Newspaper Page Text
A
\
1
k
t
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No.40 Thursday, November 13,1975 Single Copy Price—15 Cents
PEOPLE
TOGETHER-
WITH
HOPE
CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
“PEOPLE TOGETHER .. WITH HOPE” is the 1975 theme of the
Campaign For Human Development. CHD is the education/action
program of the American Catholic Church. The annual collection will be
taken up in all churches in the country on Sunday, November 23. Turn to
page 7 to see what CHD is accomplishing in the Diocese of Savannah.
Bishop Lessard Heads
Ga. Interchurch Group
U.S. Bishops To Meet In Washington;
Variety Of Topics To Be Considered
At the quarterly meeting of the
Executive Board of the Georgia
Interchurch Association held recently at
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Macon,
Ga., the Most Rev’d. Raymond W.
Lessard, Bishop of Savannah, was
elected President for a two year term
succeeding Bishop Richard A.
Hildebrand of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church.
Elected as Vice President was Bishop
William R. Cannon of the United
Methodist Church; elected Secretary
Mrs. Carlton Carruth, Chairman,
Ecumenical Concerns, United Methodist
Church, South Georgia Conference;
elected Treasurer, the Rev’d. Dr.
William J. Andes, Conference Minister,
United Church of Christ, Southeast
Conference.
Plans were finalized for a
Churchman’s Legislative Seminar to be
held in Atlanta on Wednesday, January
7, 1976, at the Central Presbyterian
Church beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Christians from all Churches are invited.
The Governor and Lt. Governor and
leaders of the legislature have accepted
invitations to participate in the Seminar.
A program was presented to the
Executive Board by the Georgia
Department of Corrections/Offender
Rehabilitation. Considerable interest
was expressed by the Board in Penal
Reform and Criminal Justice and Bishop
Lessard, President-elect, announced
plans for the Executive Board to hold a
meeting early in 1976 at a Georgia Penal
institution.
Three members of the Joint
Educational Development -- Youth
Empowerment Team were introduced
to the Executive Board and spoke of
their task of youth maturation in the
Church.
The Task Force on Hunger in Georgia
reported on its work as did the
Bicentennial Committee. In cooperation
with the Georgia Bicentennial
Commission and the American Bible
Society the GIA is printing large
quantities of a bicentennial leaflet for
wide distribution in 1976.
The Georgia Interchurch Association
was formed in 1971 as the successor
organization to the Georgia Council of
Churches. Fourteen Christian
communions in the State of Georgia are
participants with the head of each
judicatory and one assistant comprising
the Executive Board. The GIA is the
officially recognized ecumenical agency
in the State of Georgia.
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Catholic
bishops of the United States will meet
here Nov. 17-20.
Items they are to deal with include:
- A pastoral plan for pro-life
activities;
- A pastoral response to the national
housing crisis;
- Revision of the training program
for future priests;
- A statement on Catholic-Jewish
relations.
They will also be faced with a
proposed resolution on U.S. economic
problems, a pastoral statement on the
International Eucharistic Congress in
Philadelphia next year, and guidelines
for men Religious who wish to become
permanent deacons.
The meeting, which will take place in
Washington’s Statler Hilton Hotel, is the
full membership assembly of the
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference
(NCCB-USCC), the highest policy and
program-setting organizations of the
U.S. hierarchy. More than 250 bishops
from around the country are expected
to attend.
In addition to proposals for action,
the bishops will hear progress reports on
the status of major national programs
such as the development of the National
Catechetical Directory, the Catholic
observance of the bicentennial, and the
USCC work in resettling Vietnamese
refugees, as well as numerous other
activities of the two national
conferences.
The bishops will open their four-day
session by concelebrating Mass at the
meeting site. Special prayer services will
accompany the deliberations each
morning and afternoon.
A new format designed to simplify
procedures will be in effect at the
meeting this year. A professional
parliamentarian will assist the chairman
in expediting the business of the
meeting, and the format will give the
bishops an opportunity for in-depth
discussion of major issues at small-group
workshops.
The revised format is the work of an
ad hoc committee established by the
bishops in November, 1974. Its
recommendations, plus additional
suggestions made by the bishops at their
1975 spring regional meetings, were
subsequently approved on an
experimental basis by the NCCB
Administrative Committee.
The “Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life
Activities” to be presented to the
bishops involves a proposal - aimed at
every segment of the Church as well as
society as a whole -- to establish a
constitutional basis for laws that will
guarantee full human and civil rights to
the unborn.
The work of pro-life groups,
establishment of an ongoing public
information effort, judicial activity,
increased ecumenical contact on
abortion, and a diocesan action plan
including the organization of grassroots
efforts in each congressional district are
among the matters dealt with in the
document.
The pastoral plan is the work of the
Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for
Pro-Life Activities, chaired by Cardinal
Terence Cooke of New York.
A “Statement on Catholic-Jewish
Relations,” which coincides with the
10th anniversary this year of the Second
Vatican Council’s Declaration on the
Relationship of the Church to
Non-Christian Religions, was prepared
by the Bishops’ Committee for
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs,
whose chairman is Archbishop William
W. Baum of Washington.
While observing that the past decade
has seen a virtual revolution in
Catholic-Jewish affairs ending “a
centuries-long silence between Church
■"and s>nagogue,” the document also
points to areas of disagreement and
controversy that still separate these
communities.
The statement speaks of a tendency
on the part of some catechists and
preachers to undervalue the rich
spirituality of the Church’s Jewish
heritage, and warns against a still
lingering view of Judaism as a form of
religion that lost all validity with the
coming of Christ.
“The Right to a Decent Home: A
Pastoral Response to the Crisis in
Housing” is a major statement prepared
for the bishops’ consideration by the
USCC Committee on Social
Development and World Peace. It is the
result of a broad consultation process
including the housing industry,
governmental agencies, housing and
labor organizations, as well as many
individuals within the Catholic
community working on housing
problems.
The bishops will also be asked to
approve a revision of the Program of
Priestly Formation, the document
containing the national norms that
govern diocesan and religious order
seminaries in the United States. The
Program of Priestly Formation was
developed in response to the Second
Vatican Council, which also called for
periodic revisions of such programs.
The workshops scheduled during the
meeting will cover such topics as the
new rite of Penance, evangelization of
the black community, a projected
pastoral letter on moral values in
society, selected questions in
international justice, and the program of
priestly formation.
On Nov. 19 the bishops will
concelebrate a Mass ip honor of St.
Elizabeth Ann Seton at the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Archbishop Joseph L. Bemardin of
Cincinnati, president of NCCB and
USCC, and chairman of the meeting,
will preach the homily.
Election Confirmed
BELMONT ABBEY - Pope Paul VI has confirmed the election of
Benedictine Abbot Jude Cleary as abbot of Mary, Help of Christians Abbey,
in Belmont.
Abbott Cleary is a native of Savannah. He entered Belmont Abbey in 1950,
following graduation from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, with a degree in
mechanical engineering. He was professed as a Benedictine monk in 1951 and
was ordained to the priesthood in 1956.
BRUNSWICK CELEBRATION - Bishop Raymond W. Lessard was
principal celebrant and homilist (left photo) at Mass marking 75th
anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph coming to Brunswick. The Jubilee
Mass was held in St. Francis Xavier Church at 7:30 p.m. on October 30th.
Following the Mass, the bishop unveiled a plaque (right photo) which
read: St. Joseph’s School, 1900-1958 - St. Francis Xavier School
1958-1975. Pictured with Bishop Lessard is the school’s principal Sister
Virginia Baker, who has served the school since 1966 and Father Robert
Baker, S.M., pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church. The school originally
£
HEADLINE HP
m
L
HOPSCOTCH
_ _ _ - - _ . ..... _ - j
Study Steering Committee To Meet
The Deanery Self-Study Steering Committee, representing the self study currently
in progress in the Savannah area, will meet Thursday, November 20th in the Sacred
Heart Parish rectory. The meeting will get underway at 7:30 p.m. The public is
cordially invited to attend.
Foreign Aid Bill
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Senate, by a 5141 vote, has passed a foreign aid bill
containing major provisions backed by a wide range of church and humanitarian
groups, including the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC). This year, for the first time in
history, Congress has dealt with aid for economic assistance and development
separately from military aid, an approach backed by the churches. The House passed a
similar aid bill in September by a 244-155 margin.
Bible Scholars Elect
CHICAGO (NC) - Sulpician Father Raymond E. Brown has been chosen president
of the Society of Biblical Literature, the largest Bible scholars’ group in the United
States. He is a professor of biblical studies at the non-Catholic Union Theological
Seminary in New York.
Concerned About Abortions
NEWARK, N.J. (NC) - Associated Catholic Charities of the Newark Archdiocese
has expressed “grave concern” over the increasing number of illegal adoptions in New
Jersey. Catholic Charities noted that 380 private adoption placements were made in
1974 even though state law requires such placements to be made through an approved
agency. Such agencies handled 500 adoptions.
English Cardinal Dies
LONDON (NC) - Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, archbishop of Westminster since
1963, died Nov. 7 at Westminster hospital here. He was 70. The cardinal had been
admitted to the hospital four days earlier following a mild heart attack. By Nov. 5 his
condition had begun to deteriorate and he received the Sacrament of the Sick.
Thanksgiving Deadline
;j: Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, The Southern Cross will go to press on
Monday of that week.
All copy for the issue dated November 27th, must reach the paper’s $
>: editorial office in Savannah by Friday morning, November 21st.
bore the name of the congregation of sisters who founded it at the turn
of the century. When a modem brick school was constructed in 1958 the
name was changed to that of the parish it served. Among concelebrants at
the Mass were Fr. Robert Baker, pastor of St. Francis Xavier; Fr. Joseph
Costello and Fr. Robert Brous. Among dignitaries attending were: Fr.
Vincent Brennan, of Atlanta, who represented the Provincial of the Marist
Order; Sister Rosaline, of Atlanta, Area Supervisor of the Sisters of St.
Joseph; 11 Diocesan and Marist priests and several Sisters of St. Joseph
from Atlanta, Augusta, and Valdosta. (Studio West Photos by Andy)