08.11.95

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t eanc 0 VOL. 39, NO. 31

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Friday, August 11, 1995

FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly

FALL RIVER, MASS.

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$11 Per Year

Pro-lifers encouraged by House, Senate vote on abortion coverage WASHINGTON (CNS)- In action on an appropriations bill, the Senate Aug. 5 voted to ban coverage of abortions by federal employee health pla.ns except in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is I:ndangered. The victory for pro-life forces came during an unusual Saturday session for the lawmakers and followed on the heels of other votes in the House on the abortion issue a few days earlier. The Senate's 50-44 vote, which came after six hours of heated debate, restores abortion restrictions on federal insurance coverage that were in effect between 1984 and 1993. Th,e restrictions were dropped after President Clinton took office. On Aug. 2 in the House, lawmakers overturned a committee's vote to end funding of a federal family planning program, but other pro-life provisions of a major appropriations bill survived a challenge. The votes came on amendments to the $256 billion appropriations bill for the departments of Education, Labor and Health and Human Services. The family planning amendment, passed on a 221-207 vote, reversed an earlier House Appropriations Committee vote to revoke all funding for the Title X program and to apply its $193 million budget to two state block grant programs the Maternal and Child Health block grant and the Consolidated Health Centers program for community and migrant health. States would not have been required to spend the brock grant funds on family planning, however. But an attempt to remove other provisions favored by pro-lifers failed on a 270-15S vote. Those provisions would: -Ban federal funding of research on living human embryos. -Give states greater latitude in deciding when Medicaid abortions will be funded in the state, meaning states could dlmy Medicaid funds fOf abortions to poor women who are victims of rape or incest. -Prohibit state and federal governments from penalizing any obstetrics/ gynecology residency program because it does not include abortion training. All the amendments considered by the House had the strong back-

ing of the U.S. bishop's Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. Its executive director, Gail Quinn, said the measures would probably be condemned "as the w()rk of 'rightwing extremists' who oppose 'freedom of choice.''' "But even a moment's serious reflection indicates how misguided such rhetoric really is," Ms. Quinn added at the time of the committee votes. "These measures chiefly have to do with getting the federal government out of the abortion business, ending policies by which government had actively promoted and subsidized abortion." The provision on embryo research prohibits federal funds for any research in which human embryos are created or "destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero." The Medicaid ~'I;lendment would let states refuse to use federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortions in cases of rape or incest. States would still be required to pay for Medicaid abortions when the mother's life is in danger. The provision on !1bortion training was adopted in response to a recent directive by the Accreditation Council fQr Graduate Medical Education requiring residency programs to offer abortion training or risk losing their accreditation.

-------------1 Pastorates to change in two pa~ishes Pastorates of two Fall River diocesan parishes will change in the coming months as a result of decisions made by the religious communities who staff them. The Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, Immaculate Conception Province, will withdraw from pastoral administration of St. Louis parish, Fall River, i,n mid-September, and the Congregation of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary will withdraw from St. Francis Xavier parish, Acushnet, next year. In light of this, Bishop Sean Turn to Page 13

../ PARTICIPANTS IN THE national Catholic Charismatic Renewal conference held in Orlando, FL, pray at a Mass. (CNS / Brund photo)

Charismatics meet in Orlando ORLANDO, Fla.(CNS)- They danced in the aisles, thrust their hands in the air at every mention of the Holy Spirit and chanted softly, some in tongues, when the celebrant said: "Do this in memory of me." More than 4,000 Catholics were among some 7,000 to 8,000 people who gathered in Orlando for the 1995 Congress on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelization. The National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference was held in conjunction with the July 26-29 congress. The visual aspects of charismatic renewal are only part of what the movement has to offer the universal church, say its leaders. "Our centrality is a proclamation that Jesus is Lord, and we have an openness to the charisms of the Holy Spirit," said Walter Matthews, director of Chariscenter USA. The center, in Locust Grove, Va., is the headquarters of the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The movement is also sociological, with its own culture and language, Matthews told The Florida

Catholic, diocesan newspaper. And sometimes, he added; it has been a struggle to keep a Catholic identity. For instance, Catholic charis~ matics must ensure that the charisms of the Holy Spirit are not separated from the sacraments, he said. The sacraments of initiation baptism, Communion and confirmation - let in the Holy Spirit, explained Matthews. Followers of

the charismatic movement believe that through reawakening or renewal of the relationship with the Spirit, faith is strengthened. He noted that being baptized in the Holy Spirit should not be confused with being "slain" in the spirit. Charismatic individuals are "slain" when they feel the presence of the Holy Spirit so strongly perhaps as a result of a group prayTurn to Page 13

Bishop Stang HS among 4 finalists in national study Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth, is one of four Catholic high schools in the nation named to participate in a $670,000 four-year program of consultative guidance addressing finance and governance issues in schools while emphasizing their Catholic identity. Of 1200 U.S. Catholic schools invited to apply for the program, Stang was among 12 semifinalists and the four finalists. The others are St. Bernard's School, Eureka, and Verbum Dei/ Regina Caeli/ S1.

Michael School, central Los Angeles, both in California; and Don Bosco Tech in Boston. The program, to begin in September, was developed in response to a Harvard University research study, "Effective Catholic Schools: An Exploration," which documented the success of Catholic schools but warned of potential problems of finance and governance. The undertaking, funded by an Turn to Page 13

...----In This I s s u e - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , Parish celebrates 90 years

CompResource aids workers

A CD-Rom for canon lawyers

The face of homelessness

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