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STATUS OF ABBEY TO CHANGE
Abbatial Blessing To Be Given
New Belmont Abbot On Dec. 19
BELMONT, N.C. -- The Abbatial
Blessing of the fifth Abbot of Belmont
Abbey, the Right Reverend Jude Cleary,
O.S.B., will be held on Friday,
December 19, at 4:00 P.M. in the
Abbey Cathedral.
SAINT JAMES
BY MARJORIE M. STORY
“From the fullness of our thankful
hearts, let us nourish others.” In
harmony with this inspiring theme,
parishioners of St. James Parish,
Savannah, celebrated the Eucharist on
the vigil of Thanksgiving.
Before the entrance procession, the
congregation was urged to meditate for
a moment on their personal reasons for
gratitude while Roger Byrd, Organist,
played the prelude, AMERICA THE
BEAUTIFUL.
In a sense, Thanksgiving is America’s
“holy day of obligation” and each year
more and more Catholics realize that
the best way to celebrate this special
day is by attending Mass.
After the prelude, Abraham Lincoln’s
“Thanksgiving Proclamation” was read
as a call to worship and the Mass Proper
began with the processional hymn, ALL
THE EARTH PROCLAIM THE LORD.
The main and side altars of the
church were banked with pyracantha,
dogwood leaves and autumn
chrysanthemums, and banners
announcing the Responsorial Psalm
bedecked the walls -- “The earth has
yielded its fruit” and “The Lord our
God has blessed us.”
The Liturgy of the Word included
readings from the Old and New
Testaments by Lector Bill Dunstan,
while the Celebrant, Father Dan
O’Connell, proclaimed the Gospel. In
his homily, Fr. O’Connell pointed out
that our lives should continually give
thanks, that in a real sense we, too, are
Conferring the blessing will be the
Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan,
Archbishop of Atlanta. Among the
dignitaries expected for the occasion are
the Apostolic Delegate in the United
States, the Most Reverend Jean Jadot,
pilgrims as life itself is a pilgrimage. He
suggested that we nourish others with
our “giftedness” and realize that the
journey to God is a journey out of
ourselves, out of our selfishness.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist began
with the hymn OF MY HANDS
rendered by the St. James Folk Group
while the Offertory Procession took
place. The L. Gordon Whelan, Jr. family
brought up the gifts of grapes and
wheat, bread and wine as the
parishioners, one by one, brought gifts
to the needy for Thanksgiving Day, gifts
of food as varied as salt, dried milk,
cereals, peanut butter, canned goods
and certificates for the purchase of
chickens and turkeys.
During the reception of Communion
by the crowded congregation, the Folk
Group sang ALLELUIA and ALL
GOOD GIFTS. Father Roy Cox, Pastor
of St. James, led the singing of the
Recessional Hymn GOD OF OUR
FATHERS.
Parish Liturgy Committee Chairman
Jack Buttimer expressed his
appreciation to the sub-committee,
headed by Mrs. Annamae Anderson,
which planned this memorable liturgical
celebration. Among those helping were
Bob McDonald, Father O’Connell, Sister
Regina, Sister Jean, Ann Antol, Sandy
Delamater, Maureen Thornton, Marie
Bryant and Shirley Goodson.
As Mrs. Anderson pointed out,
Thanksgiving comes at a beautiful time
of our liturgical year, as we can render
our heartfelt thanks to the Lord before
beginning the petitioning, “asking” time
of Advent and Christmas.
and a number of bishops and abbots
from various parts of the country.
Abbot Martin Burne, O.S.B., President
of the American Cassinese Federation of
Benedictine Monasteries, will deliver the
homily. Because of limited space in the
Cathedral, attendance is by invitation
only.
The liturgical rite of the blessing
completes the process of choosing an
Abbot which began at Belmont Abbey
on July 22, when the monks of the
Abbey elected Abbot Jude. The
required confirmation of the election by
the Sacred Congregation for Bishops in
Rome was announced on November 4.
The monks have announced an
important change in the status of the
Abbey within the organization of the
Catholic Church. Designation of
Belmont Abbey as an “Abbey Nullius”
will cease following the centennial
celebration of the Monastery in 1976.
This decision, taken by Pope Paul VI,
has its origin in the history of the
Catholic Church in North Carolina and
in the basic purpose of an Abbey
Nullius, which is to offer pastoral
service in an essentially missionary
territory.
In 1868, the Catholic Church was
formally established in North Carolina,
as a Vicariate Apostolic which, in 1888,
became the responsibility of Belmont
Abbey under the leadership of its first
Abbot, Bishop Leo Haid, O.S.B. The
number of churches and of Catholics
increased steadily during Haid’s
thirty-six year tenure. At his death in
1924, the Church had progressed to the
point that the founding of a Diocese,
the final stage of organization, was
indicated and implemented as the
Diocese of Raleigh. This last was divided
in 1972, in order to found the Diocese
of Charlotte.
Meanwhile, a territory of eight
counties west of the Catawba River was
conveyed in 1910, to the special care of
the monks of Belmont Abbey. As the
number of Catholics increased in these
counties and as the surrounding Diocese
became stronger, this area was gradually
conveyed to the Diocese -- seven
counties were ceded in 1944, and in
1960, all the territory excepting the
property owned by Belmont Abbey was
ceded.
The present change, which
incorporates Belmont Abbey into the
Diocese of Charlotte, reflects the
intention of Vatican Council II to
reaffirm the importance of the local
Church under its Bishop as the
structural focus in the Catholic Church.
Abbot Jude commented, “Although
the men of the Abbey have always held
the Nullius status in the highest regard,
it is not essentially connected to the life
of the monastic community or to its
work in our day. Indeed, this change is a
tribute to the zeal of the earlier monks,
for it is the surest proof of their having
successfully nurtured a fledgling Church
to full maturity. As to the future, the
fundamental relationship of the Abbot
to the monks, as guide in the spiritual
life, is untouched by this structural
change. The meaning and purpose of the
Abbey as a monastic community
remains what it always was and what
fourteen hundred years of Benedictine
history expect it to be.”
Abbot Jude added, “As a special
recognition of the contribution of
Belmont Abbey to the growth of the
Catholic Church in North Carolina,
Pope Paul VI has graciously extended
the Nullius designation of the Abbey
until after the 1976 centennial
celebration and has permitted the
upcoming Blessing to be conferred as
that of an Abbot Nullius.”
THANKSGIVING EVE MASS - Father Dan O’Connell is pictured
receiving, food for the needy at Thanksgiving Eve Mass at St. James
Church, Savannah.
Special Liturgy Held
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PAGE 3—The Southern Cross, December 4,1975
PHILADELPHIA’S THREE major sports stadiums
are key sites for the 41st International Eucharistic
Congress. The Congress is a worldwide spiritual
assembly of Catholics and other Christians gathering in
the City of Brotherly Love Aug. 1-8, 1976. Altar stages
will be erected at John F. Kennedy Stadium (upper
left) and Veterans Stadium (extreme right). The
Spectrum (center) will also be adapted for liturgical
worship.
LAKELAND STYLE
Thanksgiving With A Difference
BY MRS. JOHNNIE M. MOULTON
It was Thanksgiving with a difference
this year for the Parish Family of Queen
of Peace Church, Lakeland.
The Thanksgiving Day celebrations
SAINT MARY’S-AUGUSTA
A Georgia State Senator told an
Augusta audience that if the Ten
Commandments were incorporated into
our laws “we could take everything else
off the books - we wouldn’t need any of
it.”
State Senator R. Eugene Holley was a
speaker during the “Liberty and
Justice” Series recently concluded at St.
Mary’s on-the-Hill Church. His topic
was: “The Legality of Living.” He spoke
on the questions of Abortion, the Death
Penalty and Euthanasia.
In speaking of our system of laws,
Senator Holley said that day after day
people are arguing about “what is the
law and nobody really knows, mainly
because it is a changing thing. It changes
with every act of the legislature. It
changes with every decision in every
court of record in this land and there
are literally millions of them.
Senator Holley said, so far as they
can, the laws reflect the attitudes and
the preferences of the people in this
country. This is so, he said, “because
they (the people) influence the
legislators and the judges. Laws are
changed as we go along to reflect what
is acceptable conduct in our
society . .. laws change when people
change and not before.”
Regarding laws concerned with the
legality of Living, the senator said, “the
easy way, the simple way, and I believe
the right way about the legalities of
nature is don’t get them out of the law
books, get them out of the Holy Book,
that we know is the divine word of
God.”
began with a Thanksgiving Liturgy in
the Parish Church, which recalled how
the people of the old and new testament
gave praise and thanks to God the Giver
of all things.
The Homily given by Father Brendan
Timmins. Pastor centered around the
Speaking on abortion, he said that
scientists with new and powerful
microscopic cameras can record the
moment of conception. He related that
when the conception takes place, the
sex of the child is determined. Also
determined is how tall it will be and
what color the eyes will be. He said, “I
don’t believe that the Lord, who rules
this universe, put all that together to
have someone kill it and call it, not
murder, but abortion. It may sound
better, but, in my thinking, it’s the same
thing.”
The senator said he had changed his
mind about the Death Penalty. He said
he felt that when God said, “Don’t
kill” .. it didn’t mean “except for this,
except for that, it means simply,
whether you like it or not, “Thou shalt
not kill.”
On the subject of Euthanasia the
senator said that in most of our
businesses, when a person reaches
sixty-five you have got to retire - no
matter how productive you may be,
how wise you may be, no matter how
long you may have served your
employer.
“If that makes sense in our society,
why not make rules that when you
reach seventy you have to die? Now you
might think that is foolish, but I would
have thought it foolish if you had said a
few years ago that a person of good
health and good intellect would have to
stop making a living and retire at
sixty-five. We run into all our troubles
by trying to justify the end in the means
if we somehow figure out that the end is
good.”
theme of Thanksgiving and the place
Thanksgiving Day should have in
people’s lives. So as to stress the need
for all to be ever vigilant lest we waste,
or forget those in need, Father Timmins
said that if we consider the world in
terms of a “GLOBAL VILLAGE.” He
said, “of representatives from every land
and people making up a grand total of
100 people only six would be
Americans. Yet we as a nation consume
(or waste) over 40% of the world’s
resources.”
“When we think of hunger and
poverty too often we think of distant
lands of India, of Africa, and seldom
think of those in our own back yards,
who are in real need. As we pause once
again to thank the Lord and giver of all
let us be mindful of our Brothers and
Sisters all around us who are in need.”
Following the Liturgy of
Thanksgiving the Ladies of the Queen of
Peace Parish, under the Chairmanship of
Mrs. Johnnie M. Moulton, Chairperson
of the Parish Life Committee, rolled up
their sleeves and got to work in the
Parish Hall preparing 32 “Take Out”
Dinners for the prisoners in Lanier,
Berrien and Cook County jails. These
dinners were delivered by a group of six
from the Parish who visited with each
prisoner in his cell assuring him he was
not forgotten on Thanksgiving Day.
On the dot of 2:00 p.m. the time set
for the Parish Thanksgiving Dinner,
there was a reading of a poem “Don’t
Forget the Little Things,” by Adam N.
Reiter and “An Indian Prayer” followed
by the Blessing of the food. Over 300
attended.
“Take outs” were delivered to
shut-ins in Lakeland and Adel -- the
elderly who could not come to the
Parish Hall - about 25 in all.
If one were to try and sum up what
this Parish celebration meant, one
would be forced to call to mind the
First Thanksgiving in our country when
a group of thankful people paused to
Thank the Good Lord for all the
blessing He showered on them. They
prepared a meal and invited in their
poor neighbors to share with them.
Thanksgiving 1975 - Lakeland style -
was somewhat sim^ar to that First
Thanksgiving - even j the inviting in of
our neighbors from: Naylor, Valdosta,
Adel and the Lakeland area.
Thanks to God for all His blessings.
State Senator Speaks
On ‘Legality Of Living’
r
Best Wishes
James A. Goethe ]
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