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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1989)
PAGE 6 — The Georgia Bulletin, September 7,1989 PALS — First-grader Katie Grassi concentrates as she writes a let ter to her “secret pal.” Katie was one of 43 first-graders at St. John Francis Regis School in Kansas City, Mo., taking part in a project that combines learning with social service. Students draw names of elderly parishioners from a hat and each week write letters to and offer prayers on behalf of the person who was chosen as their “secret pal.” The project, designed by teacher Carolyn Mitchell, is now in its fourth year. Ms. Mitchell says the project is a good experience for the children in learning how to do something nice for someone. (CNS photo by Juliann Koonse, The Catholic Key) Braille Volunteers Needed The annual call for volunteers is being made by the Atlanta Braille Volunteers, the only group in Georgia which transcribes textbooks into braille. An orientation meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. in the round Community Building in Hammond Park, at the corner of Glenridge and Hammond Drives in Sandy Springs. A dedicted and hardworking group, braille volunteers make the difference be tween participating fully in class or just sitting and listening for many blind students, according to Lois Baldwin, a long time member of the group. The volunteers work in association with the State Library for the Blind which each spring receives a list of books needed in braille for the fall school term. If the books are not already available in the library or elsewhere in the U.S., the library turns to the Atlanta Braille Volunteers. The needed book is divided into volumes at the library. One book could require six to 30 volumes of 60 to 90 pages each. The volumes are then distributed to certified braillists. There are about 40 in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Dorothy Nugent, president of the group, said schools frequently upgrade texts and the books volunteers transcribe into braille may bear recent copyright dates. This means that the master copy made by a volunteer here would be used to provide copies for students all over the U.S. Mrs. Nugent worked with the Xavier Society for the Blind in New York City before coming to Atlanta. Instruction classes for new braillists will begin in September, and continue with two-hour sessions each week through May. The orientation session on Sept. 13 will give interested persons a chance to ask questions and determine if brailling is something they would be interested in learning. Trained and certified braillers work at home, spending about an hour or two each day at the work. There is a $25 charge for class supplies. Deaf — Court Case (Continued from page 1) Cecilia Converse of St. Jude’s parish tutored Father Hoff man and found him an “excellent student.” “We met once a week for about an hour or hour and a half.” She says he rated A for effort and passed his finals with flying colors. She made him interpret and sign the Our Father and the choir’s “Gloria” at two Sunday Masses at St. Jude’s. She became interested in signing at 16 when she worked in a fast food restaurant with another girl studying signing. She went on to receive a degree in vocational rehabilitation with a specialty in interpreting at the University of Arizona and later received her master’s degree there, and also worked parttime at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind. She is now a rehabilitation coordinator in the Atlanta area and is hopeful St. Jude’s will begin holding a bi monthly signed Mass. She would like to use her skills for the church. Father Hoffman said he also hoped a penance service for the deaf could be arranged this Advent. BY INES PINTO ALICEA WASHINGTON (CNS) — For nearly two months, Susan Smith had visions of her frightened parents floating in a raft in a pitch black ocean. Her visions were a reality for her parents, William Butler, 59, and his 56-year-old wife, Simone, of Miami, who were rescued Aug. 19 off the Costa Rican coast after surviv ing on raw fish and purified water for 66 days in a life raft. “They had hope, they had faith,” Ms. Smith told Catholic News Service Aug. 22 in a telephone interview from a hospital in Golfito, Costa Rica, where her parents are recuperating from the ordeal. “Thank God, they are alive.” The couple had left Miami April 23 to sail around the world. They hoped to reach Spain by 1992 and return with a Columbus Day regatta. The Catholic couple said some 60 whales rammed and sank their 39-foot sailboat on June 15 about 1,200 miles away from where they were rescued. The couple quickly sent a mayday signal, grabbed a saltwater converter, a transistor radio, eight cans of food, some cookies and a fishing hook and jumped in their life raft. In 15 minutes their boat, the Siboney, was gone. “They told a television crew here that they’ve been bad Catholics, but they’ll never be bad Catholics again,” Ms. Smith said, laughing. Lt. Andy Connor of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific head quarters in Alameda, Calif., told CNS that whale attacks like the one the Butlers described are rare. (Continued from page 1) “Recognizing the unsettling nature of this question, the Archdiocese neither opposes nor advocates Mr. McAfee’s Petition, but is of the opinion that granting his request would not be assisting in suicide or undermining the State’s and the Roman Catholic Church’s interest in preserving life,” the brief said. In its presentation of Catholic Church teaching, the brief draws upon the June 26, 1980 Declaration on Euthanasia issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with the approval of Pope John Paul II. One of the principles drawn from the Declaration is that “the obligation to preserve or prolong life ultimately resides with the patient,” the brief said. The patient must be fully informed and understand the consequences of his decision, the brief said, quoting from the Declaration on Euthanasia that “in numerous cases, the complexity of the situation can be such as to cause doubts about the way ethical principles should be applied. In the final analysis, it pertains to the conscience either of the sick person, or those qualified to speak in the sick per- “A pod of whales might have been playing around and the boat may have been in their way,” he said. “The whales usually don’t do anything to humans unless they're killer whales. (The Butlers) are very fortunate to have survived.” After 20 days adrift, the couple ran out of food and started eating raw fish. Butler lost 49 of his 175 pounds and his wife went from 150 pounds to 92 pounds. The couple’s faith helped them survive multiple shark at tacks and the desperation of not being spotted by at least 40 ships they saw throughout the ordeal, their daughter said. The Butlers recited two psalms daily and listened to church services on their radio. One broadcast told a story of the Virgin of the Angels, Costa Rica’s patron saint also known as the Virgin of the Rescue. They prayed to her. “If your wish comes true, you’re supposed to visit her,” Ms. Smith said. Days later, their wish did come true when a Costa Rican coast guard crew plucked them out of the water near Golfito. Connor said his office had planned to bring the couple back to the United States, but the Butlers opted to make their own travel arrangements because they wanted to stay in Costa Rica for a few days so they could visit the Shrine of the Virgin of the Angels in Cartago. “That’s all you have is your faith,” Ms. Smith said. Ms. Smith, who flew to Costa Rica to be with her parents, added that the family would not head back to the United States until her parents regained their strength. son’s name, or the doctor’s to decide, in the light of moral obligations and of the various aspects of the case.” The distinction between “ordinary” and “extraordinary" means of medical treatment is not spelled out in the Declaration on Euthanasia. The court brief uses definitions of moral theologian Daniel Cronin which say that “ordinary means” are means “commonly used in given cir cumstances, which this individual in his present physical, psychological and economic condition can reasonably employ with definite hope of proportionate benefit.” On the other hand, “extraordinary means” of treatment are defined as “those not commonly used in given cir cumstances, or those means in common use which this in dividual in his present physical, psychological and economic condition cannot reasonably employ, or if he can, will not give him hope of proportionate benefit.” In the case of Mr. McAfee, the brief says, the use of a ven tilator clearly constitutes an extraordinary means of preserving life. The brief cites Mr. McAfee’s testimony that he “receives no enjoyment out of life,” that his continued treatment by ventilator prolongs his emotional pain and suffering, that he is dependent upon public funds and has no economic resources of his own, that his condition is irrever sible and that he is “still in a lot of pain.” Since it is judged to be an “extraordinary means” in Mr. McAfee’s case, the position of the archdiocese is that he has the right under church law to continue treatment or to inter rupt that treatment even though it will end in death, the brief said. Concerning the request for sedation, the brief said that such a request “is not offensive to the Roman Catholic Church.” Again quoting the Declaration on Euthanasia, the brief said, “it would be imprudent to impose a heroic way of acting as a general rule. On the contrary, human and Chris tian prudence suggest for the majority of sick people the use of medicines capable of alleviating or suppressing pain, even though these may cause as a secondary effect semi consciousness and reduced lucidity.” In an interview, Father Edward Dillon, vicar general of the archdiocese and director of the Pro-Life Office, said the Church disagreed with the rationale used by Attorney General Michael Bowers who also submitted a briet on behalf of the state. Bowers said that the state would not op pose McAfee’s request because in Georgia suicide is not against the law. “From an ethical point of view, it is not suicide,” Father Dillon said. “It is an extraordinary means of life support. One is not bound to utilize extraordinary means.” Father Stephen Churchwell, a canon lawyer who assisted in drafting the section on ecclesiastical law, said the 1980 Vatican document outlines principles addressing situations “that could presumably happen to all of us” involving or dinary and extraordinary medical treatment and the use of pain killers at the time of death. “The decision to no longer use the ventilator, while it might lead to death, is not the equivalent of suicide,” he said. “Nature is taking its course. It is the treatment that is maintaining life. If the treatment is ended, then life will end. What this man is doing is ceasing a certain form of treatment.” Faith Helps Couple Adrift At Sea 66 Days
