The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, September 14, 1989, Image 1

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The Georgia bulletin, September 14, 1989, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextThe Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta Thursday, September 14, 1989 $15.00 Per Year Our Lady Of Vietnam Mission Church Dedicated In Forest Park Page 6 KEISER Mother Teresa "Improving” CALCUTTA, India (CNS) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mother Teresa was talking and cheerful after being fitted with a pacemaker, said Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “I was getting quite anxious about her health, and now I am slightly relieved to see her talking and cheerful,” he told reporters after a five-minute visit with Mother Teresa Sept. 11. Mother Teresa, 79, was admitted to the private Woodlands Nursing Home Sept. 5 complaining of high temperature and nausea. A doctor at the nursing home also said she had suffered an artery blockage that led to an irregular heartbeat. Pope John Paul II sent a telegram Sept. 10 to Mother Teresa assuring her of his “prayers and spiritual closeness at this time.” “Commending you to the intercession of our loving mother Mary, help of the sick, I cordially impart my special apostolic blessing as a pledge of strength and comfort in our lord and savior Jesus Christ,” the English-language telegram said. Nursing home officials said they received calls from people in other countries inquiring about the health of Mother Teresa. Abortion Group Loses 9 - Year Fight Court Favors USCC In Tax Challenge BY JERRY FILTEAU WASHINGTON (CNS) — The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Sept. 6 dismissed a 9-year-old Abortion Rights Mobilization lawsuit challenging the U.S. Catholic Church’s tax-exempt status. In a 2-1 ruling the three-judge appeals panel denied the legal standing of ARM to sue. Its decision could mark the end of a tortuous legal wrangle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on two separate occasions. Since 1986 the U.S. bishops have lived with the threat of $100,000-a-day fines hanging over their heads for their refusal to obey a federal judge’s subpoenas for internal The Rosary Father Lopez writes of Mary and hope page 5 St. Mark's Clarkesville parish celebrates 25 years page 8 church records sought by ARM in the case. The threat posed by the suit has also been a constant backdrop affecting the style of church involvement in elec tions and public policy issues since 1980. The Sept. 6 decision of the appellate court was a dramatic reversal of its own holding two years ago, when it said the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Catholic Conference had no grounds to challenge ARM’s right to sue. The NCCB-USCC appealed that 1987 ruling to the Supreme Court, and in June 1988 the high court ordered the appeals court to hear the NCCB-USCC mption on its merits. In its new judgment the appellate court decided that ARM and other plaintiffs had showed no “personalized in jury in fact” that could be traced to the alleged failure of the Internal Revenue Service to enforce the tax law against the church. Since the plaintiffs had no legal standing to bring the lawsuit, the appeals court said, the federal courts have no jurisdiction to hear the case. Archbishop John L. May of St. Louis, NCCB-USCC presi dent, hailed the decision, saying it “finally gives the con ferences justice and vindicates our action in pursuing this matter in the United States Supreme Court.” He said the appeals court action frees churches and similar organizations to “participate in the public debate” on controversial issues without “the threat of retaliatory litigation” by people who disagree with their views. In his statement, released through the NCCB-USCC of fices in Washington, the archbishop also thanked the Na- (Continued on page 11)