t eanc 0 VOL. 39, NO. 26
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Friday, June 30, 1995
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
Noting that once the baby's full body is beyond the birth canal it is protected under murder laws in all 50 states, Canady said "the difference between the partial-birth abortion procedure and homicide is a mere three inches." At the hearing, Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., argued over motives for support or opposition to the bill. "It is all too clear that this bill is but one part of a concerted, multistep effort to effectively deprive women of access to abortion," said Mrs. Schroeder. She introduced several women who said they had the type of abortion being discussed because offetal abnormalities and said the bill's backers were proposing "governmc~ntalintrusion and governmental arrogance at its worst."
Hyde gave his own examples of people who survived severe birth defects and went on to live productive and rewarding lives. And he disagreed with Mrs. Schroeder's Turn to Page 13
THE CHAIUSMATIC movement has kept many Hispanics involved in the Catholic Church, saying they value the warm and close-knit charismatic community and the freedom th~y feel to express their emotions at prayer meetings. (CNS photo)
Hispanic leaders celebrate 50 years of evangelization SAN ANTONIO (CNS) - Fifty years after evangelization to Hispanics became a formal program of the U.S. Catholic Church, 450 ministry leaders reaffirmed that commitment in San Antonio at a spirited convocation June 23-25. They included Bishop Sean O'Malley, who was among 22 presenters of convocation workshops. Basing his presentation on Pope John Paul II's 1993 encyclical, "Veritatis Splendor," the bishop discussed the importance of living a faith-filled life. As the convocation concluded, a Declaration of Commitment outlined a pledge to show fellow U.S. Catholics that the faith of Hispanics is incorporated in their culture. "In this way, we will unite to fight the culture of death denounced by Pope John Paul II," the statement said. The declaration emphasized that Hispanic communi.ties have been in the vanguard of fighting for the family as the fundamental unit of society and the chutch. It included a promise to recognize the rights and dignity of the vocation of parents and the rights of women in all aspects of social and religious life. Also included in the declaration were commitments to: - Uphold the preferential option for the poor as an essential part of the Catholic faith. - Affirm the dignity of human
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NOTICE In keeping with our 50-week publishing schedule, there will be no Anchor issue for July 7, 1995. Happy Fourth ofJuly to all! .\1.' • •
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Married clergy not answer to priest dearth
"Partial birth" abortion. bill is mulled WASHINGTON (CNS) -Just a week after the bill was introduced, a House subcommittee June 21 approved a measure that would ban a controversiallatle-term abortion procedure. Moving at an unusually quick pace, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution voted 7 to 5 on a party-line vote to ban what it called "partial birth" abortions. H. R. 1833 would outlaw abortions in which a fetus has moved into the birth canal, where the physician reaches in and severs the brain stem. The brain is then removed by suction, allowing easier removal of the fetus. The procedure, used after the 20th week of pregnancy, is described by supporters as a preferred method because it eliminates the risk of an unintentional live birth associated with chemically induced abortions. In opening an earlier public hearing of the house subcommittee, chairman Rep. Charles T. Canady, R-Fla., said "partial-birth abortion procedures go a step beyond abortion on demand."
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beings from the moment of conception until natural death. - Recognize the right to dignified work, a just salary, decent housing, education that respects cultural differences and access to decent health care. - Affirm solidarity with farmworkers, refugees, victims of political abuse and undocumented immigrants, especially in light of discrimination against immigrants. The declaration will be amended with suggestions from the convocation's final session and released at a later date, with an eye toward guiding preparations for events celebrating the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity. Pope John Pa ulll has called for a synod of the Americas to meet in Rome before the year :?000, but dates for it have not yet bt:en set. It will be designated as the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America. "We are the logical bridge between the church in the United States and the church in Latin America," the statement noted. The "new evangelization" of the Americas has been a recurring church theme in the Western Hemisphere since 1992, when Pope John Paul II spoke of the need for re-evangelizing the hemisphere during his meeting with Latin
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American bishops in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The relationship between faith and culture has been the most significant contribution of the Hispanic community in the United States, said theologian Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. But there's never been a study of that relationship, he said, adding that the church itself has a history of having treated Hispanics as a problem, even to the point of having oppressed the culture. If faith and culture are not allowed to come together, the faith is what will be lost, he warned. And the Hispanic presence is a reality within the U.S. church, one that should be appreciated as both a privilege and an opportunity. Among the ways in which the U.S. church should be depending upon the Hispanic community is for what it can teach about the preferential option for the poor in Catholic theology, said Msgr. Albacete. The real "option" for the poor in the United States would be to stand against the culture that promotes death, separates families and Turn to Page 13 ,
MANCHESTER, England (CNS) - Married priests are not the answer to the crisis facing the church, says Bishop Daniel J. Mullins of Menevia, Wales. Writing in the British Catholic weekly newspaper, The Universe, Bishop Mullins said that the secular press was "constantly finding bishops who would seem to favor married priests in the church." His comments came two weeks after an Irish priest, Bishop Brendan Comiskey of Ferns, said in an interview with a Dublin newspaper that to end the drop in vocations the Latin-rite Catholic Church must allow a married priesthood. Bishop Mullins said the practical link between celibacy and the priesthood was much older than the legislation introduced into the Latin-rite church in the Middle Ages. And he said there is a scriptural base for the link between celibacy and the priesthood, "even if Scripture does not impose it." He added that it was strange that a married priesthood should be proposed as an answer to a crisis in the priesthood. "The most serious crisis in the church today is precisely in marriage .... One crisis in the church cannot be solved by appealing to another, more fundamental malaise in Catholic life." he wrote. He said the Catholic Church had never been revitalized byadapting to the spirit of the times. "The church is at its most effective, most reforming, when it openly challenges the world by its teaching and by its members living out that teaching in trust and in joy," said the bishop. Bishop Mullins said the sacrament of holy orders places the ordained priest in a special relationship with Christ's people. He said that to live celibately as a priest is to be chosen to be at the total service of the Christian people. "More than anything else in our time, the church needs the prophetic witness of those who joyfully give all to Christ. In calling us priests to celibacy, the church is not asking us to give up something good and holy; rather is it inviting us to give all so that God may be glorified, so that the love of God may touch the lives of all who are in this world. "At this time, the church does not need the voice of sweet reasonableness discussing our problems in secular categories. To the nations, the Cross has always been foolishness. "The world needs to hear the voice of challenge and of contradiction, the·call to salvation," The bishop added that priests unfaithful to their celibate commitment are just as likely to be unfaithful in marriage.