Newspaper Page Text
/
ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA
The Georgia Bulletin
• * SERVING GEORGIA S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
**fss * sS
Vol. 9 No. 5
Thursday February 4, 1971
$5 per year
JOE AND KATHY MARINO
Dear
Reader
BY HARRY MURPHY
A year ago, Joe Mariano,
27, was teaching 7th grade
social studies and his wife,
Kathy, 24, was trying to
pound knowledge into the
heads of 3rd graders in
Maplewood, N.J.
They had no kids, lived in
a comfortable apartment and
dined out every Friday night.
“We were pretty straight,”
they recall. “We had all the
nice things prosperous
married couples have.”
Kathy voted for Nixon.
But then they began to get
involved in the peace
movement, draft counseling
and black awareness.
“He sort of radicalized
me,” Kathy said.
During their courtship, she
had insisted that he take off
his Dick Gregory button to
keep from antagonizing her
parents.
Joe, a Lutheran, and
Kathy, a Presbyterian, began
a rapid ideological change
after hearing a parttime
Episcopal minister propound
in a sermon this theory:
There is a lot of suffering.
As it increases, the rhetoric
increases and if it continues,
it becomes institutionalized.
Since our institutions don’t
function as they should, the
suffering continues to
increase.
“He said that you have to
share suffering with people,
that you have to be a fool for
Christ,” said Kathy. “We
asked him specifically what
we could do and he mentioned
the grape boycott. We
thought that was funny.”
But after checking on the
Peace Corps, Volunteers In
Service To America (VISTA)
and other possibilities, they
stored almost everything they
had and pulled a trailer full
of “bare essentials” such as
television dinner trays to
Delano, Calif.
Their definition of essential
changed when they got there
and had no place to stay.
Others had sleeping bags.
They had to get rid of all
their stuff and move in with
the mother of a member of
the United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee.
They were sent to Salinas
to help with the picketing of
lettuce farmers. “We really
turned on with the workers,”
Kathy said, “and moved into
‘luxurious’ accomodations in
a labor camp where we
actually had a cot to sleep
on.”
“There was a communal
kitchen and bathroom and we
(Continued on Page 2)
Laymen Set
Ecumenical
Breakfast
‘‘WHAT DOES
CHRISTIANITY MEAN IN
ATLANTA TODAY” will be
carefully explained by
laymen attending Atlanta’s
first Churchmen’s Breakfast
being held the first Sunday in
Lent, February 28, 8 a.m. -
S:45 a.m., at the E. Coan
Middle School, 1550
Boulevard Drive, N.E.
A1 Bows will discuss the
subject from the persepctive
of a white Christian. Donald
Hollowed will consider the
topic from his perspective as
a black Christian.
The Churchmen’s
Breakfast is sponsored by the
Christian Council of
Metropolitan Atlanta, the
largest ecumenical
organization in the
five-county area.
In announcing the new
“men only” activity, Charles
M. Watt, President of the
Christian Council, stated that
every church in the metro
area will be invited to send
members to the breakfast.
Anyone not included in a
church quota may make an
individual reservation through
the Christian Council.
Further information may be
obtained by calling 524-1167
or 523-7533.
Dr. A. Wilson Cheek,
Chairman of the Breakfast
Committee, said that the
Churchmen’s Breakfast is one
response to the need for
area-wide gathering at which
black and white, laborer,
supervisor and owner, young
and old, rich and poor discuss
together the meaning of their
faith and the demands it
makes of them today.
Ecuador Farmers
Get Church Land
QUITO, Ecuador (NC) --
The Quito archdiocese has
turned over two large tracts
of land to the Ecuadorian
Center for Agricultural
Services (CESA) for
distribution to more than 300
small farmers in the area.
The donation, totaling
more than 1,680 acres, is part
of the Catholic Church’s
two-year-old land-reform
project in Ecuador.
The Church in this country
has promised to distribute a
total of 114,000 acres to
2,200 Indian farm families,
many of whom are now living
on the property.
More than 8,000 acres have
already been distributed.
NEWS BRIEFS
Catholic-Lutheran Meeting
VALLETTA, Malta (NC) — Closer relations between the
Catholic and Lutheran Churches will be the subject of a meeting
here Feb. 21-26 of a special Catholic-Lutheran commission.
Topic of discussion will be the Gospel and the Church in the
framework of Christian unity. The meeting is the third in a
series of ecumenical meetings. The previous meetings brought
together Catholics and Anglicans and Catholics and Methodists.
The Catholic delegation to the meeting will be headed by
Cardinal Jan Willebrands, president of the Vatican Secretariat
for Promoting Christian Unity, and will include Father Edward
Schillebeeckx of the University of Nijmegan, the Netherlands;
Bishop Hans Martensen of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Father
Jan Witte, professor of ecumenical theology at Rome’s
Gregorian University. Heading the Lutheran delegation will be
Dr. Andre Appel, general secretary of the Geneva-based
Lutheran World Federation.
Threaten Man
VATICAN CITY (NC) — Pope Paul VI warned French
television viewers that euthanasia and abortion threaten man
himself. In a special film made at the Vatican to inaugurate a
new series of French TV programs, Pope Paul insisted that
“there are values which are the cornerstone of civilization. If it
is attacked, it is man himself who is threatened.” He reasserted
the Church’s condemnation of abortion and euthanasia in stark
terms: “Just as abortion is murder, so is euthanasia.” This must
be repeated tirelessly, he said, “against the current, if necessary,
of what is thought and what is sometimes said around us.”
“Any attempt against human life, under any pretext and in any
form,” he cautioned, “means disowning one of the essential
values of our civilization. In the depth of our consciences - each
one of us can feel it - respect for human life asserts itself as an
indispensable and sacred principle.”
Episcopalians Hear
Catholic Ecumenist
By Eve Silver
Ecumenism has become a
part of Christian life now but
the ultimate goal is unity
among all Christians, Msgr.
Bernard Law told about 600
worshipers Jan. 27 in the
Episcopal Cathedral of St.
Philip.
Monsignor Law is presently
Executive Director of the
U.S. Bishops Committee for
Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs and a member of the
Vatican Secretariat for
Promoting Christian Unity.
The solemn service at
which Msgr Law was main
preacher this year replaced
the banquet customary
during previous gatherings of
the Annual Council of the
MSGR. LAW
Atlanta Episcopal Diocese of
Atlanta.
“In a sense I think that
what we do this evening in
the context of this service is a
sign of how far we have
come,” said Msgr. Law.
“Because it’s not simply a
pageant of ecumenical hope,
although certainly we are
inspired by eternal hope, but
rather it’s a gathering of
Christians, some of us
Orthodox, some of us Roman
Catholic, some of us
Presbyterian, some of us
Methodist, some of us
Lutheran, joined with many
of you, who are Episcopalian
begging the Holy Spirit to
descend upon the heart and
minds of those of you who
are charged these days with
what should be serious
decisions for the Kingdom of
God.”
Pope Paul VI described the
situation that Christians now
find themselves as “strange or
even absurd” because of
disunity, Msgr. Law related.
In terms of the obligation
of each individual toward
ecumenism, Msgr. Law said.”
The infidelity of the
individual Christians - my
lack of holiness and your lack
of holiness is what blocks the
path of Christian unity.”
Each individual Christian
has the obligation to ask
himself what service he is
performing to serve the world
he lives in,” he added. If any
man says that he loves God
when he doesn’t, and he loves
his brother when doesn’t-then
this man is a liar.
“We show forth the love of
God by the love we have for
our fellow man. We are of
God’s world . . .We aren’t of a
black world, we aren’t of a
brown world, we aren’t of a
white world, we aren’t of the
Third World, we aren’t of the
northern part of the globe or
from the southern part of the
globe. We are Christ. . .”
Msgr. Law asserted.
A one-sided religion is a
disservice to God and one
should add dimension to his
belief by practicing Christian
love, he added.
The ecumenical movement
has been so dramatic over the
last 10 years, he said, that it
no longer “grabs the
headlines.”
The Catholic Church
makes an attempt to establish
a certain relationship with
Judaism, other major
religions, with non-believers
and with all humanity, but
the ecumenical movement
really concerns “Christians of
different churches of
Communions,” he added.
Pastoral Delegates
Meet On Priorities
By Fr. Jerry Hardy
Priest - Secretary Pastoral Council
Some 60 delegates to the Archdiocesan Pastoral
Council struggled last Saturday with the task of
developing priorities for guiding the direction of the
Archdiocese. Meeting in the cafeteria of Christ the
King School, the group quickly set to Work, breaking
into four smaller discussions groups that were to serve
a most productive function during the four hour
me eting.
STELTEN, EXECUTIVE BOARD . ..
Delegates heard Council
President Gene Stelten issue
the challenge of the
afternoon long working
session in his opening
remarks. “This Council
showed, at our last meeting,
its concern over how well we
as the Church in the
Archdiocese are meeting our
obligations in many areas. At
our last meeting we indicated
that we wanted to draw upon
the experience and thinking
of all the people of north
Georgia to determine where
the most pressing needs are
and what we should be doing
Photo By Patton — Lawrenceville
OUTLINE PLANS TO FULL COUNCIL
WHICH BREAKS INTO DISCUSSION GROUPS
Spain Bans Unity Week Observances
MADRID (NC) - The
Spanish government banned
January’s scheduled
observances of the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity,
claiming that they might lead
t o anti-government
demonstrations.
In December, the
government imposed a
nationwide six-month “state
of exception” suspending
civil rights. Disturbances
during the trial of 16 Basque
separatists for murder and
subversion triggered the
move.
Among the rights
suspended is that of
assembly.
In 1969, the government
suspended a Catholic-sponsor
ed Social Week under a
similar law. At that time the
death of a Madrid student
had unlashed a wave of
campus strikes. This January,
on the second anniversary of
the death, there were
disturbances at the University
of Madrid and police
suppressed open invitations
to a memorial Mass.
Among those scheduled to
participate in the unity week
observances were the
Christian Inter-Religion
Committee and the Catholic
Secretariat for the
Ecumenical Movement.
A statement from the
ministry of justice here said
three of the leaders who
planned to participate in the
week belong to churches that
had failed to register with the
official directory of religious
groups-thereby making them
“illegal” organizations.
About 30 religious groups
have refused to comply with
a 1967 law requiring
registration before carrying
on their activities. The
registry shows 132 “religious
associations.”
Estimates place the
number of Protestants in
Spain at about 30,000.
'I’he ban on unity week
observances did not halt the
blessing of the interdenomi
national Church of the Savior
at Las Palmas, Canary Islands.
The blessing, Jan. 21, was
attended by Cardinal Jan
Willebrands of the Vatican
Secretariat for Promoting
Christian Unity.
to meet those needs. In
discussions among the
Executive Board and with the
Archbishop, we feel we could
handily develop a theme'for
the Archdiocese to
recommend as a guide for the
Church’s programs here.”
At that point the General
Assembly broke into the
smaller groups to address
themselves to a long list of
proposed priorities arising
from the October meeting
and its discussions. These
ranged from problems of
poverty, .housing and job
opportunities, through
motivational education and
the Church’s active role in the
Community, to the
apostolates to youth and the
aged.
With the reconvening of
the General Assembly later in
the afternoon, it became clear
that there was no unanimous
choice as to the chief priority
to which the Archdiocese
should direct itself. There was
an apparent thread of
concern over what the
Church was doing for the
poor and the citizens at either
end of the age spectrum, the
youth and the aged. President
Stelten asked for a motion
that the final decision be left
to the Executive Board. The
motion passed unanimously.
The Executive Board
continued in session after the
close of the regular meeting
and will announce its results
within three weeks, after
details are covered relative to
the priority chosen.
Some questions arose as to
whether or not a single
priority should be chosen. In
speaking to this point, Father
Jerry Hardy, Priest Secretary
to the Archdiocesan Pastoral
Council, said “No single
priority or theme developed
around a particular priority
will ever exhaust our
understanding of ourselves as
Church. It will however give
expression to some kind of
self consciousness that we
have at a given time as to who
we are and what we should be
doing. A single theme will not
eliminate all the other things
about which we must be
actively concerned. But it will
give us a focus in which to
concentrate our efforts as the
Church in this area.”
Archbishop Thomas A.
Donnellan in remarks at the
end of the meeting expressed
his deep gratitude for the
work of the delegates. He said
the discussions and the many
items presented as possible
top priorities for the
Archdiocese indicated that
the delegates were keenly
aware of the vast array of
needs to which the Church
must offer some active
attention.
Several visitors were on
hand for the meeting
including local clergy.
Monsignor Scotty McDonald,
pastor of Satin Patrick’s
Church in Manchester, New
Hampshire and member of
the National Advisory
Council of the USCC was also
on hand. He was welcomed
warmly by the delegates.
*Do- 'fyowi S&wie /txcTuiiace&cut *Diiv-e TJt&ich 7
i
f