Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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 r\The n[ [1 \Ge\orqia DM Uu V 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 U.S.A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foreign $6.50 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 /// // UP JlKfcviphMv 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 4 r