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Priests Hear Call for Equality
PAGE 7—The Southern Cross, March 22,1973
BLIND AND DEAF RESCUERS » A 91 year old
woman who had fallen in her kitchen in Philadelphia
was rescued by two boys who are partly blind and
deaf. Billy Cusick, 11, (left) of St. Lucy’s School for
the Visually Handicapped and Jimmy Doebley, 13, of
Archbishop Ryan School for the Deaf, were
congratulated by President Richard Nixon for their
actions in helping Mrs. Nelly Diamond. It was the blind
boy’s hearing and the deaf boy’s ability to read lips
that alerted them to Mrs. Diamond’s calls for help. (NC
Photo)
Handicapped Boys Heroes
DETROIT (NC) -- A Canadian bishop
appealed to priests for recognition of
women and men as “equal members” of
the Church.
The appeal was made by Bishop
Remi J. De Roo of Victoria, British
Columbia, to some 225 delegates at the
four-day national meeting of the
National Federation of Priests’ Councils
(NFPC) here. The meeting has as its
theme “Tensions in Accountability”
among U.S. clergy.
WASHINGTON (NC) - There was
elation and disappointment over the
announcement (March 15) by the
department of Health Education and
Welfare that it would not distribute a
controversial film on population.
Some of the disappointed backers of
the film maintained that HEW Secretary
Caspar W. Weinberger was put under
“political pressure” not to distribute the
film to schools and colleges.
But one of the opponents of the film
distribution said it was “entirely
proper” for Weinberger to end HEW’s
involvement.
The film was based on the report of
the now-defunct Commission on
Population Growth and the American
Future. The original two-hour version of
the film was made with private funds
for television but was rejected by the
three major TV networks.
The controversy hit one of its hottest
points when the film was finally
televised on the non-commercial Public
Broadcasting System (PBS) in
November.
The film showed scenes of
car-covered highways, crowded urban
tenements, and people mobbed on
sidewalks. In brief, it visualized
problems the population commission
felt were caused by overpopulation.
Some of the topics discussed in the
film were abortion, immigration, sex
education and birth control. It
presented both sides of the abortion
issue but concluded with the population
commission’s decision that abortion
should be easily available in all 50
states.
A second wave of controversy
developed in December when the HEW
office of Education announced it had
earmarked $170,000 to buy and
distribute edited copies of the film to
schools requesting it. HEW, the White
House and Cbngress were hit with
“Sing out, my Soul” is the theme of
the 34th Annual Convention of the
Savannah Diocesan Council of Catholic
Women, to be held May 5th and 6th at
the Ralston Hotel, Columbus, Georgia.
A special feature of this year’s
Convention will be a number of
stimulating workshops at which
participants will share their ideas on
different topics.
The Convention will open on Friday
May 4th with Registration in the Hotel
lobby from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Members
of the Columbus Deanery Councils of
Catholic Women will be hostesses at a
Convention party planned for Friday
evening at Holy Family Parish Hall.
The Speaker at the Convention
Banquet will be Mr. “Jim” Rountree,
President of the National Council of
Catholic Laity. Mr. Rountree, who has a
distinguished record in teaching,
administration and civic acitvity, is a
frequent contributor to PEOPLE
Magazine and professional and
educational journals.
The “Brunch” speaker will be Mrs.
Joseph Spano, of Columbus. Mrs. Spano
is a member of the Muscogee County
Board of Education, a member of the
Georgia Congress of Parents and
Teachers and a member of the Muscogee
County Nursing Home Board. She is
Food Editor for the Columbus Ledger
and the Columbus Enquirer. Her speech
three yeafcs ago at the Augusta meeting
will be remembered for its charm,
humor, and underlying message:
The 1973 Convention Chairman is
Mrs. Melvin Hardy. Her co-chairman is
Mrs. Cosmas Dokas. The Convention
Committees for 1973 are made up as
follows:
Nominations - Mrs. Thomas O. Fultz,
Jr., Chairman, Savannah Deanery., Mrs.
Joseph Dembowski, Macon Deanery,
****
“Battle Abortion”
CHICAGO (NC) -- The president of
the National Federation of Priests’
Councils (NFPC) has called on
“Catholics of every political and
ideological persuasion” to unite in the
battle against abortion.
Bishop De Roo listed “accountability
and women” as a high priority issue for
bishops and priests. Other issues, he
said, are peace education, justice for
minorities and an “expanded vision of
the Gospel” in an age when both the
Church and society are under stress.
“We bishops and priests will be
failing in our accountability unless and
until we recognize the full partnership
of woman as a sister to man,” he said.
“It is our responsibility to work toward
complete reciprocity of relations . . .
letters protesting the HEW involvement.
Now, after nearly three months of
holding off distributing the film and the
accompanying study materials, HEW’s
Weinberger has announced the plan is
dead.
Letters were being sent to the 850
organizations and school systems,
representing more than 1,500 schools,
which had requested the film.
Among the most vocal opponents of
the film’s views was Marjorie M.
Mecklenburg of Minneapolis, president
of the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for
Life.
Mrs. Mecklenburg said that
Weinberger’s decision was “entirely
proper.” She maintained that opponents
of the film would have not objected to
distribution of the film if a “balanced”
presentation had been given to the
“other side” of the argument.
“If you are going to present a
one-sided proposition on any issue, it is
not a learning process,” said Mrs.
Mecklenburg. She also questioned
whether HEW had the right to use
taxpayer’s money to distribute the film
made by private special-interest groups.
Louis M. Heilman, HEW’s deputy
assistant for Population Affairs,
expressed disappointment at the film’s
cancellation. He charged that “pressure
was applied at the White House” by
some anti-abortion groups to scuttle the
film.
Roger Davis, associate director of the
Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, said in New York that the film
“had much value to the public.”
“We are sorry that this decision has
been made,” said Davis. “We have
endorsed the (population) commission’s
report. We thought the film conveyed
the meaning of the report and should
have been brought to the attention of
the American people.”
Mrs. Howard Halladay, Albany
Deanery, Mrs. Vance Logan, Augusta
Deanery, Mrs. Jean Iniques,
Valdosta-Brunswick Deanery.
Elections - Mrs. George Quinn,
Judge, Augusta Deanery, Mrs. Daniel J.
O’Leary, Savannah Deanery, Mrs. John
Crawford, Albany Deanery, Mrs. Joe
Ferra, Valdosta-Brunswick Deanery.
Credentials - Mrs. Marion P. Stewart,
Chairman, Columbus Deanery, Mrs. Earl
D. Miller, Savannah Deanery, Mrs.
Daniel Barrett, Macon Deanery, Mrs.
Raymond Foster, Valdosta-Brunswick
Deanery.
Resolutions - Mrs. Robert Hurley,
Chairman, Macon Deanery, Mrs. Phyllis
Duke, Albany Deanery, Mrs. David
Dukes, Augusta Deanery, Mrs. Herman
Haggard, Columbus Deanery.
“Many women still wonder why
priests are hesitant to permit them the
full participation in Church life which
they desire. Some claim that they
perform more work in the Church than
the male population.
“Does the reticence on part of priests
indicate that they fear the consequences
of letting women assume their full
responsibilities?
“Are priests not ready to
acknowledge women as persons entitled
to full equality?”
Bishop De Roo noted that Cardinal
George B. Flahiff of Winnipeg,
Manitoba, proposed to the 1971 World
Synod of Bishops in Rome that a
commission be appointed to study the
“various ministries of women in the
Church.”
“Mounting pressure may yet bring
this commission into being,” Bishop De
Roo told the priests.
He said the world is in “a major
cultural shift” which is reflected in the
Church. Many people, he said, believe
statements in Scripture about women
are a “massive put-down” which must
be rectified.
“As long as half of humanity does
not share full responsibility for the
restoration of creation, the mystery of
salvation is not fully known,” he said.
“It cannot be fully lived while women
are restricted in their service to the
Kingdom.”
At no point did the bishop urge
ordination of women to the diaconate
or priesthood. He spoke, instead, of
various “ministries” of women.
“I see this as a broader pastoral
approach of ministries,” he explained
later to reporters, “because we might
get hung up on yesterday’s categories. I
know a number of women who have
said to me: ‘I don’t want to be
yesterday’s priest.’
“Today we are coming to a deeper
and more flexible understanding of
sacrament than previously. We regard
the total Church as a life to be lived by
sharing in Christ’s mysteries rather than
a set of laws to be followed.
Among items up for consideration by
the NFPC House of Delegates, however,
was a committee report urging a change
in Church law “which now prevents the
ordination of women to the diaconate.”
The committee also said that the
celibacy issue is “far from dead, despite
various official pronouncements to that
effect.”
On peace education, Bishop De Roo,
49, warned that “unless matters
improve rapidly,” the Church might fail
to provide substantial education of
Catholics in ways of building a lasting
peace after Vietnam. This “mistake”
was made by both the “victorious
nations” and by the churches after
World War II, he said.
At the press conference, Bishop De
Roo suggested a “possible remodeling”
of the United Nations which, he said,
has “hardly been very effective,” in
maintaining peace. The Church should
not tell the U.N. “how to go about its
business,” he said, but it could
collaborate more closely with the UJM.
and help to strengthen it.
Bishop De Roo said he was glad that
the NFPC had among eight major
proposals on its agenda the initiation of
a sustained “World Without War”
program.
Discussing accountability toward
minorities, Bishop De Roo urged priests
to study and live the ministry of justice.
He suggested close study of the
statements and attitudes expressed by
the Synod of Bishops; by Brazilian
Archbishop Helder Camara, and by the
Rev. Philip Potter, general secretary of
the World Council of Churches.
PHILADELPHIA (NC) - Two
handicapped boys - one using his ears
and the other using his eyes - rescued
an elderly woman here and were praised
by President Richard M. Nixon for their
deed.
In a letter to Jimmy Doebley, 13, a
student at Archbishop Ryan Memorial
Institute for the Deaf in Philadelphia,
the President commended him for
assisting “an elderly woman who was
lying helpless in her home after a fall.”
Working with Jimmy in the rescue
was his companion Billy Cusick, 11,
who attends St. Lucy’s School for the
Visually Handicapped.
It was Billy’s good ears that heard
cries for help from 91-year-old Mrs.
Nelly Diamond, who had fallen in her
home. He told Jimmy, who can read
lips, to look in the front door and see
what was wrong.
When Jimmy saw Mrs. Diamond
lying helpless on the floor, he flagged
down a passing police car, and the
police went to assist her.
“We were afraid she had broken her
hip or something,” said Billy. “We were
scared, but it wouldn’t have been right
to let the lady lie there.”
“They’re lovely boys,” said Mrs.
Madalyn Mann, Mrs. Diamond’s
daughter, who had left her mother alone
for only a few minutes when the
accident occurred.
Mrs. Mann said the boys wait outside
her home for the school bus, and she
had invited them to wait in the foyer
whenever the weather was bad. Billy
heard the cries for help when the two
boys returned to the foyer after school
to look for a lost pencil case.
“We try to teach the children to care
about other people,” said Billy’s
mother, Mrs. Joan Cusick. Mrs. Mina
Doebley, Jimmy’s mother, agreed. “Too
many people don’t seem to care,” she
said.
also wrote the boys, praising them for
the kind of action “which exemplifies
the spirit of Brotherly Love for which
our city was named.”
“I am proud of you,” he said.
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WHO
■ ■ ■ ■
THE HOLY FATHER'S MISSION AID TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCH
AN
OPEN
LETTER
TO
YOU
WAYS
TO
SHOW
YOU
CARE
Dear friend,
Who cares about Holy Land refugees?
Who cares if the baby born tonight in a refugee
tentwill have a clean blanket?
Who cares if eager breadwinners deprived of
their livelihoods can be re-trained for new jobs?
Who cares about the orphans of war?
Our Holy Father cares.
Ever since these wars began, our Pontifical Mis
sion for Palestine has been caring in practical
terms: shoes, blankets, hot meals, medicine,
new houses, new classrooms, self-help family
loans, re-training, scholarships.
The world is beginning to care a lot about the
hazard to everyone’s peace in the unsettled
status of 1,500,000. Holy Land refugees. While
diplomacy remains boggled, your priests, nuns
and lay workers are feeding, healing, teaching,
mending the peace person-by-person—by caring
where it counts.
We believe that you care, too. About shivering
children, about Christ's homeland, about peace,
about the humane thing.
The headlines of recurring crises in the Holy
Land will not let your caring rest. We beg you to
invest in people who need you, with the handy
coupon below. Your gift will go to work right
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And thanks for caring,
Monsignor Nolan
ik
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it’s needed most
$2750 Equipment for Pediatrics Center
$1390 Sound lab for 20 deaf-mute boys
$ 525 Three-room home for refugee family
$ 300 Two-year vocational training for refugee
youngster
$ 210 One-year hospital care for an aged
refugee
$ 50 Sewing machine for a refugee girl
$ 25 One year’s medical care for a refugee
family
$ 10 Braille books for blind children
$ 5 Two dresses for an orphan girl
$ 2 Blanket for a baby
$ 1 Lunch fora child for one month
<D AX
Dear enclosed please find $.
.Monsignor Nolan:
FOR
Please name__
return coupon
with your street.
offering
city
.STATE.
_ZIP CODE.
THE CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
NEAR EAST
MISSIONS
TERENCE CARDINAL COOKE, President
MSGR. JOHN G. NOLAN, National Secretary
Write: Catholic Near East Welfare Assoc.
330 Madison Avenue-New York, N.Y. 10017
Telephone: 212/986-5840
HEW Scuttles Film
DCCW Convention Plans