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PAGE 7—September 28, 1978
What Do People Really
Think About Unemployment?
BY JIM CASTELLI
WASHINGTON (NC) - What do the
American people really think about the
unemployment problem? Do they
believe everyone has a right to a decent
job? What do they think the federal
government should do to reduce
unemployment?
No one had taken a detailed public
opinion poll on questions such as those
until the Department of Labor
commissioned what it believes is the
first comprehensive analysis of
America’s attitudes toward
unemployment.
When the poll was released shortly
after Labor Day, most press reports
focused on its finding that Americans
believe they will be worse off, to a small
degree, in five years than they are
today.
But the poll has major implications
for the public debate over economic
policy, including debate over the
Humphrey-Hawkins full employment
bill and various economic stimulus bills.
Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall saw
good news in the poll because it showed
strong support for an active government
role in creating jobs to fight
unemployment and support for
administration positions on public
service jobs and welfare reform.
The poll was conducted by Public
Research, Inc., a non-profit group. It
was based on interviews with a
representative sampling of 2,009
persons over 18 between June 16 and
June 24. Marshall pointed out that the
timing was significant because the poll
reflects the impact of Proposition 13,
California’s property tax reduction
measure, which passed on June 6.
The study found that while inflation
is the top public concern,
unemployment remains a high priority
and that there is strong public support
for government efforts to provide jobs
and job training for the unemployed.
“The findings of this survey indicate
that, even in the wake of Proposition
13, the American people are supportive
of an active federal role in a major area
of social and economic policy,” the
study concluded.
“Contrary to the simplistic notion
that the public is hostile to any
initiative from Washington,” it said,
“the public feels that job creation by
the federal government may in the long
run reduce the costs of welfare to the
nation.”
The survey found that a majority of
Americans, including those with little
personal experience with
unemployment, believe unemployment
causes high welfare costs and higher
crime rates.
“It is the public view,” the study
said, “that an important justification for
a jobs program is that people should be
able to find jobs if they want to work.”
The Humphrey-Hawkins bill, supported
by the administration and most major
church groups, would establish the right
to a job for every able-bodied American
seeking work.
“When asked what (are the) ways to
deal with the problem of
unemployment,” Marshall said, “the
public selects having the government
provide jobs and training more often
than any other alternative.”
Forty-three percent of those
surveyed said the government should
create jobs for poor people who were
out of work and another 33 percent said
the government should provide a job for
anyone who was out of work, regardless
of his income. Only 20 percent opposed
any government-created jobs for the
unemployed.
By a 47-43 percent margin, those
surveyed said the government should
provide a job to anyone who wants to
work. By a 54-36 percent margin, those
surveyed said it was government’s
responsibility to provide job training to
those who could not find work because
they had no skills.
The study also found that Americans
believe people in government-created
public service jobs are “doing something
useful,” while only 20 percent reject the
jobs as “make-work.”
When asked what sort of work public
service employees should do, those
surveyed gave top priority to helping
the elderly in their homes, cleaning up
neighborhoods, improving facilities for
the handicapped and helping maintain
and improve schools.
The study also found the public, by a
wide margin, supports giving heads of
households with children first crack at
government-created jobs and paying
wages high enough to support a family.
One of the study’s most interesting
findings was what it called a “we-they”
distinction in public attitudes toward
the unemployed.
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed
cited the attractiveness of welfare and
unemployment benefits as a major cause
of unemployment; thirty-five percent
cited lack of job skills.
But only 12 percent of those who
were out of work themselves or knew
someone who was out of work cited the
attractiveness of benefits as a cause; 29
percent cited a lack of job skills and 30
percent cited the lack of a desirable job.
All in all, the study showed that
while Americans are concerned about
inflation and abuse of welfare and
unemployment benefits, they also
believe it is in their own best interest for
government to reduce unemployment
by creating jobs and offering job
training.
FOR NICARAGUA
Churchmen Seek Relief, Peace
CHILDREN AT WAR - An armed rebel youth
stands watch in Masaya, Nicaragua, after rebels seized
the town from the National Guard. Increasing
quantities of weapons are showing up in the hands of
rebels fighting to overthrow the government of
President Anastasio Somoza. Meanwhile, in Beirut,
Lebanon, a young Christian militiaman (right), a
member of the rightist forces battling Syrian troops,
brandishes his Soviet-made AK-47 assault rifle and
flashes a V for victory sign. Fighting has flared up
again in the Beirut suburbs. (NC Photos)
Catholic Political Agenda Urged
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (NC) - As
disaster relief began to trickle into their
battle-scarred country, Nicaraguan
churchmen voiced fears that mediation
efforts to avoid further L' ; dsbed had
reached a stalemate.
Archbishop Miguel Obando of
Managua, a leading peacemaker, said
that conditions set by Gen. Anastasio
Somoza, the present ruler, to open a
dialogue with the opposition were
merely a restatement of his previous
position.
will not resign under pressure, and that
he intends to complete his term in
1981. The revolt was in protest against
more that four decades of rule by the
Somozas and what the opposition calls
widespread corrupt)ol and injustice. Its
leaders have offered a plan for a
transitional government that the church
supports.
The Broad Opposition Front, a
coalition of 16 parties and labor and
student groups, said in a statement
accusing Gen. Somoza of “genocide”
that it would reject any plan by Somoza
seeking to hold power. It vowed to
continue a nationwide strike.
The Sandinista Liberation Front,
instead, wants to force Somoza’s
resignation by outright armed rebellion.
The guerrillas’ bold occupation of the
National Palace Aug. 22 that led to the
release of 58 political prisoners and
ransom money in exchange for 100
hostages triggered armed uprisings,
mostly by students, in Matagalpa,
Masaya, Leon, Chinandega, Esteli,
Diriamba and other smaller cities. The
fact that Managua remained in
government hands allowed the Guard to
crush rebel strongholds by Sept. 23.
The month-long struggle left a high
toll in human lives and suffering -
perhaps as many as 2,000 dead - and
widespread destruction of property. It
also left more hate and the seeds of
revenge because of what observers called
the indiscriminate, disproportionate
attacks by Somoza’s soldiers against
civilians, Red Cross stations, refugee
sites and church buildings included.
At the-last rebel stronghold of Esteli
the vicar of the diocese, Father Ernesto
Bravo, led a protest by religious and
civic leaders against atrocities by
Guardsmen through “raids,
confiscation, arrests and massacres.”
The protest said Red Cross and other
neutral aid stations were attacked by
the Guard, which did not give a single
truce to rescue the wounded or bury the
dead.
Reports reaching Managua Sept. 25
said Father Francisco Sandoval, a pastor
at Esteli, and his lay helper Jose Maria
Briones died under machinegun fire as
they drove on a relief mission to
Condega, a town 18 miles away.
Bishop Manuel Salazar Espinoza of
Leon, another city under long siege, said
his people “suffered through the most
atrocious torments of history; I pray to
God and to men in other nations to help
us.” He is the chairman of the
Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference, which
early endorsed a formula for a
transitional government. The bishop
himself was among the key negotiators
during the palace occupation.
Witnesses in Leon said Guardsmen
herded together men suspected of being
rebels and without further inquiry shot
them in groups in front of their families.
Earlier the Managua archdiocese said
those raiding and destroying church
property, and abusing church personnel
had incurred excommunication. It also
protested against atrocities on civilians.
NEW ORLEANS (NC) - Catholic
Charities should help develop a Catholic
political agenda for the next decade,
Msgr. George Kelly, director of the
Institute for Advanced Studies in
Catholic Doctrine at St. John’s
University in New York, told the 64th
annual meeting of the National
Conference of Catholic Charities.
He also urged Catholic Charities to
focus on the parish for education,
service and political action.
Msgr. Kelly said Catholics should
have their own political agenda because
“every special interest group in the
country has one. Ours should deal with
specifically Catholic or religious issues
but also with social reform and support
for the poor.”
“And when I say ‘our agenda,”’ he
said, “it ought to reflect not only our
fundamental principles but a wide
spectrum of input.
“Once we move beyond some basics
— like abortion — there will be large
areas of disagreement about what
reforms are really necessary, what
support for the poor ought to mean in
the concrete.
“Our people will not accept a
Catholic political agenda with the same
firmness they adhere to the Apostles’
Creed,” Msgr. Kelly said, “but if the
agenda truly represents a Catholic
consensus on a given political proposal
— whose relevancy to the Gospel is
somewhat made clear — then there is a
chance for Catholic action to exert its
proper influence in the competition for
a heard voice in the political process.”
Msgr. Kelly said Catholics must avoid
contemporary political rhetoric, choose
their friends and enemies with great
caution and “learn how to reward and
punish, while remaining Christian.”
He said a Catholic agenda “should
delineate what most, if not all, informed
Catholics should favor and promote,
separating out the legitimate alternatives
where the issue is not so clear cut and
where the issue separates not Catholics
from each other but Democrats from
Republicans.”
“The church expects Catholics to
unite in support of those political causes
which promote, protect or defend
religious principles or the church
institution itself,” Msgr. Kelly said.
“The church must defend principles
and would be remiss if it did not defend
itself and its own,” he said, “The
clearest examples of such issues, of
course, are the political efforts to enact
a right-to-life amendment to the
Constitution and to gain public aid for
Catholic schools.”
Msgr. Kelly criticized “prominent
political Catholics, including some
priests, (who) rush to disassociate
themselves from their church’s
positions.
“In public office they may even
collaborate in frustrating fellow
Catholics in the effort to influence the
democratic process,” he said. “The most
craven attitude, of course, is that of the
Catholic politician who says, ‘Personally
I am against abortion, but will not
impose my views on the
commonwealth.’ As if Franklin
Roosevelt. Lyndon Johnson, Richard
Nixon and every powerful local boss did
not impose their views on the political
machinery of the nation."
Msgr. Kelly said some right-to-life
groups “find themselves reluctant to
trust certain segments of contemporary
Catholic leadership for their willingness
to trade away human fetuses if that is
what it takes to placate the dominant
political bloc in Washington and in state
capitals. In return, the traders expect
later to gain small favors from secularist
power brokers.”
Msgr. Kelly said the parish should
educate Catholics about their church’s
teachings “on ' wages and hours, on
unions, on race, on political rights, on
housing rights, on disarmament, on
environmental pollution, on the role of
the government, on violence, on war.”
“Catholic social doctrine says much
also about personal morality, personal
responsiblity, self-help, the abhorence
of violence, prudent balancing of
conflicting rights and interests, the use
of peaceful means, the temptations of
affluence, the importance of self-denial,
the supernatural value of suffering and
prayer,” he said.
Msgr. Kelly said that on a pastoral
level, Catholic Charities “should turn
back to the parish whatever properly
belongs to the pastor’s role, whatever
services are best performed by his
ministers and staff.
“For one thing,” he said, “Catholic
Charities ought not take referrals from
the parish unless it is clear that the
priest has done his work and that the
problem has gone beyond him.
Emergency assistance to the needy, too,
up to a reasonable amount is the
function of the parish.”
Msgr. Kelly said Catholic Charities
should also train priests in the proper
use of social welfare resources and in
leadership, organizing, administrative
and management techniques.
“Catholic Charities should regularly
report to the bishop its evaluation of
pastoral performance . . . The bishop
ought to know in depth which parishes
are functioning well according to his
mandate and those which are not,” he
said.
The general has repeatedly said he
Orthodox Leader Hopes
Unity Efforts Continue
PARIS (NC) - Metropolitan Meletios of the Greek Orthodox Church in France said
he is hopeful that Pope John Paul I will “pursue with determination the approachment
between Catholicism and Orthodoxy which has come so far in the last 15 years.”
The Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility is still an obstacle, but both churches
have 1,000 years of common history as a basis for future unity, he said in an article
published in the Paris daily, Le Monde.
Papal infallibility was not only reaffirmed at Vatican Council II, but it was
described as present in all of the pope’s actions, even those that are not made “ex
cathedra,” said Metropolitan Meletios.
“This ambiguity inherent in the decisions of the council, persisted in the
establishment of the institution of the synods by Paul VI,” he said.
A paradox exists within Catholicism and Orthodoxy in that each church recognizes
that the other has preserved apostolic succession and all the sacraments, he added. The
result is that the split between Orthodoxy and Catholicism can be said to exist within
one church, said the metropolitan.
Unity taiks should take as points of departure the faith of the apostles, the Fathers
of the church and the councils held when the church was still undivided, he said.
The metropolitan suggested that the church could be united on the basis of the
1,000 years of common history before the schism and after unity is achieved work to
reconcile the differences developing after the schism.
SUCH GOOD FRIENDS ~ A smile on the face of a statue of St.
Francis of Assisi fits in with the love that the saint held for birds and
animals, in this case a pigeon which came to visit. The statue at
Longshoreman’s Hall near San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf is one of
dozens of St. Francis statues done by sculptor Beniamino Bufano before
he died a few years ago. The feast of St. Francis is celebrated Oct. 4.
NEW ORLEANS (NC) - The real
meaning of the principle of subsidiarity
must be kept alive “at a time when so
many people are tempted to go
overboard on Proposition 13,”
according to Msgr. George Higgins,
secretary for research for the U.S.
Catholic Conference.
Msgr. Higgins said that the principle
- which holds that social and political
action should take place at the lowest
and most decentralized level possible —
“does not mean that government is best
which governs least.
“On the contrary,” he said, “it
means that while government should
not arbitrarily usurp the role of
individuals or voluntary organizations in
social and economic life, neither should
it hesitate to adopt such programs as are
required by the common good and are
beyond the competence of individual
citizens or groups of citizens.”
Msgr. Higgins made his comments in
the keynote address at the 64th annual
meeting of the National Conference of
Catholic Charities. The meeting was
held in New Orleans.
“We Catholics have justifiably prided
ourselves on having helped to keep alive
the notion of subsidiarity in social and
economic life,” he said.
“But if we are going to be faithful to
the spirit as well as the letter of Catholic-
social teaching, we must now be equally
alive to the importance and
indispensibility of far-reaching
governmental action in the social and
economic order.”
For example, Msgr. Higgins said,
individuals and groups of individuals can
help alleviate poverty, “but they cannot
solve the problem alone. The
government will have to do much more
than it is doing at the present time and
probably more than any recent
administration has proposed.
“It is very important to keep this
principle alive” while so much attention
is focused on Proposition 13, the
California property tax reduction
initiative that has served as a symbol of
a “tax revolt” in the United States,
Msgr. Higgins said.
“Simplistic support of the
philosophy underlying Proposition 13,”
he told the Charities meeting, "runs
counter to the social philosophy of your
own organization and could prove to be
disastrous to many of your clients.”
Catholic Charities agencies in
California fought actively, though
unsuccessfully, to defeat Proposition
13.
Msgr. Higgins said he agreed with
Walter Heller, former chairman of the
White House Council of Economic
Advisers, who said “I can’t interpret this
California vote as people grabbing
control of their own destiny. It was a
blind, self-interest-motivated lashing out
at government.
there were some grievances,
but simply to say "1 want to lower taxes
for myself is not my idea of a national
crusade for re-establishing one’s own
destiny."
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