SERVING . . . SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 25, No. 18
2Oc, $6 Per Year
FALt RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, APRIL 30; 1981
'Everything is an understatement'
Childr{~n for By Pat McGowan._ Diocesan women gasped as they listened and at least one veteran pastor admitted being a "babe in the woods" in his unawareness of the ,billion dollar child sex industry centered in New York City's Times Square district. Their eyes were opened, their hearts touched by Father Bruce Ritter, a Franciscan priest and medieval theologian turned knight defender of thousands of runaway kids exploited, tortured and often murdered in the b:rothels and cheap hotels of Mimhat. tan. .Father Ritter spoke to some 400 delegates to the 28th annual convention of the Diocesan Coun路 cil of Catholic Women, held last Saturday at Coyle and Cassidy High School, Taunton. In flat, emotionless tones he told of a world where runaway boys and girls, some as young as 10 and 11, are bought and sold while police and judges look the other way. "Everything I say to you is
sale
an understatement," he declared, as he related the story of an IIyear-old girl arrested eight times for prostitution and brought each time to' the adult criminal court where her pimp paid a token fine for her release. No effort was ever made to help her, "although she looked her age," said Father Ritter, noting that one court official told him, "We never look at their faces." "She was killed before she was 12," he concluded, "thrown out of a 10th-story window." In one of the bursts of indignation he allowed himself, the priest told of a Congressman who was reelected after being arrested for misdemeanors with a minor boy. "One month after he was arrested he announced he would run again," he said. "He was reelected by thousands of people who knew he bought children. They wouldn't have voted for him if he'd bought their son, but they didn't care about other people's sons:" Turn to Page Six
CCA solicitors prepare for Sunday's parish phase Over 19,000 volunteer Catholic Charities Appeal parish solicitors of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River will make house-tohouse calls to parishioners this Sunday, May 3, for donations and pledges to the fortieth annual Catholic Charities Appeal. Approximately 106,000 homes, representing more than 32!5,000 people, will be visited between the hours of noon and 3 p.m. in the diocese's 113 parishes. The Appeal provides funds for the maintenance and expansion of the apostolates of' charity, mercy. education, social sen,ices, health care, and other works of the apostolic mission of the diocese. Most Rev. Daniel A. Cronin, Bishop of Fall River, wrote a let-
ter to every family in the diocese this week in which he encouraged generous support of the 1981 Catholic' Charities Appeal. The Bishop said: "Please be assured that I am keenly aware of the heavy financial burdens which these days impose upon all of us. None of us has escaped unscathed. Yet, as you can well understand, the many human needs t(} which our Annual Appeal responds continue to increase at a steady pace. "If, as a Christian community, we are going to respond to those needs, as indeed we want to, it is crucial that our 1981 Appeal be marked wi,th financial success. In this' regard, may I sincerely ask that you be as generous as
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YOUTH SERV~S YOUTH: Volunteer Laurie Young serves soup at 'Under 21,' one of Father Bruce Ritter's Manhattan shelters for runaways. (NC Photo)
Our schools, rate an"A NEW YORK (NC) - If Cath路 olic educators had doubts that their schools make a difference, speaker after speaker at the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) convention quickly sought to dispel them. "Catholic Education: A WorIa of Difference" was the theme of the Easter week convention which brought nearly 20,000 participants to New York, including 42 educators from the Fall River diocese. Catholic schools are a "tremendous asset" to the church, _William C. McCready said and his colleague at the National Opinion Research Center, Father Andrew Greeley, praised the schools as an asset to minority students. The most impressive contribution to liberating the church
in the U.S. is in the Catholic schools. They have had a unique function in liberating the poor . . . Catholic schools have a magic," Father Greeley said. "The evidence was shown that Catholic schools are even more important than they were in the past," McCready added reporting on a Knights of Columbus research study on young Cath路 olics. Speakers also pointed to new directions for all-lay-staffed schools and encouraged the idea that the parent is the child's primary educator. The optimistic mood was underscored by facts and figures from James S. Coleman's reo cently-published study "Public and Private Schools." That study indicated that private schools, including Catholic schools, pro-
duce better outcomes and Catholic schools more closely approximate the "common school" ideal of American 路education. Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York told NCEA participants that tuition tax credits were among the topics discussed when the cardinal called on President Reagan at the White House April 17. The convention participants also heard a telegram from the Reagan administration pledging support for tuition tax credits. Another telegram, from Sen: Daniel Moynihan (D-N.Y.), also expressed support for tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools. Moynihan is a sponsor of a tax credit bill. At a meeting of NCEA diocesan directors of special educaTurn to Page Eleven