Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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