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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1987)
hp Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 25 No. 6 Thursday, February 5,1987 $12.00 Per Year ONE MILLION DOLLAR GOAL — This year’s Charities Drive hits the $1 million mark for the first time. Parish representatives and pastors took part in the annual dinner Jan. 30 to kick off the drive which supports the basic work of the archdiocese throughout the year. Pic tured from left, Chancellor Father E. Peter $ 1 Million Coal Ludden, Monsignor John F. McDonough, Joseph Estafen, director of finance for the archdiocese, and seated with Archbishop Thomas Donnellan, drive chairman Edward Schweers and his wife, Jane. (Photo by Don Tortorella) Archbishop Lauds People's Generous Spirit BY GRETCHEN REISER At the dinner launching the 1987 Charities Drive, which has a goal of $1 million, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan said that the people of the archdiocese are marked by an unusual spirit of generosity. “Without your cooperation, your willingness to devote yourself to this drive, we could not succeed,” the arch bishop said to parish representatives and pastors who met at the Garden Room adjacent to the Shrine of the Im maculate Conception in Atlanta Jan. 30. “Our people are incredibly generous,” he said. “I don’t know any diocese in the country where people are marked by such a spirit of generosity.” Quoting from St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, the arch bishop likened the attitude of people in the archdiocese to those cited in the epistle who sacrifice materially because they know they are in possession of that which has eternal value. “I must say I am intensely proud of the people of Atlanta.” he said. The drive, which is to be conducted in every parish and culminates on Drive Sunday, March 8, supports the work of the archdiocese in many areas, including support for (Continued on page 6) Edith Stein Is Declared Martyr BY GREG ERLANDSON VATICAN CITY (NC) — Edith Stein, a Jewish convert who became a Carmelite nun and was killed by the Nazis, and American Mother Katharine J)rexel have been declared venerable, the Vatican announced. Their causes for sainthood were advanced by the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes in a Jan. 26 ceremony at tended by Pope John Paul II. In the decrees, published Jan. 27, the congregation declared Miss Stein a martyr of the church and possessor of “heroic virtues." Miss Stein, whose Carmelite name was Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was executed in an Auschwitz gas chamber Aug. 9, 1942. The heroic virtues of Mother Drexel, founder of the Sisters for the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, also were proclaimed. Mother Drexel, member of a wealthy Philadelphia family, renounced her fortune and in 1891 founded her order. Father Robert Sarno of the Congregation for Saints' Causes described Mother Drexel as a “wonderful model of religious life.” Her ministry showed the “Catholic Church’s involvement in meeting the spiritual and material needs of the Indians and blacks in the U.S. in a period when both races were neglected and even abused,” Father Sarno told National Catholic News Service. Further advancement of her cause — beatification and canonization — will await the approval of miracles judged to have been obtained through her intercession. In the case of Edith Stein, the declaration of martyrdom means no proof of miracles is required for her beatification. Miss Stein’s postulator, Carmelite Father Simeone Tomas Fernandez, told NC News she may be beatified dur ing the pope’s trip to Germany this May, but added he did not know for sure. Though raised in a Jewish family in what was then Ger many, now Poland, Miss Stein was an atheist before her conversion to Catholicism at the age of 31. Eleven years later, in 1933, she entered the Carmelite order. As Nazi anti-Semitism grew, the order sent Miss Stein to a convent in Holland. Following the German conquest of Holland, Miss Stein and her sister Rosa, who had followed her into the church, were sent to Auschwitz and executed. The Southeast Center for Justice Action Reflection Spiritual Renewal Catholic Social Teaching March Draws Notice To New Justice Center BY RITA McINERNEY The Southeast Center for Justice, a non-profit group in operation since Sept. 1, 1986, was “a prayer presence in the midst of social strife,” on Saturday, Jan. 24 as an estimated 20,000 people marched to protest racism in Forsyth County. The large white banner with Action — Reflection — Spiritual Renewal pro claiming the center’s pur pose, became an umbrella for people responding to a deep need to be present to protest in the county that has excluded black people since 1912. It was a dramatic debut on an eventful day, a day of bright Sunshine clouded by bitter, ingrained hatred, a day when love made a strong reply to racism. “This friendly com munity” for people who needed to respond to in justice marched in For syth because “there are a number of people begin ning to know our ministry, who called us asking ‘How can we respond as in dividuals?”’ said Father Gerry Conroy, Glenmary priest who is acting direc tor of the non-profit group. Working with him is a core committee which in cludes Sister Marie Sullivan, O.P., president; Sister Kathy Tomlin, C.S.J., vice president; Mrs. Dolores Maschinot, a member of Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Decatur, treasurer; Craig Massey, an Episcopal layman, and Kathy McNulty, a member of St. Joseph’s in Marietta. Eventually, around this core committee, responsi ble for the day-to-day operation, Father Conroy said, there will be a broader committee of people, religious and lai ty, who have expertise in the justice ministry in the Southeast and nationally. Catholics from parishes in the Atlanta metropoli tan area and the north Georgia mountains, Bap tists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, all walked behind the broad white banner in the long ribbon of marchers. They were surrounded by others from peace and justice groups, some of whom (Continued on page 6)
