VOL. 32, NO.8-
Friday, February 19, 1988
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Prelate asks alien regulations change WASHINGTON (NC) - The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration has called on Congress to ease legalization requirements and to extend for one year the period in which illegal aliens can apply for legalization. Newark Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick also urged allowing aliens whb entered the United States between Jan. I, 1982 - the current legalization eligibility cutoff date - and Nov. 6, 1986, to apply to become legalized U.S. residents. Nov. 6, 1986, is the date the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 went into effect. It allows aliens who have resided illegally in the United States since before Jan. I, 1982, to apply for legalization. The present legalization application period ends May 5.
that their labor merits ... don't have any kind' of safety net." With employer sanctions for hiring illegal aliens, said Gilbert Carrasco, also of Migration and Refugee Services." there is a higher likelihood that undocumented workers will be exploited and ... will be much less likely to complain about any abuses in the workplace."
Faithful enter Lenten season
On Ash Wednesday the church reminds us that we are mortal, Bishop Qaniel A. Cronin told an overflow congregation at St. Mary's Cathedral on Ash Wednesday. At a solemn noontime liturgy and distribution of ashes the bishop said that imposition of ashes on In his statement Archbishop Mc- the foreheads of the faithful signiCarrick warned that the United fies that one's. time on earth is States is "in danger of creating a limited and that one should look dispossessed. disenfranchised un- towards eternal life. derclass subsisting on the edge of "We should be serious, not somour society." ber, at the beginning of Lent and should see to it that our Lent is In seeki ng a legislative approach grace-filled," he said, noting that to dealing with the issue, Arch- the season presents the opportunbishop McCarrick said in his state- ity to "make a good confession, do ment. "we must keep reminding penance and above all take control ourselves that illegal immigration of ourselves by fast. abstinence. is more than a question of public self-denial and intense prayer." policy. The bishop reflected that if the entire world took such advice, "It is above everything else a great changes would be observed. problem of real people, with real "When Easter comes," he said, families who are in great need of "we can rejoice with the risen Lord our assistance. In an overzealous and look forward to the day when effort to control our borders, the we will live eternally with him. In U.S. government must be careful the meantime the church asks us in not to create an even greater social this season of Lent to reflect on problem for the future." who we are." The archbishop said the U.S. bishops recommend that Congress pass new legislation that would give more assurances to families in which some members are eligible for legalization and some are not; reduce legalization fees; and relax continuous residency and documentation requirements. In a recent interview, Msgr. Nicholas DiMarzio, executive director of the U.S. Catholic Conference's Department of Migration and Refugee Services, said studies . show that "perhaps twice as many people [in the United States] are still undocumented as were legalized." "That's a substantial underclass," he said. "That's 2 million people at least - 2 million people who don't have permission to work, most likely don't have Social Security coverage, don't have basic benefits
Papal Comments In Rome, Pope John Paul II told Ash Wednesday attendants at his weekly general audience that by humbling himself on Earth, Christ showed what being human truly means: Although divine, Christ "emptied himself' by becoming human, the pope told pilgrims and visitors. This emptying "does not mean in any way that he ceased to be God: that would be absurd," the pope said. Rather, it meant assuming human nature, with all of its sufferings, in order to "live in obedience to the Father" until his death on the cross. Jesus renounced the "privileges" of divinity to "assume the form of a servant," the pope said, noting that his earthly existence bore "the mark of poverty" from the beginning. Turn to Page Six
POPE JOHN PAUL II is blessed with an American eagle feather by medicine m.an . Emmett White during the pope's meeting last September !n Phoenix ~i~h 16,~OO Native Americans. The annual collection for Black and Native Amencan home mISSIOns wIll be taken up this weekend in diocesan parishes. (NC photo)
Home Missions work financial magic Last year, fQr every dollar contributed to the annual Home Missions collection, over $1.02 went directly to evangelization efforts among Blacks and Native Americans, notes Msgr. JohnJ. Oliveira, Episcopal Vicar for Administration and diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. This bit of financial magic was' made possible, he explained, because mission grants are disbursed semiannually, accumulating interest prior to disbursement.
Support derived from the collection, to be taken up this weekend in diocesan parishes, goes "to some of the neediest people of our country; from the inner cities to the rural South, from the deserts of the Southwest to Alaska's cold wilderness," said Msgr. Paul A. Lenz, executive director of the Black and Native American Mission Office in Washington, D.C. Pope John Paul II spoke to home mission needs last September, said Msgr. Lenz. The pope's com-
ments came when he addressed the Black community in New Orleans and Native Americans in Phoenix. The Home Missions coIlection is the oldest national Catholic collection in the nation, dating back to 1885. Some may feel it is outdated, but in fact "it is needed more today than in any prior decade," said Msgr. Lenz. "Almost every city has Black and Native American people," he continued. "Often they have been Turn to Page Six
Vatican document lauded DALLAS (NC) - A speaker at a medical-moral conference for Catholic bishops defended the Vatican document on procreation as "a sure guide" for respecting human life in its origin and preserving the dignity of procreation. He also said the document, issued one year ago by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was not an obstacle to technological enhancements of human life but caIled attention to what can be destructive to life. The speaker, Ralph Mcinerny, philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame and a novelist, addressed an annual workshop for bishops held earlier this month in Dallas. It was sponsored by the Pope John XXIII MedicalM oral Research and Education Center, based in Braintree, and the Knights of Columbus. About 210 bishops, including Bishop Daniel A. Cronin, from
the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Antilles attended the conference. There were several speakers but the text of Mcinerny's address was the only one made available. The Vatican document was titled "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and the Dignity of Procreation: Replies to Certain Questions of the Day." It said virtually all forms of procreation techniques that do not involve sexual intercourse between a husband and wife are morally wrong and a threat to humanity. It condemned in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood and other procreative techniques and warned against genetic engineering, embryo freezing, fetal experimentation and prenatal diagnostics. "The instruction is a sure guide on how respect from human life in its origin can be shown and the dignity of procreation preserved,"
Mcinerny said. He added that the Vatican document was not "an obstacle" to technological enhancement of human life but instead called "attention to the fact that we can do things, with or without technology, which are destructive of the human." Mcinerny said many people support in vitro fertilization between a husband and wife' who strongly desire children and could not have them otherwise, but that the document is against it because "once the unitive character of the marriage act is denied one has in principle accepted all sorts of things, undreamt of things." "N ot only is the technician the proximate cause of the new life, but time elapses oetween the taking of sperm and egg and fertilization," he said, adding that if the Turn to Page Six