t eanc 0 VOL. 36, NO. 37 '.
Friday, September 18, 1992
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly •
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Study cites keys to future for religious orders
PUPILS' PILQRIMAGE: Why are St. Stanislaus students leaving on the first day of school? Follow their route through this issue of the Anchor. (Story and photos by Marcie Hickey)
Catechists to convene "Proclaiming Lasting Wealth" is the theme for the annual Religious Education Day, to be 'held Sept. 26 at Bishop Stang High School, North Dartmouth. Keynote speaker will be Rev. James F. Hawker, director of religious education for the Boston archdiocese and a director of the Catholic Television Network and of the board of trustees of the Boston Catholic Television Center. Ordained in 1963, he holds mas-
ter's degrees in religious education from Catholic University, Washington, DC, and in theology and psychology from St. John's Seminary, Brighton. He has written articles for Catholic publications and books, including Go Teach in My Name: Catechetics in the Catholic School, for the National Catholic Educational Association. He was previously director of religious education programs for Catholic schools in the Boston archdiocese and is a consultor in the Holy See's Congregation for the Clergy.
Convention Schedule Religious Education Day begins with 8 a.m. registration and a 9 a.m. liturgy, celebrated by BishOp Sean O'Malley. Father Hawker will speak !it 10 a.m. Workshops will be held from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.; 1:15 to 2:05 p.m.; 2: 15 to 3:05 p.m. Lunch will be served and exhibits may.be viewed after the first session. A listing of workshop topics and presenters follows.
Session I Adolescents and Chemical Dependency: Brenda Austin, Alcoholism Council of Greater Fall River. What They Are Saying About Confirmation: Rev. Freddie Babiczuk, St. Francis Xavier parish, Hyannis. Legal Issues in
Religious Education Programs: Mdnllre's Studio photo
KEYNOTE SPEAKER Fa-, ther James Hawker.
Rev. Richard W. Beaulieu, diocesan director of education. Turn to Page 10
As an example, she said that WASHINGTON (CNS) - For Among the main elements in the when she recently gave a talk to religious orders to survive and three-year study were: thrive, they need to be faithful to - A lengthy mail survey of the National Assembly of Relitheir founding purpose and respon- nearly 10,000 U.S. men and women gious Brothers, "I used as an example the Alexian brothers. sive to real human needs, accord- religious. 'ing to the findings of a three-year - Studies comparing typical "They're a small group. They study of U.S. religious orders re- leaders of religious orders with were founded to assist victims of leased Sept. 16. those identified by others as "out- the plague in the Middle Ages. While some orders have increas- standing" leaders. And recently they claimed as one ingly shifted members into indi- Studies of religious identified of their focal points working with vidual and parish-based ministries, by others as exemplars of the "car- persons with AIDS." their loss of "corporate identity" ing" person. She was simply citing the order and "corporate witness" has meant - Experimental workshops with as an example of a community a loss of their vitality as a religious religious identified by others as reclaiming its founding purpose community, the study says. "visionary" in the sense of having a and applying it to need today, she The study was conducted by creative, articulate vision of the said, but after her talk an Alexian two psychologists, Vincentian Fath- future of religious life. Brother who was in the audience er David J. Nygren and St. Joseph - Interviews with recognized came up to her. "He said, 'I hadn't of Carondelet Sister Miriam D.. experts and national leaders on thought about it before, but we Ukeritis. They describe it as the various aspects of religious life. had not had men entering our The researchers were at Boston community for a long time - but first in-depth investigation that encompasses both men's and wo- University when they began their , this summer we had two first promen's orders. study, but both are now at DePaul fessions [of vows], we received five One major tension the study University in Chicago. The Lilly people into the novitiate and we uncovered was "the alienation of Endowmment in Indianapolis, a had six [other] candidates.' " members of religious orders from major contributor to relgious re"There's an impulse to generosthe hierarchy and related aspects search, funded the project. ity among people," Sister Ukeritis of the institutional church." In an 'interview with Catholic commented. "As communities clarAnother key problem it found News Service, Sister Ukeritis said ify what they're about, especially was a gap between self-description the two elements identified in the in addressing unmet needs, people and practice. While religious life is study as crucial to dynamic reli- ' will find a way to channel that increasingly being defined in terms gious communities - fidelity to impulse." of a "commitment to serving absopurpose and responsiveness to unPut another way, she said, many lute human need," it said, "in the met human needs - might appear people are looking for something general population of orders, a obvious. significant percentage do not intend "But it was striking to us because they would be "willing to put their to devote their energies to serving it also came up when we weren't life on the line for," but many relthe poor directly." looking for it," she said. Turn to Page 10
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Women's pastoral draws varied reaction
WASHINGTON (CNS) - The new draft of t,he U.S. bishops' proposed pastoral letter on women drew strong but varied reactions from some of the men who are supposed to vote on it this fall. "I am alarmed that it is more sexist than previous drafts," Auxiliary Bishop P. Francis Murphy of Baltimore told Catholic News Service. Auxiliary Bishop John R. Sheets of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., said he thinks the new draft is considerably improved, but he will vote against it unless it does more to address' the¡ problem of"radical feminism." Bishop R. Pierre DuMaine of San Jose, Calif., said he continues to doubt the wisdom of eveQ trying to issue a pastoral letter OjIl women's concerns. "This is not a d'ocument that's being sought or welcomed by any segment of the Catholic community that I know," he said. When he was contacted he had ' not yet read the fourth draft, but he questioned whether the bishops should try to put out "any magis-
terial document" in an area where they still differ among themselves on some "fundamental issues." "The fourth draft is not an improvement. We've regressed," said Bishop Raymond A. Lucker of New Ulm, Minn. The latest version has eliminated numerous references to sexism in the church that were contained in earlier drafts, Bishop Lucker said. "Therefore the pastoral itself becomes an example of sexism in the church because of its refusal to recognize how sexism touches our 'Iives, its refusal to recognize our need change and grow," he said. Auxiliary Bishop Austin B. Vaughan of New York, who had opposed the special focus on sexism in the third draft, said the new version "made a lot of improvements." But he added, "I won't vote in favor of it" because "I've still got a lot of objectio'ns to the document." The wide spectrum of opinions that various bishops expressed to CNS in interviews indicated that the floor debate will be lively if the
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bishops vote on the pastoral this November as expected. And ultimate approval of the document seems far less certain than for any other pastoral letter that has come before the bishops for final action in the past quartercentury. Many - both bishops and outside observers - have questioned whether it will garner the twothirds majority of votes needed for approval. With 286 bishops currently eligible to vote, nearly 100 bishops would have to oppose the pastoral to defeat it. , No previous past.oral ever to come before the'National Conference of Catholic Bishops has been voted down. The fourth draft of the women's pastoral was distributed to the nation's bishops in late August. Like the third, it upheld the church's official position that it considers itself unable, in fidelity to Christ, to ordain women priests. But unlike the third, the Turn to Page 10
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