SERVING ••• SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSms CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t ean VOL. 24, NO. 36
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1980
20c, $6 Per Year
Widow of Pacific veteran sues U.8. She watched By Pat McGowan
Mrs. Wanda Seveney, a woman with haunted eyes, pulls out a thick sheaf of much-read letters, articles and document.s. All relate to her husband's death two years ago, aftllr 32 years of mysterious illnesse!;. She is convinced that Benjamin Seveney died of radiation sickness and she has filed II million dollar suit against the U.S. government. He was "never sick a day," she said until, on duty with the U.S. Navy, he witnessed two 1946 atomic blasts in thl! Pacific at close range and afterwards helped to clean contaminated ships.' No precautions were taken during the blasts, she said. "The men were tolji to put their heads
down and cover their eyes during the actual explosion. Then they looked up and saw the bright mushroom cloud. Ben said his eyes stung for about an hour afterwards." But it was not until two years later, when the couple were on their honeymoon, that his troubles began. From that time, said Mrs. Seveney, he suffered a bewildering array of illnesses of unknown origin. Eventually most of his intestines were removed and several arteries were replaced. At the time of his death at age 51, "he looked like a 90-year-old man," said his wife. She now lives in St. Anthony's parish, Portsmouth, R.I., but she and her husband were natives of St. Patrick's parish, Fall River, and were childhood sweethearts.
hus~and die
for 32 years
Benjamin, she said, w.as a special kind of man. "He never complained of his sicknesses. God gives us as much as we can carry and Ben sure carried much. But he was always concerned about others." For many years, she recounted, he did not suspect that his 1946 exposure to radiation might have caused his multiple problems. But, her suit claims, the government had been aware of the hazards of radiation exposure since the 1950s and never notified any of the veterans at risk in the matter. Mrs. Seveney pointed out that the Veterans' Administration has thus far dragged its feet on allowing claims for radiation-related disabilities. But more and more cases are coming to light of children with
multiple health problems born to radiation-exposed fathers. One embittered Maine veteran, himself incapacitated with what he believes to be radiation-related ailments, termed the situation a "genetic holocaust." He said he had one normal child, born before his Army service, but that- four children born subsequently are severely and multiply handicapped. In the case of the Seveneys, both their daughter, born after her father's Navy service, and a 10-year-old grandson suffer from genetic deficiencies, including eye and stomach problems. Th~s situation has been addressed in Mrs. Seveney's suit. She said her lawyers reason that although the government claims immunity from damage clailns resulting from physical liability
incident to military service, such immunity does not extend to clailns of family members. Mrs. Seveney does not know if her suit will be successful. ·But she says she has to pursue it. Her husband asked her to do so on his deathbed, on behalf of thousands of veterans like himself, their children and their children's children. "It's too late to help me, but maybe you can help someone else," he said. Mrs. Seveney is trying. The once retiring housewife has appeared on television and has given numerous newspaper interviews, "working not only for Ben but for other vets denied service-connected benefits." She is active in the National Association of Atomic Veterans and hopes to organize an area Turn to Page Six
A new style of teaching Pope's audiences are fascinating By Jerry FUteau
VATICAN CITY (NC) - For the past year Pope John Paul II , has engaged in what Vatican observers and sources describe as a new, fascinating and different style of papal teaching. The object of their comments is the weekly papal general audience. Since last September the pope's weekly talks - with a , few exceptions on special occasions' - have been discussions of man;iage. But the series of talks, unlike any other papal audience talks in modern history, has been an in-depth philosophical and theological reflection, complete with footnotes, on the nature of marriage and the husband-wife relationship. Last week, for instance, describing the sexual union of married persons as "a right . . . and the sign of their communion of persons," the' pontiff said, I "adultery is therefore seen not only as the violation of a right, but as the radical falsification of this sign of the personal comm~ion."
ALTHOUGH IDS general audience talks often seem above the heads of 'his hearers, Pope John Paul II doesn't neglect the pastoral aspects of his role as chief shepherd of the church. (NC Photo)
The talks are meant to be a contribution to this fall's world Synod of Bishops, which will discuss the role of the Christian family in the modern world. "He's setting a framework for the synod," said a Vatican
source involved in synod preparations. The source described the talks as an effort to begin the synod from the perspective of revelation and reflection on God's word, rather than using contemporary sociological data and cultural trends as the primary frame of reference. The audience talks, according to several sources, were probably written for the most part during the summer' of 1979, while the pope was living at his summer villa in Castelgandolfo. It is believed he consulted with specialists in a variety of fields, including medical science, Scripture, philosophy and systematic theology. But the writing is almost all his own. "I can't comment on his an-
thropology or theology. That's not my field," said a biblical scholar in Rome. "But his sources for biblical exegesis (interpretation of Scripture passages) are excellent." A major criticism of ,the talks is that scarcely anyone among the thousands of visitors at the Wednesday general audiences understands the complex, intellectual analyses and arguments that he is making. Every week his addresses abound with statements far more complicated and difficult to understand than the following - a comment on what the pope called "the theological aspect of the ethos of the body" as seen in Genesis: "Humans enter the world and, Turn to Page Six
What motivates Catholics WASHINGTON (NC) Results of a first-of-its-type survey on people's motivations for joining, leaving or returning to the Catholic Church describe the typical convert, dropout and returnee. The typical convert is a young woman influenced by her Catholic husband, the dropout is a teen-ager and the returnee is likely to be an older person who either feels guilty about having left the church or who wants
to be a positive example for children. . The survey was made by Dean Hoge, a sociologist at the Catholic University of America, with the assistance of Paulist Father Kenneth McGuire, an anthropologist, and. Marianist Brother Bernard Stratman, a communications specialist. In its course more than 200 interviews were conducted in Baltimore, Detroit, Providence, ,Turn to Page Six