Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2 — The Southern Cross, May 24, 1990
HEADLINE
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HOPSCOTCH
Wider Participation
Of Laity Sought
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A conference
NATION
Court Again Refuses
Operation Rescue
WASHINGTON (CNS) — For the second
time in a week, the U.S. Supreme Court
May 21 refused to help Operation Rescue
thwart an injunction hindering the group’s
tactics. Without comment, the high court
declined to accept an Operation Rescue
appeal and left intact a federal court in
junction permanently forbidding the group
from blocking access to New York City-
area abortion clinics. But the organization
suggested its efforts will continue. “No
court can prohibit us from rescuing
babies,’’ said Randall Terry, Operation
Rescue founder, from his headquarters in
Binghamton, N.Y. “These judges have
joined the heritage of Nazi judges who
sanctioned the murder of the innocent. The
day of judgment will hold terrifying conse
quences for them.”
Peter's Pence
Diocesan Goals
WASHINGTON (CNS) - The chairman
of a committee of U.S. bishops formed to
help finance Vatican activities has asked
his fellow bishops to meet new diocesan
goals for contributions to the 1990 Peter’s
Pence collection. The suggested date for
the 1990 collection is the weekend of June
23-24. Bishop John E. McCarthy of Austin,
Texas, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Com
mittee on the Economic Concerns of the
Holy See, also has asked that the bishops
set parish goals, according to Thomas M.
Flatley of Philadelphia, consultant to
Bishop McCarthy’s committee.
New Jersey Bishop
Cites "Hypocrisy"
WILDWOOD, N.J. (CNS) - It is
“hypocrisy” for pro-abortion Catholics to
receive Communion “while openly oppos
ing or rejecting the teaching of the
church,” Bishop James T. McHugh of
Camden, N.J., told the New Jersey state
convention of the Knights of Columbus
May 18. The church should not excom
municate pro-abortion or “pro-choice”
Catholic politicians, but it should not per
mit them to speak at church-sponsored
events, to be honored by Catholic institu
tions or to hold offices or ministries in the
church, he said. “It would be foolish and
counterproductive (for Catholic parishes,
agencies and institutions) to aid and abet
those who reject or oppose the church’s
teaching on abortion,” he said.
Plan Draws Fire
From Archbishop
SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) - In response
to threats of a lawsuit from concerned
parents, a California public high school
has delayed implementing a controversial
plan to dispense condoms to its students
without asking for parental consent. The
program had drawn fire from, among
others, Archbishop John R. Quinn of San
Francisco, who said that instituting such a
plan at Tamalpais High School in Mill
Valley, Calif., “implies the acceptance of
casual sex as normal.” School officials an
nounced May 15 that on the “advice of our
legal counsel we’ve delayed implementa
tion of the program pending legal review.”
It would have been the first time a Califor
nia school openly gave out condoms
without parents’ consent.
Card.: I Will Say
What I Think
NEW YORK (CNS) - Cardinal John J.
O’Connor of New York, speaking “very
frankly,” told a Jewish audience in New
York that he loved them, but would con
tinue speaking the truth as he saw it on
Israel and other points of disagreement. “I
would die for you, but I will not lie for
you,” he said. “I will say what I think is
the truth. And if I make a mistake, I am
not your enemy.” The cardinal also warn
ed that attacks on Pope John Paul II would
bring a “backlash” even from dissident
Catholics. He did not identify specific
areas, but many Jews have criticized the
pope severely for his current unwill
ingness to establish diplomatic relations
with Israel and for his meetings with
Palestine Liberation Organization leader
Yasser Arafat and Austrian President
Kurt Waldheim, accused of Nazi war
crimes.
New Yorkers Urged
To Restore Harmony
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) - Citing in
creased racial tension that is “hurting”
New York, Bishop Thomas V. Daily of
Brooklyn has urged New Yorkers to
restore racial harmony in their com
munities. Bishop Daily made his com
ments in a statement issued May 15 in
response to a series of recent racial in
cidents that have resulted in violence and
demonstrations. “It is our duty to stand
firm in unity, understanding and accepting
our differences and respecting one another
whatever our race, creed or national
origin,” the bishop said. The recent racial
incidents came to a head May 13 when
three Vietnamese men were attacked by a
gang of black men who apparently had
mistaken the men for Koreans. The attack
occurred several blocks from two Korean-
American groceries that are targets of a
black-led boycott.
Private Schools'
Remedial Funds
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Saying that a
1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision has
severely limited private school students’
access to remedial education, a U.S.
Catholic Conference official has asked
Congress to increase funding so private
school students are not “forced out” of
remedial education programs.
WORLD
Church Of Ireland
Will Ordain Women
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) - The Church
of Ireland, part of the worldwide Anglican
Communion, has voted to allow women
priests. Two Anglican women deacons,
Ginnie Kinnerley and Irene Templeton,
said they thought that now women could be
ordained in their church before the end of
the year. The general synod of the Church
of Ireland, composed of lay and clergy
delegates, approved the measure May 17.
Of the church’s 400,000 members, about
300,000 are in Northern Ireland.
of church law experts concluded that
wider consultation with lay people would
help bring a needed sense of participation
to church government, the conference
moderator said. Father Tarcisio Bertone,
rector of Salesian University, said that
“effective pluralism” was the hallmark of
today’s society and also had a place in the
church. The conference in mid-May focus
ed on the way the church should be govern
ed, “above all with a greater valuation and
a more frequent use of consultation, in
cluding lay people,” Father Bertone said
in an interview with Vatican Radio. These
lay people should be competent and ex
perienced in their various fields, the priest
said. Canon law makes it clear that shar
ing in the church’s mission is the right of
every lay Catholic, he said.
Priests Told To Help
Married Couples
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Priests must
help married couples overcome “the
weakness which leads to concupiscence”
by encouraging reception of the
sacraments and by stressing church
teachings on “responsible procreation,”
said Pope John Paul II. In theological
terms concupiscence is the weakness of
the flesh that results in a desire for sinful
sensual pleasures.“The doctrine on mar
riage and the family that the priest is in
charge of transmitting is not simply a
theory,” the pope said.
Caritas To Boycott
California AIDS Conf.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Caritas Inter
national^, the Vatican-based umbrella
organization for Catholic development and
relief agencies, will boycott a San Fran
cisco AIDS conference to protest U.S.
government policies concerning people
with the disease. The decision to boycott
the June 20-24 International Conference on
AIDS was announced in a May 22 state
ment from Caritas offices at the Vatican.
Caritas has joined other international
organizations, including the Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies, in the boycott to
protest laws that restrict the travel and the
entry of HIV-infected people into the
United States.
rluUrLL
50th Anniversary
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Msgr. George
G. Higgins, retired secretary for special
concerns at the U.S. Catholic Conference,
celebrated Mass May 16 at USCC head
quarters in Washington to mark the 50th
anniversary of his ordination. USCC'
general secretary Msgr. Robert Lynch, in
remarks during the Mass, said, “When
George talks ... the whole church in this
country listens. The whole church may not
always agree with him, but they know that
to differ risks error.” Msgr. Lynch added,
“Perhaps there is some woman or man out
there” to fill his shoes as a champion of
causes “from the farmworker to the un
born.” But if Msgr. Higgins is “the yard
stick by which future prophetic witness is
to be measured, then God help that"
person.”
'No one knows whose womb bears the Chief.'
—Ancient African Proverb
Countless numbers of people suffering
from catastrophic diseases are waiting for a
particular child to be bom. They don't
know the baby's name. They may not even
be aware that they are waiting. But that
special child will hold in its hand the cure
for their disease. This baby could be born
now, tomorrow, next week. It could be the
child you are carrying, or the baby you will
shortly conceive. It could hold a million
lives in its soft little hand.
Starving families in Third World countries
—and in our own—are hoping for the birth
of a child who will bring them the answer
to world hunger, who will help us to feed
ourselves and our neighbors, and teach us
to sit down in peace and break bread
together. Whose womb bears this child?
Could it be yours?
Any moment now, some mother could
give birth to the child who will erase racial
barriers, tear down walls, teach us to
respect each other—and ourselves—for
who we really are. The time is ripe. Is it
here? Is it now? Is it you?
Please.
Give [life) a chance!
PRO-LIFE ADVERTISING — “Give life a chance!” is the theme of
a pro-life advertising campaign sponsored by the eight dioceses of New
York. This ad is one of a series of three print ads developed for white,
black and Hispanic audiences. (CNS photo from New York State
Catholic Conference)