Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 54 No. 41
Thursday, November 22, 1973
Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
Bishops Act on Eucharist, Labor Problems, Peace
MEMBERS OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
ASSEMBLY, Knights of Columbus, present sabres at
the Consecration during a solemn Mass at Savannah’s
Cathedral commemorating the 100th anniversary of
the laying of the cornerstone of the edifice last Sunday
(Nov. 18). Concelebrating the Mass were (1. to r.)
Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke, Cathedral Rector; Bishop
Raymond W. Lessard; Father Patrick O’Brien,
Assistant Rector of the Cathedral; and Father Frances
Nelson, Assistant Chancellor.
Reports on Far ah Strike Conflict
WASHINGTON (NC) - The bitter
strike at the Farah clothing factory in El
Paso, Tex., was described in sharply
conflicting terms in two reports
presented to the U.S. bishops at their
meeting here.
Bishop Sidney Metzger of El Paso
told the Bishops Nov. 14 that he
supports the strke as a matter of social
justice and he challenged the company
to hold union elections.
In an earlier report presented on
behalf of the Farah Manufacturing
INSIDE STORY
Cesar Chavez
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Cancer Home
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Mission Music
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Prison Reform
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Company, the bishops were told that
most Farah Workers oppose the strike
by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America (ACWA).
In his address, Bishop Metzger
defended and explained his involvement
which began, he said, when workers
from the plant came to him in 1972 and
described working conditions there.
Three separate studies have all tended to
support the workers’ criticisms of the
company, he said.
After the third study, he added, “I
was more convinced than ever that what
the workers said was true.
The National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB), Bishop Metzger said, has
rejected anti-union petitons from Farah
Co. employes because the petitions were
not sought by the NLRB, as required by
law. Bishop Metzger also claimed that
the workers were forced to sign the
petitions or else they would be in
danger of losing their jobs.
The newspapers in El Paso, he said,
were favorably disposed toward the
Farah Co. and news from the workers
was “tucked away in a corner.” News
from the company, he said, was given
prominent display.
In a packet distributed at the bishops’
meeting, the Farah company charged
that “the rights of its 7,500 workers are
being denied by the refusal of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers to
permit elections so that the employes
themselves can make their own
choice ...”
The company’s position was
explained to the bishops by Bishop
Warren Boudreaux of Beaumont, Tex.,
chairman of the bishops’ committee for
Liaison with Clergy, Religious and
Laity. Bishop Boudreaux’s report did
not reflect his own views but
summarized the views which the firm
had presented to his committee.
“Farah points out that its employes
are not being paid less than union
wages; nor are they receiving fewer
fringe benefits; nor are they being
subjected to poor working conditions.
Moreover, the union has not been able
to obtain the support of the 30 percent
of the workers needed to demand an
election supervised by the National
Labor Relations Board. Farah points
out that the NLRB is fully empowered
to take appropriate action if the
company were doing anything to
prevent elections from being held. No
such charges have been made, and no
such action has been taken.”
The Farah company, the statement
said, supports letting the workers decide
if they want to be represented by the
ACWA.
“If the majority of the workers vote
to have the union represent them,”
Bishop Boudreaux’ summary statement
said, “the company will abide by that
decision. ”
BY PATRICK JOYCE
WASHINGTON (NC) - The bishops
of the United States rejected
Communion in the hand, endorsed the
grape and lettuce boycotts, called for
congressional action against abortion,
and appealed for peace in the Mideast
and reform in the nation’s prisons.
The bishops took the actions as they
considered a wide variety of social and
Church issues at the annual meeting
here Nov. 12-16 of their two national
organizations, the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the
U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC).
During the meeting the bishops also
issued a pastoral letter on Mary, entitled
“Behold Your Mother,” which they had
approved last spring at regional
meetings.
The generally quiet meeting was
marked by arrests of demonstrators, a
sit-in at the office of the bishops’
general secretary and by minor
demonstrations at the bishops’ Mass in
the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception and in their own meeting
room.
One issue with a potential for
controversy-the Vatican decree ending
educational programs that placed
preparation for first Communion before
first Confession-was handled quietly in
the bishops public meeting. While there
was no vote, the bihops seemed to agree
with an Education Committee report
which said that while the programs must
en i, the Vatican did not say that any
ci^.d could be forced to go to
confession before making his first Holy
Communion.
While that discussion was restrained,
the bishops decided go into an executive
session to discuss the manner in which
the decree was issued. Some bishops had
complained last spring that the Vatican
decree was issued arbitrarily. The
bishops refused to talk about their
secret discussions.
On the last day of their meeting the
bishops unexpectedly approved
resolutions supporting the grape and
lettuce boycotts of the United Farm
Workers of America and called for free
and secret union elections for farm
workers. Although many individual
bishops had supported the UFWA
boycotts for some time, this was the
first time the entire U.S. hierarchy had
taken such a stand.
The bishops were told that the action
was necessitated by the breakdown of a
tentative agreement between the UFWA
and the rival Teamsters Union.
Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Donnelly of
Hartford, Conn., said the Teamsters had
reneged on a promise to get out of the
fields.
The most intense public debate in the
five-day meeting came when the bishops
considered a proposal of their Liturgy
Committee in favor of seeking Vatican
permission to allow Catholics in this
country to receive Communion in the
hand.
Opponents of the proposal, led by
Cardinal John Carberry of St. Louis,
said that the proposal opened the
possibility of irreverence and disrespect,
and they said that the nation’s Catholics
should be surveyed for their opinions
before the bishops made a final
decision.
Bishop Walter Curtis of Bridgeport,
Conn., Liturgy Committee chairman,
and other supporters of the proposal
pointed out that it was optional, that no
one would be forced to receive
Communion in the hand, and that it is
permitted by the Vatican in 26 nations.
The proposal was defeated by a vote
of 121 to 113, a result that showed
Communion in the hand had lost
support since the bishops had originally
voted on it in 1969. Then, 54 percent
favored it, but the practice was not
started because a two-thirds majority
was required.
In an action marked by unanimous
agreement, the bishops backed the
passage of a constitutional amendment
that would “repair effectively the
damage perpetrated” by the U.S.
Supreme Court’s abortion ruling of last
Jan. 22.
The resolution did not give the
bishops’ support to any specific
anti-abortion amendment now before
Congress, and Cardinal John Krol of
Philadelphia, NCCB/USCC president,
said that the bishops are seeking “an
amendment with the best possible
language.”
At the same time the bishops
declared their support of the 1974
United Nations Population Year while
warning against immoral forms of birth
control and calling for consideration of
population problems “within the larger
context of man’s total relationship to
the entire human family.”
In a resolution on the Middle East
worked out with the aid of experts on
both sides of the question, the bishops
called for an Israeli withdrawal from
occupied Arab territories, guarantees for
the continued existence of Israel, and
recognition of the rights of Palestinian
Arabs.
(Continued on Page 2)
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ROADSIDE RELIGION -- A St. Christopher mosaic reminds travelers
of God’s concern for them along a mountain roadside in southern
Germany. (NC Photo by Mary Forbes)
HEADLINE
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HOPSCOTCH
Collapse of Devotion
KANSAS CITY (NC) - A steep decline in church attendance by Catholics that
started several years ago “has reached catastrophic proportions,” according to two
researchers who have been studying trends in American Catholicism. “The changes of
the past year may well constitute the most dramatic collapse of devotion in the entire
history of Christianity,” the researchers said. The researchers, Father Andrew M.
Greeley and William C. McCready, based their observations on data collected from two
national samples of Americans.
Bishop Arrested
SEOUL, Korea (NC) - Bishop Daniel Tji Hak Soun of Won Ju was among a group of
South Korean religious leaders and intellectuals arrested here after denouncing the
“dictatorship and rule by terror” of South Korean President Park Chung Hee. The
group was released not long after the arrest. The bishop was one of 15 writers, scholars
and clergymen who signed a statement calling on the nation “to rise up and struggle”
for the restoration of democracy.
Nun Climbs Cliff
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (NC) - A 58-year-old Sister spent 15 hours climbing a
steep 400-foot cliff to bring help to her injured 88-year-old mother who had plunged
with her in an auto from the highway above. Sister Anita Caspary, former superior
general of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters, and her mother, Mrs. Marie Caspary,
of Hollywood, were driving from San Luis Obispo to a retreat house north of Cambria
when their car plunged off the cliff on an isolated section of Highway 101 about 4:30
p.m. on Nov. 8.
Priest Raps Nixon
INDIANAPOLIS (NC) - Notre Dame University’s president, Father Theodore M.
Hesburgh, has charged that President Nixon has permitted the civil rights movement to
“die on the vine.” Father Hesburgh, who a year ago resigned as chairman of the U.S.
Civil Rights Commission, pointed out that President Nixon has not appointed a new
chairman. Father Hesburgh told a news conference here that Nixon’s failure to name a
new chairman shows that the White House lacks concern for civil rights.