Newspaper Page Text
The
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 28 No. 42
Thursday, November 29, 1990
$15.00 Per Year
MERCY MIDWIVES - Newborn Niki, daughter of Tony and Sheila
Wehunt, is welcomed into the world at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Dahlonega
where a team of Mercy sisters work as obstetrician and nurse practitioner
for women in rural counties.
Babies Born In Lumpkin Co.
Two-Year Study Begins
Of Southern Catholics
WASHINGTON (CNS) - A national
study of Catholics in the Bible Belt has
been launched by The Catholic University
of America in Washington.
"Anthropologists will study Southern
communities to identify the cultural forms
and expressions that are particular to
Catholics in the Bible Belt," said Jon
Anderson, who heads the project.
An advisory committee of bishops,
anthropologists, sociologists, theologians
and historians from around the United
States is formulating questions for the
study, aimed at understanding Catholicism
in the South.
"We hope to learn about Catholics by
studying generational customs, what means
are used to hand on the faith, and how
Catholics differ from other denominations
in the South," Anderson said.
Among questions to be studied are:
- Do die customs in a Southern
Catholic church differ from those in a
church in the Northern, Western or Eastern
regions?
- Are Catholics in the South more or
less Bible-oriented than other Catholics,
inclined to "witness openly" to being
Catholic, more or less separatist about
religious and political issues?
- How does Catholic imagination in the
South differ from Catholic imagination in
other parts of the United States?
The study was initiated by Bishop
William B. Friend of Shreveport, La. It
will take two years to complete and will
consist of a review of literature, surveys
and interviews.
The study is being funded by the
Catholic Church Extension Society, a
church agency based in Chicago that
assists evangelization efforts of home
mission dioceses in the United States.
Bishop Friend said the study "will give
a better understanding of a South that is
rapidly changing, and help to provide what
Pope John Paul n has envisioned as one
of the means of understanding how to
evangelize more effectively."
He said that studies such as this will be
"of great assistance to those responsible
for seminary training in helping future
priests serve the South, assist the evangeli-
zational efforts of the Catholic Extension
Society, and they will help Catholics and
other denominations in the South learn
what has been helpful in working together
ecumenically."
Have Religious Assistance
BY RITA McINERNEY
Sheila Wehunt gave
birth to her baby girl, Niki,
at 2:20 p.m., Nov. 9 in a
birthing suite at St. Jo
seph’s Hospital in Dahlon
ega.
‘‘It’s over, Sheila,” her
doctor, Susanne Ashton,
RSM, told her as she held
up the small pink “mira
cle.”
“You have a daughter.”
Tony Wehunt smiled
happily as he leaned over
his tired young wife.
Doctor Ashton and the
two nurses, Lyn Thompson
and Becky Burnett, went
swiftly about post-partum
duties. The newborn, short
ly to be weighed in at six
and a quarter pounds, was
placed on a padded table
warmed by an overhead
heating unit After a few
moments while she seemed
to be pondering her abrupt
passage from the warm,
nurturing womb to a
strange world, Niki shaped
a small cry with her pretty
little mouth.
Over the next four days,
Dr. Ashton and her team
delivered four more ba
bies, putting to good use
the attractive new labor
and delivery area in the
Catholic hospital in Dah
lonega. Then, from 7 p.m.,
Nov. 15 to 5 a.m„ Nov.
16, Dr. Ashton and mid
wife Maggie Holley deliv
ered four babies.
A Religious Sister of
Mercy, Dr. Ashton and her
partner, Dr. Jean Simone,
deliver 18 or 19 babies a
month. A second RSM,
Sister Agnese Neumann,
nurse practitioner, is the
third member of the busy
practice, Dahlonega Ob
stetrics/Gynecology Asso
ciates. Sister Agnese,
according to her friend,
Dr. Ashton, “Does every
thing we do, but deliver
babies.”
Dr. Ashton and Sister
Agnese left a “huge and
thriving practice” in Leon-
ardtown, Md., to open a
practice for women in
Lumpkin County and sur
rounding counties in May
1989.
“When the Religious
Sisters of Mercy decided
to sponsor a hospital here,
we knew there was a need.
(Continued on page 7)
INSIDE THE BULLETIN
The 'Rite' Stuff
RCIA changes everyone
Inclusive Language
Bishops approve guidelines
page 5 page 11
Crayon Club
An unstructured organization
Remember Them
Aging nuns, priests
page 6 page 12
Archbishop's Sister, Nancy Donnellan, Dies
Miss Anne (Nancy) Donnellan, sister of the late Arch
bishop Thomas A. Donnellan, died Nov. 23 at St. Joseph’s
Hospital in Atlanta where she had been admitted a few
days earlier for tests. She was 74.
Her funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 27 at the Cathe
dral of Christ the King by Monsignor John Carlin of New
York City, a high school and seminary classmate of her
brother’s. Bishop James P. Lyke, OFM, presided and more
than 30 priests of the archdiocese were concelebrants.
Burial was near the archbishop’s grave in Arlington
Cemetery.
Miss Donnellan was known as Nancy to her many
friends. She came to Adanta to live about 12 years ago,
according to Father John Hennessey, a friend for many
years. Before that she had been a secretary at Texaco
Corp. in New York City. “Nancy carried out in her quiet
way works of mercy,’ ’ Monsignor Carlin said, speaking of
her support of many Catholic institutions and causes, and
of priests. Test results that had not yet been disclosed to
her showed she had cancer, several friends said.
She was active in pro-life activities with other parishio
ners at Christ the King and was a member of the St.
Theresa Circle. She had worked with Sister Mary Jean
nette Crosson, GNSH, in ministering to patients at Nurse
Care. She also belonged to auxiliaries of Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Home and St. Joseph’s Hospital and to
Friends of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
She was recently appointed to the Equestrian Order of
the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
She was bom March 1, 1916 in New York City, to
Andrew and Margaret Egan Donnellan. She and her
brother were the couples’ only children. Cousins in New
York and Ireland survive.
She attended Catholic schools and received her A.B.
from Hunter College.
Contributions in her memory may be sent to the
Archbishop Donnellan Fund at St. Pius X High School,
2674 Johnson Road, NE, Atlanta, 30345.