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Advent
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Advent: The Beginning
BY MONSIGNOR JERRY E. HARDY
Advent comes again.
It always does — as regularly as the calendar allows.
It could be taken for granted, passed through, like a
tunnel to Christmas, ignored like the wrappings on our
gifts.
But it must not be so. Why?
Because the reality of Advent IS the gift of Christmas.
Advent is THE gift, the gift of insight into the heart of
our God. Christmas is the day we celebrate its meaning,
coming home fully to our hearts.
Advent is a time of questions and probings, of Jesus being
bom anew in our hearts, in faith freshened by more
reflection than usual. Christmas is the day we celebrate
the focus of our faith: Jesus-Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Advent is a time of night watch and waiting, of Jesus
being born anew in our attitudes, in hope rediscovering its
reasons to come out of hiding and back down our fears.
Christmas is the day we celebrate the here-ness of our
hope: Jesus-Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Advent is the time of child birth and labor pains, of Jesus
being born anew in our actions, in love made larger by
conscious effort to end ill will and hostility in our choices.
Christmas is the day we celebrate the living of our Love:
Jesus-Emmanuel, God-with-us.
We spent November inviting family and friends (new and
old) to come home with us, to worship with us, to see if,
in fact, our home was their home.
Now we have December and Advent to accept our own
invitation: to come home to ourselves; to get in touch
with our own faith, hope, love; to stop to take time; to
grow as believers.
These are days to realize that our God doesn’t want much.
Our ancestors labored mightily to build Him a temple. He
wanted only a home, and the only home He wanted was
and is us.
Let Him come home to us, now.
Let us come home to Him, now.
Let us come home together, now, these Advent days and
nights.
*
'H<mI
Pro-Life Frustrations
Sheila Mallon really had enough
to do. Expertly putting a weekly,
informative column together, helping
with husband Herb’s business and
gloating over cute and current
grandchildren more than filled her
waking hours. Going to work,
Pro-Life was an adventure for more
avidly audacious souls.
But along strolled Italianly daring
Marietta Pompillio and all that
changed. Forming an Irish-Italian
alliance, a team
was born and
Pro-Life was
breathing. The
dynamo duo set
to work.
Pro-Life is a
frustrating
business. There
you are in a
downtown
Atlanta office
and you realize
you are rolling
up timid sleeves to fight, not just a
few questionable medics making a
quick buck from the fears of
frightened pregnant girls. On no, you
are fighting the Constitution of the
United States which has okayed the
uneven war on unborn life.
And you have other battles too.
You have the community out there,
scared stiff of street crime, but
absolutely unimpressed when two
young women are wantonly
destroyed in so-called medical
institutions. The mock-medical
facility quietly and without question
fades out of business. Nobody cares.
Y ou call meetings and realize
Pro-Life is no match for football
Saturdays and Falcon Sundays. The
niceties are expressed, the just anger
is there but where is the needed
furious action? Is there really anyone
vitally interested in Pro-Life?
Francis Schaeffer and Everett
Koop are. And they are coming to
Atlanta to say so. And you won’t
find them in some obscure church
hall or borrowed back yard.
Schaeffer and Koop are bringing
their ideas, their conclusions and
their impatient anger to the gigantic
World Congress Center. They intend
to say it loud and clear.
Frighteningly, they call their
thorough expose, “What Ever
Happened To The Human Race?”
The theologian Schaeffer and the
surgeon Koop are both respected
scholars furious at the insanity of our
enlightened society. Their
high-powered seminar demonstrates
with unforgettable perception that
Life is sacred. And further, to deny
this sacred right in one, is to deny it
in all.
Our scholars come laden down
with that message. Knives are simply
not merely dripping with the blood
of the unborn, children are under
attack and useless non tax productive
seniors are also being readied. The
theories of the Master Race are in the
process of a second coming. And
soon we will most unbelievably ask,
“What Ever Happened to the Human
Race.”
With the charging presence of
these two insistant vibrant voices
Pro-Life becomes less frustrating, less
silent and less solitary.
The Irish-Italian alliance down at
Pro-life can tell you. They can also
tell about the Schaeffer-Koop
conference.
Ask ‘em. Call 881-1411.
orgia
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 17, No. 42
Thursday, November 29,1979
$6.00 Per Year
Summit Meeting For Pope And Patriarch
CHRISTIAN LEADERS EMBRACE ~ Patriarch Athenagoras I
kissed the cheek of Pope Paul VI when they met in Jerusalem in
1964. Pope Paul had worked for unity between Catholics and
Orthodox and Pope John Paul II is visiting three Turkish cities to
continue efforts to promote unity.
NC NEWS SERVICE
The visit of Pope John Paul II to
Istanbul, or Constantinople, to meet
Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch
Dimitrios I and participate in
celebrations marking the feast of St.
Andrew, is the latest in a series of
visits between leaders of the Catholic
and Orthodox churches over the last
15 years.
While on pilgrimage to the Holy
Land Jan. 4 to 6,1964, Pope Paul VI
met in Jerusalem with Orthodox
Patriarch Athenagoras I, predecessor
of Patriarch Dimitrios. That
encounter was the first meeting
between a pope and a patriarch of
Constantinople in 525 years.
Pope Paul and Patriarch
Athenagoras met twice more in
1967, in July in Istanbul and in
October at the Vatican. The
patriarch’s visit to Rome was the first
by a patriarch of Constantinople
since 1451. In the patriarch’s
cathedral in July, Pope Paul declared
that the Catholic and Orthodox
churches are “sister churches.” In
October, in a common declaration,
the pope and the patriarch urged a
halt “to the rancor of the past and
every kind of domination, whether
spiritual or intellectual.” They also
called for collaboration in scholarly,
pastoral and charitable works.
Between the 1964 and 1967 visits,
on Dec. 7, 1965, the pope and the
patriarch nullified the mutual
Catholic-Orthodox
excommunications imposed in 1054.
In a letter to Patriarch
Athenagoras in February, 1971, Pope
Paul expressed longing for the day
when “we will be able to commune
together from the same chalice of the
Lord.” The pope told the patriarch
he thanked God “for what has been
granted to us to accomplish during
these last few years for the
re-establishment of ever closer bonds
between our churches.”
Pope Paul said “an almost total
communion already existed between
our church and the venerable
Orthodox churches - though not yet
perfect - as the result of our
common participation in the mystery
of Christ and his church.”
Concluding his letter, the pope
urged: “Let not the situations
inherited from the past and the
barriers then raised between us be an
obstacle delaying this last step
toward full communion.”
In May, 1971, Cardinal Jan
Willebrands, president of the Vatican
Secretariat for Christian Unity,
visited the synod of the Greek
Orthodox Church in Athens at the
synod’s invitation and then visited
the Greek Orthodox archbishop of
Crete. The visit to the synod in
Athens was the cardinal’s first formal
visit to the Orthodox bishops of
Greece. Though Orthodox
Archbishop leronymus of Athens, in
his address of welcome to the
cardinal, said bluntly that past
actions of the Catholic Church
toward the Orthodox were prompted
by “intentions that were anything
but brotherly,” the visit was regarded
by both Catholic and Orthodox
ecumenists as a major step forward in
the churches’ mutual relations.
In January, 1972, Pope Paul and
representatives of Patriarch
Athenagoras, led by Metropolitan
Meliton of Chalcedon and
Metropolitan Damaskinos, exchanged
the kiss of peace at the Basilica of St.
John Lateran in Rome in a ceremony
marking the annual Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity. The pope said
the basis “has already been laid for
that ecumenical unity which we are
ardently seeking.”
When Patriarch Athenagoras died
in July, 1972, Pope Paul sent a
telegram to the synod of the
patriarchate to express his “pained
condolences.” The pope said the
patriarch had worked not only for
the reconciliation of all Christians,
but for that “of our two churches in
particular.”
When Patriarch Dimitrios was
elected, Pope Paul, in a telegram,
assured him “that in the bishop of
Rome you will always find a loving
brother.” The pope also sent a
special delegation to the patriarch’s
installation.
In June, 1973, the new patriarch
sent congratulations to his “holy
(Continued on page 3)
China May Be Ready
For Yatican Talks
ROME (NC) - China is ready to
begin negotiations toward a
“concordat” with the Vatican, the
Italian daily CORRIERE DELLA
SERA has reported.
Refugee Sponsors Share Their Story
BY MICHAEL MOTES
When the George Gfroerers
volunteered to become sponsors for
a Vietnamese refugee, little did
they know that within a period
from mid-August through late
September they would find
themselves with not the one, or
possibly two, that they had
graciously been willing to look
after, but with a total of SIX. Add
that to the normal Gfroerer
household of five children and one
might expect the head of the family
to become a refugee himself!
But getting a lot more than they
asked for had little effect on
George and Honey Gfroerer, natives
of Chicago now transplated to
Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish.
The family has always been one
to open their doors and hearts to
the less fortunate. Over the years,
they had had their share of foster
children and unwed mothers join
the family ranks, but their most
recent experience remains one of
their most satisfying.
“Outside of what we had read in
TIME, NEWSWEEK or the daily
newspaper, we had little insight
into the tragic situations among the
■Bill!
4
m
Terry, George and Griff Gfroerer
southeast Asians,” says Honey
Gfroerer. “But we were well aware
that the increasing number of
refugees arriving in the area needed
sponsors, so we volunteered to help
in any way that we could.”
The decision to become
sponsors, like ail decisions in the
family, was made by all members of
the household.
“We talk things over among
ourselves before making any
important decisions that will affect
the entire family,” George
commented, with Honey adding,
“If you take being Christian
seriously, as we do, you really try
to help others.”
When the decision was made, the
Gfroerers contacted Father Jacob
Bollmer and requested that their
name be added to the list of
volunteer sponsors.
“We were prepared to help one
or two refugees at a time,” George
recalls, “believing that they would
arrive at different times. We never
dreamed that within just a few
weeks that we would have six single
young men, ranging in age from 17
to 27, to look after.”
The Gfroerers were able to
accommodate four of the refugees
(Continued on page 3)
The newspaper based its
prediction on unidentified Vatican
sources and on an interview with
Father Franco Demarchi, a professor
of sociology at the University of
Trent, Italy, and editor of the Italian
magazine, Chinese World.
Father Demarchi said Chinese
Premier Hua Guofeng is open to
improving relations with the Vatican
despite indicating no desire to meet
with Pope John Paul II during a visit
to Italy in early November.
“There is one basic reason” that
Hua did not meet with the pope, the
priest told Corriere della Sera, “and
it’s called Formosa.”
China insists that the Vatican
break diplomatic ties with Taiwan
before beginning serious talks with
mainland China.
“In reality, the Vatican has
already done a lot,” Father Demarchi
said. “It has recalled the apostolic
nuncio to Formosa and has left the
post vacant. But Formosa persists in
maintaining its embassy in Rome,
and this complicates r -*ything.”
In March, Pope John Paul named
Archbishop Edward Cassidy,
apostolic nuncio to Taiwan, as
apostolic delegate to southern Africa,
but did not officially relieve him of
the former position.
The CORRIERE DELLA SERA
article appeared during the same
week as the release of a report from
the Rome headquarters of the
Society of Jesus on the June 29-Sept.
6 visit to mainland China by a native
Chinese Jesuit, Father Michael Chu.