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The Southern Cross DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Vol. 57 No. 44 Thursday, December 9,1976 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents SURVEY REVEALS '■ V REFLECTIONS -- St. Mark’s Cathedral is mirrored in the water covering Venice’s St. Mark’s Square. High MSGR. HIGGINS SAYS tides rolled in flooding the famed landmark. Church Prepared To Dissent MUNICH (NC) -- The institutional Catholic Church in the United States “is fully prepared to dissent, not from the American political system as such, but, when necessary, from the prevailing political ethos and from specific governmental programs in the field of public policy,” according to a leading U.S. churchman. “In other words,” the churchman, Msgr. George Higgins, secretary for research of the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC), said, “the old charge that the Church in the United States was uncritically committed to the American ethos is no longer valid, or, in any event, is not as valid as it was or at least appeared to be until a few generations ago.” Following the Second Vatican Council, he said, the U.S. Catholic Church has moved to take a more positive role in shaping public policy. f®m HEADLINE HOPSCOTCH Firebombings In Rome ROME (NC) - Teenage gangs firebombed centers of a Catholic student organization both here and in Turin Nov. 30 in an escalating series of extremist violence against Catholic groups in Italy. In both cases a few of the extremists participating in the raids were over 21. Many were reportedly 14 years old. Religion ‘Not Naive’ VATICAN CITY (NC) -- Religion is not a “naive, mythical and outdated” way of looking at reality, but rather an experience which broadens man’s vision, Pope Paul VI declared Dec. 1. “Religion opens up vast panoramas to man,” the Pope told his weekly general audience. “It broadens our thoughts to extend beyond the closed room of our ordinary experiences.” Active Church Role Urged WASHINGTON (NC) -- Church agencies should take an active part in opposing so-called “death with dignity” laws being pushed in various state legislatures, according to an official of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB). Such bills should be fought, said Msgr. James T. McHugh, director of the secretariat of the NCCB committee for pro-life activities, not only because of “serious legal deficiencies, but because they diminish the value of human life and relieve society - and the law - of its responsibility to provide adequate legal protection for human life at every stage of its existence and in every circumstance, even if the enjoyment of life is limited or qualified.” Letter Sent Archbishop VATICAN CITY (NC) - In a candid private latter to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Pope Paul VI has accused the traditionalist prelate of adopting a “warped ecclesiology” and of starting a “rebellion” in the Church. The Pope has also called for a sweeping retraction from the French archbishop of accusations against the Pope and an explicit affirmation of his acceptance of the new liturgy and all decrees of the Second Vatican Council. Yet nowhere in the 15-page Latin letter, made public by the Vatican Nov. 30, did the Pope threaten excommunication of the suspended archbishop. American Catholics, he said, “have gone far beyond the point of explaining that their religion does not conflict with Americans and far beyond the point of simply defending the Catholic faith and the rights of the Church in the public order.” Msgr. Higgins made his comments in a speech on the U.S. Catholic Church and the public order before the Bavarian Catholic Academy, an adult education and conference center established by the late Cardinal Julius Doepfner of Munich. Msgr. Higgins noted that the U.S. bishops had been involved in a controversy during the recent presidential elections in which a misperception was created that the bishops were endorsing President Gerald Ford because of his support for a states’ rights constitutional amendment to restrict abortion. The Church is nonpartisan, he added. The controversy, he said, “will have (Continued on page 2) Youth Are Challenging Beliefs At Earlier Age WASHINGTON (NC) -- Young people in the United States challenge religious beliefs at an earlier age than in the past, according to a study on religion and America youth. The study published here by the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) also concluded that parental religious belief and practice is the dominant influence on the religious belief and practice of adolescents and young adults. Entitled “Religion and American Youth: With Emphasis on Catholic Adolescents and Young Adults,” the study was commissioned by the USCC Education Department’s office of research, policy and program development. It was made by Father Raymond H. Potvin, Dr. Dean R. Hoge and Dr. Hart M. Nelsen, all sociologists at the Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth Development at the Catholic University of America. The center assumed the cost of the study. “The main impacts of secular intellectualism and experience with different beliefs occur in high school more often today than several decades ago,” the study said. “Some research has documented that the reported age of first religious doubt has dropped an average of two years since 1948.” The study also noted a greater desire among adolescents and young adults for freedom and self-fulfillment, together with less willingness to accept either civil or religious authority. The study focuses on two age groups: adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18, mainly junior and senior high school youth; and young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. It attempts to describe the religious attitudes, beliefs and behavior of those two groups, to explain changes in them and to make projections for the future. Describing the religious belief and behavior of adolescents, the study reported a decline from 83 percent in 1951 to 70 percent in 1975 of those who believe in a personal God. The drop was greatest among Catholics, from 88 percent to 68 percent. Among Protestants, the percentage dropped from 84 to 75 percent and among Jews from 38 to 21. The decline in weekly attendance at religious services was also greatest among Catholics, from 81 to 55 percent. Among Protestants, the percentage dropped from 68 to 43 and among Jews from 35 to 10. The study also reported declines in recent years in the percentage of adolescents who believe in life after death, regard the Bible as God’s word and pray daily. In various areas of moral judgment Priest From Vietnam In Savannah Diocese Reverend Tran Minh Quang, a Catholic priest and refugee from Vietnam, is now in the Savannah Diocese. Father has signed a three year contract with the Diocese to minister primarily to the needs of refugees. In April of last year Father Quang, along with another priest, escaped from Vietnam by boat. He was sent to a refugee camp at Fort Chafee, Arkansas and later resettled in Loiusiana. Father Quang will be in residence at Sacred Heart Church in Savannah, but will travel throughout the diocese saying Mass in his native language and ministering to the spiritual needs of the hundreds of Vietnamese living here. On Sunday December 12 Father Quang will celebrate a Mass for the Vietnamese at 3:00 p.m. at Blessed Sacrament Church in Savannah. A reception will follow in the Blessed Sacrament School gynasium. Father Quang was born in Ninh Binh, North Vietnam in 1943. When the Communists took control of the north in 1954, his parents moved the family to Saigon. It was in Saigon, at the age of twelve, that Father Quang entered Phat Diem Minor Seminary. In 1963 he entered Saigon Major Seminary for seven years of study for the priesthood. Father Quang was ordained in 1970 and was assigned to Kim Thuong, a large parish of 4000 Catholics, in the city of Long Khanh. For three of the five years he was there Father was principal of Saint Monica Catholic High School and taught classes in catechism and French. and behavior, the study noted significant increases in the percentages of adolescents who consider sexual relations before marriage to be all right in some circumstances and increases in the use of marijuana or other drugs, in suicide, truancy, running away from home, fraud and theft. The percentage of assaults, however, dropped by half. The study reported the relationship of various factors to religious and moral belief and practice. It found that belief and practice declines among adolescents as they grow older. The researchers recommended adapting programs to the adolescent, who feels the need to question previously accepted beliefs. “If such personal confrontation with religious truth is encouraged, the decline in religiousness as the adolescent grows older may be arrested to some extent,” they said. The study also found that being enrolled in religion classes make a significant difference in the degree of religious belief and practice. “A major factor which influences the religiousness of youth is their parents’ orientation to religion,” the study said. It noted the finding that parent-child relationships and parental images are important in the formation of concepts of God. “Parents influence their children’s religion overtly by socialization and indirectly by the way they relate to their children,” it said. In the section on young adults, the study reported findings that among all college students, the percentages of those who believe that extramarital sexual relations, having an abortion, homosexual relations, and premarital relations are wrong declined between 1969 and 1973. The percentages of those who welcomed more emphasis on self-expression and sexual freedom increased, while the percentage of those wanting more respect for authority decreased. The s^udy reported on a survey of students at a Catholic college which found increases between 1961 and 1971 from 17 to 82 percent who said it was all right to date non-Catholics with marriage intentions, from 17 to 70 percent who said it was all right usually not to say evening prayers, and from 6 to 75 percent who approved heavy (Continued on oage 2) Early Deadline Notice Due to an early publication date for our Christmas Week issue, all material for inclusion in the December 23 SOUTHERN CROSS must be in our office by noon Friday, December 17. ST. VINCENT’S CANDLELIGHT SERVICE - Pictured above are the soloists who will perform in the annual Christmas Candlelight Service to be presented at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Sunday, December 19 at 8:00 p.m. The singers are: Erin McGinn, Shellie Fogarty, Dianne McDonald, Nancy McClellan, Linda Williams, Jeanne Hoffman and Deborah Michael. The public is cordially invited. r Fifth Annual Christmas Candlelight Service On Sunday evening, December 19th at 8:00 p.m. one hundred young voices will fill the Cathedral with “Noels” and “Alleluias” for the Christmas season. It will be St. Vincent’s Academy’s fifth annual carol concert from the sanctuary of the Cathedral. The two choruses, the Chorale and Les Chanteurs, will sing both traditional and modern carols interspersed with the scriptural narration of the Christmas story. Therese Oetgen and Jeanne Hoffman will narrate. Monsignor Felix Donnelly, rector of the Cathedral will lead the congregation’s participation in singing the familiar carols. Near the close of the program all lights will be extinguished while all sing “Silent Night.” One candle, symbolizing Christ, the Light of the World, will remain lit and from this light all individual candles will be lit as the Choruses begin Handel’s “Halleluah Chorus.” Featured in this year’s program will be Susan Thornton, Reatte McNeal, Miriam Dingle, Debra Michael, Linda Williams, Erin McGinn, Nancy McClellan, Monica Rowland, Caron Fleming, Theresa Rousseau, Shellie Fogarty, Dianne McDonald and Cathy O’Donnell.