Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 10 No. 24 Form 3579 to 202 East Sixth Street, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Thursday, June 22,1972
$5 per year
Former Seminarian
Now Falcon Tackle
Baptist Church Gives
$10,000 To Cancer Home
BY FATHER JAMES MACIEJEWSKI
When Arnold Vickery, treasurer of the now defunct Gordon Street Baptist Church, offered a church donation
last' week to the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Free Cancer Home, he didn’t specify an amount to Sr. Marie Cordis,
superintendent of the home.
“I just assumed the donation would be around $200.”
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J FATHER JAMES MACIEJEWSKI
Some years ago when I moved to
Rome, Ga. as assistant pastor of St.
Mary’s Church, my first days were
punctuated by the incessant ringing of
the doorbell.
Running down the stairs to the door
I’d find waiting a bunch of little boys --
scruffy and unkempt, but smiling and
ingenuous and hopeful.
What they came to the rectory to
know was, “Is the Magic Man home?” or
“Where’s the Magic Man?”
I hated to tell them that the Magic Man
had gone away, because I didn’t like to
see the disappointment and the sadness
shadow their faces.
But the Magic Man had gone away and
he wouldn’t be back and they needed to
get accustomed to that absence.
The Magic Man, you see, was a priest
who was only a temporary three-month
resident of St. Mary’s while the parish
was one priest short.
But while he was there, he was every
little neighborhood child’s hero, and
every day they would gather at the
rectory to see him work his bagful of
magic tricks.
The Magic Man was Fr. Anthony Kalb,
a Redemptorist priest 72 years young,
who celebrates his golden anniversary of
religious profession this week.
About half of his priestly career has
been spent in Georgia (Dalton,
Cartersville, Cedartown and now Fort
Oglethorpe), and as far as I know he’s still
working his magic tricks. Often he’s been
known to take a bus from Fort
Oglethorpe just to replenish his supply of
tricks at an Atlanta magic store.
No one has immunity from one of his
tricks. Many a sedate Georgia matron, I’m
told, has extended a limp hand of
greeting to the mild-looking priest, only
to come unglued by the rattling
experience of a raspberry handshake.
Those who are attending the jubilee
celebration this week had better beware.
It would be like Fr. Kalb to plan an
especially delicious magic trick to
celebrate the occasion.
Many in Georgia are richer and happier
because the delightfully unorthodox Fr.
Kalb has passed their way.
I can still picture those scruffy little
boys.
BY LOUIS FINK
Norman C. Fisher, program chairman,
announced that George Kunz would
speak at the Serra meeting on Friday,
June 23, at the Atlanta American Motor
Hotel.
A former seminarian who now plays
offensive right tackle for the Atlanta
Falcons will be the next speaker for the
Serra Club, Atlanta’s vocation-minded
group of business men.
Kunz studied at Queen of Angels
Seminary in Los Angeles. He made the
dean’s list every year at Notre Dame and
was graduated cum laude.
Rated the top offensive lineman in
America in 1969, he was the second out
of 442 college players selected in the
draft, and was Atlanta’s first choice. He
was a starting tackle in the 1972 Pro
Bowl.
“When he telephoned me,” she said
When Vickery and two other church
officials arrived shortly after the
telephone call to make the official
presentation, Sr. Marie Cordis found that
her guess was off considerably.
They presented her with a check for
$10,000.
“What a surprise,” exclaimed a
momentarily speechless Sr. Cordis.
The funds are part of those derived
from the sale of the Gordon Street
Baptist Church, disbanded several months
ago when it became obvious that most
members of the congregation had moved
out of the immediate area and scattered
to other churches.
The donation to the cancer home for
the incurably ill was given “in memory of
former members of the Gordon Street
Baptist Church who were the recipients
of your gracious care, both physical and
spiritual.”
Sr. Marie Cordis has fond memories of
those church members, all of, whom are
now deceased. She remembered
particularly Lil Cornell, whom Sister
called “a complete Christian who died a
most beautiful death.”
Sr. Cordis said the $10,000 would be
applied to the home’s present building
fund drive, which has a goal of a million
dollars. Only an anonymous donor’s gift
of $30,000 represents a larger lump-sum
donation so far.
Construction has already begun on a
modern facility to be built behind the
present home on the Washington Street
property. Completion is scheduled for
February of 1974.
Building fund contributions may be
made through Mrs. Dee Casey, donations
chairman. She can be reached at
688-9515 or 252-4749.
Robert Smythe, Fred Moss and Arnold Vickery of the Gordon Street Baptist Church present a check for $10,000 to a stunned Sr.
Marie Cordis of Atlanta’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help Free Cancer Home.
Catholic Bishop Asks
Kontum Be Spared
LONDON (NC) — The Catholic bishop of Kontum, the South
Vietnamese city designed by North Vietnamese forces, said he will stay in
his pulpit in spite of the danger.
Bishop Paul Seitz told a British television interviewer in Kontum that
he refused to be evacuated by air because he believes his proper place is
with the 40,000 people still remaining in the city.
The French-born bishop also pleaded
for American forces to spare the civilian
population from bombing raids if
Kontum should fall to the North
Vietnamese.
“We do not know what our fate will be
tomorrow,” Bishop Seitz said. “All we
know is that today Kontum is
surrounded, being bombarded.
“The population is very frightened but
not in a state of panic. We live in fear. We
pray to God simply not to be afraid of
our fear, that is all.”
“It is our decision - that of all my
priests, nuns, catechists and myself - to
stay here in Kontum. It is our duty to
share in the fate of the poorest.
“In a few days we could be under a
Viet Cong regime - or perhaps not. For
us Christians our taith lies not in men but
in God.”
Bishop Seitz said he had gone to
Saigon recently because he did not think
it was enough to share the fate of his
people but that he should also intervene
for them.
“I told the representative of the Holy
See,” said Bishop Seitz, “that no matter
what attempts are made to evacuate the
nonnlo
civilization population of women,
children and old people. I have asked that
whatever happens here we should not be
bombed by the B-52’s.
“I do not know what will happen if the
North Vietnamese take Kontum. I am not
a prophet, only a bishop. But we are
ready for anything. I hope that we do our
duty right to the end. All our duty -
whatever it is.”
fc
Apartment For Elderly
Open In Savannah
More than 200 persons attended dedication rites marking the official
opening of the “Rose of Sharon” apartments in Savannah on Sunday,
June 11.
The 12-story complex consists of 271
apartments and is a project of Serviam
Inc., a corporation sponsored by the
Catholic Church in Savannah to provide
housing for elderly persons with an
annual gross income of not more than
$5,115 for an individual or $6,250 for a
couple.
Construction was made possible
through a $3.5 million loan guaranteed
by the Federal Office of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD).
Bishop Gerard L. Frey officiated at the
dedication ceremonies. In his remarks,
the bishop praised Fr. Lawrence A.
Lucree for his leadership and dedication
in serving as the originator and president
of Serviam, Inc. Fr. Lucree is now pastor
of St. Teresa’s parish in Albany, Ga.
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l^muieiiuy apaixuieubd icni jlui
per month and one bedroom apartments
for $104-$115.
The moderate rentals “are made
possible only by the non-profit” status of
Serviam, Inc. which owns and operates
the apartment complex and by the
long-term, low interest loan secured
through HUD, Fr. Lucree said.
The “Rose of Sharon” apartments
provides 24-hour staffing, community
4
facilities and planned programs for
residents.
The dedication program dedicated the
complex “Under the auspices of Mary,
the Mother of God and our Rose of
Sharon; in memory of that noble group
of early Catholics of Locust Grove and
Sharon, Georgia; in gratitude to the
governments of the United States of
America, the State of Georgia, and the
city of Savannah; and to the Catholic
Diocese of Savannah, to the glory of God
and the well-being of our fellow man.”
Summer
Schedule
As a matter of long-standing
policy, the GEORGIA BULLETIN
does not publish in the second and
last weeks of June, July and
August. No edition of the
BULLETIN next week, therefore.
We’ll be back in two weeks.
(PHOTO by Williams Studio)
THE ROSE OF SHARON apartments, a high-rise, church-sponsored,
government-financed housing facility for lower middle income elderly, was dedicated
by Bishop Gerard Frey in Savannah on June 11. The complex is located at Taylor and
Habersham Streets in Savannah.
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