Newspaper Page Text
Gejorgia
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 19 No. 6
Thursday, February 5, 1981
$8.00 per year
FA MIL Y NIGHT SPEA KER:
Ttl&f X.
Solid Silver
November 22, 1963.
Remember where you were?
I was leaving the Cathedral
rectory for a sick call at
Piedmont Hospital. The radio
announced the commotion in
Dallas. Shots were fired at the
President. Just a hoax. America
is not a Banana Republic.
Politicians are not assassinated.
I left the car in the old
parking lot and walked to the
sick room
unconcerned.
The black and
white tele
vision was
quietly play
ing and the
patient was in
tears. I look-
HOI e d at the
picture. It
was Walter
Cronkite. He was in tears too.
Yes, we all remember our
exact location that dreadful,
fateful day.
Remember where you were
July 2, 1956? I was packing my
bag for the seminary. My first
black suit was being tailored
and the institutional check-list
was being filled. A letter from
Mon signor Patrick O’Connor
had clearly stated that I would
be listed as a student for the
Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta as
a freshman in the Seminary. I
figured that meant I would one
day be stationed somewhere in
the State of Georgia. Sounded
fine to me as this adventure
began.
One week later another air
mail from Georgia arrived. The
Diocese of Atlanta had been
created. I was the first student
assigned that freshman year to
the newest Diocese in the U.S.
It is 25 years ago. The silver
anniversary is almost upon us.
We were brought into the
world as the diminutive
daughter of our venerable
mother, the respected, ancient
Diocese of Savannah. But
almost immediately we outgrew
this outpost of the American
church numerically. Growth has
been our story. Other
excitements too, but mainly it
has been growth.
Barely had Bishop Hyland
taken the reins, when a greater
honor was thrust our way. In
1962, the Holy Father elevated
the new and lowly Atlanta to
Metropolitan Archdiocese. A
new Archbishop came to us
from historic Charleston, and
when his allotted short span
was completed, 'another
Archbishop, this time from the
great See of New York,
inherited the line.
Auxiliary Bishop Bernardin
was here just a short few years
before moving on to wider
service. From our own family,
Bishop Beltran was called to
lead in Tulsa.
And still the story of Atlanta
was growth. From the cold
north and the frigid midwest,
they came. Expanding
opportunities in business sent
them. Climate and geographic
wholesomeness kept them.
They merged into a new
community of the new South
and for the first time the
Church of Rome showed
unknown muscle in the heart of
Dixie.
Only twenty-five short years
have passed, but centuries of
energy and excitement have
been expended in that era now
a silver celebration.
Over the next few months
we will recall incidents and
happenings of those 25 years
here on our pages. You can
liven this series by telling us
what you remember. Send us
your memories of the first
(Continued on page 2)
Language Hides Abortion Question
THREE HUNDRED came to the Hyland Center Auditorium
Sunday night for Family Night In Support Of Life. Above, speaker
Jean Staker Garton, who drew a standing ovation for her talk.
Below, prize winners of pro-life poster and essay contests are
congratulated by Archbishop Donnellan. From left to right, Nancy
Bell of St. Joseph’s School, Jonny Jenkins from St. Lawrence, Anne
Payne from St. John the Evangelist, Maria Watkins from St. Jude’s
and Matthew Dioguardi from St. Joseph’s. Not pictured is another
poster prize winner, John Defenbaugh from St. Mary’s in Toccoa.
BY GRETCHEN KEISER
Jean Staker Garton, an author and
lecturer and president of Lutherans
for Life, approaches her pro-life
work by dismantling the slogans of
the opposition.
Phrases like “the right to choose”
and “every child a wanted child”
sway public opinion against a human
life amendment and disguise abortion
as “compassion for the less
fortunate,” she says. Her fearless
dissection of those slogans drew a
standing ovation Sunday from several
hundred who attended Family Night
in Support of Life in Atlanta.
Dr. Garton, who holds a doctorate
in literature, compares the use of
language in defending abortion to the
way words disguised the holocaust in
Nazi Germany, the subject of her
graduate work. In the introduction
to her book, “Who Broke the
Baby?”, on the role of language in
the abortion issue, she tells the story
which led to the title of the book.
Up late at night previewing slides
for a pro-life appearance the next
day, she was startled when her
youngest child came up beside her.
He looked at the slide and asked
“Who broke the baby?” Dr. Garton
began to wonder why so many adults
were confused about abortion when
it was so obvious to the child.
One example at Sunday’s talk was
the compassion implied by the
phrase “every child a wanted child,”
used by some who argue for
abortion.
The phrase implies great concern
for children. But, Dr. Garton said, it
“says nothing about the child.”
“Unwantedness” measures our
emotions and our feelings,” she said.
“It tells us nothing about the nine
million who have died through legal
abortion.”
The slogan also “fails to recognize
(Continued on page 6)
ST. JUDE S WEEKENDS
U
Re-thinking Why
We’re Catholic”
BY LEN PAGANO
It’s called a Parish Renewal
Weekend. A time to rethink why we
are Catholic. And, it’s fast becoming
a course of spiritual renewal in the
Atlanta area.
One parish that’s emphasizing the
Parish Renewal Weekend is St. Jude’s
in Sandy Springs. St. Jude’s has
sponsored three weekend renewals in
the past six months. All three have
been ‘big hits’ with parishioners.
“I didn’t really know why I was a
Catholic-much less why I was still
going to Mass; now, I do,” says one
weekend renewal participant.
The program begins on a Friday
evening, and covers most of a solid
weekend with biblical lectures,
sharing experiences in small groups
and reviews of where we have come
as a parish family.
Based on a handbook by Father
Charles Gallagher, S.J., who also
initiated Marriage Encounter, the
(Continued on page 3)
:
% r
im
Official Assignments
Archbishop Donnellan extends a warm welcome to the Archdiocese of
Atlanta and announces the appointments, effective immediately, of:
Reverend Robert L. Every, O.P. as Assistant Pastor of Holy Cross
Church; Reverend Mr. Francois Pellissier as Deacon at Saint Luke’s
Church in Dahlonega.
CHARITIES DRIVE
A Pastoral Service
BY MSGR. NOEL BURTENSHAW
Chancery Office, we call it. And the title means the central office of the
local church. It is the Bishop’s Office. It is the office of the Diocese. It is the
very hub of all local church administration.
But it is more. The Chancery is the pastoral office because the chief pastor,
the Bishop, guides and serves his people from that pivotal point.
“The Bishop has many aids to help him in that service,” said Monsignor
Jerry Hardy, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, “and one of those aids
at this time of the year is the Archdiocesan Charities Drive.”
To us, it is an annual one-day cash drive which supports the work of the
Church. To the Archbishop, it is a Vital aid helping him serve the people of
North Georgia.
“Our Archdiocese varies so much,” said Monsignor Hardy. “The explosion
continues in metro-Atlanta. We open parishes almost every year. We constantly
dedicate new churches and centers and there seems to be no end to it. But we
(Continued on page 6)
The Church Says: Read Your Bible
BY MONSIGNOR
JOSEPH G. BAILEY
Monsignor Joseph G. Bailey is a
priest of the Diocese of
Ogdensburg, New York and
frequently contributes to their
diocesan newspaper, NORTH
COUNTRY CATHOLIC. His article
on Bible reading begins a six-part
series on Scripture which will be
featured in The Georgia Bulletin.
The Bible was the first
book to be printed. And since
the invention of printing the
Bible has been consistently the
world’s “best-seller.” But it is
only within the present
generation that Catholics have
begun to take an active
interest in Bible reading.
It used to be thought that
Catholics were safer to stick
with the Catechism. Today
even the catechetical materials
that are used in teaching our
children are thoroughly based
on the Bible. Parents who take
time to examine the catechism
books their children are using
will be amazed to find how
Bible-centered they are.
Contrary to popular
opinion, the Church has for a
long time been encouraging
Catholic laity to devote
themselves to Bible reading.
Pope Leo XIII in 1893 and
Pope Benedict XV in 1920
wrote letters on Bible study
which contained appeals for
more Bible reading among the
laity. Although the historic
letter of Pius XII in 1943
(Divino Afflante Spiritu) was
addressed mainly to biblical
scholars it set forth principles
that serve to help the average
lay reader.
(the laity) therefore willingly
approach the sacred text itself,
through the sacred liturgy . . .
and through the appropriate
organs and other helps which
are fortunately multiplied
everywhere in our days with
the encouragement and
assistance of the Church’s
pastors.” (paragraph 25)
Although such organs and
helps for Bible reading may be
“fortunately multiplied” the
“Today even the catechetical materials that are used in teaching
our children are thoroughly based on the Bible.”
But the strongest appeal of
all in recent times was
presented in “The Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine
Revelation” of Vatican II
(1965). The Council Fathers
said: “This holy synod
insistently and particularly
exhorts all the Christian
faithful to learn ‘the eminent
knowledge of Jesus Christ’
through frequent reading of
the divine Scriptures. ‘For to
ignore the Scriptures is to
ignore Christ.’ (a quotation
from St. Jerome). Let them
average lay person in the
average parish still does not
find such helps readily
available. He turns rather to
the television evangelists, who
are for the most part
conservative, fundamentalist
Protestants. And in the
absence of parish Bible classes
our people often turn to Bible
study groups sponsored by
local Protestant churches.
It is certainly not our
intention to criticize such
Protestant study groups. But
the ones which most actively
foster community
participation are not the
traditional Protestant churches
but the newer, more vocal
churches which we label as
Fundamentalist.
The word “fundament
alism” appears to have been
derived from a series of
booklets entitled “The
Fundamentals,” which were
published in America from
1910 to 1915. In them the
term “fundamentals” was used
for elements of traditional
doctrine, including the
inspiration and authority of
the Scriptures. Fundament
alists tend to stress a very
literal reading of the Bible.
Some Catholics tend to be
especially sympathetic to
fundamentalist churches
because the latter hold
strongly to many of the same
basic doctrines that Catholics
believe in. Such a surface
similarity, however, hides the
fact that the historic
Protestant-Catholic polemics
are kept alive today mainly in
such fundamentalist churches.
But the most deceptive
factor of all in their teaching is
the notion that their way of
reading the Bible is the right
way and the only right way. In
adhering to a rigidly literal
interpretation of the Bible
they not only ignore the
historical setting of the
biblical books but they violate
the basic criteria for reading
any literary text.
One of the most common
fallacies about Bible reading is
expressed in the statement,
“All that you really need to
understand the Bible is the
Bible itself.” Such an attitude
presumes that anyone should
be able to pick up the Bible
and read it profitably. Some
(Continued on page 6)