Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12 - The Georgia Bulletin, August 2, 1990
'Courageous Step' Vetoed; Archbishop Schulte Urges Override
NEW ORLEANS (CNS)
-- Archbishop Francis B.
Schulte of New Orleans
July 27 urged Louisiana
legislators to vote for a
special session to override
Gov. Buddy Roemer’s
veto of a bill restricting
abortions.
Roemer announced
earlier July 27 that the bill,
which would have banned
abortions in the state ex
cept to save the life of the
mother and in cases of
rape and incest, did not
meet "even the minimum
standards set forth by me
long ago." He specifically
cited its provisions on
rape.
The archbishop issued a
statement saying he was
"very disappointed" and
concluded: "I urge the
Legislature to vote for a
veto session at which the
governor’s veto can be
overridden."
A veto session will be
held automatically Aug. 18
unless legislators, by a
simple majority, vote in a
mail ballot against one. No
veto session has been held
since the 1971 Constitution
went into effect.
The bill passed both
houses by more than the
two-thirds margins needed
for an override.
No governor’s veto has
been overridden by a
Louisiana Legislature this
century.
"Had the governor al
lowed the bill to become
law - even without his
signature -- thousands of
unborn lives could have
been saved," Archbishop
Schulte said.
He thanked members of
the state House of Repre
sentatives and the Senate
who voted for the bill,
called the toughest passed
by lawmakers in the 50
states.
"It was a difficult vote
for many members of the
Legislature in the face of a
very vocal opposition," the
archbishop said.
"We commend them for
having the great courage to
vote their convictions on
behalf of the most inno
cent and defenseless
among us - the unborn,"
his statement said.
Previously the Legisla
ture failed by three votes
to override Roemer’s veto
of a more restrictive bill,
one which did not include
the exceptions for rape and
incest that he said he
would insist on.
As the regular session
ended, the lawmakers put
together the second mea
sure, including the rape
and incest exceptions. It
passed July 8.
"The incest provisions
are as I desire," Roemer
said July 27, "giving a first
trimester period of person
al decision." But rape, he
said, "is treated unevenly
and unsatisfactorily."
In his veto message,
Roemer said, "Forcing a
rape victim to report to
law enforcement officials
and seek medical treat
ment, all within seven
days of the crime, is an
onerous burden. Under this
bill, sheer trauma or igno
rance would force a wom
an to bear and give birth
to a child conceived in
brutality."
Doctors performing
abortions would have
faced minimum penalties
of one year imprisonment
and $10,000 fines and
maximum sentences of 10
years and $100,000 fines
under the bill.
Farewell Homily
(Continued from page 1)
than a family reunion: stories are told, memories shared,
events narrated, accomplishments proclaimed, thanksgiving
offered, the deceased remembered, and the living celebrate
all that is good and wonderful. Indeed, the family reunion
incites new energy to face the future. When prayer and a
sense-for God permeates such a gathering, family roots
and history take on a profound meaning.
In the Church, every Eucharist is like a family reunion.
Tonight, the remembrance of my 11 years is the Diocese
of Cleveland and my departure to the Archdiocese of
Atlanta provide the occasion for our coming together, but,
as always, the reason why we are here is to give thanks
and praise to God.
I repeat, my departure is only the occasion. The reason
for the Eucharistic gathering is always the same: that
historic and perennial event of salvation history, that
mystery in which we best lose ourselves in God’s em
brace, that holy food and drink which is the sign and
cause of the unity of the people of God, that Sacrament of
Christ through which we discover and renew our identity.
Yes, that historic and perennial event of salvation history -
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!
This once-and-for-all cosmic phenomenon by which we
cling to the Christ who framed eternity in an earthly
sojourn - who was bound by time, limited by flesh,
conditioned by body. All this descent from above to show
that our assent from below - through the body, through the
secular, through the mundane - is our way to the ever-
evolving reconstruction of the social order and to eternal
life with God. Oh, yes, “Rise up Jerusalem, your light has
come!”
Friends, I have presided at so many family reunions in
local parishes, at the Eucharist and in parish halls. There
is no stomach in the diocese more international than mine,
as I have tasted the historic cuisine of the more than 80
distinct ethnic communities (with periodic immersions into
my own culture’s soul food) and witnessed more than
periodic expansions of my bodily frame.
Still, my mother didn’t raise a fool! When I sat at your
banquets, I tasted more than your luscious foods. I heard
the stories of your people’s struggles under oppression,
war and famine. I felt your faith, grasped on to your hope,
and wallowed in your love. I engaged your unconquering
clinging to Jesus, and your incomparable care for the
Church. When I came to Cleveland I was a universal man
in ideals; I leave a universal man in fact. The riches of
your heritage were emptied out before me, the wealth of
your nations took hold of my heart. I learned anew the
meaning of “catholic” and discovered the one God in the
mosaic of your many-splendored lives.
Sisters and brothers, over this past decade, we have
recognized the time of darkness and thick clouds. We have
watched hunger, loneliness, unemployment, violence,
racial strife, and many other social obstructions. We have
viewed the re-configuration of our church life: the exodus
of people, the decline of our religious, the graying of our
clergy, and the anxiety of our people over the future of
our churches and schools. Even more fundamentally, we
have experienced a decline, perhaps, in some instances, a
collapse in common meaning: the almost universally
accepted values which guided the moral judgments of our
people in the past continue to be questioned and even
contradicted. Surely, great challenges lie before us as
again we are called together to listen to God’s voice in the
here and now of everyday life.
But, dear friends, while this summary description of
“darkness and thick clouds” may be true, it is equally
true that God has not been absent from our tension and
our search. God has shown us a way out of no way. In
this same period of ambiguity, conflict and questioning,
God has brought us back and has led us to fresh, new and
creative ways to be Church. While in the past clergy and
religious were principal actors in church life, now those in
the church work force have increased more than a
thousandfold, as we watch lay women and men perform
successfully in pastoral ministry.
We are a changing Church, not a dying Church - just as
Christ’s life did not end with the crucifixion. We are a
rising Church - like an exquisite wine that runs refreshing
ly and redemptively through the bloodstream of church
life. We are a rising Church, even as Christ has risen
gloriously and triumphantly. “Rise up in your splendor,
Jerusalem. Your light has come.”
In our Eucharistic gathering, Christ has something to
say to us as a people - to this changing and rising Church
- in the particular circumstances of this age and culture,
something at once perennial and timely. What does Christ
have to say to us tonight?
The principal message, so clearly exemplified in the life
of Christ, is proclaimed in tonight’s gospel text: “Go into
the world and proclaim the good news to all creation.”
So, I beg you, let the sound of Jesus’ name resound from
your lips and resonate in your lives. Let all church activity
have a direct and clear link with Jesus’ mandate to preach
the Gospel and permeate every culture.
Then, the Gospel tells us further: “Signs like these will
accompany those who have professed their faith...”
Dear Friends, may these be your signs:
First, let your own experience of suffering, exclusion
and domination teach you that no child of God should be
absent at the table of freedom, whether in places of
employment, or in neighborhoods, or in schools, or in the
Church just as there is plenty of good room in the King
dom of God.
Secondly, let the word “choice” take on its original
meaning, a choice for dignity, a choice for the good, the
true and beautiful, a choice for life, a choice for the
quality of life, a choice for the betterment of life. May
Christ, who showed a preferential love for children, teach
us to love the child from the first moments of conception
and to embrace the parents as they experience the most
miraculous event since the birth of Christ. Let our spirits
be as drug-free as we wish our bodies to be.
Thirdly, let “petitions, prayers, intercessions and
thanksgivings be offered for all women and men...and
those in authority.” Friends, in this nation of free speech,
it is commonplace to dissect the lives of politicians and
other public officials as though they have no feelings, and
no will for good, and even no dignity as persons. It is as
though the few who are bad move us to castigate the
many who struggle and desire to serve. I beg you, above
all else heed the exhortation of Saint Paul to Saint Timo
thy: Pray for those in authority, that God may guide them
unto all that is merciful and just.
Finally, I beg your prayers for our bishop Anthony, to
me a brother and friend, one with a love that knows no
boundaries. Pray for my brother bishops and our diocesan
staff, for the abbots, our pastors and clergy and all
pastoral ministers and religious. How well they have heard
Christ’s words: “The one who aspires to greatness must
serve the rest.” For all those who exercise governance and
ministry in the Church, let us pray that they have Christ-
like hearts, lives afire with the Gospel, and hands and feet
fixed to the plow. Pray for our ecumenical leaders. May
our hearts join with theirs in work and hope for Christian
unity. Pray for our Jewish leaders, with whom we have
worked in so many common endeavors. Pray for leaders
of other faiths, that God direct them in all their pursuits.
Having heard God’s Word, we shall now remember the
needs of the Church and the world. Then, to the Eucharis
tic Banquet, to a holy food and drink, divine nourishment
for our journey and symbol of God’s lavish love. May this
Eucharist help us foster the reign of God, that kingdom
about which the poet, Langston Hughes, so beautifully
wrote:
I dream a world where man
No other will scom,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn.
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day,
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head,
And joy, like a pearl,
Attend the needs of all mankind,
Of such I dream -
Our world.
Let us be in silence to reflect on such a dream.
gjpostleship
rarayer
The August prayer intention for the Apostleship
of Prayer is that priests, especially in their daily
difficulties, be able to renew the grace received
from God in ordination.
Pope John Paul II asked for prayers that, from
parish priest to Pope, all the ordained may use
their ordination graces to meet their daily trials.
May Jesus help them solve Church problems and
exercise their office with the power of love; may
he give all the faith to acknowledge his authority
in his priests and respond to it with the love that
marks the household of God.