Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

« 4 f PAGE 6—The Southern Cross, December 23,1976 DCCW Notes Judy Lyberger ‘MY DREAM COME TRUE’ “When I was a girl about 17, I used to dream the dreams of a young girl. I would marry Prince Charming and settle down and have a beautiful family. I could see it all so clearly then. I would have daughter and I would call her Jennifer. She and I would spend hours together doing those things which mothers do with their daughters. She would learn from me the many things I had learned from my own mother and in which I had developed some expertise. Jennifer would not be a normal everyday girl, no she would be valedictorian of her class and she would be all the things that girls dream of ever being. She would be a cheerleader and a winner of a beauty contest. She would never want for a date because the boys would be lined up anxious to ask her out. This would be my Jennifer, my daughter, my dream. had given birth to a baby girl. My thoughts scurried wild as I gave thanksgiving for Jennifer, my dream come true. But that happiness was not to last, for by the next day my doctor had dolefully told me that Jennifer - my Jennifer -- had Down’s syndrome. My whole body and brain shook and , shook in revulsion -- Jennifer was Monogoloid. What may happen, one out of every 600 to 700 births had to happen to me. Stupid, damnable chromosome abnormality. I took Jennifer home ashamed and filled with anger that my long treasured dream should crash so bluntly to earth and shatter. My friends consoled me and confided that they had avoided having such children by using the process known as amniocentesis. If your baby in the womb is found to have any disease it can be easily, safely, and quickly aborted. Perhaps if I had done as they had my sleepless agony would not exist. Time went by and I married the man of my heart and we settled down in a comfortable home. And it was within two years that I was expecting my first baby. My eagerness knew no boundaries as the momentus day drew closer and closer. I could almost see Jennifer’s beautiful face already before me. I could hear the laughter in her voice, I could feel the warmth of her loving hand. The baby came but it was a boy. My initial disappointment quickly vanished as I came to love that husky fullback I had given birth to. The six years that went past were long years until the day that I learned I was pregnant once more. Still the dream, still the portrait hope of Jennifer. But it was a boy once more, delivered with some complications but again I learned to love him very much. But despite these two beautiful and healthy sons, I still could not quiet my fairytale heart whispering for that little princess I could kiss goodnight and spend moments of encouragement with before her first date. ‘Please God,’ I begged, ‘give me a girl.’ Within five years I was pregnant once more. This time my mind was made up -- it must be a girl, it must be Jennifer. The moment finally came and I could hardly contain my joy when I saw that I AMBOS / Inr. The FRESHEST seafood caught daily by our own fleet processed & sold at our dock Fresh Shrimp In Shell Fresh or Frozen Shrimp Peeled and Deveined 2 and 5 lb. Packages Fresh Fish Whiting - Flounder - Trout Live Crabs Inspected by Georgia Department of Agriculture Ambos Seafoods on the Docks River Drive Thunderbolt, Georgia Monday through Saturday 9 to 5:30 Phone: 912/354-5222 SOUTHERN CROSS Ads Bring Results! Time passed and my life went on. The boys were growing strong and were rich blessings to their Dad and me. Then there was Jennifer. Jennifer is now 8 years old. And there is ho way I can describe her. When I am out in the garden, she is there by my side with her tiny trowel. When I am in the kitchen she is there tugging at my dress wanting to help me. When I am reading she is there climbing on my lap with a love letter to me. When her father comes home from work she is the first at the door with arms outstretched. When we go to bed she is the last to leave our company. I see her in the morning with the happiest sunrise smile I have ever seen; I can feel her warm arms reach about me as she hugs and kisses me goodnight. What a strange phenomenon. She has but one more chromosome than other people in the world and how different that makes her. In a world of coldness she is kindness. In a world of brutality she is gentleness. In a world of hate and fighting, she is love and peace. No, Jennifer will never be valedictorian, nor a cheerleader. And she will never win a beauty contest, but there is nothing I would exchange her for, for she has stolen away my heart with her simple yet unaffected love. She is my dream come true.” (From The Arlington Catholic Herald — Oct. 7, 1976) AQUINAS DEBATERS - For the first time, Aquinas High School fielded a Debate Team for the Region 4A competition. The debaters, Barbara Parsons, Marianne Moss, Jemi Nicoll and Sarah McBride, were coached by Mr. Bill Wilkin. The team placed second in the region competition. Shown in picture: Marianne Moss and Barbara Parsons preparing for the rebuttal at the competition site. G Who ’ll help ydu with a grand savTngs plan? SAVANNAH BANK S, TRUST COMPANY Member FDIC One idea that helps you save is to save for something fun! Like a grand piano or a family cruise, for example. Paying cash can sometimes save you money... and we'll help with all the interest we can pay. After all, we're The Willing Bank. ONE-ACT PLAY WINS IN REGION -- For the fourth consecutive year and for five out of seven times, Augusta’s Aquinas High School’s Drama Department under the direction of Reverend John Fitzpatrick, has won the Region 4A Trophy for the One Act Play Competition. The play, Androcles and the Lion, will be entered into the State competition on January 8, 1977 in Athens. Shown in top picture are: Jerry Franklin as the Emperor; Steve Mirshak as the Lion and Starr Wright as Androcles. (At right) Jack Markwalter as the Captain and Rebecca Shipps as Lavinia, a Christian captive. Marriage Encounter: Rediscovery r ’ 11 n Around The Diocese Obituaries * Mr. Daniel Julian Nowakowski of Savannah, November 21st * Mrs. Josephine Howard Robinson of Savannah, December 15th Marriages * Miss Flora Kay Shoemaker of Savannah, Ga., and Mr. Michael Lee Sloan of Garden City, Ga., November 20 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Savannah. Necrology * Rev. John A. Morris, December 24, 1957. * Rev. M.J. Rice, December 26, 1881. The following three priests’ month of death is unknown: * Rev. Thomas P. Hayden, 1941. * Rev. T.J. Morrow, 1940. * His Eminence Ignatius Cardinal Persico, Fourth Bishop of Savannah. BY DR. HELLEGERS Pregnancy Disability Aid Ruling WASHINGTON (NC) - The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, in effect, that “if you’re talking about disability benefits, the fetus is a person, but if you’re talking about abortion, the fetus is a tumor,” according to Dr. Andrew Hellegers, director of the Kennedy Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and Bioethics. The Court’s logic is “absolutely internally absurd,” he said. Criticized Organization of Women people and lobby together on this.” He said groups such as Birthright, which seek to help women with problem pregnancies, would be better able to help if working women who became pregnant were eligible for disability benefits. The Court’s ruling was also criticized sharply by Father Donald Conroy, Representative for Family Life for the U.S. Catholic Conference. BY JERRY AND MARGARET DULOHERY At a time when it seems that most of the news we get reflects the worsening problems around the world, it is like a breath of fresh air to hear about something hopeful and positive for a change. For the past year in Savannah, a special program has been developing. The program, called Marriage Encounter, offers an opportunity for married couples to look deeply at their relationships - successes and failures; how they truly feel about one another; their joys, frustrations, ambitions, hopes, fears. Purpose of Marriage Encounter is to make a good marriage GREAT. Emphasis is on communication between husband and wife, who spend a weekend together, away from the children, the distractions and tensions of everyday life, to concentrate on talking deeply with each other. A Marriage Encounter is presented by Catholic team couples and a Catholic priest. Its orientation is Catholic, but a certain number of spaces are reserved each weekend for couples who are not Catholic. Marriage Encounter starts with the love you have for your spouse (and your spouse’s for you) and helps to build, expand and deepen your relationship. You must have the love to begin with, and you must do all the building, expanding and deepening yourselves, together. Marriage Encounter provides the tools and shows you how they can, and have been used. The rest is up to you. Weekends are oriented strictly to individual couple dynamics, not group dynamics. Each couple is given a blank envelope and asked to make an offering at the end of the weekend. No one is ever refused the opportunity to make a Marriage Encounter Weekend because of a lack of funds. A $10.00 registration fee confirms food and lodging. Besides being an opportunity for couples, Marriage Encounter is also a beautiful way for sisters and priests to revitalize their commitment to the people of God and experience His love more fully in their lives. The next weekends in Savannah are: Feb. 19, 29, 20; March 11, 12, 13. Weekend is scheduled for Albany on January 28, 29, 30. MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER RESERVATION FORM His-Her Name Address Church-Parish (His) Wedding Date Weekend Preference Last Name Area Code-Phone Number City-State Zip Code (Hers) Month-Date-Year First Second SAVANNAH, GEORGIA MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER Deposit Couple: Bob & Nancy Merchen 1698 Stillwood Dr. Savannah, Ga. 31406 1-912-925-3819 Recruiting Couple: Kershaw & Lynn Getty 9 Ryerson Dr. Savannah, Ga. 31406 1-912-925-2589 Hellegers has served as the major expert witness supporting female employees of the General Electric Company who sought to have GE’s policy of excluding maternity leave from coverage in disability programs ruled unconstitutional. The GE employees won several lower court battles, but lost in the nation’s highest court, which held in a 6-3 vote that it was not unconstitutional to exclude maternity leave from coverage. Civil rights and women’s groups have already begun efforts to pass federal legislation to require that disability benefits cover maternity leave, and Dr. Hellegers says he is “very optimistic” about the prospects of passage. But, Dr. Hellegers, an outspoken opponent of abortion, said, “I hope that this time the Rightrto-Life movement people get together with the National "it is reared that the etlects of this decision will include increased pressure for women to defer starting a family as well as to consider abortion in cases of pregnancy,” he said. The decision, he said, “demonstrates an apparent blindness to the needs of working parents and especially shows a lack of sensitivity to the needs of married working women, two-thirds of whom are in the work force out of economic necessity.” The decision “also supports personnel policies and practices of some American businesses which too frequently regard the family life of the employees as secondary to the goals of economic productivity,” he said. Dr. Hellegers argued in his testimony that pregnancy should be covered as a disability for medical reasons. ONLY LIGHTED OUR HEARTS -- Cardinal Luis Aponte of San Juan kisses the charred remains of the statue of Our Lady of Providence. Only hours before the newly restored 19th-century statue was to be crowned in San Juan, vandals entered the cathedral in Old San Juan and burned the statue. The cardinal told the huge crowd gathered for the Mass, “The match that burned the statue only lighted the hearts of Mary’s sons and daughters.” (NC Photo from El Nuevo Dia) In Savannah OGLETHORPE MARBLE & GRANITE CO. Milton J. Little East Broad at Waldburg St. Beytagh Construction Co. RLSIDENTIAL REMODELING LIGHT COMMERCIAL 1537 Montgomery Crossroad EL 4-3556 — Savannah, Ga. Georgia Paint & Body Works 24 HOUR WRECKER SERVICE RADIATOR SERVICE 28 YEARS EXPERIENCE 90-Day Guaranty on all work 722-5346 518 13th Street Augusta. Ga.