April 7, 1995

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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


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