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Prayer Service Honors Archbishop
PAGE 3 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 2, 1990
BY PAULA DAY
Themes of trust, hope, sorrow, admiration, love, were
woven into a prayer service honoring Archbishop Eugene
A. Marino July 24 at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in
Decatur.
Approximately 60 people attended the service planned
by seminarian Frank Forts, a seminarian for the archdio
cese. The pastor, Father Richard Wise, assisted by Dea
cons Alfred Mitchell and Jerry Lett, conducted the service.
Words of the opening hymn, “We’ve come this far by
faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in His word, he’s never
failed me yet,” sounded a hopeful note for many in the
congregation saddened by the resignation of Archbishop
Marino, as their chief pastor.
Enlarging on the Gospel parable about the banquet guest
who took the last seat and was invited to “Come up
higher” by his host, Father Wise pointed out that God had
called such special chosen ones as Abraham, Moses, die
prophets, and St. Peter to “Come up higher.” This calling
had meant acceptance of the cross.
“The cross will come,” Father Wise said. “Trials will
be many. We’re not to run and hide from the vicissitudes
of this life. We are to embrace the cross.”
Father Wise pointed out that Archbishop Marino could
have held back from his people and avoided the stress of
service.
“It may seem to some that the archbishop’s ministry
here ended in failure,” the priest said. “It would appear
this humble man has suffered the ultimate in the loss of
his bishopric. But in fact, God has said to him, ‘Come up
higher.’
“Our faith is not based on status, on wealth, on proper
ty,” the priest continued, “but on the cross, the glory that
comes from humility.”
Masses At Vacation Spots
Cathodes who plan weekends or longer “get
aways” in the Lake Oconee and Dahlonega areas
can take advantage of weekend Masses being
offered in these popular vacation spots.
Mass is offered each Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at
Liberty Chapel, just south of Eatonton on U.S. 441
near Lake Oconee. Religious education and adult
education programs are provided at 6:30 p.m. from
October to May.
The Saturday Vigil Mass at St. Luke’s Church
in Dahlonega lias been rescheduled an hour earlier
to begin at 5:30 p.m., effective Aug. 5. The Sun
day liturgy remains at 10:30 a.m.
But when “sadness and confusion and despair and a
lack of clarity and direction” have caused “the diocese to
be in kind of a quagmire, God sends to us yet another
bishop, Bishop Lyke.” Some years ago Father Wise had
met the young Franciscan priest in Cleveland at a confer
ence for black Catholics. He was impressed then by his
enthusiasm and air of confidence.
“It is not a case of a black bishop is a black bishop is
a black bishop,” the priest remarked, paraphrasing
Gertrude Stein. “Archbishop Marino’s background in
pastoral Biloxi, Miss., prepared him to see the goodness
of those in confusion. In his goodness, he saw goodness
in all.”
On the other hand for Bishop Lyke, growing up on the
southside of Chicago, survival meant realistically sizing up
those around him. There he “learned to accept the foibles
of humanity and to forgive.”
“We pray for the man who left us, but we do not
grieve much longer because we trust in die providence of
God. We wait in hope. We prepare, with prayer and
fasting and works of mercy and seeking after justice ...
We hope in a future that has yet to bear fruit,” Father
Wise concluded.
In their reflections during the prayer service, parishion
ers Janie Tinsley and Deacon Alfred Mitchell remembered
Archbishop Marino’s personal touch. He was “at home
with little old ladies’ ’ as well as with her 22-year-old son,
Mrs. Tinsley recalled. Deacon Mitchell remembered the
“special tap on my head” when Archbishop Marino
blessed him before the deacon proclaimed the Gospel and
the “very big hug” from the archbishop at the vesper
service before the installation Mass.
Mrs. Tinsley repeated her mother's saying, “You can
tell the character of a man when you look at the people he
wears.” Deacon Mitchell concluded, “The archbishop
wore all of us very well.”
Sacred Heart parishioners Ed and Ella Sheppard
attended the prayer service. Afterward Mrs. Sheppard
explained, “He meant a lot to people. I felt a real loss at
his illness, his leaving. I had a real need to come.”
“The archbishop was such a special person,” comment
ed George Collins from St. Jude the Apostle parish in
Sandy Springs. “I felt his real love for everybody and I
just feel like we ought to give some of it back.
“Probably he was trying to work too hard for us. That’s
why he’s in the shape he’s in. I feel we should be doing
more diocesan-wide to pray for him so we can give back
to him a little bit of what he gave to us.”
“As a black Catholic who grew up in Atlanta and in a
black parish,” explained Hilliard Lee of St. Paul of the
Cross, “I felt a need to be part of a celebration for
someone I admire. He brought so much to us that it was
my way of saying ‘thank you’ to a faithful servant for his
service to us. ‘Thank you.’”
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PRAYERFUL MOMENT - Seminarian Frank
Forts and an altar server at Sts. Peter and Paul
Church pause at the close of a prayer service for
Archbishop Marino.
Rosary Rally Set
The 19th annual Archdiocesan Rosary Rally
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the King Cathedral, 2699 Peachtree Road,
Atlanta. A Mass, concelebrated by priests of the
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