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* * prgia 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. ■ ' | I i j /’ * m Pi, 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)