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Vol. 11 No. 3
Fonn 3579.to 202 East Sixth Street, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Thursday, January 18,1973
$5 per year
New Document Spells Out
Basic Church Teachings
WASHINGTON (NC) - The new 8,000-word document, “Basic Teachings for Catholic Religious Education,”
which has been approved by the U.S. bishops is a listing of doctrines that are considered an irreducible minimum
of content in religious education.
There is some order in the presentation of doctrines, but it is an order which is explicitly not one of
importance of teaching methodology. “This text does not give guidance concerning a hierarchical order of
importance of doctrines, or concerning methods of religious instruction,” says the introduction.
Basic Teachings says that there must
be “three themes . . .which carry
through all religious education” - prayer,
liturgical participation and the Bible.
It then lists the basic doctrines about
God who is one and personal, the
Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. It
speaks of the worship of God and the
knowledge of Him.
The document says that creation is
the beginning of the history of man’s
salvation, and Christ, the firstborn of all
creation, is the center of God’s saving
works. Christ, it says, is both man and
God, the savior and redeemer of the
world.
The Holy Spirit, it says, “carries out
Christ’s work in the world” and “is'
present in a special way in the
community of those who acknowledge
Christ as Lord, the Church.”
It then speaks of the Church as the
“universal sacrament” and discusses the
seven sacraments as “the principal
actions through which Christ gave His
Spirit to Christians and makes them a
holy people.” The Church’s basic
understanding of the individual
sacraments is then presented “in broad
outline” with special emphasis on the
Eucharist, which “has primacy among
the sacraments.”
A section of the Church’s doctrine on
man is introduced in the context of the
“new man” sanctified by God. While
man’s freedom “has been badly
impaired by the sin of humanity,
original sin,” says the document, “the
resultant weakness is overcome by
grace.”
The document warns that “religious
instruction must not be silent about the
reality of sin, the kinds of sin and the
degree of gravity and personal
willfulness which indicate mortal sin.”
It speaks of the requirements of
Christian morality and the need for a
rightly formed conscience which “must
pay respectful and obedient attention to
the teaching authority of God’s
Church.”
Christian morality is characterized in
terms of “its total relationship to the
love of God, or charity.” But, the
document adds, “The duties and
obligations flowing from love of God
and man are to be taught in specific,
practical fashion.” The “overall
FATHER MULVIN TO
WASHINGTON - Atlanta’s Father
Vincent Mulvin has gone to
Washington, D.C. to begin studies
at Catholic University which will
culminate in a master’s degree in
Church administration a year from
now. Father Mulvin serves as the
vice-officialis of the archdiocese,
with duties in the marriage
tribunal. Until his departure last
week, he also served as chaplain to
the First Friday Club. Father
Louis Naughton of Holy Cross
Church succeeds him in that
position.
framework” for this teaching, it says,
should be the Ten Commandments and
the Sermon on the Mount, “especially
the Beatitudes.”
In two appendices, the document
summarizes:
-- The Ten Commandments and the
eight Beatitudes.
Some “specific duties of
Catholics,” including the traditional
Precepts of the Church.
The section on morality is concluded
with a listing of basic duties that the
Christian has towards God, his fellow
man, and himself. “Obviously this
listing does not cover all morality or
immorality,” it says. “But it indicates
the practical approach which will help
the Christian to form a right conscience,
choose what is always right, avoid sin
and the occasions of sin, and live in this
world according to the Spirit of Christ
in love of God.”
The Church “founded by Christ” is
discussed as the people of God, as an
institution for salvation and as a
community. The document speaks of
the, “unity of all men under God” and
the quest for Christian unity.
It speaks of Mary as the “Mother of
God, Mother and Model of the Church,”
and calls for religious instruction that
will “lead students to see Mary as
singularly blessed and relevant to their
own lives and needs.”
Finally, the Basic Teachings
document discusses what religious
education ought to say about the saints,
death, judgment and eternity.
The extensively footnoted document
took two years to prepare. During that
time it underwent numerous revisions as
the result of extensive consultation with
bishops, theologians and educators.
The final version was approved by the
Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy,
the congregation which was responsible
for the General Catechetical Directory
(GCD) which the Vatican published in
1971. The American document is
essentially a rewritten version of the
GCD chapter on “The More
Outstanding Elements of the Christian
Message,” but it is a version adapted to
American culture.
It is not an American National
Catechetical Directory. A bishops’
committee has been formed to develop
a national directory adapted to the
situation in the United States, and the
National Catechetical Directory and
Basic Teachings will be complementary
documents.
The Directory is intended to provide
the basic principles of pastoral theology,
discussing the whole process of
catechesis (teaching the faith). The
Basic Teachings document is meant to
be only one component of that - the
minimum content of the faith.
A third American document, the U.S.
bishops’ 1972 pastoral letter “To Teach
As Jesus Did,” is also a complementary
document. It outlines the philosophy
underlying the Church’s extensive
involvement in Christian education and
discusses the institutional structures
used to deliver the Christian message.
OFFICIAL
REVEREND J. DOUGLAS EDWARDS has been granted a six
month leave-of-absehce from his duties as Pastor of Saint Thomas
Aquinas Church in Roswell.
REVEREND PATRICK F. MULHERN, formerly Assistant Pastor
of Saint Thomas More Church in Decatur, has been appointed
Administrator of Saint Thomas Aquinas Church for the duration of
Father Edwards’ absence.
This appointment became effective Wednesday, January 10, 1973.
Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan
Archbishop of Atlanta.
Nashville’s Bishop, Priests
Request Halt to Bombing
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (NC) - Bishop
Joseph A. Durick of Nashville and the
priests’ senate of the diocese, calling the
U.S. bombing of North Vietnam
reckless and immoral, have called on
President Nixon to end it.
The resolution calling for an end to
the bombing was passed unanimously
by the nine-member senate, which is
elected by the 163 priests of the
diocese.
Stating their awareness of the
damage, destruction and killing resulting
from the bombing, the bishop and
senate said they were “distressed by the
erosion of our national image as a
humane and conscientious society as
recently evidenced by public
expressions of people everywhere in the
world.”
The resolution called on “all persons
of good will, especially fellow Catholics
in the diocese of Nashville” to join the
bishop and priests in calling for an end
to the bombing and in praying for peace
in Vietnam.
The resolution was adopted shortly
after the Tennessee General Assembly
approved a joint resolution of support
for the present Vietnam policy and
instructed that it be forwarded to the
White House.
Copies of the priests’ senate
resolution are being sent to President
Nixon; Cardinal John Krol of
Philadelphia, president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops; and
members of Congress from Tennessee.
ST. JOSEPH’S INFIRMARY - artist’s rendering of the proposed new hospital facility to be built in
northeast Atlanta.
Downtown Infirmary
May Move to Suburbs
BY MARIE MULVENNA
With the recent approval of the
Fulton County Board of Commissioners
for a rezoning of 20 acres near
Northside Hospital, St. Joseph’s
Infirmary received the green light to
proceed with long-range plans to
relocate the present Ivy Street facility
to a new location at Peachtree-Dun-
woody Road in northeast Atlanta. St.
Joseph’s has been a downtown
landmark since 1880 when it became
Atlanta’s first hospital.
Sister Mary Brian Anderson, RSM,-
administrator of the hospital, said the
hospital “would more than likely
relocate to the new site” if studies
indicate that this is feasible. The
hospital presently holds an option on
two parcels of land and must have
comprehensive soil and topography
studies done before it can be
determined if the site is suitable for
hospital construction and usage.
The hospital applied to the
Atlanta-Fulton County Joint Planning
Board several months ago seeking a
rezoning of the area from residential to
office-institutional, thus permitting
possible use by the infirmary. In the
letter of intent submitted to the
planners, the hospital outlined plans for
a hospital with approximately 300 beds.
The facility would have a base structure
of two floors connected to and serving a
nursing tower of eight floors. The
towers would house 30-40 patients on
each floor. The basic design offers the
option of future expansion for an
additional nursing tower and the
possibility of a doctors’ office building
connected to the hospital, should such a
need arise.
It was clearly stated by the hospital
that services would complement rather
than duplicate the present services
provided in the area by Northside
Hospital. St. Joseph’s would offer
highly specialized services similar to
those provided in the downtown area
but not generally available in the north
metropolitan area. Plans call for a
neurological institute to provide both
diagnosis and treatment, plus continuing
specialized diagnostic procedures for
coronary artery diseases and complete
facilities for open heart surgery and
specialized vascular surgery.
Sister Mary Brian said she felt St.
Joseph’s move to the new area would be
a tremendous asset to the community,
providing comprehensive health care
along with Northside Hospital and the
future Scottish Rite Hospital, which will
deal almost exclusively with pediatric
care. Sister explained that St. Joseph’s
would not handle obstetric care, a
service they had discontinued in August
1972. Nor, she said, would St. Joseph’s
handle peadiatric care other than for
those patients admitted via the cardiac
or surgery departments. In addition, St.
Joseph’s proposes areas of sharing costs,
including group purchasing, computer
services, laundry services, etc.
Sister also told the BULLETIN that
an additional letter had been submitted
to the planning group prior to the
hearing outlining the hospital’s desire to
comply with various requests of civic
groups in the area. Among those
requests were landscaping, sufficient
buffer zones, a sidewalk, and a specific
percentage of the property allocated for
other than building use (walks,
landscaped yards, pedestrian plazas).
Officials of the hospital have met several
times with residents of the section,
hearing their objections and concerns.
The main objection, according to Sister,
is that the hospital will attract other
businesses such as gas stations, and
motels and would detract from the
general character of the area which is
almost completely residential.
Continuing efforst will be made, Sister
related, to make the hospital
development as appealing as possible to
the neighborhood.
A detailed site development and
grading plan must be submitted to the
planners before any work on the site is
done. The hospital also agreed to
withhold application for a building
permit for any construction until after
sewerage is available for servicing the
property.
Plans for the hospital stipulate a
building of contemporary design with
smooth and textured finishes on
cast-in-place concrete for the nursing
tower and the connected two-story
structure utilizing similar pre-cast
panels. In their letter to the planners,
St. Joseph officials said they would
“maintain the same high standards of
appearance and operation at our new
location as has been maintained at the
present one.”
The hospital would maintain an
optimum of 312 beds with a maximum
of 339 beds which is their present
licensed capacity. Ultimate expansion
would make room for approximately
600 beds plus the second nursing tower
and possible housing for interns,
resident physicians, nurses and other
students. Parking facilities will
accommodate 700 cars initially and
2,382 ultimately. Ultimate plans might
also include a pharmacy, flower shops,
eating places, and other medically
related retail establishments.
The hospital’s plans seek permission
for exceeding the height limitation of
132 feet. Sister Brian pointed out that
the nursing tower would still not exceed
the present height of either Northside
Hospital nor an adjacent medical
professional building.
Sister told the BULLETIN she did
not feel the move to the suburban
complex would be detrimental to
patients and added that there are more
beds in use in suburban areas than in
downtown locations. She explained that
many patients seek service at suburban
offices of doctors and are reluctant to
come downtown, due to traffic, parking
problems and the fear of harm to
visitors who would be downtown during
evening hours.
As to when the hospital might move,
Sister said much depended on the
forthcoming tests, purchase of the 20
acre site and the method of building.
She explained that the “fast-tracking”
building method in which architect-and
contractor plan and work step by step
together would take three years. The
conventional route, Sister said, could
take up to five years.
Staff at St. Joseph’s seem to be
pleased with the possible move and
Sister said many had already indicated
that travelling to the new area would be
no problem at all. “We don’t expect to
lose many personnel,” Sister stated.
We’re Back!
For the first time in the history
of the GEORGIA BULLETIN the
cry of “Stop the presses!” was
telephoned to our publication
office in Waynesboro.
Alas, it was not to telephone a
big scoop nor put out an extra.
The ice storm left the Catholic
Center without power past our
deadline and it was impossible to
assemble our copy in time to
reach the publication office.
We apologize to anyone who
had submitted announcements for
last week’s edition which will not
appear because of becoming too
dated.
We’ve thawed out now and the
lights are once again aglow at the
BULLETIN office.