Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4
The Georgia Bulletin
November 27,1980
Atlanta In Action
The violence against the children
continues. But so, it seems, does
metro-wide support for their safety.
The Fraternal Order of Police has
invested considerable time and money
in their “Kids Don’t Talk to
Strangers’’ campaign. Under this
program, children receive safety-wise
coloring books, learn a catchy tune
emphasizing basic rules for
self-protection, and get the message
that common sense street wisdom is
recommended by adults in general and
police personnel in particular.
The telephone company has begun
instructing children on the use of
phones that don’t require coin
insertion for call completion and has
increased the number of such phones
in southwest Atlanta neighborhoods.
Their goal is to enable children to dial
quickly and easily for help when
needed.
What Would
The Ten Commandments is the
latest political football to hit the grid.
Just ask any legislator who has
jumped on the bandwagon to put the
Commandments “back in the
classroom.”
While Kentucky is busy removing
this traditional, code of
Judaeo-Christian morality from its
school bulletin boards, Georgia is
running its feet (and mouths) in the
opposite direction, the Supreme Court
notwithstanding.
Despite Georgia’s political,
religious, and legislative willingness to
display the Commandments in public
centers of learning, such a move
And in a recent incident in the
city, a young boy foiled his would-be
captors by yelling at the top of his
lungs and alerting his mother, who
called the police. From this happy
ending might be gained another piece
in the puzzle of Atlanta’s missing and
murdered children.
The consciousness of the children,
and the community at large, has
obviously been raised. This represents
an unprecedented move toward lifting
the dreadful spectre of violence that
has haunted Atlanta and its environs
for the past year.
May our vigilance continue when
the perpetrator(s) of the child-crimes
is apprehended. Violence in all forms,
particularly that directed against our
youth, is to be abhorred.
--TKJ
Moses Say?
carries no guarantees of a heightened
sense of morality among its youthful
readership.
The bottom line for teaching
children right from wrong - in Old
Testament history as well as New
Testament experience - has always
been consistent, one-on-one caring
and concern. Only those ready to
witness to their faith by unselfishly
sharing themselves and their lives with
young people can effectively promote
high standards of conduct within the
ranks of our children.
Expecting a sign on the wall to do
the job is the easy way out.
--TKJ
An Open Letter
To The Archdiocesan Community:
At this time of Thanksgiving, the family of Joey Newton would like to
acknowledge the Christian Community of Atlanta, and thank you for the many
kindnesses and offerings of love. Your support brought us through a very rough five
months of Joey’s healing. He has had a few setbacks, but is going to be
fine . . . with time and your prayers and the good Lord’s Healing Power. We will
never know who many of you are; but we thank God for you and pray that He will
bless you as much as He has blessed us - through you.
The Grateful Family of Joey Newton
Snellville
SEE IF VOL! CAN SKATE THEM OVER TO THE
CHURCH FOR CONFESSION."
Light One Candle
Father John Catoir
YOUNG PEOPLE:
A NATIONAL TREASURE
Young people show a lot of good sense.
John Lennon - one of the Beatles - once
referred to marijuana as a “harmless giggle.”
Evidence indicates that he was wrong. And
now comes the good news that American
teenagers are opposed to legalization of the
drug.
A national poll of young people aged 13
to 18 shows that 65 percent of them are
opposed to legalization. This even though 41
percent of those questioned admit to having
smoked marijuana at least once, according to
the Gallup organization which conducted
the survey.
Their attitude matches that of Dr. Robert
Depont, former director of the National
Institute on Drug Abuse. For years he
favored removing criminal penalties for the
use of small amounts of marijuana. But he
changed his mind because medical research
indicates that, among other things, it can
affect the reproductive system of both males
and females.
The current director, Dr. William Pollin,
told Congress, “One cannot responsibly
say . . . marijuana is a safe or benign
substance. In my personal view, marijuana
does constitute a major and serious public
health hazard.”
That hazard is something that should be
communicated to young people. Concerned
adults will want to inform themselves about
the dangers and look for opportunities to
pass that information along without being
accusatory or “preachy.” The problem of
getting the message across is considerable
when you consider the power of peer
pressure on young people.
Nearly every community has had its share
of teenage deaths in drug or alcohol-related
automobile accidents. In spite of these
shocking accidents, some youngsters simply
ignore their own better judgment. They’ve
heard it a thousand times: “Do not under
any circumstances drive when under the
influence - do not ride with a driver who has
been drinking or taking drugs.”
But knowing right from wrong doesn’t
mean they will do the right thing. Human
beings, young and old, often fail to say “no”
when they should say “no.”
The dangers involved in smoking pot are
not strongly perceived by youngsters. Any
move toward legalization of marijuana
would have disastrous effects on youth,
sending the message far and wide that illegal
drugs are really harmless after all.
If parents and legislators do not resist the
legalization of marijuana, they will be
opening the door to what Dr. Pollin called
“a major and serious health hazard.” And
that’s a far cry from “a harmless giggle.”
Boudreaux And His
Dave McGill
Cajun Ferry Boat
Did you read about that lake that dried
up in Lousiana last week? Here’s what
happened: a salt mine lay beneath Lake
Peigneur near Delcambre in South-central
Louisiana, and the lake bottom collapsed.
The lake drained into the mine, just like
bathwater when you pull the plug. Some
fairly husky items went down the tube along
with the lake, such as a $5 million drilling
rig, 11 (eleven) barges, and a tugboat. Sea
water from the Gulf of Mexico finally
refilled the lake after two days, after which
nine of the barges popped back up from the
mine. I tell you, when they do something in
Lousiana, they do it up big.
After reading about the draining of the
lake, I noted in an atlas that the whole thing
happened in the middle of the Cajun
country, about five miles from my friend
Boudreaux Rodrigue’s house. I called him on
the phone to make sure he hadn’t been
sucked down into the mine while out fishing
in his pirogue.
“Yah, mon, hallo! Who is dat to which I
am spoking?”
“Boudreaux! This is Dave, in Atlanta. I’m
calling to ask you about the lake.”
“Oh, Div! How y’all are? You been
reading ’bout our famous lake in dose
Atlantic Georgia newspapers, hah?”
“Yes, and I was hoping you hadn’t gone
down the drain, so to speak.”
“Don’t you worry, Div. Not a soul was
hurt, because we done had it all planned
down to de gnat’s eyebrow, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wal, lemme gonna tellya de real troot
’bout dat lake. When de drill-rig and tugbot,
and de Lleven barges sunk into dat mine, it
was only a mere test. We was just rehorsing
for de real ting. Now don’t you exhale out a
word of dis, Div, but we have hatched forth
a Cajun plot to clean up de worl’ wit dat
lake.
“De dry run (lil Cajun humor dere) went
like clockwork, and now we plan to load all
kinds of problems onto a big ferry boat and
send it out into de lake, whar it’ll be sucked
down to the center of the Earth, into an
even bigger mine what we have dug under
dar. I am now going to read you de list of
wot we got on de boat so far up to now:”
1. Inflation. Dat fellow who spen’ a good
part of your paycheck before you can sprint
wit it to de bank.
2. Crime. Another bad guy who we have
loaded on de ferry boat. Especially when he
deal in drugs which destroy de young
people.
3. Rats, termites, roaches, mosquitos, and
flies. After we sink dese pests once and for
good, any exterminators out of work can
come down here and cook crawfish fo’ a
living.
4. Iran. We have the whole country on
dat ferry, except fo’ de 52 hostages.
5. Unemployment. Anyone not on de
boat is gonna have a good job.
6. Howard Cosell. He thinks he is
announcing an exclusive fishing trip for
ABC.
7. Communists. Every Russian what was
in Afghanistan is now on de boat, along wit
de Kremlin and everybody else who wants to
take over de world.
8. We have on board every recording
device dat puts you on hold and den plays
dopey music in your ear while you’re
waiting.
9. Abortionists. When dey get demselves
down below and dey look out de porthole
and see dat dey’re alive, surrounded by a big
sack of water, den dey will know dat de
womb isn’t meant to be a tomb.
10. Hatred. Everybody who hates his
fellow man is going to be working in the salt
mines fo’ a lo-o-o-o-o-onng time.
“Well, Div, what you tink? Got anyting
to add?”
“No, Boudreaux, you’ve covered it pretty
well — Wait! On second thought, put the Los
Angeles Rams on your ferry boat.”
The Power Of A Pamphlet
Teresa Gernazian
You’ve heard it often - some little
something someone read changed the course
of his life. Here is the story of a man who
had such an experience.
When he was a junior in high school,
though from a good Catholic family, he got
into a wild crowd. He drank a lot, got caught
for stealing twice and even ran away from
home for a brief period. He joined the Air
Force after graduation and became engaged
to his high school sweetheart. A couple of
months after joining the military, he went
out one night with a friend who asked him
to go to Mass with him the next morning.
When the time came to get up, he yelled to
his friend, “Get out of here ... I’ve got a
hangover!” The friend wouldn’t give up and
went into the bathroom and came out with a
bucket of water. He said, “Get up or I’m
going to throw this all over you.”
The young man got up and went to Mass.
“What a terrible sermon,” he thought to
himself during the homily. He made up his
mind he wouldn’t waste his time on Mass
anymore. As he was walking out of the
church, he looked at the pamphlet rack and
saw a picture of the Miraculous Medal on
one of the leaflets. He remembered his
mother had always worn one of these
medals, so he thought he’d read the
pamphlet and find out why she wore it.
Inside was a description of Our Lady’s
appearance to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris
in 1830. He was struck by the explanation
of the brilliant lights coming from the rings
on Our Lady’s fingers. When St. Catherine
asked Our Lady about them, the Blessed
Mother explained that the brilliant lights
represented graces being shed upon sinners
who were asking her intercession to Our
Lord. The dim rays represented those which
were being wasted because no one was
asking for her prayers.
The young man wrestled with himself all
night, realizing that his soul was in bad, bad
shape. The next morning he bought a
Miraculous Medal and a detailed book on
this apparition. After reading the book and
several others, he went to confession - to
the priest who had given the “terrible
sermon.” A short time later, he broke off his
engagement and decided to become a priest.
He started looking for a good Catholic
seminary, and he couldn’t find one that
suited him. He turned the problem over to
Our Lady and asked her guidance. He and
several friends went to Europe at this time
and visited all the famous shrines -
Ayelsford in England; Knock in Ireland;
Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal.
One night while driving near Rome and
praying the rosary, they had an automobile
accident and had to spend a week waiting
for the car to be repaired. During the delay,
they met Brother Gino, the world-famous
stigmatist who lives in San Vittorino, Italy.
And so the young man and one of his friends
joined Brother Gino’s seminary.
Though now an ordained priest serving
the missions in the Philippines, Father
Ronald Tangen spent nearly two years at
Brother Gino’s seminary and was privileged
to talk with him for an hour each evening.
Father Tangen has put out a series of tapes
on varied topics, among them the
inspirational stories he heard during his stay
in Italy. Next week we’ll relate some of
these on the holy stigmatist.
Working Women
Sheila Mallon
Carl Rowan has done it again, folks.
Written another “odious” column, on one of
his favorite subjects - the “Benefits of
Abortion.”
He begins by castigating the Moral
Majority for setting as one of its priorities a
constitutional amendment to ban abortion.
Funny, how the mention of a Human Life
Amendment upsets much of the liberal
media and causes them to spout off about
the separation of church and state. I guess
the problem of the separation of church and
state didn’t occur to them when the Rev.
William Sloan Coffin Jr., and the Berrigan
brothers were demonstrating against the
Vietnam War. Or when Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and the Rev. Andrew Young were
speaking in religious terms of segregation as
a great moral evil.
Mr. Rowan is using in this column figures
from the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New
York. The Institute is an affiliate of Planned
Parenthood, which is one of the world’s
leading proponents of abortion on demand.
The Guttmacher study deals only with New
York State and, as all of us are aware by
now, figures can be interpreted just about
any way we want them to be. The column is
a case in point.
Rowan says that in the year prior to the
legalization of abortion in New York, there
were 6,500 women admitted to hospitals for
the treatment of miscarriages and illegally
induced abortions. In 1975, he goes on to
say, that figure was only 2,700 and most of
these were miscarriages.
What is not pointed out by Mr. Rowan in
these statistics is that in New York in 1975
there were 147,229 legal abortions. Since
miscarriages are included in the figures for
both years, of course the figure for 1975
would be much lower. Abortion was not
legal in 1969. Since more babies were being
carried to term, naturally there would be
many more miscarriages included in the ’69
total.
He speaks of legalized abortion “saving
lives.” In fact, over the last decade in New
York, over one million and a half babies
LOST their lives through abortion. This “life
saving” method is killing babies in obscene
numbers.
Accurately, Rowan reports that there was
a sharp reduction in the numbers of babies
placed in foster homes and institutions. He
might have also reported that there are very
few babies available for adoption because of
legalized abortion. Childless couples wait
years for a cnild only to find often, that
they have passed the acceptable age and
there are still no children available.
Following the Planned Parenthood line of
“cost benefit ethics” the columnist tells us
that New York saved $2.00 for every $1.00
spent on Medicaid abortions. With that kind
of thinking prevalent in many state and
government agencies around the country,
isn’t it only a matter of time before someone
decides that ALL those whose lives are not
productive -- the sick, the old, the
handicapped and the retarded - should
likewise be put out of their misery and thus
save the taxpayers untold millions.
Another point made in Mr. Rowan’s
column is that New York is not significantly
“different” from the rest of the country. He
says that many people believe that New
York is full of liberals, minorities and poor
people - while in fact Rowan claims the
“population of the state is much like the rest
of the United States, with about the same
percentage of minorities and poor,
somewhat more city dwellers, Catholics and
Jews.”
IN FACT: according to the Center for
Disease Control’s Abortion Surveillance
Statistics for the year 1975, there were
actually 106,317 abortions performed JUST
in New York City, and only 40.912
performed in the rest of the state. As a
former New Yorker, I think I can attest to
the fact that New York City certainly is
“different” and these statistics would seem
to bear that out.
Another statistic that will make you ill is
the fact that he proudly quotes the ruling of
the original liberalized New York law which
called for legalized abortion up to 24 weeks
of pregnancy. Twenty-four weeks, friends, is
almost six months. That means that before
the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its
infamous decision in 1973, which gave us
abortion (as we have it today) right up to
nine months, New York had a law which
permitted babies up to six months to be
killed.
How many of us have seen a six-month
premature infant? I have a granddaughter
who was born prematurely at less than six
and one half months. Today she is a beauty
and a bright little girl. It breaks my heart to
think that since the Supreme Court ruling
babies older than she was when born are
killed every day.
Interesting isn’t it, what a few figures can
say when looked at in the context of all the
facts - as well as the information about who
the information gatherers are working for!
-\7'hr
\ Gemn/in
»of\
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