Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, July 17,1975
The Southern Cross
Business Office 225 Abercom St., Savannah, Ga. 31401
Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, D.D., President
John E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
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Refugees— Help Today!
Chaos, confusion, fear. Every minute a new
shift in the sands of government. Phone lines
clogged. A husband, a sister, a daughter missing,
out of touch. To stay, to leave. So little time to
think, to decide, to act.
For better or for worse, a decision made.
Evacuation successfully completed. Seven days
at sea, hungry, doubtful.
Now too much time to think and worry.
What happens next? Where will they finally
settle? Where will they work? What happens
here?
The most important step follows. It is ours.
After completing social service counseling,
the refugee chooses one of the voluntary
agencies that will put him or her in touch with
a sponsoring family.
The voluntary agency interviews the family
and tries to match the background and hopes of
the family with a sponsoring family that has
been identified through the Diocesan
Resettlement Director. This is where you come
in.
NEW BEGINNING
Sponsors welcome new families in the
following ways:
Meeting them at their point of arrival in your
community.
Providing shelter and food until the head of
household for the family becomes
self-sufficient (Shelter need not be in the
residence of the sponsors but must be
adequate.)
What if someone gets sick and needs medical
attention or hospitalization?
Answer: Refugees qualify for Medicaid.
Exact coverages vary from state to state.
What if someone gets in trouble with the law,
or is sued?
Answer: The sponsor has absolutely no legal
liability.
CUSTOMS AND KINDNESS
The Indochinese people are as diverse as we
are in the United States. They have
backgrounds as teachers, artisans, merchants,
medical people, technicians, farmers.
Families now being resettled average 4.5
people per family; however, a basic family
group often includes grandparents, brothers
and/or sisters and sometimes cousins. They are
a sensitive, gentle people who welcome gentle
manners, a gentle voice and heart.
Some of the highest priorities of a refugee
family include the desire not to disturb the
sponsoring family, employment, a place to live,
schooling for the children, a better grasp of
English, a degree of economic independence
and a warm climate.
Sponsoring families will take their lead from
you. They will wish to do things “correctly”
and to interfere as little as possible with your
household. For example, if you start to clean,
they will want to help. If you start to cook,
they will probably participate in the
preparation. In the beginning, if they are living
in your household, they will probably not eat
until you or your family does, so be careful to
be sensitive to their needs and perceptions.
OUR PARISH
CotfF/RMA UONS
FoR ALL.
OCCASIONS
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“Do you have a cheer-up card lor someone who
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Called by Name
Rev. Robert Mattingly
Vocation Director in Savannah
Women
Priests?
Joe Breig
This is my third and final column about the
misleading headlines which alleged that, “Pope
says women can never be priests.”
As I have noted, Pope Paul could not
possibly make such a flat statement, because
God has not yet conclusively disclosed his will
in this matter.
Eventually, the Church must answer the
question with an infallible definition, either by
a pope, or by a pope with an ecumenical
council of the Church. That time is in the
future.
What, then, did Pope Paul VI really say in his
April talk to his Vatican Commission on the
Role of Women in Society and in the Church?
What the Holy Father did was to suggest that
for the time being we should concentrate on
discovering the roles of women in the Church
apart from the priesthood, leaving the
priesthood question for future determination.
I do not mean that he proposed that the
question be ignored, be not studied, pondered
and prayed over. No; but what he was saying
was that we should not center on the
priesthood problem while neglecting the issues
which should be settled first.
Here is what Pope Paul said: “If women did
not receive the call to the apostolate of the
Twelve and therefore to the ordained
ministries, they are nevertheless invited to
follow Christ as disciples and co-workers . ..”
A few sentences later, he added that “We
cannot change the behavior of our Lord nor his
call to women.” This must be seen in the
context of his remark, earlier in the speech,
that after 20 centuries of Christianity, the
world is only beginning to awaken to the
Christian awareness of the exalted position of
women in the intentions of our Creator.
Furnishing clothing and pocket money, if
needed.
Giving assistance in finding employment and
in obtaining school enrollment for children.
Covering routine health care.
After employment is secured, the sponsor is
requested to assist the refugee in locating
permanent housing, acquiring minimal furniture
and arranging for utilities.
Sponsorship ensures that refugees do not
become public charges. Sponsorship is the key
for transition from refugee status to the
position of self-sufficient member of a
community.
Given the hope of Indochinese families to
live in somewhat close proximity to one
another, shared sponsorships by parishes or
neighborhood groups can make a profound
contribution to their wellbeing and happiness.
At the most elemental level, sponsorship
means finding homes and employment. The
sponsors, however, can also assist the family
with some less tangible aspects of resettlement
such as helping the family adjust to a new
culture, acquainting them with American legal
requirements, with basics such as traffic rules,
safety precautions, responsibilities of
citizenship. While sponsorship is not a legal
commitment, it is a moral one to help the new
family to the best of the sponsor’s ability.
SOME ANSWERS
What about expenses? We are not wealthy,
but we would like to help in whatever way we
can.
Answer: Diocesan Directors have some
government funds available for initial expenses.
In addition, the refugees qualify for Aid to
Dependent Families (welfare) through a recent
act of Congress.
What if, after an honest search, I cannot find
the father or mother a job? I can’t help them
indefinitely.
Answer: Federal law provides for welfare and
Medicaid * coverage for Vietnamese and
Cambodian immigrants. Help the family
complete paperwork for these coverages.
• Requirements vary from state to state. Help
them find housing they can afford with welfare
funds, and consider your basic responsibility
fulfilled.
SOME HINTS
Accept, above all, people as human beings
(These are very private people who are
family-oriented. They will welcome time by
themselves.)
Avoid overwhelming the new family. Give
them time to settle, to be quiet for awhile,
without making them feel inadequate. (Don’t
expect them to react to American life
immediately with great enthusiasm. In addition
to entering a different culture, they have been
shocked by a great many losses.)
Be careful to respect their religion and their
religious practices.
Refrain from becoming too personal in the
beginning (These are people who have suffered
and may be reluctant to share some of their
recent personal experiences.)
As for food, they will prefer rice. It is
advisable to let them cook it. A trip to the
supermarket would be most welcome, where
they may choose their own foods.
Do not be embarrassed to put the whole
family in one room if necessary (Sleeping bags
and folding cots are ideal as they can be put
away during the day, offering the family a
meeting room to hold in common and to afford
their own form of privacy.)
Give English instructions in the use of
appliances, telephones, and so on (Outside the
home, explain traffic signs, how to cope with
transportation, whatever comes to mind. Trips
to supermarkets, drug stores, service stations -
all are valuable language lessons and will lead to
self-sufficiency in the new culture.)
Entertain the family occasionally with trips
to nearby parks, sightseeing in small doses,
neighborhood social gatherings - especially if
there are other Asians in the group - and
television (one tool for learning English)
Offer a peaceful environment to sustain their
beginnings.
Don’t worry.
In all cases, simple concern and common
sense will help make friends.
If you are still just thinking about becoming
a sponsor, think it over carefully. But don’t just
think.
Do it!
Personal Value In The
Celibate Commitment
When celibacy is considered, often the
notion of living a life free of impure thoughts
without placing oneself in dangerous occasions
of sin arises. Even more often, celibacy is
viewed as a kind of taxation that has to be paid
to the Lord for something else (priesthood).
From these shallow notions of celibacy a
person is thus likely to take on a juridical
concept of celibacy which concludes that the
“law” could be changed allowing me to be
“free”,
Celibacy instead is a precious gift given to a
man by the grace of God. This gift allows one
to live life of total dedication to God for the
sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact the
relationship of spouses is used to describe the
relationship. Celibacy allows one to be not a
slave, not just a friend, but rather intellectually
and internally the spouse of the Lord.
Celibacy allows one to strive to be a “seer” -
a man of vision. Man today needs men with
wisdom to discern the events of the time so
that man knows how to best act. The celibate
has the special freedom to persue a deep
relationship with the Lord. Through prayer and
public consecration, the celibate can lead God’s
people.
The notion of oblation must be kept in
mind. The man who is consecrated to the Lord
must die to many avenues of life. Thus he, like
Jesus, becomes a victim - an oblation - a man
totally dependent on the graces of God for his
existence.
Celibacy can provide a sign value which is
needed for the world. The celibate, if he lives
his elibacy as he is called, is a sign of
contradiction. The man who joyfully lives for
the Lord, loves people non-genitally, serves
others, and leads people in prayer makes other
men think, “there must be a God.” How rich
the call to provide this powerful sign of hope to
others.
The celibate must live out the gospel values if
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We would like to receive an application form to sponsor a refugee family.
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Office Of Migration And Refugee Services
Please Mail Blank To:
Diocese Of Savannah
P.O. Box 8789 Savannah, Georgia 31402
he is going to be a sign of contradiction. He
must live in prayer, vigilance, poverty, joy, and
in fraternal love. He must live the mercy and
love of Jesus. If he claims to be dedicated to
the Lord but lives in a life style of the world, he
becomes a sign of hypocrisy rather than a sign
of contradiction which gives hope and strength
to others.
Mortification is important for the celibate
because it enables him to publically call into
doubt many unchallenged wordly ideas. For
example, if the celibate fasts and simply
delights in ordinary food, he causes others to
think. If he denies himself luxurious material
possessions and yet is happy, he again makes
people question their value system. If the
celibate loves others and serves others
unselfishly, rather than looking for something
in return, he makes people think. By freeing
himself from false ideas which can trap him in
so far as time and energy, he is free to be with
the Lord than worrying about his stock.
Openness to the Spirit seems to be the only
means for a joyful, meaningful life of celibacy.
Just as the fish need water, and an automobile
needs gas, the celibate must be a man of the
Spirit to fulfill his role in life. Only then can he
discern the way of the Lord.
It seems to me clear that Pope Paul was
saying that MAYBE Jesus did not call women
to the priesthood, seeing that he did not
include them among the Twelve Apostles. Yet
we must remember that in the sociological
atmosphere of the time of Jesus, when women
were considered of little consequence compared
with men, it would have been highly
imprudent, humanly speaking, to name women
among the Apostles.
Pope Paul perhaps feels that if Jesus intended
the priesthood for women, he would have given
some clear indication of his will in the matter.
But this is a far cry from a pope flatly asserting,
as the headlines had it, that “women can never
be priests.”
Pope Paul does not know that. Nobody
knows that. Neither does anybody know
whether it is the will of Christ that women
eventually should be ordained into the
priesthood.
The ultimate and definitive answer to the
question must wait upon an infallible
pronouncement; a decision guaranteed by Jesus
as being absolutely free from error.
In prayer and study, we must seek, as Pope
Paul indicated, to discover the divine intentions
concerning the roles of women in the Church.
Whatever those roles are, we may be sure they
are exalted and immensely important; for God
in his incarnation made Mary his mother, and
placed her higher in the order of divine grace
than any Apostle or priest or pope or angelic
choir.
Five Against Defeat
Rev. James Wilmes
Every athlete has experienced the
phenomenon of “second wind.” It is that point
in physical exertion where exhaustion seems
itself exhausted, and a refreshed creature
emerges to finish the course. The seeming
miracle is not confined to muscular energy.
There is a “second wind” of the spirit. It is that
point in every harassed life where new wisdom
rises to the mind, fresh hope springs up in the
breast, and quite unsuspected resources are
brought suddenly into the open.
All these things are like underground water,
waiting and ready for someone to dig down and
tap the stream. All that is required is to make
right the conditions of their flowing. Here are
five available to anyone:
When instead of agonizing, we act. Activity
of almost any kind is the enemy of helplessness
and hopelessness. Get moving.
When instead of giving up, we struggle on.
This means to make the most determined effort
at the very moment you are tempted to quit.
Keep on.
When instead of emoting and complaining all
over the place, we stop and think. There is a
principle at stake in every conflict of the mind.
Discover the principle and stand on it, and you
have the strength of ten. Use your head.
When instead of griping of what we can’t do,
we do what we can do. What makes a person
stronger than an answer to a cry for help? What
makes us more resourceful than the knowledge
that we are needed? Do something.
When instead of trying to run the universe
single-handed, we leave to the creator these
things plainly beyond human control. Stop
worrying.
Amazingly simple are these rules, yet
amazingly effective. Try them and see. Then
ask the Holy Spirit to take your poor efforts
and fill you with His life and love and power.
RESOLUTION: Resolve to avoid getting
discouraged. Consider such temptations as
reminders to pray trustingly.
SCRIPTURE: What will separate us from the
love of Christ? Trial or distress or persecution
or hunger or nakedness or danger or the sword?
As scripture says, “For your sake we are being
slain all the day long, as sheep to be
slaughtered. Neither death nor life nor the
present nor the future can separate us from the
love of God!” Rom. 8,35.
PRAYER: Lord, I believe, help my unbelief;
I trust, help my lack of trust; I love, help me
love as You want me to love. Amen.
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