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PAGE 3 — The Southern Cross, September 19, 1985
Mission Co-op
Five Mission Groups To Visit Diocese
The annual Mission Cooperative Collec
tion will be taken-up in all churches of the
Diocese of Savannah this weekend.
Members of five mission groups will visit a
number of parishes in South Georgia to br
ig the message of their work and ask a
sacrificial gift to help them continue and
expand their activities.
South Africa, scene of recent riots and
violence, as crowds protest the apartheid
system, is one of the countries served by
Oblate Missionaries of St. Francis De
Sales, who have been working in the
Diocese of Keimos, in the western part of
the nation, since 1882.
Representatives of this Missionary
Order will be among the visitors to the
Diocese of Savannah the weekend of
September 21-22, for the Missionary
Cooperative program which is organized
annually here.
Fr. Joseph C. Gontel, OSFS, will visit St.
Mary on the Hill Parish, Augusta. Fr. Ed
ward T. Fitzpatrick, OSFS will be the
peaker at St. Joseph’s, Augusta, and Fr.
Robert J. Hermley, OSFS, will speak at St.
Teresa Church, Augusta.
The African diocese served by the
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales is a semi-
desert area, bordered on the West by the
Atlantic and on the north by Namibia and
Bechuanaland. Roads are of poor quality,
and rainfall sparse. The greater number of
the people are of mixed descent, and have
adopted European standards. A good
number are teachers in their own schools,
md some are tradespeople. The majority
are servants or laborers, or workers in the
copper mines.
There is one hospital in the Diocese.
Redemptorist
Fathers
o And Brothers
The Congregation of the Most Holy
Redeemer — Redemptorists were founded
in Italy by St. Alphonsus de Liguori in 1732.
They are a Missionary Congregation of
Priests and Religious Brothers who
dedicate their time and lives to bringing
the good news of salvation to the poor and
most abandoned in the world.
Two Redemptorists will be in the diocese
*his week-end to tell about their work,
ihey have roughly about 100 American
and native priests working at present in
South America and another 100 American
and native priests working in the Islands.
Your donation will be applied to the sup
port of missions in Brazil, Paraguay, The
Virgin Islands, The Dominican Republic
and the poor interior areas of Puerto Rico.
Rev. Raymond McCarthy, C.SS.R. was
born and raised in Boston, MA. After he
was ordained, he went to South America
W: . ''here he worked for a little over 20 years.
Then he was named Procurator in NYC,
where he has spent the last 17 years in the
Provincial Residence, first as assistant
Procurator and then for the last 10 years
as Procurator. He worked in Mato Grosso
Brazil and Parana Brazil in several city
parishes and on the Missions there.
Rev. John F.X. O’Connor, C.SS.R. was
born and raised in Newark, N.J. After he
was ordained, he went to South America
where he worked for a little over 21 years
Mato Grosso and Parana, Brazil. In
1977, eight years ago this August, he was
brought back to the U.S. as Assistant Pro
curator.
The following parishes will host
representatives:
OBLATES: St. Mary on the Hill Church,
Augusta; St. Teresa of Avila Church,
Augusta; St. Joseph Church, Augusta.
FRANCISCANS: St. Teresa Church,
Albany; Holy Family Church, Columbus;
St. Anne Church, Columbus.
SANTA CRUZ: St. William Church, St.
Simons Islands; Cathedral of St. John the
Baptist, Savannah; St. Francis Xavier
Church, Brunswick.
REDEMPTORISTS: Blessed Sacra
ment, Savannah; St. Matthew Church,
Statesboro; St. Frances Cabrini Church,
Savannah.
MARYKNOLL: Sacred Heart Church,
Warner Robins; St. Joseph Church,
Macon; St. Peter Claver Church, Macon.
In churches which will not have a mis
sionary representative, pastors are en
couraged to address a missionary theme in
their homily or use other means to in
crease awareness of missionary work.
The Missionary Cooperative Plan pro
vides that funds collected during the
weekend are divided equally among the
participating religious communities.
Rev. Raymond McCarthy,
C.SS.R.
economic development and the message of
Christianity.
The Santa Cruz Mission:
—Operates seven community based
schools for tribal children.
—Focuses concentrated attention on
more than 3,000 children in the child
development program.
J. Jerome Mansmann
Rev. Sereno Balardi,
O.F.M.
Franciscans
At Home
And Abroad
The Franciscans will visit in the diocese
at three churches on Mission Cooperative
Weekend September 21-22
The Franciscans work in the home mis
sions among the Navajo Indians in
Arizona. They operate a Job Corps and a
five-day-a-week cafe that employs Native
Americans. Also at the restaurant the very
poor are fed quietly and with dignity. In
the evening the restaurant is converted in
to a roller skating rink for the children on
the Reservation.
Working throughout the world the Fran
ciscans tend to the needs of the poor in
such activities as their missions in
Kayongozi, Burundi where they tend for
over 200 leper families and at Sacred
Heart Leper’s Village in Korea.
They built a church for the poor in Cebu
City in the Philippines and they help feed
and shelter the little pygmies of the
African bush country.
Mindanao
—Operates a fully accredited clinic and
hospital which treats an average of 50 pa
tients a day.
—Its family development program
trains tribal families to plant and rotate
crops to prevent soil erosion and to plan for
their eventual self sufficiency.
The mission is of special interest to the
Mansmann family since Father Rex has
been its director for so many years.
Denis Mansmann is a therapist in Fami
ly and Relationship Counseling. He is an
experienced speaker who gives people a
layman’s viewpoint of the mission.
J. Jerome Mansmann, an attorney, has
worked with the mission for over twenty
years and helps his brother with legal deci
sions and is a speaker on behalf of Santa
Cruz.
Joanne T. Mansmann, a former school
teacher and legal assistant, since visiting
the mission in 1984 has worked exclusively
for the support of the Santa Cruz Mission.
She is the Executive Director of Santa
Cruz, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA., a non-profit
organization founded for the support of the
Mission.
She feels “Santa Cruz is a success story
of people reaching out across the world to
help others become the best they can
become.” “It’s a story that needs to be
told,” she says.
Oblates Of St. Francis De Sales
There are 16 orphanages, several voca
tional schools for girls, 28 primary grade
schools, one high school and a noviciate,
run by the Oblate Sisters.
The Congregation, founded by Father
Louis Brisson are primarily educators,
first established in France and later in
other countries. Oblate priests serve in
several dioceses in the United States and
in various branches of the U.S. armed
forces. Their work in Southwest Africa is
one of their most important tasks.
Rev. John F.X. O’Connor,
C.SS.R.
The Santa Cruz Mission Of
The Santa Cruz Mission serves the needs
of tribes on the island of Mindanao, the
Philippines. It began in 1960 and since 1962
has been under the direction of Father Rex
Mansmann, C.P. Priests of the Passionist
Order, assisted by lay missionaries and
Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres, provide
comprehensive education, health care,
Joanne T.Mansmann
and Mission Child