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Vol. 19 No. 17 Thursday, April 23,1981 $8.00 per year BREAD FOR THE WORLD New Tilt At World Hunger BY JIM LACKEY WASHINGTON (NC) - Fresh from a victory last year with the establishment of an emergency wheat reserve, Washington’s anti-hunger lobby has launched a campaign to gain enactment of a new “hunger and global security bill.” The measure, introduced in the House in March as H.R.2793, is described as a comprehensive effort toward the elimination of world hunger and malnutrition while contributing to the political security of both the United States and the international community. Sponsored by Reps. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) and Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.), the measure is being pushed primarily by Bread for the World, a religious group which is one of the major food lobbies in Washington, along with the support of other religious organizations such as the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. Springing at least partly from the recommendations issued a year ago by the Presidential Commission on World Hunger, the bill starts from the premise that world hunger and poverty may be an even greater threat to national and international security than the arms race or world communism. The presidential commission, for instance, remarked in its report that efforts to conquer hunger would be more than just an act of charity but rather would hold the key to a future secure world. The bill’s proponents take the same position, saying that hunger and poverty inevitably lead to social unrest and large-scale refugee problems when the “have nots” see what they are being denied by the “haves.” Such unrest can disrupt the flow of raw materials, adversely affect the world economy and tempt superpower intervention, they say. Rather than throwing additional money at the world hunger problem, however, the bill purports to make several changes in the way current aid programs are administered. For instance, the bill establishes new self-help standards under which countries receiving U.S. food aid would have to show their own efforts to increase local agricultural production. It also would establish new food aid standards to ensure that food would go to the neediest families in the poorest countries rather than to the countries now receiving food aid because of their strategic importance or their long-term friendship with the United States. Also, the bill would prohibit the United States from imposing grain embargoes which might cause malnutrition, except in cases of (Continued on page 6) SUPPER has ended and it’s time for a chat before bed. Friendships are renewed after a day’s MEN’S SHELTER It’s Like Home... adventure on the streets. ... It Is Home BY MSGR. NOEL C. BURTENSHAW Night had just fallen when I arrived at Clifton Presbyterian Church. I could just see that it was a small complex. Small in geographic space, that is. In service, it is just gigantic. The church-hall, the dining room areas and the little corridors are full of men. These men are not your executive types-you see that right away. But a note of contentment comes from them as they relax, read or chat animatedly among themselves and with interested church members. These are men from the streets of Atlanta. They are homeless men, jobless men, the last of this country’s wandering vagabonds. They want to stay in this city, but they are ready to move on when the mysterious call comes-whenever it happens or whatever it is. They have just had their evening meal. It was prepared by Anne and Gilbert Nicholson who live in Sandy Springs but come here to this tiny Decatur church where they feel the Christian community at work. “It is a wonderful apostolate,” says Anne. “It is a real sharing of yourself with brothers in need.” Anne and Gilbert have brought their three tiny children. Grace-she is about five-is challenging one of the men to a game of checkers. Desperately she wants to beat him. The ragged, unshaven opponent is having the time of his life just being involved with this little girl in the beautiful fray of a shared, companionable game of checkers. The two boys will talk to anyone about sports and find plenty of takers. “Sure, man, we’ve caught a few fly-balls in our time.” Over in the corner, a bright-eyed black brother picks a song, blue and mellow, on the preacher’s guitar. A couple of the guys harmonize. It’s nice in the night. It’s like home. It is home. And in the winter, it was paradise for 35 men each night. Rev. Ed Loring is the pastor. Six years ago, he and his wife, Murphy, came to Clifton when the great old church was dying. “It was passing into a new phase,” says Ed, “and we were looking for a new apostolate. Well, we found it. And for our 25 members (that’s all the official membership they have) it was a program we wanted.” Hundreds of men and women live on the streets of Atlanta every night. They have no home and nowhere to go. “You need money to sleep each night,” says Ed, “and many of them don’t have it.” To stay at the Union Mission and other night shelters cost $3 per night and more. There are a few places women can go. “You know what they do?” asks Ed Loring. “They ride the bus till the buses stop. And you know what the greatest danger is? Cold and rain, yes. But worse than that - violence. They are Protestors Deplore Navy’s Name For Sub (BURTENSHAW) BY NC NEWS SERVICE The naming of a nuclear attack submarine “Corpus Christi” has sparked protests from religious leaders pointing out the irony of giving a weapon a name which in Latin means “Body of Christ.” “It’s the name of a city,” in Texas William Ball told the Providence (R.I.) Journal. Ball, chief clerk of the armed services committee, said, “I don’t know why they’re objecting now. The first call I got was from some kook who claims to represent the Catholic Church. But he’s a little late and anyway, this isn’t religious. It’s the name of a city.” Navy officials said they had no plans to change the name chosen by Navy Secretary John H. Lehman. FRAN NICHOLSON gets ready to take on the latest challenge in a game of checkers. All is forgotten as this yoting lady from Sandy Springs takes on one of her street friends across the empty supper table. brutalized knd out there on Atlanta’s streets they are unprotected.” About 18 months ago Clifton began the program. Each evening Ed Loring or his associate, Rob Johnson, drives a creaky old bus downtown to a point known to the men. Tickets have been distributed and the 35 with a ticket may board the bus. “It’s heart-breaking,” says Ed, “leaving so many behind on cold nights. But we can only take 35. The rest must make it on the streets.” (Continued on page 6) The Navy has named all its 688-class fast-attack submarines after U.S. cities. Sen. John G. Tower (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was instrumental in having the submarine, built by Electric Boat, General Dynamics in Groton, Conn., named after a city in his home state. Archbishop John Whealon of Hartford, Conn, said the sub’s war-making capabilities make the name “inappropriate” and offensive to Catholics. Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of Norwich, Conn, said in a statement April 16 that he deplored the naming of the submarine, “capable of such great destruction, after the prince of peace, Jesus Christ. It is an action that is offensive to the faith and conscience of millions of Americans and totally inappropriate in a nation that respects an individual’s right to belief and to worship.” “End of the World,” “Most Hideous Sin,” or “Man’s Lack of Conscience,” were Father Edmund S. Nadolny’s suggestions for names for the submarine. Father Nadolny, director of the Office of Radio and Television of the Hartford Archdiocese, planned a protest for the April 25 launching of the sub at Groton, where he has demonstrated before. He said he hoped the protest would draw over 4,000 people. “Christ died for our sins and he’s being identified with the worst of mankind - a nuclear attack,” Father Nadolny said. “The arms race is causing the mystical body of Christ to suffer,” he continued, saying he objected “to identifying Christ with the cause of suffering.” Corpus Christi, Texas was named specifically in honor of the body of Christ, the priest said, “there is real religious basis to this .. . Quakers wouldn’t allow a sub to be called ‘William Penn.’” Father Nadolny said April 15 that he is trying to bring the submarine to the attention of as many people as possible because “my one voice is unimportant.” He believes “anyone with a Christian heritage” should be offended by the choice of the name. Responsible government officials “have blundered badly,” Msgr. Francis J. Lally, U.S. Catholic Conference social development and world peace secretary said of the decision to name the sub Corpus Christi. “This error in judgment can still be rectified and action in this direction should be taken promptly. If we must have engines of war and defense, let us not launch them with religious titles.” “Some Catholics, and we heartily (Continued on page 6) The “Base Community” BY THEA JARVIS The day before Fran Drummond was to give her workshops on base communities at the Archdiocesan Conference on Evangelization, she couldn’t pronounce the word “evangelization.” “I knew what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t say it,” the friendly coordinator of Transfiguration Church’s Base Community Program recalled with delight. “I told a friend that I was having a terrible time saying that word, and she assured me that if I was doing God’s work, He would put the right words into my mouth.” At the conference, Fran’s workshops were enthusiastically attended, and she sailed through “evangelization” like a Ph.D. in speech therapy. But when she rushed home to share her success with her husband, she found she couldn’t say “evangelization” if her life depended on it. Transfiguration Parish Fortunately, the Base Community Program at the Church of the Transfiguration in Marietta has not depended on the mere pronunciation of a word. Rather, through the interest, commitment and cooperation of Fran Drummond, her co-workers Sharon Rhodes and Pat Eas'terwood, and their pastor, Father Ray Horan, the program is off to a worthy - if not wordy - start. Base communities are Transfiguration’s answer to a problem faced by many churches in north Georgia -- too much growth too soon. After years spent in a “borrowed” storefront and a local Protestant church, the Transfiguration community was finally housed in a place it could really call home - an expansive, hangar-like facility that is a monument to Transfiguration’s emphasis on people rather than physical surroundings. In spite of its new home, the parish, long an innovator in outreach and community-building, was growing too large to sustain the spirit of closeness and friendship that had been its hallmark. From a small group of 30 -- A Model For Growth families, the church had blossomed into a stadium crowd of 650 units. Enter base communities. “In November of 1980, Father Horan asked me if I’d like to plan some neighborhood coffees, getting Catholics together for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon,” said Fran Drummond, noting that the model derived from the women’s guild tradition of using neighborhood groups to provide for church functions and parish emergencies. (Continued on page 6) FATHER RAY HORAN, pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration in Marietta, sees base communities as models of “the early church, which met in homes and supported each other in faith, in learning, and in all the needs that are a part of the growing of the people of God.” State Dept. Says Murder Probe In Salvador A “High Priority” BY JIM LACKEY WASHINGTON (NC) - The Reagan administration has assured the U.S. bishops that it continues to give a “high priority” to investigation of the murders in El Salvador last December of four American churchwomen. The administration also has assured the bishops that it does not think the four women - three nuns and a lay worker - were engaged in political activity. The assurances came in a letter from Walter J. Stoessel, undersecretary of state for political affairs, to Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul-Minneapolis, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Earlier, Archbishop Roach had written Secretary of State Alexander Haig urging completion of the murder investigation and expressing the bishops’ hope that “any attempt to call into question the evangelical quality of the lives and ministry” of the four women would be rejected. Archbishop Roach’s letter, dated March 26, and Stoessel’s reply, dated April 11, were released by the U.S. Catholic Conference April 20. The bodies of the four women - Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clark, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan - were discovered in a roadside grave Dec. 4. “It is now almost four months since the brutal slaying of four American women,” Archbishop Roach said in his letter to Haig, “and close to three months since fc the murder of three prominent trade unionists, two of whom were American citizens. “The highly publicized promises of a swift and impartial investigation into these murders has yet to be realized,” Archbishop Roach said. (On April 15 the FBI arrested a man in Miami and charged him with the murder of the unionists.) Archbishop Roach noted that the safety of American citizens working abroad was “explicitly discussed” during the March meeting in Washington of the bishops’ Administrative Board, a group of 45 bishops who conduct NCCB-USCC business between the bishops’ annual meetings. “Church workers in Latin America today labor under the most difficult and dangerous circumstances, particularly when they stand for the rights of the poor and the pursuit of social justice,” said Archbishop Roach. “It is incumbent on the officials of our government to exercise the greatest prudence in addressing so delicate and complex a reality.” Stoessel, responding for Haig, who was out of the country, said the (Continued on page 6) I