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PAGE 2—The Southern Cross, July 20,1978
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Editors Vary On Family Conference: Kill It; Convert It
BY NC NEWS SERVICE
Catholic editors varied in their views on the
proposed White House Conference on Families.
One said a two-year delay may help the
conference; another said it may be best to kill
it, and another wants to change it to just a
Catholic event.
President Jimmy Carter promised to hold
such a conference during a campaign
appearance before the National Conference of
Catholic Charities in October 1976. The
conference was scheduled for December 1979,
but was postponed until an unspecified date in
1981 after it was battered by resignations and
controversies.
Wilbur Cohen, a former secretary of health,
education and welfare, resigned as chairman of
the conference for health reasons.
Patricia Fleming, who was executive
director-designate of the conference, resigned
after being told she would have to accept a
co-director.
Some women’s and black groups and the
American Civil Liberties Uiiion claimed HEW
Secretary Joseph Califano, acting under
pressure from the Catholic Church, had told
Ms. Fleming, a black divorcee with three
teenage children, that she must share her job
with a white Catholic male from an intact
family. Califano denied the charges.
Califano also denied he was influenced by a
column by Father Andrew Greeley, who said
Califano was “incredibly inept” for naming a
divorced person to direct the conference.
A coalition of Catholic organizations ready
to participate in the conference have urged
Califano to work to make it a success.
Our Sunday Visitor, a national paper
published in Huntington, Ind., said, “Perhaps
the best thing for Catholic organizations to do
is to go ahead, have their own conference,
study the issues, seek solutions.
“That way (their) preparations would not
be wasted and when the White House does get
around to sponsoring its conference, the
Catholic viewpoint would be already
well-formed and ready to make important input
into the national conference.”
Gerald M. Costello, managing editor of The
Beacon, Paterson, N. J., diocesan paper, said
that “if anyone was inept in this instance, the
feeling here is that it was Greeley for suggesting
that a divorce in and of itself disqualifies
anyone from a role in enunciating family
values.”
“I don’t know how good or how bad a
choice Ms. Fleming might have been in the first
place to head the conference,” Costello said,
“but her sex, marital status or race should not
have been the reasons for which she obtained or
lost her job.
“Charges that the church exercises undue
pressure, whether valid or not, have gained
some credence, and a postponement might be
best for all concerned at this point. It is still not
too late for such a conference to point to the
kind of family values which need constant
emphasis.”
Charles Mahon, editor-in-chief of The
Catholic Virginian, Richmond diocesan paper,
said the conference “could make a major
contribution to one of the country’s greatest
needs, the formulation of a coherent public
policy that recognizes and supports American
families.
“If the administration uses the additional
time resulting from the postponement to
fashion some positive goals for the conference,
something good may yet come of this campaign
promise,” Mahon said.
“But,” he said, “if the performance of
recent weeks is any indication of where
planners are taking the conference, then the
two-year delay ought to be made permanent.”.
Father Daniel Taufen, editor of the St.
Cloud Visitor, the St. Cloud, Minn., diocesan
paper, said, “Frankly, we think the best thing
that could happen would be for the whole
business to be squelched.
“True, there would be a few areas where a
conference of this sort could offer support to
this nation’s hardpressed families. But beyond
those few there is every indication that the
program would be carried out with more heat
than light.”
He said there would be “a wholesale effort
to manipulate the direction of the conference”
just as there was with the International
Women’s Year Conference at Houston in
November 1977.
“The homosexuals would be demanding a
forum to appeal for recognition of homosexual
marriage, the unmarried-and-living-together
would insist on their prerogatives to enjoy all
the governmental benefits now given to
‘traditional families’ and so on,” Father Taufen
said.
“The result would be a giant mish-mash
with the loser probably being the family itself.
Governmental sponsored conferences, even
with the best of intentions, are not the place to
resolve the issues afflicting families today.”
Indians 9 Longest Walk Centered On 11 Congressional Bills
GOD’S COUNTRY -- Visitors to Fort Heritage
campground? located 15 miles south of Charlotte, N.
C., take a tour of the 400-acre development. Fort
1
Heritage is the latest multi-million-dollar project of the
Charlotte-based PTL evangelical television network.
(NC Photo)
6 No-Frills Welfare’Offers No Help
WASHINGTON (NC) - An official
of the National Conference of Catholic
Charities has said his organization is
“greatly disappointed” that a new,
“no-frills” welfare proposal offers no
improvements for welfare recipients or
help for people not covered by existing
programs.
The official, Mathew Ahmann, the
NCCC’s associate director for
governmental relations, was referring to
a proposal made by Senators Daniel
Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), chairman of
the Senate subcommittee on public
assistance; Russell Long (D-La.),
chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, and Alan Cranston, the
Senate Democratic whip.
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Their proposal involves financial
incentives to states and localities,
including a federal takeover of some
local welfare costs; tax credits to
employers who hire welfare recipients,
and an increase in the earned income
tax credit which benefits low-income
workers.
Moynihan, Long and Cranston
estimate their bill would cost $5 billion
a year. A Carter administration bill
would have cost about $20 billion a
year and a House subcommittee version
would have cost about $14 billion a
year.
Ahmann criticized Congress and the
administration for failing to act on a
comprehensive welfare program. He said
a bill developed by a special House
subcommittee chaired by Rep. James
Corman (D-Calif.) was “magnificent.”
Ahmann praised the proposed
increase in the earned income tax credit,
but questioned the effectiveness of tax
credits in getting people off welfare and
into jobs. He said existing credits have
not been effective.
He also asked whether “fiscal relief
now would relieve some of the urgency
for overall reform” on the part of local
governments which have been active in
promoting welfare reform.
The fiscal relief part of the
Moynihan-Long-Cranston proposal
would send $2.5 billion to states and
localities. It would make the federal
government pay half of the remaining
welfare costs now borne by the states.
The federal government already pays
between 50 and 83 percent of costs for
the Aid to Families with Dependent
Children program.
The proposal would require states
to use the new money first to aid cities,
such as New York City, which pay part
of their own welfare costs. Under the
proposal, the states of New York and
California would get $900 million of the
$2.5 billion.
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BY NANCY FRAZIER
WASHINGTON (NC) - A bill called
“The Native American Equal
Opportunity Act of 1977” sounds like
one that would draw unanimous praise
from American Indians. But instead it
sent them to the streets on a nearly
3,000-mile, non-violent trek called The
Longest Walk.
Termed the most repressive of 11
pieces of “anti-Indian” legislation now
before Congress, the Equal Opportunity
Act — H.R. 9054, introduced by Rep.
Jack Cunningham (R-Wash.) — would
repeal all existing Indian treaties, close
all Indian hospitals, schools and housing
projects, do away with Indian fishing
and hunting rights and shut down the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The bill is given little chance of
passage, but it represents an effort
against American Indians that many
think non-Indians should know more
about. To fill the educational gap,
hundreds of Indians took off from
Alcatraz Island last February on The
Longest Walk.
More than 1,000 marchers were with
the group when it arrived in
Washington July 15. Activities in
Washington include four days of
continuous spiritual ceremonies, a
conference by the Federation of
Native-Controlled Survival Schools,
workshops by the International Indian
Treaty Council and cultural
presentations.
But the main thrust, and the whole
point of the five-month walk, is
education about the 11 bills and
resolutions before Congress. Taken
jointly, they will violate or terminate
more than 350 Indian-U.S. treaties, the
Indians say. Some apply only to Indians
in specific states, while others have
nationwide impact.
The Omnibus Indian Jurisdiction
Act of 1977 (H.R. 9950) would remove
tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians and
limit the power of tribal jurisdiction
over members of the tribe. The
Quantification of Federal Reserved
Water Rights for Indian. Reservations
Act (H.R. 9951) would alter U.S. Indian
water rights. Both bills were introduced
by Rep. Lloyd Meeds (D-Wash.).
Other measures are aimed at
destroying the Indians’ means of
livelihood, the Longest Walk organizers
maintain. The Steelhead Trout
Protection Act (H.R. 9736), introduced
by Cunningham, would prohibit Indians
from catching steelhead trout and
selling them commercially, while H.J.R.
206, introduced by Rep. John D;
Dingell (D-Mich.). would prevent
Indians from fishing and hunting off
reservations, except when the state sets
the time.
More specific bills apply only to
tribes in certain states or sections of the
country. They include Cunningham’s
H.R. 9175, Washington State Fishing
and Hunting Equal Rights Act of 1977;
H.R. 4169 and S.B. 842, the State of
Maine Aboriginal Claims Act of 1977,
introduced by four Maine congressmen;
H.R. 9906, the State of New York
Aborginal Claims Act of 1977,
sponsored by Rep. William F. Walsh
(R-N.Y.); and H.J.R. 1 introduced by
six members of the House and relating
to Northwest Indian off-reservation
treaty fishing rights.
The final offending bill is S.B.
1437, the Criminal Code Reform Act of
1977, sponsored by Sen. Edward
Kennedy (D-Mass.), which according to
the Indians “is a threat to the freedom
of everyone.” On specifically Indian
issues, it will diminish Indian
self-government by increasing state and
federal jurisdiction on reservations and
will abolish all previous treaties between
Indian nations and the federal
government.
On their walk, the Indians have
received assistance and support from
various religious groups — both local
churches, including Catholic parishes,
and some national bodies. The Bureau
of Catholic Indian Missions issued a
statement some three weeks before the
walk reached Washington supporting
“the just rights of native American
tribes” but the statement contained no
specific mention of The Longest Walk.
Sponsors of the various pieces of
legislation say their bills would rectify
inequities that favor Indians.
Cunningham was recently quoted as
saying, “My bill (the Equal Opportunity
Act) would restore the independence
and dignity of the native American by
freeing him from the socially destructive
paternalism of the federal government.”
But The Longest Walk organizers
contend that an organization called the
Interstate Congress for Equal Rights and
Responsibilities is behind the moves,
backed up by major fishing, ranching
and energy companies which don’t want
to have to pay Indians for the use of
natural resources held by the Indians.
Not all congressional legislation
relating to Indians has been criticized by
The Longest Walk organizers, however,
S.J.R. 102, a joint resolution on
American Indian religious freedom
passed unanimously by the Senate, has
gotten high praise, and led the Indians
to invite all members of the Senate to
join them for spiritual ceremonies at the
Washington Monument grounds.
The resolution calls on the U.S.
government to “protect and preserve for
native Americans their inherent right of
freedom to believe, express and exercise
the traditional religions of the American
Indian, Eskimo, Aleut and native
Hawaiian, including but not limited to
access to rites, use and possession of
sacred objects, and the freedom to
worship through ceremonial and
traditional rites.”
But that’s just one affirmation in
the face of many threats, according to
those participating in The Longest Walk.
“On Indian land throughout the
continent, native people’s resources are
exploited by huge economic interests
that find it necessary to restrict treaty
rights through legislative means,” says
material distributed by the Indian
walkers. “The Longest Walk arrival in
Washington, D. C., marked another
effort by native Americans to make
their concerns known to the American
public and the world community.”
Spiritual Labor Time
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Vacation
time should be a period of physical rest
and “spiritual labor,” said Pope Paul VI
July 12.
Addressing his general audience,
Pope Paul said: “How little are we our
own masters, and how much are we
occupied by our ordinary routine.
“We are obliged to live outside of
ourselves, dominated by the pressure of
duties which we have assumed and
which force us ^o live in a way which is
not personal, not fully cognizant, not
free and sometimes not good,” said the
pontiff.
He said that vacations “ought to
serve as a time of spiritual labor as well
as physical rest.”
“To the degree that vacations grant
us a period of absence, amusement and
flight from ourselves, so too should they
offer us moments of interior and
personal reflection, lively examination
of conscience, a chance to listen to the
voice of silence and to the unwinding of
our lives.”
The pope, who was expected to
leave at the end of the week for his
summer villa near Rome, said that
vacations should be used especially by
the young as a time to study personal
lifestyle.
“This act of concentration,” said
the pontiff, “easily leads to inner prayer
and to hearing a voice, not entirely
unknown to Christians but almost
always repressed and blotted out: not a
voice which orders but a voice which
calls, ‘Come, follow me.’ ”
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