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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 18 No. 35
Thursday, October 9,1980
$8.00 per year
Too Dangerous
Bright and early one morning last
week I met Tim Crow and Ray
Johnson down at Channel 17, the
Super Station. They were both on
hand to participate in an interview
program, an interesting one that I got
to sit and watch.
Tim is an old friend, well known
in leadership circles out at Holy
Cross parish. His beaming welcome
always brightens the start of a weary
day.
Ray is
something else.
He is an ex-con.
He has spent 25
years behind the
best of bars, five
years in solitary
confinement
and even
escaped from
escape-proof
San Quentin.
On the way to
the Big House
for the last time the judge’s words
rang keenly in his ears, “this man is
too dangerous to be at large.”
Ray never forgot the words.
Leaving prison, after paying society
in full, he wrote his best selling story
“Too Dangerous To Be At Large.”
His success cast him alongside
Johnny Carson over 30 times on the
Tonight Show. It also brought his
recommendations to the attention of
the crime prevention industry.
Rollins is Tim’s company and Ray is
a part-time adviser.
He really gives advice.
Prevent crime by discouraging the
criminal is his message. “I’m a bit
like the cops,” says this Bogart type,
“but not exactly. The cops are out to
prevent and catch the guy. I just
want to prevent.”
He gives loads of examples. “If
every woman would just lock the
four doors of the car before she takes
off, assaults on women would be cut
in half immediately. It’s that
simple.”
“And take your keys when you
park your car. If there are no keys in
the car, chances are the thief will
take the bus.”
Ray Johnson has a message for
state and federal prison authorities.
“If you want to see the last of an
inmate, teach him to be useful when
he gets out. I finally got out at age
40 and all I could do was make
license plates. With skills like that
cons turn to other things. Banks.”
What does he suggest? “Simple,”
says Mr. Johnson, “let Ford and IBM
open plants in prisons. If these guys
could make engines or machines, for
good salaries, they could pay room
and board, cost nothing to the
taxpayer for prisons and be useful
the day they step out.”
Ray Johnson admits there are
flaws and risks. “So what, taking
risks with convicts is better than the
frightening prison mess we have now.
If he’s caught, lock him up (I sure
got locked up plenty). But don’t
destroy him. He needs something to
come out to.”
Channel 17 is really pleased with
Mr. Johnson and I could see that Tim
Crow is too. Both he and I heard
good common sense from this
reformed hoodlum. And a little bit
of the Gospel message too.
As Tim and Ray leave, all smiles,
pleased as punch, I wonder what
other skills this con-artist might
teach my friend from Holy Cross.
Next time I meet Tim Crow, I
think I’ll keep my hand on my
wallet!!
Announcement
A Day of Intercession for
the Unborn will be held at the
Omni on Saturday, Oct. 11
from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. The
public is invited to attend.
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BY RUSSELL SHAW
(The writer is secretary for public
affairs of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops-U.S. Catholic
Conference. He is serving as a special
assistant to the U.S. bishops during
the world Synod of Bishops.)
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The
impact of the sexual revolution of
the 1960s and 1970s is registering in
the international Synod of Bishops
of 1980. Problems of sexuality are a
recurring theme of these
deliberations on modern marriage
and family life.
The issue for the 216 bishops and
other church leaders gathered here is
how to teach traditional doctrine in a
time of radically changed attitudes
and behavior. If, as many believe,
Holy days: “Status Quo”
WASHINGTON (NC) - A
proposal to end the obligation to
attend Mass on several U.S. holy days
has been withdrawn - at least for
now - by a committee of U.S.
bishops.
The decision to withdraw the
proposal came despite the support
for a change in holy days by
two-thirds of the bishops who
responded to a holy days survey,
according to an announcement Oct.
2.
At the same time, the proposal
was opposed by most Catholics who
responded to holy days surveys
published in several diocesan
newspapers. The response to the
unscientific newspaper surveys
brought pleas to retain all six current
U.S. holy days, along with several
requests that even more holy days be
added to the church calendar.
Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland
of Milwaukee, chairman of the
bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy
(BCL), which released the proposal
last May, said the decision to
withdraw it was based in part on
“widespread confusion” among
Catholics on the nature and
observance of holy days of
obligation.
He said some Catholics evidently
equated holy days with penitential
practices, others were concerned
about a “loss of their Catholic
identity” if the holy days were
changed, and still others were
confused about whether dropping
the obligation to attend Mass also
meant dropping the feast itself.
He said instead of pursuing the
proposal at this time, the BCL will
develop an instructional program
aimed at ending the confusion
surrounding holy days and will
continue to explore solutions to
problems connected with the
observance of holy days for future
implementation by the U.S. bishops.
The original proposal called for
retention of only Christmas and the
feast of the Immaculate Conception
(Dec. 8) as holy days of obligation.
But the approximately 130
bishops who voted for a change in
the U.S. holy day schedule also
requested that a third holy day, All
Saints’ Day (Nov. 1), be retained,
according to divine word Father
Thomas Krosnicki, director of the
bishops’ liturgy secretariat.
One hundred ninety-seven of the
approximately 350 active and retired
bishops in the United States
responded, to the survey, the
announcement said.
Under the now-withdrawn
proposal, observance of Ascension
Thursday would have been moved to
the following Sunday. The obligation
to attend Mass on the two remaining
holy days - the solemnity of Mary
the Mother of God (Jan. 1) and the
feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15) -
would have been dropped, although
they would have remained as major
feast days of the church.
“The bishops’ liturgy committee
win continue to work toward an
analysis of and a solution to the
difficulties caused by the present
practice of holy days of obligation,”
Archbishop Weakland said in the
announcement.
“As an immediate action, it will
prepare a major catechesis for
national distribution to explain the
nature of the liturgical year, with
special emphasis on the celebration
of Sunday and major feasts of the
church’s calendar so that the
question is seen in its proper
context,” he added.
CHURCH MARRIAGE LAWS
OPENING MASS - Bishops from all over the world gather in the
Sistine Chapel as Pope John Paul II celebrates the opening Mass of
the world Synod of Bishops. In the background is Michelangelo’s
fresco “The Last Judgment.” (NC Photo)
Letter From The Synod
Bishops Seek Revisions
merely repeating anathemas against
the Playboy mentality will not do
the job, what will?
It was clear long before the synod
began that it would have to face this
question. The church has anguished
over theological and pastoral
questions concerning sexuality since
the early 1960s - anguish dramatized
by, but scarcely limited to, the bitter
debate over contraception.
Once the synod’s theme was
established, speculation tended to
view it as a possible watershed for
the church’s thinking about sex. The
result, according to bishops here, was
unusually heavy pressure from all
points on the liberal-conservative
spectrum of Catholic opinion.
As the synod nears mid-point it
would be naive to suppose that it has
(Continued on page 6)
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Soon
after the 1980 world Synod of
Bishops started a predictable major
controversy -- over artificial
contraception -- and a surprise
African lobby for major changes in
church marriage laws surfaced.
There was a wide range of other
issues as well, but these two bear
special watching. How the synod and
Pope John Paul II handle these issues
could be one of the surest clues to
what the church will be like during
the remainder of the pontificate of
Pope John Paul.
For Western Europe and North
America, where the church is firmly
established culturally (or as one
synod bishop put it, “old,”), the
major question before the synod
opened was what it might say about
Catholic couples who use artificial
means of contraception despite the
church’s moral opposition to them.
Theme of the 1980 synod is:
“The Role of the Christian Family in
the World of Today.”
Archbishop John R. Quinn of San
Francisco, president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops
(NCCB), sharply focused on the issue
during the first day the floor was
opened for debate, Sept. 29.
Archbishop Quinn urged a “new
context” for the church’s teaching
on contraception.
He did not call for a change in the
Catholic teaching that artificial
contraception is intrinsically wrong.
He said “this paper is based on an
acceptance of the teaching”
expressed by Pope Paul VI in his
1968 encyclical, “Humanae Vitae”
(Of Human Life).
But the next morning press
reports in the United States said
Archbishop Quinn called for “a new
church doctrine.”
Archbishop Quinn issued a formal
statement - released in five languages
by the Vatican Press Office --
denying the reports. His intervention
became the first major controversy
of the synod.
Archbishop Quinn’s speech is a
carefully nuanced theological
questioning.
People such as Vatican supreme
court head, Cardinal Pericle Felici,
(Continued on page 6)
Seeing The Sounds Of The World
Suenens Leads
Unity Service
BY GRETCHEN REISER
To Christians who hesitate to speak the Gospel because the world “is not
ready to hear,” Cardinal Leo Josef Suenens has two answers.
The first is to ask whether the world was ready to hear when Christ spoke
2,000 years ago. The second is to say that the world, in its need to hear the
Gospel, has never been more ready than it is today. “More than ever the world
is waiting for a savior . . . and that means for you and me,” he said in a homily
Sunday at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta.
Cardinal Suenens, retired archbishop of Malines-Brussels, was joined at the
Ecumenical Prayer Service by the leaders of Atlanta’s Roman Catholic,
Episcopal and Greek Orthodox communities: Archbishop Thomas A.
Donnellan, the Rt. Rev. Bennett J. Sims, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Atlanta, and Bishop John, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Charlotte and
Bishop-designee of Atlanta.
Also participating were Dean David B. Collins of the Cathedral of St. Philip,
Father Homer P. Goumenis, dean of the Cathedral of the Annunciation, and
Monsignor John F. McDonough, administrator of the Cathedral of Christ the
King.
Following readings from Paul’s letter to the Romans, expressing the
different gifts of the members of the body of Christ, and the promise and call
to forgiveness in Chapter 18, verses 19 to 22 of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Cardinal
Suenens spoke of a definition of love. It is, he said, not to look at one another,
but to look together in the same direction.
“We have to look together with heart and soul to Jesus Christ... We have
only to let ourselves be christianized by Jesus Christ,” he said of the search for
Christian unity.
Reflecting upon the prayer to the Holy Spirit he said that the need is to
renew “first our own face, and then the face of our Church, then the face of
the earth.”
“Lord, You are the answer,” Cardinal Suenens said, “and we have no right
to keep the answer to ourselves.”
The Prayer Group Music Ministry, led by Father Paul Bemy of Holy Family
parish in Marietta, and the Cathedral choir sang, joined by some 500 voices in
the ecumenical congregation.
Cardinal Suenens, papal liaison to the Catholic charismatic renewal and a
leader in ecumenical efforts, came from the Synod of Bishops in Rome to
minister to a meeting of Episcopal bishops in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he
was to return following the Atlanta service.
BY MSGR. NOEL BURTENSHAW
Sister Linda Valasik, Religious
Education Coordinator at Corpus
Christi parish had a problem. And
this shy, bright-faced little boy
standing in front of her was giving
Sister the problem.
His name was Michael
Lozynsky. He was, that year of
1976, eight years old and he
wanted to go to Sunday School.
But Sister Linda did not see how
she could allow Michael to join
the other noisy kids in 2nd grade.
You see, Michael was different
from the rest. He was deaf.
But a miracle was just about to
step into Sister’s life to solve her
problem. Along came Brian
McDonald. He, too, was deaf. But
Brian could brag of having help.
His mother, Christine McDonald,
could speak not only with her
God-given vocal cords but also
with her hands. She could sign.
“I told Sister I would sign the
class for the boys,” said Christine,
remembering those first great days
“and was delighted she agreed.
Now we had to find a teacher.”
The challenge was met by an
angel of mercy looking for a
“different way” to help, in the
person of Carol Deckbar. “Carol
was new to teaching,” says
Christine, “and I was new to
signing. It was a mess to start, but
the boys learned.”
That word “learned” is golden
to families afflicted with this
handicap. To be deaf means to be
cut off unless someone takes time
to bring the message with external
signs.
“It was a wonderful year,”
recalls Christine, “but Sister Linda
was transferred and Carol left to
get married. The following year
the boys went to the usual
religion classes.”
The parents never gave up.
They had moved to Stone
Mountain to be near the Atlanta
Area School for the Deaf and
Christine McDonald had taken a
job there. She was determined
that the beauty of the Church’s
teaching, like other subjects,
could be opened up to the
children.
Two things happened. Sister
Rose Huber joined the staff at
Corpus Christi and little Laurie
Huff, also totally deaf, arrived in
present,” says Sister Rose, a
member of the Humility of Mary
Sisters, “but it immediately grew
to seven and then to nine. There
was great enthusiasm.”
But it did not stop with
teaching children religion. Cecilia
de Sanctis, who has no hearing
impairment, loved the Saturday
morning sign classes and wanted
The Unhandicapped--1 (First In A Series)
the parish. Sister determined to
start the classes again.
By now Christine was most
confident in using signs. A
Saturday morning sign class for
the parish began. “Father Noel
Neary attended,” remembers
Christine, “and Sister Rose came
and others too. We were becoming
a parish interested in the deaf.”
Word got around. Children
from other parishes wanted to
come and two classes for deaf
children were opened in the fall of
1979. “Five children were
to use her new skill. So did Sister
Rose. So did others.
“We opened each class,”
remembers Cecilia, “signing the
Lord’s Prayer. “So we said, why
not leam the entire Mass? Why
not a choir? We knew we had to
try.”
So the apostolate to the deaf
descended on the parish of Corpus
Christi in that way. The first Mass
for the deaf took place on April
29, 1979. “People came from all
over,” beams Christine. “One
(Continued on page 6)
SEEING THE SOUNDS - Michael Lozynsky (I) has a “word” ?
with friend Brian McDonald as Sister Rose Huber and Christine
McDonald look on. They are all a part of the apostolate to the deaf
at CorpilS Christi parish. (Photo by Burtenshaw)