Jan 8, 1993

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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


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