Newspaper Page Text
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 19 No. 15
Thursday, April 9,1981
$8.00 pfer year
POLAND
Pope Opposes
Intervention
BY JERRY FILTEAU
VATICAN CITY (NC) - As the
Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact
nations increased the flow of supplies
and troops into Poland as part of
extended military maneuvers, Pope
John Paul II reaffirmed his
opposition to foreign intervention in
his native country.
Speaking to about 100,000 people
gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the
Sunday Angelus April 5, the pope
said, “The events of the past week
have shown that the Polish people
are seeking to resolve in a peaceful
way their difficult internal problems,
letting themselves be guided by a
sense of responsibility for the
common good.”
For the third time in less than 10
days he emphasized that Poland’s
labor crisis is an internal problem to
be solved from within.
“The opinion of the whole world,
of all countries that truly love peace,
rightfully emphasizes -- in
conformity with the principles of
international coexistence - that the
right of the Polish nation to the
further solution of its important
internal problems must be fully
respected,” he said.
The Polish-born pontiff had used
substantially the same language in a
message to Cardinal Stefan
Wyszynski of Warsaw March 28 and
in his Sunday Angelus talk March 29,
as the Polish government and leaders
of the independent labor union,
Solidarity, were in the midst of
delicate negotiations to avert a
potentially disastrous nationwide
strike that was set for March 31.
PALM SUNDAY - Pope John Paul II carries a blessed palm as he
moves through St. Peter’s Square toward an altar for an outdoor
Mass on Palm Sunday in this 1980 photo.
J** r
*
SALVADORAN BISHOP
Military Aid Unable
To Halt Our Conflict
NEW YORK (NC) - Bishop
Arturo Rivera Damas, apostolic
administrator of San Salvador, El
Salvador, said at the start of a
one-week visit to the United States
that Pope John Paul II has
encouraged him to continue his
efforts for “mediation and dialogue”
among the warring forces in his
country.
“Military aid from outside our
country cannot assist in solving our
internal problems,” the bishop said
at a press conference April 4 at the
Catholic Center in New York.
He stressed both at the news
■conference and on the ABC
television show, “Directions,” that
the pope was “satisfied” with the
Salvadoran bishops’ efforts to seek
political dialogue.
Since Jan. 10, he said, the
Democratic Revolutionary Front,
which previously had refused to
work with the government which
came to power in 1979, has “seen
the necessity of seeking a political
solution by means of dialogue and
mediation.”
A recent list of alleged subversives
issued by El Salvador’s armed forces
-- including at least eight priests and
two lawyers working for a Catholic
agency - was described by the
prelate as representing a “very
intransigent” viewpoint and one
which “would not bring about
peace.”
The church is asking for mediation
because civil war can only result in
“the shedding of blood,” he said, and
the church wants a solution “with
the least bloodshed possible.”
Bishop Rivera said the situation
has changed since the assassination a
year ago of Archbishop Oscar A.
Romero of San Salvador.
Bishop Rivera opposed the Reagan
administration’s proposal to send
arms to the ruling junta. He said he
(Continued on page 6)
Cathedral Holy Week
Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan will be the
principal celebrant at the Mass for the Blessing of Oils
and Consecration of the Chrism at 11 a.m. on Holy
Thursday at the Cathedral of Christ the King.
The blessing of the chrisms, which takes place each
year on Holy Thursday r provides oils for anointing of
the sick, for confirmation, and for catechumens and is
used in parishes throughout the archdiocese during the
coming year.
At the Chrism Mass, priests of the archdiocese
concelebrate the Mass and renew their commitment to
the priesthood and to the ministry of the Church.
Normally, between 140 and 150 priests from the
archdiocese attend the Mass.
Originally the oils were blessed at the Easter Vigil.
But since the sixth century, oils have been consecrated
on Holy Thursday because they were needed for the
blessing of the baptismal water during the Easter Vigil.
The priests of the archdiocese then take the newly
blessed oil to their parishes for use throughout the
year.
The Holy Thursday Liturgy will be concelebrated by
Archbishop Donnellan and the Cathedral staff at 7
p.m.
On Good Friday, a three-hour devotional service
(Continued on page 8)
New Summer Program For Atlanta’s Children
Sister Margaret McAnoy Directs
BY GRETCHEN KEISER
A summer program, which will
cast the talents, stamina and
resources of parishes and hundreds of
volunteers on the side of Atlanta’s
vulnerable children, is being launched
in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
The program, designed to serve
600 to 700 children who otherwise
might be on the streets when schools
close in June, will be based in three
parishes: Sts. Peter and Paul in
Decatur, St. Anthony’s in southwest
Atlanta and St. Paul of the Cross in
northwest Atlanta. Our Lady of
Lourdes and Blessed Sacrament
parishes are also participants. At
present, they are not designated as
day camp sites, but will be bases of
other forms of service.
It will be a five-day-a-week,
10-week program, running from
mid-June, when schools close, to late
August, when they reopen. The day
camp programs in each of the three
parishes will run from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m., Monday through Friday, with
provision for early drop-off of
children beginning at 7 a.m. and late
pick-up until 6 p.m.
The programs will be coordinated
on an archdiocesan level by Sister
Margaret McAnoy, IHM, Msgr. Jerry
Hardy and Father James Miceli,
working with pastors
and staff of the three parishes and
directors from each parish. The
programs, as envisioned, will include
time each day for tutorial work,
recreation, and prayer and spiritual
enrichment, lunch for the children
and a snack. While the resources and
facilities of the three parishes will be
used as a base, all parishes are being
urged to assist in the archdiocesan
effort (See box).
Critical to the success of the
program is the response of several
hundred volunteers who will be
needed to donate their time and
talent to children, coordinators say.
Also considered critical is a second
collection to be taken up at all
Masses on Palm Sunday to provide
the basic funds for the program.
“We’ll need an army of volunteers
and the most generous response our
second collections can provide,”
Monsignor Hardy said.
Impetus for the program began in
early March, at a consultors’ meeting
of Archbishop Thomas Donnellan
with archdiocesan priests, Monsignor
Hardy said. The crisis surrounding
the deaths and disappearances of
now more than 20 black children in
Atlanta called for “a clear and
unmistakable witness of the Church’s
presence to these people, their
problems and the things which cause
them,” he said.
It was felt the summer program
would be a concrete response which
could provide a measure of safety for
some of the children living in public
housing, and a measure of peace to
parents, anxiously concerned about
their children’s whereabouts,
particularly when schools let out for
the summer.
The program is also seen as an
opportunity for people “to offer
their talents and gifts to do
something concrete” in response to
the murders and heightened
awareness of children’s vulnerability,
Monsignor Hardy said.
“We’re getting calls and letters
from all over the country, asking
‘What can we do to help?”’ he said.
“There is a great feeling of
compassion and people are looking
for tangible ways to express it.”
Archbishop Donnellan noted that
the first appeal to members of the
Archdiocese was a call for “prayer
and penance especially within our
Lenten tradition.” In a letter to the
Archdiocese several weeks ago,
Archbishop Donnellan asked that the
Fridays in Lent be made days of
special sacrifice and prayer for the
children, their families, and the
Atlanta community.
The summer program, in addition
to its attempt to provide concrete
assistance to Atlanta families, also
reflects a pastoral responsibility
“towards the totality of our people,
who really develop their relationship
with God in terms of love of
neighbor,” Archbishop Donnellan
said. “It had to involve the Catholic
community as a whole.”
Specifically, he said, “our very
modest program ... says to our
community, ‘When somebody’s
hurting, we all hurt.’”
“The black community is pained
and hurting,” he said, ‘ and it’s
exceedingly important that they
receive support from the whole
community.”
Meetings between the Archbishop
and pastors of five parishes in black
communities led to the plan to
concentrate the programs in three
parishes, most accessible to families
living in some of the city’s major
housing projects.
The three sites, while able to serve
only a small number of the children
living in city neighborhoods, provide
a specific link, also, to programs
being planned by an ecumenical
coalition in Atlanta and the city
itself. Overall, the groups are working
together to avoid duplicating services
in one area and neglecting another.
The Archdiocese’s program has
provided a base in three
neighborhoods around which other
churches, religious groups and
agencies can build to reach further
into neighborhoods.
Sister Margaret McAnoy, former
principal of Our Lady of Lourdes
school, and most recently a teacher
at St. Pius X High School and
coordinator of the Cursillo program,
emphasized that the summer
programs are “a beginning” on a
small scale, rich with opportunities.
“We are talking about a lot of
volunteers,” she said, estimating that u
to serve the full capacity of children, j
some 400 to 500 volunteers will be *
needed. But, she emphasized that the
program is open to the talents which
are available, whether it be some
experience as a teacher or recreation
leader or worker - or amply the
ability to pitch in on a project.
“People don’t need any specific
talents,” she said. “We’ll help them
to see talents they didn’t know they
had.”
Volunteer forms will be placed in
all of the parishes shortly, she said,
and Sister Margaret is available to
speak to groups about the programs
and the ways that people can get
involved. One of the approaches
being taken, also, is invitations which
are being sent to all the religious
communities represented in the
Archdiocese, asking whether sisters
from the communities might be
interested in spending a two-week
period working for the program this
summer. Similar invitations are being
made to diocesan seminarians.
“We’re not asking for people’s whole
summers, we’re asking for a couple
of weeks,” she said.
Other needs of the programs
include supplies, access to recreation
areas for field trips, housing for those
coming from out of town, and,
possibly, sponsorship of children for
day-camp sessions. The day camp fee
will be $5 a day “to anybody who
can afford it, but we’re stressing that
it goes from $5 a day down to zero”
for those who can’t afford to pay,
she said.
While the programs are a response
to the murders and disappearances of
Atlanta’s children, they are also
being seen in the light of needs which
existed before, and will exist beyond
the violence of the moment. One of
her students at St. Pius asked her
what would happen if the killings
stopped or an arrest was made, Sister
Margaret said. “It’s an answer to
what’s happening now, but the
progrrams have to continue,” she
said.
Monsignor Hardy also noted that
the program “is a response aimed
specifically and directly at the
summertime.”
But, he said, “it would be our
hope that there would be some
ongoing things as a result of this,
particularly establishing new
presences of the local church to these
poorer areas and their people, and
building new links between our
congregations and other
congregations which are in those
areas or concerned about conditions
in those areas.”
Parishes Prepare
BY MSGR. NOEL C. BURTENSHAW
The intention of Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan is involvement of all our
parishes in the summer program for our children. However, three parish sites
have been chosen as centers for the program. The three parishes are: St.
Anthony’s, St. Paul of the Cross and Sts. Peter and Paul.
All three are involved in ministry to the black community.
Father John Adamski, pastor of St. Anthony’s Church on Gordon Street in
the West End, says, “We have not had this type of program in former years.
But we really need it and the planning is going well.”
Father Adamski is concerned that good coordination takes place between all
agencies, civic and religious, who are planning programs for the children. “Here
in our own neighborhood, especially, we want to be sure we are well informed
on all the programs being planned.”
St. Anthony’s intends to bring Mercy Sister Catherine Donegan from
Philadelphia to coordinate the parish summer program. “We will use the
school, the day-care center and Howell Park next to the school. It will be an
all-day program but we still have some concerns^ for the children when the
program ends in the evening. We are looking closely at that end of it. It will be
good to have Sister with us.”
Over in St. Paul of the Cross, Passionist Father Cletus Dawson is in charge of
planning. “Although this is my first time to be involved,” says Father Cletus,
“the parish has been involved with a summer program for children for 10 years.
This year will be different since we intend to lengthen it. It will begin early in
the morning and go on all day. The planning is going well.”
This parish intends to bring four Sisters from the St. Joseph’s Motherhouse
in Baden, Pa. to help run the program. “They will be a wonderful addition,”
(Continued on page. 6) .
FUN HAS BEGUN. Alyce Holland, who will coordinate the
summer program at Sts. Peter and Paul parish, watches as
playground equipment gets a thorough work-out. This kind of
care-free camp will be present for all the children in the
Archdiocesan summer program. „
What You Can Do
1. Support the Palm Sunday collection for the summer program.
2. Contact Sister Margaret McAnoy at 881-1419 to volunteer, donate
supplies, offer housing, help or ideas.
3. Contact your pastor and find out what your parish response will be
and offer your support.
4. Plan to give some personal time to the program.