anc 0 VOL. 32, NO. 34
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Friday, August 26, 1988
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FAU RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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The Republican platform vs. the bishops' views
How does·it stack up? By Julie Asher
F ATHER Gallant in Rome....
Home from Rome By Pat McGowan After a total of seven years "in the ce~ter of the Catholic world," Father Jon-Paul Gallant is overwhelmingly conscious that the root meaning of "catholic" is universal. "In Rome," he said, "you realize how one faith is expressed in many ways." Father Gallant, a Fall River native, completed preparation for the priesthood in Rome, studying at the North American College from 1974 to 1978. After his 1978 ordination in Fall River, he was parochial vicar at Our Lady of Grace parish, Westport, and at St. Mary's Cathedral before returning to Rome in 1985 for graduate studies in liturgy.
Now back in the diocese with a licentiate in sacred liturgy to add to his bachelor's degrees in arts and sacred theology and his master of arts, he is parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Church; Fall River. Its Romanesque architecture should remind him of the Eternal City, pointed out a friend. Father Gallant will serve on a newly-formed planning team preparing fall workshops to introduce priests, religious and laity of the diocese to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The rite, which encompasses thorough instruction of prospective converts and culminates in their Easter vigil reception into the church, also includes Turn to Page Two
Motta photo
...and back home, in the chancery grounds, Fall River "
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NEW ORLEANS (NC) - In their opposition to abortion and attention to other pro-life issues, the U.S. bishops and the Republican Party's platform agree, but their positions diverge on capital punishment, Central American policies and arms control. As for domestic 'policy issues, such as education, housing, health care, poverty, homelessness, unemployment and agricultural policy, the two groups have common goals but do not necessarily spell out the same steps to achieve them. The Republican platform was adopted in New Orleans during the party's Aug. 15-18 national convention. The bishops outlined their positions in testimony presented earlier to the Democratic and RepUblican platform committees by the U.S. Catholic Conference, their public policy arm. "We urge you to measure every policy and proposal before you on how it touches the human person and whether it enhances or diminishes human life, human dignity and human rights," the bishops said. Last November the USCC Administrative Board also issued a statement on political responsibil-
ity for 1988 outlining the bishops' positions on some issues. ]n its testiqlOny the USCC urged a Republican panel to oppose abortion by supporting a human life amendment. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion and subsequent court decisions were reversed, the bishops said, restoring protection of the unborn would require a constitutional amendment. The USCC also called for protecting "life after birth" by opposing attempts to deny basic care to newborns with handicaps and opposing campaigns promoting euthanasia and assisted suicide for the terminally ill. News stories relating to national, state or local political campaigns are reported for their news value and are not intended to constitute statements of endorsement or of opposition to any candidate~' The Anchor In its platform, the Republican Party mirrored the bishops' view in recognizing "a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed" and in supporting a human life amendment. It also called for "fetal protec-
tion in the work place and in scientific research" and pledged to fight discrimination in health care against the handicapped, newborns and the elderly. The bishops strongly opposed capital punishment, but the Republican platform urged reinstituting the federal death penalty as key to a Republican "anticrime agenda." The bishops have said that "a consistent ethic of life shoula be the moral framework from which we address all issues in the political arena." Since their 1983 pastoral letter on war and peace, the bishops have rejected the "notion of waging limited nuclear war" and have given strict conditional acceptance of nuclear deterrence. The USCC in its testimony said the 'Reagan-Gorbachev intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty should be "a point of departure to mutual verifiable arms control measures that make deep cuts in strategic weapons," ban nuclear testing and reduce conventional forces. The Republican platform said what made the treaty possible was the Reagan administration's "commitment to peace through Turn to Page Six
Encyclical principles applied Last summer Morse Cutting Tools, Inc., of New Bedford, a I23-year-old manufacturer of drill bits and other cutting tools, was in danger of being closed, with loss of over 200 jobs. Already in bankruptcy court, the firm's existence was threatened by Harbor Group Investments, Inc., of St. Louis, which proposed to buy it and virtually close it down, merely using its name. In an effort to forestall this action, Father Peter N. Graziano, executive director of Fall River Diocesan Catholic Social Services, together with New Bedford city and union officials and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Southeastern Massachusetts University, traveled to St. Louis to meet with Harbor Group executives. The meeting was set up with the aid of Msgr. John A. Shocklee, executive director of the St. Louis Archdiocesan Human Rights Office, who noted at the time, according to a story in the St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper, that "the matter of plant closings is addressed in the U.S. bishops' economic pastoral. The pastoral supports the process of
negotiation between the parties involved." Subsequent to the meeting with the New Bedford delegation, explained the St. Louis Review story, "Although Harbor's bid was higher than a competing firm, a federal judge June 8, 1987 chose the competing firm bec'ause of its plan to keep the plant operating. Harbour Group had argued that Morse's plant was outdated and could not be made profitable without an unreasonably large investment."
FATHER GRAZIANO
In updates of the story appearing recently in both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the archdiocesan newspaper, it was reported in the Post-Dispatch that Morse Tools is doing "just fine" under its new owners, International Twist Drill Holdings, Ltd., of Scotland. Father Graziano told archdiocesan reporter Joseph Kenny that 218 unionized workers are on the Morse payroll "with their spirits high and a good relationship between management and labor." The story, Father Graziano told The Anchor, shows the "involvement bCboth the diocese of Fall River and the archdiocese of St. Louis in implementing the principles of the economic pastoral." Father Graziano, now pastor of SS. Peter and Paul Church, Fall River, was from 1981 to 1986 pastor of St. James Church, New Bedford. In addition to directing Catholic Social Services, he is diocesan director of the Campaign for Human Development, a self-help, antipoverty program, and is a weekly participant in "Confluence," an ecumenical panel discussion program on WLNE-TV, whichfrequently handles questions of economics and social justice.