Golden Anniversary of Vatican Council II

Prayer to Saint Raphael

This prayer was recently discussed at a recent luncheon hosted by the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia. Professor Emeritus of English at Georgia State University William Sessions spoke about Flannery O’Conner and his writing her authorized biography.

Prayer to Saint Raphael 

O Raphael, lead us toward those we are waiting for,

those who are waiting for us: Raphael, Angel of happy

meeting, lead us by the hand toward those we are 

looking for. May all our movements be guided by your

Light and transfigured with your joy. 

Angle, guide of Tobias, lay the request we now

address to you at the feet of Him on whose unveiled

Face you are privileged to gaze. Lonely and tired, 

crushed by the separations and the sorrows of life, we feel

the need of calling you and of pleading for the 

protection of your wings, so that we may not be as

strangers in the provinces of joy, all ignorant of the

concerns of our country. Remember the weak, you

who are strong, you whose home lies beyond the 

region of thunder, in a land that is always peaceful, 

Always serene and bright with 

Resplendent glory of God.

Flannery O’Conner found this prayer by Ernest Hello in Dorothy Day’s “Catholic Worker” and quoted it in a letter dated 14 July 1964, less than a month before her death. The letter is included in “The Habit of Being,” edited by Sally Fitzgerald, 1979.

"Anti-scarecrow" St. Francis of Assisi Welcomes Birds

Clair Stallman, of the Georgia Tech Grad Students and Young Professionals group, puts a bird on the St. Francis of Assisi “anti-scarecrow” that is part of the Atlanta Botanical Garden's Scarecrows in the Garden.

Ga. Tech Students Plant St. Francis Scarecrow to Welcome the Birds

The Atlanta Botanical Garden's annual Scarecrows in the Garden in October features a notable Catholic scarecrow.

But since St Francis of Assisi has a reputation of loving all creatures, great and small, graduate students are calling him an anti-scarecrow. And as fate would have it, Thursday, Oct. 4, was the opening night for Scarecrows in the Garden exhibit, it was also the feast of St. Francis.

The Georgia Tech Grad Students and Young Professionals group put their brains together to build the scarecrow, including using birdseeds for its hands.

Michelle Ediger, a leader with the Graduate Student and Young Professional group, said she saw an email from the Atlanta Botanical Garden looking for organizations to participate so they did the work.

It was Christine Moran, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, who came up with St. Francis. She asked, "Wouldn’t a Catholic scarecrow be an anti-scarecrow… i.e. St. Francis of Assisi with birds flocking to him? "

The three-year old Graduate Student and Young Professional group is based at the Georgia Tech Catholic Center. It provides opportunities for Catholic graduate students to live their faith, from Bible study and building a home for Habitat for Humanity to an annual "pilgrimage" to a corn maze and carve pumpkins.

“Graduate student life is often busy and stressful, and our students connect with others that share the same situation. We also have an opportunity to help mentor and minister to the undergraduate students at Tech,” said Ediger, a graduate student at Georgia State University.

You can learn more about the Catholic graduate student group at its Web site, http://bit.ly/WuwnnV

Red Mass: Finding the Balance of Justice and Mercy

ATLANTA - Here's a first report about the Oct. 4 Red Mass.
- Andrew

Leader of Pax Christi

Sister Patricia Chappell leads Pax Christi USA, the Catholic peace organization. She's been the executive director for nine months and as member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for 35.

Sister Patricia spoke with the Georgia Bulletin about the organization and about her life as a religious sister.

The interactive photo above will give you links to Web sites and to her interview with Andrew Nelson.

Have a listen. Read more about Pax Christi in Georgia in the Georgia Bulletin.

Map of Atlanta's Catholic Bookstore

View Catholic Gift Shops and Books in a full screen map

This map helps you find Atlanta Catholic bookstores near you.

It's a companion to our story in this week's edition. We talk to bookstore owners how they compete with online retailers.

Please read the story on our Web site.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to the Georgia Bulletin.

 

Helping at a Friend's Funeral

Yolanda Colin, September 1962 - August 2012

In "As Befits a Man," Langston Hughes wrote

I don’t mind dying—
But I’d hate to die all alone!

The pew sitters were shoulder to shoulder Saturday. Ushers brought out extra chairs and still people filled the back of the church, two and three people deep.

Certainly, Yolanda Colin didn’t die alone.

I was honored to be a pallbearer at her Aug. 25 funeral. I like being a pallbearer. It is the last time I can help a friend. It is one small way I can help deliver them to their final place of rest.

Part of my responsibilities with others was to prepare her casket for the airplane that would fly her remains to her native New Orleans. We tightened the straps around the cardboard box surrounding her ornate casket before the hearse pulled away to the airport.  

I met Yolanda in 2006. I was a newcomer to St. Anthony of Padua Church, Atlanta. It was the annual Men’s Day Celebration. At the conclusion of Mass, the priest called all the men up to the foot of the altar for a blessing.

At that point, I developed a profound fascination with the floor. Hand to God, I never stared so intently at my shoes and the floor then in those moments. I had just moved from New Hampshire and I can tell you how many times men at my former parishes had been called to the front of the faith community for a blessing. Zero.

And at this point I should say, I am white. Most folks in the parish are not. St. Anthony is home to a vibrant black Catholic community.

So, to review: Altar calls were not something I did. Ever. I was new. I was conscious that I would be the only white person amongst the two-dozen men.

Some how Yolanda caught my eye as we shared a pew. With her were her two young boys, who are now teenagers. She nodded that I should go up. I politely tried to brush her off. Thanks, but I’m studying very intently whether I need a new pair of shoes, I hope my actions showed. 

She persisted. Certainly, she must have me mistaken for someone else, I thought in my mind.  

But gently, with a whisper to go and a small wave with her hand, she got me out of my pew. I joined the group.

St. Anthony since that fall day has been my home.

I treasure that memory of how this woman kindly reached out and made me take a step I never would have taken on my own.

We visited last on Sunday, Aug. 19, as she rested in hospice. I thanked her. We smiled over  the memory. I showed her pictures of my newborn. She told me to plant a kiss on the youngster's big toe. So said, so done.

Archbishop Oscar Romero, of El Salvador, is said to have paraphrased St. John of the Cross, in his words:  

“In the evening of life you will be judged on love.” 

I hope that as Yolanda moved from this life that her kindness to me was written in big bold letters in the book of life. 

--Andrew Nelson