Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4 — The Southern Cross, May 24,1990
My Two Mothers
BY FR. JOHN CUDDY
Pastor, St. Joseph’s - Macon
May is a particularly beautiful month. Here in Georgia it
convinces us that summer has finally arrived. April, on the
other hand, is an unpredictale month. We have warm, even
hot days in April, but cool, even chilly days as well. But
May is consistently warm, yet not oppressively hot like
June or especially July and August.
I’m glad that May celebrates, at least in our country, our
mothers. I suspect most of us don’t realize how much we
take our mothers and their love for granted until we grow
up and no longer have them along side us. Mothers are like
May. They are consistently warm and loving! I know my
mother wag! And I thank God for her during every month of
May. My mother went home to the Lord in 1966, almost 25
years ago. I was only 38 at the time. I still miss her and her
gentle, comforting, self-sacrificing love.
I was ordained a Catholic priest in May, 1953 — 25 years
after I was baptized into the Holy Trinity in May, 1928. My
mother was there, of course, on both wonderful moments.
For some reason, I view both my birth as a human being
and my ordination as a priest as equally determining what
and who I would be for the rest of my life. I am a human be
ing, not a kangaroo or a baboon or an ant. I am also a priest.
I thank God for both gifts that could come only from His
hands! I just cannot even imagine myself as a kangaroo
(though it would be great fun to hop around like one). And I
cannot imagine myself not being a priest.
Since I became a priest, I have observed thousands of
mothers. I’m delighted to report that the vast majority
have been loving and self-sacrificing, like the Mother of the
Lord Jesus. But I still am amazed at each mother’s pa
tience, alert concern, her willingness to sacrifice time, and
sleep, and prior plans, and privacy for her child’s constant
demands. Her child depends on her for everything. She
knows that and she responds accordingly, not always
joyfully, I know, but always.
Because I had a mother who loved me and my two
brothers (she bore us in 1927, 1928, and 1929! Wow!), I can
not understand mothers who hurt their children or allow
their partners to hurt them. I can understand how helpless
and out-of-control mothers can feel in a family oppressed
by a man who abuses both his wife and children. (Once in
Savannah, I counselled a young man whose father had shot
him in the leg when he was only 7 years old when he tried to
stop his father from strangling his mother!) Children must
understand that often their mothers are physically or
psychologically helpless in a family with a violent, abusive,
irresponsible father. My heart goes out not only to these
children, but also to their mothers. And I pray for the men
who are driven to be so cruel. I have known so many loving
husbands and fathers. I thank God for them!
In the Catholic Church we have dedicated May to the
ideal Mother, the mother of the Lord (Luke 1:43), or, as we
call her daily, the “Mother of God.” We reflect on how the
Lord God (YHWH) called her in Nazareth, through the
Archangel Gabriel, to become the mother of His Son. Her
reply, after several questions (her questions indicate how
independent a woman Mary really was) was thrillingly
positive. She said “Yes” by saying “Behold God’s servant!
Be it done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) And
God, at the moment, became a tiny baby within her! She
was now a mother. She knew it, even though still a young
teenager. And she rushed to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth,
100 miles away in En Kerem, on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Gabriel had told her that this old woman was also pregnant
with the child who would become known as St. John the
Baptist — six months pregnant in fact. I have been deeply
moved as I prayed in Nazareth where Mary conceived
Jesus, in En Kerem, where Elizabeth proclaimed her faith
in Him, and in Bethlehem, where Mary gave birth to the
Son of God.
Since we are all, through faith, the brothers and sisters of
the Lord Jesus, we are, thereby, His mother s sons and
daughters, spiritually. When we talk to the Lord Jesus in
prayer, we say “hello to her.” And we ask her to pray with
us and pray for us, just as we would ask any close friend to
pray with us and for us. Mary is the mother of our dearest
friend, Jesus Himself!
Perhaps I should emphasize that Catholics do not worship
Mary as God instead of Christ or with Christ. That would be
idolotry. Mary was as human as you and me. I wonder why
some of our critics say that we worship Mary as God and
why they say we do not pray directly to God. We do not go
through Mary to God. We go with Mary to God. I know I do
daily! And I know that in the Catholic Church we worship
only God as God! I pray directly to the Lord God throughout
every day, but especially when I celebrate Holy Mass each
day. So do most Catholics daily, as they pray the Lord’s
Prayer.
On Mount Calvary as He hung on His cross, dying for us,
the Lord Jesus saw His mother next to the cross. And next
to her was St. John, the “beloved disciple.” When He saw
them together, He said so movingly to St. John “Behold
your mother.” (John 19:27) And St. John recalls in the
same passage that “From that moment the disciple took
her into his house.” The concern of the Lord Jesus for His
mother’s welfare after His death shows that she had no
other children after she bore Him. Otherwise, they would
have been obligated by the Jewish Law to care for her. In
stead, He felt an urgent need to give her as “mother” to His
beloved disciple. Through St. John, the Lord Jesus has
given her to you and me, too. It feels good to have two
mothers — my mother, Celia who bore me, and my mother
Mary, who bore Him! I praise Him!
Father Cuddy writes a regular column for the Macon
Telegraph. It is reprinted from that publicaiton.
BY IVAN I. KAUFFMAN
Northern
Ireland Needs Democracy Too
“The people of Northern Ireland, Catholic and Pro
testant, are peace-loving. If it was just a matter of
forgiveness and love, the conflicts would have been
resolved a long time ago.’’
- Bishop Dermont O’Mahoney
Irish Commission for Justice and Peace
As the winds of democracy blow across Europe this
spring it’s easy to forget that they have yet to reach Nor
thern Ireland.
We’re thrilled to see the walls which have divided
Eastern Europe coming down. But while these changes are
taking place in the former Communist bloc, on the other
side of Europe things remain as they have been since the
early 1920’s. That’s when the British, who occupied Ireland
for centuries, divided it into two parts.
Southern Ireland was given its independence and became
a sovereign state. But Northern Ireland stayed in the
British Empire, and eventually became part of Great Bri
tain itself.
Northern Ireland is home to Ireland’s Protestant minori
ty. These are largely the descendants of immigrants from
Scotland who settled in Ireland during the British occupa
tion.
When Ireland was divided Protestants in Norhtern
Ireland established an economic and political system in
which Catholics were second-class citizens. Catholics were
expected to do menial work at low wages. And Catholics
were excluded from any voice in their government.
The result is a situation which has often been compared to
apartheid in South Africa.
Bishop James C. Timlin of Scranton, Pa. describes the
7 lie Southern Cross
(USPS 505 680)
Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, D.D., President
John E. Markwalter, Editor
POSTMASTER: Send Change of Address to 601 E. 6th St.,
Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Send News Items to 601 E. 6th St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
DEADLINE All material for publication must be received by
MONDAY NOON for Thursday’s paper
Subscription Price $12 Per Year
Business Office 601 E. Liberty St., Savannah, Ga. 31401
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Published weekly except the second and last weeks
In June, July and August and the last week in December
At 601 E. Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
economic impact of the system this way: “Unemployment
in that war-torn part of the worls is a staggering 22 percent,
but in some areas where the population is predominately
Catholic the figure rises to an incredible 80 percent. When
45 percent of young Catholic men between the ages of 18 and
25 are unemployed some sort of violence is inevitable.”
What can American Catholics do to help our fellow
Catholics in Northern Ireland? Bishop Timlin believes we
should support what are called the MacBride Principles
These principles are designed to put U.S. economic
pressure behind the move for change in Northern Ireland,
in the same way the U.S. economic boycott helped bring
about change in South Africa. They are named after the
Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Amnesty Interna
tional.
Put simply the MacBride Principles require U.S. com
panies doing business in Northern Ireland to quit
discriminating against Catholics. If they don’t they can’t
import items made in their northern Ireland lactones into
the U.S. Furthermore state pension funds would be pro
hibited from investing in their stocks.
Twelve states have already enacted the MacBride Prin
ciples into law, and in another 20 states legislation is
pending. About 100 members of Congress have co-
World Mission Sunday, the day on which a collection is
taken up for the benefit of mission churches around the
world, will be observed June 3 in parishes in the Diocese of
Savannah.
A day “dedicated to prayer, catechesis and the collection
of funds to help the Missions,” World Mission Sunday
“reminds the whole Church of the duty to go out to all the
world to announce the Gospel,” said Pope John Paul II in his
message for this year’s observance.
The collection taken on World Mission Sunday (and at the
Saturday vigil Masses) is gathered under the aegis of the
sponsored national legislation based on the MacBride Prin
ciples.
There are about 40 major U.S. corporations doing
business in Northern Ireland. One of them is Ford Motor
Co. Its plant is located in a neighborhood where the popula
tion is 80 percent Catholic, yet not a single clerical worker
or secretary is Catholic, according to the Irish National
Caucus.
What’s needed to move the MacBride principles forward
is greater public support, says Rev. Sean MacManus, na
tional director of the Irish National Caucus, the
Washington-based human rights organization which
originated the MacBride Principles
There are an estimated 40 million Americans of Irish
ancestry. If they were to get involved on this issue it would
have a major impact he points out
But Northern Ireland doesn t just concern people whose
ancestors came from Ireland, It’s a human rights issue,
and that means it affects everyone who is human.
Surely, as the human rights violations in Eastern Europe
come to an end, a way can be found to end the human rights
violations in Northern Ireland—in the heart of the free
world.
Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Through the Society,
51 per cent of the collection is given to the poorest faith com
munities of the developing world. The money provides for the
missionary and pastoral work of the local churches of Asia,
Africa, parts of Latin America and the Pacific Islands.
Of the balance of the proceeds, 40 per cent is for mis
sionary work in needy areas of the U.S. through the American
Board of Catholic Missions, and nine percent is for the work
of the Church in the Middle East through the Catholic Near
Past Welfare Association.
The Society for
Jthe propagation of the faith
.. .all of us committed to the worldwide mission of Jesus
Propagation Of Faith Collection - June 3