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Vol. 18 No. 28
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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Thursday, August 7,1980
$8.00 per year
Just Another Yank
The senior class had been ordered
to the chapel. “What’s going on?,” I
whispered to the usually reliable,
long striding Tim Ryan. “Some priest
is giving a vocation talk,” said Tim
obviously delighted to be out of
class, “probably just another Yank.”
Reliable Ryan was wrong. A priest
from America was indeed about to
give a priestly pitch to the senior
class of 1956, but it was by no means
“just another Yank.” The
memorable,
strikingly poised
cleric with that
soft touch of
the South in his
w o rd s was
Monsignor
Patrick Joseph
O’Connor.
It was
snowing. He
hated snow. He
despised the
cold. It was far
foreign to his native Savannah. But it
was a dreaded inconvenience he
gladly suffered with annual zest to
accomplish the one obsessively,
driving force in his life - priestly
vocations for the Church in Georgia.
His pitch was devastating. He
looked down at his young audience
and took instant common Jof their
giddy, restless ears. His message was
direct and simple. Challenge. And
then challenge again. His words
pounced on their unsuspecting
curiosity, making vocation to the
priesthood a serious possibility for at
least this moment as he confronted
their hidden generosity.
P. J. O’Connor never asked for
volunteers for Georgia. He demanded
“workers for the Georgia Missions.”
He never invited his awakening
audience to come to the South. He
challenged them to come to the
“priestless South.” Never would he
blandly invite them to be a part of
the Diocese of Atlanta. It was always
“come and labor in the Missionary
Diocese of Atlanta.”
It wasn’t a pitch. To young,
strong, searching minds, it was a
gauntlet on the ground, a dramatic
dare, a reckless challenge needing
only a generous response. And so
often this pied-piper of the
priesthood for Georgia got just that
response.
It was one thing to plant the seed
of vocation, Monsignor O’Connor
spent his life doing more. He
carefully and personally helped that
initial generosity grow. Regular notes
of encouragement would arrive in the
mail. Newsy visits banishing the
boredom of long, academic years was
a specialty. And continual care that
reached, not only the student, but
also his family, gave supreme depth
to this giant of the vocation
apostolate.
Everyone of these unceasing
touches ate into his day - year in,
year out - but he saw them only as a
means to recreate the gift of his
priesthood in the lives of others. The
parish clergy of both Georgia
dioceses attest to the unmatchable
dividend of his glowing success.
After signing up a candidate for
the priesthood in an Irish seminary,
on one occasion, Monsignor asked
him why he chose Atlanta instead of
the many other available dioceses.
“Simple,” said the happy young
man,” You alone made it clear that
you spoke for a missionary diocese.”
To some around those green hills
and valleys of his ancestors, across
the sea, that he knew so well, this
bronze, stately, annual cleric was
“just another Yank” searching for
willing hands. But to those who
heard him - even once - and those
who came to know him, Monsignor
Patrick J. O’Connor, was more, much
more.
He was - what he preached. The
Priest.
IN JUNE 1968, Msgr. P. J. O’Connor posed
with three Irish priests, newly arrived to serve in
Georgia. They are, from left to right, Father
Terence Kane, now pastor of the Church of St.
Oliver Plunkett in Snellville, Father Vincent M.
Mulvin, now assistant pastor in Snellville, and
Father James Fennessy, now pastor of St. John
Vianney Church in Lithia Springs.
HISTORIC VOCATIONS DIRECTOR
Msgr. P. J. O’Connor Dies
Msgr. Patrick J. O’Connor spent
47 years of his life in the priesthood.
When he died, Friday, August 1, in
Atlanta, ine had Drought to Georgia
one priest for nearly each year of his
own service.
Msgr. O’Connor, the former
pastor of St. Thomas More Church in
Decatur, and a former faculty
member and dean at the The
Catholic University of America, died
at Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Cancer Home at the age of 7 8.
He had retired as pastor in 1967,
but after spending several years at a
mission on Grand Bahama Island,
returned to St. Thomas More in 1972
and made his residence there.
At the time of his retirement,
Msgr. O’Connor spoke of his formula
for answering the church’s pressing
need for vocations. “If one priest can
get a young man to follow in his
footsteps, there will be enough
vocations,” he said.
A native of Savannah, the
Monsignor had, at that time, been
instrumental in bringing 38 priests to
Georgia, 10 in Savannah and 28 in
Atlanta. Throughout a 20-year
association with Catholic University,
he had sought out young men
interested in the priesthood, and
seminarians, and persuaded them to
come to Georgia. At one time, 60
percent of the priests serving in
Georgia, drawn from northern states
and Ireland, had come at the urging
of Msgr. O’Connor.
Since then the number has
increased to about 42 priests.
“This is one of the long lasting
gifts that he has left us and that will
extend beyond the years of his own
life,” said Bishop Raymond W.
Lessard of Savannah.
A 1924 graduate of Catholic
University, Msgr. O’Connor also
taught about 3,000 priests while on
the faculty there from 1936 to 1956.
During that period he was a member
of the School of Theology, dean of
men, procurator of the Catholic
Sisters College and university
director of The Alumni Association.
He also taught for 23 summers in the
Preachers Institute.
While in Washington, he was
appointed director of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception from 1950 to 1956, the
fourth to hold the post. During those
years, more thaan $15 million was
raised to construct the main building
of the shrine.
Msgr. John J. Murphy, director of
the National Shrine, said Msgr.
O’Connor “will be remembered for
his eloquent sermons on the Blessed
Mother, for his sense of pilgrimage
and knowledge of Marian shrines
throughout the world.”
“The clarity of his Mariology
revealed in his preaching and writing
has contributed greatly to the life
and spirit of the National Shrine,” he
said.
Msgr. O’Connor returned in 1956
to Georgia as pastor of the Shrine of
the Immaculate Conception in
(Continued on page 5)
REACTION VARIED
Vatican Seeks
Clergy Shift
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The
Vatican wants a major redistribution
of the world’s clergy.
In a document released July 22 by
the Congregation for the Clergy it
ordered all bishops’ conferences to
set up two commissions: “one for
the better distribution of the clergy
and another for the missions.”
To highlight the problem of
priest-rich vs. priest-poor countries
the document gave some current
statistics. Among these were:
- There are 16 priests per 100,000
Catholics in Latin America, while
North America (the United States
and Canada) has 120 per 100,000.
- The 45 percent of the world’s
Catholics who live in North America
and Europe are served by 77.2
percent of the world’s priests.
Another 45 percent of the world’s
Catholics live in Latin America and
the Philippines, but only 12.62
percent of the world’s priests serve
those areas.
-- In terms of Catholic and
non-Catholic population, there are
two priests per 100,000 people in
Asia, while there are 29 per 100,000
in North America and 37 per
100,000 in Europe.
The title of the new Vatican
document is “Directive Norms for
the Collaboration of the Particular
Churches Among Themselves and
Especially for a Better Distribution
of the Clergy in the World.”
The document grew out of a
commission within the clergy
congregation which Pope Paul VI
instituted in 1967 to study the
problem of the poor distribution of
priests and to formulate norms to
correct the situation.
One of the major past efforts to
distribute priests better was a call by
Pope John XXIII in 1962 for U.S.
dioceses to give 10 percent of their
clergy to Latin America. His call led
to a few more U.S. missionaries in
Latin America, but nothing near the
scale he had intended.
Although the new Vatican
document is entitled “directive
norms,” it has few new norms or
laws aside from the order to bishops’
conferences to establish two
commissions - one of which (for
missions) already exists in all or
virtually all countries where the
church is well established.
. It reaffirms existing laws
concerning various technical aspects
of the transfer of priests such as
incardination - the priest’s legal link
to a specific diocese as his home. It
outlines in detail the norms for a
written “convention,” or binding
agreement, outlining the terms under
which a priest is sent by one bishop
or religious order to work under
another bishop.
This convention, it says, must be
worked out by mutual agreement
among the three principals - the
sending bishop, the priest and the
receiving bishop -- and each is to have
a written copy of it.
But aside from such specific
issues, the new document consists
mainly of general guidelines of policy
and orientation.
It specifically rejects a strict
numerical approach to the issue,
saying that “the problem of a better
distribution of the clergy is not
resolved simply with the numerical
method.”
The document calls for a “new
revision of strengths and a
restructuring of traditional
frameworks” in the church to meet
changing social conditions.
As examples it cites “the
transmigration of people into
industrial regions; urbanization with
its consequent depopulation of other
zones; the general problem of
migrants, both for reasons of work
and for political motives; the so
widespread phenomenon of tourism
for more or less long periods.”
The document said the uneven
distribution of priests around the
world has been aggravated by sharp
drop in vocations in the late 1960s
and the 1970s and by the large
number of priests who left the active
ministry in that same period.
It viewed redistribution as only
part of the solution, stressing that
more priestly vocations and a
renewed missionary awareness
throughout the church are the more
basic issues.
Clergy and Catholic editorial
writers welcomed the document, but
(Continued on page 5)
Jadot To Speak The Knights Come To Town...
K of C Lore
BY THEA JARVIS
Archbishop Jean Jadot will join
2,500 Knights of Columbus and their
families in Atlanta this month for the
98th annual meeting of their
Supreme Council.
Jadot, newly appointed
Pro-President of the Vatican
Secretariat for Non-Christians and
former Apostolic Delegate to the
United States, will be the principal
speaker at the K. of C. “States
Dinner” to be held at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel on August 19th.
“Jadot has a loving, charismatic
touch that speaks to us of the
Father’s love,” says Father James
Mayo, state chaplain for the Georgia
Knights. “As a fraternal organization
in a pilgrim church, the Knights must
not hesitate to reach out to others
and speak of this love our Father
bears us.”
“Having Archbishop Jadot at the
convention,” he continues
“underlines the importance of the
Knights as an organization with a
mission to others.”
It is expected to be one of
Archbishop Jadot’s last addresses
before he leaves for his new post at
the Vatican.
The convention is cause for
growing excitement on the local
level.
“It’s just wonderful!” says an
enthusiastic Stan Wojek, state deputy
for the Georgia Council. “For the
first time in 20 years the national
convention is coming to Atlanta. It’s
quite an honor for us.”
The welcome mat will be out not
only for Archbishop Jadot, but also
for the multitude of convention
delegates converging on Atlanta from
the United States, Canada, Mexico,
Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, and
Guatemala.
Bill Jordan, vice supreme master
of the General Convention, sees an
opportunity to introduce delegates
to the traditions of Southern
hospitality.
“We want to be sure our Atlanta
visitors are properly welcomed. This
will include hoop-skirted ladies in
ante-bellum dresses posted at the
registration desk of the Hyatt
Regency.”
For more in the Southern style,
conventioneers will take off for side
trips to Six Flags, Stone Mountain,
the Trappist Monastery, and some
in-town points of interest.
Wednesday evening, August 20 will
be “Knights of Columbus Night” at
the stadium, with a Braves vs.
Chicago Cubs game on the agenda.
Archbishop Thomas Donnellan
will concelebrate the opening Mass
on Tuesday, August 19 in the Hyatt
Regency Ballroom. Official business
will then begin.
Delegates will consider 200
resolutions submitted by regional
councils, covering such current issues
as abortion, ERA, homosexual rights,
pornography, and tax credits for
private schooling.
Many of the resolutions submitted
by the local councils reflect a
growing concern over the lack of
support for the family in our society.
An emphasis on the sacredness of
human life, particularly within the
family unit, is clearly a priority for
the upcoming convention.
SUPREME KNIGHT Virgil C. Dechant confers with Pope John
Paul II. Looking on is Supreme Chaplain Bishop Charles P. Greco,
retired bishop of Alexandria-Shreveport, Louisiana.
BY MONSIGNOR
NOEL G. BURTENSHAW
On that memorable day in 1961,
when Roger Maris stepped up to the
plate he had already equaled the
Babe’s home run record. He had hit
60 out of the park. He was praying
to see number 61 go the same route.
Yes, sir, he was really praying.
As he dug his spikes into the
famous dirt at home plate little did
he know that the owners of that
legendary dirt of the immortal
Yankee Stadium were praying too -
all 1.3 million of them. No doubt
about it as Roger sailed number 61
out of the park the Knights of
Columbus all over this nation were
on their feet cheering.
No longer owners of that ground
under Yankee Stadium, the Knights
of Columbus remain the world’s
largest Catholic Fraternal
Organization. Their strength is here,
throughout the United States,
although their numbers have spread
to the Philippines, Guam, Cuba,
Canada, Mexico and other neighborly
spots.
The K. of C. was the brain child
of a parish priest, Father Michael
McGivney, in New Haven, Conn. It
was 1882 and the needs of the
immigrant-Catholic families were
very great. One need spied by Father
McGivney right away was low cost
insurance. Families deprived of their
bread winner because of death were
often left without insurance and in
very poor circumstances. It was the
idea of the young priest to form a
fraternal organization that would
provide insurance to the deprived
(Continued on page 5)