Newspaper Page Text
Newspaper Of The Diocese Of Savannah
Vol. 65 No. 33 Thursday, September 26, 1985 Per Year
Mexico City Hardest Hit
Churches Reach Out To Aid Quake Victims
BY NC NEWS SERIVCE
In Ciudad Guzman, Mexico, people made
homeless by the massive earthquakes
which rocked their country prayed at a
homemade statue of St. Peter Sept. 22 then
ate a breakfast provided by the Catholic
Church and the Mexican government.
The city’s cathedral was in ruins after it
collapsed during the first quake Sept. 19
killing 30 worshipers and injuring 360 at an
early morning Mass. It was the second
time a cathedral on that spot had been top
pled by an earthquake. The first time was
in 1906.
Bishop Serafin Vasquez of Ciudad Guz
man, who was six blocks away when the
Cathedral collapsed, said of the event:
“This pain is too deep, I cannot explain it.
Oh, God.”
In Mexico City, where the death and
damage was heaviest, health authorities
were pressuring the government to begin
burying dead. Many citizens were
reported to fear that their deceased
relatives and friends would be interred or
cremated without a proper Catholic
ceremony.
Official reports place the death toll in
Mexico City at 2,000 and said it could go as
high as 5,000. U.S. Ambassador John
Gavin estimated the figure to be as high as
10,000. He said it could possibly be 20,000
after much of the rubble was cleared.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City
reported five Americans dead. The em
bassy estimated that there were 4,500
tourists and 138,000 U.S. citizens living in
the Mexico City area at the time of the
earthquake.
The second quake hit the cith Sept. 20.
While Mexico began recovering from the
tremors which destroyed large sections of
Mexico City, relief efforts were underway
in the United States from a variety of
sources.
For instance, over the Sept. 21-22
weekend, the Diocese of Phoenix, Ariz.,
held special Mass collections to raise
money to aid victims of the quake.
Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien of Phoenix
expressed sympathy for the Mexican peo
ple. He especially sympathized with
“those in our diocese who have relatives or
friends in the affected area.”
Bishop O’Brien said the proceeds of the
collection would be turned over to Catholic
Relief Services. In the Denver arch
diocese, the Catholic Church was receiving
supplies for the earthquake victims and
planned to airlift them to Mexico.
Mayor Henry Cisneros of San Antonio,
Texas, sent a delegation to Mexico to
assess the damage.
The southwestern United States has a
large Hispanic population with historical
and kinship ties to Mexico.
A spokeswoman for the Mexican Em
bassy in Washington, Pilar Franzony, said
that the Mexican government was sending
inspectors to check the structural sound
ness of cathedrals in earthquake-stricken
areas to ensure their safety as many of the
homeless flock to the churches. Cathedrals
in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero were
reported to have collapsed.
International relief was estimated to
total $2 billion. The International
Development Bank was reported to have
made $800 million available in emergency
loans to Mexico while the International
Monetary Fund was said to be ready to ex
tend $400 million in emergency credit.
Pope John Paul II expressed his
“profound sorrow” Sept. 20 for the victims
of the severe earthquake which struck
Mexico the previous day, while U.S. and
Canadian Catholic agencies began dis
patching aid to the country.
In Los Angeles, Archbishop Roger
Mahony sent $100,000 in relief aid to Car
dinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada of Mex
ico City.
The New York-based Catholic Relief
Services announced Sept. 20 It would pro
vide $50,000 in emergency relief and send a
team to Mexico to determine what further
assistance is needed.
In Toronto, Development and Peace, the
Canadian Catholic overseas development
organization, sent $30,000 in emergency
funds to Caritas Mexico, Mexico’s Catholic
relief agency. The aid followed an appeal
from the Mexican bishops’ conference,
Development and Peace officials said.
The pope sent his telegram to Arch
bishop Sergio Obeso Rivera of Jalapa,
Mexico, president of the Mexican bishops’
conference. He also offered his prayers for
the deceased and his condolences to their
families and to all those affected by the
earthquake, the most serious to strike
Mexico in this century. Sept. 22 he also ap
pealed for an outpouring of humanitarian
aid to the victims of the earthquake.
Archbishop Mahony asked pastors to
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PRAYS FOR FRIEND — Outside a Mexico City building destroyed
by the earthquake, a woman prays for a friend who was feared dead.
(NC Photo from UPI-Reuter)
Cardinals Will Meet Before November Synod
BY JOHN THAVIS
VATICAN CITY (NC) — Pope John Paul
II has called a meeting of the world’s car
dinals at the Vatican Nov. 21-23, only the
third such session in modern church
history, the Vatican announced Sept. 19.
A Vatican spokesman would not say
what issues the cardinals would discuss,
but past meetings have focused on curial
reform and Vatican finances. Pope John
Paul initiated the plenary assemblies to
obtain the advice of the cardinals on im
portant church topics.
Most of the church’s 152 cardinals are
expected to attend the meeting, which will
take place just before the start of the Nov.
25-Dec. 8 extraordinary Synod of Bishops
called by the pope to discuss the results of
the Second Vatican Council.
The news of the plenary session was
reported in the French newspaper Le
Figaro the day before the Vatican an
nouncement. The newspaper said the
meeting would focus on the long-awaited
reform of the Roman Curia, the church’s
administrative organization.
A report in the newspaper, independent
ly confirmed by National Catholic News
Service, said a detailed questionnaire on
proposed changes in the structure of the
Curia has been sent to the world’s bishops.
The newspaper said the questionnaires
were to be returned in October.
In 1983 the Pope appointed a special
commission to draw up the changes. The
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New Savannah Dean
Bishop Raymond W. Lessard has announced the appointment of Reverend
Patrick Shinnick as Vicar Forane (Dean) of the Savannah Deanery effective
September 1 for a term of three years. He takes the place of Reverend Michael
Smith.