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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1989)
PAGE 12 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 19,1989 Cardinal O'Connor Contrasts Knights Of Malta, "Rescuers” BY TRACY EARLY NEW YORK (NC) — Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York called on new members of the Knights of Malta to examine their motives for joining. Most of them are wealthier than the average Catholic, he noted at a Mass Jan. 13 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral where he, as chaplain of the American association, bestowed membership on 65 new Knights and 13 new Dames. But he said they should not see the order merely as a place to “rub elbows” with others of their own status and enhance their business opportunities. The order, formally called the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, is a religious as well as military order whose grand master, the cardinal noted, must have his election approved by the pope and whose symbol is a cross. “We call it a Maltese cross, but it is the cross of Jesus,” Cardinal O’Connor said. “Are you prepared to carry the cross you wear on your vestments?” The Mass was held in the afternoon, prior to a dinner where the order honored President Reagan, and Cardinal O’Connor began his homily by juxtaposing that Mass with another at 5:15 a.m. that day for participants in an Operation Rescue anti-abortion protest. In those “radically different circumstances,” he said, he was with people dressed for “difficult weather and even more difficult activity.” Many of them were probably arrested for their protests at abortion clinics and perhaps were by then in jail, he said. Participants in the early Mass, Cardinal O’Con nor said, were not fanatics but a “truly Christian community,” including “young people at their very best,” who were brought together only by faith in Christ. “I was in touch with pure Chris tianity,” he said. Cardinal O’Connor said members of the body of Christ had their separate roles, and he was not asking the Knights to join Operation Rescue in acts of civil disobedience. But he said many of them were in positions where they could influence public policy. “Are you prepared to do so as Knights and Dames of Malta?” he asked. Along with the challenge, Cardinal O’Connor gave the Knights words of praise for their support of philanthropic causes. Under the leadership of J. Peter Grace, president of the American associa tion, the cardinal said, the Knights have given millions of dollars worth of aid to Latin America. Fra Andrew W.N. Bertie, who was elected grand master of the order last year, was in the sanctuary for the Mass and stood beside the cardinal as the membership crosses were given to the new members, including former New York Gov. Hugh L. Carey and Alfred E. Smith IV, descendant of the 1928 presidential candidate. The order, which began with an 11th-century hospital for pilgrims in Jerusalem, became a military society that also sought to defend Christendom against the Moslems and other op ponents. After the Crusades failed to retain the Holy Land, the Knights made the island of Rhodes their headquarters and later the island of Malta. Through this history, the Knights of Malta have gained an internationally recognized status of sovereignty, and its properties in Rome today have a governmental status comparable to that of the Vatican, enabling the order to maintain diplomatic relations with other governments. The grand master has the civil rank of prince and ec clesiastical rank equivalent to a cardinal. p| Two Priests Killed In Southern States WE CHOOSE ST. JUDE’S A Fully Accredited Catholic K - 8 Elementary School AN INVITATION TO OPEN HOUSE Tuesday, January 31 9 to 11 a.m. • Value Centered Curriculum • Academic Excellence • Art, Computer Literacy, Music, and PE • Student Council, Safety Patrol, Yearbook • Full Day Kindergarten • After School Care Registration to be held: Catholic Schools Week January 30 - February 3, 1989 9:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. St. Jude the Apostle School 7171 Glenridge Drive, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30328 394 - 2880 Servine families in Northwest Atlanta Alpharetta-Dunwoody-East Cobb-Norcross- -Sandy Springs-Roswell Angel’s Prayer All Catholic Gifts Parish of the Week Prince of Peace Parishioners 15% Off 65 Railroad St. Oldtown Lilburn (Behind Flag Stop) 279-2646 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (NC) — The badly burned body of Father Francis L. Craven, a 54-year-old priest of the Diocese of Bir mingham, Ala., was found Jan. 7 on a Tuscaloosa County road. The body of the priest, victim of an apparent homicide, was identified Jan. 9 by investigators using dental records, said Capt. Shirley Fields of the Tuscaloosa County sher iff’s department. Father Craven had been reported missing Jan. 8 after he missed a Jan. 7 evening Mass and Jan. 8 morning Masses at St. William Church in Guntersville, where he was pastor. Father Craven was last heard from about noon Jan. 7 when he returned from a trip to Fort Myers, Fla. He had phoned several friends from the Birmingham air port and had said he was on his way back to Gunters ville, about 80 miles north east of Birmingham. The body was found on a dirt road in a wooded area 12 miles north of Northport at about 4:30 p.m. Jan. 7 by a man who lives in the Father William R. O’Brien, 59, was bludgeon ed to death Jan. 8 in the rectory of Sacred Heart Parish in Lacombe, La., north of New Orleans, where he was pastor. Police said the priest ap parently surprised a burglar. Police arrested Arthur J. Thompson, 39, who was D & A CONCRETE SPECIALIZING IN ALL KINDS OF RESIDENTIAL CONCRETE WORK • Repair & Replacement • Sidewalks • Pool Decks • Driveways • Garage Slabs • Patios 469-0093 Atlanta’s "Only" Authentic Irish Pub FIRST TO HAVE GUINNESS HARP & BASS ALE ON TAP! For Our British Friends: Woodpecker Hard Cider On Tap ‘From England’’ Travelling Irish Minstrels Food Served 3 PM 10 PM Irish Stew* Irish Sausage • Soda Bread* Jan. 19-28 - Rich McDuff Jan. 31-Feb. 11 - The Ferrymen Feb. 14-25 - Cahir O’Doherty County Cork Pub^^ 56 East Andrews Drive, N.W. “Sweet 16” Upper Level Buckhead 262 A BAR Open M.-Sat 3 PM 2AM Open Mike Night Mondays Your Hosts Cynthia ft Art Fessenden area. Northport is about 40_ miles southwest of Birm ingham. The body had been there about an hour, Fields said.. Dr. Kenneth E. Warner of the Alabama Depart ment of Forensic Sciences said Father Craven died of* head injuries. Fields told reporters Jan. 9 there were no leads on_ suspects or motives for the killing. The van which Father Craven was driving has not been found, he sakl In a Jan. 9 statement, Birmingham Bishop Ray mond J. Boland said: “Our sympathy is expressed t» his relatives, friends and parishioners. The clergy and Religious of the diocese are also stunned by this tragic event.” Father Craven was born in Lynn, Mass., and studied for the priesthood at St. Meinrad Seminary in In diana. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1963 and served as a Navy chaplain in the Philippines. He became a priest of the Bir mingham Diocese in 1978. He recently was appointed diocesan director of the Cursillo retreat movement. charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and aggravated burglary. Thompson was a part-time groundskeeper at Sacred Heart Parish. Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans celebrated the funeral Mass Jan. 11 at Sacred Heart and said it was Father O’Brien’s work with poor children in an arch diocesan summer re creation program that first attracted him to the New Orleans Archdiocese be fore his ordination. “From the time he began to think of the priesthood, he began to think of work with charity. And the per son that allegedly murdered him benefited from his charity. It was like the Good Samaritan being attacked by someone else,” the archbishop said. Archbishop Hannan also celebrated a memorial Mass Jan. 9 for the people of the parish, where Father O’Brien had been pasto.r since 1985. Father O’Brien was a native of Cleveland and a Navy veteran. He was or dained in 1969 for the Arch diocese of New Orleans. 1 ^3 Located in Christ The Kinq Parfikl n-iem * Vf pi.n ^/'j1ft ration t r> -n. “ Alfredo Avino. 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