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Vol. 17 No. 39 Thursday, November 8,1979 $6 Per Year Voters Urged To Scrutinize Candidates PRIOR TO THE MARCH from Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to Central City Park, Archbishop Donnellan chatted with Mayor Maynard Jackson and with Aaron Shild of The Temple. Both the archbishop and Shild serve on the Executive Committee of Atlanta Religious Mobilization Against Crime (ARMAC), sponsors of the Anti-Crime March which drew some 2,500 participants. Anti-Crime March Unites City BY MICHAEL MOTES Something Beautiful For The Queen George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess of Kedleston and Royal Viceroy of India, was unhappy with the finished article. There it stood in the affluent eastern section of Calcutta for all to see. The hugh monument masterly conceived originally, as something beautiful for the Queen, turned out to be merely a bulging bunch of bricks that substituted expansive space for architectural beauty. Victoria of England, Empress of India, never saw her monument. Curzon returned to England soon after her death to face the difficulties of the First World War, happy that his Queen had never graced the Calcutta monstrosity even for one moment. When Mother Teresa enters the affluent section of Calcutta, a strange tenseness torments her delicate frame. She is at home back there in the ghettos. The peel of the Moslem prayer calls, from the balconies of mosques, is music to her ears. The hands of beggars brushing her native sari is a family comfort. And the lepers, who seem to know and accept her inability to lovingly house them all, find a spring of strength bubbling up from her patient interest in their decaying existence. She always looks at Curzon’s monument. It is ugly. Forever non-political, she cares little for the famous lady who inspired its awful colonial presence. One thought plagues her constantly ticking mind. This building would perfectly house the street lepers despairingly abandoned to the stench of Calcutta’s back streets. This structure, monument if you like, something beautiful for a Queen, would perfectly do the job. The Nobel Peace Prize changed those forbidden desires of Mother Teresa, The fortune that this recognition brought, bred into life the most perfect leprosium of her dreams. It would be home for the derelicts left to die back there in the gutters of Calcutta’s hideous ghettos. Through the doors of her spanking new hospital would come men and women most unwanted. They would come with stumps to be bandaged, diseases to be arrested, hopes to be shared. They would come to rest on clean sheets for a very first time and find comfort in the soft tender give of an uncluttered mattress. But mostly, most of all, they would come to her bright, brilliantly conceived and executed monument, to die. Without the sounds of uncaring passing feet, without the stares of nervous dread, without the look of fearful contagion, they would pass from this earth that yielded only pain and scorn through the warm communal tenderness of Mother Teresa’s monument. The edifice of Lord Curzon failed to meet his noble standard of something beautiful for a Queen. Mother Teresa’s leper sanitorium and mortuary, no matter how architecturally impure, will stand always as something beautiful for the King. e Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan was among the city’s religious leaders asked to express his prayer for the end of crime in Atlanta at the Crime Prevention March and Rally sponsored by the Atlanta Religious Mobilization Against Crime (ARMAC) at Central City Park on Sunday, October 28. Approximately 2,500 persons, including several hundred City of Atlanta Policemen, marched from the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to Central City Park, where they were addressed by Mayor Maynard Jackson, Public Safety Commissioner Lee Brown and leaders of the various religious denominations in the city. Mayor Jackson told the crowd, which quickly filled the limited space in the small amphitheater and overflowed into the surrounding park, “Let us tell the police that we understand they cannot do the job alone. We must have the full support BY MICHAEL MOTES A call for help from the Archdiocesan Respect Life Office was enthusiastically answered by approximately 50 interested persons who appeared at the Catholic Center last week to hear the details of a new counseling program to assist pregnant women in crisis. Headed by Mary Ellen Hughes, the Respect Life Office has launched the Crisis Pregnancy Service through Catholic Social Services, Inc., the multi-faceted archdiocesan office that provides services ranging from “Helping in Housing” for the elderly to finding new homes for the increasing number of Boat People arriving in Atlanta. “This is a service which we have been trying to begin for some time,” says Miss Hughes, who began the Respect Life Office a little less than two years ago after a background in adolescent counselling. “We chose the name Crisis Pregnancy Service because it simply states exactly what the service deals with - a crisis, which is a temporarily unstable situation,” she commented. Although the service is in the most initial stages of development, Miss Hughes is already dealing with a number of young women undergoing the of all segments of the community if we are to be successful in stopping crime.” Beseeching the “Father of all of us” to bless the city of Atlanta, Archbishop Donnellan prayed before the crowd: “Centuries ago, David prayed in the Psalms that, ‘Unless the Lord build the city, in vain do the builders labor.’ It is still true today, and that is why we call out to you. We are here because we care about Atlanta - because we despise and reject the violence that threatens what we have labored to build with your help and under your guidance. “But more important than the fact that we are here, is the fact that You are here. You have not left town; You have not moved to the suburbs. You are here at the heart of our city; at the center of our concern; at the edge of our anxiety; at the top of our hopes; at the bottom of our pain and disappointment. “crisis” of an unwanted pregnancy. “Almost inevitably, those with Mary Ellen Hughes whom we have come in contact explain that they simply looked up ‘Catholic’ in the telephone directory and called whatever number they found listed, thinking that the Catholic Church would be able to help them,” Miss Hughes explained. “You are here, Father, and we beg you to bless us and our efforts by staying with us and reminding us of your presence more clearly and strongly than ever. “We pray that you will stay with us in a new gift of faith in our leaders, and support of their efforts in our continuous prayer for your guidance of them, Lord God of power and might. “We pray that you will stay with us in a new gift of hopefulness in the hearts of all who live and work here, a hopefulness expressed in simple things like warmth, friendliness and hospitality -- instead of coldness caused by fear. “We pray that you will stay with us in a new gift of love expressed both in the renewed dedication of our elected leaders to spend themselves for the good of all of us, and in a renewed respect of all of us for each other. “Calls have ranged from a young girl in Texas whose parents where throwing her out of their house to the mother of a 14-year-old girl who refused to continue going to a public school because it was becoming obvious that she is pregnant.” Taking the examples she has already encountered, Miss Hughes has developed a series of “Role Playing” situations that will be used to train those who have volunteered to assist in the counseling program. Training is now going on in both morning and evening sessions, each session limited to working with three volunteers. “We want to expose our counselors to every type of situation they might encounter,” Miss Hughes says. “Once we have enough trained volunteers, we hope that the program can be expanded to a 24-hour a day telephone service. Right now we are simply trying to make our volunteers comfortable in any situation they might encounter.” The program needs more than volunteers to handle telephone calls, Miss Hughes explained. Other areas in which the service needs assistance include housing for those in crisis; persons qualified to teach classes in childbirth education, nutrition, child care and parenting and (Continued on page 8) WASHINGTON (NC) - Calling on all citizens to participate in the political process, the Administrative Board of the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) has issued a major statement on political responsibility for the 1980 election year. The statement urges voters to examine the positions of candidates on the full range of issues as well as the candidates’ “integrity, philosophy and performance.” Noting that the U.S. bishops do not seek the formation of a “religious voting bloc,” the statement also contains synopses of more than a dozen issues which the bishops believe are important during the national debate in 1980. The statement is markedly similar to a 1976 statement by the same board called ‘‘Political Responsibility: Reflections on an o Election Year.” The latest statement, titled “Political Responsibility: Choices for the 1980s,” is described by USCC officials as an “updated version” of the 1976 declaration. Both statements refer to specific political issues but add that the board did so without reference to political candidates, parties or platforms. “Christian social teaching demands that citizens and public officials alike give serious consideration in all matters to the common good (and) to the welfare of society as a whole,” the statement VATICAN CITY (NC) - The largest assemblage of cardinals in history - 120 strong - began meeting Nov. 5 to discuss, amid an air of secrecy, Vatican finances and the church in the modern world. A small pool of reporters and news photographers was allowed in the Synod Hall of the Vatican’s modern Nervi Building to see the cardinals assemble at 5 p.m. and to hear introductory remarks in Latin by Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri, chief of three cardinal-presidents of the meeting, and the beginning of the ANNUAL EVENT BY MICHAEL MOTES Referring to a small group of pro-abortion pickets proclaiming that the Catholic Bishops violate the law of separation of Chuteh and State by spending money on the Pro-Life Movement, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan told an audience of nearly 200 at the Annual Archdioeesan Respect Life Day, “I deny a violation of law, but I am happy to plead guilty to supporting pro-life.” The day-long gathering at Mount remarks in a lengthy section on the church’s involvement in the political process. The statement said the church’s role in the political order includes educating on the teachings of the church, analyzing issues for their social and moral dimension, measuring public policy against Gospel values, and speaking out on public issues involving human rights, social justice and the life of the church in society. “Unfortunately, our efforts in this area are sometimes misunderstood,” the Administrative Board, composed of bishops from throughout the country, said. “The church’s participation in political affairs is not a threat to the political process or to genuine pluralism, but an affirmation of their importance, “The church recognizes the legitimate autonomy of government and the right of all, including the church itself, to be heard in the formulation of public policy,” according to the statement. The Administrative Board, citing Pope John Paul II’s statements on the dignity of the human being, pointed out that sometimes social injustice and the denial of human rights can be remedied only through governmental action. According to the board, the issues cited in the statement “represent a broad range of topics on which the (Continued on page 8) opening address by Pope John Paul II. The pope said the meeting centered on continuing “the general renewal” of the church begun by Vatican II. Twelve minutes after the meeting opened and before the papal talk began to move into substantive issues, the press was asked to leave and the meeting became closed. In addition to the pope and cardinals, 12 bishops and monsignors, mostly officials of the (Continued On page 6) Vernon Christian Academy drew representatives from throughout the Archdiocese of Atlanta, as well as some from the Diocese of Savannah. In his plea of guilty to supporting pro-life activities, Archbishop Donnellan elaborated, “This archdiocese spends money on a pregancy counseling service. Is this a violation of separation of Church and State? “This archdiocese supports Saint (Continued on page 6) TOP HONORS FOR best banner at the Archdiocesan Respect Life Day went to Our Lady of the Assumption School for their creation. Artists involved were Natalie Smith (front left), Kelly Curran, Mary McGreevy, Sister Judith Dianne McGowan, Ann Bracken and Bruce Adams. A > (Continued on page 6) New Service Meets Needs Bishops’ Meeting Agenda - Page 3 Renewal And Finances Studied By Cardinals Archbishop ‘Guilty’ Of Supporting Life r