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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1989)
PAGE 4 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 19,1989 STATEMENT Roe vs. Wade — A Minority Opinion A timely book on abortion has appeared just before the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a Missouri law that directly conflicts with its 1973 decision legalizing abortion on demand. Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glen- don contributes a comparative analysis of U.S. abortion law and that of all other Western na tions to the 16-year-old debate over Roe vs. Wade. Not an emotional text, her book points out that the U.S. is the only Western nation forbidding any regulation of abortion until after viability of the fetus. All other countries have some kind of pro-life counseling and a waiting period before permitting even the earliest abortions to lake place. The contrast is heightened when one knows that even the protection supposedly extended to the fetus under Roe vs. Wade toward the end of pregnancy is no protection at all. In Georgia in 1986, according to statistics of the Department of Human Resources, 569 abortions were per formed at 21 weeks of pregnancy or later; in 1985, 591 at 21 weeks of pregnancy or later. States that have attempted to put even the most basic protective'regulations in place are stymied by Planned Parenthood legal challenges that invoke the sweeping provisions of Roe vs. Wade. Did the Supreme Court intend that minor teenage girls in Georgia, who are unable to ob tain medical surgery without a parent’s consent, be free to walk into a clinic and risk the medical and psychological consequences of an abortion without any caring adult even knowing? Did the Supreme Court intend for abortions to take place so late in pregnancy that babies sometimes survive them? The Missouri case offers the Supreme Court the opportunity to reexamine the way Roe vs. Wade has been implemented and manipulated by pro-abortion organizations to prevent any kind of state regulation at all for 16 years. To question that decision is not to be an emotionally - biased person. To question it is to know that you’re standing closer to the view point of the rest of the world. —GRK (A book review of Abortion And Divorce In Western Law by Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University Press, appears on page 10.) Julie Asher George To George — Inaugural Prayers WASHINGTON (NC) — Since George Washington took the oath of office April 30. 1789. invoking God’s name and entrusting the nation to him has become something of an in augural tradition. George Bush as the nation’s 41st president would be the latest to swear to “faithfully execute the office of the presi dent, so help me God.’’ Washington, in the nation’s first inauguration ceremony, held at Federal Hall in New York, set the precedent when he repeated the 35-word oath and added, “I swear, so help me God. Bush, taking office in the 200th year of the presidency, said he wanted to use the same Bible as the first George to head the nation. A prayerful plea for God’s protection of the nation has marked every inaugural address. U.S. presidents have invoked the name of. asked bless ings from, or offered fervent prayers to “the benign Parent of the Human Race,’’ as Washington phrased it, or the “Patron of Order,” “Fountain of Justice,” “Protector,” “Infinite Power,” and simply “Being.” The < ']^^ga<'| <( (USPS) 574880 Catholic /Xrdxlnxx'st- of Atlanta Business Office U.S.A. $15.00 6«0 West Peachtree, N.W. Canada $16.00 Atlanta, Georgia 30300 Foreign $ 17.50 Phone: 000-7033 Most Rev. Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J. Publisher Gretchen R. Keiser Editor Rita Mclnerney Associate Editor DEADLINE: All material for publication must be received by MONDAY NOON for Thuriday's paper. POSTMASTER: Send Change of Address to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN 601 East Sixth Street, Waynesboro. Georgia 30830 Send all editorial correspondence to THE GEORGIA BULLETIN 600 West Peachtree Street N.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30308 Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro, Ga. 30030 Pubjlshed Weekly except the second and last weeks In June, July and August and the last week in December at 601 East Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30030 Early in his inaugural address. Washington said he felt obliged to offer “fervent supplications to that Almighty Be ing who rules over the universe." In a “homage to the Great Author,” the first U.S. head of state also noted that “no people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.” Martin Van Buren. who was the last sitting vice president before Bush to be elected president, said in his 1837 address that he looked to the “gracious protection of the Divine Be ing whose strengthening support I humbly solicit and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all.” Bush’s immediate predecessor, Ronald Reagan, in his second inaugural address called the nation’s history “a song..., we sing it still” and added that “we raise our voices to the God who is the author of this most tender music.” On Jan. 20, 1977, Jimmy Carter, the first president from ' the Deep South in 128 years, quoted the prophet Micah: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Mi 6:8). The only Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, quoted Isaiah (58:6) in his 1961 speech and urged the superpowers and their allies to “unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah to ‘undo the heavy burdens (and) let the oppressed go free “Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his bless ing and his help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own,” he said in conclusion. Sometimes the prayerful plea has had a somber tone. On March 4,1865, while the United States was still engag ed in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was protected by a heavy militia guard as he delivered his second inaugural address. He said that God gave to the North and South “this terri ble war” to eliminate slavery. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firm ness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds,” Lincoln said. Franklin D. Roosevelt in a five-minute speech that ushered in his fourth presidential term in 1945 echoed the worries of the World War II era. “The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways.... So we pray to him now for the vision to see our way clearly — to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men — to the achievement of his will, to peace on earth.” The Week In Review NAMES AND PLACES — The heads of five U.S. dioceses will turn 75 during 1989, the age at which bishops must sub mit their resignations to the pope. Seven other U.S. dioceses as of early January were either waiting appointment of new bishops because of vacancies or had bishops who have turn ed 75, but not yet had their resignations accepted. Those who will turn 75 in 1989 and their birthdays are: Bishop Gerard L. Frey of Lafayette, La., May 10; Bishop Francis J. Mugavero of Brooklyn, N.Y., June 8; Bishop Joseph M. Breitenbeck of Grand Rapids, Mich., Aug. 3; Bishop Thomas J. Grady of Orlando, Fla., Oct. 9; and Bishop Jerome J. Hastrich of Gallup, N.M., Nov. 13. ***** AROUND THE NATION — Three more of a group of 21 nuclear weapons protesters were sentenced in Federal court Jan. 10 for occupying nuclear missile launch facilities in western Missouri last summer. Duane Bean and Kathy Kelly, convicted of five counts of trespassing on federal property, were sentenced to one year in prison and fined $2,625 each. Gail Beyer, convicted of three counts of trespassing, was sentenced to 20 days in jail, a $1050 fine, 200 hours of community service and three years probation. Three other protesters, including Franciscan Father Jerry Zawada, convicted in November of trespassing and destruction of property charges, awaited sentencing. Another protester, Bonnie Urfer, who pleaded “no contest” to three criminal trespass charges and two counts of destruction of property, began serving a two-year term Dec. 16. The protesters, calling themselves the Missouri Peace Planting ’88, were arrested Aug. 15 for trespassing on Minuteman II nuclear missile launch facilities in western Missouri. ***** EVANGELIZATION tops a list of priorities in the Diocese of Charleston’s new five-year plan of action. Other priorities, announced Jan. 12 by Bishop Ernest L. Unterkoefler, include programs aimed at personnel, clergy and laity, and development of new parishes and missions. Educational and missionary work within the church itself and development of charitable efforts at the local level were also listed as priorities. The Charleston diocese covers the entire state of South Carolina. The evangeliza tion effort would be aimed at the more than 1 million “un churched” residents of the state and will “not interfere with the successful ecumenical progress in the diocese,” the bishop said. Vocations will be emphasized with recruitment focusing on high schools, colleges, workplaces and all areas of spiritual ministry. Older candidates for vocations will be given special attention under the plan. Serious considera tion will be given lay people's role in the life of the church One goal is to have a church in all 46 counties of the state. ***** SEVERAL PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS associated with Detroit parishes that are slated to close will form partner ships with other parishes, but one school is not certain it will open in the fall of 1989. In a Jan. 8 press conference. Cardinal Edward C. Szoka of Detroit announced that St. Vincent de Paul Middle School, St. Theresa-Visitation Grade School and St. Brigid Grade School will remain open, despite the closing of their parishes. St. Vincent de Paul will be under the care of the pastor of Most Holy Trinity parish, St. Theresa-Visitation will be under the care of the pastor of the new parishes which will be formed with the merger of St. Theresa and St. Agnes parishes. The cardinal said St. Brigid School will remain as part of a cluster with another INTERNATIONALLY — The Diocese of Hong Kong has formed a committee to oversee matters concerning Viet namese refugees in the territory. The committee began functioning in January and coordinates parish activities to develop better understanding of the refugees, said Father John Tsang Hing-man, committee head. He said a pastoral center began offering services such as lessons in Cantonese — Hong Kong’s main Chinese dialect — and information on legal rights. The center aids Vietnamese who flee to Hong Kong for political asylum, including those who have been “screened out” by the government. Since June 16, refugees arriving in Hong Kong have been subject to a screening policy whereby they must prove the authenticity of their refugee status, or be classified as "economic migrants" and treated as illegal immigrants. ***** THE SOUTH AFRICAN government said it suspects a white, neo-Nazi ex-policeman of setting the fire which severely damaged the headquarters of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference last October. Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok, making the announcement Jan. 10, also said three members of the outlawed African National Congress, an anti-apartheid organization, are suspected of accidentally bombing Khotso House, the Johannesburg headquarters of the South African Council of Churches, last August. Vlok said Barend Strydom, arrested on charges of shooting dead seven black South Africans in Pretoria in November, was involved in the arson of the bishops’ head quarters, called Khanya House.
