,.
t eanc 0 VOL. 34, NO. 25
•
Friday, June 22,1990
F ALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE, COD & TH.E ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
•
511 Per Year
Schools' failure to teach values rapped
"National disgrace" say Catholics, Jews WASHINGTON (CNS) - In an unprecedented joint statement Catholic and Jewish religious leaders have declared that U.S. public education is "cheating our children" by failing to teach the "core moral values" of society. They called the lack of education in basic values a "national disgrace." "By deliberately excluding these shared moral values from the curriculum, the educational system actually undermines them," said the statement. "It is all too easy for children to assume that information not taught in school cannot be very important." The leaders, who form a national Catholic-Jewish consultation group, said that values not being taught, "like honesty, compassion, integrity, tolerance, loyalty and belief in human worth and dignity," are not just religious but an essential part of "the civic fabric of our society. They are the underpinnings of our lives." , The statement was issued June 19 by the Interreligious Affairs Committee of the Synagogue Council of America and the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs ofthe National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The joint consultation group of the two organizations consists of 12 bishops representing the NCCB and 27 Jewish leaders, 26 of them rabbis, representing the synagogue council, with assistance from co~ sultants and staff members of theIr organizations. The New York-based synagogue council speaks for and coordinates policies of the national rabbinical lay synagogal organizations of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform branches of U.S. Judaism. The consultation is cochaired by Baltimore Archbishop Willjam H. Keeler, NCCB episcopal moderator for Catholic-Jewish relations, and by Rabbi Jack Bemporad, chairman of the synagogue council's Interreligious Affairs Committee and rabbi of Temple Israel in Lawr~nce, N.Y. In ajoint press release the chairmen said, "This is the first time that such a joint statement has been issued by both of our two religious organizations which reflects a major cooperative effort in addressing a prime problem affecting our entire American society." The consultation group said that "a growing reluctance to teach Turn to Page 13
FATH:ER NAGLE'
FATHER CRONIN
FATHER NORTON
FATHER MADDOCK
Retirement, pastorates, leave announced by bishop "Cautious optimism" on 84001 fate
By Michael J. Healey Special from The Pilot of Boston Pro-life lobbyists had cause for cautious optimism June 12 when the Massachusetts Legislature voted by a 99-84 margin to recess a constitutional convention until June 27. The convention - ajoint session of the two houses of the Legislature - will decide the fate of H400 I, a pro-abortion constitutional amendment, among a list of 19 other items on the calendar. The June 12 vote marked a significant shift of support from the previous day, Monday June II, during which pro-abortion legislators defeated a similar motion to recess by a 103-88 margin. It also showed that "as long as we keep educating legislators [as to the scope of the amendment], they keep coming our way," said Gerald D. D' Avolio, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. "The fact that the convention's been put off is to our benefit. It will give us time to work on those legislators who are having some very serious questions about how
Eight diocesan priests are affected by changes announced this week by Bishop Daniel A; Cronin. Five priests will assume new pastorates, one is going on sabbatical leave and one will become a temporary administrator. There is also one retirement.
bad this amendment really is," he said. D'Avolio, the chief lobbyist for the four Catholic dioceses of Massachusetts, called H400 I "horrendous." It "goes way beyond Roe Retilrement v. Wade: it's literally abortion-onBishop Danid A. Cronin has demand through the ninth month accepted the n~quest of Father of pregnancy," he said. James P. Dalzell to resign for reaArlene Champoux, iegisiatlve sons of health fJrOm the pastorate director for Massachusetts Citizens ofSt. Joseph's, Woods Hole, effecfor Life (MCFL), the leading pro- tive July II. life lobby in the Bay State, termed A native of Boston, Father Dalthe Tuesday vote "a major step to zall prepared for the priesthood at a pro-life victory." But, she quickly St. Mary's Seminary, Techny, IlL, cautioned, "we fully realize it's and was ordained in Techny by the only the first step on the ladder." late Archbishop William D. Champoux said that the vote O'Brien on April 23, 1949. turnabout indicated that "some After serving ,as parochial vicar people who normally aren't with at St. Francis Xavier parish in us are beginning to change as they Metairie, La., he: came to the Fall realize how extreme the bill is." River diocese in 1957 and was paroH4001 - an "Initiative Amend- chial vicar at St. Kilian parish, ment to the Constitution Prohibit-· New Bedford; Sit. Francis Xavier, ing Government from Interfering Hyannis; and St. Patrick, Fall with Personal Reproductive Deci- River. . sions" - allows each woman "the He has been pastor of Our Lady right to choose or refuse abortion of the Isle parish, Nantucket, and during the first 24 weeks of her St. Mary's, Norton. He assumed pregnancy or at any time to prothe Woods Hole pastorate in 1977. Turn to Page 13 In the past he served as chaplain
for the Cape Cod Community College Newman Club. Pastoral Assignments Effective on June 27, Father Michael R. Nagle will become pastor of Immaculate Conception parish, Taunton, and Father John J .. Steakem, pastor at Immaculate Con,. ception since 1983, will become .pastor at St. Mary's parish, Norton. Ordained in 1972, Father Nagle served as parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist, New Bedford; St. Mary's, Taunton; St. Peter's,
FATHER DALZELL
Provincetown; and St. Margaret's, Buzzards Bay. He served in pastoral ministry at Morton, Hospital, Taunton, from 1981 to 1985, when he was appointed chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital. Most recently he has been engaged in graduate study in'Boston. Father Steakem was ordained in 1960 and served as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception parish, North Easton; St. Kilian, New Bedford; and St. Julie, North Dartmouth. He was administrator of St. Rita parish, Marion, before becoming pastor at Immaculate Conception, Taunton. , He was chaplain at Bishop Feehan High School, Attleboro, in 1963 and 1964 and later was a faculty member at Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth. While in New Bedford he was cochairman of th-e area CCD board and he has also been a member of the diocesan personnel board. He was director of Taunton Catholic Cemeteries for three years and was assistant director for the Taunton Area Catholic Charities Appeal in 1988 and 1989. Four other priests will be affected Turn to Page Three