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PAGE 4—The Georgia Bulletin, February 3,1977
The Life Of Our Schools
One of, the brightest stars in the
Educational Apostolate of the Church is
our Catholic School System. We know
this looking at the service of the past.
Gloriously it has extended quality
education and Christian principles to the
masses of our nation. Catholics and
non-Catholics alike have been the
beneficiaries. In a nation of uniform
education it has always been a choice --
an affordable choice.
But the future is dim. The system
certainly is not growing. Here in our
archdiocese a new school has not opened
since 1962. The National picture beams
the same report. We have run up against
reality. Education is high finance. There
are many cities and communities
throughout the nation threatening closed
doors on public schools unless taxes are
raised. Dramatically, some have closed.
Catholic Schools have the same bleak
problems with nowhere to reach for
extra taxation.
The shame of the situation is that this
last choice is a loss to the nation. Every
country in the world regards, respects
and supports this highly qualified notion
of education -- except the U.S. The
Supreme Court tells us that
constitutionally we are unqualified for
support, but finds it clearly
constitutional to fund Veterans for
education in the institution of their
choice. Why not education for all on this
basis?
The Supreme Court is a body far
removed from the charism of
infallibility. We can clearly remember
when “separate but equal” was
considered a just law of the land,
declared so by the same body.
Reconsideration may well be in order
and may well one day be on the agenda.
- NCB
Betty Patrick - Teacher
Sir Christopher Wren was one of the
greatest architects in history. After the
disastrous London fire of 1666, he
designed and built on the ashes hundreds
of beautiful edifices, many of which
survive to this day. When he died in
1723, a simple epitaph was carved over
the doors of St. Paul’s Cathedral where
he was buried: “If you would seek his
monument, look around you.”
This week we are observing Catholic
Schools Week. In the American Bishops’
pastoral letter “To Teach As Jesus Did,”
the purpose of our Catholic Schools is
summed up in three simple but profound
and challenging words: Message,
Community and Service. The Message is
the Good News of Jesus Christ. The
Community is formed and grows among
those who hear and accept the Message.
The Service automatically flows from
the members of the Community who
strive to live the Message, “Love one
another as I have loved you.”
These three cornerstones - Message,
Community and Service -- are the
essential foundations of an “architecture
of the mind and heart” which Catholic
schools seek to build in the lives of our
people. One of the greatest architects of
the mind and heart was Betty Lou
Patrick of St. Pius X who was suddenly
taken from us on January 27. In
awesome and beautiful ways without
number, Betty knew the Message, lived
and loved the Community and poured
forth Service in superabundance.
All who knew and loved Betty are
deeply saddened and challenged by her
death. But all of us - her family,
students, colleagues and friends - have
been greatly enriched and strengthened
by her life and work, and that is more
important. Betty was a true builder in
God’s Kingdom. If we would seek her
monument we need only remember her
work, her students and the Catholic
School Community she served.
~ REV. JAMES H. SEXSTONE
Resound
St. Joseph’s School . . .
LAWRENCEVILLE - Now that St. Joe is
gone, it kinda makes you reminisce about your
years there, if only for a moment. And to say a
final goodbye to a friend, to an old building
with its furnace that use to welcome you in
winter with that horrible smell and clanging
pipes, and in the fall the clatter of shoes
running down the hall to the next class.
But St. Joe was much more ’than that. We
had our ups and downs, our failings and our
triumphs, our good times and bad. But overall
St. Joe had a family, a family which shared a
common spirit and a genuine love for each
other; people who cared for one another’s well
being. From the faculty to the “itsy, bitsy”
freshman, we were a special group and we knew
it and we were proud.
In those four important years of our lives we
went from children to young adults with our
hopes and dreams for a better world and a
better us.
And I can’t leave out the faculty who gave
us guidance and wisdom, which at the time we
may not have understood, but with the years
would come to a deep understanding and a
feeling of much gratitude because they took the
time to notice and care.
Yes all those days of “World’s Finest
Chocolate” sales, pep rallies, football games,
homecoming, prom, sock hops, the up and
down staircase, the day the whole school stayed
for detention, Father Kelly, Sister Placid -
those days are gone. But the influence St. Joe
gave us, the faith, hope and love, will never
wander far from our lives. For our memories
of high school will always come home to rest.
And we’ll always remember and love St.
Joseph’s.
MICHELE BERRELL,
ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS OF 1970
Respect Life Day . . .
ATLANTA - The Sisters of The Atlanta
chapter of the National Association of Women
Religious (NAWR) would like to commend the
Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women
(ACCW) for their excellent Respect Life Day
program. The program was a well-organized and
timely examination of the issue.
The format allowed for maximum exposure
to both nationally known and local speakers
and showed that there is a substantia]
commitment in our community to respect for
life. The range of topics considered showed
sensitivity to the complexity of this question.
We appreciate the time and work that the
ACCW put into this day, and hope that their
efforts will be supported by the growing
awareness of the entire community.
SISTER BARBARA SITKO
CHAIRPERSON,
NAWR ATLANTA
The
Gejorgia
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
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MONDAY NOON for Thursday’s paper.
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Rev. Noel C. Burtenshaw — Editor
Michael Motes - Associate Editor
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“I’ve never seen him smile.”
Dressing For
The Occasion
Dave McGill
Some years ago, my wife Carolyn and I
became fans of Carole King when I received one
of her albums as a gift. We enjoyed the words
she wrote to her many songs, her voice and its
expression in singing them, and her strong
self-accompaniment on the piano. Over the past
decade, we accumulated all her albums, and
found that we had been fans longer than we
thought, because she had written many of the
hits of the 50’s, when we were teenagers, like
“Will you Still Love Me Tomorrow?” and
“Loco-Motion.”
So some months ago, when we noticed in
the paper that Carole was to appear in concert
downtown at the Fox Theater, we grabbed up
two tickets. The big night rolled around, and we
asked each other, “What do you wear to
something like that?” “Well,” we decided,
“she’s our age, so let’s dress up since most of
the fans will be well over 30.” So I wore a suit
and tie, and Carolyn put on a long dress, and
off we went.
We went into mild thread shock when we
arrived. We really didn’t see another soul with a
tie or long dress on. I’ll bet 3/4 of the people
there weren’t even BORN when Carole King
formed her first vocal group in 1955, yet there
they were in their faded jeans and beads and
comfortable clothes. I’m sure the two of us
looked peculiar, but nobody cared as we all sat
mesmerized by a person of amazing talents,
playing and singing song after song that she had
written about life and love.
a c
EA£-rA M <%.
I do remember thinking once during that
evening about the wedding banquet parable
(Mt. 22:1-14), in which the guy who was NOT
dressed properly was tied up and tossed out
into the night. I was glad we weren’t in that
situation that night, because we’d have been
bound up and booted out for sure, for not
having on the proper faded denim garments.
Coincidentally, after the rest of this article
was written, my six-year-old (who is learning to
read) asked to read me a story. The book
Meghan had picked out was about a lion named
Dandelion, who was turned away at a party
because he was so OVERdressed and
OVERcoifed that no one recognized him!
There is a limit near both ends of the candle
beyond which we’ll get burned for not being
ourselves!
The last line in the wedding feast parable is,
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
What is the meaning of this parable told to us
by Jesus?
The parable begins by comparing the
Kingdom of Heaven to the wedding feast. If
this is the analogy, then we must be both
responsive and well-prepared to respond to
God’s call. We must be responsive, since the
king was just as angry at those who made
excuses not to come as he was with the poor
soul who came but wasn’t dressed properly.
It is not only, then, just a matter of showing
up for Christ, but also of really being properly
prepared as well to do our part in leading others
by word and deed to the Kingdom.
Though the call in the wedding feast story
sometimes seems too strong to answer, let’s
remember that we don’t have to go it alone.
Reading the words to one of the songs from the
concert in a Christian light is helpful: “When
you’re down and troubled, and you need some
loving care, and nothing, nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me, and soon I
will be there, to brighten up even your darkest
night . . . You’ve got a friend.” Jesus is such a
friend.
Called By Name
Georgia Carolina Ministry
Sister Genevieve Sachse, O.S.B.
Associate Vocation Director
Archdiocese of Atlanta
Fourteen centuries ago a man named
Benedict perceived the signs of the times and
compiled a rule for the cenobites (those who
lived in common as opposed to the desert
monks who lived alone even though usually in
clusters near other monks). His subtle yet
essential changes earned him the title of Father
of Western Monasticism.
His motto “Ora et Labora”, Pray and Work,
indicated the search to find the balance
between an intense prayer life which he knew
must be available to more than the few called
to be hermits versus the need not only to earn a
living but also to be about the work that
needed to be done in the Church. This struggle
has been the source of the primary suffering
and triumph of the Benedictine way of life.
Some religious orders were founded for a
particular work in the Church such as teaching,
preaching or social work, and they quickly
found that they needed a strong prayer life to
support their ministry. Benedictines were
founded for prayer and work within a
community framework and that prayer needed
to overflow into a ministry. Today most active
religious congregations have some form of
community, community prayer, and are
involved in a ministry; the starting point from
which they arrived at this status influences not
just their spirit but also the direction in which
they move in this time of renewal.
While the lack of a requirement for a specific
ministry has somewhat spared Benedictines
from a sort of identity crisis brought on by
changing apostolic needs, it has outlined for
them in particular in bold red letters the
question of finding a balance between prayer
and work, a question which faces every
Christian.
To those struggling to exhaustion to make
the tiniest dent in the problems needing
solution and the needs in the world crying out
to be met, much less to balance a budget and
earn enough to support dependants-be they
one’s family or religious community-it seems
to be the height of luxury if not sloth to have
even one hour of quiet prayer each day. “To
work is to pray” is the adage by which we
consoled ourselves when time passed and we
were so busy about so many things that we had
no time to sit at the feet of the Master and hear
His voice; yet if we never pray sometimes, we
cannot really expect to “pray always.”
On the other hand, to pray is to work, tp
work very hard, as anyone struggling to develop
a spirituality knows. Luckily, it doesn’t take
too long usually before someone involved in
giving service finds that there is little left to give
if one’s own spiritual stores are not replenished
as well. However, even the term “to work at
prayer” is in itself a paradox. In our
work-oriented society and even more among
those dedicated to doing the Lord’s work, there
is the tendency to feel we must DO something
to make God present and operative in our midst
when in actuality the hardest task of all is to be
totally open and quiet before the Lord to give
Him the chance to DO within us.
Fourteen centuries ago, Benedict was called
from his hermit’s cave to become a cenobitic
monk, declaring that his followers should “live
by the work of their hands” even though prayer
should be the primary concern of their lives.
Today we need modern Benedicts to challenge
us: “Don’t just do something; stand there-and
BE!”
Let’s
Look At
Lourdes
Teresa Gernazian
Next Friday, February 11, will be the Feast
of Our Lady of Lourdes. All Catholics have at
least heard of Lourdes but how many know the
details of St. Bernadette’s life and the
significance to the modem world of one of the
most popular shrines in all of Christianity?
Through the kindness of Jim and Doris
Chrysler, who have been to Lourdes, I was
supplied with ample books and pictures to
comprise this article. Not until I went through
them did I realize that the body of Bernadette,
who died in 1879, is radiantly incorrupt and
visited by 3,000 people daily at the convent in
Nevers, France. Her body was first exhumed in
1909 and found to be incorrupt and then again
in 1925, at which time the limbs were found
flexible and the nails rose-colored. She was
canonized in 1933.
Shy, slow-learning Bernadette is a model for
all of us in the path of humility. Our Blessed
Mother appeared the first time on February 11,
1858, when Bernadette was gathering firewood
with her sister and a friend. “The Lady” wore a
long white dress with a blue sash and over her
hair a veil; on each foot was a golden rose and
in her hands a white rosary. There were 17
other apparitions and during nearly all of them
Bernadette prayed the rosary.
On the third apparition, Bernadette was
asked to come back each day for the next two
weeks. Then came the heavenly voice: “I do
not promise to make you happy in this world
but in the next.”
At the eighth apparition, with nearly 500
people present, Bernadette began to cry.
“Penance . . . penance . . . pray for sinners,” she
pleaded. On the ninth apparition she was
requested to crawl on her knees over the rough,
pebbly ground, scratch the surface and eat
some of the plants growing there. She humbly
obeyed. The crowd sneered: “She’s crazy. We
should never have allowed ourselves to be taken
in by an illiterate girl.” In their haste to leave,
no one noticed the thin trickle of water which
was forcibly pushing its way up into the muddy
patch Bernadette had just dug. Today, 119
years later, this trickle is the magnificent
flowing spring that attracts three million
visitors annually. What a lesson the Blessed
Mother is teaching - what a tremendous
amount of good God can work through us, if
we will only be humble and obey.
During the 13th apparition, Bernadette was
requested to make known the Blessed Mother’s
wish that a chapel be built there. “I want
people to come here in procession,” she said.
Today, there are three churches, built very
close to each other, which comprise the
magnificent Basilica of Lourdes. They are:
Upper Basilica, called the Immaculate
Conception; the Crypt and the Basilica of the
Rosary, which has 15 chapels, one for each
mystery.
On March 25, the 16th apparition,
Bernadette asked the Beautiful Lady her name.
Since there was silence, Bernadette asked three
more times, imploring. Mary parted her hands,
stretched them towards the ground, then joined
them again and finally raising her eyes toward
the sky said: “I am the Immaculate
Conception.”
Four years later, Bernadette entered the
convent at Nevers. Sick most of her 35 years,
she offered up everything for sinners. She was
always faithful to her favorite prayer, the
rosary. She won sanctity by accepting her lot,
the handicap of pain and ill health and doing
each task well, even the most trivial.
Though thousands of cures from people
viting Lourdes have been reported, only 62
have been declared miraculous. The remarkable,
unexplainable water is self-purifying, though
people with the most dangerous diseases bathe
there constantly.
There is much more about Lourdes that
could be written but perhaps this article will be
the beginning of further study and inquiry. Just
as those who are sick and handicapped who go
there always find a spiritual uplift if they look
for it, so will we find many spiritual riches if we
ponder the messages Jesus and Mary are waiting
to give us.
3,000 visitors a day go to see the
incorrupt body of St. Bernadette at her
Convent at Nevers.