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Vol. 57 No. 4
Thursday, January 22,1976
Single Copy Price —15 Cents
Sexual Ethics Statement
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican
has issued a declaration reaffirming
traditional teachings on sex and
specifically rejecting “certain errors”
concerning the sinfulness of premarital
sex, homosexual acts and masturbation.
Made public in the United States by
the U.S. Catholic Conference-National
Conference of Catholic Bishops
(USCC-NCCB), the Declaration on
Certain Questions Concerning Sexual
Ethics calls chastity the key element
which allows human beings to love one
another.
In a statement marking the
document’s release by the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Archbishop Joseph L. Bemardin of
Cincinnati, head of the USCC-NCCB,
called it “a welcome reaffirmation of
traditional Catholic teaching on sexual
morality.”
Archbishop Bemardin said “Chastity
is not a negation of sexuality; it is a way
of placing the God-given gift of sex in
the context of a full, mature human life,
rooted in respect for oneself, others,
and the law of God.”
Text On Page 2
The “Declaration of Certain
Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics”
was published with the approval of Pope
Paul VI and signed by Franjo Cardinal
Seper, prefect of the doctrinal
congregation, and Archbishop Jerome
Hamer, its secretary.
It rejects the idea that “so-called
norms of the natural law or precepts of
Sacred Scripture are to be regarded only
as given expressions of a form of
particular culture at a certain moment
of history.”
Rather, revelation and philosophy
both point to “the existence of
immutable laws inscribed in the
constitutive elements of human
nature ... identical in all beings
endowed with reason.”
Turning specifically to sexual ethics,
the document repeats the teaching of
the Second Vatican Council that the
morality of conjugal acts “does not
depend solely on sincere intentions or
on an evaluation of motives. It must be
determined by objective standards.
These, based on the nature of the
human person and his acts, preserve the
full sense of mutual self-giving and
human procreation in the context of
true love.”
“These final words,” the declaration
continues, “briefly sum up the Council’s
teaching... on the finality of the
sexual act and on the principal criterion
of its morality: it is respect for its
finality that ensures the moral goodness
of this act.” The document calls this
principle “the basis of (the Church’s)
traditional doctrine .'.. that the use of
the sexual function has its true meaning
and moral rectitude only in true
marriage.”
It endorses the norms “clearly
taught” in the encyclicals Casti
Connubii and Humanae Vitae. The first
was issued by Pope Pius XI in 1930, the
second by Pope Paul ih 1968.
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Noting that “today there are many
who vindicate the right to sexual union
before marriage,” the declaration
comments: “This opinion is contrary to
Christian doctrine, which states that
PAPAL MEDALIST
every genital act must be within the
framework of marriage.”
While urging a sensitive pastoral
approach to homosexuals, the
document concludes that “no pastoral
method can be employed which would
(Continued on page 8)
MUCH BETTER, THANKS - Jennifer Marfleet of
Carlisle, England, holds a small boy she has recently
nursed back to health. A few months ago, the child
was emaciated. The scene was photographed at the
Mirpur camp for displaced people in Bangladesh.
Conditions in the Asian land are reportedly improving,
with last year’s harvest the best since Bangladesh
became independent of Pakistan, but the threat of
natural disaster still hovers over the country. (NC
Photo)
Miss Anna Rice Dies
The Mass of Christian Burial was
offered for Miss Anna M. Rice, of
Augusta, on Tuesday , January 20.
Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Bourke was the
celebrant of the Mass which was offered
at St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Church. Miss
Rice, the holder of the Papal Medal
“Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice,” died on
Sunday, January 18th.
The daughter of Patrick H. Rice, Sr.
and Elizabeth Carson Rice, Miss Rice
received her education at Sacred Heart
School and St. Mary’s Academy. In her
youth she taught Sunday School at
Sacred Heart. For upwards of forty
Interchurch Association Visits Rcidsvillc
BY BILL HOLT
REIDSVILLE STATE PRISON, Ga.
- It was a grey foggy day that sort of
matched the' inner cheerlessness of
Reidsville State Prison that was the
occasion of a visit of the Executive
Board and a Criminal Justice and Penal
Reform Task Force of the Georgia
Interchurch Association to Georgia’s
oldest and largest prison in South
Georgia on January 13,1976.
The group was headed by Rev.
Jackson P. Braddy, Coordinator of the
G.I.A. and the Most Reverend Raymond
W. Lessard, Roman Catholic bishop of
Savannah and president of the G.I.A.,
and included Rev. Walter H.
Coddington, pastor of Christ United
Presbyterian Church of Chamblee and a
member of the G.I.A. board; Dr. Robert
Threatt, president of Morris Brown
College of Atlanta, and member of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church;
Rev. E. Lyle Harvey, regional minister
of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ); Dr. W.H. Lefstead of the
Lutheran Church of America; Dr.
William J. Andes of the United Church
of Christ, and others.
The purposes of the visit of the
Georgia Interchurch Association to
Reidsville were to view conditions in
Georgia’s maximum security prison, to
have dialogue with Dr. Allen L. Ault,
Commissioner of the Georgia
Department of Corrections/Offender
Rehabilitation, and to consult with him
and other prison officials as to how the
churches of Georgia can better relate to
the state penal system and the
rehabilitation of offenders.
In Dr. Ault’s address to the group of
24 church representatives he reminded
the group that 3,000 of the 11,500
prisoners in the state penal system are at
Reidsville. At the present rate of growth
of the prison population in Georgia, he
forecasted the need for facilities for
15,000 inmates in the total system by
1980.
He shared the fact that Georgia has
the highest rate of prison occupancy of
any state in the nation. One-third of the
prisoners are mentally retarded and read
on a fifth grade level. While one-third of
the inmates at Reidsville are imprisoned
because of violent crimes, he reminded
the ministers that this means that
two-thirds of the inmates are
incarcerated because of non-violent
crimes. Sixty-five percent of the prison
population is black and one-third came
from Atlanta. Sixty-five percent lacked
a father image at home.
“The concept that these prisoners are
sick is a phony one,” Dr. Ault related.
“They have, for the most part, adapted
to the environment of which they were
a part.”
Dr. Ault described the overcrowding
of the prison system and this was
verified by the denominational
representatives as they toured the
facilities following lunch.
Dr. Ault deplored the fact that the
return rate of prisoners in Georgia is 53
percent and called on the churches to
assist government in the rehabilitation
and acceptance of ex-offenders as they
are released from prison.
He asked that the churches of
Georgia aid the Department of
Corrections by supporting needed
legislation in regard to earned releases of
prisoners, increased appropriations for
the penal system, and uniform
sentencing throughout the state. He also
asked for church support for effective
public education in Georgia.
The denominational representatives
recognized a need for direct church
involvement in local corrections
programs including assistance and
guidance to families of prisoners.
Dr. Ault asked the support of the
Georgia Interchurch Association in
making the correctional system of
Georgia a priority item both in church
ministry and in political action. He also
asked G.I.A. support for a unified
criminal justice system throughout
Georgia.
According to Dr. Ault, the present
Department of Corrections has
instituted a program whereby inmates
take the responsibility of their own
actions with early release based on their
own initiative and progress.
The 24 delegates were impressed by
the willingness of the prison officials to
discuss all areas of the state correctional
program and their desire to have more
church groups take an active interest in
the improvement of the state penal
system and the persons it seeks to
rehabilitate.
Chaplain William Goins, (who
participated in the Seminar), of the
Department of Corrections, 800
Peachtree St., Room 321, Atlanta, Ga.,
30308, is eager to organize similar
one-day seminars at Reidsville for
denominational groups.
The seminar at Reidsville was on the
subject. “Criminal Justice and Penal
Reform” and included the executive
body of the Georgia Interchurch
Association and two delegates named by
each of the member denominations.
years, she supervised the collection of
funds, in the Augusta area, for St.
Mary’s Home, Savannah.
She was the first secretary of the
Council of Catholic Women in Augusta,
the first president of the Augusta
Deanery and third (second elected)
president of the Savannah Diocesan
Council of Catholic Women.
For her works in behalf of the church.
Pope Paul VI presented her the Papal
Medal “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” in
1964.
Survivors include a sister, Mrs. Mary
Clare Rice Mulherin of Augusta.
THE EVIDENCE MOUNTS -
Public opinion in favor of an
anti-abortion amendment to the
U.S. Constitution remains strong
in the Archdiocese of St. Louis as
evidenced by these stacks of
petitions urging a human life
amendment gathered in a one day
campaign last October. A total of
167,291 signatures were obtained
in the drive, a part of the
archdiocesan “Respect Life
Week.” Members of the DuBourg
High School Pro-Life Club are
shown here sorting the petitions
for shipment to Washington,
where they were delivered on Jan.
22, the third anniversary of the
Supreme Court decisions striking
down most state anti-abortion
laws. (NC Photo)
MEMBERS of the Georgia Interchurch Association, Inc., pause for
photograph before entering the gates at Reidsville State Prison, Ga., for a
day-long examination of the facilities, (left to right): Sr. Mary Julian
Griffin, V.C.S., Savannah; Fr. John A. Kenneally, Chancellor, Savannah
Diocese; Dr. Allen L. Ault, commissioner of the Dept, of
Corrections/Offender Rehabilitation; The Most Reverend Raymond W.
Lessard, president of the Georgia Jnterchurch Association; and Cheatham
E. Hodges, Jr., executive secretary of the Georgia Catholic Conference,
Augusta.
At the conclusion of the Seminar,
members of the Georgia Interchurch
Association met in executive session and
asked that the information gained at the
Seminar be distributed to the various
judicatories for possible action and
support and also to a continuing task
force.
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