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Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 18 No. 4 Thursday, January 24,1980 $6 Per Year DUTCH SYNOD 7l*el The Supreme Court They called him the “Great Dissenter.” He was the only Justice sitting on the 1896 Supreme Court who said NO to the proposition. John Marshall Harlan simply could not see it. It was the famous Plessy vs Ferguson decision. With the exception of the disgruntled Harlan, the venerable judical panel declared as constitutional the maintenance of separate but equal facilit ies for the black and white races. S egregated schools thereby received the benevolent blessing of the law. Fifty eight years later, the Supreme Court changed its legal mind. In the 1954 Brown vs the Board of Education ruling, the law was differently viewed, John Marshall Harlan was vindicated, and school segregation ceased. There are other examples of error in the chambers of the Supreme Justices. In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, a field hand and a slave, was not a citizen, nor was he a person under the Constitution. Obviously again a reversal was needed and for all practical purposes Dred was re-awarded his personhood, a decision the poor man never lived to see. What do these historic moments tell us? One fact: The Supreme Court is a body of fallible, intelligent lawyers appointed by the President, practicing the ideals of his own political party. The court makes mistakes. The court is political. On January 22, 1973, in a life and death decision, the court ruled constitutionally on the rights of women. In a seven to two decision the Justices stated, not only that women have legal rights over their own bodies, not only that these rights included the destruction of an unborn fetus, not only that the law of the land would now protect the life of the woman ignoring the life of the fetus -- but that the fetus was in fact and in law not a person at all. After such lengthy laborious legislation that illogically once more denied personhood to millions, you would suppose that the court would tell us exactly WHAT THE FETUS IS under the law. It didn’t. The history of the Supreme Court’s dealings with human behavior and human rights is a history of many blind blunders. As decisions have been reversed in the past they will be reversed in the future. The 1973 ruling which denies “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to millions of innocent defenseless children can be mercifully stricken from the sad listing of poor law. Our immovable vocal stand for reform is the only necessary committment needed. On Sunday next at the Cathedral of Christ the King a Family Night for Life is being celebrated. As a testimony of our refusal to accept this intolerable interpretation of our Constitution, as a sign mourning the loss of our brothers and sisters, martyrs to this law, we should be there. Vatican Makes Move To Balance Bishops DUTCH SYNOD - Pope John Paul II reads his speech to Dutch Bishops during a Mass celebrated in the Matilde Chapel at the Vatican. The Particular Synod of Dutch Bishops was called by the pope to deal with issues within the Dutch church and will continue through Jan. 26. Evangelization Conference Set The Archdiocesan Committee for Evangelization has invited the lay Evangelization Coordinators from each parish to participate in a leadership conference on Saturday, February 2. The conference will take place in the Southern Conference Priest’s Death Being Probed LONDON (NC) - Information about the death in prison under suspicious circumstances of a secretly ordained priest in Czechoslovakia have reached Keston College, the center near London for the study of religion and communism. “This was the third report received by Keston College in 1979 of priests dying in Czechoslovakia in obscure circumstances,” said Keston News Service. “Such reports reach the West with great difficulty and are usually impossible to authenticate to our satisfaction.” , The news service said the latest case involved Father Michael Gono, who was ordained in secret in 1974. It said the information about the priest came from a recent refugee having first-hand information about the case. According to Keston College, Father Gono was arrested in March 1979 and charged with theft. After being detained for three months a further charge of sexual misconduct was brought against him. At the trial, however, witnesses said that Father Gono had been ordained in secret. The prosecution claimed that the secret ordination and the priest’s pastoral activities were a violation of the law and Father Gono was sentenced to two years in prison. He died in prison around July 21 awaiting a new trial scheduled for July 26,1979. The cause of death was officially stated to be a fall from a scaffolding, but a doctor who examined the body said Father Gono was dead before his body fell, said the Ke'ston News Service. The warden responsible for Father Gono said he died under interrogation during which the authorities tried to extract from him the names of other secretly ordained priests, added the news service. Parish Goals It is the largest goal in the young history of the Archdiocesan Charities Drive. This year the Drive Committee has set the overall goal at 550,000 dollars. Each parish has been assigned an individual goal for this one day cash drive. The parish goals may be seen on page 8. Center, Colony Center, Atlanta from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. The conference is being designed by the Archdiocesan Committee to help parish leaders plan for future parish evangelization efforts. A variety of seminars will be offered to meet the diverse needs of the parishes in the Archdiocese. The entire program will be presented by members of the Archdiocesan Committee and experienced lay evangelizers from the Archdiocese. Father Richard Kieran, Chairman of the Archdiocesan Committee on Evangelization, said: “We are really pleased with the response from most of our parishes to the Year of Outreach. Many have undertaken new outreach efforts and are becoming much more aware of their mission to evangelize. However, some of the leaders have been asking for more assistance in planning for a total process of evangelization in the future. We hope to help the Evangelization Coordinators with the planning process in the upcoming Leadership Conference.” The Conference will include a display of resource materials for parish evangelization efforts. Detailed information on the Conference has been mailed to all Evangelization Coordinators and Pastors. Further information can be obtained from Father Richard Kieran - 881-6643. Official Archbishop Donnellan announces the following pastoral appointment: FATHER EDWARD SWEENEY as Assistant Pastor at St. John Vianney Parish in Lithia Springs. This assignment is effective January 4,1980. VATICAN CITY (NC) - As the Particular Synod of Dutch Bishops moved into its final days, the focus of attention was a proposal which could open the door to the naming of additional conservative-minded bishops. The proposal calls for creation of three to six new dioceses. The current liberal-conservative split in the Dutch hierarchy is five to two in favor of the liberals. The naming of additional bishops is aimed at an equal division in the number of liberals and conservatives. The proposal was revealed in a summary released Jan. 19 by the Vatican. Although the summary identified 2 none of the speakers at the synod ° sessions, the proposal was believed to have been made by Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, and strongly opposed by at least three Dutch bishops who are considered liberals. The three were said to be Bishops Johannes W.M. Bluyssen of s’Hertogenbosch, Theodorus Henricus Zwartkruis of Haarlem and Hubertus C.A. Ernst of Breda. Along with Cardinal Jan Willebrands of Utrecht and Bishop Johannes B. Moller of Groningen they make up the liberal contingent of the Dutch hierarchy. Bishops Adrianus J. Simonis of Rotterdam and Johannes B.M. Gijsen of Roermond are known as conservatives. The proposal allegedly made by Cardinal Baggio calls for the division of the Utrecht, Roermond and s’Hertogenbosch dioceses and the assignment of Cardinal Willebrands - president of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference - to full-time work in the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity. Cardinal Willebrands currently is president of the unity secretariat, sharing these duties with his responsibilities in the Netherlands. If the new bishops named by Pope John Paul II would be of the same mind as Bishops Simonis and Gijsen, a numerical balance between liberals and conservatives could be achieved. The episcopal changes would not assure, however, that the Dutch Catholic laity would be able to resolve a similar liberal-conservative split in their ranks. The appointments of Bishops Simonis and Gijsen by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and 1972 caused a furor among the liberal Dutch laity and clergy which has not yet completely died down. According to Ben Spekman, assistant press officer for the Dutch bishops, the division of dioceses has been a topic of conversation in the Dutch church since the 1950s when the Rotterdam and Groningen dioceses were created. At the synod sessions Jan. 18, the bishops took an “informal vote” and agreed to begin a lengthy new study on the possible subdivision of dioceses, Spekman said. The study will not be completed until well after the Jan. 14-26 synod ends, he added. The proposal was one of the most significant developments during the first week of the Dutch synod, which also featured lengthy discussions on such topics as lay pastoral workers, the naming of bishops, the use of mass media, the role of bishops and the training of priests. Other issues scheduled to be considered included sacramental matters, religious education and ecumenism, Spekman said. Issues such as homosexuality and contraception are not on the synod agenda, the press officer added. As the synod began a small group of Dutch homosexuals demonstrated at the Vatican. They asked that the issue of homosexuality be discussed and displayed banners criticizing Pope John Paul. No final document is expected to be issued at the close of the synod, Spekman said, because the discussions are intended to be an open exchange of views rather than a process leading to absolute conclusions. One unusual aspect of the Dutch synod is the presence at the sessions of Henk Kouwenhoven, a layman who is press officer for the Dutch bishops. The move to admit a lay press officer was backed by Pope John Paul, and one of the synod’s early actions was a vote on whether Kouwenhoven should be allowed to attend the sessions, said Spekman. All 21 participants in the synod agreed to the step, and the pope has been attempting since then to make Kouwenhoven feel at ease in the overwhelmingly clerical assembly, (Continued on page 6) Year Of The Family: Part IV Editor’s Note; Next week’s story will feature “The Hurting Family. ” BY MARY ELLEN DuVARNEY Working in social services has given me the opportunity to observe the pain and strengths of broken families. For many couples the decision to end their marriage where children are involved is a difficult one, even when the marriage has caused considerable grief for both husband and wife. These couples try different options before deciding to break up the family unit. As parents they want a good life for their children. They realize that ideally children need a father and a mother. But when they finally decide they can no longer live together as a couple, the inevitability of a family split must be faced. They explain the decision to the children. They separate, however painfully, and then share responsibility for rearing the children, now in separate homes. There are even more painful broken families. These occur when one parent has so much difficulty in the marriage and internally that the person simply leaves the family. This type of situation was recently portrayed in the film, “Kramer vs Kramer.” In this case the father was given the opportunity to experience the frustrations and joys of being the single parent to his young son. The father began to mature in a more caring way than had been possible when his wife assumed the majority of the parenting role. I remember counseling a The Broken Family similar couple in Worcester, Mass. The very depressed mother, Betty, had been in the state hospital for a few weeks under her doctor’s supervision. Betty decided the frustrations of her marriage were too much for her, and she moved to another city to live with her sister. I encouraged her to seek counseling there which she did. This left her husband, Don, alone with six children between the ages of three and twelve. He felt overwhelmed and called his parents to come and stay with him. They cared for the children during the hours he worked. Don came to Catholic Charities for counseling. At first he was angry at his wife. He compared her most unfavorably to his adored sister, Lou, who had eleven children and still managed everything in her home perfectly. Don needed help to see his wife’s role as a mother more realistically. One of the highlights of working with this family was the opportunity for Don and the older children to have a family session with a psychologist from the N.Y.C. Jewish Family Services. This psychologist had come to Catholic Charities to demonstrate the then innovative technique of family interviewing. He helped the family to express their grief over the absence of Betty from their lives. Eventually this story had a happy ending. Betty and Don forgave each other, and Betty returned to her family. Many other families do not have this opportunity to heal and start again. There are situations in which one partner is unwilling or unable to maintain a commitment to the family. Then the single parent who is left has all of the responsibility for the children. At these times community resources are invaluable. A Big Brother or Big Sister may be needed. Camps fill in the summer days when a parent must continue to work. Counseling keeps the family communication open and helps the children to accept the authority of the single parent. Groups for parents and teens allow the family members to find people with similar problems. We need to be aware of these broken families in our midst, where we work and go to church or school. As concerned people, we can reach out to these families to involve them in our lives, so they do not feel isolated in this impersonal society. Catholic Social Services is beginning a Family Life Education Program in February. I hope that parents and children in all types of families will be involved to share and grow as we explore the needs of parishioners in our greater Atlanta community.