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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, July 24,1975
The Southern Cross
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Conversion
Conversion is a reality that is central
to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
For too long conversion was looked on
as something rational; a process of the
head rather than a process that involved
the heart as well as the head. In his
writings, St. Paul repeatedly issued the
call to conversion - a change of heart
with regard to the Risen Christ.
Conversion has become an important
topic in recent theological discussion.
Many theologians no longer find the
traditional terms with regard to
conversion comfortable. The preference
is to state it in simple and direct terms.
It is easier to understand “believe the
good news” and “be converted” than
“an act of cognition and of willing that
is radical in its source and universal in its
implications.” This does not imply that
the traditional terms were wrong but
rather their frame of reference is more
limited.
A man for whom conversion was a
painful process stated: It is a
“Heart-piercing, reason-bewildering fact,
either there is no Creator, or this living
society of man is in a true sense
discarded from His presence ... If there
be a God, since there is a God, the
human race is implicated in some terrible
aboriginal calamity.” These words were
written by Cardinal Newman who died
in 1890. One would think that he was
surveying history from our 1975
standpoint.
Our history as a race contains the facts
that Eire evidence for this calamity that
Newman speaks
these facts the
Religion sums it
of. Some would call
process of evolution,
up in the word “sin”
and in the consequences of sin. It is very
difficult to have a sense of optimism
today, in the aftermath of so many
terrible wars and genocide, in the
presence of nuclear “deterrent,” in the
awaited confrontation between the poor
and rich nations and in the general
disintegration of our Western inherited
culture and civilization. The danger for
the optimistic humanist is that he will
become a humanistic pessimist or, more
logically, an apostle of the absurd.
What is needed then is a radical
conversion, a continual turning towards
Christ rather than being once-born
Christians. Conversion is essential to
religion. Unless it is present, religion
becomes an empty formalism. Prayer is
the reality that sustains the on-going
process of conversion. Our contact with
Christ in prayer continually reminds us
of the need for conversion. This fact also
allows us to remain open to shifting
demands of change both in the Church
and in our relationship to Christ.
If a time ever comes when we can say;
“Whatever has happened to prayer,”
then we are in serious trouble. We were
recently reminded that today is a
national day of prayer. Our need to pray
must not depend so much on the
of the times that we live in
a constant awareness of
seriousness
but rather
that need.
on
- Rev. John A. Kenneally
No Easy Answers
Mary Carson
A friend of mine is watching her mother
slowly die from cancer.
The illness was diagnosed as “terminal” more
than two years ago. The suffering endured by
both mother and daughter have been
indescribable.
Unfortunately the ordeal has also eroded the
daughter’s faith in God. During a recent
conversation she told me she no longer believed
in God because, “if there really were a God, He
would have to be some kind of monster to let
someone die like this.”
At the time I realized she was overwrought
by the strain she has been under and that a
reasonable discussion about God would not
help at that time. I decided to let her remark
pass in the hope that we could discuss it at
some future time when her emotions were not
driven to despair.
But her remark kept haunting me because I
knew that now, while she is undergoing this
terrible trial, is the time she needs faith in God
most of all.
I’ve read a number of theological
explanations about why a God who is good
allows ev” to exist in the world. They have
been intelligent, reasoned, and lucid .. . but
practically worthless to this woman who is
watching her mother waste away.
I’m sure many people have been in the same
situation I am ... a friend desperately needing
help, and I have the opportunity. But what
should I do?
Despair is a sin. I could lecture her about this
evil. That would be about as Christian as
stamping on the fingertips of someone
desperately clinging to the edge of a cliff.
My friend’s faith has been chipped at,
eroded, knocked down. Every time she forces
herself to hope, she is tossed another
disappointment, another set-back.
She needs no lectures.
She needs her spirits lifted. When my own
daughter was seriously ill, one of the saving
forces for my spirits was the kindness shown by
friends and neighbors. Offers to bake a cake,
drop off dinner, mind the kids provided
material comfort. They also raised my spirits.
Friends cared.
So I baked a cake and took it to my friend.
It’s a curious thing. When I am doing something
like that, I feel I am doing nothing. But having
also been the recipient in other times, I know
that it does wonders.
Conversation is difficult. Outside of some
platitudes about the experimental medicine
being used on her mother may save someone
else, there isn’t much to say.
I just hope my being there tells her I care.
And I pray.
More than anything, she needs faith at this
time. Those who have never known despair may
feel it’s a virtue she should cultivate herself.
Those who have been in the depths know that
you are helpless in helping yourself.
So I can pray my friend receives the gift of
faith. Whether her mother continues to live and
suffer, or if she dies soon, without faith it’s all
futile.
Despair parches and dries the fields in which
faith is sown. Attempts by my friend to restore
faith will fall on barren ground.
The best I can hope to do is to restore the
fertility to that ground . . . restore her spirits
with any help that will build her belief in
herself because someone else cares about her,
someone loves her.
Then pray that God will once again plant the
seeds.
OUR PARISH
v(3ec.
OOiWhcl»
have an all-night vigil every
for our teenager to get
Friday—waiting
home!”
Long Hard Look At ERA
Joe Breig
The more I study the proposed Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution,
the more convinced I become that it should not
be ratified by the states, and should never have
been submitted to them by Congress.
The proposed amendment - which if ratified
would become part of the supreme law of the
land - states that “Equality of rights under the
law shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any state on account of
sex.”
The public has not yet sufficiently realized
that this cuts both ways; that it forbids
discrimination in favor of females as well as
discrimination in favor of males. It would
prohibit denial or abridgement of rights for
men as well as for women.
Therefore it is certain that if, in an
emergency, the military draft should be
reinstated, women would have to be drafted
equally with men. Otherwise, there would be a
denial of “equality of rights” for men. Women
would be drafted, put through military training,
and sent into armed combat. Otherwise, men
could constitutionally refuse to serve; and the
courts would uphold their refusal.
The U.S. Supreme Court would have no
choice but to rule that the constitution forbade
imposing any duty upon men which was not
equally imposed upon women.
That fact alone -- the inevitable drafting of
women - would be more than enough to cause
me to oppose ratification of ERA; but there is
much more. ERA is by no means a matter of
simple justice, as its promoters have tried to
portray it.
As columnist Pat Buchanan has written,
ERA, if ratified by the states, “would trigger a
social revolution, sweeping away, like so much
debris, state laws, local traditions and national
customs. Every- statute now providing special
protection for women in the labor force would
be invalidated. Laws imposing upon husbands
primary responsibility for their wives and
children could be cast out as unconstitutional
and discriminatory . ..
“Draft laws which did not provide for equal
call-ups of females” (Buchanan continues)
“would be subject to court challenge ...
Churches which reserve the priesthood for
men. .. would have to justify this
‘discriminatory’ practice.”
Columnist Buchanan quoted Senator Sam
Ervin as saying, “I believe that (if ERA was
ratified) the Supreme Court would reach the
conclusions that ERA annuls every existing
federal and state law making any distinction
between men and women however reasonable
such distinction might be in particular cases,
and will forever rob the Congress and the
legislatures of the 50 states of the
constitutional power to enact any such laws at
any time in the future.”
Harvard University’s constitutional law
expert, Paul Freund, has warned that
ratification of ERA would make invalid, for
example, all laws forbidding “wedlock”
between members of the same sex.
ERA should be relegated to the dust bin.
Mr
Called
By Name
Bishop E. L. Unterkoefler
Diocese of Charleston
Vocations
To The Priesthood
How can a young man commit his life to a
permanent vocation? This question is raised in
meetings about vocations. Is a vocation to the
priesthood a life-long commitment? Long
discussions have arisen within the Catholic
community about a terminal ministry.
It seems to me that a sound doctrinal
understanding of a vocation to the priesthood
does not envision that in the sealing of that
vocation in ordination there can be endorsed a
temporary life in the ministerial priesthood.
The Catholic Church still holds to the
conviction and firm teaching that once a man is
ordained to the priesthood, he remains always a
priest. A validly ordained priest can never lose
his ministerial priesthood, his sharing in the
priesthood of Jesus Christ. He is a priest
forever.
Carefully we must state that the exercise of
the ministerial priesthood can be temporary. If
a young priest should suffer a major health
problem, he may not be able to exercise his
priesthood, but he is still a priest.
If a priest is dispensed from the exercise of
priestly activities and from the obligation of
celibacy, he is still a priest though not allowed
to exercise his ministerial priesthood in normal
circumstances because he has chosen
laicization. He asked to live in the life style of a
layman. He is in good standing in the Church as
a laicized priest. He can fulfill all those
obligations and privileges in the Church that are
proper to the layman. He should receive the
respect of the Catholic community. His exercise
of the ministerial priesthood was temporary or
limited because unforeseen circumstances arose
which were just causes for laicization and a
dispensation from the obligations of priestly
celibacy.
It is a different story with the
excommunicated priest. He is not in good
standing. But we pray that he will pray for
himself, attend Mass and seek the prayers of the
faithful.
These men deserve our attention in a special
way. Their vocation was a joy for a number of
years, but again their own deliberate actions
deprived them of the exercise of the privilege of
the bond which joins Christians together, e.g.,
the reception of the Eucharist.
When we speak of life-long commitment, let
us look to that large body of priests who are
tenaciously bound to a perpetual ministry.
They are rock-bound in the affirmation of
permanence, fidelity and prayerfulness. All
priests are human beings and they give hope to
every generation of young people because of
the witness they give to priestly ideals, to their
understanding of union with Christ in the
priesthood and to a life-long covenant to
fidelity to God who called them.
From the ranks of young men will come this
type of candidate for the priesthood. Our
bishops, priests, religious and laity must give
visible and encouraging support to such young
men. Seminaries must do more in guiding and
directing such young men in their formation for
priestly life and ministry. Vocation directors
will succeed when they inspire pastors, priests,
secular and religious, Sisters, deacons, Brothers
to live the evangelical life. A director of
vocations must be an extraordinary person who
interprets the meaning of priestly life and
ministry to each area of the Church. He should
place high on his list of priorities the
discernment of spirits.
He must show that the Church sustains its
vocations when priests are vibrant, enthusiastic,
happy witnesses of their vocations. Vocation
awareness is for the whole Church.
Remember that a vocation to the priesthood
liberates the young man to involve himself in
Christ’s redemptive action for all men. The
priest shares intimately in the universal actions
of Christ the Priest.
How Much Is Enough?
Rev. James Wilmes
What One Person Can Do
Rev. Richard Armstrong
District Judge Richard Unis of Portland,
Oregon, decided that jail sentences
accomplished little for first offenders,
pranksters and vagrants. Two years ago, he
founded a unique Alternative Community
Service Program (ACSP) enlisting drunken
drivers, shoplifters, soft drug users and those
convicted of vagrancy and other misdemeanors
in community aid work projects.
Instead of being jailed or fined, many first
offenders are being rehabilitated under Judge
Unis’ ACSP program, working with youth,
aiding senior citizens, counseling poor and
minorities, and serving drug and alcohol
rehabilitation programs. Over 2,500 such
volunteers have been sentenced to serve 116
non-profit agencies under ACSP since
December, 1972.
ACSP doesn’t coddle offenders. Its tightly
structured program requires volunteers to sign
work contracts, committing themselves to
between 25 and 80 hours of service. Agencies
agree to strict supervision and a written
evaluation is made to the court. So far, the
program claims 80 per cent success, with court
statistics showing few of those involved
returning to court. Some even continue
volunteer work after their sentences expire.
A deep love for mankind -- both those in
need and those who have offended society --
can lead each of us to seek constructive ways to
help, rather than to merely punish. When we
do, everyone gains.
An eighteen year old girl was listening to the
complaining of her elders concerning the cost
of things, and the comparisons with the good
old days. Suddenly she broke in with a
question, “Mother, how much money do you
need to be rich?” A little laugh went around
the circle as her mother replied, “Enough to
keep you from worry.” The laugh died when
the child continued, “And how much is that?”
Yes, how much is enough to keep anyone
from worry? Diogenes of old thanked his gods
that there were so many things in the world
which he could get along without. He had peace
of mind at no cost at all. The increase of our
anxieties grows apace with the growth of
material wealth. A man who declined to work
longer hours in order to earn money he could
save for his old age to take it easy, had a good
answer. He was taking it easy to begin with,
right now.
If the striving for possessions is motivated by
the idea that security lies in things, then the
struggle is in vain. If we have no quiet in our
minds, then outward comfort can do no more
for us than a golden slipper on a swollen foot.
That money can buy anything is
contradicted every day of the week. It can only
buy things which are for sale: a bed, but not
sleep; books, but not brains; food, but not
appetite; finery, but not beauty; a house, but
not a home; medicine, but not health; luxuries
but not culture; amusements, but not
happiness; a crucifix, but not a Savior; a
church-pew, but not heaven. It cannot buy
love, self-respect, the respect of others, any
number of spiritual values. There is not enough
money or material wealth in all the world to
keep one from fear if the heart is not right.
In short, money is about what you make it.
A little money is sometimes a great blessing. A
lot of it can sometimes become a dreadful
curse.
RESOLUTION: Try giving to God through
your Church and other Christian charities, fifty
per cent of luxuries. Never buy the best just to
impress people, but what is reasonable so that
the difference in price may be given to Christ in
His poor.
SCRIPTURE: Jesus said, “Be perfect. Sell
what you own; give the money to the poor and
you will have a treasure in heaven.” Mt. 19, 22.
PRAYER: Take, Lord, all that I have and
possess. Give me only your love and grace and I
will be rich enough. Amen.