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V t A ' - The Southern Cross 0 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.” t v- v i 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) A HEADLINE r HOPSCOTCH _ > 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.”