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SOUNDINGS
Cardinal Suenens: Messenger Of Prayer
BY MSGR. NOEL BURTENSHAW
Cardinal Leo Josef Suenens, retired archbishop of Brussels, Belgium was in
Atlanta last week and granted this exclusive interview to THE GEORGIA
BULLETIN.
Q. Since you retired from your Archdiocese last year, what role have you
played in the Church?
A. I retired in January 1980 and since that time I have been a pastor to
prayer groups around the world. The Holy Father gave the pastoral care of the
Catholic Charismatic Movement to me. I have been to the U.S. four times this
year and many other countries too.
I was in Rome last week and the Holy Father took a small group of us to his
private chapel for prayer. When we sang in tongues, he looked like he wanted
to join us. He says he loves to sing.
Q. Is the Charismatic Prayer Movement dying in the U.S.? The groups don’t
seem to be very large today.
A. When a plane is getting ready to fly smoothly in the air, it first makes a
lot of noise on the ground. Once in the air there is no more noise. So it was
with prayer groups. A lot of the noise may have fallen away as the movement
became a part of the Church. But the Spirit is moving strongly within so many
giving souls.
Q. Is there a valid healing ministry within the Catholic Charismatic Prayer
Movement?
A. When I was in Lourdes, I saw many poor sick people brought to that
shrine to be cured. Most came away without a healing. But - and it is so strange
- they almost always smile and say, “I was healed. I accept now most willingly
this cross in my life.”
So it is with the healing ministry of our prayer groups. Perhaps the Spirit
heals at times in the body. He always heals in the soul.
Q. How would you define holiness?
A. Paul said it all. It is not I - it is Christ working in me. So, at all times I
must let Christ work, act, walk, see, hear in me. Christian simply means
“Christliness.”
When they challenged Mother Teresa and said she was not successful
because of the multitude of poor and sick still in the streets she merely said, “I
am not here to be successful. I am here to be faithful.” We must be faithful to
Christ.
By the way, they also asked Mother Teresa was it the will of God that
brought her to India. “No,” she said, “it was the love of God.”
Q. What is the best way to integrate the Charismatic Movement into parish
life?
A. Well, the best way is through the pastor. If he is interested and open he
becomes a bridge that brings beautiful prayer to his people. The program can
work in many ways. And the leaders of the program should work with the
pastor. It should be a help to his ministry. The Holy Father has praised and
blessed the Movement. Many bishops have formally welcomed it into their c
dioceses. J
Q. Do you see an increase coming in vocations to the priesthood and *
religious life because of the Prayer Movement.
A. There are many vocations being nurtured in small prayer groups. Around
the world I have seen a willingness and a generosity. Many are preparing
themselves by prayer and listening to the Spirit. We all need to pray for this
increase.
(Continued on page 8)
Sr "V-V- ■ '
CARDINAL SUENENS accompanied by Father John Fallon
enters the Cathedral of Christ the King to participate in a Service
for Unity. The Cardinal gave the homily at this service.
forgia
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 18 No. 36
Thursday, October 16,1980
$8.00 per year
MISSION SUNDAY OCT. 19
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CONFIRMATION - Father Liam Tuffy, left, and Dr. Abel
Ramos, far right, at a confirmation service in Bolivia.
Halfway House For Bolivia’s Orphans
BY GRETCHEN KE1SER
From the center of the Bolivian plateau where St. James Missionaries live, it
is 60 kilometers or more to the foothills’ villages of Aymara Indians.
High in the Andes, 13,000 feet, the villages ring the plateau, some an
overland walk of several hours from the closest road. Wooden plows pulled by
oxen are the tools to farm hillside plots.
Here, at the top of the mountains,' and the bottom of the social strata, a
child who outlives childhood has defied the odds. For shoes, he wears
makeshift sandals, summer and winter, made of strips from old car tires. He
studies in an open adobe hut, around the year. One of two die in childhood;
the one who lives, born to a family without health care, is too likely to be
orphaned. He is likely to be one of 30 children gathered around a table’s
kerosene lamp on a winter night in a state-run orphanage trying to study.
In this bleak light, from a country torn by political violence, the story of
one faltering marriage is an unlikely hero’s tale. But such is the story of Dr.
Abel Ramos.
Dr. Ramos is from the other end of Bolivia’s social scale. He earned a
doctorate in diplomacy studying abroad, and taught in Europe and married.
The couple’s return to Bolivia strained the marriage, however. His wife
returned to Europe and Dr. Ramos was left without children of his own.
He could have had a career in politics, and been a distinguished addition to
many fields. Out of the mystery of personal suffering, though, Dr. Ramos has
become father to Bolivia’s orphans.
He is, says Father Liam Tuffy, an unsung hero, one of the Bolivians whose
work is “the real story” uncovered in mission posts, though such stories rarely
travel across the mountains.
Dr. Ramos is director of state-run orphanages. The 1,300 children in his
family in this section of Bolivia have been helped by Atlantans over the years,
to the point now, where these children who range from infants to 18-year-olds
are adequately cared for.
(Continued on page 6)
Go And Be Reconciled
r
Four hundred and fifty
years ago a serious attempt was made
by leaders of the Protestant
Reformation to reconcile their
differences with the Catholic Church.
This took the form of the
AUGSBURG CONFESSIONS - a
document of reconciliation
attempting to find common ground
with Rome. It was flatly rejected by
the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles
V, as being “too protestant.”
Lutherans and Catholics around
the world are celebrating the 450th
anniversary of the AUGSBURG
CONFESSIONS this year as a time of
reconciliation and recommitment to
seeking full unity in the Body of
Christ.
In Atlanta, Lutherans and
Catholics have planned a
R e formation- Reconciliation Service
in Christ the King Cathedral for
Sunday, Oct. 26, at 3 p.m.
Political Comparisons
A two part series outlining the positions taken by the major political
parties and candidates, along with the positions of the U.S. Bishops,
begins today on page 7. The final part will appear next week.
Archbishop Thomas Donnellan
will preside at the service, which is
being planned by members of the
four Lutheran Synods. Pastor John
Johnson of St. Petersburg, a member
of the National Lutheran-Catholic
Dialog Team, will preach. The
combined choirs of Lutheran and
Catholic churches will lead the
congregation in song.
The public is invited to join in this
service of ecumenism and
reconciliation. A reception in the
Hyland Center, hosted by the
Archdiocesan Council of Catholic
Women, will follow the service.
Further information may be
obtained by contacting Father John
Mulroy at Holy Family parish in
Marietta, or Archdiocesan Unity
Commission members Don Kiessling
at 636-7353 or Frank Broniec at
633-9364.
* j
1
JS5 A
"V
THREE CATHEDRALS in Atlanta are
represented at a recent unity service. Bishop
John, Greek Orthodox bishop; Archbishop
Thomas Donnellan, center, and Rt. Rev. Bennett
J. Sims, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese, precede
Cardinal Leo Suenens and Father Louis Naughton
into the Cathedral of Christ the King.
A Portrait Of Stacy
BY THEA JARVIS
One of the best things about
Stacy is her smile.
It greets you on the soccer
field or at Sunday Mass and
spreads like a warm ray of
sunshine in a cloudy sky.
At the ripe age of 10 years,
Stacy takes time to smell the
flowers and watch the wind blow
fall colors around on their leafy
palettes. She stops to talk to any
and all who will chat with her,
interested in who they are and
what they are doing.
Stacy is a special young girl,
and because of her simple,
genuine openness, she makes
others feel special too.
When Stacy was 10 months
old, she was diagnosed as having
Noonan’s Syndrome, an accident
of birth that can leave children
brilliant or totally debilitated, but
generally results in some degree of
retardation. Stacy was also found
to be hyperactive and limited in
motor and visual coordination.
“Socially, emotionally, and
intellectually, Stacy is not that far
behind other children her age,”
says Stacy’s mother, Leslie Long,
a frank, insightful woman who has
been a single parent since her
daughter was two years old.
“It’s the combination of
factors that puts Stacy where she
is and makes her who she is.”
For the parent of a retarded
child, the first need is to conquer
an overwhelming sense of guilt.
“The doctor told us the most
important contribution we could
make to Stacy’s development was
to accept whatever she did as
terrific,” says Ms. Long.
“But for awhile I thought I was
missing for Stacy all the things she
wouldn’t be able to do. When I
finally realized I was missing these
things for me - not for her - then I
could begin to accept her.”
Accepting and loving Stacy no
matter what she did or didn’t do
was the key to her future
progress, according to Ms. Long.
“Once she knew this kind of
love and developed confidence in
herself, then we could begin to
expect things of her.”
There’s alot to expect from
Stacy.
At the Heritage Center off
Briarcliff Road in Atlanta where
she studies math, reading,
handwriting and spelling, Stacy is
doing well in all her subjects.
“At Heritage, Stacy is a big fish
in a little pond where no one is
made to feel different and each
one is treated as unique,” says her
mother. “When Stacy was
younger, she was a happy,
special retreat at Willoway Camp
in Winder, Georgia sponsored by
St. Jude’s Church.
Stacy received the sacrament
of Holy Eucharist at the age of
seven and will be confirmed in a
few short years. Because she is so
special, Stacy has no need for the
sacrament of reconciliation.
In the future, too, is a place for
Stacy as a contributing member of
The Unhandicapped - 2 {Second In A Series)
unfrustrated child. This changed
as she began to realize that she
was different. Because Heritage
gives her the chance to excel in an
academic environment like other
children, she is beginning to again
feel really good about herself.”
Like her 12-year-old brother
Robbie, Stacy is an enthusiastic
soccer player. The DeKalb County
Stacy Long
Special Education Department
sponsors a team in training for the
Georgia Special Olympics which
will be held later this year.
“Stacy’s team is pretty
free-flowing,” according to Leslie
Long, who can be found cheering
for her children on almost any
Saturday afternoon. “The kids
range in age from 6-13 and they
practice playing different
positions each weekend.”
At Holy Cross Church in
Chamblee, Stacy is enrolled in a
special education CCD class each
Sunday morning.
Once a year, she attends a
society. She will be schooled until
she is 21 and should be able to
hold a job, “perhaps as a
hairdresser, since she’s so fond of
fancy hairdos,” says her mother
with a knowing grin.
Mrs. Long has already placed
Stacy on a 10-year waiting list for
a sheltered apartment complex in
metro Atlanta that will provide
limited independence for her
daughter.
“Stacy will be able to cook,
clean, work and shop with
full-time medical and service
personnel on hand,” says Leslie
Long. “Because I tend to be
overprotective of Stacy, it is
important for her to have the
opportunity to function on her
own as an adult.”
For those who know her, Stacy
gives far more than she receives.
To her family, she has taught
tolerance, compassion, patience,
and a sense of wonder at the
world around them.
“We have learned that just
because someone’s not of the
norm doesn’t mean they can’t be
beautiful, loving people,” says a
proud Ms. Long.
For her neighbors in the
condominium community where
she lives, Stacy has broken
barriers of ignorance and
prejudice. She has shown how the
acceptance of someone who is a
little different can broaden
everyone’s horizon.
And to her church, Stacy has
become a unique gift from God,
to be cherished and loved,
respected and nourished, just as
she nourishes others in her very
special way.