The
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 27 No. 1
Thursday, January 5, 1989
$15.00 Per Year
Vespers at the' Cathedral, May 4, 1988.
Operation Rescue, Atlanta, Oct. 4, 1988.
1988 Was Historic For Archdiocese. Pro-Life
BY RITA McINERNEY
“As bishop and Church we have been
called by God to walk together through the
» final years of the 20th century.” (From
Archbishop Eugene A. Marino’s installa
tion homily May 5, 1988)
* The pace of Archbishop Marino’s first
eight months as shepherd was much faster
than a walk. In fact, it could be said he
started out running and was just beginning
* to slow his stride as the year ended.
Although he was Atlanta’s newest
celebrity, pastoral responsibilities were
his primary concern. Ecumenical invita-
* tions and media interviews were squeezed
into an awesome round of parish visita
tions, confirmations, meetings with priests
and Religious.
But this was several months in the future
when, as auxiliary bishop of Washington,
D.C., he made his first visit to Atlanta on
Jan. 16-17,1988. He came then as celebrant
and homilist for the fifth annual Mass
honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
There was curiosity among several hun
dred people filling the Shrine of the Im
maculate Conception Church in downtown
Atlanta for this Liturgy sponsored each
year by the Office for Black Catholics and
the Commission for Black Catholic Con
cerns.
After the Mass and reception there was a
lot of hope that Bishop Marino, a Josephite
priest who grew up in segregated Biloxi,
Miss., would be the new archbishop.
Everyone was waiting for word of a new
shepherd. Archbishop Thomas A. Don-
(Continued on page 8)
BY GRETCHEN REISER
1988 was a year in which polarization
over abortion became a major news story
and pro-life activists moved from legal
protest to arrest to dramatize their convic
tions.
In the first month of the year, on
January 28, while U.S. pro-life rallies
were marking the 15th anniversary of the
Roe vs. Wade decision, the Canadian
Supreme Court legalized abortion on de
mand in that country.
Canada, up until that point, had permit
ted only “therapeutic’* abortion when an
accredited hospital committee ruled that
the life or health of the mother was
threatened.
By a 5-2 vote, Canada’s Supreme Court
said that that law violated Canada’s
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was
immediately compared with the Roe vs.
Wade decision of 1973 that made abortion
on demand permissible in the United
States, based upon a woman’s right to
privacy.
Simultaneously pro-life groups in the
U.S, were marking the 15th anniversary of
that decision with national and local
marches, speeches and Masses. An
estimated 50,000 people marched in
Washington, D.C., while in Atlanta 1,500 to
2,000 people met on the steps of the state
Capitol and held a silent march through
downtown.
There was nothing particularly unusual
about the marches, which have become a
January trademark of the pro-life move
ment, even as the movement’s major
(Continued on page 10)
