The ANCHOR
Catholic Schools Picture: Size Stable, Morale High
WASHINGTON (NC)-Catholic 4~6 per cent for Catholic schools education officials around the last year, and last year's national United States find enrollment de- decline was the smallest in seven clines continuing to diminish, or years. MsgT. Joseph T. O'Keefe, seeven reverse, and morale high among faculty, students and par- cretary of education in the New ents as the new school year York archdiocese, with the fourth largest Catholic school opens. Many of the off,jcials also said system in the nation, predicted enrollment 'Would be that, although they are deter- that An Anchor 01 the Soul, Sure and Firm-St. Paul mined to seek additional federal "stable." Only one elementary and state aid, they realize that school out of 304 closed this there is little likelihood that year, he said. Fall River, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 5, 1974 great amounts of government aid Reports from other dioceses PRICE 15c will be given. That realization, tell a similar story. Pittsburgh Vol. 18, No. 36 © 1974 The Anchor $5.00 per year however, has led to greater fi-. expects a smalied decrease than nancial accountabHity and re- last year. Cincinnati, Cleveland sponsibility, they said. and Detroit expect enrollment to The officials a.1so noted 'in- remain level or even rise. Cam· creased efforts to recruit stu- den, N.J., Paterson, N.J., Peoria, dents for kindergartens as a IlL, and Dallas, Tex., all expect means of introducing parents to slight decreases on the elemenCatholic education at an early tary level and slightly higher enrollment on the secondary level. stage in their children's lives. CASTELGANDOLFO (NC) The Pope called the' unacceptReflecting the tightness of the New Orleans, Atlanta and Pope Paul has cautioned that the able pluralism 'free examination,' educational job market, applicaNatchez-Jackson, Miss. (which term "pluralism" can have two and said it had "'Pulverized the tions for teaching positions in takes in the entire state of Missismeanings when applied to the unity of faith in a countless Catholic schools are up sharply sippi), all report that enrollment Catholic Church, and that only number of useless or arbitrary everywhere. ' will be about the same as last one of them is acceptable. personal opinions." Msgr. Francis B. Schulte, su- year. "In its first meaning it is very He said: perintendent of schools in the Sister Mary Ambrosia, acting beautiful," the Pope told a gen"Lt is thus that the Protestant Philadelphia archdiocese, the superintendent of schools in Baleral audience Aug. 28 at his sum- doctrine of free examination, or second largest Catholic school timore, said she expected a rise mer home .here. of the sole authority of the Holy system in the country, reported in enrollments in parochial "It refers to the fruitfulness Spirit as the authentic interpre-' about 194,000 students entering schools for the first time in eight of our Catholic ·doctrine," he ex- ter of the Scriptures, opens the archdiocesan schools this year, a years. plained. way to· radical philosophic- decrease of 7,000 from last ...y ear. Although the U. S. government "This doctrine preserves a religious subjectivism." That 3.5 per cent decrease is within the past year ordered fursincere and deep unity of conless than the national average of ther integration of Baltimore's Turn to Page Four tent," he said, yet it has "an enormous wealth of meanings for all tongues, for all periods of history, for every age and level of human life." "He declared: "This is the plu~iscov'ers ralism of the Catholic Church. COLUMBUS (NC)--Mary Ann What is this vivacious Cath- earthly part. This ending often To it we can ascribe the stream brings a merciful close to terriof exploration, of personal re- Grimm has spent the past three olic girl's thinking on dea1th? years of her youthful life forging ble pain and suffering, for the "Death to me is the ending of search and of individual expresTurn to Page Five sion which the Church has her own Christian philosophy the physical phase of life, the evoked from mystics, theologians about mankind's deepest and most dread mystsry: death. and even artists." The philosophy of the pretty, He likened what he called the 25-year-Old nurse was not devel"doctrinal pluralism" of the oped in lecture halls.. Neither Catholic Church to "an orchestra was it built upon the writings in which the plurality of the instruments and their diversity of theologians, philosophers or combine to produce a single, other scholars. . Mary Ann learned to reckon wonderful harmony." with death by watching it approach children inexorably and seize them pitilessly. As a nurse in a ward for ter· minally ill youngsters in Columbus Children's Hospital, Mary Ann has witnessed the deaths of between 25' and 30 little boys Arrangements have been final- and girls, all of them victims of ized for the 15th annual confer- blood diseases such as leukemia. ence of. New England Diocesan Face Reality Councils of Catholic Nurses, to "Death is very much part of be held Friday through Sunday, my career," she says.' Oct. 18 through 20 at the New"And because of my close asport Motor Inn., Newport, R.I., sociation with it, I have been with the Providence Diocesan able -or perhaps I should say Council of Catholic Nurses and I was forced-to develop clear Bishop Louis E. Gelineau hosting thinking on death, and what it the event. means, and why it strikes innoRepresenting the Fall River di- cent children:' ocese at a planning session were The young nurse is convinced Sister Helen, Ruth Hurley, Helen that people intimately associated Shove, Diane Cote, Collotta Rob- with death as part Qf their work inson and Anne Fleming. They cannot afford the luxury of said the conference theme, "Care "jllst refusing to think about it for One Another," will be devel- until it hits home, as most peo· oped by three speakers. pIe do today." YOUNGSTER'S NURSE: Mary Ann Grimm, a nurse They are Sister Lucile McKil"If you're dealing with death lop, R.S.M., president of Salve on a regular basis, you had bet- in a ward for terminally ill youngsters in Columbus (Ohio) Regina College, Newport; Rev. ter develop. some philosophy Children's Hospital, has witnessed the deaths of between Roger M. Fortin, chaplain and di- about it. That way you can come 25 and 30 boys and girls. Her position, she said, has forced rector of pastoral services at to grips with its reality. Other-' her to develop "clear-thinking on death and what it means Rhode Island Hospital; and Lt. wise you wm never be able to and why it strikes innocent children ..." NC Photo. cope." Turn to Page Four
Holy Father Rejects Spurious Pluralism
Philosophy on Death of Children
Young Nurse
-Catholic Nurses Plan Newport Convention
.It Through Experience
publlic schools, Sister Ambrosia said the enrollment increase was not due to the racial issue. "We have a high percentage of black enroIlments," she said, and noted that it is archdiocesan policy not to accept transfers for racial reasons. The Louisville, Ky., archdiocese is another area where an enrollment increase has coincided with growing concern about integration in the public schools. The first rise in parochial ~lementary enrollment in nine years, from 19,258 to 20,800, is expected and Catholic high schools are expected to enroll 427 more students than last year. Father Thomas P. Casper, Louisv,iHe archdiocesan superinten· dent of schools, said that the expectation last spring that busing would be used to integrate city and county public schools "has to be a factor," although the busing plan will not take effect now because of a July U.S. Supreme. Court decision. "We tried to make it as small a factor as possible," he said. The slowing or reversal of the declJne in enroHments in Catholic schools is attributable to several factors, said Archbishop William G. Borders of Baltimore, chairman of the U. S. Catholic Conference's education committee: . Catholic education officials "have done a much better job of Tum to Page Two
Ecumenical Meet For R'eligious Educators Preparations are complete .for an ecumenical religious education conference to be held tomorrow and Saturday at Msgr. Thomson Parish Center, St. Francis Xavier Church, Hyannis. Co-sponsored by Cape Cod re. ligious ~ducation coordinators and priest-directors of CCD programs as weIl as by the Department of Christian Education of the Cape Cod Council of Churches, the two-day meeting . will emphasize personal enrichment of participants for the benefit of the total church community. Major speakers and their topics will be Dr. Iris Cully, author and lecturer at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, who I will discuss "Change, Confilict and Self-Determination"; Rev. Stephen Doyle, O.F.M., professor at John XXIII Seminary, Weston, Mass., whose topic will be "To Teach As Jesus Did"; and Dr. Emma Lou Benignus of the faculty of Inter-Faith Metropolitan Theological Education, Inc. of Washington, D.C., who will explore the question, "What Do I Have to Celebrate?" Music for classroom and liturgy plus a guitar workshop wilI be directed by Rev. Andre Patenaude, M.S. of La Salette Shrine, Attleboro. An extensive resource display during both days will include continuous previews of short films by Richard Rausch of EsTurn to Page Four