SERVING ••• SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 24, NO. 34
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1980
Schools beckon 10,000 scholars
PlatforUlS cr,eate Catholic, dilemma By Jim Lackey
WASHINGTON (NC) - Comparisons inevitably will be made between the 1980 Republican and Democratic platforms. In a sense, such comparisons have little value other than to confirm that Democrats are "liberal" while Repubilcans are more "conservative." But for those who take :platforms seriously this year's editions will create another dilemma among that unknown percentage of Catholics whose political views mirror positions taken by the U.S. bishops. On one hand, it's no secret that the Republicans take strong stands on abortion and tuition tax credits which are almost identical to the views of the bishops. But there's also a long list of social principles reflected in the Democratic platform which the bishops strongly favor. Take the current debatl~ in Washington over balancing the federal budget. Bishop Thomas C. Kelly, general secretary of the U.S. Catholic Conference, testified before both the Republican and Democratic platform committees earlier this year that "Federal spending is not the primary cause of inflation and cutting the federal budget is not an adequate solution." That view is clearly reflected in the Democratic platform which urges against reductions in funding. of "basic human needs" and opposes a comrtitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. The Republicans, in their platform adopted in July in Detroit, strongly called for reduced federal spending and, if necessary, a constitutional mandate on a oala.nced budget. Or take the issue of national health insurance. Bishop :Kelly told the platform committees that the bishops strongly support national health insurance because everyone has the right "to the means which are necessary and suitable for the development of life." The Democrats, while disagreeing on the means te, implement the plan, stated in their platform that they too are committed to some form of national health insurance. The Republicans call such insurance "socialized medicine." Or take the issue of U.S. relations with Latin America. The bishops call for a policy based on human rights has gained a more sympathetic ear from the
Democratic Party than it has from the Republicans, whose 1980 platform deplores the "Marxist" takeover in Nicaragua and opposes reconstruction aid to that country. But on the issue of abortion, the clear distinctions in the party platforms makes the dilemma for many voting Catholics greater than ever. Both parties in 1976 took positions in the vast middle ground between groups favoring full abortion rights and groups favoring nothing short of a constitutional amendment overturning the 1973 abortion decisions. But now the parties have moved further apart: the Republican platform favors a constitutional amendment and an end to federal abortion funding, while the Democratic platform opposes a constitutional amendment and wants Congress to reverse several years of opposition to abortion funding.
POPE JOHN PAUL
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Pope asks synod prayer VAT~CAN CIIT (NC) Pope John Paul II has urged the world's Catholics to make the 1980 world Synod of Bishops a "family affair" by praying and making sacrifices for its success. iIn a Latin-language letter "to the bishops, priests and faithful of the whole Catholic Church" the pope proclaimed Oct. 12 as a special day of prayer for the synod. Turn to Page Six
With Labor Day falling on Sept. I, Catholic schoQls in the Fall River diocese will open Wednesday, Sept. 3, the earliest date for many a year. Answering the school bell with varying degrees of enthusiasm will be 10,150 scholars, attending 27 elementary and five high schools as well as the special' education Nazareth Halls in Fall River and Hyannis. Miss Grace Taylor, business manager of the diocesan department of education, said that elementary enrollment is 7000, up 50 pupils from last year, while secondary students number 3150, down 50. The drop, she noted, is occasioned by the closing of Bishop Gerrard High School, Fall River. Most of its students, however, found places in other Catholic schools. Since the Second Vatican Council Catholic schools have defined their role in terms of the council's Declaration on Christian Education.
Marriage is her apostolate By Pat McGowan
Have you made a Marriage Encounter and maybe a Cursillo? Then Sister Laura Oliveira would like you to know about Marriage Retorno. Literally "Marriage Return," it is a retreat program that helps husbands and wives to pray as couples. Conducted, like Marriage Encounter, over a weekend, Retorno includes some six hours of prayer and Sister Laura sees
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20c, $6 Per Year
it as an ideal followup for an encountered couple. . The format is flexible, she said. The Retorno can be held in a home, with couples returning to their houses to sleep, or in the more usual retreat house or motel setting. Directed in the United States by Father Eugene Tucker, SJ, Retorno begins with a time for reconciliation of spouses with each other and with God.
"Even in good marriages there can be many hurting areas," explained Sister Laura. Reconciliation is followed by the meat of the program prayer together, embracing a family's needs and its relationship with God. "It's a wonderfloll program for the year and the decade of the family," pointed out Sister Laura. Turn to Page Six
SISTER LAURA OLIVEntA (right) AND MRS. ALDINA VITAL
"What is most distinctive about this document," notes Bishop G. Emmett Carter in a commentary, "is the insistence upon the integration of Christian education into the whole pattern of human life in all its aspects. "In this regard, the Declaration on Christian Education is totally in conformity with the spirit of Vatican II. The contrast is with a form of thinking and acting of another age when it was considered best to keep Christians away from world lest they be contaminated thereby? "The present Declaration spells the official and definitive end of any possible false thinking on this score. The Church here states with the utmost clarity that it has no desire to remain away from the world in a form of isolation but that Christian education is in the world and, in a sense, for the world, since· man must always work out his salvation on the concrete situation in which God has placed him and must achieve this not by protection but by contributing to the whole human community of which he is an integral and inseparable part. "Thus we note the strong emphasis on the intellectual values of all education and an appeal for all to strive to achieve the highest development of the human ~ind. "In making this appeal, the Church remains true to itself by insisting that this must be done in the framework of the moral formation of man and in the fullness of his spiritual, supernatural destiny. But the formula remains one of integration and total dedication to all of man's legitimate aspirations." The Declaration itself outlines in general terms the entire Christian curriculum: "Since every man of whatever race, condition, and age is endowed with the dignity of a person, he has an inalienable right to an education corresponding to his proper destiny and suited to his native talents, his sex, his cultural background, and his ancestral heritage. "At the same time, this education should pave the way to brotherly association with other peoples, so that genuine unity and peace on earth may be promoted. "For a true education aims at the formation of the human person with respect to his ultimate goal, and simultaneously with reTurn to Page Three