Newspaper Page Text
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 15 No. 25
Thursday, July 7,1977
$5 Per Year.
More Activity Seen Following Court Abortion Ruling
ANNIVERSARY FOR POPE -- Beneath the
splendor of Bernini’s canopy in St. Peter’s Basilica,
Pope Paul VI celebrates Mass marking his 14th
anniversary as pope. Five new cardinals concelebrated
the Mass.
While their reactions differ, both foes
and proponents of abortion predict new
activity in state legislatures and the
courts following the Supreme Court
ruling that states do not have to spend
public funds for nontherapeutic
abortions for poor women.
Patrick Trueman of Americans
United for Life, a Chicago-based
educational and legal defense group,
said the June 20 opinion “was the
quantum leap the anti-abortion
movement has needed.”
“I would predict a wealth of
anti-abortion legislation in the states”
following the opinion, he said. “The
court said that the right to an abortion
is not as broad as the federal courts and
the pro-abortion groups have said it
was.”
Ruling on three separate cases, the
court majority said the Constitution
does not require states to pay for
nontherapeutic abortions for poor
women and does not require public
hospitals to perform abortions.
Robert Bym, professor of law at
Fordham University Law School, said
the decision would encourage the states
to write laws restricting abortion, “not
just in the area of funding, but in terms
of viability and perhaps saline abortions
as well.”
This, he said, would trigger a new
generation of litigation by pro-abortion
groups, especially over the issue of
medical necessity. Among other things,
the majority opinion upheld a
Connecticut law which prohibits the use
of Medicaid to pay for abortions which
are not “medically necessary.”
Harriet Pilpel, general counsel of the
Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, said the decision still requires
states to pay for abortions deemed
medically necessary by the woman’s
doctor. Robin Elliot, public information
director of Planned Parenthood, said his
School Aid Ruling Praised & Criticized
WASHINGTON (NC) - Spokesmen for both the National Catholic Educational
Association (NCEA) and the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) have praised a recent
Supreme Court ruling that states may pay for textbooks and some auxiliary services
for nonpublic school students.
But both officials - Father John Meyers, president of the NCEA, and Father Patrick
Farrell, USCC representative for Catholic schools - condemned the court, in separate
statements, for holding that the use of state funds for nonpublic school field trips and
instructional materials is unconstitutional.
The court's ruling came June 24 in Wolman vs. Walter, a challenge to an Ohio law. It
allowed state payments for standardized testing, diagnostic testing and therapeutic and
remedial services, but disallowed the use of state funds for such items as audio-visual
equipment, maps and tape recorders.
group would work to expand the
definition of “medical necessity” in the
courts and in state legislatures.
Supporters and opponents of
abortion split on whether the opinion
was beneficial to the poor.
Calling the decision a “victory for the
poor people of the United States”, Dr.
Mildred Jefferson, president of the
National Right to Life Committee,
rejected the charge that the court
opinion deprives Medicaid clients of
their abortion rights.
“This is a cruel trick to play on the
poor because they are using the money
intended to help the poor to get rid of
the poor and making them think they
are doing them a favor,” she said.
Deborah Jacobs of the National
Abortion Rights Action League
criticized the court for allowing the
states to make a “moral value judgment
favoring childbirth over abortion and to
implement that judgment by the
allocation of public funds.”
“We feel that only the woman should
make the decision to bear a child or not
bear a child and we don’t believe that
the state should predjudice the decision
by offering funds for one option and
not the other,” she said.
Msgr. James McHugh, director of the
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops’ (NCCB) office for pro-life
activities, said the option “is to the
advantage of the family unit.
BACKGROUND
COMMENTARY PG. 5
John Noonan, a law professor at the
University of California, Berkeley, who
has written extensively against abortion,
called the opinion a “significant turning
point and hopeful sign.”
Besides indicating a philosophical
shift by the court on the abortion issue,
Noonan said, the latest opinion would
have a practical result as well. “Many
states will completely eliminate funding,
putting a limit on the number of
abortions performed,” he said.
But supporters of abortion argued
that the opinion will force poor women
to seek out illegal or so-called back-alley
abortions. Ms. Pipel of Planned
Parenthood commented, “This won’t
stop poor, minority and rural women
from getting abortions. But it will stop
them from getting safe abortions.”
“It also respects the dignity of the
poor inasmuch as it provides for
assistance to poor women who
otherwise might experience pressure to
obtain abortions,” he said.
On the portion of the opinion dealing
with public hospitals, the NCCB official
said: “These decisions should be a
source of encouragement to those
hospital workers who have resisted
becoming involved in providing abortion
services against their ethical and moral
conviction.”
While welcoming the decisions, Msgr.
McHugh said they “do not wipe out the
court’s earlier abortion rulings, nor do
they directly address the present tragic
situation of more than one million
abortions per year in the United
States.”
Father Meyers called the term “private” in private schools “a misnomer” and said
they are private “only insofar as their financial support is concerned.” More correctly,
he said, they should be called “public-nongovernmental” schools.
He called for “a new public policy which will guarantee the full exercise of parental
rights in the education of their children.”
Father Farrell, while welcoming the court’s decision on the constitutionality of
supplying textbooks, testing and health services to nonpublic schools, called the ruling
against instructional materials, equipment and field trips “deplorable.”
The decision “is an instance of the extreme tendency of the court to make z
judgments on the basis of remote possibilities rather than facts,” he said.
Father Meyers said he was “delighted that the Supreme Court has given some
practical recognition to the rights of students and their parents who select private
schools,” but added that he was “disappointed” that the court turned down the use of
state funds for nonsectarian field trips and instructional material “on the
preseumption that teachers cannot be trusted and will divert these forms of assistance
to sectarian purposes.”
The NCEA president added, “It is precisely the poor and disadvantaged children
who need this help and have a right to it.”
Wilkinson Heads Seminarians
Bruce Wilkinson, a first year theology
student at St. Meinrad’s Seminary,
Indiana, was elected president of the
Atlanta Seminarians Association (ASA)
at that group’s annual retreat at the
Trappist Monastery in Conyers, June
2-4,1977.
The ASA was formed several years
ago to improve the cooperation among
students from the different seminaries
in the United States that were studying
for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. This
cooperation has included an annual
retreat, a quarterly newsletter and the
election of a president to represent the
group with the vocations director and
the Archbishop.
Aside from business affairs (the
election of a president, reports on
seminarian financial policy and plans for
the Summer With A Purpose program)
the group gathered for prayer and the
Bruce Wilkinson Eucharist daily.
The USCC spokesman added, “The Supreme Court has once again decided to judge
the merits of aid to nonpublic schools on the basis of the advancement of religion.”
Edward F. Spiers, national director of Citizens for Educational Freedom (CEF),
called the decision “a step in the right direction,” but said some members of the
Supreme Court still “confuse services and aids to taxpayer parents and children with
direct assistance to religious institutions.”
Commenting on the court’s decision that “diagnosis for speech and hearing defects
may be made but not treated in nonpublic schools,” Spiers said that it ignores the fact
that “students, not schools, have speech and hearing defects.” He said the ruling is
“the most liberal in 30 years” and “leaves the door open for state legislatures and
Congress to devise programs such as the bi-partisan Tuition Relief Acts introduced by
Sen. Richard Schweiker and Rep. James Delaney which aid taxpaying parents and
children who are required by state mandate to acquire an elementary and secondary
education.”
“The issue is not whether such a program would harm public schools,” he added.
“The issue is the right of all parents to share in some reasonable use of their tax dollar
to provide state-mandated education for the children.”
Taking an opposite view, Andrew Leight Gunn, executive director of Americans
United for Separation of Church and State said the decision represented another major
victory for the cause of church-state separation.
“There has been no fundamental departure from the principle that religious
education may not be supported by tax funds,” Gunn said. “The court is still firm and
the wall of separation between church and state remains.”
Bishop James A. Hickey of Cleveland also commented on the decision, saying he
was “grateful” that the court had “upheld the right of parents to secure a religious
education for their children, and given tangible support to this position by approval of
the allocation of public funds for students in non-public schools.”
The bishop said he hoped the Supreme Court would “continue to recognize how
necessary it is that there be alternatives to a monolithic educational structure.” He
added, “Parents must not be penalized financially for exercising their rights to choose
a moral education for their children.”
MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER MASS -- About 600 priests and more than
17,000 Marriage Encounter couples participate in a Mass for Vocations at
the Los Angeles Coliseum culminating the international convention of the
Worldwide Marriage Encounter.
OVER 30,000 ATTEND
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
LOS ANGELES (NC) - Cardinal
Timothy Manning of Los Angeles called
on 31,000 parents to give the Church a
new spring of vocations to the
priesthood and religious life.
He also warned them against false
teachers within the Church “who are
dressed in sheep’s clothing.”
He addressed the conclusion of the
June 24-26 international convention of
Worldwide Marriage Encounter during a
Mass for Vocations in Los Angeles
Memorial Coliseum.
Participating were delegates from 29
countries.
Archbishop Jean Jadot, apostolic
delegate in the United States, was
among the 600 priests who
concelebrated the Mass with Cardinal
Manning.
Before Mass, 3,000 teenagers had a
two-mile run for vocations through Los
Angeles city streets to the Coliseum,
where they were greeted with
thunderous applause. Each carried a
home-made cross to signify this
commitment to Christ.
Four runners ran to the base of the
Olympic torch and raised their crosses.
The torch flamed high in the sky as a
sign of the faith and vitality of youth in
the Church.
Immediately afterwards, children in
the crowd released thousands of
balloons, to each of which a note was
attached describing a good intention
and act a child would perform. On each
balloon was imprinted, “Hi, God!”
The cardinal said many historic
events had taken place in the Coliseum,
“but today, it is for one holy hour a
ciborium of love.”
“Each individual here is like a host
designated to be a sign and a content of
love for his partner, her partner, in life.”
(Continued on page 6)
1
>