Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8—The Georgia Bulletin, May 30, 1985
New Clinic—
(Continued from page 1)
people they see do not nave
a family doctor so the idea
of competition has never
really come up. The record
also gives the amazing
statistic that this little
clinic, with very limited
space and only essential
equipment, has catered to
almost 1,000 patients per
month since the beginning
of the year.
“We are a real service,”
says Betsy Spradling, “and
that pleases us.”
The busy center has
demonstrated that 85 per
cent of the cases they have
handled have been urgent
cases. “People cut
themselves or sprain an
ankle or have household ac
cidents — these we can
handle. If a very serious
one comes in, we send them
to the hospital, but we can
start I.V. here and call
ahead.”
Young families often
need help in a hurry. A
child needs a physical for
school or for sports par
ticipation and it was forgot
ten. MediCenter can handle
it right away.
MediCenter will not file
for insurance; they will
supply all needed evidence
that treatment has taken
place, so that patients may
file themselves.
“We must keep costs at a
minimum,” says Becky
Bosselman. “That’s the
whole purpose of our mis
sion. However, in some
cases, for example,
Workman’s Compensation,
we will file. That’s a simple
matter. Others are not so
simple and our staff is
minimum.
There is never less than a
staff of four in MediCenter.
This always includes a doc
tor and a nurse. Techni
cians are also there for
X-rays and other tests.
While MediCenter is
greatly appreciated, it is
still centered in the heart of
upper middle class Atlan
ta. Will St. Joseph’s offer
this same extension to
poorer areas of the city?
According to Kenneth
Wheeler, Administrator of
St. Joseph’s, this may well
happen. “This is our first
effort,” says Wheeler. “We
are extending the
hospital’s facilities into the
enthusiastic staff has the
motto “Major Care for
Minor Ills And Injuries.”
You certainly feel the
“Major Care” as you enter
the door. There is even an
unfinished room which,
hopefully, one day the com
munity will use for health
care projects. “Maybe a
group like Hospice,” says
Becky Bosselman, “will
use it or C. P. R. groups.
Whatever, we will be happy
It has the stamp and the
backing of St. Joseph’s
Hospital — a proven, car
ing, expert in the field of
health service.
MediCenter will hold an
open house on Sunday,
THE STAFF IS SMALL but most expert in
this emergency field. Left to right are Nurses
Keelin Healy, Karen Moody and Becky
Bosselman.
NURSE BETSY SPRADLING demonstrates
that x-rays are just a normal part of the clinic’s
treatment.
to see them here.”
There are other centers
of this kind springing up all
over Atlanta. But there is a
uniqueness in this new one.
DR. MARGOT CSELEY spent some years
practicing in London. A physican is present at
all times.
community. Our next ex
tension will probably be in
to a mixed area where poor
and others may avail
themselves of the service.
Perhaps soon we can ex
tend the service to inner ci
ty places.” It is worth
noting that Cardinal
Joseph Bernardin of
Chicago recently criticized
the health care communi
ty, especially Catholic
hospitals, for abandoning
the poor across the United
States.
“The reason we are here
in this center,” says Becky
Bosselman, “is to continue
the care of the sick with the
spirit of the Sisters of Mer
cy. We must keep that in
sight.”
MediCenter with its little
Anniversaries
Abortion
(Continued from page 1)
tions which receive
federal assistance offer
abortion services.
The USCC has also
argued that the
“administrative re
quirements” of the
regulations should be
limited to those parts of
the church directly
receiving federal funds,
sparing others from
record-keeping,
regulatory and other
mandates.
Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye,
USCC general secretary,
expressed disappoint
ment May 23 about the
Judiciary Committee re
jection of the anti
abortion and religious ex
emption amendments but
optimism about the
Education and Labor
Committee action and the
chances for the latter
committee’s bill in the
full House.
Passage of different
versions of the bill
“means that the dispute
over abortion and the
‘religious tenet’ provision
will have to be resolved
by the full House of
Representatives,” he
said. “We hope for a
positive outcome there.”
Without the anti
abortion provisions, the
bill could “make a quan
titatively significant con
tribution to the expansion
of abortion under the
guise of civil rights,” the
monsignor added.
He said other revisions
in language of the bill
were being studied by
USCC legislative analysts
to determine whether the
measure addressed the
USCC’s opposition to ex
tending requirements to
church entities not
receiving federal money.
But other groups, in
cluding Network, the
social justice lobby found
ed by nuns, and the
Leadership Conference
on Civil Rights, a coali
tion that includes the
USCC, opposed the USCC-
backed changes in the
bill.
Network wrote that
amendments “would
destroy the primary in
tent of the bill. . . and
should be dealt with in
dividually and at a future
time.” Moreover, “all
organizations (belonging
to the Leadership Con
ference) except the USCC
have agreed , to a
“restoration only” bill.
Specific amendments
would thwart the central
purpose of the bill, which
is to restore civil rights
protection,” Network
said in a position paper.
The Leadership Con
ference opposes amend
ments on “the issue of
abortion,” it told
members of Congress
May 7. “These amend
ments .. . would change
what the substantive law
on abortion bas boon.’.’..
(Continued from page 1)
Father O’Connor was
educated and ordained at
St. Patrick’s College in
Maynooth, Ireland. His
first assignment was to Im
maculate Heart of Mary
parish, and he later served
as an assistant at St. John
the Evangelist parish in
Hapeville and Sts. Peter
and Paul in Decatur. He
also taught at the former
St. Joseph’s High School in
Atlanta before becoming a
pastor. He has been pastor
of St. Peter’s in LaGrange,
St. Mary’s in Rome and Ho
ly Cross in Atlanta before
his assignment in June 1976
to St. Michael’s, where he
also publishes a widely
read Sunday bulletin
detailing the joys and sor
rows of parish life and his
optimistic weather predic
tions for the annual parish
picnic.
Father Flanagan, who is
hosting the May 30 golf
outing and buffet for the
jubilarians in Calhoun,
came to Georgia in
November, 1981, after serv
ing in LaSalette churches
in Massachusetts, Connect
icut and England.
Assigned to the mission
of St. Clement’s in Calhoun,
he has seen the Catholic
community grow from
about 70 families in 1981 to
about 120 families. Last Oc
tober St. Clement’s became
a parish with Father
Flanagan as its first
pastor. The parish celebra
tion of his 25th anniversary
will also be held on Sunday,
June 2. A concelebrated
Mass will be held at 3 p.m.
and a reception will follow
in the church hall.
Born in Medford, Mass.,
Father Flanagan entered
the LaSalette Seminary in
Hartford, Conn, at the age
ot sixteen,where heattend
ed high school and two
years of college. He com
pleted his seminary studies
at the National Shrine of
Our Lady of LaSalette in
Ipswich, Mass., where he
was ordained May 28,1960.
He has worked extensive
ly with Catholic Youth
Organizations and as direc
tor of religious education in
parishes in Hartford and
Danielson, Conn., and serv
ed as an assistant pastor of
St. Peter’s parish in
Dagenham, Essex,
England and as pastor of
Our Lady of LaSalette
parish in Rainham, Essex,
England.
The celebration at St.
Clement’s will be followed
by a June 9 Mass and
reception at his home
parish of St. Patrick’s in
Watertown, Mass., where
his mother, who is 87 years
old, lives. “I’m just over
joyed with being able to be
a priest and bring a sense
of the Church, the Church
of today, to the people of
Calhoun and Gordon Coun
ty,” Father Flanagan said.
Father Gerald Biron,
M.S., a fellow missionary
of Our Lady of LaSalette,
came to St. Thomas the
Apostle in Smyrna last
December after spending
nearly 25 years in mission
work in the Philippines,
Spain, the island of
Madagascar off the coast
of Africa and Argentina.
Born in Springfield,
Mass., Father Biron was
ordained Sept. 18, 1960 in
Attleboro, Mass, and was
first assigned to the Philip
pines, moving three years
later to the island of
Madagascar where he
served from 1964 to 1968.
He was later to return to
Madagascar in the 1980s
for two years, after serving
at a LaSalette seminary in
June 2 from 1:30 p.m. to
5:00 p.m. It is worth a visit.
You will find it at 6806
Peachtree Industrial Blvd.
Phone 446-3273.
Spain and for six years in
Argentina. Father Biron
said a “sick foot” forced
him to leave missionary
work in Madagascar and
return to the United States,
and, to his assignment in
Georgia, where, he said, he
has found “the natives to
be very friendly.”
A celebration will be held
at St. Thomas the Apostle
in the fall, Father Biron
said, and he is among those
being honored in Calhoun
May 30.
He said the highlight of
his assignments “was to
learn the pastoral ministry
in Africa” where very few
priests minister to great
numbers of Catholics with
the aid of assigned and
trained lay ministers. A
different system exists in
Madagascar and Africa
from the “communidades
de base” which are
developing in Latin
America, he said. In
Madagascar, in remote
areas, “you really need to
have what amounts to a
parish without a priest,” he
said, where an appointed
lay person organizes ac
tivities and leads a Sunday
prayer service. The
development led to a very
dynamic form of evangeli
zation in Africa, he said.
Finally, among the
jubilarians, celebrations
were held recently in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, honoring
Bishop Eusebius Beltran,
who was ordained May 14,
1960 at the Cathedral of
Christ the King. A former
vicar general of the arch
diocese and pastor at Holy
Cross parish and St. An
thony’s parish in Atlanta,
he was appointed bishop of
Tulsa in April 1978. He is
the brother of Father
Joseph Beltran, pastor of
All Saints in Dunwoody.