Newspaper Page Text
/ttCantei
teivitt# tkc (yatk&tic rf'ic&diQCe&c
Vol.ll No. 33
Form 3579 to East Sixth Street, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830 Thursday, September 27,1973
$5 PER YEAR
Cftitor’* &Uep
FATHER JAMES MACIEJEWSKI
It should have been an easy talk to
prepare.
After all, I was only to speak for five
minutes. And I had no restrictions as to
subject. I could pick any topic I wanted
just so long as it was an
“inspirational” talk.
But in fact it took me several hours
to get my thoughts together. How does
one “inspire” a disparate group of 300
public-school parents and teachers that
one doesn’t know? People of all faiths
and of no faith.
What I finally offered them is what I
believe to be the key to a settled and
happy life, and the antidote to so much
mental distress and maladjustment we
see in good people all around us.
I’m talking about SELF-LOVE.
I’m convinced that, while some few
folks may have an exaggerated sense of
their own worth (ie. pride), most of us
today have too little of it. Not too
much self-esteem, but too little. Many
of us have such a low level of
self-acceptance.
If there has been a least common
denominator among the many people I
have met who are suffering mental
illness, it has been their common
possession of a poor devalued
self-image.
People constantly seem to fret that
they are not smart enough, or wealthy
enough, or athletic enough, or attractive
enough or personable enough.
Why? Perhaps the competitiveness of
modern life is part of the answer.
Perhaps too the media are partly to
blame. Recently a group of psychiatrists
spent an evening watching a random
selection of television offerings. They
discovered that every television hero
that night was handsome? every villian
was homely. Thus if a viewer considered
himself to be lacking in physical
attractiveness, an evening in front of the
tube would serve as a powerful
reinforcement to his negative self-image.
A popular magazine such as
PLAYBOY, for example, presents an
idealized image of the modern American
male to which no one of us can measure
up. Do you know of any man in real life
who is quite as wise about wines and
women and cars and clothes and sports
and of PLAYBOY? Reading PLAYBOY
is a real put-down.
My conclusion, then, for the PTA
people was this: help every child to
realize his or her own beautiful
uniqueness. He or she is a special child
of God, with a combination of talents
AND handicaps that cannot be
duplicated.
Help that child to develop his or her
own potential. A parent’s and teacher’s
respect for a child’s particular gifts and
interests is so extremely important if
that child is to grow to have a healthy
respect for himself or herself. Don’t
frown upon a child who would rather
play chess or play trombone than play
football.
An acceptance of and respect for
one’s own God-given uniqueness is
self-love. Not only is it important for
personality integration within oneself,
but it also serves as the starting point
for love of others.
Jesus anticipated modem psychology
by 2,000 years when he said: “Love
your neighbor AS YOU LOVE
YOURSELF.”
If we don’t love ourselves, how can
we start to love our neighbor. We
remain locked up in our own little box.
If we “hate” others, it is not usually
because we love ourselves too much, but
rather because we love ourselves too
little. We resent them because we feel
fearful and inadequate in our
relationship to them.
On the other hand, a healthy love
of self is the starting point and the
measure for a free and spontaneous love
of others.
ATTENDING THE REGIONAL CURSILLO
ULTREYA in Orlando were (left to right) Father
James Lyons, national priest adviser; Father James
McLaughlin, Orlando spiritual director; Father
Antonio Leon, St. Augustine spiritual director; Gerry
Hughes, national lay coordinator; Father Richard
Kieran, Atlanta spiritual director; Father William
Keane of Orlando; Father Russ Piedra, St. Petersburg
spiritual director; and Modesto Toledo, lay
coordinator for the Spanish-speaking.
Florida Meeting for Cursillo
BY TIM CROW
Twenty members of the Atlanta
Cursillo Movement journeyed to
Orlando, Fla., last week for a regional
reunion (called an “ultreya”) attended
by 150 representatives from Georgia,
Florida, Alabama and the Carolinas.
Father Richard Kieran, spiritual
director of the cursillo movement here
and a member of the region secretariat,
led the Atlanta contingent and gave an
address to the delegates on the
“Urgency of Renewal.”
In his talk Father Kieran scored the
“lukewarm” quality of “the majority of
parishes and dioceses today.”
“The Church stands on crumbling
foundations instead of on the bed-rock
of saving faith.”
Father Kieran then called for a
spiritual renewal of the Church and a
re-dedication to its mission of leading
men to salvation.
In demonstrating the effectiveness
which a handful of renewal-minded
people can have, Father Kieran spoke of
recent developments in Monroe, Ga.:
“A renewal has taken place in
Monroe because of the vision of one
couple. Before there was a parish in
Monroe, when the priest visited once a
week, this couple dedicated themselves
to building a genuine Christian Catholic
community there. They saw to it that
leaders in the community were renewed
in their relationship with God. Today
50 per cent of the Catholic families in
Monroe are deeply committed to living
for God. They have gathered the others
into a wonderful Christian community.”
Father Kieran then stressed the role
of the cursillo movement in Catholic
Church renewal. “The genius of the
cursillo movement is that it offers a
WASHINGTON (NC) - A plan calling
for American families to adopt South
Vietnamese children of mixed racial
parentage is being studied by three
Church-related agencies.
The agencies involved are the
National Conference of Catholic
Charities (NCCC), Catholic Relief
Services (CRS), and the Migration and
proven strategy for renewal,” he said.
The three-day ultreya featured prayer
sessions, seminars with national cursillo
leaders, small-group meetings and
entertainment by the 80 members of
“Life Unlimited,” an Orlando youth
group who sang, danced and shared
religious experiences with the delegates.
The principal concelebrant of the
closing liturgy was Bishop William
Borders of Orlando, region spiritual
director.
Father Kieran and Bob Dotson of
Atlanta were appointed to a regional
working group of representatives.
Refugee Service of the U.S. Catholic
Conference.
In a memorandum to diocesan
directors of Catholic Charities,
Monsignor Lawrence Corcoran,
secretary of the NCCC, said that thus
far “83 dioceses reported that the
number of possible placements ran into
the hundreds, so it would seem that
there is no lack of prospective homes, or
interest in establishing a program.”
The program, Monsignor Corcoran
said, is being coordinated by Father
John J. McVeigh, program director of
the Catholic Relief Services in Vietnam.
We are presently waiting for him,”
Monsignor Corcoran noted, “to give us
an idea of how many children he will be
able to locate in the near future.”
Before the program can proceed,
Monsignor Corcoran added, the U.S.
Agency for International Development
(AID) will have to provide funding, but
this, he said, would probably be “just a
matter of time.”
AID is currently considering
financing a “consortium” of agencies
connected with intercountry adoptions
to handle the program, Monsignor
Corcoran said.
Although the program is still in the
planning stages, he noted, some details
have been worked out and are available.
Among the details currently available
are information on transportation, a list
of documents required, procedures
required by the South Vietnamese
government of foreigners wishing to
adopt Vietnamese children, and some
points to be considered by the
prospective parents.
- CLIP OUT SURVEY - CLIP OUT SURVEY - CLIP OUT SURVEY
>-
UJ
>
oc
p
v>
H
D
O
CL.
J
u
I
>
w
>
DC
P
vi
H
P
O
g-
P
P
I
>*
UJ
>
as
P
C/3
H
P
O
Cl.
P
P
Survey Time
This is a survey of positive suggestions for improving the quality of Gospel
Service provided by the Church in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
It is an attempt to make known the needs and aspirations of the people of
God here in North Georgia. You are asked to answer the questions below and
return your answers to:
Sister Janet Valente
Executive Secretary
Archdiocesan Pastoral Council
756 W. Peachtree Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Each parish is being requested by Archbishop Donnellan to hold a meeting of
its parish council to discuss these questions. In addition to forwarding your
responses to the office mentioned above, you are encouraged to send a copy to
your parish council.
The October 13th meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council will be
devoted to considering all the responses.
The Questions
1. What would you suggest as the three most important things to be improved
in the life and work of the Church here?
2. How can we begin to make these improvements?
3. What suggestions do you have for increasing the effectiveness of
Archdiocesan offices and their services to the people here?
4. What do you think should be the goal of the Church here?
O
r
“3
o
c
H
v>
C
73
<
tn
•<
l
o
r
"3
o
c
H
v>
C
73
<
t-rt
•<
I
o
r
o
e
H
Vi
e
73
<
tn
*<
- CLIP OUT SURVEY - CLIP OUT SURVEY - CLIP OUT SURVEY
Study Vietnam Adoptions
Amendment Sought
Concerning Prayer
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Administrative Board of the U.S. Catholic
Conference (USCC) called for a constitutional amendment permitting
prayer and religious instruction in “public institutions,” including public
schools.
The USCC policy-making body
consists of 28 bishops around the
country. In endorsing not only public
school prayer but also religious
education in public institutions, the
bishops went beyond the question of
voluntary prayer, an issue currently
undergoing hearings in the U.S. Senate.
The suggested wording of the
amendment endorsed by the USCC
Administrative Board is as follows:
“Section 1. Nothing in this
Constitution shall be construed to (i)
forbid prayer in public places or in
institutions of the several states or of
the United States, including schools; (ii)
forbid religious instruction in public
places or in institutions of the several
states or of the United States, including
schools, if such instruction is provided
under private auspices whether or not
religious.
“Section 2. The right of the people to
participate or not to participate in
prayer or religious instruction shall
never be infringed by the several states
or the United States.”
The purpose of the proposal by the
USCC board is twofold:
-To correct the situation created by
the Supreme Court decisions of the
1960s barring prayer from public
schools.
-To correct a 1948 Supreme Court
decision (McCollum v. Board of
Education) against a program for
releasing children with parental consent,
from public school classes so they could
receive religious instruction.
Bishop James S. Rausch, general
secretary of the USCC, said the new
action of the Administrative Board in
endorsing an amendment which covers
religious instruction as well as prayer is
fully consistent with the conference’s
1971 position opposing an amendment
limited to “non-denominational
prayer.”
In November, 1971, the USCC went
on record in opposition to a school
prayer amendment-limited to
“non-demoninational prayer”-which
was then before the House of
Representatives.
Explaining the conference’s position
in 1971, Bishop Joseph L. Bemardin,
then general secretary of the USCC (and
now Archbishop of Cincinnati), said the
conference was “not opposed to the
concept of prayer in public buildings
not unconcerned about the vitally
important matter of meeting the
religious needs of children who attend
public schools.
But, he said, the conference felt that
the amendment then before the House
“would accomplish nothing on behalf of
the goals it purports to serve and would
represent a threat to the existing legality
of non-denominational prayer.”
The bishops said they considered
some form of amendment necessary in
the light of the Supreme Court
decisions. “Since the Supreme Court has
interpreted the Constitution to forbid
genuine religious freedom in public
education,” they said, “the people of
the United States have no recourse but
to amend the Constitution. The
question then is how the Constitution
shall be amended.
“The U.S. Catholic Conference
believes an amendment limited to
allowing prayer would be inadequate to
meet the national need. The amendment
which is needed must cover prayer and
religious instruction,” the board
continued.
“Such an amendment will be a
powerful factor in restoring to all
Americans a basic liberty of which they
are now deprived. It can be an effective
instrument in thwarting the trend
toward universal secularizing of the
education of the young.”
RESPECT FOR THE UNBORN -- Respect Life Sunday, October 7, will
begin a month of activities in behalf of the unborn and others who need
spiritual attention in an often threatening social environment. An unusual,
almost womb-like view of a premature baby being kept alive in an
incubator, gives an idea of how fragile life can be. (NC Photo)
Prayers Sought
Nineteen-month-old Drew Blanton, who was hit by a car driven by his
mother in the driveway of their home in Canton last week, remains in a coma
at Kennestone Hospital. The child’s mother, Mrs. Libby Blanton, has asked
the prayers of the people of the archdiocese for her son.
The Blantons are members of the Catholic mission in Canton. Both parents
of the injured boy are physicians.
*
0
f