dJThe AMCHOR Vol. 20, No.8-Fall River, Mass., Thurs., Feb. 19, 1976
An Anchor
of the Soul, Sure and Firm-St. Paul
'Homeless and 'You Sheltered Me' VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican, in preparation for this spring's international conference on housing, has developed a position paper on what good housing is and is not. The paper, drawn up as a contribution to the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements to be held May 31-June 11 in Vancouver, Canada, opposes housing solutions based on "paralyzing and inhuman socialization." But it backs decisive action by public authorities to guarantee housing policies that integrate social classes, .favor families and hardship cases, and give the people a say in what sort of housing will be built for them. . • . countless housing estates of drab While the document does not object to "some inequality of resources and thus of habitat "status," it defines as "total- uniformity. ly intolerable" a housing policy which permits the privileged to take possession of the "best parts of town and of the coastline." • •• what good housing is and is not. The Vatican calls this "a segregation which runs absolutely counter to a healthy attitude toward human communities, in which social classes must be mixed." The Vatican also opposes construction of "countless housing estates of drab uniformity" and of "dormitory towns - towns which are half dead." Tl\e blame for housing deficiencies, according to the document, rests on selfishness of some individuals but "still more on those .who speculate in housing to obtain outrageous profits." "Blame also attaches to an economic system which has not thought to temper the legitimate right to private property by placing reasonable limits on the exercise of that right with regard to the acquisition of building land." · .• a housing policy which permits the Man today is in danger of being "overcivilized" and privileged to take possession of the best drastically separated from nature, but this problem cannot parts of town and of the coastline. be solved simply by setting aside a few open-spaces in \ cities. ' "The countryside must be nearby," the document Opportunities for a child to enjoy isolastates. "Perhaps habitats should be further apart, and there tion are especially important ••• should be nature reserves." As for the actual living unit, the document gives two basic requirements: it must provide family members with sufficient isolation from other families and also, when necessary, from each other, and it must offer the opportunity for social contacts within the reasonably close neighborhood. Opportunities for a child to enjoy isolation are especially important, the Vatican says. "Children in particular need to be by themselves, either to relax or to work, and, more deeply, to assert and develop their personalities." The Vatican document underlines concerns .expressed recently by Bishop Alfred Watson of Erie, Pa., who declared, "The housing experts all say that one of the biggest obstacles facing the country is in individual hearts. We all piously proclaim that we're in favor of homes for those who desperately need them, 'but don't you dare put them in my neighborhood'." That approach, Bishop Watson said, "is not a moral Creation of an adequate habitat for even • •. a segregation which runs absolutely counter to a healthy attitude toward human and certainly not a Christian attitude." the poorest is currently one of the most communities. Turn to Page Five serious social problems. ~---/n
This Issue--
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Adult Education
Praise For
Clergy, Carson
St. Anne Hospital's
Focus On
Lenten Program
ABC's Olympics
and Feedback
70th Anniversary
Youth
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Page 7
Pages 8-9
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