03.06.80

Page 1

r SERVING •.. SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS,

t eanc 0 VOL. 24, NO. 10

FAll RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1980

High' court to rule on parents' rights

CETA church jobs unconstitutional? MILWAUKEE (NC) - A federal judge in Milwaukee for the second time has ruled unconstitutional the use of federal Com-' prehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) funds to hire employees for church-related schools. U.S. District Judge John W. Reynolds said involvement by church schools in the CETA program, even when CETA workers perform various non·religious duties, is unconstitutional because of the excessive entanglement it creates between church and state. "No matter what positions are filled by these workers, this type of direct subsidization provides • the affected religious institutions with direct and tanglible benefits," wrote Reynolds in a decision released Feb. 12. "When such benefits are conferred out of public funds, the result is a violation of the First Amendment," he added. Reynolds rejected contentions

by attorneys for several Wisconsin Catholic dioceses and for the U.S. Department of Labor, which administers the CETA program, that revisions in the program made by the department last summer eliminated the churchstate questions surrounding church involvement in GETA programs. Last summer's new regulations, while banning church employment of CETA workers in many areas of school activity, allowed CETA employment in food, health, safety or other similar services in church schools. But Reynold said, "While the nature of the job positions that may be funded through the CETA program are limited by the new Department of Labor rules, many of the newly-authorized positions present a substantial danger of excessive entanglement between church and state." He said that not only would auditing and review procedures Turn to Page Six

20c, $6 Per Year

JOSEPH McCARTY

Appeal head Joseph B. McCarty, a member of St. Paul's parish, Taunton, has been named diocesan lay chairman' for the 39th annual Catholic Charities Appeal of the Fall River diocese. A native of Pawtucket, McCarty is chairman of the board and president of the Arley MerTurn to Page Seven

WASHINGTON (NC) - The Supreme Court ·has agreed to rule on the constitutionality of laws requiring parental notification before a teen-age girl can obtain an abortion. The court Feb. 25 accepted for review a Utah law requiring doctors to notify parents of girls seeking abortions. The attorney for an anonymous Utah 15-yearold has challenged the law as unconstitutional saying it interferes with the teen-ager's right to receive an abortion "without undue interference by the state." At issue is simple notification of parents, not parental consent. The court ruled in 1976 in a case from Missouri that parents could not have an absolute veto over their daughter's abortion decision. Last year the court ruled in a case from Massachusetts that minors must have the opportunity to go directly to a court for permission to obtain an abortion before her parents are consulted

or notified. The court' said no parental notification or consent is required if the minor proves to the judge that she is mature enough to make an abortion decision on her own. The State of Utah, in defense of its parental notification law, said, "to leave the parent in total ignorance of the proposed major surgery upon a minor child still within the parents' control and custody would be to ignore totally and completely the fundamental notion of the integrity of the family unit and to disregard entirely the responsibility which parents have for their minor children." The court is not expected to hear arguments in the new case until at least the fall, and thus probably will not issue its ruling until early 1981. Meanwhile, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that parents need not be notified before a state agency Turn to Page Six

• Bishops' Convocation a spiritual eOCperlenCe Would you believe a retreat attended by 22 bishops and 144 priests, sisters, brothers and lay people? That's what the eighth annual Convocation of the Catholic Bishops of New England is being called. Held last weekend at Mont Marie Conference Center, Holyoke, it brought together representatives- of the 11 New England dioceses to examine their personal relationship to Christ.

In the past, convocations have focused "on policies and programs. This year, said Auxiliary Bishop Amedee Proulx of Portland, Maine, participants turned their attention to "the reason for it all, our relation with Jesus." In large' groups and small workshops, grassroots Catholics from parish organizations and Catholic schools, together with representatives of Marriage En-

counter, Cursillo, the charismatic renewal, pro-life and peace and justice groups and the permanent diaconate, considered the basic question: "What think you of Christ?" Father' Howard Gray, S.J., director of the Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, the meeting's keynote speaker, discussed the relationship between man and God created by the entrance of Christ into human history.

Through service to each other, he said, people "are empowered to enter into dialogue with Him." Prayer should focus on Jesus, said Sister Madeline Birmingham of the Center for Religious Development, also in Cambridge.

what we ought to do, but because Jesus is alive in us." Father George W. Coleman, diocesan director of education, was' a member of .the steering committee that developed the weekend program.

"Let Him take first priority," she told convocation participants. "Let the reality of His life speak to the reality of our lives so that when we make decisions it's not because it is

Led by Bishop Cronin, the diocesan delegation included representatives of the Priests' Council, diocesan educators and students and the permanent diaconate.

SCENES AT THE NEW ENGLAND CONVOCATION


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.