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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 19 No. 9 Thursday, February 26,1981 $8.00 per year “Word And Deed,” John Paul In Tokyo Witness In Says Pope RECEIVES COMMUNION - A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India receives Communion from Pope John Paul II following a Mass for peace in Quezon City, Philippines. Charities Drive Sunday The first Sunday in March is traditionally a special time of unity in the parishes of our Archdiocese. It is Charities Drive Sunday. Next Sunday, March 1, heralds that special day. The goal this year is $625,000. The amount is collected from the parishes and sent to the Archbishop’s Office to assist the different apostolates of our Archdiocese during the year. According to Monsignor Jerry Hardy, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, the enthusiasm for this special day is there again this year. “The work of the pastors and the priests in the parishes has made the Drive a successful tradition each year,” says Monsignor Hardy. “Of course, the generosity of the people has always been outstanding.” This year marks the twelfth annual Drive in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Be sure you participate by making your contribution next Sunday in your parish. BY NANCY FRAZIER TOKYO (NC) -- Pope John Paul II began a four-day visit to Japan Feb. 23 by meeting various segments of the tiny Catholic population and describing himself as “a pilgrim of peace, bearing a message of friendship and respect for all.” It was the first visit by a pope to Japan, where the current Catholic population numbers about 400,000 in a total population of 117 million. In a startling contrast to the cheering crowds which greeted the pope in the Philippines, residents of Tokyo, one of the world’s largest cities, virtually ignored the pope’s arrival. About 200 people were present at the airport when the papal plane from Agana, Guam, touched down amid rain and 40-degree temperatures. Only a few Japanese seemed to notice the papal motorcade on its way to the Tokyo cathedral, until Pope John Paul got within yards of the building, where about 3,000 people waited. “As my visit begins today in Tokyo, my great desire is to assure everyone whom I will meet of my sentiments as a brother and friend, my sentiments of love and peace,” he told the people outside the cathedral. Addressing priests and men Religious inside the church, Pope John Paul called for unity and asked that “your every word and deed be an eloquent witness to our God who is rich in mercy.” LENTEN ALTERNATIVES He praised the efforts of missionaries, who make up more than half of Japan’s 2,000 priests and about a third of the country’s religious brothers. The pope then told the Catholic laity of its “particular responsibility to make the Gospel reach all levels of society, and to communicate by word and action the message and grace of Christ.” Pope John Paul spent his first evening in Japan at the apostolic nunciature, meeting and dining with the Japanese bishops. Praising “the glorious Christian history of your people, in which the blood Papal Talks In Philippines, Pg. 7 of martyrs has truly become the seed of Christians,” the pope called on the bishops to expand their efforts of evangelization and catechesis. “Let us continue, dear brothers, despite obstacles and setbacks, despite human weakness, to offer the Gospel freely and in its entirety,” he said. “It is our contribution in the face of the loneliness of the world, it is our answer to the selfishness of man, to the lack of meaning that many people find in life, to the temptation to escapism, to lethargy and discouragement,” the pope added. A Reason To Celebrate SHARING a light moment at the reception welcoming the first Greek Orthodox Bishop of Atlanta are, from right to left, Bishop John, Archbishop Thomas Donnellan, and Sister Dawn, a teacher at St. Pius X High School. The story is on Page 2. BY THEA JARVIS If Lent is just around the corner, Easter can’t be far away. Enter the traditional chorus of consumer goodies -- chocolate bunnies, painted eggs, marshmallow chicks, and foil-wrapped fuzzies. Following close behind, the Easter parade — a retail salesperson’s dream of fabulous fashionata: shiny shoes, frilly pastel dresses, crisp new suits, jauntily-strawed hats. In the distance stands the weary consumer. Another Christian holiday finds him care-worn and fretful. He faces financial instability from pressure to buy everything in sight and psychological distress from his desperate attempts to keep in step with what has become the traditional way to celebrate American holidays (and holydays). This year, according to a recent survey conducted by Alternatives, a resource center in Forest Park that works for simpler lifestyles through alternative celebrations, Americans can look forward to spending approximately $550 million on Easter candy, $8 million on Easter flowers, $90 million on Easter greeting cards, and $1 billion on Easter clothing. Is there a better way? Milo Shannon-Thornberry, an THE NEW TESTAMENT Variations On A Theme ... Or V arious Themes BY FATHER JEREMY MILLER, O.P. By the title of this essay, I would hope to convey not just a trendy eye-catching heading, but rather a very serious question, a matter so serious that the one Church of Christ is splintered into many denominations. There are profound disagreements about how Christianity is to be lived. And those who disagree all claim clear support from dimensions of the New Testament. Two possibilities might be raised to explain these disagreements among Christians. Some might say that it is a question of proper interpretation and that some people simply interpret the Bible incorrectly. There is certainly misinterpretation, and there are some principles for getting at the correct meanings, as my essay of last week argued. But misinterpretation is simply too superficial an answer to explain the problem of disunity in the Church. The other possible explanation is that there are truly diverse accents, emphases and Christian styles in the New Testament, all of which are very difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize. Let us call these “traditions” in the New Testament. Some Churches follow one tradition and other Churches follow others. This possibility to my mind gets more to the heart of Christian disunity. Before turning to some examples, let me’ return briefly to the title of this essay. In a certain sense there is one theme in the New Testament, namely, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ (the Messiah). For many people, Jesus Christ is practically the proper name of someone, like our first and last names, but this is incorrect Rather, we must always think, ordained Methodist minister and executive director of Alternatives, thinks there is. He and his small, dedicated staff work toward attaining substantial goals through the Alternatives network, a national organization with a “grass roots” look. By 1985, they look forward to seeing at least 500,000 persons simplify their celebrations and their lifestyles in general; at least 1,000 religious congregations with an institutional lifestyle characterized by simplicity and identification with the poor and oppressed; and at least $100 million diverted from over-consumption to the justice programs of the churches and related agencies. “We tell our children the story of the Easter bunny with the same sense of truth we tell them about the Resurrection,’’ said Shannon-Thornberry at the corporate headquarters of the eight-year-old organization, just off Main Street in Forest Park. “They grow up and find out the truth about the bunny - how do they deal with this central element of their Christian faith?” For openers, the tall and bearded Shannon-Thornberry, in his 1981 Alternatives Planning Calendar, (Continued on page 6) “Jesus the Christ,” or that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Annointed, is the, Christ. Certainly this message is common to the whole New Testament, and if it were not true there would be no Christianity. But when we come to the important question - what does it mean to live by confessing that Jesus is the Christ -- one meets various “traditions” in the New Testament. Are these traditions merely variations of that core affirmation about the Christ, variations which fit together harmoniously? Or are these traditions quite different and difficult to bring together? The more I have studied the Bible, the more I think the second is truer. I also think this is the more Catholic understanding of things, an idea to which I will return in the very last paragraphs. Let us look at some traditions, traditions which I pnpture for oar people think conflict. The first of these reflects the classical difference between Protestants and Catholics. When one tries to look between the lines of the two epistles to the Corinthians to glimpse how people were living in that Church at Corinth, one can detect a rather loosely structured community, making a big-to-do about the charismatic gifts, and within which people called prophets probably held a lot of sway. Authority structures are not lacking in this community, but they seem quite fuzzy. Paul was their authority even though he was not on the scene. But notice how Paul handled the problems arising out of this free-spirited community. He appeals to the (Continued on page 6) ‘YOU ARE DUST’ - Fourth grader Mike Flaim of St. Anthony’s School in Casper, Wyo., is crossed with blessed ashes on Ash Wednesday. The traditional opening of Lent will be observed March 4. Lenten Regulations The Lenten Regulations for 1981 are as follows: 1) Ash Wednesday (March 4) and Good Friday (April 17) are days of Abstinence from meat and days of Fast. (The law of Fast prescribes that only one meal be taken in a day; but it does not forbid taking some nourishment in the morning and evening.) 2) The Fridays of Lent are days of Abstinence from meat. 3) All Catholics over fourteen (14) years of age are bound by the law of Abstinence. 4) All Catholics are bound by the law of Fast who are twenty-one (21) years of age, and are bound until the beginning of their 60th year, namely, until they have reached their 59th birthday. 5) The Fridays of the year outside Lent remain days of penance,, but each individual may substitute for the traditional abstinence from meat some other practice of voluntary self-denial or personal penance. This may be physical mortification, temperance, acts of religion, charity or Christian witness. The determination of these few days of obligatory penance, which may even be reduced in number because of the occurrence of a holyday of obligation or Archdiocesan regulations, should not be understood as limiting the occasions for Christian penance. The tradition of vigils and ember days, periods of special need and supplication, and above all the season of Lent as a whole should be maintained and respected. A single violation of these Lenten obligations is not a serious sin. General or substantial neglect of the obligation to do penance would be a serious matter. The following are recommendations for voluntary self-denial or personal penance: 1) Daily participation in the Mass. 2) Prayers for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. 3) Personal service to the aged or the sick. 4) Fasting at least once a week as a way of identifying with the poor and starving of the world.