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DECEMBER 14
Candlelight Program At
Cathedral
The annual Candlelight Christmas
Concert, featuring St. Vincent’s Les
Chanteurs and Choral under the
direction of Mrs. Patty Schreck, will be
held at Savannah’s Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday,
December 14.
Among new songs on the repertoire
is “It Was a Night of Wonder.” Nine
members from both choruses will sing
this carol in three parts. Kim Michael,
Pam McCuen, and Ann Howard make
up the sopranos; Debbie Osteen, Caron
Fleming, and Cecilia Persse, second
sopranos; and Pat Lemon, Therese
Oetgen, and Sharon Lawyer, altos.
Marie Elmore and Sarah Russo will
duet on another new song, “The Gift.”
Kelley Prouty will solo on “Jesus Christ
Is Born Today,” which is sung to the
tune of “Good King Wenceslas.”
Mrs. Schreck, directress, commented,
“I look forward to the beauty of the
girls and the magnificence of the
Cathedral to put them in the mood of
the Holy Christmas Season. We hope we
sing favorites everyone will enjoy.”
Narrators this year will be Wendy
Robinson and Therese Oetgen.
JANUARY 7 IN ATLANTA
Churchmen’s Legislative Seminar
A Churchmen’s Legislative Seminar
will be held in Atlanta on Wednesday,
January 7, 1976. The seminar will
feature members of The Georgia
Assembly and State administration.
Sponsored by the Georgia
Interchurch Association, the gathering
will be held from 9:15 a.m. until 6 p.m.
at the Central Presbyterian Church on
South Washington Street (opposite the
State Capitol).
According to Jackson P. Braddy,
Coordinator of the Georgia Interchurch
Association, “The Churchmen’s
Legislative Seminar is held annually to
gather information and develop
understanding by the Church people of
Georgia on issues facing the Legislature.
It is not to be considered a lobby or
pressure group in any way.”
Welcoming participants will be
Norman L. Underwood, Executive
Secretary to Governor George L.
Busbee. Dr. Edward Jackson, of the
Institute of Government of the
University of Georgia, will be next on
the program. “How a Bill Becomes
Law” will be the topic of House of
Representatives Speaker Tom Murphy
and Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller.
Others appearing on the morning
program are Legislative Counsel Frank
H. Edwards, Pete Hackney and James
McIntyre.
Edwards, Legislative Counsel of the
Georgia Assembly, will describe the
functions of his office. Hackney and
McIntyre, of the budget staff of the
Governor’s office and General
Assembly, will speak on the Georgia
State budget.
Following a luncheon break, the
churchmen will be addressed by various
Legislature Committee heads. Among
those participating are:
Representative Sidney J. Marcus,
Health and Ecology Committee;
Representative Wayne Snow, Judiciary
Committee; Representative Albert W.
Thompson of the Special Judiciary
Committee. Representing the Senate
will be Senator Howard T. Overby,
Judiciary Committee and Senator W.W.
Fincher, Jr., Human Resources
Committee.
Later in the afternoon, various State
Department heads are scheduled to
appear as follows:
From the Department of Education,
Dr. Don Edwards, representing Jack P.
Nix, Superintendent of Schools; Jim
Parham of the Department of Human
Resources; Dr. Allen Ault, Director of
Offender Rehabilitation and Sam
Caldwell, Commissioner of the Georgia
Department of Labor.
The seminar will conclude with a
recap and response given by Legislative
Task Force Chairman Cheatham E.
Hodges, Jr., and Representative Eleanor
L. Richardson, Task Force Secretary.
Hodges also serves as Executive
Secretary of the Georgia State Catholic
Conference. Participants will also hear
from Reverend Lowry W. Anderson,
Executive Director of the Georgia
Council of Moral and Civic Concerns,
who is serving as a resource person to
the Task Force.
SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL ANNIVERSARY
Catholics Asked To Live
“New Holiness Of Life”
BY JOHN T. MUTHIG
VATICAN CITY (NC) - On the same
spot where he closed the Second
Vatican Council 10 years ago, Pope Paul
VI asked Catholics to live a “new
holiness of life and a new fervor of
love” in celebration of the anniversary
of the council’s end (Dec. 8).
Surrounded in St. Peter’s Basilica by
former officers of the four-session
council, the Pope said at a Mass
honoring the Immaculate Conception:
“We exhort all of you to a new holiness
of life - a new fervor of love. Let this be
your courageous resolution on the 10th
anniversary of the Second Vatican
Council.”
The Pope, who recited after the
sermon a prayer he composed to Mary,
recalled that the council was closed in
1965 in the name of Mary, Mother of
the Church.
AT DUBLIN SEMINAR
Hunger
BY GILLIAN BROWN
“Charges that the Food Stamp
program is becoming ‘a well-known
haven for chisellers and rip-off artists’
are harmful to the credibility of the
Program as a whole and may have
disastrous results for persons in genuine
need.”
Richard Bent, Executive Director of
the Georgia Coalition on Hunger, gave
this as his opinion at a “Hunger in
Georgia” seminar, held Saturday,
December 6th, at Immaculate
Conception Parish in Dublin.
The Seminar was sponsored by the
Savannah Diocesan Office of Social
Affairs, and planned by Sr. Julian
Griffin, Diocesan Vicar of Social
Affairs.
Attending the meeting were
approximately 40 people active in social
service agencies in different areas of the
Diocese. All participated in a useful and
lively discussion of the problem of
hunger in various Georgia localities, the
programs designed to assist the hungry,
and the part that church-related
organizations can play in responding to
the needs of hungry people.
In his talk, Bent pointed out that
while 1.6 million people in Georgia are
eligible for Food Stamps, only about 35
per cent of them presently receive
Stamps. While some cases of fraud have
been uncovered, these represent only
.08 (eight hundredths of one per cent)
of people receiving Food Stamps
nationwide, according to a USD A report
to the Senate Agriculture Committee in
May.
Bent claimed that “the Food Stamp
Program has never worked well,” and
that reform of the whole system is
needed. He felt, however, that the
program had become an “emotional
issue,” under attack from many
different directions. In spite of these
criticisms, the Coalition believes that
the Program represents the best existing
means of helping those who lack the
resources to provide themselves and
their families with an adequate diet.
At present, Congress is considering a
number of bills which seriously affect
the Food Stamp Program. These include
the Buckley-Michel bill, the Nunn-Chiles
bill, and legislation introduced by
Senator George McGovern and
Representative Thomas Foley. Georgia’s
Senator Herman Talmadge (who is
Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Agriculture and Forestry, which handles
all Food Stamp legislation) has called
for sweeping changes. While Bent
endorsed none of the bills he described,
he said that all call for abolition of the
unwieldly “itemized deductions,” in
favor of some form of standardized
deduction for each family.
Some cutbacks in Food Stamps seem
“Mary represented in herself the
symbol of the Church,” the Pope
declared.
“We rejoice to find in the words of
St. Augustine a conclusion, which we
made our own at the end of the
council’s third session, which
acknowledges explicitly to most holy
Mary the incontestable title of ‘Mother
of the Church’ (St. Augustine, On Holy
Virginity).”
In the prayer the Pope composed he
asked: “Listen, O Mary, to our filial
voice echoing the sentiments of the
whole Church on this 10th anniversary
of the Second Vatican Council and at
the happy conclusion of this Holy Year,
and we earnestly implore your special
heavenly assistance in this critical hour
for the spiritual and civil destiny of the
world.”
certain. The seventy of the loss to
low-income families depends on the
response from citizens who are
concerned about the problems of
domestic hunger. Bent called on
participants to contact their
Congressional representatives asking
that reform be handled in such a way as
not to harm genuinely needy families
dependent on the Program.
Other approaches to hunger discussed
at Saturday’s meeting were the School
Lunch Program, the “WIC”
supplemental feeding program for
women, infants and children, “meals on
wheels” and communal feeding for the
elderly, and day-care feeding programs.
Discussing the role of the Church,
Bent said churches provide moral
leadership and encourage responsible
citizenship. Some specific ideas:
In the prayer the Pope entrusted to
Mary “our commitment to
reconciliation with God ... increasing
reconciliation through justice, liberty,
and cooperation among the different
social groups.”
“To you, O Mary, we entrusted the
expectations of the young who are
restless in their search for a world more
just and human .. . Hear the laments of
the suffering, the cries of the oppressed,
the petitions of all those who hunger
and thirst for justice.”
Among concelebrants at the morning
Mass were the Polish primate, Cardinal
Stefan Wyszynski of Warsaw, and
former members of the council’s
presidency: Cardinal Leo Suenens of
Brussels, Belgium; Cardinal Giacomo
Lercaro, former archbishop of Bologna,
Italy; and Cardinal Julius Doepfner of
Munich, Germany.
- LEARN THE TRUTH about the
Food Stamp Program, and combat
damaging falsehoods which are
endangering it.
- INITIATE workshops on the
problem of hunger.
- PARTICIPATE in food stamp
“Outreach” programs.
- PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION to
food stamp offices for those without
cars or public transporation.
- SUPPORT EFFORTS to deal with
the hunger problem, such as canned
food drives, meals for the elderly,
school meal programs, etc.
» GROW MORE vegetables as a
community project, using vacant lots, or
possibly church property, for vegetable
gardens.
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
Papal Telegram On Attack
VATICAN CITY (NC) - A papal telegram, deploring an Israeli air attack launched
Dec. 2 on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, termed it an “inadmissable act of
violence” against “a defenseless population.” The telegram, sent the following day,
noted that the Israeli attack had “caused a large number of dead and wounded on
Lebanese soil.” The attack “exacerbated tensions already so acute in the area,” the
Papal telegram said.
Not Just Catholic Issue
DES MOINES, Iowa (NC) - Morman, Baptist and Methodist leaders in national
right-to-life organizations agreed here recently that abortion is not just a “Catholic
issue.” They called for patience while establishing grassroots support for a pro-life
amendment to the constitution. Attending an annual state convention of Iowans for
Life were: Ray White, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee; the
Rev. Bob Holbrook, founder of Baptist for Life; and Marjory Mecklenburg,
president of American Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc. (ACCL).
Formosa Protest
FORMOSA, Argentina (NC) - Bishop Raul Scozzina of Formosa suspended
religious services and the administration of most sacraments throughout this diocese
of 225,000 Catholics to protest against the detention of a priest on charges of being a
Marxist. The priest, Father Santiago Renevot, said in a letter from jail: “All the
charges are false.” He is a French citizen, long a resident here.
Asks Relief For Flood Victims
BOGOTA, Colombia (NC) - President Alfonso Lopez appealed for further relief to
victims of floods in northeast Colombia at a “Banquet of the Million,” a charity drive
organized by a radio priest to provide housing for the poor. The “banquet” is a frugal
dinner of bread and water attended yearly by rich contributors to the Villages of
God’s Minute, a campaign organized by Father Rafael Garcia Herreros through his
popular one-minute radio talks.
Problem Discussed