Newspaper Page Text
U.S. BISHOPS DECLARE
PAGE 7—The Southern Cross, November 22, 1973
Many Prisons Do More Harm Than Good
BY FREDERICK A. GREEN
WASHINGTON (NC) - Many prisons
do more harm than good, according to a
wide-ranging statement on prison
reform approved here by the nation’s
bishops.
The statement, entitled “The Reform
of Correctional Institutions in the
1970s,” condemned abuses in the prison
system and recommended a long list of
reforms.
A prisoner’s time, the statement said,
can be extended beyond any reasonable
time in which rehabilitation might be
effected by “the very common practice
of indeterminate sentencing and the
frequently arbitrary decisions of
overburdened parole boards.”
Certain kinds of therapy and
experimentation were condemned by
the bishops for those prisoners unwilling
or unable to make “intelligent and free
decisions.”
The bishops added that they were not
advocating that prisoners be “coddled.”
Prisoners, the resolution stated,
“should obey reasonable regulations,
serve the just sentences imposed, respect
the staff and other residents of the
institution, and cooperate in the process
of rehabilitation.”
Because most prisoners are
incarcerated in prisons far from their
homes, the bishops added, they have
little chance to re-enter society before
they are released. The remoteness Of the
prisons also limits the chances of
recruiting a staff and guards which will
possess similar backgrounds to the
prisoners.
“Society has a right to protect itself
against lawbreakers and even to exact
just and measured retribution, but the
limits of what is reasonable and just are
far exceeded in too many penal
institutions,” the resolution said.
“Abuses cannot be justified on the basis
of their effectiveness as deterrents to
crime.”
To solve many of the abuses, the
bishops suggested several alternatives.
-Residents from urban centers should
be allowed to remain in prisons near
those centers.
-Staffs should be recruited on the
basis of ability and training without
reference to partisan politics.
-Programs in prisons should be
established which deal with the
different basic needs of men and
women, juveniles, first offenders, and
sex offenders.
--There should never be
discrimination because of race, religion
or ethnic background.
-Prisoners should be allowed freedom
of worship.
-The regulations of each institution
should be provided to each prisoner in
writing.
-Prisoners should never be allowed to
punish one another.
-All prisoners should be afforded
protection against all assault, sexual or
other wise, even if this requires a
transfer.
-Academic and vocational training
should be provided to all prisoners.
-Work assigned to prisoners should
be worthwhile and compatible with the
dignity of human beings.
-National standards should be
adopted for diets, and living conditions.
-National standards should be
adopted regarding prisoners’ right to
receive and send mail.
-Authorities should encourage
visiting by prisoners’ relatives, and
friends.
-A national code of civil rights for
prisoners should be established.
-National standards should be
adopted and promulgated regarding the
inspection of correctional institutions.
-No prisoner should be held in prison
simply because employment is not
available to him.
New Ministries Asked
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (NC) - The bishops
of the United States decided to ask
Vatican permission to create two new
lay ministries-minister of music and
catechist-for the Church in this
country.
Both men and women would be
eligible for installation into the
ministries, which would give official
Church status to persons who teach
religion or are active in liturgical music.
The bishops overwhelm ingly
approved the proposal in a voice vote at
their annual meeting here Nov. 13.
Archbishop John Quinn of Oklahoma
City, chairman of the bishops’
Committee on Pastoral Research and
Practice, had recommended creation of
the ministries.
The action was a response by the
bishops to a 1972 letter of Pope Paul
which abolished minor orders of the
priesthood and created new ministries
open to laymen. The letter, Ministeria
Quaedam (Certain Ministries)
encouraged national conferences of
bishops to suggest additional ministries.
A significant aspect of the U.S.
bishops’ request was that it made no
distinction between men and women.
When the Pope established the lay
ministries of acolyte and lector, he
specified that these ministries would be
open only to men, provoking charges of
unequal treatment from many Catholic
leaders in the United States. (The other
lay ministry in use of this country, that
of extraordinary minister of the
Eucharist, is open to both men and
women, but with an official stipulation
that men should be preferred to women
when there is a choice.)
Although there was no explicit
mention of women in the resolution
before the U.S. bishops, the floor
discussion made it clear that the request
included women-especially women
Religious-as well as men.
The request approved by the bishops
cited as possible candidates for the
ministry of catechist:
-“Properly prepared and qualified
teachers of religion.
-“Those who exercise a supervisory
capacity in religious education.
-“Directors and coordinators of
religious education.”
The catechetical ministry, the
Committee on Pastoral Research and
Practices said, should be recognized
because “there is some danger that
‘ministry’ will be too narrowly
constructed; at least one other
ministry of a non-liturgical character
should now be recognized.”
MANY
THINGS...
THE HOLY FATHER'S MISSION AID TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCH
Dear Friend:
There are 1.8 million refugees in the Holy.
Land, each one the voiceless victim of a war
now in its 26th year.
Mostly children, they are refugees torn to
shreds by war.
We mend them best by giving them hope.
Hope is a pair of shoes, an egg, a clean
blanket, a chance to receive the sacraments.
Hope is a handful of practical-action people-
priests, Sisters, and qualified volunteers—who
leave their own homes and become refugees
in the Holy Land for the refugees.
These people, just a handful, are our Pontif
ical Mission for Palestine.
They are people who feed, teach, heal, clothe,
mend, fulfilling the love-mission of Jesus Christ,
in Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cairo, Damascus, and
war points in between.
Their mission is love, and peace with justice.
Their strategy is service—the works of mercy,
person-to-person, in the name of Jesus Christ.
There is hope in the heart of the blind child
in the Gaza Strip because he is learning a trade
In the Pontifical Mission Center for the Blind.
You give them hope because you care.
We ask your prayers, for peace and for the
safety of us all.
We beg you to help us keep hope alive. Please
use the coupon below. I’ll be writing to thank
you for your gift.
Gratefully yours in Christ,
Monsignor Nolan
AN
OPEN
LETTER
TO
ALL
OUR
READERS
P.S. The innocent civilian victims of war in the
Middle East need aid. Please give so they may
hope again. Only $120 will feed a family for a
year. Anything will help!
© AX
Dear enclosed please find $
Monsignor Nolan:
FOR : —
NAME ——
t
STREET
CITY STATE ZIP CODE . .
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
Please
return coupon
with your
offering
THE CATHOLIC
Of the minister of music the
committee said: “This is a liturgical
ministry, like that of readers and
acolytes. It can be conceived broadly to
include a number of functions in
worship which are sufficiently distinct
to deserve formal recognition.”
Among the ministries that the
committee said deserved recognition
were:
-“The ‘psalmist,’ namely, the cantor
who leads the psalm between the first
two readings, as distinct from the reader
or lector.
-“The cantor who leads the liturgical
assembly in processional psalms and
responsorial song of other kinds.
-“The leaders of song and hymns by
the congregation.
-“The choir leader or director of
music.
-“The organist.”
-A prisoner should be informed of
the date beyond which further
detention demands another intervention
of the court.
-Parole should be automatic after a
certain date unless the prison can show
a reason to deny it.
-Congress should investigate the
feasibility of extending the Social
Security coverage to prisoners.
-Upon release, prisoners should have
their full rights in society restored.
-The use and dissemination of arrest
records should be strictly controlled.
CONFERRING AND CONSIDERING - Archbishop
Joseph L. Bemardin of Cincinnati gets a message from
Father Michael J. Sheehan, assistant general secretary
of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and US
Catholic Conference during a session of the annual
meeting of the hierarchy in Washington, D.C. At right,
Bishop J. Carroll McCormick of Scranton, Pa., leafs
through a brochure explaining the Campaign for
Human Development, an agenda item during the
bishops’ meeting. (NC Staff Photos)
Bishops Back UN on Mideast
BY FREDERICK A. GREEN
WASHINGTON (NC)r - The bishops
of the United States called for an Israeli
withdrawal from occupied Arab
territories, guarantees for the continued
existence of Israel, and recognition of
the rights of Palestinian refugees.
The requests came in a resolution
passed by the bishops Nov. 13 at their
annual meeting here.
The resolution did not specifically
mention withdrawal, but it did give its
support to U.N. Security Council
Resolution 242, which calls for Israeli
withdrawal.
character of the city as a religiously
pluralist community, with equal
protection of the religious and civil
rights of all citizens must be guaranteed
in the name of justice. ”
Finally, the bishops called for
“recognition of the rights of the
Palestinian Arabs, especially the
refugees: this involves, in our view,
inclusion of them as partners in any
negotiations, acceptance of their right
to a state and compensation for past
losses to be paid not only by Israel but
also by other members of the
international community responsible for
the 1948 partition plan” which created
the state of Israel.
The resolution was left ambiguous in
places, Father Hehir said, because the
“Church is not competent.. .to address
itself to all the details.”
The Church took a lesson from
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,
Father Hehir said, and decided to take
“the broad view” and leave the details
to the “technicians.”
The resolution included contributions
of Archbishop Joseph Ryan of
Anchorage, Alaska, and Father Edward
Flannery of the bishops’ Secretariat for
Catholic-Jewish Relations - the two
men represent opposing views on the
Arab-Israeli question.
St. William’s Bazaar
The UN resolution was passed
unanimously in November, 1967. It was
interpreted by the Arab side to call for
withdrawal from all occupied territories,
however, Israel pointed out that the
resolution did not use the word “all.”
In explaining the bishops’ statement,
Father J. Bryan Hehir, director of the
bishops’ justice and peace division said:
“We called for using 242 as a ‘basis
for negotiations.’ We used that language
because we know it is a controverted
issued yet we believe that in its broad
outlines the resolution provides the best
basis for negotiations. ”
In a news conference after the general
meeting, Father Bryan Hehir, who was
instrumental in preparing the resolution,
said that it could be interpreted to read
that the bishops have called for
withdrawal by the Israelis.
However, the bishops also called for
“the rights of Israel to exist as a
sovereign state with secure boundaries.”
While seeking “to highlight factors
which we believe point the way toward
reconciliation, peace and justice in the
Middle East,” the bishops also called on
the United States and the Soviet Union
to continue their restraint and
“responsible diplomatic involvement.”
The bishops also called for
“continuing reliance on the United
Nations diplomatically and through its
peacekeeping machinery.”
While the bishops did not call for
internationalization of the city of
Jerusalem, they did ask for “a form of
international guarantee” to insure access
to the city.
“Moreover,” the resolution said, “the
BY MRS. W.M. GOODWILLIE
Known perenially as “FUN IN THE
GOLDEN ISLES” the Christmas Bazaar
at St. Williams Catholic Church on
Frederica Road, St. Simons, scheduled
for Saturday, December 1st, from 10:00
am. to 9:00 p.m. will be just that.
Featured again this year will be that
delightful homemade goodies table that
is usually a sell-out by mid-afternoon.
There will be a handicraft table with
a selection of gifts to fit every need; a
table of Christmas decorations; The
Kiddie Komer; The Garden Shoppe;
Ceramics from the Medical Arts Center,
Brunswick, The White Elephant Table,
A Table of Surprise Packages, and many
other attractions.
Luncheon featuring Brunswick Stew,
Homemade Chili and sandwiches will be
served from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The C.Y.O. will “man” the Game
Room for the Kiddies again this year,
and have yet other plans to help at the
Bazaar.
A dinner to the Gourmet’s taste will
be served from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
with Fr. Costello and “Doc” Jones at
the helm.
St. Williams PCCW President, Mrs.
Herman Yursich, the Bazaar Chairman,
Mrs. Raymond Foster, and the ladies of
the Parish would like to invite everyone
to come and shop on Saturday,
December 1st, at the Bazaar. In so
doing, one can socialize over lunch or
dinner, and have that gift list completed
for the festive season well ahead of
schedule.
Shown hard at work on items for the Handicrafts table at St. Williams’
Bazaar are several members of St. Williams PCCW.