Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6 — The Georgia Bulletin, September 15, 1988
IHM Celebrates 30 Years With Bilingual Liturgy
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SWEET VOICES — Youngsters, directed by Nicole Nappo at right,
lead congregational singing during the 30th anniversary Liturgy at Im
maculate Heart of Mary parish. (Photo by Rick Taylor)
BY NIKKI PHILLIPS
Celebrating as a parish family, Im
maculate Heart of Mary parishioners at
tended a special bilingual Mass Sept. 10 in
honor of the 30th anniversary of the church
at 2855 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta.
Monsignor Michael Regan, former
pastor now of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
in Carrollton, the celebrant, was assisted
by the priests and deacons of the parish;
Father Edward Salazar, S.J., Hispanic
vicar for the archdiocese, and Father
Jorge Christancho, parochial vicar at the
Cathedral of Christ the King.
Readings, in English and Spanish, were
presented by Dr. Phil Jardina, parishioner
and lector for more than 20 years, and Jose
Montero, seven-year parishioner. General
intercessions were read by Larry
McGraw, Patricia Byrne, Deacon Arturo
Jimenez, and Lynn Teddlie, Jr., for junior
high and Shannon Atkinson, for senior high
students.
In his homily, Monsignor Regan shared
his memories of the late Monsignor Cor
nelius L. Maloney, founding pastor of IHM
who, as superintendent of schools, also
established St. Pius X High School in 1958.
The speaker created a vivid picture of the
first pastor whose death in 1961 resulted in
Monsignor Regan’s appointment as pastor
the same year. He served the parish until
1972.
Music for the celebration drew from
traditional, contemporary and Hispanic
hymns. Participating were the traditional,
Glory and Praise, Spanish and children’s
choirs, under the direction of Nicole Nap
po, assisted by Dr. Ted Matthews, new
director of the traditional choir. Marge
Watson, parish organist for 28 years, was
joined by piano, bass, guitar and drum ac
companists.
The gifts were brought to the altar by
Hugo and Nina Morales and Joe and Mary
Grno. The Grnos presented the family’s
anniversary gift to the parish, a framed
newspaper clipping dated Oct. 4, 1958,
which described the “Church Built On An
cient Symbols”.
Parishioners wore lapel ribbons
denoting years of membership in the
parish, with the “blue ribbon” for 30 years
and the “gold ribbon” for 25 years or
more.
Father Terence Kane is pastor of the
1500-family parish. Father John Farrelly,
Father Walter Halaburda and Father
Carlos Riofrio are associate pastors. The
parish is also served by three deacons;
George Angelich, Jorge Gonzalez, and Ar
turo Jimenez.
Parishioners and clergy attended the
reception given by the Women’s Guild of
the parish.
School Of Religion —
(Continued from page 1)
religious education programs, according
to Carol Homrich, coordinator of elemen
tary religious education at Immaculate
Heart of Mary parish in northeast Atlanta.
IHM parish has provided catechetical in
struction in Spanish for its Hispanic
members for seven years. At the present
time Sister Olivia Cardenas, O.S.F.,
teaches 50 to 60 elementary children in
their native language.
This effort helps meet the “need to
belong” in a new and different culture,
Mrs. Homrich points out. Recognizing a
depth of feeling in Hispanic liturgies she
said, “They feel more. Religion is a matter
of the heart. They are very expressive.”
Deacon Arturo Jimenez of Immaculate
Heart of Mary agrees. “The Hispanic
liturgical expression is different. The
Spanish are a touching people. During the
Our Father they hold hands and at the
‘sign of peace’ they will embrace, hug,
kiss.”
people to cross a boundary line and change
immediately, she observed.
Parish families, like immigrant
families, struggle with the tension between
unity and pluralism. The ideal is “integra
tion without absorption,” Jimenez pointed
out.
A spokesperson for St. Philip Benizi said
that parish’s approach is to teach the
children in English, but to provide oppor
tunities for adults to deepen their faith for
mation in Spanish language sessions.
Sacred Heart parish in downtown Atlan
ta will this year provide Spanish texts for
parents to correlate with the English texts
used by their children. The parish is re
quiring its catechists in these classes to be
bilingual, religious education coordinator
Pat Doyle said. Sacred Heart has offered
classes for its Hispanic members for 10
years.
St. Philip Benizi will initiate its Hispanic
adult formation classes this fall. Still in the
planning stages, the sessions will be coor
dinated by Ligia Jaxon and Maria Torres.
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LITURGY — Former pastor, Monsignor Michael Regan, and con-
celebrants during the bilingual Mass celebrated Saturday evening,
Sept. 10, at Immaculate Heart of Mary. (Photo by Rick Taylor)
“Americans pray with their hearts and
minds,” Jimenez added. “Spanish pray
with their whole bodies.”
St. Michael’s parish in Gainesville also
offers Spanish language religious instruc
tion for its Hispanic members.
Armed Haitians Attack
600 Worshipers At Mass
Echoing the truism, “The family that
prays together, stays together,” Jimenez
believes providing bilingual liturgical and
catechetical experiences for youth keeps
children in touch with their cultural
background and this helps maintain fami
ly unity.
“We are a Catholic people,” Deacon
Jimenez said, “and Catholicity means uni
ty with pluralism. One of the beautiful
things the Catholic Church has done to
minister to Hispanics in this country is to
let them have liturgies in their own
language so as to help integrate them into
the complete Church community without
changing their ways.”
Carol Homrich pointed out that German,
Italian, Irish and other ethnic groups
found the Church a means of keeping their
cultural heritage intact while adjusting to
their new environment upon coming to the
United States. The Church, itself slow to
change as an institution, cannot expect
In August, Father Francis Pham Van
Phuong taught 58 to 60 Vietnamese
children, ranging in age from seven to 15,
in week-long Bible study classes at St.
John the Evangelist parish in Hapeville.
For several years, children from the
Korean community have received instruc
tion each Sunday using the parish facilities
of St. Thomas More in Decatur.
Over 2,000 catechists in the Atlanta arch
diocese serve approximately 20,000
students, pre-kindergarten through the
twelfth grade, in religious education pro
grams, according to a 1987-88 parish cen
sus report gathered by the archdiocesan
Office of Religious Education.
On Catechetical Sunday many parishes
commission these catechists who have
prepared for their ministry through for
mal study required by the archdiocese. To
help in this preparation, the Office of
Religious Education each year offers
seminars, workshops and classes for
catechists to obtain certification credits.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE (NC) - A large
group of men attacked parishioners at a
Sept. 11 Mass celebrated by a noted ac
tivist Haitian priest, killing as many as
five parishioners and wounding at least 60.
Upwards of 50 men, wielding guns, large
sticks and machetes, burst into St. John
Bosco Church in the La Saline slum area of
Port-au-Prince and began an indiscrimi
nate attack on the 600 worshipers inside,
witnesses said. Afterwards, they burned
the church.
Police nearby made no effort to stop the
assault, witnesses said, nor did soldiers at
a military compound across the street
from the church, they said.
Parishioners protected their pastor,
Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from the
armed band — enabling him to escape
uninjured.
Father Aristide is a well-known critic of
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the military government and a leader of
the left wing in Haiti’s Catholic Church.
A young woman who witnessed the
assault said the attackers wore red arm-
bands and chanted, “We will drink their
blood.”
The men, who went on to stone the of
fices of two opposition parties, are be
lieved to be former members of the
Tonton-Macoutes — the violent secret
police organization which upheld the
ousted Duvalier regime and which itself
was apparently disbanded.
A journalist in the church when the inci
dent occurred said it began with a group of
men throwing rocks from outside the
church at the beginning of the 9 a.m. Mass.
“Suddenly, the doors at the back of the
church burst open and 20 to 30 men with
machetes, huge sticks and guns came in,”
the journalist told Associated Press.