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ATHOLIC
News & Herald Volume 4 Number
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
Funding for the program
—
WINSTON-SALEM
April was months pregnant; and understandably confused. The 1 5-year-old dropped out of high school and convinced herself that she needed neither help in prenatal care nor in raising her child. That was two years ago. She was referred to Hand to Hand a program developed by Catholic eight
—
Social Services to assist pregnant teen-
Today April — and her 2 month— have Hand Hand old baby agers.
1
to
to
girl
thank for giving her the inspiration to be to
Hand
an average of
my
me ways
of
are
more
1
five percent of our clients are mi-
again and most importantly, encouraged
norities
me
to continue
my education and work
towards a high school diploma," says April.
Since 1988, this adolescent pregnancy program has displayed a positive impact in the community. "Our mission is to provide mentoring and supportive services to first time pregnant and parenting teens," says Connie McVay,
program director
Hand
to
for
Hand
Hand
to
Hand.
services include; in-
dividual attention via trained volunteers,
productive in society.
peer support counseling,
volunteers gave over 4,400 hours
tance, professional social
crisis assis-
work services
and individual and family counseling. "These girls have a need for structure and encouragement in their lives," says McVay. "Our program tries to get these young women to the point were they can reach their full potential."
Priest
Titled "The Gospel of Life,"
In 1994,
of service.
The
girls are
volunteers
matched with
who give them support
three to five hours a week.
These
it
forth-
condemns abortion and euthanasia, the major attacks on human life at its beginning and end. It
what several ob-
also contains
servers have called the strongest expres-
sion ever of church teaching against capital punishment: justifiable use of
it
It
says the cases of
today are "very rare,
not practically nonexistent."
The new
who come from low-income homes. Eighty-one percent come from single parent families and over half of our participants' mothers were teen parents." Using trained volunteers and staff services, the program assists teens in having healthy babies, learning and using good parenting skills, postponing a second pregnancy and achieving educational and career goals in order to be
Pope
rightly
if
protecting myself from getting pregnant
—
tificate.
preg-
nancy and childbearing. "Ninety-
child,
(CNS)
11th encyclical could
II' s
become the most memorable of his pon-
says minority teens
ways of
properly caring for
WASHINGTON John Paul
15 teens a year.
at risk for early
Pope
This
Hand to Hand provides services to
McVay
taught
is
and Natural Resources, the Forsyth County United Way, the Greater Triad Chapter of the March of Dimes and private donations. According to the North Carolina Bureau of Vital Statistics, Forsyth County has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in North Carolina. Over 600 teens between the ages of 10-19 gave birth last year in Forsyth County.
strong and confident.
"Hand
Most Memorable By Life
given by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Health
Staff Writer
On
Encyclical
Program Offers Support To Pregnant Teens BY EDUARDO PEREZ
31« April 7, 1995
encyclical, dated
March
25 and released March 30, carries three formal statements of church teaching against the taking of innocent life: "By the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his successors, and in communion with the bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral." "By the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his successors, in communion with the bishops who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who ... albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this
—
Lutheran-Catholic pilgrimage took an ecumenical group of 30 to the Holy Land on a lenten retreat. Pictured above, Tim Von Der Embse of St. Peter Catholic Church in Charlotte carries the cross along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Helping with the cross is Eloise Taylor, a member of Christ Redeemer Lutheran in Charlotte. St. Peter is covenanted with Christ Redeemer and A Mighty Fortress Lutheran. Over the last four years, congregations have joined together for shared celebrations.
See Hand to Hand, page 2
—
—
doctrine
—
I
declare that direct abor-
tion, that is, abortion willed as
moral disorder, since
it
killing of an innocent
— "Taking
Pushes Private Charity Solution To Current Welfare Crisis
an end or
as a means, always constitutes a grave is
the deliberate
human
being."
into account (previously
stated) distinctions, in harmony with the magisterium of my predecessors and in communion with the bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human
person."
By NANCY
HARTNAGEL WASHINGTON (CNS) — Solutions to the current welfare crisis are in
enough," he said of efforts to replace federal funding of specific programs with block grants to states is correct but not
communities, not in governments, said Paulist Father Robert A. Sirico.
states.
"Government is compassion's least able practitioner," he said March 29 at a conference in Washington that brought
tor,"
"The future
together theoreticians and practitioners
is with the private secwith responsibility for welfare going to communities of caring people in local institutions such as churches, synagogues, mosques and
of private charity to explore "Welfare
neighborhood organizations.
That Works."
Under the current system, "government benefits carry no concrete responsibility on the part of recipients," the
The conference was sponsored by the
Acton
Study of Religion & Liberty, a nonprofit educational and literary center founded five years ago b>' Father Sirico in Grand Rapids, Mich. Stating that "a moral vision for priInstitute for the
vate provision of welfare
is
required,"
—
he said the principle of subsidiarity solving problems at the most local level possible is a critical element in reforming welfare. "Devolving responsibility to the
—
he
said,
priest noted. sc
He
also said the size and
oe of the welfare
state
have lessened and sensi-
direct contact with recipients tivity to
them
as individuals with indi-
vidual problems.
The system
was intended as a "has become a mon-
that
social safety net
strous bureaucratic machine," he said.
"Genuine charity must now take up the social ills that the federal government has failed to correct and has in some
instances exacerbated."
Pope John Paul
Regarding the problem of illegitimacy, Father Sirico said he thought cutting off cash benefits to teen-age mothers, already approved in the House,
would not increase
abortion, but
would
called abortion
and
euthanasia trends part of an unprec-
edented "conspiracy against life." Behind them, he said, is a "profound crisis of culture" in which crimes against life are
made
legal
and justified
discourage promiscuity and increase
"as legitimate expressions of individual
parental responsibility.
freedom, to be acknowledged and pro-
"The most effective welfare program is a growing economy," said the priest. He would promote the right of creative initiative, which reflects God as creator, he said, and which translates
tected as actual rights."
The pope framed
his encyclical
within a broader framework of the Gospel call to honor and protect the sacred-
ness of human
life at
every phase and in
economics. In a recent interview with The Catholic Telegraph, Cincinnati' s archdiocesan newspaper, Father Sirico said he believes the principles of a free market society more fully respect the poor and
every aspect.
their abilities.
lical.
At a food pantry, he suggested, people could help bag their own grocer-
Scripture to develop the themes of the
See Welfare Reform, page 16
See Encyclical, page 16
into entrepreneurship in
Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin of
Chicago,
who has long championed that
"consistent ethic of life" approach in the
United States, praised Pope John Paul for his use of that approach in the encyc-
The pope
also
drew strongly on