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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 25 No. 35
Thursday, October 8, 1987
$12.00 Per Year
U.S. Bishops' Panel
Catholics Need
Bible Study;
Drawn To Fundamentalism
WASHINGTON (NC)-A
U.S. bishops’ committee
issued a pastoral statement
Sept. 30 calling for a plan to
counteract the “simpli
cities” of biblical funda
mentalism.
Saying the Catholic
Church has not done enough
to encourage Bible study,
the bishops’ statement cites
the need for:
— Weekly Bible study
groups and yearly Bible
schools in every parish.
— In parts of the country
where “there is a special
problem with fundamen
talism,” Masses to which
people bring their own
Bibles.
— Better homilies that
apply biblical texts to daily
life.
— Catechists, lectors and
ministers who can quote the
Bible with familiarity.
The nine-page statement,
titled “A Pastoral State
ment for Catholics on
Biblical Fundamental
ism,” was written by the
National Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc
Committee on Biblical
Fundamentalism. Arch
bishop John F. Whealon of
Hartford, Conn., is chair
man of the committee.
The statement acknow
ledges Catholics may be at
tracted to the fundamen
talist approach without
realizing its “serious weak
nesses,” and says biblical
fundamentalism, unlike
Catholicism, finds all an
swers in the Bible and dis
regards the teaching au
thority of the church.
“According to fundamen-
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Archbishop
Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan is
in St. Joseph’s Hospital this week in
serious condition.
The archbishop was readmitted to the
hospital Sept. 30 with continuing dif
ficulties stemming from the afteref
fects of a stroke suffered May 1 and
recurring infection and dehydration.
During August the archbishop had been
under the care of the Hawthorne
Dominican sisters at Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Cancer Home. He
received a phone call from Pope John
Paul II Sept. 11 while the pope was in
Columbia, S.C. and attended the Mass
of the Resurrection Sept. 4 for Sister
Stella Maris Bergin, R.S.M., who had
Hospitalized
cared for him at St. Joseph’s earlier
this summer.
Two days before reentering the
hospital the archbishop was visited
briefly by Archbishop Pio Laghi, the
Apostolic Pro-Nuncio for the United
States. Archbishop Laghi, the pope’s
representative in this country, was in
formed by the archdiocese in August
that the archbishop’s health prevented
him carrying out his pastoral care of
the archdiocese at this time, and Mon
signor John McDonough was elected
administrator. This July marked the
19th anniversary of archbishop’s
pastoral leadership of the archdiocese.
St. Vincent de Paul Society
HUNGER AWARENESS — Second-grade teacher Carol Fox at
Christ the King School. A “soup lunch” will be served Oct. 15 and
money donated to soup kitchens and night shelters. Story on page 3.
"The First Who Stepped Out To Help Us"
BY PAULA DAY
Poverty hasn’t gone away. Neither has sickness nor unex
pected misfortune.
Members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society are aware of
this and are at the forefront in the Church’s efforts to carry
out Jesus’ directive to feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
give shelter to the homeless.
This Sunday, October 11, Catholics throughout the arch
diocese will have an opportunity to share in the Society’s
charitable efforts at the diocesan level through a special
collection taken up at each of the Masses.
• Thirty-seven of the archdiocese’s 65 parishes have local
St. Vincent de Paul conferences, supported by contributions
from within the individual parishes. Monies from this an
nual October collection go to the Society’s archdiocesan
central office in downtown Atlanta. This office reaches the
needy and supports charitable projects across parish bound
aries.
Teroy Willis, his wife, Genise, and their children,
Desymn, six, Lyndsi, four, and Theeroy Adisia, one month,
are one of the many families that have been helped by the
central office. “They were the first people who stepped out
to help us in our situation,” says Willis.
Recently the family experienced several reversals and
had decided to return to New Jersey where they lived 15
years ago. Willis has family there and a job was waiting for
him. They were packed and ready to go. Unexpectedly,
Mrs. Willis, in the sixth month of her pregnancy, had to be
taken to Grady Hospital and on August 24 delivered their
premature three-pound, eight-ounce son. The Willises’
financial resources dwindled while Mr. Willis stayed home
caring for the two girls and the family paid for day to day
housing at a motel.
Needing clothing, food, money and a place to live that
was suitable to bring an infant into, the family sought and
found help from the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Sharon Maddox, SVDP social worker, arranged for the
Willises to live at Ronald McDonald House, a temporary
residence for families who have hospitalized children. In
the meantime, the Willises’ plans changed. Teroy Willis
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