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Priest’s Journey
To John Paul II
John Paul Writes
Priests Of World
BY MICHAEL MOTES
(Special to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN)
Monsignor W. Thomas Larkin,
Administrator of the Diocese of St.
Petersburg, isvbaek basking in the
Florida sun after a most unusual class
reunion.
His host for the gathering of old
friends was one of two Polish priests
with whom Monsignor Larkin studied
more than 30 years ago at the Belgian
College (Angelicum University) in
Rome. Then he knew his friend as Karol
Wojtyla. Today the world knows his
former fellow seminarian as His
Holiness, Pope John Paul II.
The friendship dates back to 1948,
when Monsignor Larkin was among a
group of American, Belgian and Polish
seminarians studying at the Belgian
College. The Americans and Polish were
unable at the time to enter their
native-speaking schools in the Eternal
City because of the great influx of
post-World War II seminarians studying
in Rome. Three Americans and two
Poles thus ended up in the Belgian
school with 15 natives of that country
and the camaraderie began.
Pope John Paul II sent out invitations
to his fellow classmates last January and
the reunion was set for March 31. In
addition to Monsignor Larkin, the two
other Americans who were a part of the
1948 group are also Florida priests and
attended the reunion. They are
Monsignor Robert W. Schiefen of
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The Journey Of Judas
He knew he was running late. There
would be flaming daggers in the eyes of
the Eleven. So what? That lazy lot just
did not understand him.
Judas took pride in his prestigious
position. He was the scheming business
barterer for this bunch. He bought the
bread. He arranged the stopover
lodgings. With an ad man’s eye, he even
publicized the heart-pounding miracles,
moving the mobs to gasping wonder.
Sure, he was
running late. But
he was busy.
The scheme
flashed through his
feverish mind as he
dodged the
badgering street
beggers. The Lord
was too timid and
too tame. All that
power, bubbling
like a future
volcano, was simmering in slumbering
quiet. Well, no more. Soon the whole
world would know.
Rome would forget Venus and Caesar
would rejoin the ranks of mere men.
The Greeks would pocket their
philanthropy, the raging, barbaric tribes
would get in line and Jerusalem,
forgotten city of serfs, would shine in
the rays of sparkling spiritual power.
As he reached the crowded side street
of the Upper Room, he thought about
those penny pinching priests. Twenty
pieces of silver, indeed! He had been
forcefully emphatic. Thirty or nothing.
Take it or leave it. He grinned at their
miserable grudging agreeableness.
Jesus would be so grateful. The angry
arrest would force a public
demonstration of his power. Memories
of Lazarus would fade, the multiplying
loaves would never more be mentioned
and the mountainous flow of marriage
feast wine would be forgotten.
One wave of his hand and the
accusing army of Temple custodians
would fade from the face of the earth.
The Roman regiments would fall like
toy soldiers in backyard battle and the
Governor would surrender his throne in
a gesture of nervous worship.
Then Jesus would bring about the
royal kingdom of his words.
The plot was perfect. Judas, the
engineer, replacing the ploddings of the
elder Peter, would be placed first. Yes
the plot was perfect.
Two days later the perfect plot was in
shreds. With uncooperative gentleness,
the miracle worker had turned Savior,
rising to the bitter heights of a Cross.
From that lonely throne, dreams of
power on earth were chronically dashed.
Judas hanged himself. For once,
impetuously premature, his timing was
early.
Sarasota, and Monsignor Joseph Dawson
of St. Augustine.
“The Holy Father was a very gracious
host,” says Monsignor Larkin. “Our visit
was quite informal and began with Mass,
which we had the great pleasure of
con-celebrating with the Pope. He then
gave a brief homily and welcomed us to
the Vatican in French.”
Monsignor Larkin commented that
Pope John Paul II “seemed very relaxed
and stated that he enjoys his job. He
appeared genuinely interested in each of
us and there was a certain amount of
joking among the group as to who had
changed the most since our school days
together more than 30 years ago.”
John Paul is remembered by his
fellow classmate as “a very well-rounded
and extremely brilliant student.”
“He was always very interested in the
Americans studying in Rome and would
spend a great deal of time with us,”
Monsignor Larkin recalls. “He was very
gifted in languages and liked to practice
his English with us.”
The pontiff has always enjoyed
singing and Monsignor Larkin
remembers Karol Wojtyla as one “who
always was ready for a songfest.”
The reunion the Pope hosted lasted
AN UNUSUAL REUNION recently united members of this 1948 group
of seminarians studying at Rome’s Belgian College. The host for the
Vatican reunion dinner was Pope John Paul II, pictured as Father Karol
Wojtyla (top row, right). Members of the group attending from the United
States included Monsignor Thomas W. Larkin (top row, left) and
Monsignor Robert W. Schiefen (middle row, left), both serving in Florida.
for over five hours and during the
course of the evening, Monsignor Larkin
was asked by his host whether his
diocese of St. Petersburg was on the
East or West coast of Florida.
“I replied to the Holy Father, that we
were on the BEST coast and that
seemed to please him,” Monsignor
Larkin said.
During the stay in the Vatican, the
former classmates were also entertained
by the Belgian Ambassador of the Holy
See.
“The entire experience was one never
to be forgotten,” says Monsignor
Larkin. “When the Holy Father was
inaugurated last October, I went to the
Vatican, but only had a very brief visit
with him. This time the atmosphere was
casual and relaxed and a memory that I
shall always cherish.”
In addition to an opportunity to dine
with the Holy Father, the evening
Monsignor Larkin spent with John Paul
II had another significant meaning for
the Florida administrator. It was his
birthday and, as he says, “It was the
best birthday party I ever had!”
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope John Paul II has strongly reconfirmed celibacy for
Latin-Rite priests. In a major document he also indicated that he will not easily grant
laicizations, dispensations from priestly life.
The document is a papal letter addressed “to all the priests of the church on the
occasion of Holy Thursday 1979.” In it the pope said objections raised against priestly
celibacy are based on criteria “whose ‘anthropological’ correctness and basis in fact are
seen to be very dubious and of relative value.”
The Latin church continues to wish “that all those who receive the sacrament of
2 orders should embrace this renunciation (of marriage) ‘for the sake of the kingdom of
o heaven,’ ” the letter said.
In a shorter companion letter addressed to the world’s bishops, the pope stressed
“the brotherly communion of the whole of the church’s episcopal college or ‘body.’ ”
He asked bishops to intensify their unity with priests of their dioceses and urged
“every possible effort” to encourage new vocations to the priesthood.
Both letters were linked in their titles to Holy Thursday (April 12), the day on
which priests renew their promises to their bishops, and bore April 8 (Palm Sunday) as
the date of issuance. The letters were made public April 9.
In the 35-page letter to priests, the pope also placed strong emphasis on lifelong
fidelity to the priestly vocation.
“It is a matter here of keeping one’s word to Christ and the church,” he said.
He rejected laicization as an easy answer to a crisis in one’s vocation, but the words
of the text do not rule out all possibilities of granting laicizations. The pope did not
say what he will do with laicization requests, but his words indicated a tough line will
be taken.
Laicization is a papal dispensation freeing a priest from his priestly duties and
returning him to the lay state.
He urged priests to call on their resources of faith and prayer in moments of crisis^
“and not have recourse to a dispensation, understood as an ‘administrative
(Continued on page 8)
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 17 No. 15
Thursday, April 12,1979
$5 Per Year
ALABAMA EXECUTION
Apostolic Delegate Contacted
BY MSGR. NOEL BURTENSHAW
(Special to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN)
Father Kevin Duignan, Pastor of St.
Robert’s Church in Atmore, Alabama,
was taking a short quiet doze on
Thursday afternoon when the good
news arrived.
The exhausted pastor was not in the
arms of his favorite rectory armchair.
He was sitting on a bunk bed on Death
Row in Holman Prison. He had not slept
a wink in four days.
It was the television set that brought
the news prayed for by Father Duignan
along with millions of others across the
nation. Condemned murderer John
Louis Evans III, scheduled to die in the
electric chair at midnight, had received a
stay of execution.
Relief and excitement still resounded
in the voice of the Irish priest, when
contacted Saturday morning by THE
GEORGIA BULLETIN. “Johnny had
just gone to another room above death
row to tape a last message for his
mother in Beaumont, Texas, when the
news broke. The cells along the row
erupted in cheers.”
Ironically, the only sign of dejection
noticed was in the eyes of Evans. He
had insisted for four months that the
execution should take place on
schedule. But changes are gradually
taking place in the 29 year-old Texan.
Father Kevin Duignan played a big part
in those changes.
“He wept on hearing the news and
then we walked in the yard,” said the
priest. “He had asked that God give him
a sign. Just a week earlier his mother,
Betty, pointed to my interest as that
sign. Now Johnny is seeing other signs
too.”
“After our talk in that little yard, he
turned to me and said, ‘Go home Father
and get some sleep.’”
Sleep was Father Duignan’s greatest
need. Days and nights had blurred into
(Continued on page 6)
Dead.
Third Day, Jesus rose from the
For That Special Friend....
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (NC) - Greeting card suppliers may
have cared enough to send the very best Easter cards to the St.
Joseph Parish religious gift shop - but they goofed and sent them
in Polish.
So the parish bulletin at the Winter Haven church read, on a
recent Sunday: “Don’t you have a Polish friend - John Paul II -
you’d like to wish a joyous Easter?”
Easter cards were also available in English.
EXECUTION DELAYED - John Louis Evans III, shown making a
statement with Father Kevin Duignan this week at Alabama’s Holman
Prison, has been granted a stay of execution by Supreme Court Justice
William Rehnquist. The convicted murderer of a pawnbroker had said he
hoped his electrocution would serve as a deterrent to young law offenders.
Father Duignan, pastor of St. Robert’s parish in Atmore, Ala., has been
counseling Evans daily.
Holy Week W ithout A Church
BY BILL KARABINAS
The lack of a completed Church or adequate worship facility
has not deterred Father Paul Reynolds, pastor, and the
parishioners of St. John Neumann’s in Lilburn from an active
participation in the total Holy Week liturgy. Long before Easter
of 1980, this relatively new and fast growing Archdiocesean
parish will move into its new Church, presently under
construction. For the past 20, months they have been relying on
the kindness and true Christian hospitality of other
denominations and the public facilities of Gwinnett County.
Holy Thursday’s liturgy is being held in the Parkview High
School cafetorium (the site of the regular Sunday Masses), and
will be made even more meaningful when over 100 young
children of the Parish receive their First Holy Communion.
The Parish community moves outdoors at 3 p.m. on Good
Friday to the partially-constructed site of the new Church. On
this site, along Tom Smith Road, among the steel girders,
concrete block and other building materials; across the length
and breadth of the 14 scarred acres, that will soon be their
parish home, the Stations of the Cross will be held.
Not the properly or Canonically erected Stations that are
common to our parish Churches, but a participation in a
prayerful recollection of the Passion and Death of Christ in a
unique way. As each of God’s children prays best in a manner
that suits the individual personality, so the Stations on Good
Friday will be personalized by the parish community of St.
John Neumann. Each Station has been fitted to a particularly
meaningful geographic site on the parish property. The regular
Good Friday and Communion Service will be conducted in the
Parkview High School at 7:30 p.m.
Ordinarily, St. John Neumann parish has Saturday evening
Mass in Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church and the parish is
ever grateful to this Christian community for sharing their
beautiful facility with the Catholic parish. During Holy Week,
the parish is using the Gwinnett County High School for all the
Services and the Easter Vigil Services will be held at Parkview
High School. The school’s large cafetorium, as usual, will
provide the site for Sunday’s Masses - this the last Easter Sunday
before the new parish moves into its own facility.