Newspaper Page Text
s
The
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 28 No. 24
Thursday, June 21, 1990
$15.00 Per Year
Grady Chief To Catholic Providers
Health Gap For Minorities
Blamed In 'Excess' Deaths
BY L'YURIE HANSEN
WASHINGTON (CNS) -
Blacks and Hispanics are
dying unnecessarily due to
lack of access to health
care, providers of health
care were told at the 75th
annual Catholic Health
Assembly.
In 1985, a study by the
Thank
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services found
See Related Story
On Page 13.
that “60,000 excess deaths
occur each year in minori
ty populations,” and things
have deteriorated since
You. . .
then, Robert B. Johnson,
executive director of
Grady Memorial Hospital
in Atlanta, said June 12 at a
meeting in Washington
sponsored by the Catholic
Health Association.
“For minority people,
those deaths were real,”
said William Robinson, a
physician who is director of
the Office of Minority
Health at the U.S. Depart
ment of Health and Human
Services. “Think of
(Washington’s Robert F.
Kennedy) stadium full of
people, and imagine that
many people dying each
year,” he said.
The health disparity be
tween minorities and
whites is not "just a series
of bad luck among
minorities,” said Robin
son.
Johnson agreed, citing as
major causes racial pre
judice and “misguided
social and economic
policy.”
The two made their com
ments at a seminar titled
“Closing the Minority Gap:
A Lesson in Justice,” the
third day of the June 10-13
meeting.
To eliminate the health
gap, Johnson said:
— Americans must con
front “head on” their at
titudes about the poor, in
cluding the "perception
that the poor are
predominantly blacks” and
(Continued on page 15)
INSIDE
Jubilarians
Father Kenny... .page8
FatherKieran .page 14
Pro-Nuncio
Named for U.S. .page 18
N.Y. Cardinal
Warns pro-choice
politicians page 20
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NCCB, Jewish Leaders
Public Education
Weakens Values
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (CNS) — In an unprecedented joint state
ment Catholic and Jewish religious leaders have declared
that U.S. public education is “cheating our children” by
failing to teach the “core moral values” of society.
They called the lack of education in basic values a “na
tional disgrace.”
“By deliberately excluding these shared moral values
from the curriculum, the educational system actually
undermines them,” said the statement. “It is all too easy
for children to assume that information not taught in school
cannot be very important.”
The leaders, who form a national Catholic-Jewish con
sultation group, said that values not being taught, “like
honesty, compassion, integrity, tolerance, loyalty and
belief in human worth and dignity,” are not just religious
but an essential part of “the civic fabric of our society.
They are the underpinnings of our lives.”
The statement was issued June 19 by the Interreligious
Affairs Committee of the Synagogue Council of America
and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Af
fairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The joint consultation group of the two organizations con
sists of 12 bishops representing the NCCB and 27 Jewish
leaders, 26 of them rabbis, representing the synagogue
(Continued on page 15)
WITH THE CHILDREN — Newly ordained Deacon John Shell,
security officer at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital, is shown with
Rachel Twyman, 18 months, on right in stroller and a patient at the
hospital. Beside her is brother Lorn Twyman, four months. Their
mother, Rosa Maria Twyman, is standing. (Photo by Linda Schaefer)
11 Are Ordained Deacons
BY RITA McINERNEY
Bishop W. Thomas Larkin, retired
bishop of St. Petersburg, Fla., presided at
the ordination of 11 permanent deacons
June 16 at the Cathedral of Christ the King.
In his homily, he urged priests,
Religious and laity to welcome the new
deacons "with open arms” because they
are “truly members of the clergy.”
He said deacons receive a special call in
grace to proclaim God’s love and fulfill it
in service to the elderly and sick, youth,
migrants, addicts and the homeless.
He cited the ills of this age: break-up of
family life, abortion, crime, pornography,
the spread of AIDS, high suicide rate, the
forgotten elderly, and the growing number
of homeless families, as indicators of the
sad moral state of society despite the af
fluence of so many.
Considering such problems could easily
result in people yielding to despair. Such a
temptation faced the followers of Christ on
Good Friday but by his resurrection,
(Continued on page 6)