Newspaper Page Text
The
Georgia^
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 28 No. 19
Thursday, May 10, 1990
$15.00 Per Year
Archbishop Sidelined By Exhaustion
BY GRETCHEN REISER
HECTIC SCHEDULE — In a characteristic
gesture, Archbishop Marino dropped in at The
Georgia Bulletin office April 23 despite his
crowded day when he learned the paper had
been given an award.
Pope Comments
On Baltic Rights
BY AGOSTINO BONO
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO MEXICO (CNS) —
Pope John Paul II supported the right to independence of
Soviet Baltic republics, but said achieving that right should
not upset Soviet domestic reform programs.
“The two things must fit together well,” he said May 6
during a news conference aboard the papal flight to Mexico.
Independence must be the result of “effective dialogue,”
he added.
It was the pope’s first public statement that the in
dependence struggle must be balanced against the needs of
President Mikhail Gorbachev’s "perestroika” reforms.
On other issues, the pope said:
— Spiritual and ethical progress does not come
automatically with the political changes in Eastern
Europe.
— There is no need for a Synod of Bishops for Latin
America because the Latin American bishops are already
well organized to handle regional problems.
— He plans to visit Cuba, but not this year.
Regarding Baltic independence, the pope criticized the
secret 1939 Soviet-Nazi Germany accord that paved the way
for the Soviet Union to occupy and later annex Lithuania,
Estonia and Latvia.
The “rights of nations were profoundly violated by the
Ribbentrop-Molotov pact of 1939,” the pope said.
Yet this striving for independence, “justified by the
past,” must mesh with “perestroika,” the Soviet reform
program that “takes into account the whole dimension ot an
immense country which is made up of many peoples,” he
said.
“That is why I have always repeated, in declarations and
prayers, that things must be resolved by an effective
(Continued on page 14)
The archdiocese of Atlanta is being administered tem
porarily by its vicar general while Archbishop Eugene A.
Marino, SSJ, rests and receives medical care.
The archbishop suffered chest pains while traveling out
side the diocese May 3, was examined by doctors and
prescribed a treatment including rest and relief from the
daily duties of his office for a period of time. Physicians
“The archbishop will resume his
duties and, until he does, we will
maintain his program and the
course on which he has set the arch-
| diocese.”
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k diagnosed him as suffering from acute exhaustion and said
* he was in imminent danger of cardiac stress, said Father
Edward Dillon, vicar general.
After attending a May 3 gathering at St. Paul the Apostle
Church in New York City, where he received an award, the
archbishop underwent medical tests that weekend and is
staying at a retreat center in the New York area near the
medical facility, Father Dillon said.
While the news is serious. Father Dillon noted that the
archbishop essentially needs “good, old-fashioned bed rest
and plenty of it.” He will stay at the retreat center, where
he can be at a distance from the immediate stresses of his
official duties.
“The doctors felt he would not give himself that rest in
Atlanta. I think the priests and people would give it to him,
but he himself would feel compelled to be on the job,” the
vicar general observed.
The morning of May 7 all pastors or their parish staff and
Catholic institutions were notified by members of the
Catholic Center staff. A morning meeting was also held at
the Catholic Center.
A letter to all priests, Religious women and men, and
deacons in the archdiocese providing more information was
also sent May 7.
“I know this will hit each of us personally and will be a
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Meeting “the crisis in family
life” is one of the main challenges facing the U.S. Catholic
Church today, Archbishop Pio Laghi said in an interview
with Catholic News Service May 1.
Another challenge is learning how to evangelize in the
U.S. culture, said the papal pro-nuncio, about to return to
Rome for a new Vatican post.
Looking back on his nearly 10 years as papal represen
tative in the United States, the 67-year-old archbishop said
one of the main characteristics of the U.S. church in that
period has been fuller implementation of the Second
Vatican Council and a deeper integration of its teachings.
He particularly praised the U.S. bishops for their national
pastoral letters on war and peace in 1983 and on the
economy in 1986.
The way they developed those letters and dealt with the
issues was “for me a great moment of learning and of
understanding, of understanding how healthy this church
is, and also how courageous,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Laghi was interviewed at the Vatican Em
bassy in Washington, his residence since January 1981,
temporary setback for the archdiocese,” Father Dillon’s
letter said, in part. “However, I know if we are united in our
efforts, we can deal with it. I ask your support and your per
sonal prayers for him and for all of us. Please, too, be
assured that the archbishop will resume his duties and that,
until he does, we will maintain his program and the course
on which he has set the archdiocese.”
Archbishop Marino’s second anniversary of installation
as archbishop of Atlanta came May 5, an anniversary noted
in a front-page article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The article recorded a typically busy day in the
archbishop’s schedule in late April taking him from Atlanta
to Toccoa and on to Athens for Church activities.
His usually long days have also been punctuated by travel
to other cities for national bishops’ conference work, for
commitments involving his leadership among black
Catholics in the United States, and in the archdiocese of
Washington, D.C., where he was an auxiliary bishop for 14
years. The archbishop has also been impacted by painful
dissension created when Father George Stallings, a former
Washington priest, left the Catholic Church and formed his
own breakaway church aimed at black Catholics.
The archbishop has been in daily phone contact with
Father Dillon and also consulted with the papal pro-nuncio
to the U.S., Archbishop Pio Laghi, who offered his “unqual
ified support and encouragement,” Father Dillon said. The
archbishop was also assisted by New York Cardinal John
O’Connor.
Appointments and engagements that require Archbishop
Marino’s personal attention have been canceled for the
near future. Other commitments will be delegated
wherever possible.
The schedule of Confirmations in parishes will be com
pleted with the assistance of All Saints pastor Monsignor
Donald Kiernan, the priests who are deans of the arch
diocese, and Father Dillon. The upcoming ordinations of
new priests in Ireland and Atlanta will continue as schedul
ed, with the assistance of other bishops, Father Dillon said.
The archbishop will concelebrate if possible at that time.
The archdiocese has been asked to pray for the arch
bishop’s speedy recovery, particularly in the prayers of the
faithful at every Mass. Those who wish to express concern
for the archbishop may mail greetings to the archbishop’s
office, although he will be unable to respond personally at
this time.
shortly before his scheduled May 11 return to Rome to take
up his new job as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for
Catholic Education.
He said he had received no indications who might succeed
him as papal pro-nuncio to the United States or when the ap
pointment might be made.
Archbishop Laghi described the rebuilding of a long-
repressed religious culture in Eastern Europe as one of the
key tasks facing Rome and the church in Europe today. He
said the synod of European bishops recently announced by
Pope John Paul II will have to look closely at how to share
educational resources to recover what was lost during more
than 40 years of communist rule, in which almost all
Catholic seminaries, universities and other educational in
stitutions were closed.
When Archbishop Laghi was first named papal represen
tative in the United States in December 1980, after seven
years as the Vatican ambassador to Argentina, his title was
apostolic delegate. Because the United States and the
Vatican had not had formal diplomatic relations since 1867,
his formal assignment was only as liaison between the
Vatican and the U.S. Catholic Church.
(Continued on page 14)
Departing Envoy Lauds U.S. Church
BY JERRY FILTEAU
