eanco VOL. 33, NO. 38
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Friday, September 29, 1989
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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Pope plans to visit Korea, Indonesia
BISHOP DANIEL A CRONIN of Fall River confers with President Bush during the Catholic Lawyers Guild luncheon. (Photo by Pat Garrity, Boston Pilot)
Bush' advocates right to life in address With eNS news ~eports President Bush challenged a group 1,200 members of the Catholic' Lawyers Guild of the Archdiocese of Boston to "even greater efforts, toward the protection of human life" in a Sept. 23 luncheon at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel. Invited by Cardinal Bernard F.
1989 Beginning on Page 5 a special section in observance of Respect Life Month
Law to address the group on the occasion of the guild's annual Red Mass, the president reaffirmed his opposition to abortion and called on his audience to work for "equal and exact justice for all...a justice that knows no boundaries of race or sex, income or age." Except for the abortion issue, Bush avoided controversial tOpiCS to make an appeal for public service and volunteer efforts on behalf of the needy. "From now on in America," he said; "any definition of a successful life must include service to others." He encouraged the Catholic lawyers to be advocates for "those unable to speak for themselves" and to "remember the unremembered, protect the unprotected." "We must," the president continued, "devote special attention to those on the margins, those lacking adequate food or shelter, those addicted or mentally iII, those whose neighborhoods have been decimated by crime." He commended "Operation Uplift," which originated with lawyers in Minneapolis. When an attorney represents a client without charge, he said, "the client is asked to do volunteer worK in the nei'ghborhood or community, pledging one hour of service for every hour the attorney spends working on their case. "It costs nothing and doubles the good done by pro bono efforts" of lawyers, the president said. But it is not enough to give justice to "those who live in a world of pain, the hungry and the homeless, the haunted and the hurting," Bush
said. "We must also give them hope." Finally, he urged his audience to "use your talents, your energy and your ,professional resources to affirm the right to life as the, most fundamental freedom." Even as the president was encouraging efforts to end abortion, some 500 demonstrators, mostly abortion advocates, lined police barricades across from the hotel. The Turn to Page Two
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope John Paul II is preparing for a return trip to a mission land where lay people were primarily responsible for establishing the Catholic Church; often by spilling their blood for the faith. Themission land is Asia's Korean peninsula, and the pope plans to visit Seoul, the capital of South Korea, Oct. 6-9 to close the 44th international Eucharistic Congress with a morning Mass and a special peace message. The pope is also scheduled to meet national delegates to the euch,aristic congress after the Mass. The theme of the Oct. 5-8 congress is "Christ Our Peace." Participants from more than 65 countries are scheduled to attend to discuss the relationship of the Eucharist, peace, non-violence and reconciliation. It will be the pope's second visit to South Korea. The first was in May 1984 when he highlighted the regi.on's history of lay evangelization 'and martydom by canonizing 103 people kiIIed in 19th-century persecutions. More than 10,000 Catholics died during the century. Persecution did not officially stop until 1883 when religious freedom was granted and Korea opened its doors to foreigners. Today, there are more than 2 million Catholics in South Korea in a total population of41.6 million. When the pope visits South Korea, he will find "a missioner's paradise," say,two Maryknoll priests with years of service there. The pope, they said, will find a
church winning large numbers of converts and attracting enough vocations to develop and sustain an indigenous clergy. Father Michael A. Duggan, who is concluding a term as Maryknoll regional superior iII Korea, and Father Gerard E. Hammond, who succeeds him Oct. I, were interviewed at Maryknoll headquarters last week. The missioners told CNS that the Korean church has an unusually dedicated and active laity, and has in Cardinal Stephen Sou Hwan Kim of Seoul one of the most admired citizens of the nation. Pope John Paul will also find a country deeply marked by the "yearning" of every Korean for reunion of South and North, the priests sail They said the social teaching of the church and its role serving as "the voice of the voiceless" were principal factors in drawing new members. Many young people are impressed by the church's message and its contribution to Korean society, they said. Parish preparations for the eucharistic congress include emphasis on the social dimension of the faith, the priests said, with efforts such as collecting rice for the poor and encouraging blood donations and donations of eyes to an eye bank, actions that many Koreans find difficult. Father Hammond said the church in Korea does not have an extensive parochial school system, but the laity assume a major share' Turn to Page Two
Life begins 'at conception, judge, rules MARYVILLE, Tenn.(CNS)- Davis, and frozen in liquid nitroSaying that human life begins at gen - to try to become pregnant. The embryos have been stored in conception, a judge ruled Sept. 21 that seven yozen embryos are child- Knoxville, Tenn., laboratory since ren, not property, and should be last December. Davis filed for divorce in Febgiven to their mother, Mary Sue Davis, who hopes to carry them to ruary and got a court order barring his wife of nine; years from term. Blount County Circuit Court using any of the embryos. In vitro fertilization, which is Judge W. Dale Young, sitting in Maryville, said in a summary of opposed by the Catholic Church, his 50-page ruling that "human is a laboratory procedurejn which the father's sperm fertilizes the embryos are not pt;operty." "From fertilization the cells of a mother's egg outside her body. At the Davis' divorce trial in human embryo are differentiated, August, Mrs. Davis and her'lawunique and specialized to the highest degree of distinction," There- yers said the embryos were "pre,fore, he said, "human life begins at . born children" with rights of their own. conception." Her husband, who was expected Mrs. Davis had sought implan-' to appeal Young's decision, has tation of the embryos - fertilized through the "in vitro" process. by argued that he does not want to be her estranged husband, Junior a father and lias a right to control
his own reproduction. He sued for power over the embryos' use and said he wanted to keep them frozen. Young had to decide whether the embryos deserved consideration as potential children and who better served the interests of the children, or whether they should be regarded as property and settle the matter as a property dispute. In his ruling thejudge said, "It is the manifest best interest of the child or children, in vitro, that they be available for implantation." . He awarded Mrs. Davis temporary custody of the embryos "for the purpose of implantation" in her uterus. Young said he reserved the right to make a final deci~ sion on custody, child support and VI~tO
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