Newspaper Page Text
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 19 No. 43
Thursday, December 3,1981
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URGES DISARMAMENT
John Paul Writes To
Reagan And Brezhnev
THE MERCIES AT PRAYER - The Sisters of
Mercy along with the student nurses of St. Joseph’s
Hospital and Nursing School form a “living rosary”
on the lawn in front of the old hospital. For almost
one hundred years - from 1880 to 1978 - the Sisters
SISTERS OF MERCY
staffed the well-known hospital in downtown
Atlanta. The photo taken in the month of May
some years ago shows the sisters and nurses
gathering around the statue of Mary to pray the
rosary.
BY FATHER KENNETH J. DOYLE
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope John
Paul II has followed up his numerous
calls for nuclear disarmament by
writing letters to President Ronald
Reagan and Soviet President Leonid
Brezhnev urging them to take steps to
avoid a possible nuclear conflict.
The pope announced Nov. 29 that
he had written letters to the presidents
to highlight the urgency of the
planned discussions in Geneva,
Switzerland, on nuclear arms
reduction in Europe.
The talks were scheduled to begin
the following day, involving top-level
negotiators representing the United
States and the Soviet Union.
The pope made the announcement
while addressing about 30,000 people
during his Sunday noon Angelus
address from his apartment window
overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican Press Office did not
release the text of the letters to
Reagan and Brezhnev, since they
were, the office said, “of a personal
nature.” But the press office
confirmed that the thrust of the
pope’s words to the superpower
A Century And A Half Of Merciful Ministry
BY MSGR. NOEL C. BURTENSHAW
After our recent special
supplement, we all know that the
Diocese of Atlanta is 25 years old. In
1956 the North Georgia Diocese was
divided from the mother Diocese of
Savannah. The Savannah Church came
into being in 1850. And four years
before that happened, the Sisters of
Mercy were already turning out well
mannered, supremely educated,
young Catholics in St. Vincent’s
Academy in Savannah.
In 1846 the black-habited ladies
known as the “walking nuns” arrived
in Georgia from South Carolina and
they have been with us ever since.
But in 1846 these women of Mercy
seemed to be everywhere. “They were
called ‘walking nuns’”, says Sister
Madeline Roddenberry, patient
advocate at St. Joseph’s Hospital,
ANOTHER MERCY MINISTRY - Sister Pat Baber gathers her
first grade class around her at Our Lady of Assumption school. The
Sisters of Mercy came to Atlanta in 1,866 to open their first
elementary school at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
“because they shunned the life of the
cloister. They originally took to the
streets in Ireland caring for the
uneducated, the sick poor and taking
care of the unwanted.” The Sisters of
Mercy were founded in Dublin in
1831 and this year they are looking
back at 150 years of service on every
continent and in every ministry.
The Sisters are best known in
Atlanta for St. Joseph’s Infirmary.
With only 50 cents in the pockets of
their habits and a private home with a
few beds the great hospital was
started. Until 1978 when it moved
outside the city it opened doors of
mercy and healing down on Ivy Street.
The sisters opened the first School of
Nursing on that spot also. And it was
there, in the heart of Atlanta, that the
Sisters and their hospital became a
famous center of vascular and lung
(Continued on page 6)
Slow Down And Simplify The Season
BY THEA JARVIS
The annual glut of holiday
hoo-ha is again upon us.
The post-Thanksgiving paper -
this year Atlanta’s biggest ever - is
thick with non-essentials to add to
your already overlarge Christmas
list: clothes, appliances, gadgets,
shoes, toys, jewelry, food. Just
turning the pages is enough to give
you an overnight case of galloping
consumption.
Christmas has become, alas, the
yearly opportunity for retail stores
to increase their cash flow and a
last-ditch chance for harried
consumers to see how quickly their
mental and emotional well-being
can decline.
Hope looms on the horizon,
however. It would appear that a
grass-roots rejection of this crass
commercialization of our favorite
holiday is solidly underway.
People are coming out of the
woodwork and asserting their need
to slow down the pre-Christmas
pace. They are prepared to fly in
the face of panic and pressure and
just ENJOY the season. There is a
ripening sense that the wonder, joy
and friendship shared at Christmas
can be enhanced by an added
holiday virtue - simplicity.
The revolutionary nature of
Christianity is at work here.
While the catalogues and
newspaper ads depict chic
mannequins moving languidly
through the holiday in stark black
and white, many are choosing the
warmer hues of Christmas past.
While slick magazines portray
goggle-eyed children gagging in
ecstasy over the latest video game,
many are opting for moderation
and outreach to those in need.
Television specials that promote
Frosty and Santa as the nouveau
heroes of the season are sometimes
pre-empted by a quiet evening of
family Advent reflection. And the
frenzied race to get everything
done by THE BIG DAY is being
slowed to a crawl by an awareness
that such madness does not
promote the peace of the
Christmas promise.
Believe it. Christmas hype is
rapidly being exposed for what it is
- an empty expression of a reality
that deserves better.
For those jumping on the
bandwagon leading straight to a
simplified season, consider the
following suggestions for a
back-to-the basics, contemporary
Christian holiday:
MAKE A “BETHLEHEM
TREE” by fashioning ornaments
based on the New Testament
Christmas story. The star, the dove,
the shepherd’s crook, the three
gifts, and many more are found in
Mary Louise Tietjen’s practical
guide, “The Bethlehem Tree: A
Family Advent Resource Book.”
For those unable to get the
book, which is available at Notre
Dame Bookstore, use some
imagination and any felt, glue,
(Continued on page 6)
Whose Birthday
Is It Anyway?
leaders coincided with his message to
the crowd of 30,000.
The pope invited the crowd to join
him in praying for “an intention
which certainly stands in the hearts of
very many men and women of our
time.”
See Editorial,
Page 4 \
Catholic Revolution
Regarding the disarmament
negotiations, the pope said, “on the
eve of such a meeting I have sent to the
highest authorities of the two
countries a personal message to
express my lively interest in the
outcome of the deliberations, to
which millions of anxiously awaiting
people throughout the world turn
their attention.”
“With hope,” the pope continued,
“I formulated (in the letters) an
encouragement that, thanks to mutual
efforts of good will, this occasion will
not pass without achieving results
which strengthen our hope for a
future unthreatened by the specter of
a potential nuclear conflict.”
The pope’s messages to the
presidents of the world’s two
superpowers were not without
precedent.
In 1962 at the height of the Cuban
missile crisis Pope John XXIII
appealed for world peace to Soviet
and U.S. leaders.
In February 1971 Pope Paul VI
sent the then Bishop Agostino
Casaroli, a top Vatican diplomat, to
Moscow to be present for the signing
of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty
between the Soviet Union and the
United States. The Vatican diplomat
is now a cardinal and the papal
secretary of state.
Pope John Paul’s letters to Reagan
and Brezhnev are generally regarded as
the pope’s way of personalizing his
strong remarks at Hiroshima, Japan, in
February. In the city which suffered
the first dropping of the atomic bomb
the pope had urged world leaders “to
work tirelessly for disarmament and
the total abolition of nuclear
weapons.”
Richard P. Wise
To Be Ordained
Richard P. Wise, a deacon of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, will be
ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Christ the King on Saturday, Dec.
12 at 9:30 a.m.
Mr. Wise has been assigned as deacon at St. Pius X Church in Conyers
for the past two years. He has also been involved as assistant chaplain in
the Georgia Diagnostic Center at Jackson.
Formerly a member of the Society of the Precious Blood, Mr. Wise
completed his studies at Theological Union of the University of Chicago.
Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan will ordain Mr. Wise as priest in a
liturgy concelebrated by the priests of the Archdiocese. The public is
invited to be present for the ordination ceremony.
Places To Share
Christmas Spirit
BYGRETCHEN REISER
Everyone remembers a childhood Christmas, waking up with a joy and
excitement that propelled you from bed, usually in near dark, to see what was
under the tree. That year, presents seemed to arrive via some sweet, anonymous
outpouring of generosity, without bills or price tags or January budget woes.
It was, perhaps, a child’s version of the true Christmas message - innocently
accepting a gift from someone unseen, completely believing that this present had
just arrived in the night while everyone slept. The spirit was contagious, traveling
right through the family as long as the littlest one still had Christmases like that to
experience.
It doesn’t have to stop then.
Each year - and all year long - there are ways to share generously and there
doesn’t have to be a pricetag. But, especially at Christmas, when everyone’s focus
is on gifts, here is a list of some that could be given this month or throughout the
year which would extend generosity and joy throughout the larger family:
FOR CHILDREN -- The Village of St. Joseph helps children in families
experiencing difficulties and works through education and special care to heal the
children and the rest of the family. The Village always needs volunteers to tutor
children in subjects and work with them on a one-to-one basis. Some volunteers
come one or two mornings a week or one day a week. Schedules can be arranged.
It is also possible to sponsor a child at the Village. For more information, Sister
Catherine Lucien, C.S.J., who is administrator of the Village, would be happy to
help. Her number is 349-2400.
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD - Joining the St. Vincent de Paul Society in your
parish helps the group to work with people in the neighborhood who may need
food or help paying utility bills or someone to talk to. Part of the work of the
Society is visiting homes and helping those who may simply be lonely and
isolated. They need more members and, in parishes which do not yet have a local
conference, the Society needs people interested in starting one. For more
information, contact your parish or the central office of the Society at 752-6394.
AROUND TOWN - The perennial symbol of Christmas, the Salvation Army’s
red kettle, is back and needs a hand. The Army is recruiting bell ringers who can
man a kettle and accept donations during the Christmas season. Singing voice not
required. The Army also serves as a clearing house for Christmas assistance in
metro-Atlanta, so it is a good place to go in search of someone to help at this time
of year and a good place to notify if you know of someone in need of help this
Christmas. Their number is 873-3101.
THE HOMELESS - For the second year, Central Presbyterian Church, across
from the state capitol building in Atlanta, is opening its doors as a nightly shelter
for the city’s homeless during cold winter months. Volunteers are needed from
6:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. to help man the shelter and people are also needed to provide
sandwiches each night to feed those who come to sleep on a bare gymnasium
floor. Those who would like to help keep this volunteer project going may
contact Betti Knott at 752-6394.
FOR THE ELDERLY ~ Sisters Theresa Termini, Marcella Myer, and Roberta
(Continued on page 6)