Convention· the The 22,000 members of the 'D.ocesan Council of Catholic Women have new ,leaders, elect ed last Saturday for a two-year term at the <;ouncil's annual convention. Named and installed by Bish op Daniel A. Cronin at a candle light ceremony in St. Francis Xavier Church, Hyannis, were Mrs. David Sellmayer, president; Mrs. .A:ubrey Armstrong, first vice-president; Miss Dorothy Curry, second vice-president; Miss Margaret McCarthy, third vice-president; Mrs. John Bar rett, fourth vice-president; Mrs. Edmund Messier, fifth vice-presi dent. Miss Mary Elizabeth LaRoche, recording secretary; Mrs. Harry B. Loew, corresponding secre tary; Miss Claire O'Toole, treas urer. With a convention theme of "Call to Adulthood," delegates attended a morning business session followed by a choice of three workshops, Mass, installa tion of new officers, luncheon and an afternoon program high lighted by the keynote address
of Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, general secretary of the National Con ference of Catholic Bishops (see stories this page and page 3). Morning workshops dealt with family violence and child abuse; the Bread for the World program to combat world hunger; and methods of burnishing the DCCW image. "Wife abuse is the most com mon crime in America" declared Hon. Baron Martin, Wareham district court judge. In New Bedford, where he is currently sitting, he said, there is an aver age of five such cases a day. Pointing out that.children and wives have historically been re garded as the property of men, and that there have been few legal restraints on abuse, Dr. Louis Gomes, director of New Bedford area social services, said that child abuse has many causes. They include emotional or mental problems of parents, the general violence in society and the stresses of poverty, un employment, poor housing and inadequate health care. The director outlined suppor Turn to Page Ten
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DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASS., CAPE & ISLANDS
Fall River, Mass., Friday, April 29, 1983
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$8 Per Year
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Appeal
Over 19,750 volunteer Cath olic Charities Appeal solicitors will make house-to house calls to parishioners this Sunday, asking donations and pledges to the 42nd annual Catholic Chari ties Appeal. Of some 107,000 homes, re presenting more than 325,000 people, will be visited between noon and 3 p.m. in the dioceses's 112 parishes. The Appeal funds mainten ance and expansion of aposto-, lates of charity, mercy, educa tion social services and health care. Bishop Daniel .A:. Cronin wrote this week to diocesan families, asking generous sup port of the '1983 campaign. "The theme for this year's Ap peal is timely," he wrote: "'For the love of God, someone in need needs you.' These words bring before our minds and hearts the many in need around us. At the same time, we are reminded that, as a diocesan family, we seek to attend to the needy in our midst precisely for the sake of the love of God. "I take this occasion to en close a contribution card for the Appeal. One of your neighbors, a fellow parishioner, has kindly volunteered to visit your home
The challenge of the pastoral:
during the early afternoon hours of May 1st, in order to receive your donation to the Appeal. Your parish priest will advise you of the exact hour for the home visitation in your parish.
Make peace your issue
"Each year it becomes in creasingly evident that it is pre cisely the generosity of good folks like you, in parishes throughout the diocese, which gives success to the Catholic Charities Appeal, and so enables us to carry on our many dioce san programs and apostolates. "Once again this year, I there fore invite your serious consider ation of the pledge system as a way of making a substantial contribution to the Appeal, over an extended period of' time, in best keeping with .your financial means and budget." 'Msgr. Gomes noted that par ish solicitors are asked to make their returns to their parishes on Sunday. Parishes in turn will be contacted by area appeal head quarters between 8 and 9 p.m. Sunday evening; and the area offices will be contacted by dio cesan headquarters. Appeal books will remain open until Friday, May 20, for delayed contributions.
By Pat McGowan with NC News reports Msgr. Daniel F. Hoye, general secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, makes few public apperances, leaving most such tasks to mem bers of his 400-person staff. But it was different last Sat urday when the Taunton native addressed the annual convention of the Fall River Diocesan Coun cil of Catholic Women. "It's n'ot even a decision," he told hundreds of council mem bers gathered at Msgr. Thom son Hall of St. Francis Xavier parish, Hyannis. "When Fall River asks, you do it." Msgr. Hoye, the youngest per son ever to hold the job of right hand man to the American bish ops, gave his audience an absorb ing behind-scenes view of the shaping of the bishops' pastoral letter on war and peace. The pastoral's third draft 'Will
be debated in Chicago on Mon day and Tuesday. Msgr. Hoye will be in the midst of the ac tion, sitting beside Archbishop John Roach of St. Paul-Minne apolis, USCC president, ready with any backup information
"They do not use abso 'lute terms. The foot is raised but they don't cross the threshold. How ever, the draft is skepti cal to the point of dis belief regarding the con trolled use of nuclear weapons." the archbishop may need as possible third draft amendments are discussed. Th~ meeting bears the label historic even before the fact. Besides the weighty and contro
versial subject matter itself, the development of a pastoral letter on war and peace has placed a new focus on how the church should relate to public policy and on major internal church issues such as the authority of bishops' conferences, the style of church teaching and the rela tionship between universal church teachings and their ap plication to specific situations. The bishops' meeting follows a year in which the debate over the planned war and peace pas toral has placed the U.S. Cath olic Church in ifrs deepest public controversy since the 1973 abor tion decisions of the U.S. Su preme Court. In preparation for it Bishop Daniel A. Cronin has written to diocesan priests asking their "prayerful remembrance of me and of my brother bishops as we consider the complex issues sur· rounding the question of peace and war in our day." Turn to Page Eleven