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PAGE 5 -- The Southern Cross, September 5, 1985
Cardinal Repeats
Vatican Demands On Abortion Ad
BY JERRY F1LTEAU
WASHINGTON (NC) — Cardinal Jean Jerome Hamer
Aug. 23 repeated Vatican demands that U.S. Religious who
signed a pro-choice abortion ad last year must declare their
support for church teaching on the topic.
Some women Religious involved have reportedly been
^cleared now on the issue.
The cardinal, who heads the Vatican Congregation for
Religious and Secular Institutes, praised “the good will” of
the Religious and their superiors involved in the controver
sy. He met with some of them Aug. 17 at the Vatican nun
ciature in Washington, a nunciature official said.
Cardinal Hamer’s statement was issued in Washington
the day he was leaving the United States to return to Rome.
In it he repeated the demand that signers who have not yet
done so must ‘take steps to repair the scandal (caused by
" U.S.C.C. Files
WASHINGTON (NC) — In 1978, the U.S. Catholic Con
ference told the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 1973 ruling
legalizing abortion.
This year the USCC, public policy arm of the U.S. bishops,
gave the high court some slightly different advice—and drew
criticism that the bishops, or at least their attorneys, had
retreated on abortion for failing in a court brief to urge that
Roe vs. Wade be dumped.
But the USCC wasn’t alone in its latest strategy regarding
the Supreme Court: Leading pro-life groups took the same
tack, citing the merits of the cases in question rather than
claiming the 1973 ruling itself should be scrapped.
At the center of the debate are two abortion restriction
laws, from Pennsylvania and Illinois, which the high court
agreed to hear as part of its upcoming 1985-86 term. Neither
statute outlawed abortion, but both demanded certain ac
tions to save a viable fetus whenever possible in abortion and
required that women be offered abortion-related informa
tion.
The Americans United for Life Legal Defense Fund,
representing pro-lifers in the Illinois case, and lawyers for the
National Right to Life Committee, filing a brief in the Penn
sylvania case, also urged protection for both women and un
born babies—but did not directly call for overturning Roe vs.
Wade.
For example the NRLC brief stated that “the right of a
woman to choose to terminate her pregnancy, while constitu
tionally guaranteed, is not absolute, and does not include the
right to ensure that an abortion performed after the point of
viability of the fetus results in delivery of a dead fetus rather
_ than a live child.”
The AUL attorneys, in their brief, similarly claimed that II-
“On Being a Father”
BY WILLIAM M. FOSTER
• . w - /
Guest Columnist
There comes a time in everyone’s life when a major
change takes place. In my situation it happened around
midday, November 23, 1982. That was the day my first
daughter was born.
From that glorious moment my own needs, comfort, safe
ty and contentment became secondary to that of one
Melissa Ann Foster. It immediately proved evident that my
life would never be the same again. Thoughts of her
permeated my day as every circumstance somehow
related to her existence.
That first year was synonymous to nurturing a favorite
plant or vegetable crop. She required constant care and at
tention in order to blossom and flourish. As someone who
always valued “peace and qyiet” this change in our
household was initially very traumatic. I disciplined myself
accordingly and pretty soon the ship was back on an even
keel.
The second year marked the beginning of her own identi
ty and personality, a smidgen of which I hoped she had
derived from me. Suddenly all my attention and participa
tion seemed to be needed at the most inopportune times.
’ The fourth quarter of football games was the time for put
ting together “Smurf” puzzles, and the ninth inning of an
important baseball game was always the time to swing and
slide in the back yard. My first thought was always to say,
“In a little while, baby,” but that never happened. I thought
the ad) by indicating their adherence to the teaching of the
church” regarding abortion.
He did not use the word “retract” or “recant” in his new
statement, although the original letters from his office had
demanded a public retraction by the Religious involved.
On Aug. 25 a nun in St. Louis, Sacred Heart Sister Mary J.
Byles, reportedly said she was cleared without having had
to recant on the ad. Russell Shaw, a public affairs
spokesman for the U.S. bishops, said he has been told that
“several of the women Religious” who signed the ad “have
reached a meeting of minds” with the Vatican congrega
tion.
Shaw said he could not give numbers or other details, but
it was his understanding that the Vatican now considers the
case closed on several of the nuns.
Half of Cardinal Hamer’s 1,100-word statement was
devoted to spelling out his congregation’s position on the
controversy involving Religious who signed a declaration
Abortion Brief
linois’ interest in saving a viable fetus is not “infringing upon
the woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy in any way”
and ‘ 4 places no obstacle in the path of a woman exercising her
right to terminate her pregnancy.”
Thus both pro-life groups, while in a technical, legal sense
referring to the woman’s “right to terminate her pregnan
cy,” did so in the context of fighting on behalf of the unborn
child for restrictions on abortion.
The USCC’s brief did much the same thing.
Written by USCC General Counsel Wilfred R. Caron, aid
ed by Assistant General Counsel Mark E. Chopko, the brief
focused on the specific points of the Pennsylvania law, ad
ding that the USCC view would also be applicable in the Il
linois case.
Caron and Chopko stated that the Pennsylvania case
“presents an important opportunity for this court to clarify
its precedents governing abortion and to give appropriate
recognition to the legitimate interests of the states without
unduly burdening the woman’s choice.”
In a footnote, the brief reiterated that the Catholic Church
seeks to protect life, starting with conception, and added that
the bishops’ request for clarification of the 1973 ruling did not
“imply a willingness to compromise any aspect of that moral
teaching.”
Because the Reagan administration, through the Justice
Department, filed its own brief with the Supreme Court,
however, the USCC’s brief suddenly got controversial: The
Reagan administration specifically called on the court to
dump its 1973 abortion ruling, while the USCC document did
not.
of several years hence when she would no longer require or
find a need for my attention. That thought alone dictated
my catering to her every whim. To hear that tiny voice say,
“Come see, Daddy, please come see what I’m doing,” is
like a beckoning from Heaven. It holds a powerful grip on
me. No longer are the trips home from a round of golf or a
road race anti-climatic because I could always envision
those liquid blue eyes peering through the window awaiting
my return.
Soon she will be three years old and I marvel at the quick
passage of time. Surely there will be one crisis after
another. Happiness, joy and mirth should be her only feel
ings but I know better. Along the way there will also be em-
barrasment, sadness and heartbreak.
As her Father I wish I could shield her from all evil and
expose her only to good. That of course will never happen.
My hope for her is that she live a full and happy life where
good luck outweighs the bad. As she grows through
childhood into adolescene my devotion will be focused on
her cultivation as a person. I can only pray that the transi
tion from stage to stage will be smooth.
Recently my second daughter, Erin Elizabeth, was born.
Every feeding and diaper change brings about a feeling of
deja-vu. My love and affection for her parallels that of
Melissa. She has the same blue eyes and pretty skin. When
she calls out to me (still several months away) I will be
right there for her also.
I have learned very quickly that wealth is not measured
in currency only. The end of the rainbow is now in my grasp
and I have a firm hold on it. With a lovely wife and two
healthy girls I have never been happier.
(Mr. Foster is the nephew of Dot Kitchens, OSC vice-
chairman for The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women and
“Editor” of this column.)
on abortion which has published last Oct. 7 as a full-page ad
in The New York Times. The ad was sponsored by Catholics
for a Free Choice, a group backing an option for abortion.
The rest of the cardinal’s statement was devoted to
general commentary on the nature and purpose of his U.S.
visit, which included attending a national meeting of male
religious superiors and visits with bishops and Religious in
several U.S. dioceses.
Cardinal Hamer stressed that the Vatican views the fun
damental issue of the abortion ad in the Times as a confron
tation over “the church’s teaching...on the radical im
morality of direct abortion” and not as a question about
legitimate “freedom of conscience” among Catholics, as
claimed by some who signed the ad. The central concern,
he said, was the part of the ad “describing as ‘mistaken’ the
belief that condemnation of direct abortion is the ‘only
legitimate Catholic position.’”
SAVANNAH DIOCESAN delegates to the
Tercer Encuentro in Washington, D.C., August
15-18. Left to right: Sister Patricia Brown,
Evelyn Rodriguex, Renee Hernandez, Tina Or
tiz, Mimi Marino, Monserrate Ortiz.
Orthodoxy Dynamic
Cardinal Says
RIMINI, Italy (NC) — Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New
York told an international congregation of youth that the
idea of a “church of the people” apart from the hierarchical
or institutional church is an error.
He said that the orthodoxy in church teaching is
“dynamic” and should be “shouted from the housetops.”
He made his remarks in his homily while celebrating
Mass Aug. 25 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of
Communione e Liberazione, an Italian-based,
12,000-member worldwide youth organization. It offers
religious, cultural and recreational activities to its
members.
The Mass, in Italian, was broadcast live throughout Italy.
Orthodoxy in church teaching, he said, “is neither ar
chaic nor static. It is dynamic, as truth is dynamic” and
needs no defense or apology, any more than truth does. It
should be “shouted from the housetops” without fear of
ridicule or attack, he said.
“God’s people have an absolute right in justice to hear the
teaching of the church fathers and martyrs, the popes’
councils and the magisterium,” Cardinal O’Connor
declared. “And to hear it taught—gently and charitably,
but firmly, clearly and courageously.”
Noting “strange interpretations of the Second Vatican
Council’s position on pluralism,” the cardinal described
“orthodoxy pluralism” as something that does not divide
but unifies.
“The pursuit of orthodoxy is not a ‘witch hunt,”’ he told
his listeners. “A true ecclesiology recognizes a valid
theological pluralism and is grateful and respectful
towards those theologians who engage in legitimate
plural : m of research, thought and methodology,” he said,
“as indicated by Pope Paul VI and John Paul II, and by the
Second Vatican Council.”