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Pope’s First Encyclical Strongly Condemns Arms Race
BY NC NEWS SERVICE
Pope John Paul II strongly
condemned the arms race and asked for
sweeping changes in the world’s social,
political and economic life in his first
encyclical.
Titled “Redemptor Hominis”
(Redeemer of Man), the encyclical also
criticized “consumer civilization” and
totalitarian regimes restricting religious
freedom. It strongly defended human
rights, asking states to pay more
attention to applying human rights
rather than talking about them.
“Do not kill! Do not prepare
destruction and extermination for
men!” said the encyclical.
Money used to develop and purdhase
arms should be diverted to increase food
production and provide other services
needed by people, said the pope.
“We all know well that the areas of
misery and hunger on our globe could
have been made fertile in a short time, if
the gigantic investments for armaments
at the service of war and destruction
had been changed into investments for
food at the service of life,” said the
encyclical.
It criticized developed countries for
providing arms “in abundance” to
newly independent states “instead of
bread and cultural aid.”
Pope John Paul’s encyclical said
church stands on social issues are based
on Christ’s redemption which makes the
church the guardian of the human
dignity of each person.
Each individual “precisely on account
of the redemption is entrusted to the
solicitude of .the church,” it said. “We
are dealing with ‘each’ man, for each
one is included in the mystery of
redemption.”
Because of this, the church must
speak to the specific problems of each
concrete human being, said the
encyclical.
The encyclical is dated March 4, but
the Vatican scheduled the release date
for March 15. The encyclical also
discusses internal church issues, stressing
the need for unity based on the
teachings of Vatican II.
This unity “springs” from
collegiality, said the encyclical, which
praised efforts to increase collegiality
through new organizations of bishops,
priests and laymen.
Regarding restrictions on religious
freedom, the encyclical alludes to
communist governments, but does not
mention them by name. It defends
religious freedom as being essential to
the dignity of man.
‘purely human’ point of view, to accept
a position that gives only atheism the
right of citizenship in public and social
life, while believers are, as though by
principle, barely tolerated or are treated
as second class citizens or are even -- and
this has already happened - entirely
deprived of the rights of citizenship,”
said the encyclical of the first pope to
come from a country under communist
rule.
The encyclical also critized the
consumer society for fostering
materialism and causing a lot of the
sharp contrasts in the world between
the rich and the poor.
“Indeed everyone is familiar with the
picture of the consumer civilization,
which consists in a surplus of goods
necessary for man and for entire
societies -- and we are dealing precisely
with the rich highly developed societies
-- while the remaining societies -- at least
broad sectors of them -- are suffering
from hunger, with many people dying
each day of starvation and
malnutrition,” said the encyclical.
“So widespread is the phenomenon
that brings into question the financial,
monetary, production and commercial
mechanisms that, resting on various
political pressures, support the world
economy,” it said.
“These are proving incapable either
of remedying the unjust social situations
inherited from the past or of dealing
with the urgent challenges and ethical
demands of the present,” it added.
“The drama is made still worse by the
presence close at hand of the privileged
social classes and of the rich countries,
which accumulate goods to an excessive
degree and the misuse of whose riches
very often become the cause of various
ills,” it said.
“Man cannot relinquish himself or
the place in the visible world that
belongs to him; he cannot become the
slave of things, the slave of economic
systems, the slave of production, the
slave of his own products,” added the
encyclical.
The situation “requires daring
creative resolves in keeping with man’s
authentic dignity,” said the encyclical.
In reading “the signs of the times,”
the encyclical said advances in science
and technology are causing
contemporary man to become afraid of
his own work because of the destructive
power that can be unleased.
“He is afraid that it can become the
means and instrument for an
unimaginable self-destruction, compared
with which all the cataclysms and
catastrophies of history known to us
seem to fade,” said the encyclical.
This is alienating man from his own
creative works, said the document.
“At the same time, exploitation of
the earth not only for industrial, but
also for military purposes and the
uncontrolled development of
technology outside the framework of a
long-range authentically humanistic plan
often bring with them a threat to man’s
natural environment, alienate him in his
relations with nature and remove him
from nature,” added the encyclical.
“It was the Creator’s will that man
should communicate with nature as an
intelligent and noble ‘master’ and
‘guardian,’ and not as a heedless
‘exploiter’ and ‘destroyer,’” it said.
The moral question that must be
asked in assessing scientific and
technological advances is do these
“accord with man’s moral and spiritual
(Continued on page 2)
“It is therefore difficult, even from a
TEXT BEGINS ON PAGE 6
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 60 No. 12 Form 3579 To: 601 E. 6th St. Waynesboro, Ga. 30830 Thursday, March 22,1979 0 Single Copy Price 15 Cents
New Marriage Guidelines Announced For Diocese
NEW MARRIAGE GUIDELINES have been issued
by the Diocese of Savannah. This picture was taken at
the Florence Kenny - Johnny Groover Wedding
(September 16, 1978) at Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist, Savannah. (Pollack & Daly Photo)
IRISH JIG OR THE BOOGALOO? ? Father James
Costigan, Moderator of the Savannah Deanery CCW,
“cuts a rug” (left) with one of the guests at Savannah
St. Patrick’s Day Party for Senior Citizens.
Couple (right) participate in celebrations at what
everyone agreed was the best and biggest party yet.
Additional pictures of the March 10 celebration will be
found on page 8. (Photos by Jim Dunigan, Jr.)
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BY GILL BROWN
In response to the rising divorce rate
and the many pressures that are brought
to bear on married couples today, the
Diocese of Savannah has developed a
new set of Marriage Guidelines which
will go into effect on June 1st this year.
The Guidelines will fill a need for
assistance in understanding the full
meaning of Christian marriage and the
many responsibilities involved. They
make provision for a careful preparation
period, in the hope of building lasting
marriages, in which the traditional
values of commitment, loyalty and
faithfulness receive special emphasis.
The need for new Guidelines surfaced
some years ago, when an Ad Hoc
Committee was set up by the Senate of
Priests to seek input from all the priests
of the Diocese. After much discussion
and sharing of pastoral experience, the
Guidelines were drafted and approved
by the Senate. Copies were sent to all
parishes. A series of workshops is being
held throughout the Diocese, at which
the Guidelines are introduced to pastors
and parish personnel by Father Frank
Nelson of the Diocesan Tribunal and
Mrs. Mary Kay Persse, Family Life
Director.
According to the new Marriage
Preparation procedure, a couple wishing
to be married is expected to notify the
parish priest at least four months ahead
of time. The priest will assist the couple
to prepare, making use of a Marriage
Preparation program which suits the
needs of the parish and the engaged
couple. All programs used will include
reflection on the nature and
sacramentality of marriage, married love
and faniil> life, Giants; responsibilities,
and other practical considerations.
The Guidelines provide a reference on
readiness for marriage, the age of the
engaged couple, validation of marriages,
and procedures for exceptions to the
rule.
Bishop Raymond Lessard introduces
the Guidelines with a letter published in
this week’s SOUTHERN CROSS. Next
week’s issue will include the complete
text.
of j^abatmalr
OFFICE OF THE BISHOP
My dear friends in Christ,
One of the more urgent and well-known areas of crisis in
our world today is marriage and the family. The Church
cannot remain indifferent to these acute problems, but
must speak out in defense of these basic institutions of
society and do all that is posable to protect and defend
their sacredness and integrity.
It is out of this deep concern and a strong desire to assist
couples in preparing properly and adequately for marriage
that a set of guidelines has been adopted for the Diocese of
Savannah. These guidelines, entitled “Marriage in the
Church”, are the result of extensive consultation and study
over a period of several years. They have been approved by
me and will become effective throughout the Diocese on
June 1 of this year.
A core requirement of the guidelines is that “a couple
desiring to be married is expected to notify the parish priest
at least FOUR MONTHS prior to the proposed date of their
wedding.” This notification is designed to assure adequate
# 235 ABBBCOBN STREET
POST OFFICE BOX 8789
SAVANNAH. OEOROIA 81402
time for a fitting spiritual preparation for the celebration of
the sacrament. Other areas covered in the guidelines include
suggested programs of marriage preparation, reasons for
delaying a marriage, the marriage of minors, the case of a
pregnancy before marriage, the validation of marriages, the
place and manner of celebrating the sacrament of marriage.
The complete text of the guidelines will appear soon in
our diocesan newspaper, THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
I urgently ask all of you, but especially the priests, young
couples and their families, to become familiar with these
new diocesan regulations and to cooperate fully in their
effective use and implementation.
Devotedly yours in Christ,
Raymond W. Lessard
Bishop of Savannah
J. P. Houlihan, Jr., Finance Chairman, Dies
James P. Houlihan Jr., prominent
Savannah attorney and Chairman of the
Finance Board of the Diocese of
Savannah, died Monday night, March
19, following a long illness.
Father J. Kevin Boland was the
principal concelebrant of Mass for Mr.
Houlihan held Wednesday, March 21, at
Savannah’s Church of the Most Blessed
Sacrament. Bishop Raymond W.
Lessard, Bishop of the Diocese of
Savannah, presided at the Mass and gave
the absolution.
A native Savanahian, Mr. Houlihan
was the senior partner in the firm of
Hunter, Houlihan, Maclean, Exley,
Dunn and Conerat. He was a graduate of
Benedictine Military School,
Georgetown University and Harvard
Law School.
He was active in the civic life of the
area, having been president of the
Savannah Bar Association, the Health
and Hospital Planning Council, the
Bethesda and Savannah Children’s
Center, the Oglethorpe Club and the
Hibernian Society. For many years he
was a member of the board of St.
Joseph’s Hospital, serving as its
secretary.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Joan Egan
Houlihan and a daughter Miss Joan
Louise Houlihan both of Savannah.
James P. Houlihan, Jr.
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