FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 26, NO. 3
FAll RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1982
20c, $6 Per Year
.Pres,ervation of Solidarity
• • In Poland
key church aIm By Agostino Bono
NC News Service As the martial law in Poland continued well into the second month, the position of the Cath olic Church has moved steadily beyond one of asking for an end to the state of seige. It sharpened focus on the need to preserve Solidarity and its elect ed leadership as an independent labor movement and the key to the national dialogue over a broad spectrum of social reforms that was interrupted by martial law. The appeals came as Poles al so heard increasingly strident calls from the army that the mar tial law period become a time to purge the nation of Solidarity
leaders also have pressured pri and of other forces in the Com vately and publicly for the re munist Party, the media and edu cational institutions which back- . lease of detained Solidarity ed Solidarity's "opposition" tac leaders. tics. Church sources in Poland and the Vatican say that release of Solidarity was officially dis solved by the government under union leaders and Solidarity's martial law but its leaders who participation in any negotiations preconditions for church involve managed to escape arrest con tinue publishing clandestine caBs ment in talks to ease the ten sions in Poland since the imposi for resistance to the government. tion of martial law Dec. 13. In a series of sermons Arch On Jan. 17 Archbishop Glemp bishop Jozef Glemp of. Gniezno criticized the government for and Warsaw, Poland's primate, continuing to detain people and criticized the Polish government for insisting that workers sign for demanding that workers sign loyalty oaths. He said this show "loyalty" oaths renouncing Soli ed the government was more in darity at the price for retaining terested in coercing people than their jobs. Similar appeals have beginning meaningful dialogue. been made by Polish-born Pope "If we want cooperation in John Paul II. Both' Catholic , our country we need dialogue. It is not enough to threaten peo ple, to fire them from jobs, it is necessary to talk to people," he said in a Sunday sermon in the the grassroots people themselves capital of Warsaw. keep the' march going," Miss "Not only those interned, but Gray said. "Even before I sent also many other groups of peo the call out, people were getting ple suffer because they must buses ready. They started it and or are persuaded to sign declara they just keep coming." tions that are contrary to their "Stick with the Life Principles" views and their co'nscience and, is the theme of the ninth march. what is more, these people are That theme was chosen "be fired from their jobs," said the cause it describes .the work archbishop. which has just been successful A week earlier (Jan. 10) Arch in bringing unity wit~in the pro bishop Glemp said the loyalty life movement on the wording of oaths were "unethical" and "that the Human Life Amendment," declarations made under duress Miss Gray said, "This new are not valid" under Polish law. amendment incorporates all the Pope John Paul also has Now, how shall you be merry before the provisions of the Helms-Dornan strongly attacked the loyalty 'Paramount' HLA, and also pro face of God? oaths..On Jan. 6 the pope said: vides 'equal care' for both the "Violation of conscience is a mether and her preborn child grave act against man. It is a during pregnancy." most paniful blow inflicted on The "Paramount Human Life human dignity. It is, in a certain Amendment" is the no-exceptions sense, worse than inflicting phyi By Delores Leckey free: space to walk and talk and a~endment sponsored by Sen. cal death, than murder." . simply be. . Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. One Polish church official said I shall never forget the gift of Lectures and children's plays, Robert Dornan (R-Calif.). Archbishop Glemp told Gen. Wo leisure given to my husband and liturgies and new friendships Miss Gray said she won't know jciech Jaruzelski, head of ·the me many years ago by a Carmel made this a time of rest and re how many people will attend this martial law government, that ite priest. At the time, w~ were creation. year's march until "the buses government dialogue with Solid parents of four small children In a society where much time start rolling in," Spe said that arity is a precondition for between the ages of 1 and 6. and energy is devoted to work, for the first time a bus is com church-state talks, but the gov what is the proper place for lei The priest was facilitating va ing from western Kansas, a 36 ernment so far is uncertain about sure al)d play? These, like work, cation-retreats for young fami hour drive one way. This year', what to do. lies, an alternative to hectic can reflect God's inner life. 12 buses are coming from St. . "The military don't even know Christianity seems alw~ys to holidays filled with "sand and Louis, four more than last year, when they 'are going to lift mar suds," to use his words. In a have recognized the importance she said, and buses are expected tial law," said the church official. lovely New England setting of leisure (the opposite of bUSy from Indiana, Ohio, Massachu The key Solidarity figure in setts, Vermont, Kentucky, North any future negotiations would where the vacation-retreat took ness) for the cultivation of both Carolina, Rhode Island, New be Lech Walesa, head of the , place, he had a family' dormitory mind and spill'it. In this way, where each child had a curtained leisure is closely allied to prayer. Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, union and its guiding spirit since room, a place of one's own. The late Father Thomas Mer Virginia and West Virginia. the founding of Solidarity in Aug. ton once said that to be a per Organizers plan .a vigil of ust 1980. Walesa has been under Bibles were in well-staffed son of praye'r in our time, one prayer, .singing and talks to house arrest since the beginning nurseries'during the day. Break night at Gonzaga High School in of martial law but he has been fast and lunch were family af. has to be able to do nothing Washington. Featured tonight allowed to meet several times fairs, but dinner was arranged without feeling guilty about it. Joseph Piepell', in a small but and at tomorrow's march will be with church leaders. so that husbands and wives were Turn to Page Six alone. The afternoon was also Turn to Page Six Turn to Page Six
Prayer, fast asked Friday
WASHINGTON (NC) - Car dinal Terence Cooke of New York, chairman of the bishops' Committee for Pro-Life ActiVi ties, has invited participation to tomorrow in a National Day of Prayer and Fasting for the Pro tection of the Unborn Child. The date is the ninth anniver sary of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling on abortion. Thousands of pro-lifers are expected to con verge on the capital for the an nual March for Life to. protest abortion. The prayer and fasting were suggested by the Committtee on Pro-Life Activities and approved by Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul-Minneapolis, president of. the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The observance offers pro lifers elsewhere in the nation a chance to participate spiritually in tomorrow's Washington acti vities. In the Fall River diocese a pro-life Mass will be celebrated at 7 tomorrow night at St. Boni face Church, New Bedford, un der sponsorship of the Knights of Columbus. All are Invited to attend. . At Our Lady of Grace Church, North Westport, parishioners will join in making the Stations of the Cross for the right to life intention followng 9 a.m. Mass and preceding 5:15 p.rn. Mass t°Dt°rrow. The real story of the march, says Nellie Gray, March for Life president, "is not numbers, but people who for nine years keep coming back. "The social phenomenon is that
The art of leisure