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SAVANNAH SELF-STUDY
Second Deanery Assembly
With Orthodox Announced
Metropolitan Meliton was in Rome
heading an Orthodox delegation and
representing Ecumenical Patriarch
Dimitrios I, who has a primacy of honor
among Orthodox churches.
At the same time, Patriarch Dimitrios
was presiding at a liturgy in the Church
of St. George in Istanbul, attended by a
Vatican delegation headed by Cardinal
Corrado Ursi of Naples, Italy.
The two celebrations marked the
10th anniversary of the time when
Rome and Constantinople, the chief See
respectively of the Catholic and
Orthodox churches, lifted the
excommunications they had
pronounced against each other in the
11th century over doctrinal matters.
In his discourse after Mass, Pope Paul
referred to the cancelling of the
excommunications as “an act by which
we all intended to erase forever the
recollection of these events from the
memory and heart of the Church .. .
and the manifestation of a desire to
build together, in obedience to Our
Lord, a new era of brotherhood.”
Father John F. Hotchkin, director of
the Committee for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Affairs of the U.S.
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops, said in an interview here with
NC News Service: “The establishment
of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic
international consultation is an event
long-awaited. Long-awaited because the
Orthodox decided that it should
embrace them all. It was initiated with
the consent and authorization of the 19
Orthodox churches, from Russia to the
Middle East.
“This took a lot of time,” he
continued, “and it shows both the unity
of the Orthodox churches and the
seriousness with which they enter into
this new contact with Rome.”
Asked about prospects, Father
Hotchkin replied, “This consultation
amplifies our quest for unity among
Christians. As it takes its place with
consultations going on with Anglicans,
Lutherans and others, it will make a
distinctive contribution to our overall
ecumenical effort.”
The Pope, in his speech after the
Mass, expressed the hope that the new
endeavors “will enable us to progress
together in identifying the differences
and difficulties that still separate our
churches and finally to surmount them
by a reflection of faith and a docility to
the promptings of the Spirit.”
concern, much discussion and
advertising was geared toward the
individual parishes.
Planning consultant Reverend Robert
Howes opened the session with remarks
concerning the relative success of the
parish open town meetings, held in the
individual parishes previous to the
Second Deanery Assembly. Father
Howes stressed the importance of future
planning and noted that careful
reflection and sound judgement should
be exercised during the planning and
implementation of parish objectivism in
the months ahead.
On the Deanery level, Father Kevin
Boland stressed the role of the dean and
Deanery in the self-study and in the
practical application of the self-study
findings. In discussing the role of the
dean, Father Boland noted that “the
dean is a. regional pastor who presides
over a cluster of parishes” in the
Diocese. The dean is, as such,
accountable to the Bishop and both
serves and represents the people of God.
A meeting of the Deanery Pastoral
Council, also held at the Assembly,
dialogued a potential model of
operation for itself. A final model of
operation will be proposed, according to
DPC spokesmen, at the Third Deanery
Assembly in May 1976.
The latter part of the Assembly,
conducted by the Education Committee
of the Self-Study Commission, was
devoted primarily to a discussion of
Catholic Education. Sister Jude,
spokeswoman for the committee, noted
that the purpose of the committee’s
presentation was “to fly a number of
trial balloons,” or possible innovations,
before assembled Deanery
representatives. In all, the committee
proposed fifteen trial balloons, ranging
from a possible standardization of
Deanery Catholic Schools to the
revitalization of adult education in the
i Deanery. After each proposal, a period
of dialogue ensued and Assembly
participants voted on the possible
implementation of various educational
innovations or objectives.
The general tone of reaction to the
proposed issues was, in the words of the
Self-Study Commissioners, “favorable.”
Issues that received almost unanimous
approval include:
1. greater investigation of successful
Protestants programs, in the planning
and implementing of educational goals;
2. the incorporation of an active
education committee of the Deanery
Pastoral Council;
3. in a non-school parish, the
establishment of an education
committee; and •
4. setting of minimal standards of
standardization for Catholic Schools.
It .was also proposed that the Steering
Committee convene educators and
incorporate suggestions into a Deanery
Educational Plan. In addition, Reverend
Ralph Seikel, Superintendent of
Catholic Schools for the Diocese,
released the 1975-76 school statistics to
those present at the Assembly.
Following the Education
presentation, Bishop Raymond Lessard
offered a recap concerning the general
spirit of the self-study. The Assembly
closed with a prayer for spiritual
guidance in the coming months. The
Third Deanery Assembly was set for
May, 1976.
Future Talks
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul
VI, at a Mass he celebrated to mark the
10th anniversary of the lifting of the
excommunications Catholic and
Orthodox leaders hurled at one another
nine centuries ago, kissed the foot of
the Orthodox representative at the
celebration.
Pope Paul’s spontaneous gesture
toward Metropolitan Meliton of
Chalcedon sent a wave of surprise
through the cardinals and other
dignitaries in the Sistine Chapel at the
ecumenical gathering Dec. 14.
Pope Paul also announced, as did
Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch
Dimitrios I of Constantinople in a
simultaneous ceremony in Istanbul, that
a pan-Orthodox commission will be
formed to prepare for theological
dialogue with the Roman Catholic
Church.
The Pope said the Vatican would also
set up a committee to prepare for such
discussions with the Orthodox.
Metropolitan Meliton was startled by
Pope Paul’s dramatic gesture, and tried
to return it. IJut the Pope prevented
that by embracing him. Then
Metropolitan Meliton seized the Pope’s
hand and kissed it.
Dinner At St. Benedict’s-
A gathering of approximately one
hundred people convened Saturday,
December 13th at Blessed Sacrament
Church to participate in the Second
Annual Deanery Day sponsored by the
Self-Study commission of the Diocese
of Savannah.
The program of the day -- which
began at nine o’clock with a prayer
service and concluded with a recap by
Bishop Raymond Lessard - included a
discussion of pastoral planning for
Churches in the Savannah Deanery and
an address on Catholic Education. Also
included on the agenda was an address
by Savannah area Dean, Reverend Kevin
Boland, and a meeting of the Deanery
Pastoral Council.
The December 13th meeting, which
was the second in a series of three
planned Deanery Assemblies, was an
attempt to summarize the pastorally
oriented work put into effect by the
Self-Study as well as to outline future
action on parish and Deanery levels.
While program speakers addressed
keynote issues of Deanery-wide
1st Phase Of Bicentennial Program Ends
PAGE 3—The Southern Cross, January 1,1976
Some of those who enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner at St. Benedict’s.
Seated at table also is the Rev. Robert Howes, consultant for the
Savannah Deanery Self-Study Program.
The first phase of the American
Catholic bicentennial observance,
Liberty and Justice for All, ended
recently with the last of six
congressional-style hearings in various
regions of the country.
“As a beginning it’s phenomenal,”
said Bishop James S. Rausch, general
secretary of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and ,U.S.
Catholic Conference (USCC).
“When Frank Butler hit upon the
idea of these hearings, it was a stroke of
genius,” said Father J. Bryan Hehir,
associate director for international
affairs in the USCC’s Department of
Social Development and World Peace,
“The style of the hearings is the style of
what the Church is trying to be.”
Butler, a former congressional aide,
was named executive director of the
NCCB’s Committee for the Bicentennial
nearly two years ago, when the program
was in its infancy.
One of his first moves was to urge the
committee to establish a nationwide
consultation process of six public
regional hearings, on the model of
congressional legislative hearings, plus
parish-level hearings or discussions.
These are to serve as the basis for
establishing a five year social action
program in the U.S. Church.
The hearings started last February in
Washington, D. C., with a panel of U.S.
bishops listening to three days of
testimony on food, international justice,
women’s rights, and the theology of the
Church’s involvement in social justice.
In April the hearings moved to the
Mexican-American barrios of San
Antonio, Tex., focusing on social,
economic and educational
discrimination against the Spanish
speaking, and problems faced in this
country by both legal and illegal
immigrants.
In Minneapolis and St. Paul in June
the chief issues were Native Americans,
rural problems, land use and food.
Family life was the theme of August
hearings in Atlanta, and the bishops #
heard repeated pleas to provide support
systems to aid Christian family life.
In October, in Sacramento, Calif.,
witnesses addressed the economy and
unemployment, workers’ rights to
organize into unions, injustices in
employment practices of Church
institutions and agencies.
December in Newark, N. J., brought
hard evidence of continuing racial
injustice both in the Church and in the
country, concern for fostering ethnic
identity, and a strong focus on the
urban crises of high, unemployment,
housing shortages, and neighborhood
deterioration.
Out of the regional hearings has come
a massive mandate to the Catholic
Church to work for justice in almost
every area of human life -- economic
policy, hunger, housing, jobs, education,
family life, land reform, welfare reform,
prison reform, health care - and for
almost every section of the human
family -- the poor, blacks, ethnic
minorities, women, illegal aliens,
workers, farmers, youth, parents, single
people, married people, divorced
persons, the handicapped, the unborn,
prisoners, the aged, sexual minorities.
In the course of the year 60 bishops
around the country heard witness after
witness testify to injustices in the
Church and society. More than 75
nationally recognized specialists in
various fields testified on the major
themes of the hearings, while another
300 “local witnesses” - social workers,
community organizers, laborers,
housewives, individuals suffering from
poverty or discrimination, pastors,
youth leaders -- told the bishops where
they felt injustice and what should be
done about it.
Throughout it all, from the most
carefully measured theological or
sociological analysis of an academic
professional to the simple, heart-rending
statement of an 87-year-old
Mexican-American woman facing
possible deportation, the very process of
,the hearings stood out as much as the
' issues.
“My main interest is in the process,”
said Msgr. George G. Higgins, USCC
secretary for research and a panelist at
five of the hearings. “We were all
exposed to problems in a way you
simply couldn’t get from reading a book
or a paper. From the people we got a
sense of the scope and the depth of the
problems.
The bishops have been criticized in
the past for not listening to the people.
But the hearings marked a dramatic
switch in technique and style - the
bishops were really listening . . . Even if
nothing else happened, it would be a
success.”
Archbishop Peter L. Gerety of
Newark, chairman of the bicentennial
committee’s justice subcommittee,
noted that the model of a congressional
hearing is “typically American” and one
that “the American Church could utilize
in a lot of ways.”
“As a listening process, as a first
effort, its been a great success,” the
archbishop said.
Bishop Rausch said many people
were openly skeptical at the beginning,
concerned “that it might become a
shouting match or some kind of frenetic
exercise.”
But “the greatest strength of the
process was that it provided the kind of
format in which people could express
their real concerns in a reasonable way,”
he said. “To me, what this says is that if
you provide a place where people can
openly and honestly express their hurts
and concerns, they are going, by and
large, to act very responsibly.”
Another striking aspect of the
hearings was the close link of each
hearing with Mass and meals. “The
toughest day of all the hearings,” said
Bishop Rausch, “was the second day in
Newark (on racial issues). But the most
beautiful liturgy was also on that day.”
Just as the themes of the hearings
were different in each place, so were the
style and atmosphere of the meals and
the liturgical celebrations, such as the
Spanish Masses and fiestas with Mexican
food at the San Antonio hearing on
problems of the Spanish speaking, or
the rhythmic, emotive, handclapping
liturgy in a black parish in Newark, the
meatballs and pasta and wine in a
Newark Italian parish, the Southern
chicken barbecue and guitar-strumming,
country-style liturgy at a campground
outside Atlanta.
Bishop Rausch described it as an
experience in “Christian joy.” He said,
“One of the very heartening things was
the good times we could have
together ... while we were sitting down
and talking about the toughest kinds of
problems.”
Butler said he was particularly struck
at the hearings by “the notion that
there are a lot of people out there doing
a lot of good things, and what they are
looking for from the bishops is
support... It indicates that the Church
is going to succeed or fail to the degree
it does or doesn’t get involved at the
local level .. . What they’re asking for at
the national level is a sense of solidarity
in a battle that many times is very
lonely.” >
Parish consultation data have just
begun to come in, and since they are
expected to play an important role in
shaping the five-year social action
program, it will be some time before the
direction of that program becomes
clear.
SURPRISE GESTURE -- Pope Paul VI kisses foot of
Orthodox Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon at Mass
marking the tenth anniversary of the lifting of the
mutual excommunications which split East and West in
1054. The Pope then embraced the Orthodox leader,
who attempted to return the gesture. Both the Vatican
and Constantinople are establishing commissions to
engage in theological discussions aimed at eventual
reunion of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. (NC
Photo by KNA)
On Thanksgiving Day, St. Benedict’s Parish served dinner to sixty-five residents of
the neighborhood. Those who partook of the festive dinner would not have otherwise
enjoyed the togetherness and conviviality which belong to Thanksgiving Day. The
sponsor of the dinner was the Ad Hoc Social Action Committee of St. Benedict’s: Mr.
and Mrs. Fred Foster and Sister Katherine Neuslein, with the help of several
parishioners. St. Benedict’s C.Y.O. furnished musical entertainment during and after
the festive meal. Rev. Fred Nijem is pastor of St. Benedict’s; Rev. Elmer Powell,.
S.V.D. is the assistant.
%
f —
Top Stories -1975
i >
WASHINGTON (NC) - The
canonization of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Sept. 14 was the religious news story of
the year in the United States according
to Catholic newspaper editors polled by
NC News Service.
In second place, said most editors,
was the right to die issue raised by
Karen Ann Quinlan’s parents in their
unsuccessful court fight to end
extraordinary medical procedures being
used to preserve Miss Quinlan’s life. The
case drew worldwide attention to the
Catholic position that no one is
obligated to use extraordinary means to
preserve life, coupled with moral and
legal dilemmas posed by modern
medical technology.
All editors who responded to the
wire service poll ranked Mother Seton’s
canonization among the top 10 stories
in 1975. She received 10 first-place
votes, four second-place votes, and a
total of 203 points on a scale of 10
points per first-place vote down to one
point for a lOth-place vote. Only one
editor did not rank the canonization
among the top five stories.
Five Catholic editors considered the
Quinlan case the top story, and another
seven thought it was the year’s second
major story. Vote points on the
ten-to-one scale totalled 185.
Other stories that editors ranked in
the top 10, with point totals were:
- Third, the resettlement of the
Vietnamese refugees who fled to this
country after the fall of South Vietnam
in April (163 points, with three
first-place votes).
- Fourth, the issue of the ordination
of women in the Catholic and Episcopal
churches (137 points, four first-place
votes).
- Fifth, the continuing battle against
abortion, including the defeat in a
Senate subcommittee of anti-abortion
amendments to the Constitution and
the establishment of a pastoral plan for
pro-life activities by the U.S. bishops
(116 points, one vote for first place).
- Sixth, the continuing issue of food
shortages and hunger around the world
(100 points, one vote for first place).
\
- Seventh, the 1975 Holy Year of
Reconciliation (82 points).
- Eighth, the growing pastoral and
canonical concern for Catholics who are
divorced and remarried (61 points).
- Tied for ninth and tenth place, with
48 points each, the initial stages of U.S.
bishops’ program to observe the nation’s
bicentennial with a new drive for social
justice, and the passage of a new farm
labor law in California that gave
farmworkers the right to secret-ballot
elections for union representation.
Only one other news story came close
to the top 10 in the voting: the Catholic
charismatic movement, with 44 points.
Remaining votes were scattered
among 17 other events or issues. The
only other issues that received more
than 10 points in the polling were the
anti-Zionism vote by the United Nations
and this year’s preparations for next
year’s 41st International Eucharistic
Congress in Philadelphia. Rising
awareness of ethnics- received an isolated
first-place vote.
The top four stories this year -
Mother Seton’s canonization, the right,
to life issue, the Vietnamese refugees
and the ordination of women - had not
been in the news in 1974 or were not
considered at the top of the news yet.
The food crisis, coupled with
population concerns, was rated the top
story in the 1974 NC News poll, but it
dropped to sixth place this year.
Anti-abortion activities, which editors
rated number one in 1973 and number
two in 1974, dropped to number five
this year.