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A MATTER OF APPEARANCE - They say that clothes make
the man - or woman. Not so in this case, for what you see is
definitely not what you get. That’s not a young clergyman and a
young lady you see before you. They’re New York City
policemen and are part of a new program to deceive muggers,
purse snatchers and rapists. Under the program cops will be
disguised as cab drivers, women and other ordinary citizens who
fall prey to criminals. The deception works, too, as several
would-be muggers have found out. (RELIGIOUS NEWS
SERVICE PHOTO)
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
SAVANNAH DIOCESE
Parish Taxes, Due Process
Topics At Priests’ Senate
At its Fall meeting, held at
St. Matthew’s parish hall,
Statesboro, Oct. 24, the
priests’ senate of the
Savannah diocese
recommended that Bishop
Gerard L. Frey appoint a
committee to study what the
senate termed “some of the
defects” in the present
system of chancery taxation
of parishes, and that “a new
formula be prepared to go
into effect on September 1,
1972, if possible.”
The resolution was in
response to a request for
more “equitable taxation of
parishes by the diocese,”
submitted by representatives
of the Statesboro deanery.
Some senate members
suggested that a uniform
standard for taxation for all
parishes does not allow for
special circumstances and
difficulties which might be
experienced by individual
parishes.
The senate also appointed
a three-member panel to
present a full report on, and a
possible “blueprint” for Due
Process and Arbitration
procedures involving clergy
and lay employees of church
institutions in the diocese.
ARKANSAS PRELATE
Bishops’ War Stand
Arouses Opposition
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (NC)
— Bishop Albert L. Fletcher,
saying that the United States
has tried to help South
Vietnam defend itself against
unjust aggression, said he
opposed an American
bishops’ resolution calling for
a speedy end to the Southeast
Asian conflict.
“I am certainly not in
favor of war,” the Little
Rock bishop said. “But I do
admit, with the Church, that
we are permitted to defend
ourselves or help some other
country defend itself against
unjust aggression.
“This is what we have tried
to do in Vietnam.”
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INSIDE STORY
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Bishop Fletcher told The
Guardian, Little Rock
diocesan newspaper, that he
was among a “large minority”
of bishops who opposed the
Vietnam resolution adopted
by the American hierarchy at
their recent fall meeting in
Washington, D.C.
The resolution, in which
the bishops declared that a
“speedy ending of the war in
Vietnam is a moral imperative
of the highest priority,”
passed with only a few
dissenting votes, according to
a bishops’ spokesman at a
news conference held during
the November meeting.
Bishop Fletcher said a U.S.
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troop withdrawal from
Vietnam would not resolve
the war. “It will expose the
South Vietnamese to the
danger of having their
country over-run, and
themselves subjected to
cruelty and the danger of
extinction by the North
Vietnamese who are backed
by Peking and Russia,” he
said.
He said the U.S. should
stand behind its
commitments and help as
much as possible small
nations struggling for
autonomy and freedom.
“It would certainly be
unwise and unnecessary to
give up the good we have
accomplished in fulfillment
of our commitment to South
Vietnam, to help them in case
of aggression,” the bishop
ad ded.
“It seems to me that we
owe a debt of gratitude to
our armed forces in Vietnam
for the patriotic sacrifices and
sufferings that they have
undergone in order to uphold
the principles on which our
own country was founded.”
The panel was directed to
make its report at the next
senate meeting.
In response to a request
from Father Ralph E. Seikel,
diocesan superintendent of
schools for reaction to
diocesan policy on local
transfer of students from one
school to another, the
priest-senators approved the
following resolution:
“We the senate of priests
of the Diocese of Savannah,
endorse the present course of
action by the school office
for promoting integration in
that it follows the principle
of subsidiarity and allows
each local unit to develop
plans appropriate to its
particular situation. However,
we feel that the
bishop . . .and superintendent
should keep the goal of
integration before the minds
of our people and school
boards, and hold each unit
accountable for making some
realistic efforts each year. We
request that the senate be
informed regularly about
progress in this area.”
The priests’ senate meeting
heard a report on the
Provincial meeting of bishops
and senate representatives in
Atlanta prior to the
semi-annual meeting of U.S.
bishops in Washington.
The senate endorsed a
request by Savannah
priest-senators at the Atlanta
meeting that, in the future,
senate representatives be
provided with the agenda of
Provincial meetings far
enough in advance to allow
for the addition of subject
matter by representatives
from the various dioceses in
the Province.
In other actions, the
priests’ senate approved a
motion that members invite
non-member priests in their
areas to attend senate
meetings, and adopted a
proposal that senators
representing deaneries attend
all meetings of their own
deanery 7 Pastoral Councils.
Breakaway Parliament
Set Up In N. Ireland
SISTER CALLS THE SIGNALS - When Sister Martha comes
out to play, she comes out to play. The pint-sized players at
Grace Day Home in Sacramento, Calif, send up a cheer when
their “quarterback” takes the field during play period. Here, the
nun signal-caller huddles with a couple of her diminutive
receivers, perhaps telling them, “Okay, you go down deep and
you cut across the middle. I’ll fade and throw to whomever’s
open.” (RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO)
LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland (NC) — A breakaway parliament called the Assembly of the Northern
Ireland People is drawing up plans for an independent police force for the Catholic areas of this troubled British
province.
Present plans call for the force to be full-time, paid and backed by a court system.
The assembly, which met here, is made up of former members of the Northern Irish parliament - most of them
Catholic - who resigned to protest the policies of the government, particularly its August order of imprisonment
without trial for suspected terrorists.
The assembly president,
John Hume, a Social
Democratic and Labor party
MP, said: “This is an outright
challenge to the people who
call themselves the authorities
of Northern Ireland. It is an
extreme step to take, but
extreme problems require
extreme steps.”
united Ireland embracing all
32 Irish counties.
The Association of Irish
Priests announced its support
for a new all-Ireland
constitution embodying the
principle of religious freedom
and giving no special position
to the Catholic Church.
(Continued on page 7)
Blessed’ Queen Isabella
ATTORNEY SAYS:
Human Fetus
VALLADOLID, Spain (NC) — Queen Isabella of Castile will
be beautified if the former archbishop of Valladolid has his way.
Archbishop Jose Garcia Goldaraz, 78, retired last year to devote
full time to her cause. Now a Valladolid diocesan court has
begun investigations to see if the 15th-century queen, who
commissioned Columbus’ voyages of discovery, had the virtues
of a saint.
Is A Person
COLUMBUS, Ohio (NC)-
The state Supreme Court here
has not held that an unborn
child is never a person,
according to David Young,
attorney for the Ohio
Catholic Conference.
Young said there is
widespread misunderstanding
concerning the court’s Nov.
24 decision overthrowing the
conviction of a man charged
with negligent vehicular
homicide in the death of a
seven-month-old fetus after
an auto accident.
The court, Young
explained, held that under
Ohio’s criminal statute on
vehicular homicide, a fetus
killed in an accident is not a
person within the meaning of
that statute.
But Judge Leonard Stern,
who wrote the opinion, made
clear that the decision is not
hostile to Ohio’s
anti-abortion law. Young
In fact, said Young, the
opinion notes that the term
“person” can have various
meanings for various
purposes. The opinion also
stressed that giant strides
have been made in medical
science’s knowledge
concerning unborn infants.
The court noted that
medical people today can
examine and treat the fetus in
the womb. The opinion also
pointed to legal precedents
upholding the rights of
unborn children under law.
Further, said the court, the
definition of person can be
different, under Ohio law, in
a civil case upholding the
legal rights of a fetus.
In the particular case, the
court found Ronald B.
Dickinson of Canton not
guilty of negligent vehicular
homicide in the 1967 auto
accident. Two days after the
accident, the child of Nancy
Peebles of Canton was born
prematurely at seven months
Atheism Drive Fails
CINCINNATI (CN) — Today’s Christians can shore up their
faith by following examples of persons behind the Iron Curtain
who are persecuted for practicing their religion, Archbishop
Nicholas T. Elko said here. “Fifty-four years of bayonet
persuasion toward atheism has only created a greater defiance in
the hearts of the good people.” the archbishop added. Alumni
association officials at a breakfast following the Mass presented
their annual awards - the St. Francis Xavier medal - to
orchestra leader Lawrence Welk and Msgr. Ralph W. Beiting,
Kentucky pastor and poverty-fighter.
Medal For Berrigan
CHICAGO (NC) - Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan, an
imprisoned leader of the Catholic peace movement, has been
awarded the Thomas More Medal for “the most distinguished
contribution to Catholic literature in 1971.” Dan Herr,
president of the Chicago-based Thomas More Association, said
Father Berrigan was honored for his book “The Dark Night of
Resistance.” Father Berrigan and his brother, Josephite Father
Philip Berrigan, are confined at the federal penitentiary in
Danbury, Conn., for destroying draft records.
Catholic Teachers Jailed
SAN FRANCISCO (NC) — Ten Catholic teachers spent the
weekend in the San Francisco County Jail to dramatize their
strike against seven archdiocesan high schools. About 40 of the
striking teachers staged a two-hour sit-in Dec. 3 at the
archdiocesan education department. Police asked the
demonstrators to leave when the building closed at 5 p.m., but
19 refused and were arrested. Charged with failure to disperse
and trespassing, the teachers had the option of being released on
their own recognizance. Ten teachers and one American
Federation of Teachers (AFT) official chose to remain behind
bars.
Formed last year, the
association - a nationwide
group with about 250
members - consists mostly of
younger priests. There are
nearly 6,000 priests in
Ireland.
The associations’ central
committee urged churches
and other interested groups
to follow the suggestion made
Nov. 30 by Prime Minister
Jack Lynch that they come
together to study how
religious liberty might be
guaranteed for everyone.
“Recognizing geniune
Protestant fears of religious
domination by a Catholic
majority,” the association’s
statement said, “we wish to
state that the new
constitution must embody
the principle of religious
freedom for all, as asserted,
for example, in the United
Nations Declaration of
Human Rights of 1948, and
as stated in official Catholic
teaching.”
The statement quoted the
Second Vatican Council’s
Declaration on Religious
Freedom.
The Irish Republic has
about 2.6 million Catholics
and 150,000 Protestants. The
present constitution, in effect
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CHALLENGES GOVERNMENT
Protests by Catholics
against discrimination in jobs,
voting, and housing have
resulted in violent clashes
between Protestants and
Catholics and led to the
intervention of British troops
and escalation of the violence
by bombings and killings.
In Dublin, Capital of the
26 counties comprising the
Irish Republic south of the
troubled six counties of
Northern Ireland, Catholic
priests have moved to allay
fears of Protestant Irishmen
in the North concerning a
Official
Appointment
Bishop Gerard L. Frey
has announced the
appointment of Father
John Hurley, Associate
pastor of Blessed
Sacrament parish,
Savannah, as Director of
the Catholic Youth
Organization of the
Savannah Deanery.
Father Hurley’s
appointment was effective
December 4th.