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BISHOPS 9 MEETING Death Penalty, Laity’s Role On Agenda BY LIZ SCHEVTCHUK WASHINGTON (NC) - The U.S. bishops will be asked to consider the role of the laity, problems of capital punishment, Catholic higher education, and Marxism and communism when they hold their annual general meeting in Washington Nov. 10-13. In addition to the four proposed major statements on those items, the meeting agenda, released Oct. 27, also includes another vote on eliminating “sexist” language in the liturgy, the election of a new president and vice president for the bishops and a vote on new norms for seminaries in the United States. Archbishop Thomas Donnellan is one of 10 candidates for president. In the working document “The American Catholic Laity: 1980,” the bishops’ Committee on the Laity, chaired by Bishop Albert H. Ottenweller of Steubenville, states bishops “praise the Lord for what is happening among the laity and proclaim as best we can what we have been experiencing and learning from them.” The committee discusses the laity’s own “call to ministry” and says members “applaud this solidarity between laity and clergy as their most effective ministry and witness to the World.” The document likewise refers to Christian families must sometimes “choose a way of life that goes contrary to modern culture in such matters as sexuality, individual autonomy and material wealth,” participants in the 1980 world Synod of Bishops said in their closing message. The “Message to Christian Families in the Modem World,” read at the closing synod ceremony Oct. 25 is printed in full on page 7. the role of women: “We see the need for an increased role for women in the ministries of the church to the extent possible,” the statement notes. “We recognize the tensions and misunderstandings which arise on this question but we wish to face these as part of a sincere attempt to become true communities of faith.” Reviewed by lay groups and theologians, the statement has been unanimously endorsed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops-U.S. Catholic Conference advisory council. The bishops’ discussion of the death penalty follows similar debate in 1974 when the American hierarchy declared opposition to capital punishment. In the last six years, executions have been resumed in several states. The bishops’ statement, prepared by the bishops’ Committee on Social Development and World Peace, chaired by Bishop Edward D. Head of Buffalo, supports with theological and sociological rationales the call to end capital punishment. “We believe that in the conditions of contemporary American society, the legitimate purposes of punishment do not justify the imposition of the death penalty,” the document states. It cites as some reasons for this position “evils that are present in the practice of capital punishment itself,” and “important values” fostered by abolishing the death penalty. “We do believe that the defense of life is strengthened by eliminating exercise of a judicial authorization to take human life,” the committee writes. To deal with problems of crime and violence, it proposes a community (Continued on page 6) Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Vol. 18 No. 39 Thursday, November 6,1980 $8.00 per year Caring Once Again They gathered to make the plan work. Determination was their only muscle. Trust that the city of Atlanta, always too busy to hate, would cooperate was uppermost in their minds. It would all fall into place. The venerable Benjamin Mays, still President of Morehouse was chairman of that historic group. Rabbi Rothschild from the Temple was there. Ralph McGill of many human rights battles sat in and Don Holliwell, dusty from the civil rights road, said his share. The Arc hbishop rounded out the group. It was 1965 and Dr. Martin Luther King, a black minister’s son, was returning to his native city from Oslo. For years he had orchestrated a symphony of non-violent change across this land stirring the world to pause in admiration. Now, like a conquering Caesar, he was returning to his home bedecked with the supreme beatitude of the Nobel Institute. The Peace Prize. This little group of black and white community fathers were determined the moment of triumph would be fittingly marked in the new city of the new South. The Dinkier Hotel Ballroom, Atlanta’s finest at the time, was chosen. Fifteen hundred seats could be provided. Thousands of requests from across the city were received for tickets, causing immediate grief and consternation to that little committee. The requests, almost without exception, were from black communities. With stubborn, righteous, angry disappointment, the Mays committee dug in the heels. The moment would be fittingly marked by an audience representative of the entire city. It would be black and white together. Mays would jealously guard those tickets until consciences were awakened to the dignity of this honorable occasion. That’s the way it was as the new Atlanta came to life in the sixties. The Mays Committee, after weeks of crucial determined effort and public example of fraternal solidarity, splendorously succeeded. And the evening was a showcase for the nation. Atlanta has that same need again. Cries of community complacency are heard as mysterious attacks on helpless little children go unsolved. Blame is being hurled in the air. The new Right has arisen, polarizing pockets of our society. Minority crime goes unchecked in the streets and in the courts. And dialogue, so fruitfully time consuming in the past, is considered a wasteful tool belonging to yesterday’s patient, slower generation. Preaching is not the need. Time is the need. Time spent in understanding, listening and learning. Leadership, reaching across time-consyming tables of talk, is one answer that hopefully will produce a calmness of caring that once healed obvious wounds. Make it happen in Atlanta once again. Children’s Deaths Prompt Reconciliation Services BUFFALO UNITY DAY - Bishop Edward D. Head of Buffalo, N. Y., joins hands and sings “We Shall Overcome” with Charley Fisher, left, executive director of BUILD (Build Unity, Independence, Liberty and Dignity) of Buffalo and state Assemblyman Arthur O. Eve at the Unity Day Rally. A university student (below) joins in the song while a newly-made friend clings to her. About 5,000 Buffalo area residents turned out to show support for the black community following a series of six murders of black men in the city. Catholic School Debate: High Fervor, Low Funds BY GRETCHEN REISER If any new Catholic schools are to be built in the Archdiocese, the impetus will have to come from a task force involving several parishes, according to Father Richard Kieran, secretary for education. “The case for a new school would have to be made by some kind of interparochial task force,” probably including pastors, members of boards of education and interested parishioners, Father Kieran said. The group would have to undertake a “needs and feasibility study” to assess possible enrollment, possible sites, and possible sources of faculty for a regional school. Father Kieran’s remarks, underscored by later comments from Archbishop Thomas Donnellan, came at a workshop last week on the future of Atlanta Catholic schools. Some 400 parents crowded St. Pius High School Cafeteria, on the night of the presidential election debate, to argue the case for more Catholic schools. The workshop was sponsored by the Archdiocesan Parents’ Organization, a four-year-old service organization. While the meeting opened with reports from Father Kieran and Sister Valentina Sheridan, former superintendent from 1976 to 1980, on the status of existing schools, the question and answer period quickly turned to parents’ interest in new schools, or expansion of existing schools. Specific questions were raised about expanding St. Pius, developing a high school to serve the southern section of Atlanta, and providing schools for Gwinnett and Cobb county residents. On new schools’ construction, Father Kieran said that the Education Department would “work with any kind of interparochial task force,” but that the initiative would have to come from parishes. The primary job of the department is to oversee educational quality in existing schools, he said. However, several in the audience countered that they couldn’t form a task force because their pastors were discouraging them. “We don’t get the clergy’s support. I think we need to talk to some of the clergy,” said one woman. The audience broke into applause. Another said clergymen had told her “Archbishop Donnellan would never go along with that “when she raised the topic of building a school. “If our pastors are turning us down, where do we go? And how do we start?” asked Jane Heyer of St. Patrick’s Church in Norcross. “We’re not educators. This is what we’re asking for - some guidance that’s definite.” In response to a call by the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, about twenty-five Atlanta religious leaders have met at Central United Methodist Church in a series of meetings over the past two weeks. Concerned about the recent murders and disappearances involving fifteen black children, the group issued a statement, noting “how these tragedies underscore growing tensions and forces that are undermining the quality of life in the community as a whole.” “Although the immediate situation of crimes against children brought this group of clergy and religious leaders together,” the statement said, “Our coming together has emphasized for us the need of an on-going interfaith association within the religious community whose members will work for a better quality of life in the Atlanta area.” “As a result of our meetings, steps have been taken to form such a continuing interfaith organization,” it said. The statement, whose co-signers included Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, announced Wednesday’s Day of Reconciliation in Atlanta, calling upon residents to express their concern for those who suffer directly from the tragedies and “for the unity of our City in addressing basic social needs.” The day was to center around an Interfaith Service at the Amphitheater in Central City Park at noon “to express our sorrow for the suffering of our fellow citizens, to make intercession for a speedy end to these crimes and to recommit ourselves to the well being of all our citizens.” All citizens were to observe a minute of silent prayer at noon in respect for the dead and missing children, in concern for the justice and peace of the city, and as a statement against all violence. All Atlanta area churches that have bells were to ring them at noon as a symbol of their congregations’ concern for all people. MARTA was asked to halt all buses for one minute in cooperation with the city-wide gesture. COBB COUNTY residents Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Carbonara discuss school issue with Archbishop Donnellan after recent forum. Archbishop Donnellan, who was the last to speak, told the audience, “I’m not really going to give you the answers you’re eagerly awaiting to hear.” “I don’t mind confrontations, but I’m not much for making commitments under pressure that I can’t keep,” he said. He underscored national and archdiocesan support for Catholic schools, noting parish subsidies of schools, and archdiocesan financial support for St. Pius. However, he placed the debate over new schools in the context of other building commitments in the archdiocese. To the comment that there are no schools in Gwinnett County, he noted, “Twelve years ago my first Mass in Gwinnett County was in a laundromat. Now there are five parishes in Gwinnett County.” As a result of the need to build churches for new parishes quickly in recent years, the present debt of the Archdiocese is $6.4 million with new construction of $4.4 million waiting to be placed in the long-term borrowing market. The projected 1982-83 debt is $12.6 million, he said. With many parishes struggling to meet initial construction payments, and two or three unable to meet expenses he said, it is understandable that there is not unanimous support for building new schools. In addition, there is the question of finding faculty, and paying a decent wage, he said. “All of you have a personal and family interest in Catholic education,” he said. “There are plenty of people in your parishes who don’t share your enthusiasm.” But, he said, “You know the parish in which you live. You know the (Continued on page 6) £ > St. Anthony’s BY THEA JARVIS With news of yet another child’s death fresh in their ears, Atlantans gathered Nov. 2 at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church on Gordon Street to remember their dead. The feast of All Souls, the Church’s traditional day of commemoration for the deceased, was the setting for the ecumenical evening prayer service. It was the culmination of a day of prayer planned by the inner-city parish to “make explicit the connection between the grief shared by the community and the way in which our faith should fit into the whole picture,” according to Father John Adamski, pastor of St. Anthony’s. The day began with an overflow crowd at the 11:30 a.m. Mass. Throughout the afternoon, parishioners kept a vigil before the Blessed Sacrament. Over 150 people attended the evening service, which opened with an invocation by Father Isaac Miller, Episcopal Chaplain at the Atlanta University Center. Grace Davis, president of Atlanta Women Concerned Against Crime, led the response to the Old Testament reading, praying with the psalmist, “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” The New Testament selection was read by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, followed by Rev. Walter Kimbrough, pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church, who delivered the sermon. Rev. Kimbrough reminded those gathered at St. Anthony’s that “something good can happen in our community,” urging people to reach out to those around them. Speaking about the relatives of the children who have disappeared or been murdered in the city, Rev. Kimbrough said, “All those families are my kindred” and focused on the need to be concerned with more than just the safety of one’s own immediate family group. A free-will offering was taken up to help support the activities of the Committee to Stop Our Children’s Murders. Venus- Taylor, secretary- treasurer of STOP, expressed her personal grief over the news, coming just before the evening service, that another black child had been found slain in the city. Following the recitation of the Beatitudes, led by St. Anthony’s parishioner Karen Clemons, the congregation joined in the Lord’s Prayer. Atlanta city policemen, families of missing and dead children, (Continued on page 6) Forum On Draft How young people formulate their views on registration for the draft is examined in “For Our Times,” a program to be shown Sunday, Nov. 9, at 10:30 a.m. on WAGA-TV Channel 5. In Atlanta, Marist High School students are seen in a classroom discussion of the American Catholic Bishops’ statement on registration and college students at Emory University discuss with their school chaplains how to register as a conscientious objector. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) speaks of the necessity for the draft, while Rev. Barry Lynn raises the moral questions for Christians.