A new church
•
In
Orleans
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 28, NO. 32
FAll RIVER,
MAss.,' FRIDAY,
See pages 7 to 10
AUGUST 17, 1984
$8 Per Year
Knights challenged • to actIon
Some gains seen at conference
DENVER (NC) - Defense of the values of "family, faith and neighborhood," dominwted the Aug. 7-9 meeting of nearly 2,000 Knights of Columbus. Vice President George Bush spotlighted the topics in a speech in which he said that the Knights and President Reagan shared views on them. . Bush cited Reagan's views on a righl·to.,Jife constitutional amendment, tuition tax credits, anti-communism, foreign policy, the economy, schoal prayer and other issues which he said coin cide with the Knights' beliefs, not the Democrats'. Pope John Paul II, in a video taped message, praised the Knights fo.r their "impressive record of generosity and service." He encomaged them "to remain steadfast in your love for Christ and in your many deserving ef forts to defend and promote his saving message" and to continue their fight for' life. Also at the Supreme Council gathering, Supreme Knight Vir gil C. Dechant urged members to "stand up and be counted". on po Utical issues with moral over· tones while ArcJtbishop Bernard F. Law of Boston said the right to life should be the moral issue with the fIrst priority. The Knights adopted a resolu tion praising Reagan for his de fense of the sanctity of life, his work on beha1lf of tax credits, his wpport for school prayer and 9lis stand against pornography. They also adopted a resolUition pledging to continue the fight against abortion and .to support organizations which offer alter natives to abortion. Archbishop Law told the Knights that tile "spiraling nu clear arms race" makes a nu clear holocaust a frightening possibility but "the holocaust of abortion is a present cruel real ity and fact" that takes first priority. "As a Catholic bishop serving my religious and moral duties in a free society," Archbishop Law said, "I do not propose to temper or time ~e assertion of the eternal. precepts of the moral
By NC News Service MEXICO CITY - A Vatican delegate to the International IPopulation Conf~rence held lin MeXlico City Aug. 6 to 14 said that he saw "a slight advance" in international attitudes on population matters which the Vatican considers important. Msgr. James T.· McHugh said that the seven-member delega tion's most notable success was in pushing for an amendment to the conference WorId Plan of Action which says abortion should not _be promoted as a method of family planning. The abortion amendment was also backed by the United States and several Latin, American delegations. Msgr. McHugh, a New Jersey priest who has Bong been a specialist in population and fam i.Jy life concerns for the U.S. bishops and the Vatican, said the delegation has played an "aotive role" in the conference. The group felt that many of its con cerns were met, he s8'id. Msgr. McHugh said that the Mexico City conference also "signaled to the Holy See the need for continued involvement in population questio~s and a continuing reaffirmation of the basic values concerning marriage and fami'ly life." In preparing for the conference over the past year, Msgr. Mc Hugh has been special consul tant on population affairs to the Holy See's permanent observer mission to the United Nations. He said that the delegation was satisfied with referem:es lin the conference to owtural family planning which he found support· ing Vatican views. The Vatican supports natural family planning which relies on determining a woman's natural fel'tility cyole and abstaining from sexual. relations duning the fertile period. The delegation, headed by Bishop Jan ScllOtte, vice presi dent of the Vatican's justice and peace comlJllission, was also satisfied with proposed state ments on support for the family Turn to Page Six
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. THE NEW ST. JOAN OF ARc CHURCH IN ORLEANS (Story, other pictures pages 7 to 10)
Rel'ugion shouldn't be poli,tical tool
Bishop warn.s candidates
WASHINGTON (NC) - Bish op James W. Malone of Youngs tow.n, Ohio, president of the U.S. Catholic Conference, Aug. 9 re jected political candidates' claims that personall morality should not influence policy decisions and warned against candidates' use of· religion to appeal to voters. In an unusual statement au thorized by the officers of the usee, public action agency of the National Conference of Cath olic Bishops, the conferen<:e president also reiterated that the bishops' conference "does not· ,take positions for or against political candidates." In an Aug. 13 interview with NC News, Bishop .Malone olari fied the Aug. 9 statement, de claring that the U.S. bishops are not teH:ing Catholics how to vote. "We are a multi-issue church," said Bishop Malone. The bishops,
he added,. want to promote "a consistent life ethJlic" across a spectrum of public policy issues. As head of the usee, the bishops' National public action agency, Bishop Malone issued the Aug. 9 statement on politics and religion, supplementing the usce's ear:lier election-year st~tement on political issues cur rently facing the country. He was asked if any particu lar event had contributed to the unusual issuance of a second statement. Bishop Malone said he did not consider the move unusual but acknowledged that the pre mature release of the statement could ·Iead some people to view it as partisan. "I reject that," he said em phatically. . The statement was original'ly intended for publication shortly after the Aug. 20-23 Republican National Convention, but was
released Aug. 9 after portions had been leaked to the N~w York Times. Its most controversial com· ment was the judgment that it is "not logically tenable" for candidates to say that "their personal views should not infiu ence their pwblic policy ~ecis ions." Because Democratic candidates Wailter Mondale and-Geraldine Ferraro say they personally op pose abortion but will not im pose their view as public policy, theUSCC statement was im mediately interpreted as a criti cism of them. Bishop Malone insisted that the principle should be applied to aU candidates on the full range of public policy issues. Asked if the next sentence in the Aug. 9 statement, which ob jected to candidates ronning on a record of personal commit ments without proposing effecTurn to Page Six