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“There is need, and a great “I Do Not Want To Die” need, not only for the Church to minister to the inmates of our prisons, but also to minister to the staffs of these places. ” Bishop Raymond Lessard Bishop of Savannah BY MONSIGNOR NOEL BURTENSHAW Father Vincent J. Douglas goes to the Georgia Diagnostic Center in Jackson, Georgia every Monday. He stays there for 8 hours, from 1:00 p.m. till 9:00 p.m. Father Douglas goes because the Center is a State Prison and he is the chaplain. The prison is located in Father Douglas’ parish, St. James Church in McDonough. “It’s interesting work,” says the pastor “but you need a lot of prayer doing it.” Father Douglas has 6 Catholic men on Death Row in Jackson and one more has just been added. Jack Potts, the condemned murderer was moved to Jackson just three weeks ago from Reidsville State Prison. Potts, who is a convert to the Catholic Faith has asked that the sentence of death, passed by the courts, be carried out. “But he does not want to die,” says Father Douglas, who spent over an hour with the prisoner last week. “He is going along with the judgment of the court but he has told me, he does not want to die.” Since his arrival on Death Row in Jackson just three weeks ago, the atmosphere has changed. “I have noticed it,” says Father Douglas, “and so have the guards and staff. Besides the Catholics who are with him in the death cell area, he has six others praying the Rosary with him. It’s remarkable. In fact he’s remarkable.” Reached in Augusta where he was scheduled for a Confirmation Ceremony, Bishop Raymond Lessard, Bishop of Savannah said he visited Potts in Jackson last week. “There is enormous pressure on Jack,” says the Bishop who has known him and seen him in Reidsville.” “All kinds of groups hound him every day to go one way or another. Besides this, the poor man has the normal pressure of Penitentiary life. It’s rough.” Bishop Lessard has visited Potts as a spiritual counselor and has his confidence. “I would just like to say this,” says the Savannah leader, “there is need, and a great need, not only for the church to minister to the inmates of our prisons, but also to minister to the staffs of these places. But there are problems. Maybe we haven’t been asked and maybe we have been asked and we have been slow to respond.” On Tuesday, May 13, Jack Potts called a news conference because he was angry that the State had not set a date for his execution. However, even as the reporters gathered, the date was set June 5. “There is some change in his attitude about dying,” says Father Douglas.” He is talking with his attorneys Millard Farmer and Andrea Young, daughter of Andrew Young, former Ambassador to the U.N. But he has told me “I DO NOT WANT TO DIE.” A state law says that a prisoner must be within sight of the electric chair 72 hours before execution. So it would seem that Potts will be returned to Reidsville if the June date is not changed. “They are building an execution chamber in Jackson” says the pastor “but it won’t be complete before June 5.” Jack Potts, 35 years old, father of twin 8 year old girls was brought to the faith by Father Raymond Kulwicki, a Holy Ghost Father who is chaplain at Reidsville. “He did a great job says Father Douglas. “Jack has shown that he has strange influences for good since his conversion.” If the fateful date is kept and it happens in Jackson, which is in the Ardhciocese of Atlanta, (Reidsville is in the Savannah Diocese) then Father Vincent Douglas a 43 year old native of Brooklyn will be there with him at the end. orgia uLLfrilv Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 18 No. 21 Thursday, May 22,1980 $6.00 Per Year FATHER COLMAN HAGGERTY, C.P., pastor are pictured in one of the classrooms at the of Saint Paul of the Cross Church, and Sister northwest parish which is celebrating its 25 year Paula Drass, principal of the school at Saint Paul’s anniversary this year. “Such A Fragile Hold On Life” Holy Days May Change Wednesday Afternoon In Rome It used to be a calm chaos. Fifteen thousand used to pack into the new Audience Hall hoping for an up-front seat or at the least one near the aisle. You were well entertained during the willing wait. Over on the right in the splendorous alloted space the Rome Opera C ompany willingly serenaded the international gathering. High about your head the symmetrical lines of the ac c o u stical ceiling evid enced the artful touches of a modern day Michael- angelo. And there, front and center, the lonely empty throne was the focal point for all eyes. Soon the Papal presence would fill that spotlight for delerious visions to view. The surging “Vivas” from the rear tell you he is here. Carried aloft in seated visible splendor, the Pope of Rome is borne to his Wednesday Afternoon Audience. The delirium is contagious and unconsciously you are soon its captive. That’s how it all used to be on Wednesday in Rome. Now it’s changed. The 15,000 has become 1 5 0,000. The ambitious Audience Hall so recently added, has been discarded along with the carried presence of the successor, The Apostle. Now they stand or sit in measured blocks in that famous of all Squares - St. Peter’s. And the Polish Pope Wojtyla the Conqueror is driven through the maze, standing like a victorious Roman Centurion in his now famous white Popemobile. The delirium is no longer hidden away in any hall, it’s there in the Wednesday afternoon sunshine for all to see. Burt Reynolds failed in his dash to be female first among American teens just two weeks ago. Top of the poll went to John Paul II. It is no surprise. Wherever his wandering missionary feet take him the leaning, laughing millions reach out royally. With the sweeping force of a marching Colonial Army, John Paul careened across the African continent last week. Zaire, The Congo, Kenya and Ghana were all taken in stride. As the Apostle Paul took to the road visiting the newest Christians, so now John Paul follows directly in his footsteps. The African Church is barely two centuries old, the newest offspring of this Holy Father’s family. There was a time when small groups were luxuriously allowed to this man of the masses. High in the mountains of his native Poland he once led little bands of skiing youth. It’s over and gone. It’s like the long ago calm chaos of the Wednesday Afternoon Audience. It too belongs to history. This world wants to see John Paul. Sometimes you feel, they all want to see him together. ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. (NC) - “The thing that struck me most is the fragility of life,” said Father John Hanley, St. Petersburg port chaplain, after the May 9 disaster in which a ship ramming the Skyway Bridge caused the deaths of at least 34 persons. Father Hanley, who is also pastor of St. Joseph Parish, spent two days shuttling between the disaster site and the morgue. Assisted by Father Brian Kilbride of Blessed Trinity Parish, Father Hanley blessed the recovered bodies and recited prayers for the dead. Recalling his thoughts as the divers brought the dead to the surface, Father Hanley said, ‘ We have such a fragile hold on life, never knowing when God is going to call us. As the tragedy unfolded, it kept coming back that we have to live so that these moments won’t be moments of tragedy, but of victory.” Noting that a rabbi, an Episcopal priest and a Presbyterian minister had been present at the disaster site, Father Hanley said, “I believe that the presence of the churches in a moment of tragedy, at the place where it is unfolding, is very important. Even if there is little we can do for the dead, we can minister to the living and help everyone to cope.” Father Hanley is trying to arrange for spiritual and emotional assistance to the Chinese crew of the freighter which rammed into the bridge. BY JAMES TARBOX A proposal before the bishops of the United States would radically change the number of Holy Days of Obligation that American Catholics are obliged to observe. The bishops have been asked to send their opinions to the National Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Committee on the Liturgy, which is considering dropping all Holy Days of Obligation except the Feasts of Christmas and the Immaculate Conception. Currently American Catholics observe six holy days: the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on January 1, Ascension Thursday, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin on August 15, All Saints Day on November 1, Immaculate Conception on December 8, and Christmas on December 25. The desire for a change from the present practice largely stems from conflicts that arise when the holy day falls on a Saturday or a Monday. Under current Canon Law the bishops of each country must provide for the observance of the feast of Christmas and one Marian feast as holy days of obligation. The liturgy committee is recommending that in addition to Christmas, the feast of the Immaculate Conception be retained as the Marian Holy day for American Catholics. Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, is the national patroness of this country. The feast of the Immaculate Conception, currently observed on December 8, is being considered for Catholic TV WOODBURY, N.Y. (NC) - A Long Island car leasing company owner, Michael Pascucci, 43, is spearheading construction of a Catholic-sponsored non-profit UHF television station, Channel 55, in Riverhead, N.Y. He envisions it as the first outlet in a national Life Broadcasting Network featuring “Christian programs as an alternative to TV sex and violence.” “We applied for and got from the FCC a TV license for a station that would reach three million people,” said Pascucci, who has put thousands of dollars into the project. “I decided that the church needs a delivery’ system for TV programs. We are never going to get prime time on the existing big networks.” The project has the approval of Bishop John R. McGann of Rockville Centre, N.Y., which operates its own cable TV network. According to Father Thomas J. Hartman, diocesan director of radio and television, construction of the facility is expected to start this summer and the first programs will be shown in about a year. It would be the first exclusively Catholic station among some 25 Christian TV stations and programs currently operating in the United possible transfer to the first Wednesday of December. If, however, the feast icmains on December 8 the obligation to attend Mass will be dropped with Vatican approval if the 8th falls on a Saturday or a Monday. The Feast of the Acension, it has been suggested, should be moved to the seventh Sunday of the Easter season. Observance of the feast of Mary the Mother of God would no longer be made mandatory because of the confusion of focus that the feast has due to its being observed on January 1. The celebration of All Saints would no longer be mandatory because it has little significance in the liturgical life of the United States. The obligation to assist at Mass, on the feast of the Assumption would be removed because the feast of the Immaculate Conception would fulfill the Marian obligation in the United States. These proposals are the result of a great deal of study from the Liturgy Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops looked very closely at the example of Canada where only two holy days are observed - Christmas, and the Marian feast of the Solemnity on January 1. The bishops stress that it is not decreased devotion that they are looking at but the pastoral problem that clergy and laity alike have spoken of -- the problem of significance of worship. Station Set States. “Catholics are almost last in the media at present,” Father Hartman said, citing the success of fundamentalists’ efforts such as the PTL center network in Norfolk, Va., founded by Pat Robertson, an evangelist. “But eventually we will be the strongest, because we have the organization,” he added. According to a pamphlet currently being circulated about Channel 55, the station will feature entertainment as “an alternative to sex and violence ... to materialism and vulgarity.” It will highlight evangelization, counseling, a prayer line, scriptural discussions, daily religious news programs, Christian documentaries, and programs of different denominations; 42 percent of its programs would be exclusively religious. The network has already entered applications for permits to broadcast on two available channels in the New York-New Jersey area, and may also compete for a channel in San Francisco, Father Hartman said. He added, “Our idea would be first to develop local programs and then hope other regional TV centers in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Washington and the South would cooperate.” Official Archbishop Thomas A. Donncitan has announced the following assignments, effective Thursday. June 12. I ISO. NEWLY-ORDAINED PRIEST REVEREND CHARLES CHRISTOPHER STARR to Assistant Pastor, Sacred Heart (Atlanta). REVEREND DENIS F. DULLEA . . . from Hospital Chaplain in residence at Saint Thomas More, to Priest-in-Charge, Saint Elizabeth Seton, Manchester. ASSISTANT PASTOR ASSIGNMENTS REVEREND JOHN DRUDING . . . from Saint John’s, Hapeville, to Saint Philip Benizi, Jonesboro. REVEREND JOHN T. HENLEY . . . from Saints Peter and Paul, Decatur, to Saint Joseph’s, Dalton. REVEREND STEPHEN E. NAAS .. . from Saint Philip Benizi, Jonesboro, to Saint John the Evangelist, Hapeville. REVEREND NOEL NEARY . . . from Corpus Christi, Stone Mountain, to Saint Thomas More, Decatur. REVEREND JOHN A. OZAROWSKI . . . from Sacred Heart, Atlanta, to Corpus Christi, Stone Mountain DEACON ASSIGNMENTS BRENT A. BOHAN ... to Church of the Good Shepherd, Cumming. CARLOS de JESUS MIYARES-DIAZ ... to Saint Jude’s, Atlanta. BRUCE W. WILKINSON ... to Our Lady of Lourdes. PERMANENT DEACONS FORREST R. BRIESCH ... to Church of the Transfiguration, Marietta. JOHN W. SHOEMAKER . . . from Saints Peter and Paul, Decatur, to assist in Chaplaincy Program at the United States Penitentiary.