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PAGE 4—The Georgia Bulletin, May 30, 1985
STATEMENT
Reviewing Vatican II
Cardinal Leo Suenens of Belgium is a link to
the reality of the Second Vatican Council. He
was there, at the heart of it, 20 years ago and he
is now the only one living of four who served as
moderators.
His reflections in a recent interview are
refreshing and illuminating. He remembers what
it was like then and he remains lucid about what
has taken place since.
Cardinal Suenens observes that people now
blame all confusion and disarray that took place
in the Church on the Council. But, he reminds us
it wasn’t just the Church that was radically
changing 20 years ago. In the world a wave of
rebellion was beginning against authority in
family and society. The “God is dead” theology
was just beginning to be chic. A permissive at
titude was starting and growing. This did not
come from the Council, but it affected everyone,
including the Church.
It is a vivid reminder of how much the world
has changed in 20 years, notably toward deadly
options on both the personal and political level.
But Cardinal Suenen’s insight, rather than in
spiring pessimism, sparks hope about the
Church not only concerning the past, but also
looking ahead to the review of Vatican II schedul
ed to take place at the world synod in Rome this
fall.
It is a reminder that the Council touched off
changes in the Church that anticipated and
responded in important ways to a confusing,
rapidly changing and increasingly morally de
fiant world. More and more the Church has to
speak not only to its own members, but to
everyone, whether Catholic or not. The Council
saw that 20 years ago and spoke to that point.
More and more lay Catholics have become
evangelists in this new world, being effective
witnesses to Christ in their offices,
neighborhoods and ordinary circles. The Council
also foresaw that and spoke to it.
It began 20 years ago, but’20 years have not
been enough time for many Catholics to read the
documents of the Council or for the Church to
embody what is contained in them. And the
world has continued to change and present new
challenges.
The 20th anniversary of the Council and the
fall synod will spark new study and new looks.
Our attention will be drawn back to the
documents and to the full vision. This is the kind
of discipline that’s healthy and needed. This is a
return to the source that can teach those of us
who missed the events of 20 years ago and
deepen the understanding of those who were a
part of it.
It is true that negative changes in the world
have affected the Church. But it is also true that
a changing Church has new resources to res
pond to the crisis. A reevaluation of the Second
Vatican Council can invigorate and inform us and
renew our hope.
-GRK
Ivan J. Kauffman
The Bishops Are Listening
“We are, after all, Church — not some political body.
Thus prayer, reflection, and discernment are as much
needed as computer print-outs ... It is our task, in
preparing a document for the bishops, to reflect, in the
light of Scripture and Catholic social teaching, on all the
comments received.”
—Archbishop Rembert Weakland
Georgetown Univ., April 26, 1985
When the bishops’ committee which is writing the new
pastoral on economics asked for comments on the first
draft they didn’t know what they were getting into. No one
knows how many people have written letters thus far, but
it’s in the thousands. Archbishop Weakland, the committee
chairman, has called the volume “incredible.”
The bishops have received so many letters they’ve decid
ed to postpone writing a second draft until they can digest
the response to the first draft. They originally planned to
discuss the second draft at their June meeting in Col-
legeville, Minn, but instead they’re going to discuss the
response and how best to incorporate it into the next draft.
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
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“I think this is the largest discussion we have ever had in
the Catholic Church on a single subject,” said Dr. Ronald
Krietemeyer, USCC Director for Domestic Social Develop
ment, and chief staff coordinator for the economics
pastoral committee.
In his speech at Georgetown University last month (April
26) Archbishop Weakland quoted from one letter the com
mittee received. It was from a man who said he’d been con
cerned as a youth with the disparity between Christian faith
and economic practice.
“During that era, 40 years ago,” he wrote, “no one would
have anticipated that such an opportunity (as this) could
ever come about for the layman. Ever since Vatican II we
have been persuaded to think of ourselves as church, but for
me, ‘being church’ had remained an abstract ideal. Now, in
preparing this critique, I know that I am church.”
“I like that,” Archbishop Weakland said.
The fact is the Catholic Church, which has often been
criticized for its top-down hierarchical organization, is con
ducting one of the most extensive bottom-up consultations
of the laity in the history of the Christian Church. Probably
more people will contribute in some way to this pastoral
than to any previous document, Church or otherwise.
What the bishops are asking us is not so much whether we
agree with them — after all you can’t vote on the truth —
but what we have to contribute from our experience as lay
people that would strengthen the document. At Georgetown
Archbishop Weakland spoke of the need for “a bottom-up
process” in which the bishops would act as a “catalyst.”
Do the bishops really mean what they say about listening
to us or are they just going through the motions to make us
feel good? My own experience has left me with the strong
impression they mean it. On the occasions when I’ve of
fered my own views I’ve had the strong feeling I was being
listened to — not because I had any special expertise, but
simply because I’m a member of the Church.
In all this the bishops are following the successful exam
ple of the peace pastoral. They realize that to be an effec
tive citizen today you’ve got to have a mind of your own,
and that people who’ve gone to the trouble to think through
an issue and form an opinion expect to be listened to — and
th^Cs what they’re doing.,
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"Lost Cause"
Bounces Back
BY LIZ S. ARMSTRONG
WASHINGTON (NC) — One of Congress’ perennial “lost
causes,” at least in terms of the number of times it’s been
defeated, bounced back into the Senate May 23 when Sen.
Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., unveiled a proposed new immigra
tion reform bill.
The bill borrows from the ill-fated Simpson-Mazzoli bill
which died in the previous Congress in 1984 after a prolong
ed fight. Simpson’s new effort, however, also contains some
different ideas. And the house co-sponsor of Simpson-
Mazzoli, Rep. Romano Mazzbli, D-Ky., has so far declined
to join Simpson on a comparable House measure.
Recent history indicates Simpson’s new effort won’t have
an easy time, either.
Simpson’s bill may be a legislative trial balloon, since he
circulated copies of the bill before it was formally introduc
ed and sought reaction from his Senate colleagues.
The new bill would:
— Initiate new employer sanctions or penalties against
employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.
— Direct the president to set up a commission to deter
mine. after a year, whether the employer sanctions are
working.
— Delay amnesty for illegal aliens already in the United
States until the presidential commission agrees the
employer sanctions are effective in stemming illegal im
migration.
— Grant the amnesty as a form of temporary legal status
for two to three years to illegal aliens who have resided in
the United States since 1979 or earlier.
— When the period of temporary legai status expires,
make permanent legal status for the immigrants con
tingent upon their demonstration of at least minimal ability
to communicate in the English language.
— Permit “guestworker” migrants from across the
border to enter the United States on a limited basis to pick
crops.
— Set up a second presidential commission to study the
“guestworker” system.
— Increase funding for the Immigration and Naturaliza
tion Service border patrols and the Labor Department’s
role in carrying out the legislation.
Much of this has surfaced before.
Some portions of Simpson’s new bill, like parts of the
previous reform measure, will probably be opposed by the
U.S. bishops, Hispanic-Americans, public interest groups
and others.
During the last go-round, the U.S. Catholic Conference,
public action agency of the bishops argued against
employer penalties and a “guestworker” program and in
support of amnesty. In 1984, the USCC favored a more
sweeping amnesty offered under a House bill, which would
have granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who had arriv
ed as recently as 1982, compared to the 1980 deadline the
Senate wanted for even temporary legal residency.
The USCC had no immediate comments on the new Simp
son bill. Its staff was studying the proposals and anticipated
later congressional testimony, a spokesman said.
A critical issue facing Simpson’s bill is whether Capitol
Hill is sufficiently interested in immigration reform to real
ly make headway. But there is more than a year left before
Congress retires to the campaign trail for the 1986 elections,
making it possible that through Simpson’s bill or some
alternative the perennial “lost cause” will find congres
sional passage this time.
Archbishop's Notebook
THURSDAY, MAY 30 — Clergy Jubilarians Day at
Saint Clement’s, Calhoun.
SATURDAY, JUNE 1 — Archbishop Donnellan
Principal Celebrant/Homilist, Liturgy of Ordination
to the Priesthood for Deacon Peter J. Rau at
Cathedral of Christ the King.
SUNDAY, JUNE 2 — Confirmation/Most Blessed
Sacrament, Atlanta.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5 - Attend
Meeting/Catholic Conference of Ohio; Speak on the
Bishops’ Letter on U.S. Economy in Columbus, Ohio.
THURSDAY, JUNE 6 — Concelebrate Mass of
Thanksgiving celebrating 50th anniversary of ordina
tion to the priesthood of Retired Bishop of Pittsburgh,
Most Reverend Vincent M. Leonard at Cathedral of
Saint Paul, Pittsburgh.