Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 4 C3(Q)luTIUriOl^SiftSUTv'' Thursday, October 7,1999
D.C.C.W. Notes
Gleanings
By Jane Long
On Grief
his is a story about grief. There was a
young mother living in the British Isles
whose only child, a little girl of six years of
age, died. The mother was completely over
whelmed with sorrow. Each day she went to
visit her grave and place a fresh bouquet of
flowers on it. She could not bear to enter her
bedroom or see her playthings. She wept con
stantly and would think or talk of nothing else
but her irrevocable loss. This went on for
almost four years. Finally, after help could not
reach her from family or friends, from coun
selors or psychiatrists, it was determined that
she should visit a famous physician in Holland.
This wise man said outright: “Madam, your lit
tle girl has gone to heaven. You will not see her
again in this world. Get on with your life and
wait until the time in eternity when you will be
reunited with her. Ask for strength from the
One who gave life to both of you.”
This was the kind of advice she needed. She
then, with God’s help, began to face reality.
Now, this story of grief shows the depth to
which sorrow can be experienced and yet grief
is a strange phenomenon. Everyone knows it at
one time or another in the loss of a parent, a
child, a spouse, a friend, a business associate,
but the degree that one suffers varies greatly.
Also, grief has no time limit. One must simply
work through it, depending always on the good
Lord’s assistance and one’s own efforts.
Remember that to express grief over one’s
loss is natural and human, but it must neither
be locked up within oneself nor allowed to run
amuck.
It takes faith and it takes courage!
On Joy
n one of David Sisler’s newspaper articles,
he wrote, “Christian joy comes from
Christian living.”
How true this is, for true joy or a joyful out
look on life comes from being in tune with the
infinite.
This joy can and does exist in the midst of the
most trying and disappointing times. It helps one
to endure hardships and sorrows of every
description because it is a response to a confi
dence that God is at one’s side every step of the
way.
Writers have described it as something that
cannot be bought or sold, or given away to
another. Indeed, it is a profound emotion that is
within the very being of the person it inhabits.
As it alleviates anxieties and banishes dis
tress, it enables one to say with Paul, “It is not I
but Christ who liveth in me.”
On Priestly Vocations
hen will the lay people in the Diocese of
Savannah respond to a wake up call?
Surely, it is long past the hour to take seriously
the shortage of priests to minister to the 75,000
Catholics under the leadership of Bishop
Boland. Figures point out that the average age of
priests is 52 years, and that there are more retir
ing or dying than are entering the priesthood. At
(Continued on page 11)
A letter from Bishop Boland
October 1999
My dear friends in Christ,
rrihis is an exciting time for
1 the Catholic Church in
our Diocese of Savannah. We
have recently begun the
restoration of the Cathedral of
Saint John the Baptist, under- <£
taken the most successful
fundraising campaign in our history,
accepted the largest number of candidates
for the priesthood in memory and initiated
the challenging task of realigning the
parishes of the Savannah Deanery.
The Year 2000 will not only mark 2000
years of Christianity but will also mark
the 150 th anniversary of the establishment
of the Diocese of Savannah. Our diocesan
newspaper, The Southern Cross, will
carry news about the celebrations planned
on the diocesan, deanery and parish lev
els, in addition to providing ongoing cov
erage about the vibrant life of the Church
in south Georgia, the nation and the
world. In it you will find historical sketch-
+
es about the people and events
that have made us who we are,
reflections on Catholic family
life and religious education
materials for use in the home.
The Southern Cross is the pri
mary means for our local
Church to communicate with its
members. Please subscribe or
renew your subscription to this
special newspaper and please
consider giving a gift subscription to a
college student or other family member
away from home. For $15 you will
receive 45 issues of The Southern Cross,
putting you in regular touch with what is
going on in your Church in south Georgia
and around the world.
Don’t miss this chance to get in on the
excitement.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
J. Kevin Boland
Bishop of Savannah
601 E. Liberty St.
Savannah, GA
31401-5196
An evacuation tale
Dear Editor,
Everyone who evacuated
[the coastal counties] because
of Hurricane Floyd will say it
was an experience. So, not to
be left out, I would like to
write about my experience.
As my daughter, Mary, and I
were trying to force my hus
band, Ray, into the car — he
has Alzheimer’s disease — my
thoughts were on on my house
and my yard and what we
might come back to. However,
as we drove off, I began to
think about the poor people in
Kosovo and all the other peo
ple I read about in my Catholic
papers, who have to leave their
homes. I thought they didn’t
leave bumper-to-bumper. They
left elbow-to-elbow. As they
were suffering, they could see
all the other people suffering.
They could see the pain and
fatigue on the faces of others.
They knew some loved ones
had been killed and they feared
for their own lives. These
thoughts and my praying for
Letters
others made my trip not so
bad.
It wasn’t very easy, though.
Mary was having trouble in the
back seat trying to keep Ray’s
agitation down. I was afraid to
stop becuase of all the traffic
and so many people, but we all
needed to get out of the car. So
when I saw a sign (“Shelter in
Macon”), I figured it would be
a safe place to stop.
Ray is easy to manage when
he has a person holding each
arm, but we had to take turns
going to the bathroom, so he
was at his worst, pulling and
pushing. People all looked as
if they were afraid of him.
The Red Cross gave us
bananas, cheese crackers and
ice, so I was able to give Ray
his medicine with the bananas.
We had eaten sandwiches in
the car four hours earlier.
As we pulled away from the
shelter, I explained to Mary,
our slow learner, that we
couldn’t stop again. The
bananas and crackers would
have to be our supper. Food is
FAX: (912) 238-2339
E-mail:
DClark5735 @ aoi.com
Mary’s greatest joy, so I
expected a complaint, but she
said, “Well, we could say a
Rosary.” We did and, although
Ray never fell asleep, the
sound of the Rosary seemed to
calm him.
We made it to our daughter’s
house in nine hours. Ann and
Pat live in Roswell. By that
time, Ray was completely
exhausted. We practically car
ried him to an air mattress. He
was asleep in two minutes.
We made it home on Friday
in six hours.
Thank you, God.
Shirley Pierce
Pooler
Thanks
Dear Editor,
Thank you for having the
courage to remind all of us to
genuflect to his real presence
in the tabernacle. And thank
you to Father Clark for speak
ing out against the libelous
attacks on Pope Pius XII.
Michael C. Wise
Albany