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PAGE 4—The Georgia Bulletin, March 31,1977
Holy Week
Only a Faith response is good enough.
The Mysteries are all there. The greatest
feasts of Christianity will be seen and
celebrated. It is the holiest week of the
year.
Holy Week is a time to think and do.
We think about our faith passing before
our eyes. Old names come to mind. Spy
Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, the feast,
the betrayed, the sacrifice, the glory. We
have plenty of thoughts racing through
our minds.
We have actions, too. There in your
parish the whole business is related.
Solemnly, you get in step. The New
Testament in His Blood is celebrated, the
Way of the Cross is followed, the
respectable three-day period of
mourning is observed.
But the final act is ectasy. The
Alleluias are timely. We are secure in the
good feeling of Salvation. Christ is our
Pasch and He is Risen.
Holy Week, definitely not to be
missed.
-NCB
A Green Coat
Long before the advent of Jimmy
Carter, Georgia was on the map. It was
not politics, but a city called Augusta
that put it there. That city is famous as
the most profound golf spot in the
world, even rivaling St. Andrews in
Scotland.
The Masters, the Cadillac tournament
of the golf tour, is on next week. It is
more than the glamour golf show of the
year. The kings and princes of the game
go into training for this week that brings
one of the most covetous prizes in sport
to the winner.
If it is the wizardry of pure golf that
needs seeing, it will be seen at the
Masters. If it is the spectacular shot or
the impossible putt that needs
witnessing, it will be witnessed at the
Masters. Augusta demands the best and
it always gets it.
A traditional green coat is the prize.
May it bring the victor world-wide
Augusta fame.
-NCB
Children Are Gifts
Teresa Gernazian
“Woman is the citadel of life. She is the link
between the generations. A woman is like her
brother -- but she is more.” This was part of the
narration accompanying the recent CBS
television special, “The Miracle Months.” It was
a prime time tribute to the spectacular progress
in prenatal care that now enables doctors to
save the lives of unborn babies for which there
was once little or no hope.
Peering deep into the womb of a pregnant
woman, doctors succeeded with telescopic
ingenuity the filming of the secret world of the
unborn. Viewers were shown the awesome
transformation of a single cell into a living
embryo, taking shape within its mother’s body.
And it was all done with superb narration. A
woman’s reproductive capacity to bring forth a
new human being was portrayed exactly for
what it is -- a miracle.
Prenatal medical techniques were shown,
which saved the lives of three babies to the joy
and happiness of the anxious mothers. The
same babies were shown when they were a little
older with their fathers. It was truly an
uplifting hour of television.
We see so little lately in our secular
environment that makes one feel that children
are gifts instead of burdens. I don’t know how
you feel about it, but it cheers me up to see a
baby, a toddler or a preschooler. They bring
unmeasured reels of joy and smiles as they are
carried or backpacked; or when they go
strutting along in their merry unconcerned way.
Just by being, they have so much to give.
I’ll never forget the morning that my
husband Harry died. When I attended Mass (it
was Labor Day), word had spread throughout
our parish and many of our dear friends came
also. June and Jim Webb came up front with
their children and sat near me. What a comfort
it was to see those sweet little faces, especially
Edie the Webb’s little miracle preemie.
Frequently at weekday Mass I am spiritually
inspired when I see Mary and Joe Peek with the
three youngest of their nine going up to
Communion as well as Celeste Murphy with the
three youngest of her eight. They make a
cheerful sixsome and really brighten my day.
Then too besides cheering you up, children
can sometimes crack you up. Even in church.
The other day I had little Matt Weaver
(pictured here), four-year-old son of Bill and
Terry Weaver, while his mother was at
Birthright. When he saw the large loaves of
bread on one of the Lenten display shelves
(symbolizing the theme “Man does not live by
bread alone”), he whispered to me, “Those
look like great big hamburgers.”
Cute as can be, affectionate and obedient, he
steals hearts wherever he goes. He’s often quite
the little man around the Birthright office
down at St. Joseph’s Infirmary too, talking to
the nuns and personnel on duty.
The selfish trend to see children as intrusions
and burdens is sad and un-Christian. Jesus felt
children were extremely important and took
time out for them, much to the shock of His
apostles who tried to shoo them away.
Yes, children are blessings and gifts and we
are grateful to CBS for their outstanding
production, “The Miracle Months.”
Matt Weaver
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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
DEADLINE: All material for publication must be received by
MONDAY NOON for Thursday’s paper.
Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan — Publisher
Rev. Noel C. Burtenshaw — Editor
Michael Motes Associate Editor
Member of the Catholic Press Association
Telephone 881-9732
Business Office
756 West Peachtree, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
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Postmaster: Send POD Form 3579 to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
601 East Sixth Street, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Send all editorial correspondence to: THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
756 West Peachtree Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Published Weekly r except the second and last weeks
in June, July ana August and the last week in December
at 601 East Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
///
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66
Throw Me Somethin’,
Mister!”
Dave McGill
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a Lent/Easter
article which Dave McGill wrote for NC News Service
last year.)
To a little Catholic boy growing up near
New Orleans, Easter was a great time of the
year. Actually, the good times started with the
beginning of Lent, when on “Fat Tuesday,” the
day before Ash Wednesday, we would pile into
the family car and motor into the Crescent City
for the big day as Fats Domino wailed the
popular tune proclaiming the event, “Mardi
Gras in New Orleans,” on the radio.
We would stand for hours at all the parades,
yelling “Throw Me Somethin’, Mister,” at the
tops of our lungs to the hundreds of masked
float riders who passed by, tossing their trinkets
and beads to the pleading, reaching multitudes
standing four and five deep in rows below
them. My brother, my cousins, and I would
always catch a little sackful of items made in
occupied Japan, and we’d savor them for a
while, but after a few days they were quickly
forgotten.
I had a few thoughts while recalling these
many hours of shouting at the carnival Krewe
members to throw me something. The first is in
regard to Operation Rice Bowl, which was
participated in by the Church during Lent and
which encouraged each family to eat a weekly
sacrificial meal. The money saved by eating less
was placed into a small “rice bowl” at the table,
and later was given both to the famine areas of
the world and to the malnourished and needy
of the regions where we live.
The sad truth is that there are millions of
people on this planet who, if they could see us
eating dinner, would covet our table scraps.
And they would shout, “Throw me somethin’,
mister,” just as the poor man Lazarus did in
Luke 16:19-31.
As was recommended by the International
Eucharistic Congress, my family ate the
suggested sacrificial meal throughout Lent. One
week it consisted of such delectable morsels as
potato soup and a slice of bread; another time
it was tomato soup and two crackers. Through
this, we got a literal taste, not of the way
starving people LIVE, but of the way some of
them would even LIKE to live.
My own sacrifice was meaningful because I
just love to eat. My wife Carolyn’s was painful
because she is concerned with nutrition, and
these meals had little of it. But that was surely
one of the points of “Rice Bowl” - that the
starving are not only physically but also
nutritionally hungry. Her mixed feelings
probably reached a compromise via some wheat
germ sprinkled here and there.
For centuries, God was asked to send
someone, as it had been prophesied He would.
Then He did, in the Person of His Son, Jesus,
who lived, died, then lived again (as He does
today) to make it all real on that first Easter
morning. There is the tendency, once the
excitement has faded, to put aside this free gift,
just as we kids put aside the Mardi Gras trinkets
years ago. But Easter is real and lasting, and can
live in our hearts each day of the year, and is
not restricted to “the first Sunday after the
first full moon on or after March 21st.”
I decided to ask my children what Easter
meant to them, and I began with the youngest,
a five-year-old. Fully expecting her to say
something like, “Jesus rose from the dead and
gave us the Easter Bunny,” I was surprised at
her actual answer: “Jesus came alive again after
he died for us.” However, at family prayers that
night she revealed her true age when her softly
and sincerely-spoken prayer was, “I pray that
the Easter Bunny will have a safe trip.”
Our 10-year-old’s response was that she liked
the candy, but especially the Mass on Easter
Sunday because everything was special and
pretty and a lot more people were there. Our
oldest, a teenaged son, said the doing of extra
things during Lent in an effort to improve
himself leads up to a renewal or rebirth for him
each year on Easter.
When I was their age, after Mardi Gras there
would come six weeks of watching what we ate
(which wasn’t nearly the sacrifice it was
cracked up to be, for in Louisiana we ate and
enjoyed a lot of seafood anyway). Finally,
Easter would come, and with it a trip to my
grandparents’ home where all the cousins would
swap candy and have a great time stuffing
ourselves. I can remember all the joyous
“Happy Easter” greetings, but I can’t recall
thinking much about Jesus’ central place in
Easter as a little boy.
What I’m realizing is that my own kids are a
lot closer to being “beyond the Easter bunny”
than I was at their age. What has helped this
along this year was the meal sacrifices together.
These have let them see the real focus on Easter
at questioning ages, and the meaning of Easter
for the modern Christian.
In Isaiah (58:6,7) we find, “Is this not the
sort of fast that pleases me ... to share your
bread with the hungry?” Having tried to do this
“for the least of my brothers”, we can enjoy a
more joyous Easter this year.
I remember quite clearly the death of Pope
Pius XII. I had just nearly finished my
elementary education in a Catholic grammar
school in Buffalo, New York. The Church had
been a major part of my life and the only Pope
I ever knew was Pius Xn. He was the visible
symbol for the Church with which I identified.
At the time, I felt that his death was a great
loss.
I was uncomfortable with the discussion
about who could be elected to follow this holy
figure. In my mind, there wasn’t anyone who
could really replace him. So it was with some
dismay when I saw that Cardinal Roncalli had
been chosen. He didn’t seem like the right type
to me. He certainly didn’t look anything like
Pius XII. Immediately, many started to speak
of him as an “interim” Pope, one who really
wouldn’t do anything noteworthy, but just
keep the Church going until some future
eminent Churchman came along.
We know the rest of the story. There were a
few surprises in store for the Church and the
entire world through the leadership of Pope
John. Today, few remember much about Pius
XII, but Catholics and non-Catholics recall
affectionately the days of Pope John and the
“windows” which he opened for all of us.
Aggiornamento was a new word in many
vocabularies. Certainly, our Church won’t be
the same for a while to come.
Pope John’s leadership for the Church and
his call for renewal of Catholic life weren’t
expected. Many within the Church clearly
weren’t ready for changes which often were
misunderstood and, in some cases, strongly
resisted. The Church came to express its
relationship toward the total world community
in words and attitudes that, at times, seemed
little short of revolutionary.
Our lesson from this recent chapter in our
Catholic history is both clear and important.
We didn’t expect much from Pope John, but
God did. We have come to recognize that God’s
Spirit was indeed alive and well within him.
Pope John had the courage to foster a renewal
within the Church because of the ways in which
God was working in his life. He had a strong
sense of faithfulness to all that God intended
and he allowed that faithfulness to overcome
his natural reticence and humility.
While the effects of God’s call to John are
more dramtic in their outcome than we expect
from mo6t other people, including ourselves,
nevertheless God’s plan for each of our lives is
no less important. He has enriched each of us
with particular gifts and talents. Much of our
response is a coming to terms with the
directions in which our uniqueness points us for
the sake of God’s kingdom. He’s working to
save us and bring us to himself even when we
act as though we don’t understand the message.
A critical factor in this whole process is our
faith that God will provide us with the strength
and courage which may be necessary to respond
to him. He doesn’t ask us to do the impossible,
but only to actively cooperate with what may
seem impossible to us because our vision isn’t
his. God himself is the source of our capacity to
let his movement take shape in and through us.
Today, we have a good feeling and strong
admiration for Pope John’s life. God did things
through him that we didn’t anticipate. We need
to be open now to the mighty ways of our
loving Father on our behalf including those
which we don’t expect. Vocation is our
faithfulness to his plan - our thankfulness for all
that God is prepared to do with us for our
world and his kingdom.
Resound
Stevens Boycott
ATLANTA - Well, I see by the February
24th issue of the GEORGIA BULLETIN that
the Priests of the Atlanta Provinces are at it
again.
As you are aware, they voted to support the
boycott of The J.P. Stevens Company products.
The Priests do not seem to be too concerned
with the wishes of the Stevens workers
themselves. As a matter of record, the
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers
Union has been attempting for fourteen years,
(14 years mind you) to organize 44,000 Stevens
employees in 85 Stevens plants.
After 14 years of this activity, The Union
has only been voted in at one plant, that being
the plant at Roanoke Rapids, N.C. in August
1974.
Never mind that the majority of workers
have repeatedly rejected the Union’s efforts to
organize them, the good Priests of the Atlanta
Province plunged right in with what appears to
me to be a resolution that completely ignores
the people they pretend to be helping.
I would dare say that they could better
spend their time on more important matters,
such as speaking out against the evils of sin and
for aiding men in the salvation of their souls.
RICHARD A. MCDONALD
WSB Editorial
ATLANTA - Your editorial in the March 17
issue of THE GEORGIA BULLETIN is deeply
appreciated. Appearing as it does in your fine
publication makes it doubly-appreciated,
because of the high standards you set in
journalistic and religious leadership. We’re
proud to be a part of the communications
business in a town where such fine newspapers
as yours also serve.
Your editorial, same issue of The GEORGIA
BULLETIN, on the appointment of Bishop
Joseph L. Howze, a black native of Alabama
(my home state) to a bishop’s post in your
church is most appropriate.
Kindest regards.
ELMO ELLIS,
VICE PRESIDENT, AND
GENERAL MANAGER,
WSB RADIO
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