Newspaper Page Text
Director
BY MICHAEL MOTES
“I was always being told by a
certain friend that if I could arrange
for a miracle to take place, then
there would be no problem with the
Shrine growing in popularity. Then
one day a miracle did occur and
Catholics throughout the United
States realized that they did have a
National Shrine and that it was time
to do something about it.”
When Monsignor P. J. O’Connor
reminisces about his days as Director
of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in
Washington, it is a history lesson not
only of the six-year period during
which he was head of the
magnificant edifice in the nation’s
capitol, but of the Shrine since its
very beginning.
As a young student from
Savannah, Patrick J. O’Connor
enrolled in the Catholic University of
America, then a relative newcomer to
the country’s educational
institutions, in 1920. His original
plans had been to go to Georgetown,
as his father had done before him,
but fate stepped in and young
O’Connor began an association with
the Shrine that was to span a 60-year
period.
“A notice was put up on one of
the bulletin boards at school that the
cornerstone of the National Shrine
Lighting One Candle
Jim Keller was most definitely
different.
was to be laid in September 1920,
just after I arrived as a freshman at
Catholic U.
“Being from the small and remote
Diocese of Savannah, I was excited
about the possibility of seeing such a
large assembly of Catholic Bishops,
plus, of course, a Cardinal. I had
never seen a Cardinal in my life and
this was the most exciting thing
about the laying of the cornerstone.”
Little did the future Monsignor
O’Connor realize that 30 years later
he would be appointed Director of
the National Shrine and it would be
during his administration that the
actual construction of the
above-ground Church would take
place.
For nearly half a century, the
National Shrine consisted of the
original Crypt Church Monsignor
O’Connor saw begun in 1922.
Following the completion of this in
1926, major construction ceased at
the Shrine.
“This was a very important period
for American Catholics,” Monsignor
O’Connor recalls. “The Church was
growing throughout the country and
building in local areas took
precedence over any construction on
a national level.
“Of course, this was also the
period of the Great Depression and a
World War, so there was little money
A SPECIAL COLLECTION for the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception will take place throughout the country at
all Masses December 8 and 9. Atlanta’s Monsignor Patrick J.
O’Connor served as Director of the Shrine from 1950 to 1956 and
reminisces about this honor in the accompaning article.
to be spent on a single building,” he
added.
Following his graduation from
Catholic University as Valedictorian
in 1924, Monsignor O’Connor
furthered his education with studies
at the American Academy of
Dramatic Art in New York and spent
a couple of years as an actor prior to
making his final decision to enter the
priesthood. In 1928, he entered St.
Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and
was ordained five years later in his
native Savannah.
He returned to Catholic
University in 1936, this time as a
member of the faculty. His interest
in the National Shrine was renewed,
but he thought little about it until
the day in 1950 when he was
informed that he had been proposed
to the Board of Trustees to succeed
Monsignor John J. Reilly, who had
(Continued on page 3)
Shrine Celebration
WASHINGTON (NC) - A three-day celebration, including sacred
music, prayer and recognition of service to Mary, will commemorate the
feast of the Immaculate Conception at the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception Dec. 6-8.
The shrine, American Catholicism’s major Marian shrine, has
commissioned three works for the celebration. They include “The
Festival Mass,” a Marian Mass composed by Robert Shafer, the shrine’s
music director; a 15-minute documentary film, “To Him, She Leads,”
narrated by Helen Hayes; and a new Marian musical setting for evening
prayer.
The evening prayer music was composed by the Federation of
Diocesan Liturgical Commissions in Chicago and will be used at one of
seven prayer services to be held during the celebration.
The Patronal Medal will be awarded Dec. 7 to Cardinal John Carberry
of St. Louis and Mother Teresa of Caluctta for outstanding service to
Mary. The shrine and the Catholic University of America jointly sponsor
the medal.
For one thing this gentle giant was
born and raised in sunny southern
California. Beyond the golden gates
of new opportunity in the exploding
city of Los Angeles, the Keller family
settled.
It was the turn of the century and
the war cry was “Go West.” Movies
were the rage, fame and fortune
actually existed and new beginnings
were brightly
born for the
daring and the
adventurous.
Jim was
indeed differ
ent. He wanted
adventure, but
not in the West.
His eyes gazed
East. First to
New York state
where he could
join the .newly
formed Maryknoll Missionary
Fathers. And then even further east
to the gates of the Chinese Empire
offering opportunities in hardship
and the daily high road to dangerous
missions. Only one of Jim Keller’s
dreams came true.
In May 1927, the young
Californian put the letters M.M. after
his name meaning he was ordained a
Missionary of Maryknoll. But he was
never to see or work the harvest of
the far-off Orient. Instead, single
handed, he took on the world.
His superiors asked him to
continue his daily hobby of writing
flashing catchy thoughts, ponderable
messages, consumed in a moment, by
his expanding host of readers. He
even gave these gems a name. The
Christophers - Christ Bearing
Thoughts - came into being as Father
James Keller asked his legion of
faithful followers for One Minute a
Day.
That was the beginning. Next he
brought his daily thoughts to the
new mysterious miracle of the
airwaves - Radio. The crusty old
station manager was by no means
impressed with Jim Keller’s religious
rattlings. Radio is entertainment. It’s
jazz and dance bands, the Marx
Brothers, Jack Benny and mystery
plays. Why was he insistent on airing
these daily thoughts among this
jungle of frolic and fun? Jim was
ready with his famous answer,
forever the motto of his Christopher
movement.
“It is Better to Light One Candle
Than to Curse the Darkness.”
With a background of impatient,
pointed commercial Christmas sales,
the Advent Candle is lit. These weeks
represent the dark generations of old.
They are four still and lonely
Sundays with only confused hope.
That hope happens to be seen right
now in the flicker of a candle. Soon
the whole world will be caught in the
flame as the Bethlehem manger
mystery is unfolded.
Father James Keller strained to
make the world see by the light of
his one candle.
Advent urges us now to do the
same.
Vol. 17 No. 43
Thursday, December 6,1979
$6.00 Per Year
MILITARY HONORS - Marine pall bearers carry the flag-draped
coffin of Stephen Crowley into Infant Jesus CJ urch in Port
Jefferson Station, N. Y., for a private funeral Mass. Crowley, 20,
was one of two Americans killed while defending the U.S. Embassy
in Islambad, Pakistan, against an attacking mob. He was
posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his valor.
‘Piece Of America Lost’
ARLINGTON, Va. (NC) -- President Carter attended the funeral Mass
celebrated Nov. 30 for Marine Cpl. Steven J. Crowley, who was killed during
the attack on the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, Nov. 21.
Bishop John J. O’Connor, auxiliary bishop in the Military Vicariate, gave
the absolution after the Mass, which was celebrated by Father Lawrence
Finegan, Navy chaplain.
“There’s only one real dignitary here right now and that’s Steve,” Bishop
O’Connor said, looking at Carter and other government officials who attended
the service. Bishop O’Connor said the Crowley family are “simple folks,” and
attributed to a neighbor an epitaph, “We lost a little piece of America . . . but
maybe we have again the spirit of America.”
The bishop urged the mourners to applaud twice, first for Crowley and later
for the neighbor’s words “in hopes that it will give our president . . . strength
and courage.”
Carter did not speak during the service in Fort Myer Memorial Chapel. The
president accompanied Crowley’s mother, Georgene Crowley, and his eight
brothers and sisters at the Mass.
Other government officials attending included Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and New York Sens. Daniel P.
Moynihan and Jacob Javits.
Bishop O’Connor also said the graveside prayers in Arlington National
Cemetery where Crowley was buried.
The Mass attended by Carter was the second celebrated for Crowley. The
first, celebrated by Bishop O’Connor, was Nov. 29 at his family’s parish, Infant
Jesus Church in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.
For his bravery, Crowley was posthumously decorated with the Bronze Star
and the Purple Heart.
Advent Home Study
- Page Eight -
C atholic-Orthodox Reunion
Possible After Papal Visit
IZMIR, Turkey (NC) - The
leaders of world Catholicism and
Orthodoxy made a major stride
toward reunion Nov. 30, highlighting
the three-day visit to Turkey of Pope
John Paul II.
The pope and Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of
Constantinople established a
high-powered ecumenical
commission to resolve theological
and doctrinal issues dividing their
sister churches.
An eventual reunion would rejoin
750 million Roman Catholics and
some 200 million Orthodox after
more than nine centuries of
bitterness and separation.
The papal visit to Turkey also
included meetings with Turkish
government and diplomatic officials
in the capital of Ankara, visits to
historical sites in Ankara, Istanbul
and Ephesus, and meetings with
Catholics and other Christian leaders
in addition to Patriarch Dimitrios.
In the overwhelmingly Moslem
country there were none of the huge
crowds, stretching into the millions,
that met Pope John Paul on his
journeys to Mexico, Poland, Ireland
and the United States earlier this
year. The average Turk seemed
barely aware that he was around and
completely unaffected by the visit.
Because of domestic political and.
economic problems, Turkish
authorities were less than happy with
the timing of the visit. Inflation is
running at 50 percent. Acts of
terrorism take an average death toll
of five a day. Major areas of the
country are under martial law. And a
newly formed minority government
hangs in precarious balance.
Heavily armed soldiers and
plainclothes security forces - 5,000
strong in Ankara and Istanbul -
cordoned off every place the pope
visited, discouraging spectators and
sometimes dispersing them even if
they began to gather in small groups
of 15 or 20.
Even in churches access was
stringently controlled and
plainclothes police toting
submachine guns mingled in with the
congregations.
Despite all the difficulties, the
papal trip was a success in the one
area that counted - progress toward
(Continued on page 6)
ARRIVAL IN TURKEY - As he has done in all the countries he
has visited, Pope John Paul II kisses the ground upon arrival at the
Ankara airport to begin his three-day visit to Turkey. At right is
Archbishop Salvatore Asta, papal nuncio to Ankara, and Turkish
President Faari Koroturk.
ORTHODOX
Dialogue Commission Established
ISTANBUL, Turkey (NC) - The historic
Catholic-Orthodox Mixed Commission for theological
dialogue announced by Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical
Orthodox Patriarch Dimitrios I in Istanbul is the largest
and highest-ranking ecumenical commission formed since
the Catholic Church formally entered into the ecumenical
movement nearly two decades ago.
It includes five cardinals on the Catholic side, seven
metropolitans on the Orthodox side and at least 15 other
Catholic or Orthodox bishops and archbishops.
The preliminary list of members, listing 31 Catholic
members and 23 Orthodox members from 12 of the 14
autocephalous (independent) Orthodox churches, is not
yet complete. But its 54 members named so far makes it
by far the largest bilateral commission under Catholic
co-sponsorship.
The list of members appointed so far was made public
the day after the pope and ecumenical patriarch
announced the formation of the commission at the
patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul.
Catholic sources told NC News Service that the
decision to include so many ecclesiastical authorities on
the commission was a conscious effort to give more
authority to the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. Other joint
commissions of Catholics and other Christian churches are
made up overwhelmingly of theologians and other
professional scholars, with only a few bishops or other
church authorities.
Leading the Catholic list of commission members is the
church’s top ecumenical official - Cardinal Jan
Willebrands of Utrecht, Netherlands, president of the
Vatican’s Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity.
Also on the list are Cardinals William Baum of
Washington, George Basil Hume of Westminister, England,
Joseph Ratzinger of Munich and Freising, West Germany,
(Continued on page 7)