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The Georgia Bulletin
October 18,1979
Papal Reflections
Listening to and reading the Pope’s
sermons, talks and speeches, most of
us cannot help but experience feelings
of deep religious emotion and one can
say the presence of something joyful
and beautiful amongst us. Many of
those who saw him, those watching
him on television were moved to tears.
He was not a Polish Pope, his
nationality was not important, one
who came from our own family, there
were no barriers.
As he left Shannon in Ireland, they
sang “Danny Boy.’’ I am sure there
was not a dry eye in the country. This
kind of feeling is rare in our harsh
world. Christ was speaking to us. Here
was someone sent certainly by God, as
all the great Popes of modern times
were sent to the whole world. He
spoke to our hearts, he spoke to me.
What a change he has offered us from
a world tormented by doubt,
uncertainty, violence, moral
confusion, to a vision of life where
certainty, love, justice and joy are real
values that we know we can
experience and are so much evident in
his own life.
Pope John Paul has also challenged
us Catholics of America to turn to
Christ who is the light of everyone
coming into the world. His homily at
Yankee Stadium was for me a
powerful portrayal of our redemption.
It took on flesh and blood, his
memorable and penetrating words “I
again proclaim the dignity of every
human person, the rich man and
Lazarus are both human beings, both-
of them equally created in the image
and likeness of God, both of them
equally redeemed by Christ at a great
price, the price of the Precious Blood
of Christ.” No explanation of these
words are necessary, they are clear
and true. It is Christ speaking to us. It
is Christ speaking again to us, inviting
all to open our doors to Him,
especially the poor, regardless of the
type of poverty. We can not close our
hearts to the “undocumented
workers," “homeless,” or “all who
hunger for human dignity in this land
and in the world.”
A radical change of heart is
required from us all, a change in
attitude and action. This is another
essential sign of the presence of the
suffering Christ in the world, the one
that we passionately believe in and
love. When we help them, we help
Him, that is a wonderful privilege, not
a threat as we sometimes feel. We are
not there to judge, but to help and to
love and it is on love that we shall be
judged when we die.
One verse of Psalm no. 138
captures what I believe many feel
toward John Paul: “All earth’s Kings
shall thank you when they hear the
words of your mouth, they shall sing
of the Lord’s ways. How great is the
glory of the Lord.”
-Father John Fallon
Cathedral of Christ The King
Working Women
Sheila Mallon
If I could, I would like to steal a title for
this column from fellow columnist Teresa
Gemazian. “Potpourri”
I am fortunate in rny travels around town
to attend a good many church luncheons
and suppers and at the urging of GEORGIA
BULLETIN Associate Editor, Michael Motes
I am going to include in this “potpourri”
one recipe that he and most of the men of
my acquaintance rave about.
If you have just started the Scarsdale Diet
as I have, you will want to read no further.
But if you are in the market for an easy
delicious dessert to feed a goodly number of
folks and calories are no object - this is it.
BANANA SPLIT CAKE
It calls for two cups of graham cracker
crumbs and one stick of melted oleo. Mix
and pat into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. In
blender put two cups confectioners suga 1 -,
one stick of very soft oleo, two whole eggs
and one teaspoon of vanilla. Blend
thoroughly for about fifteen minutes. The
mixture will feel almost hot.
Spread blender custard over crumbs. Slice
five bananas over custard mixture and then
spread contents of one large can of
DRAINED crushed pineapple over bananas.
Top by spreading with the contents of a nine
ounce container of Cool Whip and sprinkle
with one half cup of chopped pecans. Top
can be further decorated with cherries sliced
in half. Refrigerate overnight. Serves 12 to
15.
However it is so good that if you want to
provide seconds you had better plan on it
feeding about seven or eight. Fantastic!
Over the years I have made many
friendships through church work - none
more lasting than those I have made through
membership in the Archdiocesan Council of
Catholic Women and my parish prayer
group. This past week as I called around
asking for help with Archdiocesan Respect
Life Day on October 27, I was to thank the
Good Lord for giving me the opportunity to
work with these women. In almost every
case it was, “What can I do, when do you
want me or do you need more help.”
For the most part these ladies have
worked for years as leaders in the council
and their parishes. Many of them hold jobs
in addition to their families and churchwork,
but the old adage “ask a busy person if you
want something done” has certainly been
true as far as many of these ladies are
concerned.
I wish that there were some way I could
list every name in this column and tell you
of all the good they have accomplished over
the years. But we would need a whole
edition of the BULLETIN to do them
justice.
They know who they are and I would like
to tell them how much I appreciate their
goodness and their help.
Now to another less weighty observation.
I am a bumper sticker watcher. Over the
years I have become aware of how
compelled people feel to demonstrate to the
world at large their connection with some
issue.
Last week I started writing down some of
the bumper slogans I observed and also some
I remember from other years. It’s an
amusing pastime and it can be a kind of
barometer as to how the wind is blowing at a
particular point in time.
For instance during the Watergate era -
there were a number of bumper stickers
which declaimed responsibility by stating
“Don’t blame me I Voted Democratic” or
“Don’t blame me I’m from Massachusetts.”
Now we are seeing a few which say “Don’t
Blame Me I Voted Republican.” I saw one
on a pick-up truck the other day which
stated that “Nuclear Power is Safer Than
Ted Kennedy’s Car”.
Aside from political slogans there is the
perennial warning “I Brake for Animals” or
the admonition “Have You Hugged Your
Kids Today.” Then there are the religious
ones which tell you that “I Found It” or
“Honk if You Love Jesus” or “My God Is
Alive, What About Yours?” Last week I saw
one which really caught my attention, it
said, “If You Don’t Feel Close To God,
Guess Who Moved.”
We could do a whole article on why
people want to advertise their views. It
probably has to do with the feeling of most
people that they are not listened to and that
their input is not heard or valued.
The Pro-Life people who have had good
reason since 1973 to feel alienated have their
own bumper pleas. “Adoption Not
Abortion” is one and the one my car is
wearing “Choose Life.”
But I thought one of the most thought
provoking I have ever seen was one on a
little red Datsun driven by a young woman
who had just attended a NOW meeting and
delivered an impassioned pro-abortion
speech. Her bumper sticker read “Help
Greenpeace, Save The Baby Seals.”
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4
The Holy Father And Vocations
Father Richard Lopez
(Archdiocesan Vocations Director)
I hesitate to add my own experience of
the visit of our Holy Father to the United
States with so many articulate and beautiful
statements already produced. However, my
heart is so filled with the experience, and
that experience relates so much to vocations,
I will add my piece.
I traveled to Philadelphia with my dear
friend, Father Andy Wawrzycki, a
distinguished priest of the Orlando diocese.
Father Wawrzycki’s presence, and joy over
the event doubled my happiness. We
attended the Mass for priests and
seminarians at the Civic Center in
Philadelphia on October 4. After my
ordination, I count this event as one of the
high points of my life.
At the Civic Center the atmosphere was
electric - over 20,000 priests and religious
eagerly awaited the Pope’s arrival. For over
an hour we spontaneously broke into hymns
- some in Latin, some in English and some
in Polish (which Father Wawrzycki could
sing, but I could not). I still have chills
remembering 20,000 priests and religious
singing at the top of their lungs.
Finally thq Holy Father entered the
auditorium. All of us found ourselves at
once standing on our chairs, cheering,
clapping, tears streaming down our faces.
How tremendously powerful is the
irresistible charm of goodness and love in
this man we call our Pope. The Mass was
moving and the Pope’s homily strong. He
eloquently reminded us of the grandeur and
challenge of priesthood. We are priests
FOREVER, he reminded us, priesthood is a
gift from God, that should not be returned.
He spoke with force of our vocation. Our
vocation to the priesthood was a call to be
answered every day not just the day of our
ordination. That answer of priests each day
must be as Christ’s answer was, the Pope
told us, “yes” every day - not “no” one day
and “yes” the next. What power his homily
instilled in us. What joy in confidence in
priesthood his works and person renewed in
us. How can any Catholic feel anything but
pride in his Church and gratitude to God for
sending us a leader of the caliber of John
Paul II.
The last thing the Pope said to us, before
commending us to the loving intercession of
Mary, Mother of all priests, was “Pray for
Priests.” He said that to us and to you, our
dear people. I would add, “Pray for Priests”
that someday, by God’s grace, you might see
in us who seek to serve you a part of the
strength of spirit, charm of goodness and
sincerity of love we see in our Pope.
Pope John Paul’s visit is the greatest
blessing to the cause of vocations in years.
He has left us priests confident and unafraid
in our vocations. When young men see those
qualities in us they will want it for
themselves. Thank God for our vocation as
priests. Thank God for Pope John Paul II,
who loves his priesthood and shows it!
How Much Proof Does Our Faith Need?
Dave McGill
A couple of months ago, I read a fictional
book called “The Word,” by Irving Wallace,
which was published seven years ago. In the
book, an archeologist had found a “fifth
gospel,” The Gospel of James, which filled
in the missing parts of the life of Jesus
between when He was found in the temple
as a youngster of 12 and the start of His
public life at 30.
A team of people - publishers, Church
leaders, translators, typists, Bible scholars,
and advertising and P.R. representatives, had
become convinced for various reasons that
publication of the new gospel would change
the world. Millions, they felt, upon knowing
more about the life of Christ and His
teachings, would flock to the fold.
Appropriately, the project was named
RESURRECTION TWO.
At the end of the story, an interesting
thing occurred. The main character found
out that the new gospel was a fake, but was
unable to convince anyone. It was published
anyway, and indeed it did have a good effect
on the world; the end seemed to justify the
means, as things turned out.
Now the whole time I was reading the
book, I kept getting the same thoughts:
“This is silly” . . . “Why does anyone need
MORE evidence - every i dotted and t
crossed?” .. . “Isn’t the Word of God clear
enough as it IS? ”... “Isn’t the problem
really US, and not that we don’t know
enough about Jesus’ life?”
After finishing the book, I didn’t think
too much more about it until today. Then
this morning, I read in the paper that the
team of scientists who recently studied the
Shroud of Turin would, within a few
months, begin to publish their findings
about the authenticity of the cloth as Jesus’
burial garment. I have read several papers on
the Shroud, and I realized that I have been
rooting for the test results to be positive. I
asked myself why, and the answer came out
that (a) my own faith will be strengthened;
and (b) others might turn to Christ if it were
scientifically proven that the man’s image on
the cloth was formed 2000 years ago by a
sudden intense burst of radiation, and that
the stains (which penetrated through the
cloth while the rest of the image did not)
were made by blood.
Then I realized what a hypocrite I had
been in my thinking about the fictional
“fifth gospel.” I had put down the author’s
idea that such a find would strengthen faith
and bring many nonbelievers to Christ, and
then I turned around in real life and cheered
for a similar thing to happen for the same
reasons!
This has made me aware that we all need
a certain amount of information in order to
make decisions. We do this in everyday life
when we buy something; we want to know
what’s in the package, or how many miles
per gallon it gets, or how many square feet
of living space it has, or what yard-line
they’re on, or whether it’s
machine-washable.
So how about our faith-decision for
Jesus? IT ISN’T BASED ON ZERO
KNOWLEDGE. Consider telling someone
from another country, who has never heard
of Jesus of Nazareth, about Him. I have
done this, with a student from India. He
wanted to know many details about “this
Man,” some of which I couldn’t furnish
because of my own lack of knowledge.
There are millions who have come to
know enough about Christ to say, “All right,
I’m convinced and I wish to follow You.
Help me do Your will for me in this world,
Lord.” There are billions more, though, who
have not. I pray that their knowledge of Him
will grow, through the free exchange of the
Scriptures and of our witness to Him, to the
point where they too may come to love Him
and trust Him with their lives.
Pilgrimage To Inverness
Teresa Gernazian
Over two dozen Catholics from the
Atlanta area attended a celebration last
weekend at Our Lady of Fatima Church in
Inverness, Florida. The occasion was the
62nd anniversary of the miracle of the sun
which occurred in Fatima, Portugal on
October 13, 1917. Father James Cottrell,
the tireless Pastor of this lovely parish, opens
his church twice a year in special
celebrations to commemorate both the
Blessed Mother’s first appearance to the
three children at Fatima on May 13 as well
as October 13, the date of the sixth
apparition. People from all over joined
together in a day of prayer and spiritual
activities.
Guest speaker was Father Lionel J. Pare,
a great apostle of Our Lady of Fatima and a
representative of the American priests at
Czestochowa, Poland, for 40 days in May
and June. He had the great honor of being
the guest homilist at that city during Our
Holy Father’s visit. Originally from
Massachusetts, Father Pare has spent 30
years in the West Indies. He is active in the
Marian Movement of Priests (approved by
the Pope and which is rapidly growing
throughout the world in clergy, religious and
lay membership).
Giving us a close-up of Polish spirituality
in his humble yet skilled style, one could not
help but feel motivated. The religious fervor
of the Poles is a model for the whole world.
Father witnessed 20,000 university students
take part in an annual academic pilgrimage.
The enthusiasm and spirit of sacrifice in the
Polish youth are even greater than that of
the older generation, he was told.
What is the secret? What is causing this
large attendance at the Eucharist... at the
confessional lines... at rosary and other
devotions . . . the overflow in the seminaries
and religious houses? In delving closely,
according to Father Pare, it is because both
individually and as a nation, this Catholic
community has consecrated their lives to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Holy
Father’s motto, “Totus Tuus,” “All yours,
Oh, Virgin Mary,” is also theirs .. . day in
and day out. . . these humble, hardworking
people belong to Mary. And she is protecting
them spiritually and forming them into
followers of Jesus.
Father said it was probably because of
many days of perpetual rosaries said by
tremendous crowds that the government
finally agreed to allow the Pope’s visit.
Father Pare stated that while the Polish
parents have so little materially to give their
children, they cover them with love and
family unity. And sadly, here in America, he
said, we often crush our youth with material
possessions. Youth cry out for leadership;
for models of sacrifice, and they will
respond if motivated . . . they will be able to
find joy and feel good about life if they are
given the ideal. Poland is the light of the
nations in the world today, he concluded.
These humble people following requests of
Our Blessed Mother at Fatima are leading
the way for the triumph of God over evil in
the world - through prayer, penance and
humble acceptance of their daily duties and
the circumstances of life.
Along with Eucharistic celebrations
throughout the day, there were three rosary
processions and several movies. “Fifty Years
of Thorns and Roses - Life of Padre Pio” was
shown and explained by Dr. Frank J.
Ceravolo. It was my pleasure to talk with the
Italian physician who is a diplomat of the
American Board of Family Practice.
In 1960, while ill with a progressive type
of disease, he had a dream-vision of Padre
Pio and received the assurance that he would
be cured. He visited Padre Pio, becoming one
of his spiritual sons. Dr. Ceravolo spreads
devotion to Padre Pio by showing this
captivating film and allowing people to
venerate the gauntlet (brown woven glove)
worn by Padre Pio.
Dr. Ceravolo presented me with a copy of
his recently published book of poetry and
photography (an outflow of his ardent desire
to write some poems for his beloved Master
and His Heavenly Mother). The book
entitled “For I Love You So . . . !” quotes
Luke 1:48 on the first page: “All ages to
come shall call me Blessed.” His poem which
follows is a perfect reminder of the power of
the prayer which Our Blessed Mother asked
for in her appearances at Fatima:
“The Rosary is for me:
A gentle chain around my heart;
A crown on my head
And the armour of a crusader.”
Our pilgrimage to Inverness has left us
with special memories and grateful hearts.