Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 23, 1990
STATEMENT
Precedent
The unprecedented decision this week to spare
the life of a man sentenced to die in Georgia’s
electric chair is a bright hope and encourage
ment to people who have long struggled for him
and other Death Row inmates.
As was true for many people, Billy Neal
Moore’s name was unfamiliar until last week
when time began to run out again for him. Then
his friends from around the country and the
world began to bring him to our attention.
This Jackson inmate, who has already served
16 years in jail, and will serve at least nine
more, committed a murder in 1973 during a
robbery. An Army veteran and young father, he
waived a jury trial and pleaded guilty in rural
Georgia shortly after the state’s new death
penalty law was passed. A judge gave him the
maximum sentence.
Relatives of the man he murdered, and Moth
er Teresa, were among those asking the Georgia
For Mercy
Board of Pardons and Parole that his sentence be
commuted. People he corresponded with for
years, from a non-violent Catholic community in
Massachusetts and elsewhere, came to Georgia
in recent days in a last ditch effort on his behalf.
Despite his exemplary life in prison, as a man
who brought together prayer groups on Death
Row, helped other prisoners, and wrote support
ive letters and articles to the world outside as a
Christian, mercy for him was not a sure thing.
His friends knew it would be completely unpre
cedented.
The board’s action has not only spared his
life. It has given the community the possibility
of turning away from its continued taking of life
and seeking, instead, the road of reform.
In Billy Neal Moore, Georgia may have a
man who can show there are other ways to deal
with people who commit violent crimes.
--GRK
RESOUND RESOUND
A FAMILIAR COMPLAINT
To the Editor:
R. L. Schwind’s recent letter to The Georgia Bulletin
(RESOUND, Aug. 16) calls to mind the reaction of St.
Augustine of Hippo (354430 AD) to those who regretted
the loss of “the good old days” as they bemoaned (maybe
with some cause in certain instances) the “ills” of
contemporary times. This is what St. Augustine had to say
about perseverance:
“The Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and
temptations that await us, but it also says that he who
perseveres to the end will be saved...Is there any affliction
now endured by mankind that was not endured by our
fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear
comparison with what we know of their sufferings? And
yet you hear people complaining about this present day
and age because things were so much better in former
times. I wonder what would happen if they could be taken
back to the days of their ancestors-would we not still hear
them complaining? You may think past ages were good,
but it is only because you were not living in them...”
Hopefully these words of St. Augustine might prompt
a more positive and encouraging reorientation for those
who hold what some might regard as the erroneous
perception that the Catholic Church (in the wake of
Vatican II, in particular) has lost sight of her sense of
purpose and mission.
Father Louis Naughton
Atlanta
YOUTH ARE FORGIVING
To the Editor:
On behalf of the youth group at St. John the Evangelist,
we would like to express our views concerning the recent
events involving the resignation of Archbishop Marino, the
resignation of our former pastor, Father Michael Woods,
and parishioner Vicki Long.
Although the media has painted a tainted picture of
Catholic clergy, we still hold them, and their ministry, in
high regard. Our faith calls us to forgive all of the parties
involved. In the midst of turmoil, we feel that the honesty
and sincerity of the archbishop and Father Woods is
admirable. The youth realize that what transpired was
morally and ethically wrong. We don’t condone their
actions; however, we forgive them and are willing to carry
their crosses. These events have reminded us of our
human frailties, and that, after all, priests are human.
We feel that the media has forgotten to portray the
positive aspect of their ministry. Our parish motto here at
St. John’s is “We Are Family.” We are still family and
we mean it.
Senior Youth Group
St. John’s, Hapeville
A RIGHT TO TRUTH
To the Editor:
First I want to thank you and your staff for such a full
and objective coverage of the Marino affair. Because this
matter affects all of us deeply, we have a right to the
truth. I might also add the saying of Jesus, “She/he who
is without sin, cast the first stone.”
As disturbing as this grave happening is for all of us
Catholics, and no doubt for the larger Christian communi-
ty...yet the overreaction of R.L. Schwind (RESOUND,
Aug. 16) is to be deplored.
Rightfully he is pained over the archbishop’s failure to
observe celibacy, but then his sweeping denunciations of
our Church are both unwarranted and untrue...
Of course there are tensions, differences of opinion,
even among the leadership, but that is a sign of a healthy
organism. Just take a look at what goes on in the world of
banking, athletics, government, international affairs,
ecology, any important area of life. Our Catholic Church
is not exempt from these tensions. Let us continue to
believe that the Holy Spirit of Jesus still guides the
Church in her pilgrim way through history.
Father Thomas Francis, OCSO
Monastery of the Holy Spirit
Conyers
THANKS
To the Editor:
I would like to thank a member of your staff I talked to
last Wednesday when I called the paper after watching the
6 p.m. news concerning issues of Ms. Vicki Long. The
news was very disturbing because the anchorperson had
said the archdiocese had paid for Ms. Long’s hospital stay
in West Paces Ferry Hospital. I had in the back of my
mind the assurance in Mass by Bishop Lyke that the
church would not pay any more of her bills. At that
moment I felt betrayed by the church. The staff member
was very consoling and reassured me.
There are so many organizations within the church
lacking in financial support, such as the food banks,
serving the hungry, clothing, shoes for those who need
them and many more. A lot of Catholic organizations are
privately funded by individuals, members of the church
and outside donations. Perhaps the Vicki Long issue will
remind us all of our Christian duties.
I would like to say that I am praying for Archbishop
Marino, for his full recovery and his return to the church
as well as for Father Woods and Ms. Long. She truly
needs prayer more than ever.
Beverly A. Johnson-Finley
East Point
The Week In Review
NAMES AND PLACES - When church leaders speak
out publicly on abortion, they are exercising their free
speech rights as American citizens, said Archbishop
Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, and Bishop James
T. McHugh, of Camden, N.J. The comment was made in
an Aug. 12 column in The Philadelphia Inquirer respond
ing to a July 1 commentary by editorial page editor David
R. Boldt in which he called the Catholic church “quite
literally an un-American institution.” The two bishops
went on to say that “As citizens, we must enjoy the
constitutional freedom to speak out on public issues
affecting human dignity, human rights and the common
good. To do so is not ‘un-American.’” They also contest
ed Boldt’s view that the bishops’ public expressions of
Catholic beliefs could spark anti-Catholic hatred. “The
implication that religious leaders of all faiths cannot
exercise the right of free speech and the free exercise of
religion without provoking prejudice is an insult to the
intelligence of Catholics and non-Catholics alike,” they
said.
*****
AROUND THE NATION - More than 4,000 paruci-
pants at a Medjugorje Peace Conference at Irvine, Calif.,
Aug. 11-12 were told that the Marian apparitions should
be considered a call to deeper Christian faith. “Be curious
about the secrets but don’t pay too much attention. The se-
rets are not that important,” said Bishop Nicholas D’Anto
nio, general for the New Orleans archdiocese.
*****
INTERNATIONALLY - Ukrainian Catholics celebrat
ed their first Divine Liturgy in more than 44 years Aug.
19 in Lvov’s St. George’s Cathedral despite Russian
Orthodox warnings that it would harm ecumenical rela
tions, said the Rome press office of the Ukrainian Catholic
Church. The service was attended by about 300,000 people
who spilled into the courtyard and the adjacent streets,
said a Ukrainian church statement. The cathedral was
given to the Orthodox by the state after the Ukrainian
church became illegal in the Soviet Union in 1946. At the
time, Lvov was the center of Ukrainian Catholic life.
Possession of the cathedral was returned to Catholics Aug.
16.
POPE JOHN PAUL II has defended celibacy for Laun-
rite priests and said its elimination should not be a topic
of the 1990 Synod of Bishops. Instead, the synod should
suggest ways of strengthening seminary preparation for
celibacy, he said. Theme of the month-long synod, which
begins Sept. 30, is priestly formation. Christ “guided his
church in choosing this way” and “invited his apostles to
commit themselves to this gift,” the pope said Aug. 19
during his midday Angelus talk at Caste! Gandolfo, his
summer residence 15 miles south of Rome.
POPE JOHN PAUL II’S visit to the Soviet Union will
take place after 1991, said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, in an
Aug. 20 statement. The Vatican press spokesman denied
an Italian press report that the pope’s trip would take
place next summer and that the pope had communicated
this to a group of Russian Catholics who visited him at his
summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. “An adequate
preparation for this trip will take time, and because of this
we can exclude that it will take place next year,” Nav
arro-Valls said.
(USPS) 574880 t .«KJn AivIkIkhv'a-oI AiI,\i\i,\
Most Rev. Janies P. Lyke, O.F.M. Publisher
Gretchen R. Reiser Editor
Rita Mclnerney Associate Editor
Business OHIce U.S.A. $15.00
680 W«*t Peachtree, N.W. Canada $16.00
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 Foreign $17.50
Phone: 888-7832
DEADLINE: All material for publication mutt be received by
MONDAY NOON for Thursdays paper.
POSTMASTER: Send Change of Addrett to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
601 East Sixth Street, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830
Send all editorial correspondence to
THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
680 West Peachtree Street N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Published Weekly except the second and last weeks
In June, July and August and the last week in December
at 601 East Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830