Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 7—The Georgia Bulletin, July 23,1981
Tuition Tax Credit Debate:
Bishop vs. Vernon Jordan
WASHINGTON (NC) - Bishop James E. Lyke,
who has testified in support of tuition tax credits,
disputed a statement by National Urban League
executive director Vernon E. Jordan Jr. that tax
credits would not benefit the poor.
Bishop Lyke, an auxiliary in Cleveland, said that
“the minorities and the poor” would be the main
beneficiaries. “Those of us who are concerned about
these families should be encouraging and working for
this legislation, not against it,” he said.
The bishop made his comments in a letter to
Jordan in response to a newspaper column in which
Jordan said tax credits would harm the public schools
and “poor people would be frozen out” of benefits
under the program. National Urban League officials
said Jordan’s column is regularly published in about
200 newspapers across the country, many of them
black weeklies. Jordan and the bishop are both black.
Tuition tax credits would benefit parents who
send their children to non-public schools. Current
legislation would provide tax credit for half of the
tuition, up to eventual maximum of $500.
“Using the tax system to encourage a flight from
the public schools is bound to make those schools
educational ghettos, removing incentives to improve
them,” Jordan said in his column, titled “To Be
Equal.”
Public schools would be seriously damaged, he
said, and drained of many middle class students.
“They would be likely to be placed on a starvation
diet by state and local government as voters would be
reluctant to tax themselves for schools their own
children no longer attend.”
Bishop Lyke described himself as “a longtime
member and supporter of the National Urban
League” and noted that he had testified on behalf of
the U.S. Catholic Conference in support of tuition tax
credits before the Senate subcommittee on taxation
and debt management.
Responding to Jordan’s criticism, the bishop cited
a study by sociologist James Coleman which
concluded that, under a tax credits program,
relatively few students would transfer from public to
non-public schools, and black and Hispanic students
would be overrepresented among those who did.
“The researchers concluded that blacks and
Hispanics would be the groups most likely to take
advantage of such credits and move to non-public
schools,” he said.
As to the assertion that tuition tax credits would
not benefit poor families, the bishop noted that the
bill on which he testified includes a “refundability”
provision under which such families would receive
direct federal assistance.
Bishop Lyke called tax credits one way to allow
parents to make education choices for their children.
Barbara Ward’s Last Work
Urges Wealth Redistribution
LONDON (NC) - The rich, whether nations or
people, have the “inescapable task” of using their
wealth for the good of the poor, according to a
pamphlet by the late Barbara Ward (Lady Jackson),
published posthumously.
The pamphlet, “Peace and Justice in the World,”
was commissioned by the Commission for
International Justice and Peace of the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the
Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.
The pamphlet is possibly the last contribution
from Barbara Ward, who died May 31. It is intended
to explain to ordinary people the issues involved in
redressing the economic imbalances between
industrialized and underdeveloped countries.
A letter about the pamphlet has been sent to every
priest in England and Wales asking them at a suitable
time to preach on world justice and to recommend
Barbara Ward’s pamphlet to their congregations.
The pamphlet says that by his own example and by
parable after parable “our Lord makes plain this
absolute priority of sharing and selfless giving for
those who are fortunate enough to enjoy the means of
aid and love.”
About 800 million people live in absolute want
and their numbers will certainly increase vastly, it
says.
“We cannot allow the rich, already 40 times richer
than the poorest, to make the gap wider still,” itadds.
“We must now use all of our influence as responsible
citizens to see that, in the final two decades of this
century, this trend is reversed.”
“The rich must assist the process by a wider
readiness to share their wealth. The hungry must be
fed, the homeless sheltered, the sick healed,” it says.
The general mood is not favorable to a wider view
of international justice and sharing, the pamphlet
says. But sharing also can serve the self-interest of the
rich countries, it states, citing the economic
intervention of the Americans after the devastation of
Europe in World War II.
“In the Marshall plan, they gave away two percent
or more of their total production of goods and
services for over five years to friends and ex-enemies
alike - and at that time they were only half as wealthy
as they are today,” Barbara Ward wrote. “This was
the beginning of the long prosperity of the 50s and
60s, and not least to benefit were the Americans
themselves.”
The rich, she said, should show the same
imagination and generosity today. “This would be the
bedrock of a really new international economic
order.”
Bible Distributors Cross
Firing Line In Lebanon
NEW YORK (NC) ~ Despite bullets and bombs, a
team of Bible distributors transported 1,700 Bibles
and 6,500 New Testaments across the Beirut firing
line in Lebanon recently, according to the American
Bible Society (ABS). The books, which were bound
for Syria, were taken to West Beirut from the Bible
Society’s warehouse in the eastern part of the city.
The Damascus-Beirut road was under seige by
Syrian troops and Lebanese Christian militia. The
ABS distribution secretary for Syria managed to
avoid injury, loading the Bibles onto a truck and
returning to Damascus, according to ABS officials.
Recently more than 17,000 copies of the Bible and
New Testament in Today’s Arabic Version reached
the Beirut port before it was closed because of the
fighting. Many ships were forced to turn back fully
loaded, ABS officials said.
The society reports that a number of Catholic
priests called to ask for free Bibles to give to refugees
whose lives and homes had been disrupted by shelling.
u
z
Proposed Death Definition Reflects
Subtle Change In Attitude, Priest Says
WASHINGTON (NC) -
A presidential
commission’s recommend
ation that states enact new
laws defining the point at
which death occurs has
been both criticized and
praised by the executive
director of the U.S.
bishops’ Committee for
Pro-Life Activities.
The presidential
commission, meeting near
Washington July 9, urged
all 50 states to approve a
law defining death as the
“irreversible cessation of all
functions of the entire
brain, including the brain
stem.”
Father Edward M.
Bryce, the bishops’ pro-life
director, said such laws
could be the “stepping
stone” to legalized
euthanasia and have not
been shown to be
necessary.
But he also said the
report accompanying the
commission’s proposed
definition is “well-argued”
and provides ‘‘useful
educational features” in
the debate over life and
death.
The commission -
whose full name is the
President’s Commission for
the Study of Ethical
Problems in Medicine and
Biomedical and Behavioral
Research - urged that the
new definition be adopted
uniformily across the
country so that the nation
has “a clear and socially
accepted basis for making
determination of death.”
In adopting the
definition, the commission
rejected arguments that
death should be defined
simply as the irreversible
loss of higher brain
functions.
Rather, the commission
adopted a “whole brain”
definition of death, in
which activity of the
“lower brain” - the brain
stem which controls
circulation, respiration and
“In adopting the
definition, the
commission rejected
arguments that death
should he defined
simply as the
irreversible loss of
higher brain
functions. ”
swallowing - also would
have to cease before the
patient could be declared
dead.
While many pro-life
groups have opposed all
“definition of death” laws,
others have noted that such
definitions would be better
set by the legislatures than
by the courts and might be
acceptable when based on
the “whole brain” concept.
Father Bryce in a
four-page statement said
the commission’s
recommendation did not
answer satisfactorily the
three objections that the
bishops’ pro-life committee
always has raised to such
laws: their need, their
possibility of leading to
euthanasia, and their
likelihood of resolving
problems prompting their
formulation.
“This legislation can
become a stepping stone to
laws which authorize
euthanasia for comatose
patients who are dying but
not yet dead,” said Father
Bryce.
He said the statute “as
presently worded is
designed to insure that
dead patients are not
treated as living, not to
insure that living patients
are not treated as dead.”
He continued, “This
creates a subtle shift in
society’s attitude toward
the dying patient, and
creates a precedent for
treating death as a matter
of legal definition rather
than as a matter of medical
fact.”
The definition easily
could be amended by
legislators supporting
euthanasia, Father Bryce
contended.
Father Bryce also
questioned the need for
such legislation, saying that
no physician ever has been
convicted for using
brain-oriented criteria in
determining death. He said
the remedy for confusion
over determining death
should be ‘‘further
education and knowledge,
not the formulation of a
statute.”
And he doubted that the
‘WORLD ALIVE!’ - The hands of
the creator provide an appropriate
backdrop for Father Donald Skerry,
creator of the new “World Alive!”
exhibit at the Divine Word Seminary
in Tecliny, Ill. At a cost of $1.2
million the multi-media exhibit
explores the development of
mankind, people’s intercultural
relationships and their relationship
with God.
commission’s recommen
dation would resolve the
issue, noting that states
probably would amend the
legislation to their own
liking and that doctors
might still be subjected to
lawsuits by portions of the
general public which does
not understand or accept
the new definition.
But Father Bryce also
said he respected the
thought and research that
went into the recommenda
tion and said he hoped
‘‘that the useful
educational features of the
document. . . will be given
most attention by our state 0
and federal legislators.” z
One comment in the
commission’s report
singled out for praise was
its statement that life is
constituted by ‘‘the
integrated functioning of a
biological organism.”
Father Bryce said that
shows that the human
embryo, as an integrated
and functioning organism,
“is just as ‘alive’ as a human
adult.. .”
Brain death laws of one
kind or another have been
enacted in 27 states. The
other 23 maintain the
traditional definition of
death, which defined death
“ . .. the human
embryo, as an
integrated and
functioning organism,
is just as ‘alive ’ as a
human adult...”
only as the loss ol breathing
and heartbeat.
Growing numbers in
medical and legal circles
have maintained that new
brain death laws are needed
for several reasons,
including the fact that
respirators have been able
to keep patients breathing
who have long been “brain
dead.”
They also have argued
that doctors planning organ
transplants must be
permitted to remove organs
when the patient has
reached “brain death”
rather than waiting for all
respiratory function to
cease.
Without such
definitions, doctors and
hospitals say they fear legal
action if they remove life
supports from a brain-dead
person.
HANDICAPPED HELPER ~ At a Mass at St.
Anne Church in Warren, Mich., honoring the
International Year of the Disabled Person, Loretta
Garing, a special minister of the Eucharist from St.
Edmund’s Parish in Warren, distributes
Communion from her wheelchair. Three area
parishes joined in the celebration.
Cooke Praises Move
Toward Hearings
WASHINGTON (NC) - Plans for Senate hearings later
this year on a human life amendment have been praised by
Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York, chairman of the U.S.
bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities.
“This development offers hope for ending a national
scandal which now involves the destruction of more than a
million lives each year by abortion,” said Cardinal Cooke in
a statement released July 14.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate
subcommittee on the Constitution, announced plans for the
hearings July 9.
Hatch, a member of the separation of powers
subcommittee which has been considering a proposed
“human life bill” which is short of an amendment, said his
subcommittee would hold hearings on the amendment so
the full Judiciary Committee could consider both the bill
and the amendment at the same time.
Cardinal Cooke called the development encouraging and
noted that the Catholic bishops with other pro-lifers have
long been committed to a constitutional amendment to
restore “the protection of law for the unborn child.”
He added, “The announcement of these upcoming
hearings is a great support to us as we continue our efforts
on behalf of the most basic of human rights - the right to
life.”
No dates for the hearings have been set, although they
are expected to begin sometime after Congress returns from
a month-long recess in August.
Detroit Parish
Loses Church To GM Expansion
BY JOHN MAHER
WASHINGTON (NC) -- Although members of
Immaculate Conception Parish in Detroit’s Poletown lost a
battle for their church to the Gty of Detroit, General
Motors and the Detroit Archdiocese, consumer activist
Ralph Nader said the war is not yet over.
“My prediction is that this will cost GM $1 billion over
the next two years in lost sales,” Nader said in a telephone
interview July 15. He said a national boycott of GM
products is growing and that the Polish-American
community has been angered by the treatment of the
people in Poletown.
The previous day Detroit police had ripped a side door
off Immaculate Conception Church to allow workmen to
enter and arrested 12 persons who had been occupying the
EVICTED FROM CHURCH - Cecilia
Kirkegaard, left, Father, Joseph Karasiewicz,
pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in
Detroit, and Ann Dolence pray for their church
after they and several others were removed from
the church and demolition crews moved in. The
Poletown church is part of an area being razed for a
new Cadillac plant.
church to prevent the city from taking it over. The city
prosecutor did not press charges against the 12, who were
released.
For a year parishioners have been fighting to save the
53-year-old church. The church is located within a 465-acre
area being acquired by the city as part of an agreement with
General Motors Corporation for the construction of a $500
million Cadillac plant there.
In a statement on the action of the police in entering the
church and arresting the people occupying it, Father Patrick
Halfpenny, director of communications for the Detroit
Archdiocese, said: “The building at the site of the former
Immaculate Conception Parish belongs to the City of
Detroit. The people on the site were trespassing and the city
was within its rights.”
The archdiocese had sold its two properties in the area,
Immaculate Conception and St. John the Evangelist, to the
city.
“It seems hopeless now,” said 70-year-old Josephine
Jakubowski, one of those arrested when police entered the
church.
Weeping parishioners watched from behind police lines
as workmen removed five-foot-high stone crosses from
walls, removed bells from a tower and dismantled pews in
the church.
In a telephone interview Mrs. Jakubowski said she had
told police, “The church does not belong to the city. It
belongs to us people. We paid for it for the last 60 years.”
Mrs. Jakubowski said she had lived in Poletown “all my
married life, 47 years,” and that her husband had lived there
for 62 years.
She said that, although membership in the parish had
dropped to 250 in recent years, people who lived elsewhere
came to the church and supported it. “We never had to
borrow from the archdiocese,” she said, adding that
$155,000 in the parish account had gone to the archdiocese.
Father Halfpenny confirmed that the parish was
self-supporting and that its assets had become the property
of the archdiocese. He said church law applied throughout
the world requires that the assets of a parish which ceases to
exist become the property of the diocese in which the parish
is located.
Some area residents are satisfied with the offers made by
the city for their property and for relocation expenses, Mrs.
Jakubowski said. “I am not happy,” she added. “If they
gave me $100,000,1 would not be happy.”
She said she and her husband have been offered $17,000
for their home and $15,000 for relocation costs. “We have
not signed, because we’ve been praying, hoping for some
miracle,” she said.
Referring to the archdiocese, she said, “Our leaders who
are supposed to be with us are not with us.”
The final decision on Immaculate Conception Parish was
made by retired Cardinal John Dearden in his last official
act as archbishop of Detroit. His successor, Archbishop
Edmund C. Szoka, has supported that decision.
“I can understand the pain out of which Mrs.
Jakubowski’s comment comes,” Father Halfpenny said,
“but it is simply not accurate or fair to say that the
archdiocese did not help the parishioners.”
Referring to Cardinal Dearden, the archdiocesan
spokesman said: “His perception of the reality was, on the
one hand, the very painful destruction of a community, and
on the other hand, a community in desperate straits because
of unemployment. His position was not to favor the plant.
site, but also not to oppose it.”
Father Halfpenny said the archdiocese had offered
services to people in the area to help them relocate and
adjust to the changing situation.
“What some of the parishioners were asking,” he said,
“was that the archdiocese become actively involved in
fighting the design (of the plant and new industrial zone).
The archdiocese refused to do that. The design was the
decision of the city and GM.”
“If this had happened in Poland,” Nader said, “there
would be outcries all over the Western world against
atheistic communism.”
Nader, the founder of the Center for Responsive Law
and the Public Interest Research Group, said he was asked
to assist the Poletown Neighborhood Council in resisting
the takeover by the city. He had agreed, he said, because he
is interested “in helping people whose community is
threatened with destruction by companies like General
Motors.”
The area being taken over, he said, contained residences
for 3,500 people and 150 small businesses, and was 50
percent white and 50 percent black.
“GM was the instigator,” Nader said. “The city was an
agent of GM.”
The city had obtained $200 million in federal and state
grants to buy the property in the area, clear the site and
build roads, Nader said. Although GM is paying $6.03
million, or $18,000 an acre, for 335 acres in the area, the
$200 million amounts to a subsidy to the company, he
added.
In buying out the property owners, the city is acting
under an eminent domain law passed by the Michigan
legislature last year. Nader said the law was an abuse of the
concept of eminent domain. Instead of taking private
property for public use, the city government in this case is
taking private property and turning it over to a private
corporation. When property is condemned to make room
for roads, he said, all road users benefit, but GM is not going
to share its profits with the general public.
GM and the city have said that construction of the plant
will preserve jobs in the city for between 3,000 and 6,000
persons at the plant and would generate 5,500 construction
jobs. But Nader said the plant could have been built at a
nearby location without destroying the Poletown
community.