Newspaper Page Text
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 57 No. 11
Thursday, March 11, 1976
Bishops To Examine Mission Of NCCB
WASHINGTON - An in-depth
examination of the “mission and goals”
of the Catholic bishops’ conference of
the United States will be the major
focus of the bishops’ spring general
meeting May 4-6 in Chicago.
Both a general session and a
workshop discussion during the May
meeting will deal with the fundamental
purposes and functions of the U.S.
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops (NCCB).
The bishops will take as their
starting-point the “Directory on the
Pastoral Ministry of Bishops,” published
by the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation
for Bishops in May, 1973.
Planning for the study of the mission
and goals of the U.S. episcopal
conference is being carried on by a
special NCCB committee chaired by the
conference’s President, Archbishop
Joseph L. Bernardin of Cincinnati.
The other members of the committee
are Archbishop Donnellan, Archbishop
Peter L. Gerety of Newark, Bishop
Francis T. Hurley of Juneau, Alaska,
Bishop Bernard F. Law of
Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., and
Bishop Cletus F. O’Donnell of Madison,
Wis. Bishop Raymond W. Lessard of
Savannah, Ga., and Auxiliary Bishop
William E. McManus of Chicago are
consultants to the committee.
All have held or now hold posts on a
variety of conference committees.
Bishops Hurley, Law and McManus were
conference staff members before
becoming bishops, and Bishop Lessard
served from 1964 to 1973 on the staff
of the Congregation for Bishops in
Rome. Archbishop Bernardin is a
former General Secretary of NCCB.
The committee is being assisted by
several specialists who are not members
of the conference staff. They are
Fathers Avery Dulles, S.J., and Carl
Peter of the Catholic University of
America theological faculty, Father
Barnabas M. Ahern, C. P., professor of
Scripture at the Gregorian University in
Rome, and Father Canice Connors,
Secretary for Research and Planning for
the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The committee began work last year
with the specific assignment of
reviewing and revising the format and
procedures of the bishops’ general
meetings.
The first results of its work were
apparent in the November, 1975,
general meeting of the bishops, held in
Washington, D. C., which operated
under a streamlined format with new
parliamentary procedures and gave
increased emphasis to workshop
discussions of topics of major
importance.
Over the past several months, other
developments have caused the scope of
the committee’s work to shift from the
relatively narrow question of the format
of the general meeting to the larger
question of the mission and goals of the
bishops’ conference itself.
Among these was the concern
expressed by several bishops at last
November’s meeting that the conference
take a more active role in dealing with
situations caused by dissent from
Church teachings.
Other elements are the expanding
collaboration between several
conference committees and members of
the scholarly and academic
communities, and approval given by the
conference’s Programs and Plans
Committee for the addition to the
conference staff of a theologian to assist
the NCCB Committee on Doctrine and
the NCCB Committee on Pastoral
Research and Practices.
“All of these efforts touch directly
on the mission of the conference which
determines how general meetings are
conducted,” Archbishop Bernardin said
in a report submitted last month to the
NCCB Administrative Committee,
meeting in Washington. “It seemed
reasonable, therefore, that we attempt
to draw these matters together.”
The “Directory on the Pastoral
Ministry of Bishops,” which will be the
basis of the bishops’ discussions in
Chicago, is a detailed treatment of the
role of bishops, developed in light of the
Second Vatican Council’s teaching on
the episcopacy, especially as contained
in the Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church (Lumen Gentium) and the
Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops
in the Church (Christus Dominus).
Beginning with “fundamental
principles” of the ministry and life of
bishops, the 116-page Directory then
discusses “the bishop’s ministry in the
universal Church” (including his
relationship to the Pope and to the
college of bishops); “the ministry of the
(Continued on page 8)
Pope Urges Catholics To Practice Penance
Single Copy Price —15 Cents
LENTEN MENU - This is the sacrificial meal for the third week in
Lent: Egg salad and toast, Rice pudding. This menu is suggested for those
participating in “Operation Rice Bowl,” sponsored by the 41st
International Eucharistic Congress. (NC Photo by Robert H. Davis)
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Slack morals
and law-breaking have resulted in part
from the failure of Christians to practice
and preach asceticism, Pope Paul
asserted on Ash Wednesday (March 3).
At his weekly general audience; Pope
Paul encouraged Catholics to perform a
two-fold asceticism, which includes, he
said, practicing penances and developing
virtues.
“Today authority and law which put
forth an exterior norm corresponding to
our being’s interior needs are no longer
accepted or listened to,” the Pope
charged.
“Spontaneity seems to be the
fundamental right of human action.”
This situation, the Pope continued,
has led to “an explosion of blind *
Beytagh Savannah Parade Marshal
Thomas J. Beytagh, Sr., has been
elected Grand Marshal of this year’s
St. Patrick’s Day Parade in
Savannah. Beytagh’s aides will be
his three sons Thomas, John and
Michael and his brother, William
Beytagh from Puerto Rico.
A life-long resident of Savannah,
Beytagh attended Marist School for
Boys and is a graduate of
Benedictine Military School.
Following a three year stint with
the U.S. Army Air Corps, during
World War II, Tom earned his
degree from the University of
Georgia.
In 1950, he married Margaret
Gertrude Kehoe. They are the
parents of nine children -- Thomas
Joseph Jr., John Patrick, Catherine
Maria, Angela Agnes, Michael
Edward, Patricia Anne, Margaret
Mary, Gertrude Kehoe and Suzanne
Elizabeth.
founded the
as Beytagh
Company which
as a home builder
T. J. Beytagh, Sr.
In 1960 he
company known
Construction
serves the area
and developer.
Beytagh has served the St.
Patrick’s Day Parade Committee for
over twenty-five years. He has been
a member of numerous decorating
committees and has aided in
“putting the parade on the street”
many times.
The Grand Marshal is a member
of the Knights of Columbus Fourth
Degree, Hibernian Society,
President of the Friendly Sons of
St. Patrick and a past president and
member of the Sinn Fein Society.
He is a communicant of St. James’
Church, a past president and
member of the Home Builders’
Association of Savannah and a
member of the American Legion.
PRISONERS’ AID - Thomas Burts, W.H.O. Apostolate. Looking on are Terry Jackson, Father
Executive Director, receives a check for $1,500 from Liam Collins, and Father Patrick Shinnick.
Ron Bonitatibus, Director of the Augusta Social
freedom, instinctive passion, uncurbed
crime and the renunciation of intelligent
and responsible decision-making.”
The Pope said that people question
how this situation came to be. The
answer, he said, is found in the
unwillingness of Catholics to practice
ascetism themselves and to teach that
practice to their children.
“We know well that this chapter in
the program of renewing Christian life
does not enjoy the favor of public
opinion, and sometimes not even the
respect of certain teachers who call
themselves moralists and Christians,”
the Pope charged.
He said that this attitude was shown
especially clearly in the unfavorable
reactions to the recent Vatican
delcaration on sex ethics.
The declaration, issued in January,
restated traditional Church prohibitions
against homosexual acts, masturbation
and premarital sex.
“Our ascetic efforts which perfect
our moral conduct have two moments:
one negative, which the masters of the
spirit call mortification, fast, penance,
etc. The other moment is positive,
geared toward fortification of virtue,”
the Pope said.
He counseled: “Keep this in mind.
You are not real Christians if you are
not strong. You are not strong, even
spiritually, if you are not in some way
athletes, those people who exercise hard
and for long periods.”
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Genuine ‘Good News’
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (NC) - The development of shared responsibility and
consultative decision-making in recent years “has been one of the genuine ‘good news’
stories in the life of the Church,” said Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin in a speech
here Feb. 29. The archbishop, who is president of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference, spoke at the first statewide delegate assembly
of the Indiana Catholic Conference.
Emancipation For Unborn
LOS ANGELES (NC) -- The next great emancipation in America must be the
emancipation of the unborn child, Cardinal Timothy Manning of Los Angeles said
here. “We’ve emancipated the Negro. We are in the process of emancipating women.
The next great emancipation will have to be the emancipation of the fetus. It has life.
It has the right to live. And until we do, the curse of God hangs over us as it did as
long as we had slavery.” Cardinal Manning made his plea in an address to the Mercury
Roundtable of the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Orders Advertising Halt
MONTCLAIR, N.J. (NC) -- The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners has
ordered an abortion clinic here to stop advertising in area newspapers. The clinic,
which is directed by a podiatrist and performs abortions during the first three months
of pregnancy only, has not responded to the order.
Revised Rite Of Penance
Savannah’s Bishop Raymond W. Lessard is giving a series of Sermons on
the Revised Rite of Penance, during Lent, at the Cathedral of St. John The
Baptist. The text of the first sermon “The Call To Conversion” will be found
on page 3.
$1,500 Grant Helps Prisoners 9 Aid Program
The first day of freedom is a crucial one for the ex-prisoner
who has just earned his release. He is given $25.00, a bus ticket
home, and perhaps a suit. But society is unwilling to accept him,
and his own family may turn against him. Jobs are hard to find.
A helping hand is offered to the ex-offender by an
organization known as Women Helping Offenders (W.H.O.)
which operates on a nation-wide basis and now has an active
branch in Augusta. Under this program, volunteers prepare
prisoners for resettlement into society, refer them to
employment agencies, offer food and clothing where necessary,
and give support services to the families of prison inmates.
In Augusta, W.H.O. recently received a $1,500 grant from the
local Campaign for Human Development fund (that part of the
annual Collection remaining in the Diocese for funding of IocpI
projects). Further funding is being sought from Richmond
County Revenue Sharing funds and from the City of Augusta.
Leading W.H.O. is Thomas L. Burts, executive director, who
is building up a volunteer staff and widening the organization’s
clientele. Within a few months, the W.H.O. group, based at 407
7th Street, has served more than 60 offenders and their families.
In addition to general counseling and encouragement,
volunteers are trying to locate clients in suitable and stable
employment, and to refer them where necessary to doctors for
medical or psychological care. A program called “Basket of
Life” has been launched, to provide ex-offenders and their
families with canned foods received periodically through church
donations.
W.H.O. hopes to be able to purchase a bus to transport
families to and from Richmond County Correctional Institute in
suburban Augusta, as well,as to Reidsville. This will help to keep
separated families in touch with one another, assuring prison
inmates that they are not forgotten.
Further plans for W.H.O. include the initiation of a youth
work project, which would give young offenders the
opportunity to undertake clean-up jobs and other community
improvements without pay, as an alternative to spending time in
a Reformatory School. Mr. Burts, who initiated this kind of
program in his home in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., feels that its
extension to the Augusta area would have a double benefit. It
would be of help to home owners with modest incomes who
might need assistance with regular home repairs, and would also
be a job-training experience for the young offender.
Another project planned is the encouragement of prison
inmates to grow houseplants in their dormitories and cells, thus
stimulating interest in a hobby and also freshening confined
areas with attractive greenery. Local garden clubs might be
willing to award prizes annually for creative arrangements.
The grant from the local Campaign for Human Development
collection will be used to facilitate the many services and
programs of W.H.O. this year. In expressing thanks for the
grant, Mr. Burts said that “with the help of God and all his
people we here at WHO will continue to contribute towards
making Augusta a safer and happier place in which to live.”