Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross
Newspaper Of The Diocese Of Savannah
Vol. 67 No. 18 Thursday, April 30, 1987 $10 Per Year
o 1987 "Catholic Woman Of The Year" Named
BY JOAN SWANBERG
Father Thomas Peyton, D.C.C.W. Moderator, presented Ceil Fitzpatrick as the
S.D.C.C.W. “Woman of the Year,” at the 48th annual convention of the Savannah
Diocesan Council of Catholic Women in Augusta April 25. Mrs. Fitzpatrick, a member of
Blessed Sacrament Parish in Savannah, has been associated with the S.D.C.C.W. for 30
years. She has attended 27 diocesan conventions and 4 national conventions.
Described as a quiet, behind the scenes person, Mrs. Fitzpatrick’s compassion and
commitment to the poor were highlighted by Father Peyton, as was her service to the
Council of Catholic Women as parish and deanery president.
Diocesan Moderator Father Peyton said it was difficult picking from the 27 nominees a
Detailed Convention Coverage
In Next Week's Paper
woman who best mirrored the image of this year’s convention theme, “Women of
Faith...A Light for the World.”
As she accepted her award, Mrs. Fitzpatrick remarked, “I’ve enjoyed every minute of
it these 30 years. If I could write a book I would!”
Ceil Fitzpatrick becomes the seventh woman to be honored by the S.D.C.C.W. with the
award for “Catholic Woman of the Year.”
Bishop Raymond Lessard presenting Mrs. Ceil Fitzpatrick with
placque designating her S.D.C.C.W. “Woman of the Year: 1987.” Mrs.
Nora McCoy, D.C.C.W. President (r) look on. (Rogers Studio Photo)
Pentecost '87
Join The Celebration
Catholics in two areas in the Diocese of
Savannah will take part in “Pentecost
’87,” the national satellite celebration
sponsored by the Paulist National Catholic
Evangelization Association.
Groups will gather at Blessed Sacra
ment School, Savannah, and at Holy Spirit
Church, Macon, to take part in the seven-
hour media event, which is planned for
Saturday, June 6.
The event is expected to bring together
over 60,000 Catholics in more than 200
sites across the nation that day. Meeting in
auditoriums, hotel meeting rooms, parish
and school facilities, they will be linked by
satellite to celebrate contemporary
Catholic evangelization.
In announcing the event early this year,
Paulist Father Alvin Illig said, “The pur
pose is to inspire, to motivate and to train
Catholics so that they will want to share
their faith with their friends, relatives and
neighbors.”
The broadcast schedule will provide
time for talks and panel presentations,
prayer services, readings, films and
dialogue via an interactive phone number.
(Continued on page 8)
U
Carmelites Celebrate Century Of Contemplation
Sister Magdalen and Sister Teresa
BY GILLIAN BROWN
A total of one hundred years of con
templative life was celebrated last Sun
day, as two Carmelite Sisters marked
Golden Anniversaries.
“That’s a century, and that in itself is
awesome,” Father Patrick Shinnick
remarked in his homily at the Anniversary
Mass.
“But the best is yet to come,” he told the
friends who gathered at the Carmelite
Priory in Coffee Bluff to honor Sr.
Magdalen McCann and Sr. Teresa Shields.
Our society tends to judge people by
what they do and what they possess, Fr.
Shinnick said. In contrast, the con
templative life can be seen as “time
wasted with the Lord.”
“What we have in effect is a hundred
years of wasted time. And that’s wonder
ful.”
Like Simone Weil, the French Jewish
mystic, the Carmelites are “waiting for
God,” Fr. Shinnick said. “It is God who
seeks man....God is always following,
always seeking us out. If we are not recep
tive, he can’t get in, so to speak. If our life
is full of frantic activity, there is no room
for God.”
In “a century of contemplation” the
Sisters had remained receptive, he said.
The two Golden Jubilarians renewed
their vows during the Liturgy. Father
Meinrad Lawson, O.S.B. was the Principal
Celebrant at the Jubilee Mass, with priests
from the Benedictine Priory and Father
Douglas Clark, Pastor of St. Anne’s
Church, Richmond Hill. Jan Dobson was
soloist in songs sung at the Presentation of
Gifts and after Communion, with Patti
Schreck at the organ.