08.18.89

Page 1

VOL. 33, NO. 32

Friday, August 18, 1989

FALL RIVER, MASS.

Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly

511 Per Year

Bishops urge new debate on abortion

REP. MICKEY LELAND, D-Texas, holds a child during a 1984 visit to an African refugee camp. He was on a similar trip when the plane carrying Leland and 15 others crashed on the way to an Ethiopian camp. (CNS/ UPI-Reuters photo)

Leland remembered for dedication to plight of hungry WASHINGTON (CNS) - Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, who died in an airplane crash on his way to a refugee camp in Ethiopia, was "a man on a mission" haunted by the plight of the hungry, said Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of GalvestonHouston. "Mickey wanted his career to make a difference. He worked hard at being a Catholic," said Bishop Fiorenza, adding that he had worked with Leland on Houston housing issues. The bishop celebrated Mass at Leland's home parish, St. Anne's Catholic Church in Houston, on Aug. 10. . Leland had "witnessed the angel of death hovering over the skins

and bones" of the starving in Africa, said Bishop Fiorenza, making reference to a story Leland often told about a little African girl, suffering from extreme malnourishment, who died in front of him while he. was talking to a relief worker about her. A U.S. Air Foree helicopter Aug. 13 found the wreckage of the small twin-engine airplane that disappeared six days earlier while carrying Leland and 15 others to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Leland, 44, who was in his sixth term in the House of Representatives and was chairman of its Select Committee on Hunger, was on his

WASHINGTON (eNS) - The unborn child "is often obscured in U.S. Supreme Court's July 3 rul- the current debate, where abortion ing that allows states to enact is presented solely as an exercise of more restrictive abortion statutes personal autonomy or as a conflict "marks the beginning of a new between state prerogatives and the debate," said a statement issued by individual right of privacy." But "as Catholics and as U.S. the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro- citizens we have a duty to participate in shaping our nation's public Life Activities. The debate requires that "many policies so that they truly protect, voices must be raised in defense of nurture and defend human life," life," said the statement, titled "The . the statement said. The bishops said anti-Catholic Supreme· Court's Webster Decision: An Opportunity to Defend sentiment "has never been entirely absent from the pro-abortion camLife." "We do not intend to be ruled paign," but abortion-rights advoout of this or any social debate," cates .seem to be trying to put new said the seven bishops on the· com- life into it "now that the efforts of mittee, headed by Cardinal Joseph Catholics and other pro-life citiL. Bernardin of Chicago, in the zens have begun to bear fruit." Catholics involved in the-aborstatement. Ruling in Webster vs. Repro- tion debate are accused, the stateductive Health Services - one of ment said, of "seeking indiscrimithe most hotly debated abortion nately to impose our moral ideals cases since its original Roe vs. on other Americans: an attitude Wade ruling 16 years ago - the that would exclude us at the outset Supreme Court upheld most parts. from this debate." But, the statement said, "We are of a controversial Missouri law making it more difficult to obtain committed to establishing constitutional protection for the unborn an abortion. The bishops said the new ruling child to the maximum degree pos"opens up challenges" to "develop sible." The statement urged "legisand expand efforts" in the areas lators, especially Catholics, to help build a consensus in our society in of: - Education and public infor- support ofthe unborn child's right to live." mation. - Pastoral services for women, The Webster case has opened children and families. "limited and complex" opportuni- "Public policy efforts to en- ties to state legislators, the bishops sure effective legal protection for said, but added that some shortthe right to life of the unborn." term efforts could address limits The statement said the "central on direct and indirect government truth" about the humanity of the funding of abortion; parental noti-

fication and consent; safeguards to prevent uninformed°-abortion consent; and restrictions on lateterm abortions. Lawmakers will be urged to "improve public programs of prenatal care, parental leave, child ·care and other needs of pregnant women and their families,"· the statement said, to complement "essential programs" sponsored by dioceses and Catholic organizations that "must be continued and expanded" in their service to pregnant women. The statement said church-sponsored services include free or lowcost maternity care, adoption services, and emotional and spiritual support; educational and vocational assistance; and foster care, social services, and other assistance to neglected or needy children. "Providing alternatives to abortion serves all of us, especially mother and child," the statement said. "By working together with other concerned Americans we can bring about a change of heart and a change of policy in our society so that unborn children will enjoy the law's protection," the statement said. What abortion opponents demand of civil law, it said, is "recognition of the principle that all human beings - regardless of age, sex, race, ability or condition of dependency - share the same inalienable right to life." Turn to Page Six

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Auschwitz project strains Jewish-Catholic links WASHINGTON (CNS) .,.- A cardinal's decision to suspend an interfaith project at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, a papal speech and Jewish protests have turned up the tension between the Catholic Church and Jewish organizations. Meanwhile, some prominent Jewish figures counselled calm and dialogue, and France's Cardinal Albert Decourtray said the Auschwitz project must be completed as

_agreed upon in a Catholic-Jewish pact. The latest twist in the Auschwitz controversy came when Cardinal Franciszek Macharski said it was impossible to continue work on an interfaith center near the camp because of a "violent campaign of accusations and defamation" against the Carmelite nuns in a convent located at Auschwitz. Turn to Page Six

A PRO-LIFE demonstrator holds a Bible as she is carried away on a stretcher after being arrested for blocking the entrance to the Baltimore Women's Health Center in Baltimore. (CNS photo) \.


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08.18.89 by The Anchor - Issuu