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PAGE 14 — The Georgia Bulletin, October 22,1987
Words Spoken For Justice ...
Archbishop Donnellan Accepts Offertory Gifts From Terry Finkler In 1983 Liturgy.
The Church Is For Life, For Human Kind
In a speech on archdiocesan Respect Life Day, Oct. 27,
1979, the archbishop spoke of the Church as “for life”:
“...how important it is that we do not permit ourselves to
be labeled with the mentally negative phrase: the Church is
against abortion. Indeed it is. But more accurately, and
more importantly, the church is for life. The church has
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been saying yes to unborn life, without any hesitation or
reservations, for two thousand years...The Christian ‘yes to
life’ includes a call for freedom, for adequate education, for
proper living conditions, for more just distribution of
wealth and for opportunity, for protection of the human en
vironment, and for more responsible use of the resources of
nature. The Church is not simply against abortion. She is
for life, and for human kind, and for human dignity and
social justice.”
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Workers' Rights
In keeping with the Church’s long-standing concern for '
workers, Archbishop Donnellan offered to mediate an ex
tended dispute between the Amalgamated Clothing and
Textile Workers Union and the J.P. Steven Company, Inc.
In a joint June, 1977 statement, issued by seven south
eastern bishops, the labor-management controversy was
addressed.
“We have thus far refrained from taking sides on the
issues involved in the Stevens controversy and, more
specifically, in the Union’s boycott of Stevens products. Our
silence on this issue should not be interpreted to mean, (
however, that we are unsympathetic with the stated pur
pose of he boycott — namely, to speed up the organization of
southern textile workers for the purpose of collective
bargaining. To the contrary, as noted above, we strongly ,
support this objective as being in complete harmony with
traditional Catholic Social teaching and in full conformity
with our government’s long-standing policy of encouraging
collective bargaining. +>
“Our unsolicited offer to be of assistance to the parties in
implementing this principle without further delay still
stands. If the offer is accepted, we are prepared to do -
everything within our power to mediate between the parties
for the good of all concerned. If, on the other hand, the offer
is declined, we will feel obliged, in the exercise of our
pastoral ministry in the geographical area most directly af
fected by the Stevens dispute, to review the situation and,
within a reasonable period of time, to issue a more detailed
and more specific statement on the dispute.”
In March, 1980, the Catholic bishops of the Province of
Atlanta endorsed the consumer boycott of the J.P. Stevens
products as sponsored by the Amalgamated Clothing and *.
Textile Workers’ Union.
“We feel compelled to endorse the consumer boycott of
all J.P. Stevens products as sponsored by the *
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. We do
so with the hope that this action will serve to promote the
workers’ right to bargain collectively.
4*
“Until the time when the Company can demonstrate that
it has eliminated the mood of fear and retaliation from its
plants, bargains in good faith in contract negotiations, and
responds to the rights of workers to organize, we believe the "
boycott is a legitimate and effective instrument towards the
promotion of justice in this matter.”
Death Penalty
Archbishop Donnellan opposed the use of the death penal
ty as punishment for serious crime and on the occasion of
its restoration by the U.S. Supreme Court as well as later
occasions expressed this opposition together with his fellow
bishops and the Episcopal bishop of Atlanta. In a joint 1976
statement, he and Episcopal Bishop Bennett J. Sims
stated:
“If, as we commonly hold, the most persuasive instructor
is the power of example, then it surely must be clear that
killing teaches only the permissibility of taking human life,
not the value of perserving it.
“Finally in theological terms, we hold that the divine law
of love relates to humanity as a lure and a goal. We have
made our way very slowly toward more just and compas
sionate treatment of one another in the human family as we
have advanced through history. The social structures of
compassion have emerged gradually, but they have emerg
ed. The abolition of the death penalty, like recent civil
rights gains, seems to us such a forward move. In these
terms, its restoration is a backward step. Perhaps its most
devastating effect on its victims is to remove, in this life,
the noblest possibility that beckons every human being:
that personal transaction of penitence, restoration and a
new beginning as a claim upon God’s open promise to us all
in Jesus Christ.
“That there should be punishment of crime, we hold to be
self-evident. That the punishment should fit both the crime
and the criminal, we hold to be the steadfast aim of our
courts of law. That there should be no lawful way to kill
another human being, we hold to be one of the noble mean
ings of the law of love by which God’s sovereignty is ex
pressed in human affairs.”