Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—August 5,1971
IN THE COURTS
Abortion Laws Mark
Victories, Defeats
By NC News Service
Archbishop Humberto
Medeiros of Boston has
received an editoral rebuke in
the ecumenical weekly,
Christian Century, for his
attack on the New York state
abortion law.
The lead editorial of the
July 21 issue of the periodical
said Archbishop Medeiros’
early July sermon in New
York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral
“turned out to be a rather
indiscriminate harangue in
which the horrors of the
Vietnam war were invoked to
discredit the advocates of
abortion reform.”
Archbishop Medeiros had
cited reports of a Pentagon
study which claimed that 80
percent of the bombing
casualties in North Vietnam
were civilians.
“If these reports are trUe,”
Archbishop Medeiros said,
“then our Catholic ethic of
life requires that .. .we
reaffirm that all direct attacks
upon innocent are murder.”
Archbishop Medeiros
compared the “snuffing out”
of “165,000 innocent lives”
in New York City in the first
year of the liberalized
abortion law to civilian
casualties in North Veitnam.
In Washington, D.C., a
federal judge has ruled that
D.C. General Hospital must
perform an abortion and
sterilization operation on a
19-year-old-woman without
insisting on formal permission
from her husband.
The woman had argued in
a law suit that abortion and
sterilization were necessary
because she suffers from
serious asthma that
complicated her previous
pregnancies.
The judge declared that the
issues at stake were her
“health and personal civil
rights,” and ordered the
hospital to perform the
abortion immediately and
then perform a sterilization
operation unless it raises
medical complications.
The woman said she had
seen her husband only three
times since they separated in
September 1968. “My
husband is not the father of
this baby,” she said in an
affadavit referring to her
pregnancy.
Elsewhere, the Ohio House
Judiciary Committee
indefinitely postponed two
bills which would have
liberalized the state’s existing
abortion laws.
A bill seeking abortion on
demand was defeated by a 15
to 3 vote in the committee. A
bill to repeal all existing
abortion laws in Ohio was
defeated 16 to 2.
California’s Court of
Appeals has struck down a
1967 therapeutic abortion
requirement that a woman
had to receive approval from
a hospital committee of
physicians before she could
get an abortion.
Under the new ruling, a
woman may obtain an
abortion in any licensed
California hospital only on
the recommendation of her
doctor.
In Miami, a devergent
quartet of community leaders
took sharp issue with the
Florida Supreme Court’s
recent recommendation that
the legislature repeal the
state’s restrictive 103-year-old
abortion laws.
Lined up against the state’s
high court appeal for a
modernization of abortion
laws were a woman who
heads a local branch of the
National Right to Life
Committee, a rabbi, a
pediatrician, and the
legislative chairman of the
Miami archdiocesan Council
of Catholic Women.
The Florida Supreme
Court had ruled that the
present statute, which
permits abortion only when
the mother’s life is in danger,
represents a “refusal to
recognize the advance of
medical science.”
BISHOPS SAY:
Brazil’s People
Must Share Gains
BELO HORIZONTE,
Brazil (NC)-The Church has
told Brazil’s government that
it is time to include the
average Brazilian in the
country’s economic growth.
The general secretary of
the Brazilian Bishops
Conference made this point
at the conclusion of a
bishops’ meeting here, saying:
“I am deeply concerned
about the situation in Brazil.
Indeed, the gross national
product is rising, but statistics
also show that the people’s
share of that growth is
diminishing.”
The comment by Bishop
Ivo Lorscheiter reflects the
continuing friction between
Church and state in Brazil
over the issue of profits
versus social progress.
Bishop Lorscheiter,
however, praised Brazil’s
President, Emilio G. Medici
for promoting a land
distribution program for
povertyridden Northeast
Brazil. In this he was joined
by Cardinal Eugenio de
Araujo Sales of Rio de
Janeiro, who wrote to the
President applauding the
program.
The overall economic
situation that drew the
bishops’ criticism is reflected
in figures indicating a fall in
per capita income from 1966
to 1968 while the economy
was growing. The 1968
average income figure, the
latest available, was $290,
compared to $291 for 1966.
The economy has been
reported advancing at a 6
percent growth rate since
1965, with a 9.6 percent gain
recently reported by the
government for 1970.
Brazil’s succession of
military regimes has held to a
policy of tight internal
security while pushing general
economic development and
seeking to attract foreign
investors. But deteriorating
social conditions-increasing
poverty, unemployment,
malnutrition in some areas,
and a lagging agriculture-have
brought widespread
discontent.
The bishops’ regional
meeting for a dozen dioceses
in the states of Minas Gerais
and Espirito Santo was called
to study the findings of a
survey among priests
regarding income, celibacy
and desired changes in their
present role.
AT CONVENTION
K. Of C. Will
Focus On Drugs
NEW YORK (NC) - The
mounting problem of drug
abuse will be the focus of the
89th annual convention of
the supreme council of the
Knights of Columbus here
Aug. 17-19.
The council, the top
legislative and policy-forming
body of the 1.2-million-mem
ber society of Catholic men,
is expected to pass judgment
on resolutions calling for the
establishment of a national
drug abuse education
program, the creation of a
study committee to adopt
such a national program and a
measure urging the Knights to
oppose the legalization of
marijuana and narcotics.
An estimated 200
resolutions will be considered
by the 386 official delegates
at the supreme council
sessions. Delegates will also
decide the fate of measures
aimed at providing increased
service to veterans in
hospitals; coping with
permissive abortion laws;
recommending ways to secure
funds for financially
hard-pressed nonpublic
schools; the alleged moral and
social perils of pornography,
and the question of respect
for legitimate authority, both
civil and religious.
Ro b b i Phineas T.
Weberman argued that
according to this reasoning
“we should legalize murder
an allow it to be committed
by qualified professionals.”
In New York, a group of
women prepared to create a
new national organization
dedicated to securing the
repeal of all state laws
prohibiting abortion.
The women announced
plans for mass demon
strations Nov. 20 in their
home states to pressure their
legislators on behalf of their
objective. The group is
tentatively known as the
Women’s National Abortion
Coalition.
The Massachusetts Nurses
Association has gone on
record in stating that a
professional nurse has the
right to refuse to participate
in medical practices,
including abortions, which
may be in conflict with her
ethical or religious beliefs.
The MNA thus became the
second statewide professional
organization of nurses in the
country to adopt an official
position regarding individual
participation in such medical
procedures. The first was the
California State Nurses
Association.
Two Philadelphia outdoor
advertising firms have
announced that they will no
longer display abortion
information on billboards.
Steen Industries, Inc. termed
the posters “controversial”
and said it did not want to
appear to be taking sides.
The I nt e rnational
Birthright Committee,
headquartered in Toronto,
has announced it will hold its
first convention Aug. 13-15
at Scarboro, near Toronto.
The IBC set a July 13
registration deadline.
Crux, the Catholic weekly
newsletter published in
Albany, N.Y., reports there
has been a “severe drop in
babies available for adoption
this year” in New York state,
partly due to the liberalized
abortion law there.
Crux said that all eight
dioceses in the state reported
drops in the number of
available babies for adoption.
Brooklyn diocese reported a
60 percent drop.
Crux said, however, that
the primary reason for the
drop was the increased use of
contraceptives. Liberal
abortion laws was second,
and more unwed mothers
keeping thei*- babies was a
third reason.
“GREAT ARE YOUR WORKS, O LORD, AND WORTHY OF PRAISE.” Three
Benedictine Monks from Westminister Abbey, Mission City, British Columbia,
look toward their destination, 6,900’, Illusion Peak. The hiking party included left
to right: Fathers Michael Fulton, Paul Hagel, and Lawrence Bilesky. The fourth
member, Father Damasus Payne, took the picture. (NC PHOTO, courtesy The
B.C. Catholic)
Discrimination Again Live
Issue In North Ireland
By Dick Grogan
LONDONDERRY,
Northern Ireland (NC) —
Discrimination against the
Catholic minority has once
again flared into a white-hot
issue in trouble-torn Northern
Ireland. But this time the
most urgent complaint is not
about matters like housing
and jobs, but about the way
the law is applied in Northern
Ireland and about the
conduct of British troops in
their “security role.”
Recently 71 Catholic
priests in two Ulster
(Northern Irish) dioceses
which have seen repeated
trouble signed a document
calling for a full outside
inquiry into the
administration of law in
Northern Ireland. They also
urged a “radical reform” of
the legal system and its
personnel.
The priests drew attention
to the different
law-enforcement tactics used
at two recent incidents-one,
an illegal Protestant march in
a mainly Catholic County
Derry town; the other, an
outbreak of street violence in
a Catholic area of Belfast.
The march, which
predictably sparked off
trouble, was given what one
priest called “kid-glove
treatment,” while the Belfast
disruptions resulted in “crude
treatment”-many arrests,
injuries and court
appearances.
The priests also
alleged~and not for the first
time-blatent sectarianism in
the selection of juries. “Many
people, including lawyers,
have accepted this as a fact of
life in Northern Ireland for a
long time,” their statement
said.
One of their number,
Father Kevin McMullan,
elaborated: “In the selection
of juries, first of all there is a
property qualification, which
excludes quite a large number
of the (Catholic) minority
because they haven’t got the
property, due to
discrimination in the past.
“You have the part that
under-sheriffs and the R.U.C.
(Royal Ulster Constabulary)
and so on have in compiling
the lists and choosing the
juries. And the state itself has
the unlimited right of
challenge in the matter of
juries. All these people who
are involved are Unionists
(Protestant loyalist party
members) ’This is really what
we mean. And it is well
known, for example, that if a
person has a Catholic name
he is going to be challenged.”
The priests also criticized a .
prominent Belfast criminal
court justice, Judge Topping,
who threatened to increase
penalties in appeal cases
which “had no chance of
success.”
Judge Topping’s action
“must have the effect of
intimidating some innocent
people and preventing them
from appealing their cases,”
By Vincent Curran
EASTON, Pa. (NC)-The
pastor of St. Joseph’s Church
here has returned unpaid a
tax bill for his parish rectory
of $591.30-a sum which
would eventually go to the
local public school district.
Moreover, Father Peter J.
Vandergeest has turned the
tables on the school district
by sending his personal
assessment of $136,316.24
for educational services
provided last year for 232
elementary school students.
In a letter to school board
president James M. Masterson
(a member of Father
Vandergeest’s parish), the
priest said he was returning
the tax bill “in an expression
of righteous indignation and
anger with our system which
is rapidly inviting total
DUBUQUE, Iowa (NC) —
Edmundite Father Paul A.
Gopaul, first black ordained
to the priesthood from the
San Francisco archdiocese,
called the general apathy
toward black Catholics in this
country, “a scandal to the
Mystical Body in the
Church.”
%
A one-time San Francisco
longshoreman, Father Gopaul
has been teaching a course in
Afro-American literature
during summer school at
Clarke College here. He is on
the faculty at St. John’s
the priests said. They also
called ..for a “closer
evaluation” of evidence given
in court by British troops,
particularly of evidence as to
identification.
The breakdown of
confidence in the law has
arisen partly because of the
severe measures available to
the security forces and the
courts under Northern
Ireland’s Special Powers
Act-a piece of legislation
specifically aimed at
ASKS $136.000
repression of our (Catholic)
people.”
Father Vandergeest’s tax
bill is based on the $14,600
assessed value of the parish
rectory. Before last year, the
Northampton County
Commissioners taxed
parsonages only a nominal
figure of $100.
The commissioners’
decision to up the tax caused
a financial situation which
inhibits Catholics from fully
realizing their constitutional
freedom of religion and
religious expression, the
priest said.
“Just how free are we to
practice our religion as
conscience directs,” he asked,
“if the cost to function
properly becomes excessive
and the burden of taxation
becomes unbearable?”
University, Collegeville, Minn.
He deplored the fact that
there is little encouragement
given to increase vocations to
the priesthood and religious
life among black Catholics.
On a more optimistic note,,
he said: “Oddly enough what
American Catholic
Church has going for it is a
tremendous respect for the
priesthood--not as
representative of a white
racist culture but as
representative of a spiritual
value in the hierarchy
between God and men.”
punishing offenders against
public order.
Mandatory jail sentences of
six months are imposed on
people convicted of the
rather loosely defined offense
of “disorderly conduct.”
Sentences can, and have been
imposed for such diverse
actions as making an abusive
remark to a soldier, writing
an anti-British slogan on a
wall, and wearing
“para-military uniform”
(such as war surplus
Father Vandergeest said
that he was not surprised by
the recent U.S. Supreme
Court decision striking down
state aid to nonpublic
schools. Moreover, he said
that he had no quarrel with
the decision when viewed
within “the current mood of
our nation.”
However, he said that he
believes the Supreme Court
did not actually address itself
to the “heart of the matter,”
the right of all people to
freely choose and practice
their religion.
Father Vandergeest asked
the county commissioners to
reconsider the imposition of
the property tax.
“If they cannot do this,”
he wrote, “perhaps they
could consider the lack of
consistency that is reflected
in their failure to tax certain
residence properties on
college campuses.”
The priest also asked the
school district to “interpret
with more liberality” laws
that aid nonpublic school
children through
transportation and sharings of
facilities.
“Failing this,” he said,
“perhaps you would forward
to me promptly payment in
full on the (tuition) bill I
present above.”
Mastersob, the school
board head, said that the
matter is beyond the
jurisdiction of his group and
must be resolved by the
commissioners.
‘‘Knowing Fat her
Vandergeest,” he added,
“sending us his own bill may
have been done tongue in
cheek.”
battle-jackets).
A few weeks ago, a man
alleged to have shouted “Up
the I.R.A. (Irish Republican
Army)” in a street through
which a parade of Protestant
Orangemen were passing, was
sentenced to a year .in an
appeals jail, in spite of
medical evidence given in
court that he had been under
psychiatric care and had a
mental age of IOV2 years.
Some of the priests who
signed the statement had
previously protested the
one-sided administration of
justice in Northern Ireland by
boycotting the census in the
province-an action which
leaves them open to
prosecution and a fine of
about $650.
Catholics have also pointed
to the refusal of the British
authorities to hold an
independent inquiry into the
deaths of two Londonderry
Catholics shot by the troops
during street riots in that
city. The British Army claims
one man was carrying a rifle
and the other a bomb, but
many on-the-spot
witnesses-including a Jesuit
priest who saw one of the
shootings-maintain that the
men were unarmed.
Condoning the shootings and
the Army’s actions, the
Northern Ireland Minister of
Home Affairs, John Taylor,
said that “many more” may
have to be shot.
Since those incidents and
the British refusal to hold an
inquiry, Catholics in
Londonderry have come out
on the streets to attack the
troops with stones and their
bare fists almost every night.
Sporadic shooting incidents
have also taken
place-believed to be the work
of the I.R.A.^-arid the troops
have been accused by local
people of using extreme
violence, abuse and
provocative behavior to
people, young and old, in the
streets and during searches of
homes.
Two British troops have
been shot dead in separate
incidents in Belfast-in I.R.A.
reprisals for the Londonderry
shootings of civilians. And
heavily armed patrols, with
weapons loaded and fingers
on triggers, move nightly
through Catholic districts,
supported by armored
vehicles. Observation
helicopters whirr overhead.
To an outsider, the
Catholics of Londonderry
and Belfast seem enmeshed
by a military presence as
intensive as that in the worst
areas of Vietnam.
Pastor Returns Tax Bill
IN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Says Apathy Toward
Blacks 6 A ScandaV