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Forty Priestly Years
BY MICHAEL MOTES
(EDITOR’S NOTE: June 3 marked
the 40th anniversary of the ordination
to the priesthood of Archbishop
Thomas A. Donnellan. In a recent
interview with the GEORGIA
BULLETIN, the Archbishop reminisced
about his priestly career and his years in
Atlanta.)
GB: WHAT COMES TO MIND AS
SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS AND
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
DURING YOUR 40-YEAR CAREER
AS A PRIEST?
Archbishop Donnellan: In looking
back over 40 years, it’s difficult to place
yourself in the frame of mind in which
different things happened. So that some
of the highlights or great things at the
moment may not seem so important 40
years later. In my early years as a priest
I had the great joy of having my parents
living so that some things, like my first
assignment, which was to St. Patrick’s
Cathedral in New York, was a great
Coffee Break
hignlight. Being at church, which was so
important in the minds of all of us who
were preparing for the priesthood in
New York was a big thing. And my first
sermon at a High Mass, with my parents
coming to hear me. Things like that
were a great highlight.
Later on, in different assignments
during a period in which I served as
secretary to Cardinal Spellman, I had
the opportunity to travel with him to
Rome in 1954. That was my first trip
abroad and it gave me the opportunity
of seeing a number of places in Europe.
We stopped in France and Switzerland.
We visited in Venice and there we met
the Patriarch of Venice, who was
Cardinal Roncalli, and who was later to
be Pope John XXIII. We went on down
to Rome and were present for the
ceremonies for the canonization of Pope
Pius X. That was a very great highlight.
We were gone for about six weeks and it
was a tremendous moment in my life.
The other things, things that were
important so far as my own work - my
appointment as Vocation Director in
the diocese came at the same time that I
was serving in the Chancery Office and
shortly before I was appointed as
Chancellor and I served both as
Chancellor and Vocation Director. I had
always had a great interest in vocations
so it was a great joy to be doing that.
My whole work around New York had
been in the Chancery. My preparation
had been in Canon Law so that to be
Chancellor of New York was a great lift
for me and I enjoyed it very much. But
the appointment that probably meant
most to me and pleased me most was to
be appointed rector of the seminary,
which came in 1962.1 remember saying
to Archbishop Maguire that the only
ambition I ever had was to teach in the
seminary and I felt that I was too old
for that. About six months later I found
myself assigned as rector. Being in
charge of the preparation of young men
for the priesthood was to me possibly
the best of assignments. I couldn’t think
of anything more important that I could
be doing.
Obviously, the appointment as bishop
several years later was a great moment.
But I think that maybe the appointment
as rector of the seminary was the thing
that seems to me the greatest thing.
Then, after serving in the Diocese of
Ogdensburg four years, being appointed
Archbishop of Atlanta. As a Yankee, I
wasn’t even sure just where Atlanta was.
But it was great to come here and be so
warmly received. And to find such great
cooperation.
The other thing that I would recall as
a highlight was the fact that I was made
a bishop during the period of the
Second Vatican Council, so that within
a few months, I was going to Rome to
participate in the third session of the
Council. I participated in the third and
fourth sessions and had the opportunity
to Vote on most of the great documents.
That was a tremendous experience - to
see and to mingle with the bishops of
the Church from all over the world.
Those were, I guess, the main highlights.
The accomplishments? I’m not so
sure that there is any lengthy list of
accomplishments. Your question speaks
of major accomplishments. Mostly it
was a case of trying to do, as well as you
could whatever happened to be your job
at the moment. I took a great deal of
pride in serving the Church in the
Chancery and a great deal of joy in the
work of vocations and in counselling.
I’m not so sure that I have very many
major accomplishments to point to.
GB: I TAKE IT THEN, THAT IN
THE VARIOUS POSITIONS YOU
HAVE HAD, THAT YOU ENJOYED
THE WORK OF VOCATIONS
DIRECTOR AS MUCH, IF NOT
MORE, THAN ANYTHING YOU’VE
DONE - WORKING WITH THE
SEMINARIANS AND THE TEACHING
THAT WAS A PART OF THAT.
Archbishop: I have been happy and
contented in any assignment that I have
had. The things that gave me the
greatest consolation, I think were the
opportunities for pastoral activity. I had
served as an assistant in the cathedral
parish and heard confessions every day
of my life for 20 years. I counselled a
great many high school girls, a large
number of whom later entered the
religious life. And I’ve found a great
deal of consolation, for myself, in things
like that. I found a great deal of
satisfaction in preparing young men for
the priesthood. Very early on, I had the
benefit of guidance by very good priests
who made clear that it didn’t make so
much difference in what area you served
the Church, as long as you saw your
work as service to the Church and took
pride in doing it well. I think that made
everything fit in well.
GB: YOU MENTIONED THE
GUIDANCE OF OTHER PRIESTS.
WHO WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN,
OR WAS, THE MOST INFLUENTIAL
PERSON IN YOUR LIFE AND WHY?
Archbishop: Well, since I was 20
years at the Cathedral, I was a great deal
under the influence - the very kind and
paternal influence - of Bishop Joseph
Flannelly, who was the Rector of the
Cathedral during all of my time there
and who really was a father to me. In
the Chancery office, originally
Monsignor Gaffney, who was the
chancellor when I entered there, was a
very great help. And later, the present
coadjutor Archbishop, John Maguire,
both of whom were great influences in
the office. In the house in which I lived,
the late Bishop James Griffiths and the
retired Bishop of Springfield, Bishop
Weldon, both of whom lived in the
house with me, were very kind in
counselling a younger priest.
(Continued on page 6)
My dozing companion heaved and
snored gently as we drove into the
dawn. The silver, sandy beaches of the
Florida panhandle were probably the
subject matter of his busy dreams.
Anxiously, they haunted me too. But
for now a morning cup of steaming
coffee was my quest.
The greasy truck stop was the only
available oasis in the South Alabama
town. Truckers were handling grits on
eggs at every
available table.
Jelly and grits
could be seen, too,
and even grits on
grits was the
acceptable delicacy
of the few.
The sleepy-eyed,
alert counter lady,
gritsy spoon at the
ready, demanded
my order. Two
cups of coffee to go did nothing to liven
her morning. Ignoring my city slicker
request for Sweet ‘N Low, she curtly
commanded 83 cents. Without
discussion, eyeing the length of the
spoon, I obeyed.
The three cents was either Alabama
tax or a local penalty for passing
through. I generously discounted it. But
that eighty cents, too lowly cups at 40
cents each, was too much. Whatever
happened to the 15 cent version. Or
even the quarter cup. Gone, like last
year’s azaleas.
Wading through the grits-filled
truckers, precious liquid in hand, the
problems of inflation became my
meditation. Remember the two dollar
haircut? That’s a museum memory. It’s
gone to ten. And less of the mop is
mowed.
Then there was the five cent stamp.
The arsenic-tasting glue, to be furiously
licked and relicked, costs more.
A mirror-finished, emblazoned shoe
shine used to net 50 cents. Not only has
the minstrel art disappeared, a pair of
Kinney’s now cost less.
The Rockefeller types of the world
used to be camel breeders. Not any
more. The camel has become an
endangered species as the sheiks patrol
the desert in air-conditioned Cadillac
comfort — at our expense. The bill is 85
cents a gallon and reaching.
Is there any bargain buy left? My eye
caught the freshly delivered morning
paper nestling in the 15 cent machine at
the truck stop door. Now there’s an
apparition of every bright new day.
There’s a morning miracle marvelously
available at bargain basement prices.
Your newspaper.
Your Catholic newspaper is another
beautiful buy. It comes to your
doorstep once each week. You get all
the Vatican gossip, the latest on our
wandering Polish Pope, priceless news
gems from Georgia. And all for five
dollars a year. It’s a steal. But one that
can’t last.
The lingering price tag, so long a
precious part of your GEORGIA
BULLETIN, is coming to a bitter end.
That nice beloved round five dollar
figure must join the inflation climbers
of recent years to become a six dollar
delivery. Nothing is sacred.
The persistant snores of my sleeping
companion interrupted my momentary
meditation. Next time in the hour of
coffee need my instincts will be
decidedly smarter.
I will leave the driving to him.
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 17 No. 23 Thursday, June 7,1979 $5 p er Year
Hundreds Of Thousands
GREETING THE FAITHFUL -- Pope John Paul II him at Gebarzewo near Gniezno on the second day of
greets hundreds of thousands who turned out to see his historic trip through Poland.
RIGHT TO LIFE
Governor Busbee Contacted
The new head of the state’s largest
anti-abortion group called Monday for
an investigation of the Atlanta area
abortion clinics. In a statement issued
from her DeKalb County home, Mrs.
Cherie Bowman, Chairman of the
12,000-plus member Georgia Right to
Life Committee, said, “We call on
Governor George Busbee to instruct the
state Department of Human Resources
to launch a comprehensive investigation
of the so-called ‘safe and legal’ abortion
chambers in Atlanta.”
Mrs. Bowman’s statement came in the
wake of an incident at an Atlanta
Abortion chamber which left two girls,
aged 15 and 19, in very critical
condition at Grady Hospital where they
were transported after anesthesia
mishaps.
Mrs. Bowman continued, “The state
exists to protect its citizens. Despite his
previous lack of support for the pro-life
position, Governor Busbee has a
responsibility to ensure the state
provides whatever protection is possible
within the confines of court decisions.
The Department of Human Resources
has been totally lax in developing and
enforcing rules and regulations
controlling abortion in Georgia.”
She added that the incident would
give the pro-life group additional
ammunition in their fight to get
stronger anti-abortion laws: “The
abortionists’ chant is “Keep abortion
Archbishop Donnellan announces the appointment of Reverend Vincent
Douglass, C.SS.R., as Chaplain of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification
Center in Jackson, Georgia. This appointment is effective immediately.
As Chaplain of the Center, Father Douglass will succeed Father James
Jones, O.F.M. Father Jones will be leaving the Archdiocese shortly for
graduate studies.
safe and legal.’ While there can be no
argument that it is legal - with over a
million babies killed each year in the
U.S. - this incident raises additional
serious questions about its safety -
except for the abortionist himself.
Abortion is virtually one hundred per
cent fatal for the unborn child. It is
always highly risky for the mother.
“During pro-life talks, we used to
(Continued on page 7)
Welcome Pope John Paul
On Historic Visit Home
WARSAW, Poland (NC) - Pleas for
religious freedom and the unity of
Christians in Eastern and Western
Europe marked the visit by the first
pope in history to a communist-ruled
country.
Pope John Paul II arrived in Warsaw
June 2 and kissed the ground at the
airport. It was also the Polish pope’s
first return to his native land since being
elected pontiff last October.
Hundreds of thousands saw the pope
celebrate Mass in Warsaw and in the
primatial See of Gniezno during his
particularly important role in the unity
of Christians of Eastern and Western
Europe.
It is the will of Christ and the Holy
Spirit that the election of a Slavic Pope
“should in a special way manifest and
confirm in our age the presence of these
(Slavic) peoples in the church and their
specific contribution to the history of
Christianity,” the pope said.
“Is it not Christ’s will, is it not what
the Holy Spirit disposes, that this Polish
pope, this Slav pope, should at this
precise moment manifest the spiritual
Related Story Page 2
weekend activities June 2-3. His
homilies contained strong pleas for
religious .freedom.
It is “impossible without Christ to
understand the history of the Polish
nation,” said Pope John Paul in a
homily in Warsaw June 2 in what
appeared to be the keynote speech of
his trip to Poland.
Standing below a towering 50-foot
cross before a crowd of at least 170,000
Poles in Warsaw’s Victory Square on the
first day of his nine-day trip, the pope
hurled out the basic challenge of the
Catholic Church to efforts by the
communist government to institute an
atheistic state.
In trying to view Poland without
Christ and Christianity, the pope said,
“we lay ourselves open to a substantial
misunderstanding. We no longer
understand ourselves.”
He interpreted his own election as
pope ~ the first Polish pope in history -
as a call to Poland to become “the land
of a particularly responsible witness” to
Christ and the church.
The following day in Gniezno, the
pope said he wants to play an important
role in the unity of Christians from
Eastern and Western Europe.
Pope John Paul said he is the world’s
first Slavic pope and declared himself an
apostle of and to the Slavs.
Speaking at Mass in Gniezno on June
3, the pope expressed a conviction that
God has called him, as pope, to play a
unity of Christian Europe?” he
continued.
“Although there are two great
traditions, that of the West and that of
the East, to which it is indebted,
through both of them Christian Europe
professes ‘one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of us all,’ ” said the
pope.
Although the pope’s remarks were
chiefly religious, they also seemed to
carry a significant political implication.
While the Western countries are all
non-Slavic, the East European,
communist-ruled countries of the
Warsaw Pact are heavily Slavic.
Throughout East Europe the Catholic
Church is at least hindered if not
persecuted.
Initial contacts between Polish
government officials and the pope
produced warm exchanges of greetings.
Government officials were on hand to
greet the pope upon his arrival and later
in the day the pope paid a courtesy call
to the top government leaders. The
government treated the pope as a
visiting head of state.
In Warsaw, hundreds of thousands of
Poles cheered the pope on June 2 as he
rode triumphantly into the city from
the Okecie Airport.
Greeted at the airport near Warsaw
by Warsaw’s Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski,
primate of Poland, and by the president
of the Polish Council of State, Henryk
Jablonski, the Pope knelt and kissed the
(Continued on page 7)