville
College, led a session on the healing
power of the Lord which concluded
with a prayer service.
He said, “the power to heal is Jesus’.
coming through His church, through His
body, to the extent that we are ‘church’
-- to the extent that we are incorporated
into the body of Jesus Christ - to the
extent that we are really together in the
Lord, under one Lord, one Spirit, one
covenant.”
After giving the scriptural quotes
describing the gift of healing and the
ministry of healing, Father Scanlon
asked session participants these
questions: Who has this gift of healing?
Where is this gift of healing? His answer
was, “it is in only one place, in the body
of Jesus Christ through His church.”
Father Scanlon was also the leader of
a special “Clergy and Religious
Conference held on Friday at St. Mary’s
Parish Hall.
The 1974 conference concluded with
a Sunday afternoon celebration. This
celebration was open to all. Special
invitations were extended through the
local media and the churches of the
area. Purpose of the celebration was to
allow others to join the Charismatics in
the proclamation that “Jesus Christ is
the Light of the World.”
As a follow up to the Shepherd’s
Conference in Montreat, and the June
meeting at Notre Dame, where it was
urged that Charismatics should begin
the work of reunification and that the
Lord is calling members to be “prophets
to the church” and not “apologists for
the renewal,” the regional conference
heard from leaders of various
Charismatic “streams.”
Rev. Bob Mumford of Christian
Growth Ministeries, represented the
Neo-Pentecostal movement. Dr. Vinson
Synan, President of the Society for
Pentecostal studies and Secretary
General of the Pentecostal Holiness
Church, represented the “Classical
Pentecostals.” Bill Beatty, coordinator
of Augusta’s Alleluia Community and a
member of the national advisory
committee for the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal, represented the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal.
HUNDREDS OF CANDLES provide the only their Baptismal Vows following Mass last Saturday
source of light in Augusta’s Bell Auditorium as night. (Photo by Rogers Studio)
participants at Charismatic Renewal Conference renew
Children ’s
Liturgy Workshops
“To help our children pray, we have
to start where they are, with what is
important to them.” This was a key
thought shared by Mr. Jim Haas during
a recent series of workshops on
Children’s Liturgy.
Mr. Haas spent four days in the
diocese helping priests and religion
teachers learn better how to help
students pray. He gave workshops in
Savannah, Augusta, Macon and
Columbus during the past week under
the joint sponsorship of the diocesan
Liturgical Commission and the
Department of Christian Formation.
A simple song, “I have fingers, I have
toes ...” was used to illustrate the three
core elements of an effective prayer
service for children. “The first
element,” said Haas “is reflection on an
aspect of life that has significance for
them, e.g. all the things we can do with
our hands, toes, etc.
“Secondly, we try to discover the
presence of God in this - how God has
made us able to do so much by the way
he designed our bodies. Thirdly, we
respond to God in prayer and ritual -
Thank you God for my nose, I thank
you also for my toes ...”
“Our goal,” said Haas, “is to help the
child discover and respond to God in his
daily life.” He outlined for the teachers
a process of how to construct a prayer
service or liturgy around these three
core elements.
Haas has been active in religious
education for the past 15 years, serving
as a parish coordinator in Maryland. He
is presently affiliated with Time
Consultants, a firm providing many
different pastoral services. He has
published three books of children’s
celebrations, SHOUT HOORAY, MAKE
A JOYFUL NOISE, and PRAISE THE
LORD.
His wife, Lynn, and his two young
sons, Jim Jr. and Dan, accompanied him
on his trip.
“I HAVE FINGERS, I HAVE TOES . . Mr. Jim on Children’s Liturgy. (Photo by Pollack and Daly)
Haas teaches teachers a new song at recent workshop