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% l The Southern Cross Vol. 58 No. 1 DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Thursday, January 6,1977 Single Copy Price —15 Cents RHODESIAN FUNERAL -- Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood carry the casket of Mother Francis Van den Berg who was killed by a Rhodesian gunman along with a bishop and a priest. Another nun escaped by rolling under the bishop’s vehicle and feigning death. (NC Photo) D.C.F. Deanery Workshops Set The January/February series of DCF Deanery Workshops will offer another opportunity for teachers of religion to widen their background knowledge and to share ideas with one another. The program will cover two major areas of study, in response to a questionnaire which was filled out at the last workshop series in September. In the area of Creative Teaching, “Prayer and Worship” will be discussed, in connection with elementary and high school teaching. The topic for the Theology section of the workshop will be “The Sacramental Life of the Church.” Father Michael Smith and Brother Joseph Teston will lead the workshops in each Deanery. Several special speakers have offered to take part in the “Creative Teaching” section. Their names are listed below, for each Deanery. WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AUGUSTA DEANERY - Saturday, January 15 from 1:30 to 4:30 at St. Joseph’s Parish Hall. Special speakers will be Sr. Jean Durbin, Mrs. Connie Bewley and Mrs. David Casey. (Continued on page 6) POPE PAUL: Abortion, Liberalized Laws Topic Of New Year Message ROME (NC) -- Pope Paul VI began the new year and the Church’s World Peace Day celebrations Jan. 1 with ringing condemnations of abortion and liberalized abortion laws. In the presence of Rome’s Communist mayor and diplomats accredited to the Vatican, Pope Paul issued one of the strongest and frankest attacks of his reign against those who seek abortion and against laws which permit them to do so. At a televised New Year’s Day Mass in modem Regina Apostolorum (Queen of the Apostles) Church here, Pope Paul asked rhetorically, “can we remain silent . . . about the legalization of abortion, its acceptance and protection in several countries? “Is the life that at its very conception springs up in the mother’s womb not really and truly human life? Does it not need every care, every love, seeing that this embryonic life is defenseless, yet already inscribed in the divine book of the destiny of humanity? “Who could suppose that a mother would kill her offspring or let it be killed? Whet drug, wh*»t legal gilding can ever deaden the remorse of a woman who has freely and consciously murdered the fruit of her womb?” The Pope’s words at the morning Mass were based on the theme he had chosen for the celebration of the Jan. 1 World Day of Peace - “If you want peace, defend life.” In Italy, the question of abortion has taken on particular urgency in January because the Italian Chamber of Deputies (lower house of parliament) is expected to vote soon on a proposed liberalized abortion law. Within minutes after returning to Vatican City from the Church in the southern suburbs of Rome, Pope Paul again spoke about abortion to crowds gathered for the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square. “It is a sacrosanct obligation,” the Pope declared from his apartment window overlooking the square, “to have an important and sacred concept of what human life is -- especially human life about to be born, life which is the most innocent and most mysterious, life which is newest and most in need of protection and assistance.” The Pope urged Catholics to extend protection and help to “every other human life as well, especially to the poor and suffering.” He said that “the peaceful life and order of society, good social relationships and peace in its fullest and most radical sense rest on the observance of respect for life.” The real basis of respect for life, he concluded, is “love, the ‘agape’ which Christ has taught us and which must be at the roots of human feelings, make superhuman precisely by faith and charity.” During the morning Peace Day Mass, held in the mother church of the Pauline Fathers and Sisters, the Pope gave his formula for attaining world peace. “Everyone remembers the saying that took root in the minds of people, ‘If you want peace, prepare for war.’ This is a disastrous, despairing saying,” the Pope asserted. “Tomorrow it will be even more so, unless it is corrected and replaced with another saying ... ‘if you want peace, prepare peace’.” Peace, said the Pope, “is not a stable rock amid the waves of the stormy ocean of world history, but a floating ship that depends on many conditions and on the efforts of many to avoid shipwreck . .. Peace is always ‘in fieri,’ being brought about.” (“In fieri” is a Latin phase meaning “in the process of coming into being.”) After the liturgy, the Pope meet briefly with Rome’s Communist mayor, Giulio Carlo Argan, who during the Mass sat next to the Pope’s vicar for the Rome diocese, Cardinal Ugo Poletti. Before distribution of Communion, the mayor exchanged a greeting of peace with the cardinal, who had pledged during the 1976 election campaign here never to yield an inch to In his homily the Pope thanked Mayor Argan especially for attending. The Pauline Fathers and Sisters, whose founder, Father Alberione, is buried in the crypt of Regina Apostolorum, are engaged in a worldwide apostolate of mass media. In Italy they publish the nation’s largest circulation magazine. Sister Ruth’s Rolling Classroom, Home, Theater, Library And Office What travels more than 25,000 miles annually, and serves as a home, classroom, theater, library and office? It’s the motor home operated by Sister Ruth Marie Hensler, O.S.F., religious education coordinator for a SISTER RUTH MARIE HENSLER, O.S.F., travels more than 25,000 miles annually as Religious Coordinator in the Albany Deanery of southwestern Georgia. MOTOR HOME, which was purchased with a grant from the Catholic Church Extension Society, also serves as a classroom, library, theater and office. 10,000-square-mile area of southwest Georgia’s Albany Deanery. Sister Ruth began her work in the Franciscan Missions in 1974 after completing advanced studies at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. Sister’s studies were undertaken at the request of Bishop Gerard Frey, the Ordinary of the Savannah Diocese at that time, and after receiving provincial approval. She received a grant from the Catholic Church Extension Society for study at Fordham. There are approximately 1,500 Catholics in the area Sister Ruth travels. One of the towns in Sister’s territory is Plains, Ga., the home of President-elect Jimmy Carter. The major emphasis of Sister Ruth’s program is teacher training and preparation. She visits each of her more than 50 teachers each month and also encourages their attendance at diocesan workshops. Nearly 400 elementary and high school students are currently enrolled in the program. Sister Ruth and. the six priests that serve the 10 churches or parish centers and two stations where Sunday Mass is regularly celebrated plan the program for each year. “My goal is to strengthen the faith of the Catholics living in this area so they can make the Church more present in this extensive territory where our Catholic witness is limited,” said Sister Ruth, who is the only nun in the area she serves. Based in Albany, Georgia, Sister Ruth’s activities have her on the road upwards of 12 hours each day of the week. “When I first began my mission work I tried to have each of my instructors meet with me at a central location,” said Sister Ruth. “Although this was more convenient for me, it was difficult for my teachers so I began to HEADLINE HOPSCOTCH Says “No Discrimination” WASHINGTON (NC) - A top aide to President-elect Jimmy Carter says there is no discrimination against Catholics, Hispanics or persons opposed to abortion in hiring people to serve in the Carter Administration. The aide also # said he had reprimanded a transition staff volunteer who had suggested a Hispanic Catholic woman, Graciela Oliverez, “should be thought about very carefully if she is being considered for a job that will in any way concern abortion and related subjects” because she is a “strong, active right-to-life supporter.” “Age Of Woman Upon Us” LOUISVILLE, Ky. (NC) -- “We can say with assurance that the age of woman is upon us and we will never again be the same. All of the previous forms of service are not enough. Woman wants to accomplish more, to serve more fully.” This statement is part of a lengthy study on the role of women in the Church in the archdiocese published in a 12-page supplement of The Record, archdiocesan newspaper. visit their homes or other places where meetings could be held on an individual basis.” These visits require Sister Ruth to spend much more time traveling and moving about the various educational aids she carries with her. “Initially I traveled the territory by car, but I found it difficult to store my classroom aids and I had no real place to meet with my instructors,” she said. At the same time, Sister’s increased travel schedule required her to spend more time away from her home in Albany. Sister Ruth also visits lapsed (Continued on page 6) RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COORDINATOR meets with one of her instructors in the motor home.