Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4
The Georgia Bulletin
March 22,1979
Superman
If you didn’t get a bright red cape for
Christmas, don’t worry. If the skin tight
red and blue shirt with the chest length S
on it didn’t arrive for your birthday,
don’t fret.
You’ll probably get it for Easter. Or
worse, someone may send you a phone
booth.
That’s the way it goes these days.
Yesterday it was the Beatles and their
mania. Today it's Superman of the quick
anywhere, especially in a phone booth,
change. Bad guys with nervous*twitches
and pulled down hats shake in their two
hundred dollar shoes. The guy with the
curl on his head and the spring in his feet
is back.
Well, this too shall pass. However, the
coincidental arrival of this forgotten
craze along with the miracle of the
Middle East is too much. Maybe
Superman changed his avocation. Maybe
he got kicked out of the journalistic
teamsters and took up farming peanuts
for a living. Maybe.
Anyway, President Carter spared no
muscle making the deserts safe. As deftly
as Clark Kent could whip off his glasses,
the president whipped off his smile and
soared high above buildings and oceans
bringing the message of righteousness,
without fail, without fear.
We owe his SUPERIative effort our
gratitude. A piece of paper will come
alive breathing Israeli and Egyptian
names. However tenuous, it is surely the
beginning of Shalom. History just might
now see it happen; this generation might.
The president’s SUPER insistence that
our prayerful hopes would bear fruit,
deserves action packed admiration. Next
week as the document is signed, we may
see those hopes fulfilled.
Someone should send Mr. Carter a
postcard promising a Pulitzer. It could
stand for all to see, as a monument to
courage, in the oval office corner.
A phone booth might just look out of
place. „NCB
* v
Resound... Resound...
—
I would like to respond to your editorial on
“All in the Family” and your praise of Norman
Lear, the creator of the series and many other
series. I agree with you that Norman Lear is a
brilliant writer but I do wish to point out in
what I hope is constructive criticism from a
Christian point of view, my opinions. I feel that
any praise given to Mr. Lear by Church leaders
could mistakenly be understood by many lay
people as an endorsement of his views as
portrayed on his television series. My reasons
for dislike for Mr. Lear’s shows are as
following:
t
1. Mr. Lear cleverly introduced
permissiveness toward homosexuality in one of
the “All in the Family” episodes and then
created deep sympathy for the homosexual
character by having him killed by a car.
2. In “Maude” he made abortion appear as a
sensible and intelligent solution to a family
problem and made “shacking” for Maude’s
daughter not only respectable but fully
acceptable to her young teenage son.
3. In “Good Times” he managed to create
the impression that the black family operates
better without a father by getting rid of James
and playing up Florida and her loud-mouthed
young neighbor who gave the impression of
having very little character.
4. In “All in the Family” he had “Meat
Head” get a vasectomy and put it across as his
deep love for Gloria which drew attention away
from the wrongness of the act.
There are many other such episodes I could
mention, but I believe my point is made. I feel
that Mr. Lear more than any other producer has
done more to chip away the moral conscience
of Christians and make moral corruptness
tolerable. I also believe that most of the general
public are not alert to the subliminal chipping
away at our recognition of what is evil and our
resistance to evil.
I sincerely hope I have not offended you. I
just wanted to share these opinions with you.
Mrs. Willie Turner
Atlanta
* HEY, LOOK. AAAPVIN, IF IT'S GONNA PRIVE SOU
NUTS ALL PLlRING LENT; PONT GIVE IT UP/"
r\The
l •
Xfjeiotyia
(USPS) 574 880)
A Spiritual Giant -
Monsignor George Tomichek
Teresa Gernazian
“We live in times when we have to walk all
the way with Christ, even if it means our job,
our money or our popularity.” This remark
came from Monsignor George Tomichek in a
conversation I had with him while he was at
Immaculate Heart of Mary for a Lenten
mission. The 35-year-old priest stationed on the
island of Mindanao in the Phillipines provided
special blessings for our parish March 9-11. The
Church was packed on Friday evening as he
stressed repentance. Teenagers flocked to
confession along with people of all ages, where
long lines gathered for each of the eleven
available priests.
During a special Mass Saturday morning for
the sick and elderly he focused on the value of
their prayers and the offering of their
sicknesses. “When you’re too tired or sick to
pray, hold on to your rosaries,” he said. “It’s a
sign of your love and trust in Jesus and Mary.”
The Anointing of the Sick followed the Mass.
Saturday evening was Mary’s night and he
didn’t have to tell us how devoted he is to Our
Lady - it was mirrored in the tone of his voice
as he spoke of her. It magnetized the young
people of our parish. “In the Phillipines, in the
fishing village of Baklada, they have novena
devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help every
Wednesday,” he said. “They start at 4:00 a.m.
and continue hourly throughout the day and
about 80,000 people come.” He encouraged
praying the rosary and wearing the scapular.
Everyone in the church was then given a
scapular.
After his talk, a statue of Our Lady was
crowned by our Pastor, Monsignor R. Donald
Kiernan, and then carried in procession on a
frame of fresh flowers by four stalwart teenage
boys. When he called for young people under
13 to walk in front of the statue and those
between 13 and 21 to follow him, some of us
held our breath. We knew the young ones
would jump up, but would the teenagers
respond? After a couple of brave ones got up,
many other teenagers, including my own,
entered the procession. It moved us all.
Sunday evening he talked of strong devotion
to the Eucharist, which should be fostered by
frequent visits to Our Lord in the tabernacle as
well as fervent Communions. After a beautiful
Eucharistic procession with young girls carrying
fresh flowers, a parish consecration and
commitment renewal was made followed by
Benediction. Mrs. Joanne Phillips and her lovely
19-year-old daughter, Nikki, provided a
memorable duet rendition of Panis Angelicus.
(Monsignor Tomichek DOES have a way . . .)
Father Jack Druding of St. John’s in
Hapeville was with us that evening - he was
ordained with Monsignor Tomichek in 1978
and deserves a vote of thanks for bringing him
to Atlanta.
Monsignor Tomichek’s devotion to Our Lady
was rather shallow until a 1970 pilgrimage to
Lourdes. There he saw a 24-year-old fellow
from New England, who gives his witness
annually at Lourdes. The young man had been
severely wounded in Viet Nam and as he lay on
the battlefield, all he could hear was the Ave
Maria, which had been sung at his sister’s
wedding. He begged Our Lord and His Mother
to let him get home, promising to go to one of
Our Lady’s Shrines and talking to people. He’s
still paralyzed, gets around in a
wheelchair . . . but he’s home.
After this trip to Lourdes, Monsignor
incorporated special Marian devotions in many
avenues, but especially in his work as a boys
high school teacher. “Everybody loves a
parade,” he explains “and in the eyes of the
Church, a parade is a procession and a
procession moves hearts. In Christ’s life, He
walked along the streets in procession . . . His
triumphant entrance into Jerusalem was a
procession. His walk to Calvary was a
procession . . . When He performed miracles, He
walked among the crowd in procession.” He
summed his feelings up this way: “In giving
processions back to the people, we’re giving
them, not a parade, not a festivity, but Christ
and His Mother, symbolized by an image of her,
walking in their midst.”
He then told me of a high school rally he
planned at North Catholic High in Philadelphia
before his seminary days. Scheduled just before
Mother’s Day in a football stadium, the boys
were to escort their own mothers, with corsages
they had made. He had put up a huge grotto
with 25 baskets of blue and white flowers,
candles in between. At seven o’clock, it started
to rain and hardly anyone had come ... plastic
had to be put over the altar. He trusted Our
Lady. At 7:30 p.m. the rains stopped, and over
1,000 people had come. There was a homily,
prayers in reparation for the wrongs being,
committed against motherhood, a crowning of
the Philadelphia Pilgrim Virgin Statue by a
Senator’s wife, and exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament. The boys with their mothers
marched around the field, praying the rosary. A
strong gust of wind knocked everything down,
one minute after the beautiful evening’s
ceremonies had come to an end. Talk about
faith!
After suffering a severe heart attack two
years ago, Monsignor Tomicheck celebrates
each Mass as if it were his last. He patterns his
spiritual life after Archbishop Fulton Sheen,
making an hour of adoration before the
Eucharist and praying the rosary daily. He
receives inspiration from his bishop, whom he
lives with in their “cathedral” (which is really a
hut - not even any electricity). The Most
Reverend Felix S. Zafra, gets up at 4:30 a.m.,
makes his hour of adoration, and does not stop
til late at night.
Monsignor Tomichek had the honor of
concelebrating Mass with the Holy Father in
Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico.
Another special honor that he is grateful for is
his affiliation with the canonization efforts of
Saint John Neumann, who is entombed at St.
Peter’s in Philadelphia. Not only did he have
the privilege of participating in the exhumation
of St. John but he was ordained beside his
tomb and wore the saint’s chasuble.
Another pie Monsignor has his finger in, is
the planning of a 1980 pilgrimage to Lourdes,
Fatima, Rome and Oberammergau for the
famous Passion Play. For those who wish to
write him about this or any other aspect of his
ministry, he can be contacted by writing to St.
Peter’s Church, 1019 N. Fifth Street.
Philadelphia, Pennsaylvania 19123. His mother
lives there and forwards his mail. Monsignor
Tomichek is scheduled to return in the near
future.
We have heard a spiritual giant. The two keys
he left us to grow in our spiritual lives were:
stronger devotion to Our Lord in the Eucharist
and stronger devotion to Our Blessed Mother.
Working Women
By Sheila Mallon
On Sunday, the Catholic women of the
Archdiocese will have an opportunity to
continue the spiritual growth they discovered
together last September. We came together then
a group of almost two hundred women both
Lay and Religious for an evening of sharing and
affirmation. The response was spectacular. We
were promised that the evening would be one
of many and that hopefully many more women
from all over the Archdiocese would come
together to share and discuss and to pray and
reflect and grow.
Through the auspices of the National
Assembly of Women Religious an organization
of both religious and lay women the second
meeting has taken form.
It will take place this coming Sunday, March
25 at the Village of St. Joseph at 2969 Butner
Road S.W. in Atlanta.
Beginning with registration at 12:30 P.M.
and ending with a social at 3:30 the afternoon
is one planned for personal spiritual growth and
a deeper understanding of what it means to be a
woman and a committed Christian.
“The FIAT Experience: A Woman’s Yes to
God” will take place in the beautifully wooded
setting of the Village. The lovely grounds and
chapel make this an ideal place for an afternoon
of prayer and reflection.
The guest speaker will be Ellen Nolan, a
Sister for Christian Community. She is involved
full time in conducting private and group
retreat. prayer groups, Faith Experience
weekends, individual counseling and spiritual
direction. She also trains leaders for prayer and
meditation groups and works with parishes and
in ecumenical programs. She has been National
Secretary of NAWR, consultant to several
Centers for Spirituality and Director of Liturgy
and Liturgical Music.
She will speak Sunday on, “The Person of
Mary Without Myth” and “Our baptismal
prerogative - to be contemplative.”
The afternoon has been arranged to allow for
discussion and sharing as well as time for
private prayer. We will be able to take
advantage of the lovely ample grounds of the
Village to take “A Closer Walk”.
If the response to the meeting last September
was any indication there is a great hunger on
the part of women for sharing and affirmation,
reflection and prayer. This afternoon has been
planned in response to the questions and
suggestions given by many of the women who
participated that evening.
If you have been seeking “something more”
this Lent. If you are tired and dispirited and
spiritually “frazzled” this may supply some of
the direction you have been needing.
Indeed the fact that this afternoon occurs in
Lent is no accident - the convenors planned it
that way. They wanted women to experience in
a special way the marvelous acquiescence that
was Mary’s “Yes to God”.
Come this Sunday and discover for
yourselves “The FIAT Experience,” with your
sisters from all walks of life.
Call Sister Jackie Clark at 636-2953 for
reservations. Come - bring a friend.
Prayerfully Yours
Rev. David E. Rosage
Catholic A rchdiocese of A tlanta
Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan Publisher
Rev. Monsignor Noel C. Burtenshaw - Editor
Michael Motes Associate Editor
Member of the Catholic Press Association
Telephone 881-9732
Business Office U.S.A. $5.00
756 West Peachtree, N.W. Canada $5.00
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 Foreign $6.50
DEADLINE: All material for publication must be received by MONDAY
NOON for Thursday's paper.
Postmaster: Send POD Form 3579 to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
601 East Sixth Street. Wavnesboro, 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 except the second and last weeks
in June, July and August and the last week in December
at 601 East Sixt-h St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
V — — — — ■ —
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
Matthew 11: 2-6
Jesus wanted to be known as a healer
because in this way he could manifest his great
love for us. When the disciples of John the
Baptist asked Jesus: “Are you ‘He who is me’
or do we look for another?” Jesus simply
replied by pointing to his healing mission. One
aspect of that healing was the power of his
Word: “the poor have the good news preached
to them.”
On another occasion Jesus assured us of the
healing power of his Word: “You are clean
already, thanks to the word I have spoken to
you.” (John 15:3).
Jesus speaks his Word to us in the Liturgy of
the Word at each Eucharistic celebration. The II
Vatican Council reminds us that Jesus is present
in his Word. “He (Jesus) is present in His Word,
since it is He Himself who speaks to us when
the holy Scriptures are read in the Church.”
(Liturgy 7).
As Jesus speaks to us in the Liturgy of the
Word, we find inspiration and motivation, hope
and comfort, which is often a healing balm for
us. As we listen to his Word, a conversion is
taking place within us. As we expose our
thinking and attitudes to the Word of Jesus, we
may discover that they are not totally in
conformity with the mind and heart of Jesus.
Almost automatically his Word begins to
change us.
As we hear his Word read and explained at
Mass it helps us keep our focus on God as our
prime priority in life. It is so easy for real
objectives and ideals in life to be hazy and
clouded as all the demands of the secular world
encroaches more and more upon us. We need
his Word as a guideline to help us keep our
sights riveted on the real values here in our
earthly exile.
Another wonderful healing takes place in us
through the power of his Word. Through his
powerful presence in his Word, a
transformation is effected within us. St. Paul
advises us to put on the new man, to acquire a
fresh spiritual way of thinking, to have this
mind in you which was in Christ Jesus. His
Word united with his Eucharistic presence has a
tremendous transforming power if we permit it
to become operative in our lives. Jesus told us
that apart from him we can do nothing, but the
implication is that with him we can do all
things.
Some additional thoughts for contemplation
can be found in:
Hebrews 4: 12-13 - “Indeed, God’s Word is
living and effective . .
Matthew 13: 4-23 - The Seed is the Word of
God.