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Charities Drive Begins BY MONSIGNOR NOEL BURTENSHAW Monsignor John McDonough, Vicar General of the Archdiocese, was Dinner Chairman for the opening banquet of the 1981 Charities Drive. Monsignor McDonough was the best of hosts and his guests were very many. All the pastors came and they brought the parish chairpersons with them. The Archbishop came and so did his sister, Miss Nancy Donnellan. Monsignor Donald Kiernan came; he sat at the head table and inspired his audience with stories of Georgia police patrols and stories of generosity he has known that we should imitate. Bill Crawford from the Archdiocesan Finance Board came and he brought his lovely wife, Mary, for support. He may need her by his side. He is the Archdiocesan Drive Chairman for 1981. No one doubted he will be a fine leader. Monsignor Jerry Hardy came and gave details of the needs and the bills. He also gave records of the generosity of past years. Success has been aplenty. But we have grown and there is much to do. The goal last year was reached - $550,000. This year the needs tell us that the goal must be more. In fact, it goes up $75,000 to a total of $625,000. Drive Sunday is March 1. Each speaker reminded the priests and their willing workers that growth is great in our Archdiocese. But growth means more services, better planning and deeper needs to be fulfilled. Monsignor Kiernan, in his inspirational speech, reminded the workers that a lot can be done with a little. “The boy with the loaves and few fish was instrumental in feeding 5,000. We must use our talents, be they great or small.” Bill Crawford, pledged his effort for the success of the Drive, but reminded the parish people that he would need their help in this month-long preparation. Archbishop Thomas Donnellan gave glowing words of thanks “in advance.” “The success of the Drive over the years,” said the Archbishop, “was due to the hard work of each pastor, priest and parishioner. This year again all those helps will be needed and will be there.” The motto of the Drive is most appropriate as St. Peter’s words are used: “ ... put your gifts at the service of one another, each in the measure you have received.” The first gift we give is our o willingness to serve. Without any doubt, those who gathered to begin the work of the 1981 Charities Drive demonstrated not only a willingness, but also an energy that will bring results as they give solid service this year. ARCHBISHOP THOMAS A. DONNELLAN shares a happy moment with Bill and Mary Crawford as they attend the opening meeting and dinner for the Charities Drive. The Archdiocesan meeting was attended by parish representatives and their priests to begin preparations for the one-day cash drive which will be held on Sunday, March 1, in every parish. Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 19 No. 5 Thursday, January 29,1981 $8.00 per year It’s Only A Life Susan was unmarried. Her career was hopping. She was ready and willing to face the widening world of women. And now, she was pregnant. It was prior to the Supreme Court decision on abortion. New York was one of the states granting legal consent to the surgical procedure called “termination of pregnancy.” Susan decided she would go to New York. She remembered being nervous and alone. The doctor’s office yelled with the quiet of a mortuary. The o smiles of the receptionist were very non-helpful. Her time arrived for surgical prepara tion. This was it. Would it hurt? No, the doctor assured her, it would not. Would it take long? Absolutely not. He asked if she smoked. Yes, occasionally. Then he could say with absolute certainty that the procedure would be safely completed before one cigarette could be smoked. That simple. He was as good as his smiling, assuring words. “See,” he said, “it’s all over. There was no pain, it was quick and easy. Now, the nurse will take you to recovery.” Susan felt the movement of the comfortable portable bed and there was something she had to know. “Oh doctor,” she pleaded. “Before I go, I have one question. Tell me was it a boy or a girl?” The Supreme Court tells us the fetus is merely an addition to the female body. For the first three months as it staggers into maturing life, it lingers in a state that is undefinable. If the mother calls it life, then that’s what it is. If she calls it non-life, so be it. If she keeps its presence within her, it matures. If she flushes it down the hospital shaft to the incinerator, then the law blesses that decision. The delicate existence of that child depends on the mood of the mother. But Susan’s inquiry is not exceptional. Every woman, old or young, married or unmarried, happily welcoming her baby or desperately caught in that tempting dilemma, never doubts that the movement within her is a life. And as in Susan’s case, the question of bouncing baby boy or sugar and spice little girl presents itself every day of the pregnancy. Thousands of women in this nation have made the awful decision to terminate pregnancies legally over the last eight years. Again, just as for Susan, the haunting question dances from the dark recesses of their poor consciences. “Was it a boy or a girl?” Recently everybody’s favorite Army, looney show, MASH, made the point. The helicopters descend on the hospital-huts. Hawkeye rushes to surgery, flamboyant and wild. It is a pregnant Oriental woman in critical condition. The crazy team skillfully labors to save the baby. The nurse (Continued on page 6) DISCUSSING LIFE - Dr. Mildred Jefferson, president of Right to Life Crusade, listens as President Ronald Reagan speaks with a group of pro-life leaders in the White House. President Reagan had invited the officials to meet with him after the March for Life. Pro-Life “Heroes” Rally In Capital BY STEPHENIE OVERMAN WASHINGTON (NC) - The unsung heroes President Reagan spoke of in his inaugural address could be found in his own backyard, said March for Life president, Nellie Gray. Those heroes, she said, are the tens of thousands of pro-lifers from across the country who gathered in Washington Jan. 22 to march against abortion. The eighth annual March for Life began at a muddy Ellipse behind the White House with speeches from bishops and congressmen, but President Reagan was not there to see the people Miss Gray called the “real leaders” of the pro-life movement. Reagan met later that day with about a half dozen pro-life representatives. When the more than 50,000 people marched past the White House on their way to the Capitol many shouted, “We want Reagan,” and waved flags and banners in the direction of his new home. Passing by 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. were signs proclaiming a litany of prayers for the unborn carried by people from the East, the Midwest and South and even a few from the Far West. “Those who say we are in a time when there are no heroes just don’t know where to look,” Reagan said in his inaugural address Jan. 20. “You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce food enough to feed all of us and much of the world beyond.” (Continued on page 2) BY HENRY LIBERSAT BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (NC) - The first Catholic satellite television operation in the United States was licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Jan. 19. The FCC license was awarded to Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, Birmingham, where Mother M. Angelica has founded Eternal Word Television Network, Inc. hoping to supply Catholic programs to cable TV systems throughout the United States. BY MONSIGNOR NOEL BURTENSHAW Here’s the story. Jose grabbed the opportunity to hop the boat in Mariel Harbor in Cuba and come to the U.S. last year. He had to come alone. Behind him he left all that he had. Everything. But most especially he hated leaving his wife, Marie, and his baby daughter. But it was his chance to get out and hopefully start a new life for them all in America. Jose is 24. After wandering through the official red tape of Miami, Jose was sent to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. Five thousand others were sent with him. The long, tedious process of resettling these Cuban refugees began. It immediately ran into serious snags. “It was a mess,” says a government social worker. “Everyone was mixed in -- good people looking for a new chance, hard-core criminals and genuine “We’ve always felt a deep desire to share the fruit of our contemplative life with all the people of the Catholic Church - and with others as well,” said Mother Angelica, who heads a community of 12 Religious. Our Lady of the Angels has four printing presses, a complete television studio and mobile van, an earth station capable of transmitting and receiving radio and television programs from satellite and a network of laity around the globe who distribute Mother Angelica’s evangelistic tracts. mental cases. Interviewing was slow, and the old Cuban exiles from 1965 were not too happy with the lot we got this time.” Jose was never processed. Instead he was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary with the first batch of Cubans last May. Three hundred came at that time. The number is 800 now and each month it climbs by a hundred more. It was in May, when Jose reached Atlanta, that Tomas and Martha Antona came on the scene. They had both come from Cuba in the early sixties. They met in Boston, married and moved to Atlanta. They both responded to a call from the Legal Aid Society to go to the Penitentiary to help. Mostly they assisted as interpreters. “There is really a great problem,” says Tomas. “There are not enough interviewers and the process is too slow. But I do agree, the authorities must be careful.” And this was all accomplished without an organized fund raising campaign or a “rich uncle” as Mother Angelica says. There have been donations amounting to thousands of dollars from philanthropic foundations, but the backbone of the ministry, Mother Angelica said, has been the regular contributions of the average Catholic who wants to help the church reach more people with the word of God. When the nuns began the book ministry in 1974, and later the television ministry, they had “no Father Jacob Bollmer Tomas and Martha tell you there are good men, like Jose, in the prison who should be quickly resettled. “Jose is a fine man,” says Martha “and has shown he can be productive since his release and resettlement.” But there are others who cannot be released without rehabilitation. And still, there are others, who are out and out criminals. “The U.S. Government is asking Cuba to take these hard-core criminals back,” says Tomas. “It is unlikely they will. No one really knows what will happen then.” Jose was released. But first he had to find a sponsor. That’s where the (Continued on page 6) knowledge of how to print or to make TV tapes or to market them. We depended on God’s providence. We also had no saving accounts and no investments,” said Mother Angelica. The Birmingham earth station costs about $800,000 and “if the Eternal Word Network succeeds it is because of God’s providence,” she said. To preserve the contemplative lifestyle of the nuns, Mother Angelica recently established the Eternal Word Television Network Inc., a lay-oriented, non-profit corporation to handle broadcasting and business affairs. Though she retains the chairmanship of the board, Jesuit Father John Hardon, of the Catholic Voice of America (CVA), is a member of the board of governors and spiritual adviser. He is organizing a panel of Catholic scholars and theologians to review programs before they are accepted for broadcast over Eternal Word Network. The network has become an affiliate of CVA which has pontifical institute status. (Continued on page 8) New Column Added A column has been added to the Georgia Bulletin, beginning this week, which will focus on the Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday’s liturgy. Called The Word This Weekend, the column is written by Paul Kamowski, an Indianapolis resident, who initiated the weekly column for the paper there, the Criterion. Scripture Series Begins A six-part series on the use of Scripture in our parishes begins next week in the Georgia Bulletin. Those participating in this series, called ‘‘Scripture For Our People,” are Gretchen Reiser, Thea Jarvis, Monsignors Hardy and Burtenshaw, and Fathers Jeremy Miller, Jim Kelly and Tom Leclerc. We urge all our readers to watch for, read, and comment on this well-prepared series. Cable Comes Alive The religious channel of the,new cable television system in Atlanta will begin operations on Monday Feb. 2. On Sundays the channel will begin operations at 9 a.m. During the week the channel will operate only in the evenings. Channel No. 8 will be the religious channel on the system. Initially, the religious programming will be seen only in the city of Atlanta. However, soon the channel will also be shown on Sandy Springs Cable and also DeKalb Cable. North Fulton Cable may also be included at a later date. Initally, Catholic programs include a Mass televised Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m.; the Christopher Close-up and Insight programs from 8-9 p.m. Mondays and a segment from John Powell’s acclaimed series, “The American Catholic,” 7:30-8 p.m. Thursdays. Schedule changes will be updated in the BULLETIN. ATLANTA PENITENTIARY The Resettling Begins “For I Was In Prison ...” Last In A Series