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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1989)
PAGE 16 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 19,1989 Pope's Talks To U.S. Bishops Grade American Catholicism VATICAN CITY (NC) - In 10 speeches to U.S. bishops in 1988, Pope John Paul II listed the pluses and minuses of Catholicism in the United States, setting the stage for a March summit meeting with the leadership of the U.S. hierarchy. The papal report card gives U.S. Catholics good marks for their efforts to combat social problems. It also gives them a high score for pursuing dialogue with a wide spectrum of groups in U.S. society, from other Christians to atheists. The minuses are what the pope calls selective adherence to church teachings and laws, and a tendency to neglect the church’s divine mission in pursuit of social goals. The speeches also provide a “de facto” issues agenda for the summit meeting at the Vatican to iron out problems in U.S. Catholicism and improve sometimes tense cross-Atlantic relations. The summit is scheduled to begin March 8. The papal talks began in February and ended in December. They were given to 10 groups of bishops visiting the pope to pre sent their “ad limina” reports on the status of their dioceses. These visits are required every five years. The general theme of the talks was that “the pastoral office of the church exists to foster holiness.” The papal overview was that only morally strong and spiritually motivated Catholics working in communi ty are able to profoundly evangelize and influence society. Within this framework, the pope stressed frequent practice of in dividual confession, strengthening weekly Mass attendance and reception of Commu nion, and the need to deepen prayer life. The aim of the talks was to encourage "the church in the United States to live her vocation of holiness through a life of dynamic faith,” he said. Typical of this approach was papal en couragement of Sunday Mass attendance in a country where about 52 percent of the Catholics fulfill the weekly Mass obliga tion. He called it a “splendid tradition of American Catholics” which needs to be reinforced. “Participation in the Eucharist is only a small portion of the laity’s week, but the total effectiveness of their lives and all Christian renewal depends on it,” he said. Within this framework of encouraging a “dynamic faith,” the pope ticked off specific pluses and minuses. The pluses in clude: — A “new moral concern” to overcome poverty and underdevelopment in the United States and around the world. The bishops were praised for providing specific guidelines on social and political issues in their war and peace and economic pastoral letters. The pope also cited the vast network of Catholic social and health services in the United States. He praised domestic programs for migrants and supported Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas aid agency. These activities show that U.S. Catholics have accepted the “challenge of service” to others required by Christiani ty, the pope said. — Pro-life activities, especially the fight against abortion. “The bishops of the United States have steadfastly opposed this destruction of human life by programs of education and pastoral care and by ad vocating laws and public policies that pro tect and sustain human life, before and Churchmen On Brazilian Death List VATICAN CITY (NC) - Brazilian Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider and other bishops, priests and Religious are among 350 persons targeted for assassination by Brazilian death squads, according to the Brazilian bishops’ con ference. Conference vice presi dent Bishop Jose Ivo Lorscheiter released a list of persons targeted by death squads for their work Cruz Alta. Elderly Care 24 Hr. Ser. 7 days wk. Live-in Car»References Bonded Lucas Medical Care 843-0873 j-tha-rooitor phimbw—j $ 20 00 OFF For lirsHime customers • Repairs • Plumbing • Shower Pans Replaced 971-8162 Atlanta Checker Cab Co. American Express Courteous Drivers 351-1111 on behalf of farmworkers and agrarian reform. The list included labor organizers and small farmers. According to a Jan. 10 Vatican Radio report, Bishop Lorscheiter said that in addition to Cardinal Lorscheider, bishops threatened with death in clude: — Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga of the Ter ritorial Prelature of Sao Felix. — Bishop Jaco Hilgert of — Bishop Moacyr Grechi of Rio Branco. — Bishop Waldyr Calheiros de Novaes of Barra do Pirai-VOlta Redonda. Cardinal Lorscheider and Bishop Casaldaliga’s names were on a death squad “black list,” the report said. Another name on this list was Francisco Mendes, an ecologist and organizer who was assassi nated last December, allegedly by gunmen hired by large landholders. J \ Punbual Directors OVER 100 YEARS OF DIGNIFIED SERVICE H. M. PATTERSON & SONS SPRING HILL 876-1022 1020 SPRING ST NW OGLETHORPE HILL 261-3510 4550 PEACHTREE RD NE GREEN LAWN 876-4311 1270 SPRING ST NW \ Member By Invitation National Selected Morticians after birth,” he said. Pope John Paul praised the hierarchy’s annual Respect Life program. — The ‘‘excellent climate” for ecumenical activities created in the United States. “Much has been done in the United States to bring Christians closer together,” the pope said. — Promotion of dialogue with agnostics and atheists. “You are rightly convinced of the need for sustained dialogue and fraternal collaboration in projects of ser vice to humanity,” the pope said. — Promotion of female dignity and rights in society. The pope praised the first draft of a proposed bishops’ document on women. “You are rightly striving to help eliminate discrimination based on sex,” the pope said. He also praised the overall theology in the draft which presents Mary “as a special symbol and model for women in their partnership with God in the ministry of the church.” The church is “at the service of the cause of women in the modern world — to help clarify their cor relative rights and duties, while defending their feminine dignity and vocation,” the pope said. The minuses include: — Dissent from church teachings. The pope criticized “a tendency on the part of some Catholics to be selective in their adherence to the church’s moral teachings.” Positions taken because of “the so-called ‘right to dissent’ have had harmful repercussions on the moral con duct of a number of the faithful,” he said. The church’s infallibility is “present not only in the solemn definitions of the Roman pontiff and of ecumenical councils, but also in the universal ordinary magisterium, which can truly be con sidered as the usual expression of the church’s infallibility,” he added. He called for “collaboration of Catholic theologians and ecclesial faculties” in combating dis sent from church teachings. He also said church educational institutions should preserve “their Catholic identity.” — Violations of church rules on use of lay extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. “In some cases there may still be a need to revise diocesan policies on this matter” so that extraordinary ministers do not distribute Communion when enough priests and deacons are present, the pope said. He stressed “the supplementary character” of the extraordinary ministers in distributing Communion. Adherence to church rules also ensures “the true notion and genuine character of the participation of the laity in the life and mission of the church,” the pope said. — Downplaying the church’s divine mis sion in pursuit of temporal activities. “The church can never succumb to the tempta tion to ‘remake’ herself,” the pope said. ‘ ‘The church can never be a community at the service of merely temporal objectives” and its “efforts cannot be motivated by merely temporal values,” he said. — “Unwarranted interpretations” of general absolution norms. The pope stress ed that the normal way for absolution of sins is through individual confession to a priest. He emphasized church rules that general absolution without individual con fession can be granted only in limited cir cumstances. Canon law lists these cir cumstances as when the danger of death is imminent and when there is a “serious necessity” such as a lack of sufficient priests to hear confession thus depriving people of the ability to receive Commu nion. “The crisis facing the sacrament of penance is due in part to unwarranted in terpretations of what constitutes the condi tions of the ‘gravis necessitas’ (serious necessity) envisioned by the church,” he said. The U.S. bishops have since approved rules detailing the use of general absolu tion in the United States. • WHO? Anyone seeking peace and a closer relationship with God and others. • WHEN? Throughout the year there are retreats for: Men, Women, Married Couples, Singles, Divorced/ Separated, Widows/Widowers, Recovering Alcoholics, and Retreats in Spanish. • COST? What you can afford to give. An anonymous donation is asked at the end of the retreat. 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