FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER
t eanc 0 VOL. 28, NO. 34
FOR .SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1984
$8 Per Year
Labor Day statement
Moral analysis
WASHINGTON (NC) - Moral reflection on economic issues re quires raising questions about U.S. practices and policies with out regard to party or adminis tration, Archbishop John J. O' Connor of New York said in the annual Labor Day statement is slMld by the U.S. Catholic Con ference. Archbishop O'Connor said the pastoral letter on the economy being prepared by the U.S. bish ops, Iike the bishops' previous letter on war and peace, wiH help open pulj)l)ic debate !to more explicitly moral analysis. "In doing so, the church is not 'intruding' in political af fairs or adding an aJien issue to ,the public debate. Rather it is seeking to make clear the hum~n and moral consequences of the technicm. choices we make as a nation," A!l'chbishop O'C011nor said. Labor Day is observed Sept. 3. Archbishop O'Connor, chair man of the USOC's Committee on Social Development and World Peace, said there is room for dispute about the size and style of the state's role in so ciety and the economy. "But the principle that the state has a positive, active role
. to play, especially in defense of
the poor, is beyond question in
Catholic teaching," he said. He appeared to Catholics and others to participate in illhe dia
logue about economic justice that wilJl be stimulated by the bishops' pastoral letter. "I do not believe that Cath olics can conscientiously sit out the debate over America's econ omic future. Both the priciples of American democracy and the -social teaching of the church compel us to make our voices heard," he said. The 1984 Labor Day statement was the first by ArchJbishop O' Connor. The 1983 statement was presented by Bishop Mark J. HurJey of Santa Rosa, Calif., whom Archbishop O'Connor suc ceeded as committee chairman. The statements are a tradition begun by 1abor advocate Msgr. George G. Higgins, who issued more than 30 commentaries for Labor Day before retiring. from the USCC in 1!}80. Archbishop O'Connor's state ment traced !the tradition of CathOlic teaching on economic justice from the Industrial Revo qution to Pope John Paul II's en cyclical, "Laboren' Exercens, (On Human Work.)" He said the U.S. bishops have also .issued documents over the years which have calJed for re forms such as minimum wage legislation, government. regula tion of public service monopolies, equlrl pay for women, public housing and the right of labor Turn to Page Six
'Satanic market'
Fetuses sold VATICAN CITY (NC) L'Osservatore Romano, the Vati can newSpaper, has condemned as "a satanic market" a reported international traffic in human fetuses for scientific research and fO!l' use in the cosmetics in dustry. In a recent front-page editor ial, 'the newspaper commented on reports that a French pro-life group had documented the wonld wide sale of thousands of fetuses, some of which were deliberately delivered prematurely. The charges were made by ,the organization "Laissez Vivre" ("Let Them Live") and detailed in a recently-published book, "The Traffickers of the Unborn," by French authors OIaude Jac-.
quinot, a judge, and Jacques De lay, a jouinaHst. Jacquinot is the founder of "Laissez Viyre." At first, the news of such sales seemed incredible, L'Osservatore Romano said. "We couln't be Romano said. "We couldn't be point," the editorial said. "Now we can: the charges are precise and well described and indicate the international scale of this satanic market, which like d markets has its centers of production, its price lists and its consumers - consumers of human life," said the editorial. signed by the newspaper's direc to!l', Valerio Volfini. "Not even the often-dark fan tasy of science fiction writers Turn to Page Six
Gaudette PIIoto
Students at I;)ominican Academy, Fall River, as at all diocesan schools, prepare to hit the books.
Dioc,e:se. reverses .tr'e'nd
With Bishop Stang High Schod} in North Dartmouth al ready open and other schools in the diocese scheduled to begin the academic year Sept. 5, ' thoughts turn to the Catholic school system and how it is far ing midway through th.e 1980s. Although nation8iI figures for CathOilic Ilchools show a de crease of 1.9 percent in enroll ment for the 1983-1984 acado emic year, schools in the Fall River diocese posted an increase of 1.6 percent, reports Father George W. Coleman, diocesan director of education. He said 7,369 stludents were enroDled in the 20 Catholic cle m~ntary schools of the diocese, wh.iile there were 3,475 students in the five Catholic secondary schools. However, the Nationlll1 Cath olic Educationa,1 Association finds the 1.9 percent decrease encour aging, since it is the smallest decline since the 1969s. The fig ure was published in a report on U.S. Catholic schools fO!l' the 1983· ~mic year writ,ten
by Father Bredeweg, consultant for NCEA's data bank. The report transIates the na tional decrease into a drop of 58,000 students. It notes that CathOl1ic school enroMment for for 1983-84 was 2,968,000 in ele mentary schools and 788,000 in secondary schools. Father B!l'edeweg, in compar ing ,the small decline of 31 school closings for 1983-84 with the annual average of 72 dlosings for the past seven years as fol Jows: "Large scale reviews of dio cesan school systems have been compileted, and obvious closings or consolidations have been ef fected. Administrative and bud get procedures have !become more sophisticated. The drastic move ment of people from city to sub urbs has slowed, a significant factO!l' since most Catholic schools were built in the cities. "Most important of am, Cath olic parents and students con tinue to enthusiastically support Catholic schools. Proponents of Ca,tholic education have borne
higher tuitions and more inten sive devclopmen~ and fundraising efforts in order to retain schools." Other highlights from the 1983·84 NCEA Il'eport include: - The percentage of non Catholic students in Catholic schools increased to 10.6 per cent in 1982-83, as compared to 2.7 ,percent in 1969·70. Non CathoDic students now make up ,to 10.4 percent of the elementary enroLlment, 11.2 percent of the secondary enroHment. - The percentage of minority students also continues to in crease. More than one-fifth of the total enrOillment (20.4 per cent) in 1982-83 are minority students. Black and Hispanic students account for the largest percentage (8.8 percent and 9.1 perceht); Asian Americans make up 2.1 percent and A'merjcan In dians, 0.4 percent. - The 1983-84 full-time fac ulty in Catholic clementary I secondary schools increased 453 ,teachers ,to 146,913. On the ele mentary level, 78.8 percent are Turn to Page Six