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Gejorgia
Vol. 19 No. 34
Thursday, October 1,1981
3.00 per year
CHD Director:
Vista, CETA
Cuts Bad News
BY BRIAN BAKER
ALBANY, N. Y. (NC) - “In the
short term, there’s going to be a lot of
suffering. In the long term, there’s
going to be a reaction of people
who’ve been alienated by the
administration’s policies,” said Father
Marvin Mottet, executive director of
the Campaign for Human
Development (CHD).
In any terms, the Reagan budget
cuts are not good news for an
anti-poverty program like the CHD, he
stated.
“There are two cuts that are going
to hurt us the most,” Father Mottet
said in an interview with The
Evangelist, newspaper of the Albany
Diocese. “One is Vista, which
President Reagan wants cut in half and
then phased out in another year. The
other is the elimination of CETA.”
These organizations customarily
have provided workers for many of
the self-help programs sponsored by
the CHD.
Cuts in other federal social
programs will also put an extra burden
on the CHD to “fill the gap,” Father
Mottet said.
CHD officials and Catholic
Charities directors already feel “under
the gun” because of the anticipated
increase in project applications for
grants, he said. Last year, even before
the threat of federal cuts, the
campaign received applications
requesting more than $40 million in
funding. CHD had less than a sixth of
that amount to divide up.
“We got 600 applications this year
and next year we expect double that.
We’re going to be hard-pressed, there’s
no doubt about it,” Father Mottet
said.
Despite the priest’s fears that
Reagan’s economic policies will cause
immediate hardships among the poor,
he conceded that if, in the long run,
those initiatives work, “he’ll be a
hero.”
Father Mottet said he veers more to
the view that “Reaganomics,” won’t
work. And that could have the effect
of activating grassroots groups against
the new economic system, he said.
“The American public is very
volatile. It swings back and forth
quickly on issues. Already, people are
being forced to work together” and
are protesting and lobbying fiercely to
hold on to some of the social programs
that are coming under the ax, he said.
PRO-LIFE LEGISLATION
Bishops Back
New Proposal
..i!
EMBRACING ARMS were the visible sign
throughout the Worldwide Marriage Encounter
Unit Convention last weekend that the emphasis
MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER
...To Grow In Love
With One Another
BY GRETCHEN REISER
When the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Unit Convention opened last
weekend, most of the visitors were from the Southeastern United States.
But three, A1 and Barbara Regnier and Father Des Colleran, came from
California, covering a long distance to express the vital connection between what
happens among 500 people at Marist in Atlanta, and what is occurring in Marriage
Encounter in other American cities and around the world.
The Regniers and Father Colleran are the executive team in the United States
for Worldwide Marriage Encounter. In an interview the first evening of the
three-day convention, the Regniers, who are from Los Angeles, said the team’s
presence in Atlanta was meant to underline “how important this convention is”
to the movement in the rest of the country, and how important the couples
coming to Atlanta’s meeting were to families in places as farflung as Peru.
The Unit Convention, an annual gathering of couples, brothers and priests who
have previously attended a Marriage Encounter weekend, “really is an extension
of the weekend experience,” Father Colleran said. Those who came from
Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and parts of Alabama, were at Marist “to reflect
on our growth in our communication with one another and with our faith,” he
said. Those who make a commitment to such growth are a strength to others
trying to live in that way, he observed.
Despite a formal title, the “convention” is devoted primarily to reflection and
discussion between husband and wife on selected topics. For couples, the
relationship with the spouse is at the center. For priests and brothers, it is the
relationship with the church.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, A1 Regnier noted, Paul beautifully
expresses the love between husband and wife in terms of Christ’s love for the
Church. The intent of a weekend is always to focus on that love, its importance
within the couple and in their family, and, their importance to the church as a
whole.
was on love between spouses, within the family and
the Church.
BY JIM LACKEY
WASHINGTON (NC) - A major
new constitutional amendment on
abortion introduced by Sen. Orrin
Hatch (R-Utah) has created a major
new controversy for the pro-life
movement.
Hatch’s amendment, which would
give Congress and the states the power
to regulate abortions, was
immediately attacked by a coalition
of pro-life groups who said they
wanted nothing less than a full human
FLORIDA TO CALIFORNIA - Father Des Colleran from the
Diocese of Orange in California, center, a member of the U.S.
executive team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter greets two other
travelers, Ron and Judy Pekny from Miami, Fla.
“The couple really is an experience of Jesus’ love right in the middle of the
church,” A1 Regnier said.
Father Colleran, who had his first experience with Worldwide Marriage
Encounter in 1972, said that the same dynamics that operate in a marriage occur
in a priest’s relationship to his people.
“I see myself in kind of a love relationship with my church and my people,
(Continued on page 6)
life amendment.
But it also was immediately
welcomed by the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops, which called
Hatch’s amendment “a significant
opportunity to restore legal
protection to unborn human life.”
Hatch himself admitted that his
proposal would fall short of a “direct
constitutional prohibition on
abortion.” But he urged support for
the measure, saying it would reverse
the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision on
abortion and would not preclude a
broader abortion amendment in the
future.
Opponents of Hatch’s amendment
likened it to a “states’ rights”
approach on abortion, in which states
would be given the power but would
not be required to restrict abortions
within their borders.
But Hatch contended his
amendment is stronger than the states’
rights approach because it also would
give Congress the power to set
national standards on abortion and
thus prevent any state from becoming
an abortion “haven” for the rest of the
country.
“When a greater consensus exists in
this country on the repugnance of
abortion - which consensus I believe
will be promoted by this amendment
-- I will be among those seeking a
direct constitutional prohibition on
abortion,” said Hatch in a statement
made public Sept. 22.
“Although the senator means
well,” countered Paul A. Brown,
director of the Life Amendment
Political Action Committee, “this
(pro-life) movement will never
manage to pass two human life
amendments.”
Brown, who organized a coalition
of some 70 pro-life groups to sponsor
a news conference Sept. 23, called the
idea of two constitutional
amendments - first Hatch’sand then a
broader version - “pie-in-the-sky
dreaming.”
He urged instead support for the
human life bill, a proposal now
pending before the Senate Judiciary
Committee under which Congress by
simple majorities in both houses
would attempt to overturn the
(Continued on page 6)
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY
Carrying The Message Of Mercy
TV Mass Goes Weekly
BY MSGR.
NOELC. BURTENSHAW
On a hot-very hot-summer day
in 1979, Betti Knott was sitting in
her office in Peachtree Center
nursing a deepening resentment.
She saw a lot of bureaucrats around
her furiously working at doing very
little. “It was one of those days,”
says Betti, “when I realized my life
needed more than the challenge of
this government job.”
Betti decided to take a walk. On
the first corner, in the blazing heat,
she spied a vagabond lady adorned
in many dresses (at least five) along
with a raincoat desperately digging
in a mound of garbage cans. Betti
moved on.
At the next corner, just off the
glitter of Peachtree, she passed a
wino with his bottle huddling on
the sun-baked concrete. Again she
moved on. One block away a group
of panhandlers counted the
morning’s take and set strategy for
the afternoon.
“I returned to the office
knowing I needed a new vocation. I
called a friend and told him how I
felt. Naturally he said. “Well, what
do you want to do?” I almost
yelled, I want to clothe the naked,
feed the hungry,, visit the sick. He
advised me to think it over. ”
Betti didn’t have to. “Three
weeks later the same friend called
and said ‘Do you know that Joe
Flanagan has resigned as head of
the St. Vincent de Paul Society?
Here’s your chance, I just sent
them your resume.”
The government was about to
lose Betti Knott.
This bright, cheery 31-year-old
native of Key West, Florida
exchanged her posh office for one
on a side street behind St.
Anthony’s school in West End.
“We have a little building there,”
says Betti. “It is sort of hidden
away but the poor know where we
are.”
They most certainly do. As head
of the St. Vincent de Paul Society,
Betti is one of the poor’s best
friends. And she loves the title. It’s
just a problem there is so little to go
round.
“But we try. We get 120 calls
. per week besides all those we
already know of. They need
everything - money, food,
somewhere to stay. We are on the
move for them and we have the
most beautiful volunteers working
for us. They are a blessing, a real
active blessing.”
Betti is talking about the lay
parish Vincentians: Men and
women working in the footsteps of
their founder, Frederic Ozanam,
who began this lay outreach to the
poor of Paris in the last century. He
placed this work for the poor under
the patronage of St. Vincent de
Paul. In the North Georgia area
Betti Knott can count 300
Vincentians. They are on call for all
kinds of cases.
Betti outlines some of her cases
with the ease of one who is familiar
with desperate need. “Take the
little old lady in northwest Atlanta
living in a little house near the
waterworks. Her pension is $160
per month. Her house note is $90.
Then she pays utility bills. She has
nothing for food and would starve
except for the little she gets in food
stamps. She comes to us
frequently.”
“Or take the young woman
living on welfare. Her husband
walked out when she had her
second child. When you include
food stamps she has less than $200
per month. Her rent is $125, then
she pays utilities. She’s on a waiting
list, with 4,500 others, to get into
public housing. She cannot work
with her new baby. She must have
food,, diapers, clothes - and no
where to turn. She turns to us.”
The list of cases, one more heart
rending than another, goes on.
Betti Knott and her Vincentians
are just one of three charitable
groups in the Atlanta area that will
give financial aid. “The Christian
Council and the Salvation Army
give too. There’s never enough to
go around.”
Betti estimates that the Vincent
de Paul Society, parish conferences
and her central offices, distribute
(Continued on page 6)
STAFF REPORT
Since 1977, Atlanta has produced a
Mass on television. This Mass has never
been an arm of the “electronic
church.” It has not been a “TV
Ministry.” It has been, mainly, a
program for the sick and those who
for some reason cannot be present for
the Sunday liturgy.
Now that Sunday Mass, which
began once each month, then went to
twice each month, will be aired each
Sunday of the year. And it will be
aired at the Sunday morning prime
religious time of 10 o’clock. It will
appear on Atlanta’s newest television
station - WVEU, Channel 69.
“Over the years,” says Msgr. Noel
Burtenshaw, Director of
Communications for the Archdiocese,
“this program has been most popular
with Catholics who have been shut-in.
We send them a missalette free each
month and we really have a little
'
ON CAMERA -- For four years the TV Mass has been produced
in the Archdiocese. The apostolate has grown and now a weekly
Sunday morning liturgy will be offered to shut-ins at the prime
religious time of 10 o’clock.
parish going around the Television
Mass.”
Others are reached too. Letters
come to the Communications Office
from prisons, institutions and
hospitals. “And, of course, we hear
from non-Catholics all the time,” says
Msgr. Burtenshaw. “Usually they
want material on the Church that we
are glad to forward. All around the
nation, the Catholic Mass on television
has been a great success and
attraction.”
WVEU is a new commercial station
that has opened in the Atlanta area. It
is Channel 69 on the UHF band. “If
you get channels 17, 30 and 46, then
you can get this one,” says the
Monsignor who offers the Masses on
television. “It will also go on cable
soon. It is new, so it is going to take a
little time to properly set it up.”
The new weekly Mass will begin on
Sunday, Oct. 4. Some of the priests
have offered to help Monsignor
Burtenshaw with the weekly
apostolate and the music is supplied
by different parish choirs.
“The choirs and lectors have been
really great,” says Msgr. Burtenshaw,
who also edits “The Georgia Bulletin”
and has a weekly radio show on
WGST. “They are all so willing to give
their time and beautiful talent to this
effort for our sick.”
Msgr. Burtenshaw sends a monthly
missalette serivce to all shut-ins who
request it. A newsletter also goes with
the missalette. Shut-ins can get on that
free mailing list by writing: P. O. Box
54424, Atlanta, Ga. 30308.
“We started this apostolate on WSB
in 1977,” says the Monsignor, “and
we are most grateful to them. But for
this apostolate to go weekly is the
breakthrough we needed. Let us all
pray that we will be successful.”