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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 6,1975
Please
John E. McCarthy, Director of
Migration and Refugee Services of the
United States Conference, is making one
last appeal to the parishes of the nation
to complete the task of resettlement of
Vietnamese refugees.
Within the next two weeks, the
Catholic Church will have resettled
60,000 refugees. To finish the task,
6,000 still must be sponsored by parishes
throughout the country.
In a letter sent to every bishop in the
United States, the early part of this
week, McCarthy said that these 6,000
persons consist mainly of large family
groups with 12 to 16 persons.
Help!
“This program will not be an easy
one . . . anything that might be done to
provide this type of resettlement
opportunity will be very much
appreciated. It must be kept in mind
that if each diocese would only take two
large families, the backlog would be
cleared up.”
The task of resettlement is nearly
completed. If your parish can take one
more family, now is the time to act. If
your parish has not assisted a
Vietnamese family yet, please consider it
now! For assistance contact Diocesan
Resettlement Office, P.O. Box 8789,
Savannah, 31402: tel. (912) 234-0601.
A Song To Autumn
Joseph Breig
In order to “get back to nature,” it is not at
all necessary to go into some deep and distant
woodland, or to climb a mountain or sail the
seven seas. You can do it right in your own
back yard -- and front yard if there is space
there.
The pin oak, too, was a pet of mine. I came
upon it while clearing weeds and bushy growths
in a space between the garage and the next door
yard. It too was straight and brave, and I have
watched while it has sprung to a height of 30
glorious feet.
You will be reading this after the leaves have
fallen and been gathered for the burning or the
burying -- and maybe after snow has begun to
fall, and winter skies to glower at you, as if God
had lost patience with us. But it is good to
remember autumn when winter is advancing
like a ruthless army; just as good as to think
that if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
I am writing in early October, and the great
soaring silver maple at the end of cur back yard
is still largely green, with only touches here and
there of yellow. But the pin oak beside our
garage is a glory of rusty red, like a graceful
tower of bronze.
In summer, when the pin oak is a vivid green,
It shimmers in the breezes. But now, for the
most part, it stands majestically motionless, in a
kind of meditation, in the stillness that
precedes the onslaughts of winter’s winds.
Fifteen years ago, when I first met the silver
maple while clearing away a tangle of rambler
roses, it was perhaps 18 inches tall, with a trunk
the circumference of my index finger. I fell in
love with it because it was perfectly straight
and perfectly shaped. I pampered it; I warned
everyone against laying a hand on it. Today it
stands 50 feet tall, a noble and venerable being
watching over our yard and house.
What you need to do, if you want to get
back to nature, is to cooperate with the
squirrels which bury things like acorns, and
forget what they did with them. And
cooperate, too, with the winds which drop
seeds here and there on fertile ground.
Beside our front steps is a white oak,
standing more than 30 feet high, which must
have sprung up from an acorn planted by a
squirrel right where I would have planted it had
I been doing the burying. Right now it is a
golden color; across the street is an older white
oak which has turned to a burning red.
Just the right distance from our front-yard
white oak is an ash which I petted and
straightened after I found it making an
appearance perhaps 12 years ago. It is in the
precise spot which, I am confident, a landscape
gardener would have selected for it; and today
it is rivalling the white oak in height and
splendor. Its leaves in this early October are a
pale gold, and they are the first to drop in
autumn.
I must mention, too, the maples and oaks
and ashes which line our driveway, all having
come up without my intervention. And beside
our patio stand a white oak and a pin oak in an
embrace, just where I would have planted them
had I not left the work to my funny friends the
squirrels.
What One Person Can Do
Rev. Richard Armstrong
A college professor accepted a challenge
from his students and exchanged his classroom
for a patrol car. As a result, hundreds of
trainees are gaining insight into the demands of
police work.
Dr. George Kirkham, a criminologist at
Florida State University, explains that he often
found himself arguing with his students, many
of whom were policemen. “They would say
that I had no idea what the cop’s problems are
like,” he recalls, “that I never really cared
enough to find out. One night during a heated
debate, they threw down the challenge.
Afterwards I went home and began thinking
about it. I realized that if I really wanted to
understand what the policeman’s world is like,
the only way was to become a cop.”
With the encouragement of a sympathetic
law-enforcement and administration in
Jacksonville, Professor Kirkham completed
training and became Patrolman Kirkham. Two
years later, with tremendous support from his
fellow officers, he combined his classroom
theories with his practical experience and
created a series of innovative training films.
Police officers themselves “star” in dramas
which demonstrate the complexity and strain
of daily police work and how best to be “fair”
in dealing with people.
Describing the police as “one of the most
beleaguered minority groups in the country,”
Professor-Patrolman Kirkham says that being a
policeman is “a frustrating and difficult job.”
Then, he adds with a smile, “It is the most
rewarding thing that I have ever done.”
The Southern Cross
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Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, D.D., President
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Report On Mass Attendance
John Reedy, C.S.C.
It’s frustrating to find something intelligent
to say about that recent report on the startling
decline in weekly Mass attendance among
Catholics. (The research was that of the
National Opinion Research Center; the findings
were widely and sharply reported by Father
Andrew Greeley, a member of the NORC staff.)
It’s frustrating because the finding that fewer
than a third of adult American Catholics under
40 report weekly Mass attendance is obviously
a matter of serious concern for anyone who
cares about Catholic life.
It’s frustrating because once you
acknowledge that concern, it’s hard to know
what to say, other than to agree with Greeley
that some serious efforts must be made to
discover just why this pattern prevails.
In its report, NORC identified several
influences which were reported as contributing
to the decline: birth control practices in
conflict with Papal teaching; the growing
acceptance of divorce; critical attitudes toward
the authority of the Church embodied in the
Pope.
Nevertheless, I’m sure that the Center itself
would recognize that these are only indicators
which need to be explored much more
thoroughly and carefully before we could
achieve anything like an adequate
understanding of the changing attitudes and
motivation behind the decline.
It’s bound to be simpler, less expensive to
find out WHAT people are doing than it is to
find out WHY they are doing it.
It’s not that these people are immoral or
even irreligious; rather, it’s just that they are
indifferent to Church authority, an element
which in the recent past was one of the most
distinguishing characteristics of American
Catholicism.
On the other hand, I was very surprised at
the report of a substantial decline in Mass
attendance among older Catholics. That has not
been true of the people I know, and I haven’t
the slightest idea of how to explain it.
Many readers will have difficulty accepting
Father Greeley’s judgment that these figures
“represent one of the most drastic declines in
religious practice in the whole of human
history.”
Nevertheless, whether these figures are seen
as representing a catastrophic rejection of
Catholicism by a huge portion of the American
Catholic Church or as representing a major
change in the relationship of Catholics to their
Church, the facts must be a matter of major
concern for all involved in the leadership and
service of the Church.
Even in the most optimistic interpretation,
these figures forecast massive transitions in the
pattern of American Catholicism during the
next decade or two.
NORC has offered a valuable service to all of
us in identifying the facts. If we now stumble
blindly into this new situation, the fault will
rest on someone other than the researchers who
have brought us this disturbing news.
Some observers leap on the fact that these
conclusions were projected from the replies of
only 360 Catholics. That seems like a very small
sample for judgments about the conduct of
more than 40 million American Catholics.
Still, though most of us can’t understand just
why it works, this kind of scientific sampling is
too much a part of our world to be simply
rejected. NORC’s research has far too much
professional prestige to be dismissed on the size
of the sample.
Each of us responds to findings like these on
the basis of our own experience and judgments
Personally, I was not surprised to see that less
than 30% of American Catholics under age 40
replied that they do not attend Mass every
week.
My acquaintances certainly aren’t a
representative sampling of the Catholic
population, but it would be hard for me to
identify more than a few of the younger
Catholics I know who would affirm that they
do attend Mass every week.
Many of these people still see themselves as
Catholics . . . still participate in the worship and
service of the Church, but pretty much on
terms which they establish for themselves. As a
group, they seem unwilling to accept the notion
of a Church authority which can impose
obligations: Sunday Mass obligations, norms for
sexual and marital morality, parish membership
or anything else.
There is a certain party who should be
evicted from any house he lives in. And without
pity or delay. His name is Worry. Perhaps he
rooms with you and is peering over your
shoulder even as you read these lines. If so, take
a long look at him, for he is a bad actor and
means no good.
Notice the wrinkled brow of the man, the
anxious eyes, the grim set of jaw. Listen to his
mirthless laughter. Observe his nervous hands
and restless feet. He is a bloodless fellow if
there ever was one, with clammy palms and dry
mouth.
This is the one who shadows you all day
long, though he knows you hate him and would
like to shake him off. He shadows you because
he thinks he is your master and you are his
servant. You give him the idea and you alone
can convince him that he is wrong. Do it. Tell
Called
By
Name
Rev. John S. Adam.ski
'x-x-x-x*:*x*x*x*:*x , x*x*x*x-x*x*x*x*x*x*x , x*x*x , x , x
Diocesan Priests:
A Moneyed Lifestyle?
Growing up in Buffalo, I remember what
seemed accepted about the way priests lived.
They always drove the big, expensive cars and
enjoyed the comforts of a good life without
any serious financial concerns. Perhaps this
image was just the logical outgrowth of the
period in American history when the priest was
the highly educated leader within a particular
community. He was a success and that attitude
strengthened the appeal of priesthood for
others.
Today, priests usually present a substantially
different picture. Much of this has to do with a
change in understanding of the role of the
priest. Vatican II has stressed the concept of
priestly service and the discipleship of today’s
priest to the one high priest, Jesus Christ.
Within that framework, every aspect of the
lifestyle of the priest should find its direction
and judgement. The priest isn’t so much the
uniquely educated leader of a parish
community. Rather, he is in the midst of his
people as one who is eager to serve their needs.
There is still some confusion regarding the
kinds of commitments which an individual man
accepts when he is ordained a priest. Most
priests who belong to religious orders
(Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.) agree to live a
life of poverty at the time they make their
profession within a particular community. This
means that a man freely gives up his use of
money and agrees that his community will
handle this responsibility for him. This
commitment to poverty may take different
forms within different religious orders.
Common to all would be an awareness of the
need and value found in a simple lifestyle.
The commitment which an individual makes
as a diocesan priest does not include an explicit
commitment to poverty. The diocesan priest
receives his own salary and handles most of his
own financial responsibilities himself. What is
common to both diocesan and religious order
priests is the dimension of discipleship. The
honest disciple of Jesus Christ cannot avoid the
Gospel message of a simple, poor style of life.
Each diocesan priest must work out for himself
exactly what this simplicity should mean in the
way he lives.
Another consideration in this whole
discussion is an awareness of the community
from which a priest comes. Americans are
largely consumer oriented. Value is placed on
the number of things which a person owns and
enjoys. Priests grew up within this kind of
society. Most often they reflect middle class,
American backgrounds. With that as a starting
point, the diocesan priest may find a real
necessity to judge many attitudes which
strongly affect his peers in the light of the
priority and importance of a set of values
gleaned from the Gospel.
Another reality factor is the state of the
American economy. Priests’ salaries have not
grown with the rate of inflation. His expenses,
just as everyone else’s, have grown. However
the priest doesn’t face the finanical
uncertainties which so many people have to
suffer. A priest knows that under normal
circumstances, he will have a place to live and
food to eat.
Finally, the question of his lifestyle is left to
the individual person. Personal expenses,
including many necessities, will come out of his
own salary. Whatever else he can afford with
the remainder, including leisure activities and
non-essential items, will reflect his
understanding of his life as the Lord’s disciple.
The priest also will be concerned to fulfill his
charitable obligations and respond as best he
can to the needs of the poor.
Nevertheless, the starting point today will
not be how much money is made or how
comfortable the life will be. Instead the priest
tries to face the real expectations which the
Gospel makes upon him and work out his
authentic response to those priorities. His role
as servant within the community will help to
shape the specifics of what that response will
entail.
Worry
Rev. James Wilmes
:::;:;S5:::;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;X-X:::SS:::::X;::X!XXX;X:X::X
him to go. If you don’t, he will settle down to
live with you the rest of your days and you’ll
know no peace. He will go to bed with you and
keep you awake half the night. He will be on
hand at the crack of dawn and stay by you the
livelong day. And when the day is done, he will
take the fun out of any pleasure you had
planned for the evening.
There is no appeasing Old Man Worry and no
half measures. The more rope you give him, the
more obnoxious he becomes. The only way to
get rid of him is to throw him out bodily. One
help to do so is to realize why he came: worry
is due to the fear we might lose something dear
to us - our health, or wealth, or reputation, or
the like. Destroy this fear and the worry it
leaves. Ask what might be the worst calamity
threatening you at the moment and whether
you could endure it. Since you usually can, and
since the worst hardly ever happens, you relax,
fear evaporates, and there is nothing left to
worry about.