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Open Letter Of Grief Representatives of the Archdiocese joined last week with other Atlanta clergymen to express concern and offer assistance and deep sympathy to black families who have lost children to the series of slayings and disappearances in the city and in the explosion at the Bowen Homes’ Gate City Day Nursery. On Friday, Archbishop Thomas Donnellan and Rabbi Alvin M. Sugarman of The Temple, Dr. Paul T. Eckel, pastor of First Presbyterian Church and Bishop Bennett J. Sims of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta issued an open letter of sympathy. In it, they also called upon their religious communities to join in prayer and to support the request of Mayor Maynard Jackson for additional reward funds for information on the slayings and disappearances of 14 Atlanta children. The letter said: “We wish to share our deepest sympathy with our brothers and sisters in the black community of Atlanta, who have suffered such tragic losses in the series of murders and disappearances of children over the past months and the day-care center deaths of this week. “We urge our respective communities to join in prayer on behalf of the bereaved families and to ask God’s help in bringing to an end the killing of innocent children. “We call upon the religious community to join with all our citizens in responding to the mayor’s call to raise additional reward funds toward the capture of the perpetrator of these horrible crimes. “At a time like this we realize that human anguish and suffering know no boundaries, racial, religious, or otherwise. In our grief, we are united with our black brothers and sisters, and together pledge with them to do all within our power to put an end to these despicable murders and help reduce the present tensions that threaten our community.” Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 18 No. 37 Thursday, October 23,1980 $8.00 per year i. Ttetl Damien The lepers watched as he hammered the wood into place. St. Philomena’s was getting a new face. Rough and ready, working throughout the windswept tropical day, Father Damien ignored their curious stares. It was time to put the little beach-side church into shape and begin a worshipping community of the wounded Molokai. Wading ashore on this island of on that fateful day in May 1873, the peasant priest knew what lay ahead. Molokai was the leper island and leprosy was the definite sent ence of segregat ed doom meted out for life, on its victims. It was considered a contagious scourge. The sights welcoming his willing healthy hands and broad able back were hideous. Six hundred diseased souls, many of them facing immediate death, lay in odorous shacks. The disease had disguised human beings till they often resembled swarms of worms. Damien would quickly begin the use of tobacco to create some tolerance for his ministrations. Learning to dress their untended wounds was a hazardous skill. Applying that medication at leper bedsides was a mountainous martyrdom. But before the living, he must first tend the dead. Since only those touched by this affliction were hounded to Molakai, there were few healthy or willing hands to bury the dead. Dozens of victims lay almost totally exposed in the field beside St. Philomena’s Church. Alone and unresentful, the consecrated hands of this young, dazed Belgian missionary set about the awful task of creating his first graves. Hundreds more would be added, and one space, close to the Church, he would reserve for himself. It was inevitable. He knew it. St. Philomena’s was too small. The healthy lepers could and would come. For too long spiritual solace was available most irregularly. Adventurous missionary fathers would occasionally dash to their sides only to disappear before the awful terror of the unsightly disease. Damien was their immediate heroic savior. Days faded into weeks and he stayed. Lumber was delivered and St. Philomena’s was extended as those silent peasant hands carved out the wooden addition. Obviously he was going to stay. Yes, they were certain. In their Hawaiian rainbow of colors, hobbling on uncertain limbs, they answered the bell for his first Mass. The hymns of the islands were gratefully remembered and chanted. The breeze rolling from the peaks of the mighty surf passed through the church soothing away, temporarily, the stench of the terminal infection. Father Damien finished the Latin text of the Gospel and turned to address his newly gathered c /ngregation. Looking down at the rounded prisoners of this South Seas paradise he surrendered to the destiny that commanded his presence among them. His first words did not go unnoticed and were recorded for history. “We lepers.” SETTLEMENT - Workers enter the J. P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, N. C. to begin another day. After a 17-year battle between the nation’s second largest textile firm and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union over organizing the company, an agreement has been reached. (NC Photo) Stevens Settlement, Boycott Ends (NC News Service) Religious leaders in the J.P. Stevens boycott welcomed the news of a Stevens-union settlement but their enthusiasm was tempered by memories of the company’s 17-year history of labor struggles. “It sounds like a victory for the boycott, but Stevens has a history of really not being very forthright, so I’m restraining my enthusiasm,” Franciscan Sister Rita Nieland of Network said. Sister Nieland and other religious leaders said that although the boycott of Steven’s products has been dropped, they plan to continue monitoring the workers’ progress. Union members in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. voted Oct. 19 to accept a contract with J.P. Stevens and Co. Inc. The union-Stevens agreement includes 10 plants. The nation’s second largest textile company has fought to keep organized labor out of its 81 plants since 1963. The company signed two-and-a-half year contracts with members of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers at seven plants in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. and with three other plants in North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. In return the union agreed to end the four-year boycott. The vote came more than six years after the union won the right to represent Stevens workers. Stevens has been cited repeatedly by the National Labor Relations Board for failure to bargain in good faith and the union had been unable to obtain a contract. (Continued on page 6) BISHOPS: Accord Brings “Satisfaction” In the wake of the J. P. Stevens settlement, the Office of Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan released the following statement on behalf of the Southern Bishops who supported the boycott of the textile company: “The news of a settlement between the owners of the J. P. Stevens Company and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers brings a sense of real satisfaction to all concerned. The long struggle for Union recognition, with the division and bitterness it engendered has now been brought to a close and an agreement has been signed. The boycott, as a result, has ended and the workers have accepted the terms of the agreement. “To be sure, the J. P. Stevens Company continues to oppose unionization but has pledged itself not to interfere improperly in the unionization efforts of the workers. There will be a long road ahead before the textile workers are fully unionized, if ever, but many real obstacles have been removed from the path. “The Bishops of the Province of Atlanta and the Diocese of Richmond have been involved in the struggle between J. P. Stevens and its workers over several years. Earlier this year, with some reluctance, we supported the boycott. It is appropriate for us now to express our satisfaction in the recent turn of events and to salute those who, on both sides of the table, assisted in resolving the problem. For our part, we continue to offer our services to both parties if any efforts of ours might be of use. “With the pledge of the Stevens Company to permit legitimate unionization efforts at their plants, a giant-step forward has been taken by the textile workers. This unionization places a real responsibility on the Unions involved, one that includes sincere efforts at collective bargaining and a just treatment of minorities, especially women and Blacks, in the operation of the Unions. We are hopeful that with each side accepting its appropriate responsibilities we can look forward to the time ahead as one of peace and prosperity for all concerned.” Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan, Archbishop of Atlanta, Ga. Most Rev. Michael J. Begley, Bishop of Charlotte, N. C. Most Rev. F. Joseph Gossman, Bishop of Raleigh, N. C. Most Rev. Raymond W. Lessard, Bishop of Savannah, Ga. Most Rev. Walter F. Sullivan, Bishop of Richmond, Va. Most Rev. Ernest L. Unterkoefler, Bishop of Charleston, S. C. Synod Doors Close For Debate VATICAN CITY (NC) - A shroud of secrecy descended on the world Synod of Bishops as the participants entered the critical final week which involves voting on conclusions and a synod message. On Oct. 20 Archbishop Joseph Bemardin of Cincinnati presented a draft synod message to the world and West German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Munich and Freising presented a draft list of 50 propositions that the 200-plus synod fathers could approve, disapprove or amend. The synod is scheduled to end Oct. 26. But the drafts were issued “sub secreto” (under secrecy), and at the end of the morning session the bishops were told in three languages that they were not to be released. Information obtained by NC News Service indicated that the draft propositions presented by Cardinal Ratzinger, the synod’s relator, consisted of 50 items. NC News also learned that the draft of the synod message, composed by an elected five-member committee, consisted of six parts. - An introduction saying that the message is directed to all families. - A description of the situation that the family finds itself in today. - A doctrinal part, placing family life in the context of God’s plan for salvation and emphasizing the witness to God’s plan of love and life, to the permanence of marriage and the transmission of life to which Christian families are called. - A section of the response of people to God’s plan. - A section on the church and the family. -- A conclusion encouraging families to meet the challenges of Christian family life today. Theme of the synod is: “The Role of the Christian Family in the World of Today.” Details of the 50 propositions were not immediately learned. Judging from the proceedings of the synod before the final week, the topics in the draft list probably include: -- A reaffirmation of “Humanae Vitae,” the 1968 papal encyclical that said the use of artificial means of contraception is intrinsically wrong, and a call for fuller understanding of that teaching and better explanation of it in terms of a positive theology of human sexuality. -- A reaffirmation of the indissolubility of marriage, but a call (Continued on page 6) SYNOD STROLL - Archbishop Joseph Bemardin of Cincinnati formerly Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta and Archbishop John R. Quinn of San Francisco walk in Vatican City. (NC Photo) Pilgrimage To Addiction BY MSGR. NOEL BURTENSHAW The painful pilgrimage began with pot. She would stumble all the way down the torturous stairway to addiction, meeting and testing every drug along the way. At every step she would battle and lose to the hideous monsters called depression, loneliness and fear. She would forfeit the respect of others, gain self-hatred and walk to the ultimate edge of despair. Her 10-year journey, from experimenting adolescent to raving poly-addicted drug user and finally to recovery, is a blistering tale of pain and survival. Nancy Ann Nurse, we will call her. She comes from good New Orleans Catholic stock. Her mother was a nurse and her father a trucking executive. “In the late sixties we moved to Atlanta and I went to St. Pius. It was a good school and I can honestly say, I never got any drugs there.” Nancy, as a high school student, did get drugs from her college boyfriend. “He was on marijuana and gave the stuff to me. Why did I take it? It was the thing to do.” T hat was the first step in Nancy’s pilgrimage. In her senior year another dimension was added. Beer. Now she had her joint and her beer. “I had them only on weekends,” remembers Nancy. “It was just casual use.” After graduation Nancy went to a small college in South Georgia with the idea of studying nursing. “Everyone seemed to smoke,” she recalls, “and to study for exams a lot of my friends used speed.” It was the next step. With casual ease Nancy began to take valium - just to help her study habits. College was fun and even adventurous when curfew rules were ignored. “The weekend parties were constant,” recalls Nancy “and drugs were a big part of the scene.” But not just pot. Mysterious mood changers were a part of the circuit. L.S.D., mescaline and other hallucinogenics were available. Nancy was soon into them all, moving faster now along her addictive road. “I still did not see a problem,” she says. “You don’t think of yourself as an addict - you don’t even think you are an abuser. You are not going to jump through a window. You are just having a good time.” The college authorities didn’t see it that way. Nancy was suspended for rule breaking so she came to Atlanta and got a job. “For three years I worked,” she remembers, “and in that time I was moderate in my use' of drugs. Mostly social use and on weekends.” But another element was added. At this time Nancy first began using hard liquor. “I moved up from beer to scotch. It was another step on the road to disaster that I failed to see.” Nancy Ann was dissatisfied with her work (“I was always on the move, running”) and went back to South Georgia to get her (Continued on page 6) The Unhandicapped-3 (Third In A Series) “You don’t think of yourself as an addict - you don’t even think you are an abuser. You are not going to jump through a window. You are just having a good time.”