FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD.&1'HE ISLANDS
VOL. 31, NO. 42
•
Friday, October 23, 1987
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
•
58 Per Year
At bishops' meeting
Central America top topic WASHINGTON (NC) - The - A proposed new rite for use U.S. bishops will be asked to ap- in the celebration of marriages prove a statement critical of U.S. between people of differing faiths. policy in Central America and a - A proposal that Dec. 12, the national pastoral plan for ministry day Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to U.S. Hispanics at their Nov. 16- to have appeared in Mexico, be 19 general meeting in Washington. raised to the rank of a feast on the The Central America statement U.S. church calendar. . the bishops are to consider calls The statement on Central AmerU.S. policy on Nicaragua "morica was written by the U.S. bishops' ally flawed" and says Central Committee on Social Development American lives should not be used and World Peace..Auxiliary Bish"as pawns in a superpower strugop Joseph M. Sullivan of Brookgle." , Iyn. N. y" is committee chairman. About 300 bishops are expected The proposed statement says to attend the annual four-day meetCentral American poverty. injusing of the National Conference of tice and 'violence are too often Catholic Bishops and U.S. Cathoignored in public debate on the lic Conference. U.S. role in the region. . Agenda items were announced "A near exclusive focus of attenin a recent news release. They tion on Nicaragua, and a policy include: debate reduced to the question of - A proposal for an annual colU.S. support for an armed opposilection in U.S. parishes to help tion reflects, in our view, a skewed fund the retirement needs of elderly and inadequate approach," the members of religious orders. statement says. - A proposed statement on U.S. policy on EI Salvador and "doctrinal responsibilities" which Nicaragua, it says, s~ould "match contains suggested procedures for in deed what has been repeatedly resolving disputes between bishops stated in principle; namely, that theologians. the United States is committed to - A proposed statement calling furthering the process of dialogue for preventing school-based health and negotiations in both countries." clinics from providing students with It calls "morally flawed" U.S. contraceptives and abortion servpolicy of giving direct military aid ices.
to forces seeking the overthrow of Nicaragua, a nation with which the United States is legally not at war. The statement questions whether U.S. military aid to EI Salvador "while intending to support the emergence of civilian and democratic rule, inadvertently created a more potent and triumphalistic [Salvadoran] military than at any time before." The bishops can "do no less than condemn the war and the consequent' sending of arms to Central America." it says.' The statement also urges Catholic parishes, religious communities and social service a'gencies to increase assistance to refugees in need regardless of their legal status. If the Central America statement is approved, it will be the bishops' first comprehensive statement on Central America since 1981. Creation of"small ecclesial communities" to respond to proselytism of U.S. Hispanics by·fundamentalist groups is called for in a pastoral plan on Hispanic ministry the bishops will consider. . The plan is based on the U.S. bishops' 1983 pastoral letter on Turn to Page Six
Political responsibility asked
EDMOND and Catherine Audette of Holy Name parish, Fall River, marking 25 years of married life, were among 132 couples celebrating significant wedding anniversaries Sunday at the eighth annual Mas's of thanksgiving at St. Mary's Cathedral, Fall River. Mrs. Audette is secre~ary to the diocesan Permanent Diaconate program. With the couple are Bishop Daniel A. Cronin and Father Ronald A Tosti, director of the Diocesan Office of Family Ministry, which coordinates the Mass. 65 parishes were represented by couples, 51 of whom were celebrating 25 years of marriage, 46 marking golden anniversries. Mr. and Mrs. William Forster of Our Lady of Victory parish, Centerville, and Dr. and Mrs. Lo'uis A. Sieracki of Our Lady of the Assumption parish, Osterville, celebrated 55 years together. Families and friends of the couples filled the cathedral. (Gaudette photo. See also page six.) o
Bishops' election statement WASHINGTON (NC)- As the nation's Catholic bishops look toward the 1988 general election, their agenda for a more moral public 'policy is basically the same as in 1984. A comparison of their new statement, "Political Responsibility: Choices for the Future," with previous releases shows the bishops still seek a halt to legalized abortion and the arms race and more attention to the needs of the poor. They still want.better protection of civil and human rights at home and abroad and realigned economic priorities fhat emphasize human needs and dignity. . This year's statement added a section on immigration and refugee policy to the list of morally significant issues facing the nation. Since the 40-bishop administrative board of the U.S. Catholic Conference began issuing quadrennial political responsibility statements in 1976, the statements have been expanded, refined and adapted to changing circumstances. On abortion, the bishops have always held firm two key issues: the fundamental right to life of the unborn and the judgment that a constitutional amendment is need-
ed to protect that right. In 1984 and 1987 they added a statement opposing public funding of abortion. . The 1976 statement condemned the global arms race for its threat to humanity's future and its immediate effect of depriving the poor of basic needs. In 1979, specific condemnations of nuclear attack on or threats to civilian populations were added. In 1984, following the bishops' 1983 peace pastoral, .opposition to nuclear first use and even limited nuclear war were added. This year, support for arms control was expanded to specify support for three specific treaties. Opposition to capital punishment was added to the list of concerns in 1979. The issue of civil rights, treated briefly in 1979, was expanded in 1984, with racism cited as a particularly urgent problem. On the economy, the 1976,1979, 1984 and 1987 statements show many changes in emphasis, but also some constants. All call high unemployment unacceptable. All urge maintenance and improvement of services to the poor. But this year's statement, reflect-
ing the bishops' 1986 pastoral on the economy, incorporates language from the pastoral on all economic issues. It expresses a more thorough theology of the moral dimension of economic decisions, condemns continuing poverty more bluntly and adds an important international dimension to the question of U.S. economic policy. Also borrowing from the pastoral, the 1987 statement urges a new hike in the minimum wage, last adjusted in 1981. Since 1979, health c'are has been listed as a "basic human right" requiring government protection, with national health insurance, com'prehensive care, preventive care and containment of health costs as major priorities. The 1987 statement also called for legislation "requiring employers to provide a minimum health insurance benefit to employees." A right to decent, affordable housing for all has been a feature of all four statements. All four also advocate giving greater weight to the promotion of human rights worldwide in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.
2 deans named
Bishop Daniel A. Cronin has • to see to it that the clerics of his appointed Rev. Armando A. An- district lead a life which is in nunziato dean of the Attleboro harmony with their state of life Deanery of the Fall River Diocese and diligently perform their duties; • to see to it that religious funcand Very. Rev. Barry W. Wall dean of the Fall River Deanery. tions are celebrated in accord with As rector of St. Mary's Cathe- the prescriptions of the sacred liturdral, Father Wall already has,the gy, that the good appearance and title Very Reverend, which also condition of the churches and of accompanies the office of dean. sacred furnishings are carefully Thus Father Annunziato will hence- maintained especially in the celebraforth have that title, as have pre- tion of the Eucharist and the cusviously appointed Very Rev. John tody of the Blessed' Sacrament, P. Driscoll, New Bedford dean; that the parish books are correctly Very Rev. Gerald T. Shovelton, . inscribed and duly cared for, that Taunton dean; and Very Rev. Ed- ecclesiastical goods are carefully ward C. Duffy, Cape and Islands administered, and finally that the rectory is maintained with proper dean. According to the new Code of care. Canon Law, deans may also I;>e • Within the vicariate entrusted titled vicars forane or archpriests. to him the vicar forane: Canon 555 notes that "a vicar I. is to see to it that clerics, in forane has the duty and right: accord with the prescriptions of • to promote and coordinate the particular law and at the times common pastoral activity within Turn to Page Three the vicariate;
•