SERVING . . . SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 25, No. 23
FALL RIVER; MASS., THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1981
20c, $6 Per Year
Post~ll
battle shaping up
Representative Margarlet Heckler of the 10th Congressional District has promised Father John F. Moore, editor of The Anchor, "intense Congressional scrutiny" of proposed postal rate changes which threaten to more than double rates for religious newspapers and magazines. Responding to a telegram from the diocesan editor, Congresswoman Heckler noted: "The possible change in the non-profit mailing costs reflects an acceleration of a process begun under the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. In order to bring user fees more in line with costs, non-profit groups may be asked to pay the attributable costs (those cosfs generated directly by the particular mailing) beginning now, ruther than in 1987, as was originally planned. "All these proposed changes, however, will be the subject of intense Congressional scrutiny in the weeks ahead, as we examine the funding of specific programs. "I hope you will get back in touch with me as specific programs are brought under consideration during the budget process," Mrs. Heckler wrote. "As yOIl know, your views are a great help to me in my legislative delibl!rations, so I look forward to hearing from you soon. "I will keep an eye on this postal proposal," she concluded. A telegram on the same subject sent by Father Moore to Representative Gerry Studds of thl~ 12th Congressional District has to date gone unacknowledged. At a Washington hearing held last month before the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, lawmakers were told that some non-profit publications will shut down if the proposed rate hike is implemented O,:t. I, as the Reagan administration has requested. At the hearing, representatives of the religious press and other non-profit publications said they were willing to pay their fair share of mail costs. But the administration's plan, they said, amounts to a broken promise that lnctlased posltage costs would be phased in ove.' <l period of years rather than imposed all at once. "Much of the religious press will collapse under the burden," said Edgar R. Trexler, edit'Dr of the 600,000-circulation magazine, The Lutheran. Under current postal regulations, non-profit organizations using second, third and fourth-clllss mailing privileges are in the ninth year of a 16-year process (If phasing in the full cost of their use of the postal system. A portion of the annual federal postal subsidy pays the difference between the actual cost of handling such mail and how much mailers now pay. The administration plan to trim postal subsidies in 'the next fiscal year means that the full rate currently scheduled not to go into effect until 1987 would be charged mailers beginners Oct. 1. "Non-profit mailers are willing to pay the attributable costs if given the time to phase int'l) it," said Trexler, testifying on behalf of four religious press groups, including the Catholic Press Association and the Associated Church Press. "They cannot - and ougbt not to be expected to - absorb more than double the present postal costs in one fell swoop," he added. Trexler said in his own case the cost of mailing one issue of The Lutheran would jump from $24,000 to $57,000, a 137 percent increase. Firing his entire staff, including himself, he said, would only save enough to pay the additional postage costs for four months. According to Trexler, a survey has showed that if postal rates are more than doubled, 10 percent of publications affected would cease operation. More than 'Dne-half would cut back on the number of issues per year, while others would reduce the number of pages and use lighter weight paper. Those steps, he said, would result in loss of income for the Postal Service and another :spiral of postal rate increases. He also noted that with SUbscription rates and dues set a year or more in advance, non-profit publications cannot raise their income quickly enough to ma,ke up higher postal rates. Trexler also argued that a damaged religious press would result in a "significant loss .•• in the bonding together of millions of Turn to Page Six
POPE JOHN PAUL II and Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, longtime friends, embrace following the pontiff's election. (NC/KNA PlOtO)
Cardinal Wyszynski dies Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who steered Catholicism through the choppy waters of post-World War II communist rule in Poland and who was a key figure in urging calm and unity during the recent series of labor-government crises, died of cancer at his residence in Warsaw, Poland, May 28. He was 79 years old. From his hospital bed in Rome, Polish-born Pope John Paul II, a protege of Cardinal Wyszynski, called the cardinal "a tireless pastor and a fearless witness of Christ's Gospel. The Polish-born pope named Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, papal secretary of state, to head a Vatican delegation to the Polish cardinal's funeral and sent a telegram of condolences to Cardinal Franciszek Macharski of Cracow, Poland, president of the Polish Bishops' Conference. The cardinal's funeral Mass was held Sunday in Warsaw's Victory Square. It was attended by more than a quarter million persons. His body was then laid to rest in a crypt in his titular church, the Cathedral of St, John the Baptist. Cardinal Casaroli eulogized Cardinal Wyszynski at the services and a homily by Pope John XXIII was read by the dead primate's confrere, Cardinal Fanciszek Macharski of Krakow. Henryk Jablonski, the presi-
dent of Poland's Communist government, led the government delegation at the funeral.
Ordination Bishop Daniel A. Cronin will ordain Rev. Mr. Gerard A. Hebert a priest for the Fall River diocese at ceremonies to be held at II a.m. Saturday at St. Mary's Cathedral. Rev. Mr. Hebert is a native of St. Theresa's parish South Attleboro and the son of Joseph and Cora (Champagne) Hebert. He has one brother, Raymond. He graduated from Attleboro Tum to Page Six
REV. MR. HEBERT
Union leaders, including Lech Walesa, the head of Solidarity, followed the government deputation. The entire five-hour proceedings were carried live on state radio and television. As Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Cracow, Poland, the current pope worked closely with Car· dinal Wyszynski in dealing with the communist government to keep Polish Catholicism united and independent within the official atheist state. Cardinal Wyszynski had been the primate of the Polish church since he began heading the Archdiocese of Warsaw and Gniezno in 1948. The cardinal's death was caused by a "tumorous process of the abdominal cavity of extraordinary malignancy and rapid progress," said his doctors. He had been ill for about six weeks. In Poland, where about 90 percent of the 36 million inhabitants profess Catholicism, grief was widespread. Bishops, priests and nuns joined their fel10w Poles in filing past the coffin at the cardinal's residence. Many people brought flowers and kissed the coffin, upon which the cardinal's red hat was placed. Cardinal Wyszynski, who was placed under house arrest for three years in the 1950s, was Turn to Page Six