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News & Herald
Western North Carolina
Volume 2 Number 18 • January
in the Diocese of Charlotte
The Waters Of Jordan...
y
8,
1993
Archbishop Lyke, Nation's Top Black Prelate, Dies
Of Cancer At Age 53
—
ATLANTA (CNS) Archbishop James P. Lyke of Atlanta, the U.S. Catholic Church's only active black archbishop, died at
home Dec. 27 after a two-year battle with He was 53.
cancer.
His funeral Mass was celebrated Dec. 31
at Christ the
King Cathedral
in Atlanta,
followed by burial at Arlington Cemetery in
Sandy Springs. Archbishop Lyke was a leader civil rights
and
pro-life
in the
movements and
African-American cultural and
in
liturgical
development, and he wrote numerous
ar-
ticles in national publications on black Catholic
issues in America.
His death reduces the number of active U.S. black Catholic bishops to
1 1
"In a very short period of time, he
accomplished so much in both the Archdiocese and Province of Atlanta," said Bishop
John
F.
Donoghue of Charlotte.
In addition
Archbishop James in
and Charlotte make up the
against cancer.
five dioceses of
P.
Lyke of
Atlanta,
shown
a 199 1 photo, died Dec. 27 after a long fight
to Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston, Raleigh
(CNS photo by Linda Schaefer)
the Province of Atlanta.
"He was
on Capital Punish-
man deeply committed to whole concept of justice for everyone," said Bishop Donoghue. Beverly Carroll, head of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Black Catholics, called him "agiant in the African-American Catho-
proclaimed the richness of the black Catho-
the
lic
movement" "He was certainly one of
prophetic leaders
I
"He had such a
the
most
have ever met," she said.
passion for the Catholic
again" in consecrated
He had a keen sense of family, and he was a prophetic writer." When he was made an auxiliary bishop of Cleveland in 1 979 at the age of 40, he was
him." (Mark 1:10) Pilgrims
l
hs
JOANN KEANE
the youngest bishop in the country, only the
the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a
come from
all
"bom
over the world to be
Photo by
from the Jordan.
dove descended
fifth
U.S. black bishop, and
native
LC. Trappist
Monastery Extends
—
become a
the
first
he played a key role
black bishops to work as
a group on national issues of
common
concern. In 1984 he coordinated their writ-
By CAROL
HAZARD
Associate Editor
MONCKS CORNER, came
S.C.
contemplative community. They rise
—
a.m.,
Luis
Mepkin Abbey looking for God." The ;d New York Supreme Court justice wered the connection has to do with Of this, he is sure. "I have come late in life to understand
a
to
perfect connection with
.
diose J
who
to give
love selflessly have a great
of that love^' says the 6 1 -year-
come
3
together for prayer seven times
Neco has learned much about life and from the 26 monks at Mepkin. He is one of hundreds of men, Catholic non-Catholic alike,
He was appointed administrator of the In
January 1991, doctors operated on Bishop
Lyke
to
remove a cancerous kidney. In months after he had
April 1991, nearly 10
become
administrator of the Atlanta Arch-
diocese,
Pope John Paul
II
appointed him
archbishop. Last April doctors found inoperable
cancer in his right lung. In November, as the it became clear that would not help, at his
cancer worsened and further treatment
ing and issuance of
"What
We Have Seen
home. Carroll said Archbishop Lyke's single most important legacy to the Church is Lead Me, Guide Me, an African-American Catholic hymnal that is widely used not only in the
and Heard."
See Lyke, Page 13
together in silence.
They stay for at least one month, long enough to become free from their outside lives and pick up the rhythm of monastic life. It
takes a minimum of one
week just to
unwind, says Brother John Corrigan, pro-
gram
coordinator.
who have been
their intentions.
Some
are interested in re-
turning to organized religion after years of
agnosticism or cynicism. Others are moti-
vated by a desire to deepen their spirituality.
omed into the bosom of the Cistercian-
Priests often retreat.
roperty bordering the Cooper River in h Carolina's low country, prawn to the contemplative monastic
frightened
make
the guest
program a
Occasionally, a new arrival becomes so
by
tractions (no
the solitude
TV
and lack of dis-
or radio), he flees after a
y come to get in touch with God and Ives. Says Abbot Francis Kline, "It's
few days, says Brother Corrigan. Most,
of Southern monastic hospitality."
plined pace.
[epkin Abbey is one of a few, if not the monastery that receives "outsiders"
as
one of
The guests do as the ustere lifestyle
a major obstacle to the evangelization of blacks.
a day, work, study and take their meals
pist community on 3 ,400 acres of grace-
community
called racism a
Candidates are screened carefully for
grandfather.
d
at
America but
wound in the Church that remains
request he began receiving hospice care at
bishop.
in organizing the
Hospitality'
a Chicago
black from the North to
In the early 1980s
touthem Monastic
—
heritage in
festering
Atlanta Archdiocese in August 1990.
tradition....
He saw
black bishops,
ment, and was a
lic
ming up out of the waters,
The first-ever joint pastoral letter by the who then numbered 10, it
the chief architect for the
Provincial statement
its
own.
monks do, living among the cloistered,
however, adjust to the unharried,
disci-
Neco spent six weeks at the monastery, It was his
leaving at the end of December.
at Mepkin. He had been there weeks a few months before, trying
second stay for five
Monk at Mepkin Abbey spends quiet time overlooking the Cooper River. See Monks, Page 2
Photo by
CAROL HAZARD