t eanc 0 VOL. 24, NO. 31
SERVING ••• SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY; JULY 31, 1980
Women topic of UN parley
Lots of flak re holy days An emotional outpouring of reaction has been triggered by a proposal that the obligatJion to attend Mass be dropped on four of the six U.S. holy days. While some Catholics ~lre highly critical of reducing tile holy days, others agree that some should be withdrawn from the church calendar. The proposal, released in midMay by the bishops' Committee on the Liturgy, has been drawing reaction in surveys conducted by Catholic newspapers, in letters to the editor, and dn Catholic press editorials and columns. The Evangelist, newspaper of the Diocese of Albany, N..Y., reported that one-third of the respondents to a survey wanted the present holy days retained. Another third wanted even more holy days added. One-fourth said they believed some holy days should be eliminated. Leading suggestions for m~w holy days were Good Friday, Holy Thursday, and Thanksgiving Day. The holy days proposal also has been a major topic of cliscussdon ·in letters to the editor in the Catholic press. Anchor correspondent Mrs. Josephine Patenaude of Taunton voiced the concern of ~ny when she asked, "Is it true that all the holy feasts of obligation will be taken out except the Immaculate Conception? Why? :l'm shocked if it is true." Patrica Vasil of Cleveland disagreed with the argument t:::lat poor attendance was a reason for dropping the obHgatJions ~md remarked, "I wonder why c':lnvenience is more important than the celebration of Jesus through the Mass regardless if 1,000 attend or a handful." And Janet Kilcoyne of Middlesboro, Ky., argued that if the bishops used the criterion of participation, they then might argue that the Sacrament of ReconcHiation should be dropped, along with church teaching on artificial birth control. Syndicated columnist Dale Fr~mcis, in a column appealing in mid-June, strongly objected to the proposal, noting especially that it was made without consulting American CathoLies. But a month later Francis wrote that while a majority still opposed the idea, he received many letters agreeing with the proposal. He said they gave two )~ea sons: - It sometimes is impossible Turn to Page Six
20c, $6 Per Year
By Nancy Frazier NC News Service
The chief Vatican delegate to the United Nations World Conference on Women, Bishop J. Cordes, called for new efforts to combine employment and family duties for women and to improve their health care and educational opportunities Bishop Cordes, vice president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, spoke at the conference site in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference, which ended yesterday, was attended by the bishop and five other Vatican delegates including Msgr. James T. McHugh, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., who is a member of the laity council and former director of the U.S. bishops' Office for ProLife Affairs. The conference gathered about 1,500 delegates from 140 nations to consider ways of improving the status of women. Two major topics of the Copenhagen conference were the effects of apartheid on women in South Africa and the effects of Israeli occupation on Palestinian women inside and outside the occupied territories. In his speech, Bishop Cordes discussed the Vatican's views on women's issues involving equality, development and peace. "When the Catholic Church and its members stress the value and dignity of women, it is not simply because we have become MR. AND MRS. JOHN R. McGINN stand on stairway often used by Lizzie Borden. aware of the importance of their social role," he said.. "It is above all out of our fidelity to revelation, which lies at the root of our Christian faith," the German bishop added. Bishop Cordes said the Vatican sees work "not only as a By Pat McGowan The garden and outbuildings handling budget envelopes for means of earning one's living, but also as a means whereby of Lizzie's day are long gone, many diocesan parishes. The print shops of most di- but the 1850s house where the' The McGinns bought the Liz- persons may develop their own ocesan newspapers are pretty bodies of her parents were found zie Borden house in 1947, some creative capacities and skills, a routine places: linotypes or cold on that hot AUgust day is struc- 20 years after what is now the participation in the process of type equipment, type fonts, turally unchanged, even to' an print shop had been added, orig- building a more just society." makeup tables. But "activities performed by old warm water well in the inally as a Kewpie doll factory. McGinn, a lifelong resident of women who remain in the home The Anchor's home base is cellar. different. It's built around the Although air conditioners the neighborhood, remembers .must also be considered dignihouse at 230 Second Street, Fall now jut from its windows, it is the house before the addition fied work," he added. River, where, 88 years ago on easily recognizable in 1892 was made. He said it was once Regarding health care, the Monday, Lizzie Borden either photographs. a rooming house and that later Vatican delegate urged ~e condid or did not pick up that faBut a kitchen door now opens an old couple ran a small button ference to "speak out in favor mous ax and give her father and into the Leary Press, where The business on its first floor. of programs of matel'ial and stepmother a disputed number of Anchor is printed, providing He chuckled as he recalled child health - programs that whacks. easy access for the press owner, that the house's association with protect and sustain both mother suspicious activities did not and child before as well as after When a door slams for no ap- John R. McGinn. and denounce those McGinn, a feisty 78, and his cease with Lizzie Borden's de- birth parent reason or there's an unexplained creak or thump in wife Josephine, 75, remain active parture. "At one time it was practices, such as abortion, that the print shop, the standard in the business, with Mrs. Mc- used for a betting operation. violate physical, moral or social comment is "There's Lizzie, up Ginn responsible for a thriving Activities were carried on in the health." to her tricks." sideline mailing operation, Turn to Page Six Turn to Page Six
Lizzie Borden'memorie's abound at The Anchor