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Draft Dilemma: Counseling Available
BY THEA JARVIS
This summer, 19-and 20-year-old male Americans were required to register
for the draft.
Considering the lingering echoes of the anti-Vietnam War era, it was a
registration that passed with only minor upheaval. Below the surface calm,
however, is a real concern that registration is only the first step in the long,
tired march toward a full-fledged peacetime draft.
The Catholic position on the July registration was capsulized in a statement
by the Bishops of Minnesota urging cooperation in registration, but pledging
“adequate education, guidance and help” for young men who may have to
decide whether to comply with an eventual order to enter the military.
Locally, Church concern is evidenced by increased draft counseling activity
on the part of campus ministers.
Father Joe Holohan, O.F.M. is part of the campus ministry team at the
University of Georgia in Athens. He sees the draft question as “a serious
decision for young people to make” and reflects that such a decision should
not be made alone.
“This is a religious process for a young person. The Church needs to be
there offering support and counsel.”
Draft counseling is not new to Father Joe, who was active in the Draft
Information Service during the late 60’s and early 70’s.
“The last time around I was too old to carry a draft card. Since I couldn’t
make that decision personally, it would have been hypocritical of me to stand
on one side or the other of the draft issue.”
“What I could do was work with young men and help them understand how
the law affected them.”
At present, Father Joe perceives a need for a re-focusing on counseling
because of the precariousness of the political situation.
“We have to proceed on the assumption that a full draft after the election is
a real possibility. In Athens, young naval officers question the adequacy of our
military establishment. Our whole society is putting renewed emphasis on
military preparedness.”
The University of Georgia is gradually coming back to life after a slow,
steamy summer. In the coming year, those interested in draft counseling can
find help from campus ministers and older students alike who will have been
trained in this field.
Upcoming workshops designed for the training of draft counselors will be
held in Atlanta this month. Sponsored by Clergy and Laity Concerned, the
workshops will give form and substance to the options available to possible
draftees.
Susan Sendelbach, who with Father Joe Cavallo forms the Catholic campus
team that ministers to Agnes Scott, Georgia State and Emory University, will
be among the workshop panelists meeting in September.
Susan urges young adults to form their consciences on the draft issue.
“The recent registration gave no pre-classification to the handicapped, the
student, the conscientious objector, or any other registrants. If and when the
draft is implemented, conscientious objectors will have only 10 days to get
their documentation in order for approval of their status. They need to begin
this process now.”
Documentation for conscientious objector status is basically a file of written
proof stating that for some time the individual has opposed war on religious
and moral grounds.
Susan Sendelbach stresses the need for young women as well as young men
to address this issue.
“The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the validity of the
summer registration on the basis that it discriminated against women.”
“If the Supreme Court agrees and nullifies the registration, the government
can easily call for another registration for men and women. Although the
ACLU feels this may mean a further victory for the anti-war camp because of
the objection to women draftees, women still need to be ready.”
Along with Father Holohan, Susan senses that the mood of the country is
hawkish.
“It frightens me to think about it, but it seems as though we’re churning up
for conflict. I am hoping that through education, counseling and prayer, the
Church can offer other alternatives.”
“I have to believe we are bright enough to settle issues without blowing each
other’s heads off. The Church can witness to this.”
More On The Draft - Pg. 3
(The Atlanta Coalition Against Registration and the Draft, part of a national draft
counseling network, operates a local hotline to serve those with questions on registration
and the draft. Phone: 523-3264).
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol 18 No. 30
Thursday, September 4,1980
$8.00 per year
Higgins Speaks
For The Poor
WASHINGTON (NC) - In his
final Labor Day statement before
retirement, Msgr. George G. Higgins
has called for a vigorous defense of
the needs of the poor.
He said society must not ignore
the poor even though there are
tremendous economic pressures to
do so.
“Under the pretext or pretense of
managing our economy, social
programs are being severely cut back,
labor’s right to organize is being
effectively thwarted in many
industries, unemployment has been
allowed to rise to intolerable levels,
and the poor and aged are being left
to their own devices for survival,”
said Msgr. Higgins.
Msgr. Higgins, a member of the
U.S. Catholic Conference staff for 36
years, announced his retirement
earlier this year effective Sept. 1. He
will be 65 next January.
The long-time labor advocate,
who preached at the funeral Mass last
January of AFL-CIO president
George Meany, for many years has
issued an annual statement for Labor
Day.
This year’s statement traces the
recent history of the church’s
traditional advocacy of the poor and
its teachings regarding the right to
collective bargaining.
Msgr. Higgins complained that the
effort to “turn back the clock” on
society’s concern for the poor raises ^
serious questions for the future.
“Are we in danger of becoming an
increasingly atomized society in
which private gain is placed above
social and religious values?” he
asked.
“Will our national and global
communities be torn apart by the
struggle for limited resources? Will
our economic problems be ‘solved’ at
the expense of the poor and the
weak both at home and abroad?
“The answer depends upon our
willingness to place the values of
human dignity and equality at the
heart of the debate over our nation’s
future,” he said.
Msgr. Higgins said current
economic problems are no greater
than the problems faced by the
country when it emerged from the
First World War.
At that time, he noted, the U.S.
bishops’ conference, then known as
the National Catholic Welfare
Conference, predecessor of the
USCC, issued the “Bishops’ Program
for Social Reconstruction.”
“It was one of the most
forward-looking social documents of
its time, and it helped to establish
the church in the United States as a
leading proponent of a more just
social order,” said Msgr. Higgins.
The document, Msgr. Higgins
noted, called for giving workers a
“proper share” in industrial
management as well as for minimum
wage legislation, a major social
insurance program, a full
employment program, progressive
taxation and a wider ownership of
property.
“This tradition of vigorous
advocacy on behalf of human dignity
needs to be kept alive and creatively
kept up to date in light of our
current economic crisis,” Msgr.
Higgins said.
Msgr. Burtenshaw’s column,
Soundings, will resume after his
vacation.
LABOR’S PAUSE - A man wipes the grease and grime from his
hands and prepares for his annual Labor Day rest.
ANGLICAN-CATHOLIC ISSUE
U.S. Bishops To Plan
For “Common Identity”
(Staff and Wire Reports)
Certain Anglicans in the United
States seeking entrance into the
Roman Catholic Church, including
some married clergymen, may be
admitted with a “common identity”
under terms to be established by the
U.S. Bishops and to be approved by
the Vatican.
Questions Raised
WASHINGTON (NC) - While the
U.S. bishops have taken the first
steps toward admitting some married
Anglican clergymen into the Catholic
priesthood, the move has raised
several questions that have yet to be
answered.
One is the number of such priests
who might ultimately be admitted to
the Catholic priesthood. Another is
the future of relationships between
Catholics and Anglicans worldwide.
The Episcopal Church in the United
States is a member of the Anglican
Communion.
The first step came in an
announcement Aug. 20 that the
Vatican has approved a proposal by
the U.S. bishops to develop terms
(Continued on page 5)
The decision to develop provisions
for admitting Anglicans under such
“common identity” was announced
by Archbishop John R. Quinn of San
Francisco on Aug. 20. Archbishop
Quinn is president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Archbishop Quinn said the
decision was made by the Vatican’s
Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith in reply to inquiries from the
NCCB, and that the decision had
been approved by Pope John Paul II.
Emphasizing that many details
remain to be worked out,
Archbishop Quinn said terms of the
arrangement include provisions for
married Anglican clergymen to
continue in ministry.
A statement released by the
NCCB raised the question of possible
reordination for Anglican clergymen,
saying “their ordination as Roman
Catholic priests can be allowed in
keeping with the customary norms
and practices of the Roman Catholic
Church.”
According to the statement, the
U.S. bishops’ conference raised the
question of possible “common
identity” in response to specific
requests “from both individuals and
groups of Anglican background who
have been members of the Episcopal
Church.”
Archbishop Quinn said in the
statement that the decision applies
only to persons who, while wishing
to retain some elements of the
Anglican tradition, fully accept
Roman Catholic doctrine and the
authority of the pope and bishops.
The announcement noted that the
terms under which the Anglicans
would be admitted to the Catholic
Church are still to be established and
must still be approved by the
Vatican’s Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.
The admission of married
Anglican priests into full communion
with the Catholic Church could lead
to the only time that married priests
could be ordained legitimately in the
United States.
Eastern-rite churches, which have
married priests in other countries, are
not permitted to ordain married
priests in the United States.
According to Ukrainian-Rite
Archbishop Myroslav J. Lubachivsky
of Philadelphia, there are some
Eastern-Rite married priests
(Continued on page 5)
POLISH LABOR CRISIS
Church Major Third Force
NC NEWS SERVICE
The Catholic Church emerged as a major third force in the Polish
labor crisis through a series of statements by Polish church leaders and
Pope John Paul II.
Amid on-again, off-again talks between worker and communist
government representatives in Gdansk, the bishops of Poland issued a
joint statement Aug. 28 that supported the strikers’ key demands.
Among “the nation’s inalienable rights” the bishops listed freedom of
speech and the press, the right to private land ownership, and the
freedom of workers to form and join unions of their choice.
The last item, independent trade unions, was the key workers’
demand. The government’s concession on that point reportedly formed
the basis for an agreement ending the strikes this week.
Other major church involvement in the strike included:
- Papal prayers for Poland and messages of solidarity to the bishops,
including a letter to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Warsaw and Gniezno
which Polish authorities censored as subversive.
- Major public statements by Cardinal Wyszynski, carefully balancing
defenses of workers’ rights with strong appeals to strikers for moderation
and compromise.
- Coverage of one of the cardinal’s talks on state television and in the
official communist paper, Trybuna Ludu (People’s Tribune), and a
protest by the Polish bishops of the coverage. Lengthy coverage in the
state-controlled press of speeches by religious leaders is rare.
- Papal portraits and Vatican flags decorating strike centers.
- Masses, confessions and other church services for strikers occupying
the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk.
- Hunger strikes initiated in two Polish Catholic churches backing
another of the strikers’ demands, freedom for political detainees.
Polish-born Pope John Paul, a firm defender and theoretician of
human rights, was such a key symbolic figure behind the strikers that an
exiled Soviet dissident, Vladimir Maximov, commented, “With his words z
he has given more support than anyone else to the struggle of the Polish
workers.”
U.S. Representative William H. Boner (D-Tenn.) sent a letter to the
pope asking him to mediate the conflict.
“You are the only major world figure who has the objectivity, the
influence and the respect to carry on such a delicate task,” the letter
said.
(Continued on page 5)
STRIKERS IN PRAYER - Striking workers
of Lenin shipyards kneel in prayer inside the
shipyards in Gdansk, Poland. Meanwhile
relatives and supporters of the strikers also were
kneeling in prayer outside the gates to the yard.
The workers, who left their jobs on August 14,
returned early this week in an agreement which
won major concessions from the Polish
government.
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