FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS VOL. 33, NO. 15
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Friday, April 14, 1989
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts'Largest Weekly
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New leader for oldest see Catecbetics critique called devastating
. By Jerry Filteau WASHINGTON (NC) Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Archbishop William D. Borders of Baltimore and named Bishop William H. Keeler of Harrisburg, Pa., to succeed him as head of the nation's oldest see. Archbishop Pio Laghi, papal pronuncio to the United States, announced the appointment April II in Washington. Archbishop Keeler, 58, has headed the Harrisburg diocese since 1983. He is a leading figure in Catholic ecumenical affairs, and as secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops was the only U.S. bishop who was not an archbishop at the recent summit meeting in Rome of the U.S. archbishops with the pope and Vatican officials. Archbishop Borders, who has headed the Baltimore archdiocese since 1974, submitted his resignation, to the pope when he turned 75 last fall. In accepting his resignation, Pope John Paul named him archdiocesan administrator until his successor was installed. Baltimore was made the first diocese in the United States on Nov. 6,1789, when the U.S. hierarchy was established. On April 8, 1808, it was made the nation's first archdiocese. Archbishop Keeler will be its 14th archbishop. In addition to Archbishop John Carroll, the country's first bishop, Baltimore has been led by such historic figures as Archbishops Francis P. Kenrick and Martin J. Spalding and Cardinals James Gibbons and Lawrence Shehan.
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ARCHBISHOP BORDERS William Henry Keeler was born in San Antonio, Texas, March 4, 1931, but grew up in Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest of the Harrisburg diocese July 17, 1955, after studies at St. Charles Seminary in Overbrook, Pa., and the North American College in Rome. He received a licentiate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1956. After two years as secretary of the Harrisburg diocesan tribunal, he returned to the Gregorian, where he earned a doctorate in canon law in 1961. From 1962 to 1965, he was an expert at the Second Vatican Council. H'e was pastor of Our Lady.of Good Counsel parish in Marysville, Pa., in 1964-65 and defender of the bond on the diocesan tribunal, 1961-66. He was named Harrisburg diocesan chancellor in 1969, auxiliary bishop in 1.979, and
ARCHBISHOP KEELER bishop on Nov: 15, 1983, following the death of Bishop Joseph T. Daley. Active in ecumenical and interreligious affairs at the diocesan and state level since the 1960s, the new Baltimore arch bishop has since 1980 played a growing role in national and international relations with other faiths. He was a member ofthe AnglicanRoman Catholic U.S. dialogue commission from 1980 to 1984, a member ofthe Joint Committee of Lutheran and Roman Catholic Bishops; chairman of the bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and' Interreligious Affairs, 1984-87, and episcopal moderator of Catholico Jewish relations for the U.S. bishops since 1988. He is also a member of the international Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission. In 1985, he received the AmeTurn to Page Six
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (NC) - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's recent criticisms of the state of catechesis in the United States are "devastating," Bishop Raymond A. Lucker of New Ulm, Minn., told religious educators April 3. "I believed that we were in the midst of catechetical renewal," Bishop Lucker told about 400 members of the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education at their convention in Sacramento. Also among speakers was Archbishop Patrick F. Flores of San Antonio, Texas. Bishop Lucker, episcopal moderatorfor the organization, referred to remarks by Cardinal Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine ofthe Faith, and by Cardinal John J. O'Connor of'New Yorkduringthe March8-11 meeting between U.S. bishops and Vatican officials. CardinarRatzinger was addressing the teaching role of bishops and said that since the Second Vatican Council religious education "has been turned over to the socalled professional," resulting in "a confusion of voices, making it all the more difficult to recognize that of the Gospel." Cardinal O'Connor said that some "years of confusion and diversity" in catechetical instruction materials used in Catholic schools and religious education programs
"have left an entire generation in a state of ambiguity." Bishop Lucker said that if what the two cardinals said was true, then there has not been a catechetical renewal and that the church would have to go back in time. In the 1950s, a catechetical renewal which began in the United States and was spurred on by Vatican II emphasized teaching accurate doctrine "to call forth a response to faith," as well as adult catechesis and formation, Bishop Lucker said. "If it is not true, then we have an enormous communicatioBs problem with our own bishops and with many other people who would probably agree with their assessments," Bishop Lucker said. "Or if the renewal as we understand it is misunderstood, then we have a great deal of explaining to do." One of the major problems facing the U.S. Catholic Church is the need for an ongoing conversion of adults such as "cultural Catholics" who are alienated or may be registered at parishes, but "their faith doesn't affect their daily lives." Bishop Lucker praised the mall)' volunteer catechists who serve in parish programs and said their work is "the most effective adult education program that's taking place in parishes ... because their lives are being changed." Turn to Page Six
"Death march" draws 300,000 pro-choicers WASHINGTON (NC) - Catholic nuns, lay people and college students were among hundreds of thousands who participated April 9 in a march organized by the National Organization for Women to keep abortion legal. The U.S. Capitol police and the District of Columbia police estimated the crowd at 300,000. It was the largest single demonstration in the nation's capital in recent years, surpassing the 250,000 who gathered in 1963 for the March on Washington. The biggest rally crowd ever recorded was I million for a protest against the Vietnam War. As the NOW marchers demonstrated in Washington, some 50 people gathered in cold rain at Alternatives, a New Bedford abortion clinic. They were there, said Mary Ann Booth, a right to life advocate, because "Catholics and other people offaith are called to a time of prayer and fasting in reparation for the sin of abortion which has been allowed to continue for 16 years,"
Led by Father Louis R. Boivin, pastor, and Father Marc H. Bergeron, parochial vicar at St. Joseph parish, New Bedford, the group prayed for abortion victims, their parents and those who profit financially from performing abortions.
Also prayed for, said Mrs. Booth, were "women who demand the socalled right to have children killed before birth...and the Supreme Court justices who will soon be hearing a case which could reverse Roe vs. Wade, thereby limiting
our present unrestricted abortion laws. "We pray that the people of this nation who tolerate abortion may come to a deeper understanding of the commandment: 'Thou shalt not kill,' .. concluded Mrs. Booth.
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A FATHER and daughter read a sign explaining the "Cemetery ofthe Innocents" erected last week at Washington's Reflecting Pool. Its 4,400 crosses symbolized the number of abortions estimated to take place daily in the United States. Right-to-lifers prayed at the site during Sunday's march. (NC photo)
In Washington, abortion opponent Judie Brown ofthe American Life League, at a press con,ference on Capitol Hill called the march "a march for death a.nd economic destruction." Assembled in Lafayette Park, near the White House, were about 100 pro-life demonstrators, including Joseph Scheidler, head of the Pro-Life Action League in Chicago. Led by NOW president Molly Yard, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and several Hollywood celebrities, including actresses Whoopi Goldberg, Cybill Shepherd and Marlo Thomas, marchers jammed Constitution Avenue as they streamed towards a Capitol rally. Many waved wire coathangers as symbols of illegal abortion and shouted, "We won't go back." NOW organizers said the turnout illustrated abortion rights groups' fear - and abortion opponents' hope - that the Supreme Court will use an upcoming case to limit abortion or overturn the Roe Turn to Page Six