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Cathedral Rector Interviewed
"Repairs Cause Changes In Day To Day Routine"
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to find out when the building will be open again. “If I had a dollar for every time I was
asked when is the cathedral going to open, we would have the work paid for,” he
joked.
“It’s still a matter of some months,” is his usual reply when this question comes up.
An unanticipated problem with the steeples may not slow down the work too
much, but will add to the cost, he said. The steel superstructure has corroded, due to
many years of exposure to pigeon droppings combined with the salty humidity of the
air.
The work continues to progress well, he said, though most of it is unseen by the
passer-by. “All the work now is in unseen areas like the towers and basement, so you
can’t see what is going on except for the old timbers and the great piles of dirt.”
A significant number of small donations are coming in - some of them sent as
memorials to the recently departed. Many come from people who are not Catholic, as
an “appropriate gesture” to touch the hearts of Catholic Christians, he said. He
appreciates letters from members of other churches, such as the one from the Pastor
and Council of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, offering their church for
services.
The number of people turning up for Sunday Mass - held at St. Vincent’s Gym, is a
little lower than usual, and he feels the drop in numbers is not entirely due to the fact
that many are on vacation. However, those who come are pleased with the informality
of the environment. When the gym was closed for the refinishing of the floor, an even
closer and more intimate environment was experienced at the Cathedral Day School
cafeteria.
Couples planning to get married in the cathedral have had to make plans to hold the
wedding elsewhere. It is not yet known whether part of the cathedral will be open for
the big events scheduled in the winter, such as the Golden and Silver Jubilee
celebrations scheduled for December.
Though the parish itself has only about 300 family units, and includes several older
couples and widows, it is popular with visitors and fills with large crowds for holy days
and special events. For some of the lunch time Masses in the chapel on Holy Days
there is “standing room only” Father Wellmeier said.
BY GILLIAN BROWN
Most of the letters received by Father Herbert Wellmeier, Rector of the Cathedral of
St. John the Baptist, show concern about the repairs to the historic structure on
Lafayette Square, together with enthusiastic support and eagerness to see the work
accomplished.
The presence of engineers and workmen has caused some changes in the day to day
routine at the Cathedral, Fr. Wellmeier said when we talked to him last week.
“A good part of every day is taken up with meetings in connection with the repairs,
or time spent in acknowledging gifts from people,” he said. People still call frequently
REPLACING FOUNDATION -- Cement pump (1) used to fill bags 2x2x7 feet (r) which are being placed under the wall footings. The resulting
slabs will be wider and deeper than the original foundation.
Bishops Reject 'Personal Morality,' Political Use Of Religion
WASHINGTON (NC) - Bishop James W. Malone of
Youngstown, Ohio, president of the U.S. Catholic
Conference, Aug. 9 rejected political candidates’ claims
that personal morality should not influence policy
decisions and warned against candidates’ use of religion to
appeal to voters.
In an unusual statement authorized by the officers of
the USCC, public action agency of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops, the conference president
also reiterated that the bishops’ conference “does not take
positions for or against political candidates.”
The statement said the bishops’ opposition to “the
direct taking of innocent human life (by abortion or by
direct attacks on non-combatants in war)” is not merely a
policy statement of a Catholic group but “a direct
affirmation of the constant moral teaching of the Catholic
Church.”
Bishop Malone’s statement, which a USCC apokesman
said was intended first for Catholic and other voters and
then for politicians and the bishops as teachers, followed
issuance of the hierarchy’s 1984 political responsibility
statement and its testimony prepared for the Democratic
and Republican platform hearings.
It also came in the midst of a heated 1984 presidential
campaign in which religion has become an issue. A day
earlier, Vice President George Bush told the Knights of
Columbus at their annual convention in Denver that the
Reagan administration shares the values of the Knights
and other Catholics.
The statement had not been expected to be released
until the end of August but was made public after The
New York Times earlier the same day reported on
portions of the document the newspaper said it had
obtained.
“It would be regrettable if religion as such were
injected into a political campaign through appeals to
candidates’ religious affiliations and commitments,”
Bishop Malone wrote.
“We reject the idea that candidates satisfy the
requirements of rational analysis in saying their personal
views should not influence their policy decisions; the
implied dichotomy — between personal morality and
public policy — is simply not logically tenable in any
adequate view of both,” he said.
“This position,” Bishop Malone added, “would be as
unacceptable as would be the approach of a candidate or
officeholder who pointed to his or her personal
commitments as qualification for public office, without
proposing to take practical steps to translate these into
policies and practical programs. This is true of all
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