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The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No. 21 Thursday, May 22, 1975 Single COPY Wee “ 15 Cents
Apostolic Exhortation Urges
VATICAN CITY (NC) - In his
second apostolic exhortation since Holy
Year began, Pope Paul VI has asked
Christians to “return to the sources of
joy” by rejecting sin and by becoming
“more present to God.”
Warning that technological society
cannot itself generate joy, Pope Paul
asserted that Christian joy is gained only
through “a human-divine communion,
and aspires to a communion even more
universal.”
He continued: “In no way can it
encourage the person who enjoys it to
have a preoccupation with self.” Joy, he
declared, “cannot be dissociated from
sharing.”
The Pope, in the exhortation dated
May 9 and released May 16, said,
“Common Christian Joy ... is not
possible in truth except where the
preaching of the faith is accepted in its
entirety.”
He made a “pressing appeal” to
leaders of Catholic communities in
insisting on the Sunday Mass obligation.
“Let them not be afraid to insist time
and time again on the need for baptized
Christians to be faithful to the Sunday
celebration, in joy, of the Eucharist.”
The Pope said that Holy Year was a
call also “to rediscover the meaning and
practice of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation,” or Penance. He then
reminded priests and people that “the
confessing of grave sins is necessary and
that frequent confession remains a
privileged source of holiness, peace and
joy.”
In a special reference to youth, the
Pope said: “Youth will not fail the
Church if within the Church there are
enough older people able to understand
it, to love it, and to open up to it a
future by passing on to it with complete
fidelity the truth which endures.”
He said that the present world crisis,
generating “great confusion” among
young people, “partly betrays a senile
and definitively out-of-date aspect of
commercial, hedonistic and materialistic
civilization which is still trying to
present itself as the gateway to the
future.”
The Pope noted: “Even in its very
excesses, the instinctive reaction of
many young people against this illusion
takes on a certain importance. This
generation is waiting for something
else.”
The Pope told youth that by
accepting the “joy of divine truth
finally recognized in the Church,” they
will insure their “own fulfillment in
Christ, and the next historical stage of
the People of God.”
Speaking of the “attitude of
expectation” for a new Pentecost which
Pope John XXIII referred to when he
called Vatican Council II, Pope Paul
said: “We too have wished to place
ourselves in the same perspective and in
the same attitude of expectation.
He explained: “So great are the needs
and the perils of the present age, so vast
the horizon of mankind drawn toward
world coexistence and powerless to
achieve it, that there is no salvation for
it except in a new outpouring of the gift
of God.”
Then he prayed: “Let Him then
come, the Creating Spirit, to renew the
face of the earth.”
The Pope addressed those “deeply
involved in family, professional and
social responsibility,” saying that the
Holy Spirit wants to help them
rediscover, purify and shape life’s daily
joys which the burden of work often
makes him overlook.
He spoke also to “the world of
suffering” and to “those who have
reached the evening of their lives.”
God’s joy, he said, “is knocking at
the door of their physical and moral
sufferings, not indeed with irony but to
achieve therein His paradoxical work of
transfiguration.”
About those outside the Church, the
Pope said: “By bringing their lives into
harmony with the innermost appeal of
their conscience, which is the echo of
God’s voice, they are on the road to
joy.”
The Pope recommended as models of
joy the Virgin Mary, St. Francis of
Assisi, St. Therese of Lisieux and
Blessed Maximilian Kolbe. Of the last,
he said: “In the most tragic trials which
have bloodied our age, he offered
himself voluntarily to death in order to
save an unknown brother. Witnesses
report that his interior peace, serenity
World
and joy somehow transformed the place
of suffering -- which was usually like an
image of hell - into the antechamber of
eternal life, both for his unfortunate
companions and himself.”
Blessed Maximilian offered his life for
a fellow prisoner’s at Auschwitz, the
Nazi concentration camp in Poland.
In a press conference called May 16
to present the document for the
Vatican, Dominican Father Raimondo
Spiazzi of the Central Committee for
the Holy Year said the exhortation is
the first papal document of its kind
dedicated to the topic of Christian joy.
He said the document, entitled
Gaudete in Domino (Rejoice in the
Lord), was prompted especially by the
speeches of bishops at last year’s
international Synod of Bishops at the
Vatican. He recalled that at that
month-long meeting many bishops
urged the institutional Church and
individual Christians to demonstrate the
joy of the Gospel.
Asked why the Pope chose this time
to write about joy, the priest pointed to
the opening chapters of the exhortation
in which the Pope wrote that joy is
particularly difficult to attain today.
to Joy
In that section the Pope asserted:
“Technological society has succeeded in
multiplying the opportunities for
pleasure, but it has great difficulty in
generating joy.”
The Pope added: “Money, comfort,
hygiene and material security are often
not lacking, and yet boredom,
depression and sadness unhappily
remain the lot of many.”
The Pope referred also to the
sufferings of “so many starving people,
so many victims of fruitless combats, so
many people tom from their homes.”
He said that such miseries may not be
deeper than in the past but now “are
better known, reported by the mass
media -- at least as much as the events of
good fortune -- and they overwhelm
people’s minds.”
Father Spiazzi underlined a phrase of
the Pope’s asking that Christian
communities become “centers of
optimism where all the members
resolutely endeavor to perceive the
positive aspect of people and events.”
He applauded also the Pope’s call to
dissenters in which the Pope said: “Let
the agitated members of various groups
therefore reject the excesses of
systematic and destructive criticism.”
At a meeting which took place
Friday, May 16, in the Chancery office
of the Diocese of Savannah, a covenant
was signed jointly by the Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, the Right
Reverend Paul Reeves, and the Bishop
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Savannah, the Most Reverend Raymond
W. Lessard. The covenant provides for
increased cooperation and contact
between the two dioceses.
, 1. “Wp will nromotf serious dialogue
between our two dioceses in the spirit
of the national and international
dialogues between our Churches.
2. “We encourage all our
congregations to enter into covenant
relationships with one another.
Although we recognize that
inter-communion has not yet been
achieved by our churches, we strongly
recommend common prayer together,
study together (especially of the
Canterbury and Windsor Agreed
Statements) and social witness together.
3. “We will inaugurate a Prayer Cycle
for the congregations of our two
dioceses so that each day we can pray
for one another in an ordered way.
“May the Lord grant us to grow in love
for Him and for one another, Amen.”
THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS of the Catholic
Church Extension Society (above) unanimously
approved the dissemination and publication of a
BY EXTENSION SOCIETY
Statement of Accountability for donors. The action
was taken at the annual board meeting April 25 in
Philadelphia.
Accountability Statement Issued
In a precedent-setting move, the
Catholic Church Extension Society has
released a Statement of Accountability
to inform donors and the public at large
of the details of their income and
expenses. (See enclosed statement.) The
action was taken at Extension’s recent
annual Board of Governors meeting in
Philadelphia, Pa.
Fr. Joseph A. Cusack, President of
Extension, reflected the opinion of the
Board of Governors when he said, “We
respect the donor’s right to know. We
feel that, as a fund-raising organization,
we have an obligation of accountability
to our donors. We hope that our action
here will be well received.”
A budget for distribution of funds to
f >.
INSIDE STORY
'By The Way*
Pg. 2
Thesis Rejected
Pg. 3
'Cook’s Nook’
Pg. 7
DCCW Notes
Pg. 8
/
the home missions was also announced
and pegged at $3 million. Although not
as large as the budget for 1974, it
represents major mission assistance from
the Extension Society which, since
1905, has been raising funds to assist
impoverished dioceses in the
Continental U.S. and protectorates.
Extension has helped with funds to
build religious buildings, educate
seminarians, expand the campus
ministry, and to support home
missionary priests and religious.
The Board of Governors heard a
comprehensive summary of Extension’s
activities for the past year from Fr.
Cusack who reported that total
disbursements to the home missions
came to $2,593,346. That figure
included $694,912 for building and
repair, $275,027 for mission
catechetical and religious education,
$537,037 for priests and religious
subsidies, $358,120 for campus
ministry, $248,833 for seminarian
education, $154,752 for special
diocesan aid, $238,551 for Masses,
$25,936 for liturgical furnishings, and
$60,178 for important miscellaneous
mission needs.
In his report on fund-raising
activities, Extension’s general secretary
Mr. James Goedert, revealed that
income during the past year was $3
million. This was on an approximate
level with the $3.1 million average for
the past four years and an encouraging
performance when viewed in context
with the troubled economy.
Rev. Edward J. Slattery, Extension’s
vice-president, delivered a special report
entitled, “Meeting the Changing Needs
of the Missions.” It outlined the
changing priorities for a mission society
brought about by Vatican II.
Extension’s treasurer, Mr. Edward
Mathieu, delivered a detailed assessment
of the Society’s fiscal position. He
observed that Extension was holding
firm in an economy with many
variables.
Father Frederick George, O.S.B. will
be ordained a priest of The Order of
Saint Benedict at Belmont Abbey
Fr. Frederick George
The covenant came about as a result
of a two-day ecumenical conference
held April 29 - May 1 at the Georgia
Episcopal Conference Center near
Brunswick. About sixty clergy, evenly
divided between the Episcopal Diocese
of Georgia and the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Savannah, were present at
the conference. During the two days,
they studied two agreed statements
produced by the Anglican-Roman
Catholic International Commission
(ARCIC).
The content of the covenant follows:
“In the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
“The Lord Jesus Christ prayed that
we His followers be one, as He and His
Father are one. The present divisions
that exist among Christians clearly are
not what He wills for us. On 24 March
1966 the Pope and the Archbishop of
Canterbury issued a common
declaration in which they pledged ‘to
inaugurate between the Roman Catholic
Church and the Anglican Communion a
serious dialogue which . . .may lead to
that unity in truth for which Christ
prayed’.
“At the national and international
levels this dialogue already has been
pursued with most encouraging results.
Moved now by the Holy Spirit, we, the
bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of
Georgia and the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Savannah, issue the following
statement of intent:
Cathedral at 10:00 a.m., May 24. The
ordination will be conducted by Bishop
Raymond W. Lessard of Savannah,
Georgia. The following day at 11:30
a.m., Father Frederick will say his first
Mass of Thanksgiving, also at the Abbey
Cathedral.
Father Frederick is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Harry George of Savannah. He
earned his B. A. in Philosophy at
Belmont Abbey College in 1970 and
will receive his Master of Divinity
Degree on May 21 from Saint Meinrad
School of Theology in Saint Meinrad,
Indiana.
To fulfil the requirements of his
pastoral semester, Father Frederick has
been an assistant at Saint Michael’s
Parish in Gastonia for the past year. He
has also been active in the Abbey’s
Campus Ministry Program.
Ordination for Frederick George
Priests’ Senate Meets
The Spring meeting of the Priests’ Senate was held recently in Dublin with some of
the more interesting matters discussed being the Permanent Diaconate, world
resources, and divorced and remarried Catholics.
Father Clement F. Borchers (Glenmary), Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Vidalia,
suggested men of leadership be found in rural areas and ordained as deacons after a
certain minimal course of preparation.
It was proposed and passed unanimously that a committee be appointed to study
the need for the Permanent Diaconate in rural areas and the qualifications required for
those who would exercise the diaconate. Father Borchers was made chairman of this
committee with Msgr. D. J. Bourke, Father Joseph Dean (Glenmary), and Father
Patrick Adams, O.F.M. The object of this committee will be not only research but to
create an atmosphere of awareness among the priests of the diocese.
The discussion on world resources came as a result of the recent convention of the
N.F.P.C. in St. Petersburg. It was unanimously voted that each diocesan priest give ten
per cent of his basic salary, that is of his cash salary, each month to some group
catering to world hunger.
During the discussion on divorced and remarried Catholics, it was stated that before
the year is out, Bishop Lessard assisted by Fathers Nelson and Kenneally will draw up
a symposium which would deal with:
1. canonical procedures
2. counseling of divorced Catholics
3. on the correct pastoral approach taking into account the theological and
canonical background of the Sacrament of Matrimony.
The next Senate meeting will be held on the day prior to the annual priests’ retreat
in Savannah.
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
Blasts Ultra Left, Ultra Right
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- Pope Paul, blasting critical Catholics of both the
ultra-liberal and the ultra-conservative camps, has declared that their opposition
inflicts “bitter wounds” on the body of the Church. Speaking May 14 to some 50,000
pilgrims in St. Peter’s Basilica and the Nervi audience hall after rain had forced him to
cancel a single audience in the open air, Pope Paul told the pilgrims in Italian, English,
French, German and Spanish: “The Church means a meeting. Thus it is meant to
denote unity. We present a spectacle of unity resulting not only from a simultaneous
presence but even more from the reasons, the sentiments, of the soul which unite us.”
One Million Signatures
OTTAWA, Canada (NC) -- Armed with one million anti-abortion signatures --
believed to be the most massive expression of public opinion in Canadian history --
pro-life forces are mounting an assault on Parliament and government to obtain
protection for Canada’s unborn children. Their first objective is Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau. They met him and some of his cabinet officials May 21 to present a
comprehensive brief in behalf of the “40,000 innocent lives which are destroyed each
year in Canadian hospitals.”
SIGNED MAY 16TH
Episcopal-Roman Catholic Covenant