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DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No. 34 Thursday, October 2,1975 • Single Copy Price -15 Cents
RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY 9 STATEMENTS
Needs Of American Family Stressed
WASHINGTON (NC) - The president
of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops and the chairman of the
Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life
Activities have stressed the need for
society and the Church to help
American families surmount the
problems they face.
“The family as an institution will
certainly survive,” said Archbishop
Joseph L. Bemardin of Cincinnati,
president of the bishops’ conference.
“But individual families need help. They
need it here and now.”
Archbishop Bernardin and Cardinal
Terence Cooke of New York, chairman
of the pro-life committee, issued
statements in connection with the
observance of Oct. 5 as “Respect Life
Sunday.”
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The day marks the start of the annual
U.S. Catholic “Respect Life” program.
In the weeks ahead, Catholics in
parishes throughout the country will
hear sermons and take part in
educational activities dealing with the
unborn, the aging, the role of women,
and other issues. Family life is the
special theme of the 1975 program.
Noting that the “Respect Life
Sunday” observance focuses in
particular on the unborn, Cardinal
Cooke said in his statement:
“In a society that is increasingly
callous in its disrespect for the lives of
those who are defenseless and silent, We
affirm again the value and dignity of
unborn human beings.”
Following is the text of the statement
by Archbishop Bemardin:
Family life is threatened in our
country today.
I do not subscribe to the alarmist
notion that the family as we know it is
going to disappear. I do not believe that
the traditional values associated with
marriage and^he family will vanish. But
I do believe that contemporary attitudes
and pressures subject today’s American
family to unusual strains and tensions.
This is a situation no one can afford
to take lightly. Healthy family life is
essential to the well being of society. In
neglecting the needs of families, we
jeopardize the future.
Family life is the theme of the 1975
Respect Life observance sponsored by
the Catholic Church in the United
States. Dioceses and parishes
throughout the country will begin this
observance on Sunday, Oct. 5. This is an
occasion for serious reflection on the^.
problems families face today and on the
necessary solutions to these problems.
The public and private sectors at every
level have a serious duty to provide for
the material and moral welfare of the
American family.
To mention even a few of the specific
problems confronting families today is
to suggest the dimensions of the overall
challenge. Poverty and near-poverty,
reflected in poor housing, inferior
education and inadequate health care,
afflict millions of families. Sexual
permissiveness, ' abortion, and
widespread acceptance — even
promotion -- of divorce undermine
family stability. Bombardment by
materialistic messages through mass
media weakens the commitment to
values essential to family life.
It would be easy to add to this
catalog. The point is that the family is
under attack on many fronts today. The
family as an institution will certainly
survive. But individual families need
help. They need it here and now.
Our focus on the family in this year’s
Respect Life observance underlines the
fact that the family is the primary
context within which human lives begin,
develop and achieve - or fail to achieve
« fulfillment. In pondering the intimate
relationship between life and the family,
let us pray for deeper commitment to
both -- and for the wisdom to seek and
find solutions to the problems
confronting families today.
Following is the text of the statement
by Cardinal Cooke:
Oct. 5, 1975, marks the opening of
the annual Respect Life program. The
major theme of this year’s program is
the family. The family is the basic
community where life begins and where
each person grows and develops with
(Continued on page 7)
VILLA MARIE DEDICATION - Cheatham E. Hodges (left) and Bishop
Raymond W. Lessard, of Savannah, are pictured at dedication of Villa
Marie Apartments. The apartments, dedicated Sept. 21, provide 140 units
for low income families, the aged and the handicapped. (Augusta Herald
Photo by Kirk Beasley)
RESPECT LIFE THEMES - In Rochester, N. Y., Mike Voorheis
comforts his wife, Elaine, during the birth of their baby, Amanda (top
right). In Milwaukee, a child listens attentively in school, while on the
West Coast, a young woman is pensive. A man in a wheelchair attends the
groundbreaking of a Little Sisters of the Poor home in Minneapolis and a
family takes a walk in Wisconsin. Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin said in
connection with Respect Life Sunday Oct. 5 that the Church and society
must help the family survive. (NC Photos by Susan McKinney, Robert L.
Miller, Richard T. Lee and Kati Ritchie)
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Augusta’s Villa Marie Apartments Dedicated
Villa Marie, a new Augusta housing
project, is offering 140 units of one,
two and three bedroom apartments to
low income families, the aged and the
handicapped.
The non-profit, federally funded
project, located at 3200 Deans Bridge
Road, has been erected through the
efforts of the Diocese of Savannah.
Directed by Caritas -- a group of
laypeople and clergy from the area’s
Catholic Churches, the operation is
entirely funded by rents and rent
subsidies and will be conducted solely
for the benefit of the tenants.
involved in seeing its completion and
especially upon those who will be able
to take advantage of it - who will find a
home here.”
Cheatham E. Hodges, Caritas
President, said that projects such as
Villa Marie are supported by the
government for the purpose of up
grading the living conditions of people
in general. He said that in order to move
away from the government realm of
administration, it “asks churches and
other groups from established church
organizations to sponsor facilities such
as this.”
Caritas’ president said his group owed
a debt of gratitude to many people,
“but in particular, to the bishop, the
respective committees in the Diocese of
Savannah and the various churches in
the Augusta Deanery for their
sponsorship.”
He singled out for special praise the
individual members of the Board of
Directors of Caritas Corporation, “who
have persisted through the five years
required to make Villa Marie a reality.”
Hodges also expressed appreciation to
Congressman Robert Stephens for his
help and thanked the Richmond County
Commissioners, “who have cooperated
with us in order to make streets passable
and acceptable on the outside of the
project.”
Some of the new apartments are
equipped with ramps for wheel chairs
and some have special facilities and
accessories for aged or handicapped
persons.
The apartments are rapidly being
occupied. By dedication day, people
were living in more than fifty of the
units.
Wants Private School Lobby
CINCINNATI (NC) - The secretary for education of the United States Catholic
Conference has called for a new organization that could effectively lobby in defense of
private schools in this country. Msgr. Olin J. Murdick envisioned the new national
group as being “a broadly based coalition, professionally equipped for an effective,
on-going public relations task” on behalf of nonpublic schools and the concept of the
parents’ right to choose freely an education for their children.
Step Toward Euthanasia?
RICHMOND, Va. (NC) - A proposal to give legal protection against malpractice
suits to Virginia doctors who withdraw life support from terminally ill patients has
been criticized as unnecessary and a step toward euthanasia. Del. Ira M. Lechner
/ (D-Arlington) advocated the malpractice protection in a “death with dignity” bill he
said he will introduce in the state legislature next January. Bishop Walter F. Sullivan of
Richmond termed the measure a “watered-down version” of a “death with dignity”
bill Lechner sponsored in the 1975 legislature and which was tabled by a committee
for study.
Bishop Threatened With Expulsion
SAO PAULO (NC) - After denouncing a rightwing “campaign of defamation”
against him and other churchmen pressing for social reform in Brazil, Bishop Pedro
Casaldaliga of Sao Felix has been threatened by the government with expulsion from
the country. The bishop, a Spaniard, has for two years been locked in a dispute with
local lumbermen over land for poor farmers in Brazil’s hinterland. Cardinal Paulo
Evaristo Arns of Sao Paulo, another of the targets of the defamation campaign, left for
Rome Sept. 21 with a petition signed by him and other Brazilian bishops asking Pope
Paul VI to intercede for Bishop Casaldaliga and prevent the expulsion.
The complex was dedicated by
Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, of
Savannah, at ceremonies held on
Sunday, Sept. 21. The bishop cut a
ribbon which officially opened the
apartments.
Following the ribbon cutting, Bishop
Lessard gave recognition to the federal
government “for this most significant
involvement in the needs of our
society.”
The bishop expressed his “personal
satisfaction and pleasure and that of the
Diocese of Savannah for having had the
opportunity of sponsoring this project
and of being involved in this way. It
gives us a very concrete opportunity to
manifest that which we should be doing
as Christians.”
Signaling out Cheatham Hodges, the
bishop said that he deserved a very
special word of thanks for seeing the
project carried to completion, “he
deserves our applause and gratitude.”
Bishop Lessard then invoked the
blessing of the Almighty “upon this
setting, upon the homes that are built
here, upon all those who have been
Bishop Lessard Urges
Take Part In ‘Day Of
Sick
Sick 9
Bishop Raymond W. Lessard, of Savannah, asks that the
sick of the Diocese of Savannah join spiritually on Sunday,
October 5, in a Special Holy Year “Day of the Sick.”
On that day Pope Paul VI will preside at a solemn Holy
Year observance for the sick to be held in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Pope will administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of
the Sick at the ceremony, which will begin at 4:30 p.m.
Rome time.
Bishop Lessard told THE SOUTHERN CROSS that he
invites the sick of this diocese “to join spiritually on that
special Holy Year ‘Day of the Sick’ with Pope Paul in the
offering of themselves and their sufferings to the Lord for
the good of the Church and the welfare of the world.”
The Bishop said that our sick people, on this occasion, can
obtain the Jubilee Year Indulgence. “The conditions for this
Holy Year grace are that they unite themselves spiritually to
the special celebration in Rome and recite devoutly the
Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary for the
intentions of the Holy Father.
“This occasion might also suggest that we remind all our
people, but especially the sick, of the tremendous redemptive
valiie in our physical and mental suffering. Such suffering
enables us to identify in a most special way with the
Suffering Servant, Jesus Crucified.
“May I ask that our sick people offer prayerfully their
suffering for the needs of our own diocese: our growth in
faith as a believing community; the gifts of patience and
perseverance as we seek to be renewed as God’s people; the
blessings of vocations to the priesthood and religious life; an
open and loving heart for the poor and disadvantaged; for
wholesome family life and for our young people.”