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The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No. 9
Thursday, February 27,1975
Single Copy Price — 15 Cents
EDELIN MANSLAUGHTER VERDICT
Efforts to Discredit Jurors Denounced
AT REGIONAL SEMINAR of Propagation of Faith
from left are: Bishop Edward O’Meara, National
Director, Msgr. Felix Donnelly, Director for Diocese of
Savannah, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan,
BISHOP O’MEARA PRESENT
Archbishop of Atlanta, and Father Joseph Otterbein,
Associate Director, Diocese of Savannah. (Georgia
Bulletin Photo)
Propagation of Faith Seminar
Monsignor Felix Donnelly, Diocesan
Director of the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith for the
Savannah Diocese, and Father Joseph
Otterbein, Associate Director, attended
a two day regional seminar for the
Society’s mission Directors in Atlanta.
Touching on the Holy Year’s dual
theme of “renewal and reconciliation,”
Monsignor Donnelly told the Southern
Cross that “the Catholics of the diocese
have always proved to be concerned and
generous in their devotion to the
Church’s missions and in the personal
sacrifice which participates in true
reconciliation for the many tragic needs
of the world’s poor.”
Highlighting the meeting was the
keynote address by the Most Reverend
Edward T. O’Meara, National Director
CHD Collection Up
WASHINGTON (NC) - Despite hard
times, the U.S. Catholic bishops’
Campaign for Human Development
(CHD), designed to help the poor help
themselves, may have collected more
money last year than in the previous
two, the CHD executive director said
here.
“Apparently hard times do not make
hard hearts,” the official, Father
Lawrence McNamara, said in
commenting on preliminary returns on
the 1974 CHD collection conducted in
Catholic parishes throughout the United
States.
Of the first 46 dioceses that have so
far sent in their returns to the national
office, 41 had totals exceeding the
previous year’s collection, Father
McNamara said. And in four of the five
dioceses which reported decreases, the
decrease was less than $1,000. The
combined increase from the 41 dioceses
was in excess of $133,000.
Father McNamara said: “If this trend
continues, and I think it will, I believe it
will be a great sign to poor and
non-poor alike that people are really
willing to share with one another, even
when there is less to begin with.”
The largest single increase thus far has
come from the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles, which went up $22,444 over
its 1973 collection to a 1974
contribution of $163,240.
INSIDE STORY
Black Catholic Concerns
Pg. 2
Soviet Churchmen ...
Pg. 3
'Life in Music’
Pg. 6
Readers Reply
Pg. 7
J
of The Society for the Propagation of
the Faith.
“In our responsibility as Propagation
of the Faith Directors,” Bishop O’Meara
stated, “May WE be RENEWED with
the exuberance and the energy with
which the Holy Spirit compels us to
proclaim with joy the Good News of
Jesus Christ to all people, especially the
poor, the oppressed, the unwanted, and
in short, the ‘least of our brothers and
sisters’ in the family of man.”
“Through our efforts,” the Bishop
continued, “may our people -- the
Church of our respective dioceses -
realize that through their offerings -
their personal, often difficult sacrifices
-- they are helping to alleviate and
reconcile the injustice and oppressive
inhuman conditions of poverty which
millions of God’s poor endure daily. But
even more,” Bishop O’Meara stressed,
“they are sharing in the life and growth
of the Holy Spirit, present and active in
the world in a way no government or
mere humanitarian programs can offer.”
The unique role of The Society for
the Propagation of the Faith was
reviewed in light of today’s world
conditions and the economic and moral
crises Americans are faced with today.
“The genius of the Propagation of the
Faith Society,” Msgr. Donnelly
reported, “is that it does away with
selectivity in giving ... it embraces all
the missionary works of the Church and
tries to do its best to universalize fairly
the charity of the givers.”
Father Vincent Nugent, Missiologist
of the National Office, directed a report
on his activities as one of the United
States advisors to the recent Synod of
Bishops in Rome.
Mission Sunday, celebrated
world-wide in October each year; the
Society’s Membership and Deferred
Giving Programs and a more
EFFECTIVE use of the media were
highlighted in small group workshops.
BOSTON (NC) - The Massachusetts
Citizens for Life has denounced “efforts
to discredit the judicial system and
defame jurors” in the controversial trial
here of a Boston physician convicted of
manslaughter in the death of a legally
aborted fetus.
Roy Scarpato, president of the
Massachusetts Citizens for Life (MCL)
said the organization had
“scrupulously” withheld comment on
Dr. Kenneth C. Edelin’s trial for
manslaughter during the legal
procedure.
Dr. Edelin, who was the first black
chief resident at Boston City Hospital
and now a staff physician, performed a
hysterotomy on a black 17-year-old
mother on Oct. 3, 1973. The fetus was
said to be between 20 and 24 weeks old
(five or six months).
Scarpato noted that the “restraint”
of the pro-life movement was “in stark
contrast to the blatant attempts” of Dr.
Edelin’s supporters “to manipulate”
public opinion.
The statement was made public
against the background of these
developments:
-Allegations by an alternate juror
that the members of the panel voiced
racial slurs, a claim that was denied by
the jury foreman and the defense
attorney, who said there was “no hard
evidence” to support it.
--Demonstrations
organizations at the
Boston Common.
by feminist
courthouse and
-A women’s liberationist’s call for
the indictment of Assistant District
Attorney Newman A. Flanagan for
“women slaughter.”
--A charge by Dr. Edelin’s wife, from
whom he has been separated for a year,
that the Catholic community here uses a
double standard in dealing with their
black neighbors on the abortion and
school busing issues.
--Reports that some hospitls here and
elsewhere in parts of the nation would
continue current abortion policies while
others indicated the “life-saving”
devices would be supplied “if and
when” hysterotomies are performed.
-A warning that the addition of
“life-saving” equipment for second
trimester abortions would increase
patient costs from $100 to $200 at Beth
Israel Hospital, where current costs are
from $400 to $1,000.
-Indications that many of the jurors
were pleased that Judge James P.
McGuire gave the defendant a light
sentence of one-year probation.
-Counsel for the defense appealed to
Judge James P. McGuire to reverse the
verdict or direct a new trial.
--The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People’s
regional official called for a reversal of
the Edelin verdict, saying the jurors’
decision was based on “racial bias or
religious bias -- or both.”
-The Pilot, newsweekly of the
Boston archdiocese, broke its editorial
silence on the trial to defend the jurors
who “saw a person where the defense
argued for a fetus,” and were accused of
racial bias by the defendant and
pro-abortion spokesmen.
-An association of Boston City
Hospital house officers demanded a
recall of the verdict and the return to
abortion services at the municipal
hospital, which have been severely
curtailed in the wake of a grand jury
investigation.
Prof. Ramona Hoage Edelin, director
of the African studies department at
Northeastern University was interviewed
here by the Boston Globe.
Ms. Edelin said she viewed the
controversy not as a case of abortion or
manslaughter, but one whose major
issue was racism and a judgment from
the perspective of the Catholic Church.
“I cannot accept the Catholic Church
or the ‘right to life’ mentality as a
regulating body. Their morality is not
necessarily law nor should judgments be
made as if it were,” she said, pointing to
the report that the majority of the jury
were Catholic and to the Catholic
Church’s anti-abortion stand.
“What realistically do they care about
a black fetus?” she said. “Yes, everyone
has a right to life, but we (blacks) have a
right to starve and the right to be spit
upon, all in the name of an insane
morality.”
“These same people,” she said, “are
spitting and throwing rocks at black
children going to school on a bus. What
they perceive now as a right to life
would in six years be a right to be called
names.”
She said the jury completely
disregarded the charge given it by
Suffolk Superior Court Judge James P.
McGuire, a charge she described as “the
clearest and fairest charge anyone could
hope for . ..”
A statement issued by the MCL
declared:
“It is important to note that
objections to the race or religion of the
jurors were not made during the
selection process. Such complaints,
while understandable on the part of a
convicted person, cannot be taken very
seriously when made only after the
issuance of an unfavorable verdict.
“It should also be noted that the
manslaughter victim was a baby boy of
the same race as the defendant. Any
discussion of ‘martyrs’ in this case
should in fairness include the one
person whose life was taken as a direct
result of the procedure in question.
“We are not in position to know
whether Dr. Edelin understood that his
actions constituted manslaughter. We
join with those who wish the actions
leading to conviction had never
happened. But they did. And such
tragedies will occur again as long as the
incredible U.S. Supreme Court decision
of January 22, 1973, is allowed to
stand.”
The MCL statement urged all citizens
to work for speedy passage of an
amendment to the U.S. Constitution
that “would remedy the evils flowing
from that Supreme Court decision.”
WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION in Savannah.
Participants bow their heads in prayer following flag raising ceremonies
held during Mass in Washington Square. In center of the front row are (1.
to r.) Dr. Prince Jackson, President of Savannah State College, who was
the speaker; Mr. and Mrs. John Sognier who raised the flag in memory of
their son, Lt. John Sognier, killed in Vietnam. Music was provided by a
contingent of the U.S. Marine Band from Parris Island and a choir of
school children from Cathedral Day School. 4th Degree Knights of
Columbus also participated.
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
a
Says Irish Peace Possible
CINCINNATI (NC) - Peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland may be possible
after all, according to a Jesuit observer who less than a year ago found the situation
there virtually hopeless. Father David Bowman, staff member of the National Council
of Churches, said here that the courageous action of Irish church leaders brought
about the cease-fire which in mid-February was extended indefinitely.
TV Obscenity Ban Sought
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has said it
will ask Congress for legislation banning the showing of explicit sexual activity and
obscenity on television. The FCC said new legislation was needed because it was not
certain whether the existing language of the law - which prohibits “obscene, indecent
or profane language” -- applied to visual obscenity. But the commission left the
broader question of what degree of sex and violence was “appropriate” for children to
see on television to self-regulation by the broadcast industry.
Medical Association Critized
OTTAWA, Canada (MC) - The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has come
under fire for a “head in the sand” and if-it-moves-shoot-it approach to fetal life. In a
report analyzing the Canadian Medical Association’s position paper on fetal life, the
Catholic Hospital Association of Canada (CHAC) likened the doctor who ignores the
nature of the fetus, yet destroys it, to the hunter “who shoots at every moving object,
not caring to ascertain beforehand whether it is human or not.”