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The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No. 10
Thursday, March 6,1975
Single Copy Price — 15 Cents
TO RESOL VE DISPUTES
Diocese Adopts Mediation Procedures
SOVIET CHURCHMEN VISIT - Russian Orthodox
Metropolitan Filaret (top left) and Lithuanian Catholic
Msgr. Cheslav Krivaitis (top right) listen to questions at
a news conference in New York’s Interchurch Center.
The Soviet churchmen, visiting the U.S. for three
weeks, said that their Country does not discriminate
against Jews or persecute Christians. Fundamentalist
Rev. Carl Mclntire (left in bottom photo) disagreed,
and led group of demonstrators outside the building.
The Soviet churchmen are currently visiting Atlanta.
(NC Photos by Jo-ann Price)
Catholic Overseas Aid Appeal
BY JOHN REYNOLDS
Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke recently
attended a meeting of Catholic Relief
Services (CRS). Among the speakers
were Arthur Simon, the Executive
Director of Bread for the World, a
writer who includes among his books
“Faces of Poverty” and “Stuyvesant
Town, USA: Pattern for Two
Americas.” Recently with his brother he
co-authored a book “The Politics of
World Hunger,” which Senator Edward
M. Kennedy has recommended as a
basic text in any serious review of this
critical issue.
Mr. Simon spoke on the necessity of
the affluent nations coming to the aid
of the poor nations “whose poverty it is
almost impossible for us even to
imagine.” The sincerity and logic of his
talk deeply moved his audience which
included Terence Cardinal Cooke and
Bishop Edward E. Swanstrom,
Executive Director of the Catholic
Relief Services.
Cardinal Cooke and Bishop
Swanstrom also addressed the meeting
urging the representatives of the various
dioceses to spearhead the appeal which
will be made in the Catholic Churches
throughout the nation on Laetare
Sunday, March 9.
Msgr. Bourke was proud, he said,
INSIDE STORY
Mideast Solution Pg. 2
Church in East Europe Pg. 3
Entertainment Pg. 6
Food Crisis Pg. 7
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when he heard that last year’s collection
in the Savannah diocese of almost
$11,000.00 placed the per capita
contribution of the Catholics of the
Diocese of Savannah among the very
highest in the nation. Yet this means
that in the Laetare Sunday collection
last year the per capita contribution was
only slightly over 30 cents.
Msgr. Bourke, at the request of Mr.
Edward M. Kinney the Assistant to the
Executive Director, told the delegates of
the wonderful response to the appeal on
behalf of the sufferers of the Sahelian
Desert “which was spearheaded by
Father Michael O’Keffee of Waycross,
Georgia, and which netted
approximately $20,000.00, and of the
“generous response each year to the
clothing drive appeal.”
Catholic Relief Services was
organized in 1943 as the official agency
of the Catholic Bishops to serve the
needy and underprivileged of other
lands without regard to race, creed or
color. It has become the largest
organization of its kind in the world.
The total value of its program in 1974
exceeded $154 million.
The collection will be taken up in all
the parishes of the diocese on Sunday,
March 9.
A “Process of Mediation” to “assure
an adequate protection of rights as well
as a fair and expeditious resolution of
disputes” arising in the church has been
adopted by the Diocese of Savannah.
Norms for establishing mediation
panels when requested by disputants, as
well as norms for the process of
mediation to be followed by mediation
panels, were set forth in a letter sent last
week by Bishop Raymond W. Lessard to
diocesan and Religious clergy and to
convents and other religious institutions
in the diocese.
The process of mediation, said the
bishop “has been the object of lengthy
consideration by the Senate of Priests
and, with my approval, is now being
promulgated as the official procedure to
be followed in this diocese in the event
that a dispute arise concerning an
administrative action or decision.”
Full text of the letter, dated
February 25th, is as follows:
My dear friends in Christ:
In their final document, “Justice in
the World,” the delegates at the 1971
Synod of Bishops declared:
“The Church, indeed, is not alone
resDonsible for justice in the world;
however, she has a proper and specific
responsibility which is identified with
her mission of giving witness before the
world of the need for love and justice
contained in the Gospel message, a
witness to be carried out in Church
institutions themselves and in the lives
of Christians.”
Renewal in the forum of justice
within the Church cannot consist
merely in a clearer enunciation of the
rights and freedoms of all persons in the
Church. It must also include the setting
up of structures that will assure an
adequate protection of rights as well as
a fair and expeditious resolution of
disputes when they arise.
Such built-in safeguards are meant to
provide that no fundamental right or
freedom will be denied without
justification and that every individual
will be accorded specific protections in
the processes of justice.
While any assessment of the adequacy
of present structures in the Church
involves a study of the entire legislative,
judicial and administrative organization
of the Church, the area of greatest need
at the moment is that of administrative
decisions.
The need becomes particularly urgent
with the creation of increasing numbers
of boards, departments and agencies to
supplement the bishop’s personal
administrative activities.
The proliferation of administrative
pc vers necessarily entails an increase in
tl number of persons entitled to
e! ercise the discreation proper to
administrative authority, and hence an
increase in the dangers to human rights
and freedom that are inherent in
uncontrolled and unchecked
discretionary power.
Many of the causes of conflict in the
Church would be removed if all
unnecessary discretionary power were
eliminated and effective guidelines and
controls upon necessary discretionary
authority were developed.
Still, conflicts will arise, and it is
necessary that procedures be established
whereby these conflicts and disputes
can be resolved justly and equitably. It
is to be hoped that any such procedures
will be imbued with the gospel spirit of
love and forgiveness.
St. Paul specifically applies this
teaching of Christ when he rebukes
Christians for litigating openly with one
another. (I Cor. 6: 1-8) It is in that
spirit of Christian reconciliation and to
provide a structured means for the
community that a Process of Mediation
is being set up for the Diocese of
Savannah.
The Process of Mediation described
below has been the object of lengthy
consideration by the Senate of Priests
and, with my approval, is now being
promulgated as the official procedure to
be followed in this diocese in the event
that a dispute arise concerning an
administrative action or decision.
PROCESS OF MEDIATION
Art. I. ESTABLISHMENT
1. Any person (“initiating
participant”) in conflict with any
person, group, agency or institution
exercising administrative authority
within the Diocese of Savannah may
have recourse to the Officialis of the
Diocese, indicating briefly the nature of
the problem and requesting him to
initiate a process of mediation.
2. The Officialis shall then inform the
person, group, agency or institution
with whom there is a conflict
(“convoked participant”), indicating the
fact and nature of the problem and
seeking acceptance of mediation.
3. The Officialis shall then proceed
with the formation of a mediation
panel, composed as follows:
a. If the dispute is among priests only
(diocesan or religious), the Chairman of
the Senate of Priests shall be requested
to appoint a panel of three priests.
b. If the dispute is among non-clerical
Religious, the Chairperson of the Senate
of Religious shall be requested to
appoint a mediation panel of three
Religious.
c. If the dispute is among laypersons,
the Chairperson of the Diocesan
Pastoral Council shall be requested to
appoint a mediation panel of three
laypersons.
d. If the dispute is between persons
belonging to any two or more of these
categories, the Officialis shall request
(Continued on Page 7)
Bishop Lessard
Fr. Nelson, Officialis
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
Young Adult Ministry
WASHINGTON (NC) -- Augustinian Father Patrick O’Neill, director of campus
ministry for the Diocese of Orlando, Fla., has been named representative for campus
and young adult ministry in the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) Department of
Education. Father O’Neill, 35, has served in the Orlando diocese since 1969.
Czech-Church Talks
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Church-state negotiations between the Vatican and the
Czechoslovak government are to be resumed as a result of high-level talks in Prague
between Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, secretary of the Council for the Public Affairs
of the Church, and Czechoslovak ministers. Archbishop Casaroli returned to the
Vatican Feb. 26 after three days of talks in Prague, and told reporters that his
meetings with the Czechoslovak ministers “were exceedingly positive.”
Court Order Called 'Rash’
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (NC) - The U.S. Supreme Court acted with “unbelievable
rashness” in issuing a temporary restraining order against a Missouri abortion
restriction law without first considering the merits of the case, the executive chairman
of the Missouri Catholic Conference has charged. The chairman, Bishop Michael
McAuliffe of Jefferson City, also charged that “the hastiness of the court’s action
displays an eagerness by the court to impose its abortion philosophy on the states and
the people of this nation.”
Zaire Persecution Feared
ROME (NC) -- The Catholic Church in Zaire faces outright persecution and virtual
suppression should President Mobutu Sese Seko carry out his threat to close down
every Roman Catholic Church in that African country, according to reports arriving
here. Mobutu’s announced plan is to elevate the People’s Movement of the Revolution
to the status of a church and to promote “Mobutism” as a national ancestor-worship
church of African “authenticity,” with himself as messiah. He has already taken over
all schools, most of which were operated by the Catholic Church or other Christian
churches.
Eucharistic Congress
PHILADELPHIA (NC) - A panel of 42 church, civic and business leaders was
announced by Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia to help direct the 41st International
Eucharistic Congress, to be held Aug. 1-8, 1976. The Philadelphia archdiocese will be
host for the congress. Among those named to the board of governors, the
policy-making body for the congress, are 11 U.S. bishops, a former Philadelphia
mayor, a judge and an insurance executive. Cardinal Krol is chairman of the board of
governors; Auxiliary Bishop Martin N. Lohmuller of Philadelphia, executive vice
chairman, and Father Walter J. Conway, of Philadelphia, executive secretary.