Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.
About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1989)
PAGE 6 — The Georgia Bulletin, August 24, 1989 Church Says 'Thank You' For Her Loving Work REMEMBRANCE — Sister Teresa is given a figurine of a youth, a memento of her lengthy work at the Village of St. Joseph. A Conyers Founder, Fr. Michael, 88, Dies Father Michael Lavin, OCSO, one of the 20 founding members of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, died Aug. 21 after a brief illness. He was 88. For the last 10 or 15 years he had been the receptionist at the gate house at the monastery, receiving visitors and giv ing the brief slide presentation. He will be remembered by children and other guests as the monk with the long white beard who showed them around. One of the builders of the was ing tours around the monastery. During the last three days of his life the monks kept the round the clock death watch at his bedside, Abbot Dom Armand Veilleux, OCSO, had the watch at 2:05 a.m. Aug. 21 when Father Michael died. “He breathed his last like a candle going out,” the abbot told the monks in an nouncing Father Michael’s death. He was buried in the monastery cemetery after a funeral Mass celebrated by the abbot on Aug. 22. Father Lavin was born in Philadelphia Jan. 1, 1901. He entered the monastery at Gethsemani, Ky., on March 2, 1935, and was ordained a priest on Dec. 17, 1941. Before entering the Cistercians, he was for a few years a member of Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, a teaching community. He had to leave this order because his deafness was con sidered an impediment to teaching activities. He is survived by four sisters, Miss Mildred Lavin, Sister William Bernard, SSJ, Mrs. Anna E. Monaghan and Mrs. Elsie W. Klemp, all of the Philadelphia area. - Rita Mclnerney Father Michael Lavin, OCSO A happy but poignant celebration of the 20 years service given by Sister Teresa Termini, CSJ, to the archdiocese of Atlanta, was held Aug. 18 at the Village of St. Joseph in southwest Atlanta. Friends and associates from Catholic Social Services and the several programs with which she was involved attended. Sister Teresa is returning to her hometown of Kansas City, Mo., to serve as co-administrator of a Catholic per sonal care home. Her dedication and service to the children and the elderly of the archdiocese were mentioned frequently during a twilight presentation service held outside the chapel. Steve Brazen, executive director of Catholic Social Services, noted that she had served as administrator of the Village of St. Joseph and was now serving on the board; as program director, for 13 years, of CSS services for the elderly, and on the board of Catholic Personal Care Homes, Inc. It was after the dedication of the third personal care home, St. Teresa Manor in Riverdale in April of this year, that Sister Teresa announced her intention to leave Atlanta. She was deeply involved in the development of the personal care home program of CSS and felt with the completion of the third facility, named to honor her patron saint, that it was time to return to her roots. Her return to Kansas City will mark the first time she has served there in her 52 years as a Sister of Saint Joseph of Carondelet. She has numerous family members in the area. While the honor guest was the recipient of many ap preciative comments, perhaps the greatest was made by Sister Rose Salome, CSJ, who said of Sister Teresa that “Her greatest gift was to love everyone without exception.” Before giving the closing prayer, Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, said, “Everyone here is delighted that the Church of Atlanta has had the benefit of your talent, grace and delightful presence.” -- Rita Mclnerney PATRONESS — Steve Brazen, executive director of CSS, holds a stained glass window of St. Teresa of Avila with Jesus, also a gift to Sister Teresa. Mrs. Giusta Dies ’ ' ■: EMBRACE — Village administrator Sister Mary Francis Bruns, CSJ, hugs her friend and colleague. Elvira Giusta, mother of Father Frank Giusta, died in Cuneo, Italy Aug. 7 after an extended illness. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Aug. 9. In addition to Father Giusta, who is pastor of St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro, Mrs. Giusta is sur vived by her husband, Agostino, and two other sons, Guido and Gabriele Giusta, of Cuneo. Diaconate Self-Study Begins This Fall BY PAULA DAY Pastors, deacons and their spouses, and parish and arch diocesan personnel who have worked with deacons, will be invited to participate in a self-study of the diaconate pro gram in early September. The evaluation of the archdiocesan permanent diaconate initiated by Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, SSJ, will in volve approximately 300 people in this important phase of the project. “Basically we’re trying to collect from a broad range of individuals their experiences of the diaconate program over the years,” Deacon Sam Anzalone, coordinator of the evaluation project, explained. Participants in the self-study will be asked to answer a questionnaire dealing with the diaconate. Selective follow up interviews will supplement questionnaire responses, ac cording to Anzalone, a member of Our Lady of Assumption parish. An ad hoc committee, headed by Anzalone, who is a member of the archdiocesan Board for the Permanent Diaconate, will analyze the responses and prepare a report from the analysis to be presented to Archbishop Marino in early January. The archbishop will share the report with a visiting consulting committee provided by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Perma nent Diaconate. The consulting committee will visit the archdiocese in February, 1990, as part of the evaluation process. An edited form of a questionnaire, published by the NCCB committee on the diaconate, will be used. The question naire is based on NCCB guidelines for the formation and ministry of permanent deacons. The decision “to initiate a study to closely examine the permanent diaconate program, including its goals, objec tives, operational guidelines and resulting experiences,” Anzalone explained, grew out of meetings between Arch bishop Marino and the archdiocesan Board for the Per manent Diaconate. In announcing the study, Archbishop Marino said, “I believe we can benefit from such an evaluation. People with wide experience tell us what our strengths and weaknesses are, and how we can eliminate the weaknesses and benefit from our strengths.” The permanent diaconate, restored by Vatican II after centuries of disuse, has been part of ministry in the arch diocese since March, 1977, when Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan ordained Charles Moore, who is deceased, and Tom Zaworski as deacons. Its beginnings in the archdiocese, according to Zaworski, grew out of Archbishop Donnellan foreseeing a need for deacons to provide pastoral ministry in rural areas. Zawor ski credits Glenmary Father Frank Ruff and then Mon signor Eusebius Beltran for their leadership in getting the diaconal training program started. Father Ruff is now president of the Glenmary Home Missioners. Monsignor Beltran was appointed bishop of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, diocese in 1978.
