Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 59 No. 27 Form 3579 To: 601 E. 6th St. Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Thursday, August 3,1978
Single Copy Price — 15 Cents
HEAD FOR MUSIC - Baritone horn player David Hoffman’s head is
obscured by his instrument as he plays during a band concert at a church
bazaar in St. Johnsville, N. Y. (NC Photo by Bruce J. Squiers)
Testimony Against Death Penalty
WASHINGTON (NC) - A bishop
who saw six men die in the electric chair
when he was a prison chaplain has urged
Congress to defeat a bill that would
reinstate the death penalty at the
federal level.
Bishop Ernest Unterkoefler of
Charleston, S.C., drew on his
experiences in a Virginia prison in
presenting U.S. Catholic Conference
testimony on the bill, H.R. 13360, to
the House subcommittee on criminal
justice.
“I can assure the subcommittee
that capital punishment is brutal and
inhumane,” he said. “It is also final.
Judicial error which leads to the
execution of an innocent person can
never be rectified.”
Federal law already provides the
death penalty for certain crimes, but the
procedures for imposing the death
penalty are not in line with those
approved by the Supreme Court in
1976. The bill would revise federal law
to reflect the court decisions.
Bishop Unterkoefler said the
impact of the bill would be to reinstate
the death penalty at the federal level.
He said society can find “effective
and humane” ways to deal with violent
crime without “resorting to such
simplistic and atavistic practices as
capital punishment.”
Bishop Unterkoefler said the
bishops were “deeply troubled by the
weakening of concern for the sanctity
of human life” in American society.
“This phenomenon,” he said, “is
observable in the unhealthy shift in
national actions and attentions from the
poor, the continued acceptance of
racism and sexism, the support for
abortion as well as the growing
advocacy of the death penalty.”
Bishop Unterkoefler also offered
these reasons for opposing the death
penalty:
“I firmly believe that
rehabilitation, even of murderers, is
possible. Our belief in Christ’s message
of redemption and restoration compels
us to seek, even for those who have
taken a life, the opportunity for the
personal transaction of penitence,
restoration and a new beginning which
is at the heart of the Christian struggle
for salvation. The death penalty
eliminates this possibility.”
-- “The empirical evidence leaves us
with more questions than answers”
about whether the death penalty deters
crime.
-- “Capital punishment contributes
to the level of violence in society.
‘‘Simply altering
procedures . . . cannot eradicate the
discriminatory imposition of the death
penalty because such technical changes
cannot eradicate the root causes of
discrimination.”
-- “Executing the offender helps
neither the victim nor the victim’s
survivors.”
Amos E. Quinn Dies
Funeral Mass was offered July 24 at Savannah’s Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist for Amos E. Quinn. Quinn, 67, was Sexton of
Savannah’s Catholic Cemetery. He had also served for a twelve year
period as sexton of St. James Church.
A native of Big Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Quinn had lived in
Savannah for 20 years. He was a member of the Cathedral parish
and also a member of the men’s choir.
Rosary Service was held at Hayman Funeral Home on the
evening of July 23. He is survived by a brother and sister, both of
Michigan.
The Church In South Georgia
(Fifth in a series prepared by the
Savannah Diocese's Department of Christian
Formation.)
Today’s visitor to Georgia will find
an inviting description in the AAA
“Tour Guide.” It describes our State as
“a piquant contrast of ultra-modern
cities, unhurried small towns and stately
antebellum homes. High windy plains
subside to sunstruck beaches; peach
orchards are neighbor to impenetrable
swamps .
Off the deeply-indented Atlantic
coast are the “famous Sea Islands,
separated from the mainland by a maze
of channels, lagoons and inlets. This
picturesque spot is one of the most
popular vacation spots in the
South-east.”
Visitors to Savannah in the middle
of the last century had a rather different
picture. First impressions of Savannah
were of a small, shady city with many
parks, attractive enough, but situated in
a very unhealthy area. The “swamps”
surrounding it were considered breeding
grounds for all kinds of disease; the heat
and humidity made it a hardship post
for the trader or missionary from other
lands.
Fevers and epidemics were frequent
all up and down the coastal area and in
areas further inland. It was a fatal
outbreak of Yellow Fever that carried
off Savannah’s first Bishop, Francis X.
Gartland, in 1854 after only four years
at the head of the Diocese. He fell an
easy victim because of his
already-weakened physical condition,
after some strenuous work getting his
Diocese organized and weeks of
ministering to the sick during the yellow
fever outbreak of 1854. Eight days
before his death, Bishop Barron, a
friend who had come to help him in this
time of emergency, also died. To make
matters worse, a tornado struck the
city, tearing off the roof of the Bishop’s
house, so that the two dying men had to
be removed to the home of a neighbor,
Michael Prendergast.
Bishop Gartland’s last letter gives
some idea of the horror of those days of
epidemic:
“We are in sad condition still - very
sad - and God alone knows when a
favorable turn will take place - Two of
my priests are sick . .. the place looks
very desolated at 8:01 P.M., as deserted
as at midnight at any other season.
Every night large fires are kindled in
various parts of the city and great
quantities of tar are burnt ... I know
not whether I will pass through the
scourge with safety to myself . . .”
Bishop John Barry, who was
appointed to take his place was an old
hand at mission work and knew the area
well. But he, too, had undermined his
health with his labors in this difficult
area. He had survived an outbreak of
cholera in Augusta in 1832, ministering
to the sick and burying the dead.
Consecrated Bishop in 1857, he served
for only two years. He died in Paris,
where he had gone in hopes of
recovering his failing health. Once again,
Savannah Diocese remained without a
Bishop.
For a while now, the affairs of the
Diocese were conducted by a man who
was well-known all over the area and
could be called one of its pioneers -
Father Peter Whelan, who had been
named Vicar-General during the days of
Bishop Barry. Another in a series of
remarkable Irishmen who served here,
Whelan had been pastor for many years
at Locust Grove, and had been a
familiar figure among the farming
communities fo miles around. He was a
(Continued on page 6)
Many Comment On Test Tube Baby
(AN NC NEWS WEEKLY ROUND-UP)
The birth of five-pound, 12-ounce
Louise Brown, the world’s first test tube
baby, and the events that led up to it
promise to keep the medical community
and Catholic moral theologians talking
for quite a while.
Condemned by several Catholic
moral theologians, the procedure
leading to the birth involved the
implantation of a fertilized egg in the
womb of Lesley Brown, an English
woman who could not conceive
normally because of blocked fallopian
tubes. Doctors removed eggs from the
woman’s ovary, then achieved
fertilization using sperm
Brown’s husband Gilbert.
from Mrs.
“It is not the conception of a child
as nature intended, and I am opposed to
it,” said Bishop Gerard McClean of
Middlesborough, England, who said it
falls among actions covered by Pope
Pius XII’s 1949 condemnation of
artificial insemination.
In Italian daily newspapers, two
theologians gave negative judgments on
the morality of such procedures. Father
Dionigi Tettamanzi, in the Milan-based
national Catholic daily, AVVENIRE,
said that although Pope Pius had said
means designed to facilitate natural
conception could not necessarily be
excluded, the test tube baby technique
would not fit into the category of
acceptable aids.
In the Rome daily, IL TEMPO,
Father Virgil Rotondi also condemned
the procedure, saying, “Although the
intention of having a child is
praiseworthy, the means used to achieve
it wander fearfully from
illicitness ... To sum up: The end does
not justify the means.”
Bishop Thomas C. Kelly, general
secretary of the U.S. Catholic
Conference, said the test tube
conception of children stems from the
same mentality as that which gave the
world atomic weapons and carcinogenic
pesticides. He called the procedure
“ingenious” but said it raises important
moral issues.
“One morai issue raised in this case
concerns conception outside the
womb,” the bishop said. “Christian
morality has insisted on the importance
of protecting the process by which
human life is transmitted. The fact that
science now has the ability to alter this
prw^s significantly does pot mean
tri®' morally speakihg, it has <.na ti^rn
to do so.”
Some, like Archbishop William D.
(Continued on page 2)
Three New Staff Appointments For Diocese
Amos E. Quinn
Three new staff appointments in
the Diocese of Savannah have been
announced by Bishop Raymond W.
Lessard.
Donald W. Frew has been
appointed Business Manager. His duties
will be those previously assigned to the
Diocesan Comptroller and he assumed
his duties the middle of July.
Mrs. J. Harry (Mary Kay) Persse has
been appointed Diocesan Family Life
Director. Her responsibilities will cover
the three areas of family life and
ministry, pro-life activities and
family-centered religious education. The
appointment was effective August 1.
Sister Mary Laurent Duggan, C.S.J.
will fill the new post of Chancery
Administrative Assistant, effective in
late August. Sister’s responsibilities will
include all those previously held by the
Chancellor, except those requiring
canonical jurisdiction, such as the
granting of dispensations and faculties.
Father J. Kevin Boland will be given the
added position of Chancellor, and along
with Father Francis J. Nelson,
Vice-Chancellor will attend to tasks
requiring such jurisdiction. Sister Mary
Laurent will also be Executive Secretary
of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission.
Commenting on the new
appointments Bishop Lessard said, “the
competency and qualifications of these
three new staff persons are evident from
their previous experience and
preparation. I am most grateful to them
for their willingness to accept these
positions of responsibility in the
Diocese and look forward with
enthusiasm to working with them.”
Donald Frew, the new Business
Manager, was born in Ware,
Massachusetts in 1935, attended local
elementary and high schools and
Worcester Junior College.
Frew served in the United States
Air Force for four years and his civilian
employment included 10 years with the
U.S. Post Office Department and with
Oglethorpe Properties, a Division of
Scott Hudgins Development
Corporation where he was
Vice-President in charge of Operations
(Financial and Physical). He was also
self-employed as a Building Contractor
specializing in re-modeling and Property
Management (maintenance, leasing, etc.)
While in government service, he
attended many training schools, such as
those giving instruction in engine
mechanics, heating and air-conditioning,
etc.
For the past year, Frew has served
as Properties Manager for the Diocese of
Savannah. A communicant of
Savannah’s Saint James Church for the
past 20 years, he is a Past Chairman of
St. James School Board. A member of
Savannah’s Holy Family Council No.
5588, Knights of Columbus, he is
married to the former Clare Duloherty.
The couple have five children - four
daughters and a son. Frew just recently
passed the State Board Examination and
is a licensed realtor.
Mary Kay Persse is an Associate
Retirement, Reassignments
Miss Kitty McKenzie, Business Manager for THE SOUTHERN CROSS, retired on
August 1st. Miss McKenzie had been an employee of the Diocese of Savannah for
fifteen years.
A life-long member of Savannah’s Cathedral Parish, Miss McKenzie is widely
known throughout the city for her work as a Member of the Legion of Mary. She is
perhaps equally well-known to countless Catholics throughout the large territory of
the diocese who came in contact with her in her post at the newspaper.
Miss McKenzie was honored for her service to the Diocese by Bishop Raymond W.
Lessard and Chancery Staff members at a buffet luncheon the day her retirement
became effective.
Father Gerard A. Murphy, Comptroller of the Diocese, relinquished his post
August 1st and Father John A. Kenneally, Chancellor of the Diocese, will leave his
post shortly. Father Murphy will be returning to Ireland for a year of advanced
theological study and Father Kenneally has been assigned to St. Teresa’s Parish in
Albany.
Sister Mary James McDonald, C.S.J., who has served as Assistant at the Diocesan
Tribunal for the past year, has been transferred to St. Louis Missouri where she will
assume a teaching assignment at the beginning of the school year.
Coordinator of Religious Education,
serving with the Diocesan Department
of Christian Formation. She is well
known to many Catholics in the Diocese
through her work in this capacity, as
well as her service with the Savannah
Diocesan Council of Catholic Women.
She has served as President of the
DCCW, as well as Chairman of the
Family Affairs Commission for the
National Council of Catholic Women.
On the local level she has held the
position of President and Family Affairs
Chairman for the Savannah Deanery
Council of Catholic Women.
Mary Kay is active in the local
school community in Savannah, having
taken leading roles in the Home and
School Association at the elementary
and high school level. She has also
served on the School Board at Sacred
Heart, and on Sacred Heart’s Parish
Council.
Last summer, she served on the
faculty at Arlington, Virginia, at a
Conference on Natural Family Planning
for Diocesan Personnel, sponsored by
the Human Life Foundation and the
National Family Planning Federation.
A graduate in Liberal Arts from
Mercy hurst College, Erie, Pennsylvania,
Mary Kay is married to Dr. J. Harry
Persse, Chairman of the Fine Arts
Department at Armstrong State College
in Savannah. She is the mother of six
(Continued on page 6)
Donald W. Frew
Mrs. J. Harry Persse
Sister Mary Laurent Duggan, C.S.J.