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The Georgia Bulletin
December 18,1980
The Riches Of Christmas
The Preface of the Masses of
Advent tells us that in His love Christ
has filled us with joy as we prepare to
celebrate His birth so that when He
comes He may find us watching in
prayer, our hearts filled with wonder
and praise. This, then, is the joy and
the peace and the happiness that I
wish you all this Christmas.
Each man, woman and child is
called upon to be reborn this
Christmas Day in the life of love Jesus
brought us.
In the manger at Bethlehem, the
all-wise God was speechless to show us
that we do not need wisdom and
eloquence to come to Him; the
Creator of heaven and earth was
Arckbishop s Office
680 West Peachtree Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
placed on straw in a cave to show us
that wealth or earthly possessions are
no guarantee of favor with the
Almighty; the court of the heavenly
king was His Mother, a village maiden;
Joseph, the carpenter; simple
shepherds, beasts of the field and
angels singing Glory.
“When He comes, may He find us
watching in prayer, our hearts filled
with wonder and praise . ”
(tjQ****+ii£+*
Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan
Archbishop of Atlanta
From Us To You
As we gathered the print from the
four corners of the earth, from every
parish and mission, from every person
with a story to tell, during this year of
1980, we did it with you, our readers,
in mind.
As we collected columns, created
ideas, billed advertisers, printed
pictures, we did it to keep the message
freshly alive. The Word is Made Flesh.
That year is almost past. Again we
celebrate the graces of the Bethlehem
miracle in our lives. May that miracle,
retold throughout each family and
household, remind us that the news of
God become Man must be the
headline of every Christian vocation.
A merry Christmas from us to you.
Msgr. Noel Burtenshaw, Editor
Thea Jarvis, Contributing Editor
Gretchen Keiser, Associate Editor
Sally Nort, Business Manager
Leonard Mbrkun, Advertising Director
Resound ... Resound ...
Working Women
Sheila Mallon
Less than 50 percent of the American
public reads a newspaper of any kind,
according to a recent survey. They evidently
depend on T.V. and the car radio to keep
them informed. That’s a pity, because the
print media generally goes into a subject
more thoroughly and in much greater detail
than is possible with the other forms.
The Atlanta Constitution has been
running a series on drugs for the past few
days and they have certainly shed a great
deal of light on a huge problem in our
society.
Since the end of the Vietnam War, we
have heard less and less about drugs.
Occasionally we read about a plane full of
pot or cocaine crashing on landing - or a
field full of marijuana discovered in some
remote and inaccessible area of Georgia. This
is only the tip of the iceberg.
Parents often tend to assume that as long
as their children are not involved with heroin
or LSD that the rest is a harmless, passing
phase.
According to Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal, a
child psychiatrist and president of Phoenix
House in New York City (the nation’s largest
residential drug treatment program), “there
has been no time in recent or remote history
when so much of our society has been
stoned or drunk so much of the time.
Children use drugs because it is the cultural
expectation. It is as much a part of the scene
today as 10 speed bikes and roller skates.”
As this series has pointed out, drugs have
infiltrated the whole fabric of our society.
At least 50 percent of our young people are
estimated to be regular drug users - three to
five times a week or on a daily basis.
Those dealing with this escalating
problem claim that the youngsters lie
regularly to their parents about drug usage
and that a conspiracy of silence exists among
them to keep adults from being aware of the
magnitude and extent of drug abuse.
The problem of drugs is a societal
problem rather than a school problem,
according to experts. There is a terrible
pervasive combination of parent apathy,
teacher fear of litigation and a general public
disbelief about teenage drug abuse which has
allowed the drug and alcohol syndrome to
proceed unchecked.
We, as parents and grandparents, are
bewildered and confused by the drug culture
- but we need to be aware that many young
parents today are themselves drug users.
What is going to happen when their children
are 10,11 or 12-years-old.
Among some of the reasons given for the
use of drugs by children were: parents who
introduce them to alcohol or drugs; the ease
of obtaining drugs; boredom; escape from a
difficult home situation; and, most of all,
because it is “cool” and friends are using
drugs.
Children have received a message from
rock stars, sports stars and other ‘heroes’
that taking drugs is o.k.; that getting high is
something people do and that there is
nothing wrong with it.
T.V. has been a prime contributor in this
area, I believe. I was horrified a couple of
weeks ago to see an episode of “Saturday
Night Live” in which Elliott Gould extolled
the benefits of cocaine. It is often presented
in such a matter of fact way that the person
watching assumes that this must be
commonplace and that if he is not the user
that he must be out of the main stream.
If we are concerned about the health of
our children then we had better take another
look at what drugs do to them. Dr. Conway
Hunter of Peachford Hospital says that while
there is no proof of a relationship, he
believes the decline in the SAT test scores in
recent years is because the brains of children
are being dulled by marijuana.
Alcohol today is the main drug of choice
and often teenagers use marijuana and
alcohol in conjunction. No one is sure of the
percentage of young people who have tried
“hard” drugs such as hallucinogens,
inhalants, cocaine or heroin according to the
Atlanta Constitution. They think that the
rate must be much higher than the surgeon
general’s report of one in twelve.
We have seen in conjunction with
increased drug use, a tremendous upsurge in
teenage pregnancy. All the sex education in
the world is not going to take care of a
problem that stems from the use of a drug
be it alcohol or pot or cocaine, which lowers
the barriers of religion and natural inhibition
and family teaching.
Drug abuse is a contributing factor in
adolescent pregnancy. When Planned
Parenthood talks about “servicing” our
young people with earlier (eight years of
age) and better (more) sex education and
contraception, the problem is not being
reached at its roots. Often drug use is not
even accepted by the school system (public,
parochial or private) as a problem and
certainly the parents have not accepted drug
use as the reality it is.
We need to take the initiative with our
young people and in our school systems - we
need to make our feelings known to school
administrators and most of all to our
children. We need to take more
responsibility ourselves for our children’s
lives and how they are lived.
There are success stories out there and we
need to know how others have faced the
“enemy” and won.
(continued next week)
To the Editor:
Mr. Dave McGill’s flippant treatment of a
significant and important topic (the
publication of an inclusive-language Bible) in
the Dec. 4 issue betrays the very cause of the
disease which this new translation aspires to
cure. Not only does he fail to take seriously
the plight of those who have been so subtly
oppressed for centuries, but he overtly
ridicules and mocks their initial attempts to
remove some of the oppression.
Language is a very powerful tool, as Mr.
McGill’s own profession avows. The
incessant use (whether conscious or not) of a
subversive dialect which reinforces a history
of first and second-class status has indeed
* X THINK WE CAN EXPECT QUITE
A LIVELY SERMON TO PAY."
been the most incredibly powerful weapon
ever. One would think that Mr. McGill, as a
professional journalist, could not deny the
power of such language. Apparently he can.
What is even more amazing is that his
article is printed in prime-reading space in
the Bulletin. I admit he is entitled to any
view he cares to hold, but I imagine that if
he wrote from the point of view of a white
supremacist, the editors of the Bulletin
would judge his material unfit for this
particular paper, at least without a
disclaimer of some kind. Why then do they
pass on such a highly-charged male
supremacist point of view - unless, of
course, that view is more widely held than
the Catholic Church will publicly
acknowledge?
Robert J. Reimer
To the Editor:
In this beautiful season of Advent,
Christians look forward with anticipation to
the natural venting of the Christ Child from
the Virgin’s womb.
What a great opportunity to aid millions
of young innocents who may not be given
the opportunity of natural venting from
their Mother’s womb as did the Christ Child.
Perhaps, the simple appeal relayed to
Mothers everywhere would help -
“Mama, Please - give me a chance.”
Mr. and Mrs. C.V. Chelena, Sr.
To the Editor:
God, the Father, would not give His Son
a stone if He asked for bread. He gives His
Son only the best of gifts. And what did He
give Him? He gave Him flesh - flesh of our
flesh. He made His Son a man, not an angel,
but a human person. The gift the Father
gave His only Son was a human body, thus
forever wedding earth and heaven; humanity
and divinity.
We at the Natural Family Planning Office
have been meditating on this during Advent.
How sacred we are to Go(f! Impressed with
the value and holiness with which God views
the human person, we make a deeper
commitment to renew and dedicate
ourselves to Christ-God. Aware of the
sacredness of the human body, we make a
deeper commitment to come into harmony
with ourselves and His creation ...
Natural Family Planning
Teaching Couples
(uses) 574 aao)
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan - Publisher
Rev. Monsignor Noel C. Burtenshaw — Editor
Gretchen R. Keiser - Associate Editor
Thea K. Jarvis — Contributing Editor
Member of the Catholic Press Association
Business Office U.S.A. $8.00
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Atlanta, Georgia 30308 Foreign $10.00
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Hobert’s
Happiest Christmas
Dave McGill
There has never been a worker like
Hobert Revere. I knew Hobert well when I
was growing up in Louisiana. My dad would
hire him for a few days or a weekend, and
together they would build or fix something;
I would do as I was told and help them.
When I was six, I’d bring them coffee; at
eight or nine, I’d hand them tools; as a
teenager, I’d help them work.
I’ve known a few people in my life who
are “jack-of-all-trades” types, like Paul
Hernandez and Sal Calabrese and Lonna
Beth Krai - I call them “fixers”; they all
have two things in common: (a) they like for
things to work better and look better; and
(b) they aren’t afraid to tackle something
difficult. But if these people are jacks,
Hobert was the king.
He called himself a carpenter, but he was
also the very best painter, plumber, roofer,
electrician, gardener, and brick mason in the
whole parish (county). One day I asked him,
“Hobert, how come you know so much
about so much?” His answer was, “So far,
David my boy, I haven’t ever stopped
learning.”
Hobert could also teach others. Three of
his sons learned from him, then went into
business for themselves. Hobert proudly told
me once that his son Andre had become a
successful contractor who would take on
“those funny houses” (of unusual geometry)
that nobody else wanted to build. When I
was 13, I helped Hobert build a porch onto
our house. To this day, the skills he taught
me have made owning a home a joy instead
of an expense and a worry. They have made
upkeep and improvements an enjoyable
hobby for me. In our first house, I built four
brick planters which, if I do say so myself,
were more beautiful than the flowers that
grew in them. I finally stopped when I
realized I was using up all my yard.
My folks bought an old house and moved
into it about 15 years ago. Shortly
thereafter, the masonry columns it was
sitting on began to crack and otherwise
deteriorate. My dad and Hobert held a
conference on the problem, and the next
thing I knew, they were jacking up the
whole house and replacing the columns. The
precision was so fantastic that when my dad
and brother bought an old pool table a year
later, it didn’t even need any adjustments to
make it level!
Hobert had both high blood pressure and
heart trouble, but he never complained. On
the contrary, he was without a doubt the
happiest worker I ever saw. Around him,
you would feel like you were letting the
world down if you didn’t at least try to
match his smile. He was also honest. He kept
his time to the minute, and I often heard it
said that he was the only worker in town to
whom you could entrust the key to your
house, without the slightest worry, if you
were going to be away when he came to
work.
Hobert was a Catholic, but we didn’t
attend Mass at the same parish; he went to
St. Genevieve’s, “down the bayou” near
where he lived. He was as proud of his
Christianity as he was of his big family. Here
is one example of how he lived it out: He
had an elderly aunt who lived alone and, one
night, was beaten and robbed. In his pickup
truck, Hobert moved her and her belongings
to his home, then took some time off and
used it to build her a permanent room on
the back of his house.
My family was spending a few days at my
parents’ home last Christmas. One morning
we were sleeping late, and I was
half-awakened by voices. Drowsily, I
recognized them as belonging to my mom
and dad and Hobert, who were chatting and
laughing in the driveway outside the window
where we slept. I hadn’t seen Hobert in a
number of years, and I remember thinking:
“Get up and go on out there in your p.j.’s
and say hello to your old friend, and wish
him a Merry Christmas, like he did to you
every year of your life until you left home.
Ask him if he has any idea how much he
taught you.”
I didn’t act on my thoughts - sleep got
the best of me, and I dozed back off. I
didn’t know it then, but I had lost my last
chance. Hobert had a rare accident with his
skillsaw last summer, cut his hand and was
taken to the hospital. He seemed to be
recovering nicely, but then something went
wrong and he died ... I never talk with my
mom or dad any more without them telling
me how much they miss Hobert. He always
brought them a smile and a good job. Who
could ask for more than that?
Hobert taught me one other thing,
something far more important than how to
lay bricks. By the kind and the color of man
he was, he taught me not to hate. Hobert
was one of the best persons the Lord has
produced to date. He loved Christmastime,
and always stopped by with a Yuletide
greeting for us. He will be celebrating his
happiest Christmas next week.
May the peace, the joy, and the hope of
the Bethlehem manger be in your heart next
week and throughout the years ahead.
John Lennon
Joan Cassels
John Lennon was a poet. Perhaps not in
the way of Keats and Shelley, but his
musical poetry touched the very human side
of us with all its flaws and inadequacies.
Sometimes his music reflected what was
surely a gentle and peaceful soul although
Lennon had not always been regarded as
such.
He had his times of rebellion as do we all.
Handling the pressures and demands which
enormous success bring is not without its
difficulties. Lennon made some changes in
his life, doing his best to adapt to being a
superstar and legend.
Our parents’ generation looked
skeptically at our adoration of Lennon and
his fellow Beatles. Today John Lennon’s
music is played by Leonard Bernstein and
sung by virtually every established singing
artist. Like most truly great artists his work
is now universal.
Remembering 1964 and the advent of the
Beatles, those of us who were in our teens
can recall the excitement generated by them.
It seemed that their music was a salve
helping to heal the wounds caused by the
death of a President a year earlier. Lennon
and the Beatles became our heroes and like
all heroes would surely survive.
In recent years John Lennon was not the
long-haired, anti-establishment rebel of the
Sixties. He became less visible to the public,
choosing instead to stay home and raise his
son, Sean. But Lennon had just begun a new
phase of his life before he was gunned down
in New York City last week. He was working
on a new album the night he was killed.
Earlier that day he had autographed his
recently released album for the man who
would later kill him. He had become
accessible to his fans again.
We mourn the loss of his genius and we
are saddened by the void which will be left
in the music world. Lennon had written
these lines in one of his best songs: “Let it
be, Let it be. There will be an answer. Let it
be.” How difficult it is to find that answer
now, but perhaps Lennon himself had
already told us how in the beautiful
message: “All You Need is Love.”
John Lennon is gone, but he has left us a
treasure. We cherish it. We are grateful for it
- and for him.