Newspaper Page Text
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 14 No. 43
Thursday, December 2, 1976
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Vatican Blasts Arms Race
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (NC) - The Vatican has told the
United Nations that the arms race kills whether the weapons are
actually used or merely stockpiled.
*
The arms race “morally misuses intellectual and economic
resources that are absolutely indispensable for the liberation of
the world’s people from hunger, disease, illiteracy and
powerlessness,” said Mrs. Molly Boucher of the Vatican’s
observer delegation to the UN. Mrs. Boucher, from Vancouver,
Canada, is also president of the board of the Canadian Catholic
Organization for Development and Peace.
Speaking to the General Assembly’s political committee, Mrs.
Boucher said it seems the worst kind of “madness,” when
enough arms already exist to destroy humanity 25 times over,
to continue their production, testing, and proliferation.
The committee was nearing the conclusion of a month-long
general debate on some 20 disarmament proposals.
On simple humanitarian grounds, Mrs. Boucher said, the
world needs a comprehensive ban on nuclear and thermonuclear
tests, an end to proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the
prohibition of incendiary and other specific conventional
weapons.
The Vatican delegate noted that in 1963 Pope Paul VI
welcomed the UN nonproliferation treaty as a “first step” in the
direction of a total nuclear weapons ban and general and
complete disarmament. The Vatican signed that treaty in 1971.
Mrs. Boucher complained, however, that the treaty has fallen
far short of expectations. Although 96 countries subscribe to
the treaty, the “dismal fact” remains, she told the committee,
that unless all states embrace it, the treaty cannot hope to
achieve its purpose of ending the spread of nuclear weapons to
more countries.
Mrs. Boucher said the Vatican is “vitally interested” in
Soviet-American talks in Vienna on the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT).
Pending a comprehensive test-ban treaty and a successful
conclusion of the SALT negotiations, the Vatican calls on the
nuclear powers to declare a moratorium on further development
and production of nuclear arms, she said.
She also called for the prohibition of “dubious weapons”
which are “morally repulsive and contrary to traditional
principles including the laws of humanity and the demands of
public conscience.”
She included in this category napalm and other incendiary
weapons, delayed-action weapons, small caliber projectiles, and
blast and fragmentation weapons.
Calling them “diabolical,” Mrs. Boucher said these weapons,
by reason of their indiscriminate nature and pernicious effects,
approach the destructiveness commonly attributed to nuclear
warfare.
AND A TIME TO EAT - John Foskey of Holy to help the needy. Participants included both Catholic
Cross parish attacks a sandwich after a 30 hour fast. and Protestant youth.
The “Atlanta Christian Fast” raised more than $5,000
Protest Polish Persecution
*5,000 RAISED
OLA Sponsors Youth Fast
BY JOHN PURDY
Recently, over 100 young people
from eight Atlanta parishes got together
for about 30 hours to try to tell the
Atlanta community about the special
need of those without enough food.
Their project was a “Fast-a-thon” --
which ran from 6 Friday evening,
November 12, to 12 midnight of the
next day. The event was held at the Our
Lady of the Assumption auditorium.
The fasters started their “Atlanta
Christian Youth Fast” with a prayer
service to emphasize to themselves the
need for strength and faith to be able to
make it through the fast. It was after
that that they congregated over at the
Immaculate Heart of Mary gym for a
fast-a-thon dance, featuring Ezra Pound,
and received approximately $500 in
donations.
At midnight Friday, the group was
taken back over to Our Lady of the
Assumption where they began an
all-night vigil filled with group activities,
jokes, prayers and very little sleep.
At 9:30 Saturday morning the
hungry people were off again for a
“supermarket blitz” at a number of
supermarkets on Roswell Road, Buford
Highway and Peachtree Industrial
Boulevard. A very hearty thanks was
expressed by the fast-a-thon people to
these stores for their cooperation and
participation. The fasters stood at the
entrance to the stores and asked people
as they went in to buy one extra item to
donate to the poor as they came back
out. The people responded very well
and over 20 large boxfuls of food were
contributed. About half of the food
went directly to the Saint Vincent
dePaul Society’s pantry for the poor.
Saturday afternoon was spent
learning more about hunger and its
causes, through several speakers and
films. Father Bob Kinast, representing
the Bread For The World Movement,
had a presentation; Joe Flannagan from
the Saint Vincent dePaul Society spoke;
and the films “Hunger In America”
(from CBS), “The Politics Of Hunger”
and “Diet For A Small Planet” were
shown. Dr. Lorraine Donaldson, Food
Expert from Georgia State University
also spoke on some of the ways the
young people could help cause a change
in our society. Her talk was followed by
another prayer service, which was about
the time most of the fasters would
normally be eating supper.
Saturday evening was again a time of
entertainment for the young people,
with a professional folk concert by Bob
Lehman, followed by a “Disco” dance
with disc jockey Frank Murphy, a very
talented 20-year-old part-time D.J.
After the young people settled down
from the disco, they began the last few
hours of their fasting with a Mass. The
theme was “I Am The Bread Of Life.”
The Mass was concelebrated by Father
Seli; Father Steve Yander; Father
McGoldrick and Father Marren, with
music provided by Our Lady of the
Assumption’s folk group. Also helping
out during the weekend were Sister
Kathleen Lyons, RSM, Ginger Jones,
the Youth Minister at Immaculate Heart
of Mary, and the coordinator of the
fast-a-thon, Vie Thorgren, Youth
Minister of Our Lady of the
Assumption.
Ms. Thorgren explained that the
Christian Youth Fast had three
purposes: 1) to raise money for the
needy in Atlanta in the form of pledges
for every hour the young people went
without eating, (this money went to the
Saint Vincent dePaul Society); 2) to call
public attention to the hunger crisis;
and 3) to provide a spiritual and
educational experience for the young
people who participated.
All three purposes were fully
accomplished, with a total of $5,073
raised for the poor; news coverage from
WSB Television, and many of the young
people saying it was an experience that
they wouldn’t soon forget. Ms.
Thorgren said it was pretty special to
her to see the changes some of the
youths went through during the fast.
When asked how he felt just before the
fast was over, Joe Vigil, from Holy
Cross said, “Hungry . . . but it really
wasn’t that hard. I think I could do it
again.”
The first Atlanta Christian Youth
Fast closed with a “feast” consisting of
sandwiches, fruit, chips and brownies.
After having only fruit juices for the last
30 hours, it was a feast indeed.
The young people who fasted came
from the parishes of Our Lady of the
Assumption, Immaculate Heart of Mary,
St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist,
Holy Cross, Corpus Christi, Holy
Family, and Sts. Peter and Paul, as well
as from St. Pius X High School, Marist
High School, Oglethorpe University and
some Protestant churches in the area.
ROME (NC) - In a strongly worded
pastoral letter read in all churches in
Poland Nov. 28, the Polish bishops have
appealed to Catholics to oppose their
government’s “hateful, brutal
campaign” against the Church.
The letter, released here by the Rome
press office of the Polish bishops, was
the strongest yet in a series of recent
public statements by the bishops or
their leader, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski,
expressing disagreement with
government policies.
It was seen as the bishops’ response
to Communist party chief Edward
Gierek’s recent pleas for Church support
in his efforts to calm social unrest in
Poland.
In the frank 10-page letter, the
bishops listed the principal elements in
what they called a stepped-up program
to “politically atheize” Poland.
Among these elements, the bishops
cited:
- Government failure to permit
building of churches and other
Church-related buildings;
- Discrimination in hiring and
professional advancement against
practicing Catholics;
- Anti-Church propaganda in films,
plays, on television and in the print
media; and
- A program in schools to discredit
religion, and to dissuade students from
attending church and religious
instruction classes.
The bishops also alerted Polish
Catholics, who make up about 90
percent of the national population, that
they will sponsor soon a national day of
prayer “in defense of the faith.”
The pastoral letter came at a
particularly delicate moment for
Poland’s Communist government.
Following last summer’s worker strikes
to protest steep government price hikes
on consumer items, party leader Gierek
has been trying to enlist the Church’s
help in his efforts to keep a lid on
national unrest.
In its pastoral, the bishops’
conference clearly warned Gierek that
“new methods” in the campaign against
religion “are also blocking social and
economic reforms since they stir unrest
and opposition toward the
government.”
“Embittered men do not make good
workers,” the bishops warned.
At the top of the list of complaints,
the bishops underlined government
reluctance to grant building permits to
the Church.
A chronic shortage of churches has
resulted, especially in huge new
residential areas which have sprung up
around the nation since World War II. In
such areas it is not uncommon to find
parishes where as many as 100,000
Catholics are forced to attend Sunday
Mass in crude shelters, constructed with
trash.
This year alone, Poland’s 27 dioceses
have asked permission to build about
500 churches and chapels, but most of
the requests have been refused.
The pastoral letter also severely
condemned religious discrimination on
the job.
“The exercising of certain professions
and the attainment of various positions
- especially those on the management
level - are reserved almost entirely to
persons who declare themselves to be
nonbelievers or nonpracticing
Catholics,” the bishops charged.
“Promotion in some sectors hinges on
belonging to socio-political
organizations which require their
members to be atheists, to end Church
attendance and to stop the religious
education of their children.”
The bishops pointed out further that
many believers who have lost their posts
because of their religion had won
awards for excellence on the job.
(Continued on page 8)
Mass On TV
Sunday Mass on television. Mass will be televised on WSB, channel 2 on
Sunday, Dec. 5 at 10:30 a.m. This monthly presentation is offered for the sick
and infirm who are not able to attend at a parish. It does not fulfill the Sunday
obligation for those who can get to Church.
BuLWtilv;
S 4
Wants More Radio Licenses
WASHINGTON (NC) - A spokesman for the U. S. Catholic Conference (USCC) has
asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enable more applicants to
receive radio broadcast licenses. Father George Byrne, telecommunications specialist in
the USCC Department of Communications, made the request in comments on clear
channel broadcasting regulations. The FCC had invited comments in anticipation of
possible amendment of its regulations.
Hospital Pastoral Care
NEW YORK (NC) - Some 200 Catholic hospital pastoral care experts attended
sessions at the New York Sheraton Hotel for five days, exploring new theological
frontiers in the ministry to sick persons. The workshops of the third annual institute
on the Theological Concerns of the Health Apostolate, sponsored by the Catholic
Hospital Association (CHA), will be repeated Feb. 6 to 10 at the Sheraton Hotel in
Denver as part of a continuing education program. Subjects ranged from Christian
medical moral problems and accountability in pastoral care to questions arising from
the women’s ordination debate.
Maternity Wards May Close
NEWARK, N.J. (NC) - As many as 39 hospitals in New Jersey - including some
conducted by religious communities - could be forced to close maternity wards under
proposed rules being formulated by the New Jersey Health Care Administration Board.
Basically, the proposed state rule would force all but a few hospitals delivering fewer
than a thousand babies a year to close their maternity wards. Exceptions would be
made where there are no other nearby hospitals.
Priest-Philosopher Dies
LONDON (NC) - Jesuit Father Martin Cyril D’Arcy, a philosopher whose converts
to Catholicism included novelist Evelyn Waugh, died here Nov. 20 at the age of 88
Considered a brilliant conversationalist, Father D’Arcy was a friend of Albert Einstein,
Bertrand Russell and T.S. Eliot. Dame Edith Sitwell, poet and critic, was another of
Father D’Arcy’s converts.
Severe Measures Urged
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul VI told members of a U.S. congressional drug
abuse committee that “severe legal measure” should be taken against drug pushers. In
a private audience here Nov. 20 for members of the U.S. House of Representatives’
Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, the Pope also called for
rehabilitation of addicts and the spread of “accurate information on the many
ramifications of drug abuse.”
*Our Lady Of The Chickens’
Exemplifies Excess Of Piety
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- Pope Paul VI told a Wednesday audience here that popular
religious expressions play an important function in the lives of many Catholics, but he
warned against some excesses.
The Pope indicated that he himself raised an eyebrow over a celebration he
witnessed once in honor of “Our Lady of the Chickens.”
“I remember seeing once a great festival in a small southern Italian town in honor of
Our Lady of the Chickens,” the Pope said amid roars of laughter.
“The people carry the statue of Our Lady through the town and at one point they
throw a chicken out the window. If it lands on the statue, it brings good luck,” the
pontiff recounted, chuckling.
“This goes to show how rich, how full of imagination and certainly full of sincerity
is popular piety. But these expressions must be corrected and elevated to a level which
remains full of the native sincerity of the people but which also conforms to the
Marian devotion willed and desired by the Church.”
The Pope was speaking to rectors of Marian shrines in Italy who were present for
the audience.
The Pope told the rectors that their ministry has often been a “determining factor”
in the lives of many Catholics. He said that the “religious intensity” which many
people find in popular Marian devotions make their sanctuaries “a type of spiritual
clinic.”
Many Italian dioceses have diocesan “sanctuaries” or places of pilgrimage dedicated
to Mary. There are also several national centers of devotion to Mary, of which the
Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei near Naples and the Shrine of the Holy House in Loreto
are the most famous.
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