t eanc 0 VOL. 35, NO. 42
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Friday, October 25, 1991 .
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13 diocesan representatives at Arizona meeting With CNS News reports "The needs never change. PeoThirteen representatives of the ple are cold, hungry, without love," Fall River diocese were among said John Coppinger of Brooklyn, nearly 1,006 people representing NY, national Vincentian president. 4,225 parish conferences of the But :'the poor are getting poorer. U.S. St. Vincent de Paul Society and the rich are getting complawho met last month in Phoenix, cent," he told The Catholic Sun, Ariz., for the 77th annual meeting newspaper of the Phoenix diocese. of the organization's national counEight busloads of delegates cil. toured a new St. Vincent de Paul Headed by Father Daniel L. feeding center in Phoenix. It will Freitas, diocesan Vincentian di- replace an existing dining room rector, delegation members were and incorporate a medical and newly-elected diocesan president dental clinic and other Sr. Vincent Joseph Gromada and his wife Alice; de Paul services. It will prepare Charles Rozak; Mr. and Mrs. Dav- thousands of meals a day to be id Martin; Mr. and Mrs. Leo Thi- served there and at 13 other lobault; Roland Ducharme; Mr. and cations.. Mrs. Steve Kulpa and Mr. and --Coppinger said the Phoenix dinMrs. Louis Chaves. ing room is just one of many proGromada, who attended the na- jects sponsored by councils across tional meeting as a proxy for Frank the country. He cited a program in Miller, immediate past president Laredo, Texas, which· has built of the diocesan Vincentians, was more than 100,000 independent sworn into his n~w post at a Mass living housing units for the lowoffered Wednesday night at St. income elderly in the last five Joseph's Church, Taunton, by years. Father Freitas and Msgr. Thomas Funding has come primarily J. Harrington, St. Joseph's pastor and Taunton district Vincentian' from the U.S. Department of Housmoderator: Ex officio, Gromada ing and Urban Development, but also became a trustee ofthe national . the St. Vincent de Paul Society paid initial expenses and coordiVincentian council. The Phoenix meeting included nates the work, Coppinger said. He also noted a project in Portofficial trustees' sessions but most land, Ore., in which society coorof those in attendance were there dinators lead volunteer teens supto share ideas about what works plied with tools, bricks and mortar and what doesn't in responding to the needs of the poor. . Turn to Page 10
Bishop.s' statement scores apathy among voters WASHINGTON (CNS) ~ U.S. voter apathy is "threatening to undermine the heart of our democratic traditions," the 50-bishop Administrative Board of the U.S. Catholic Conference said in a statement on political choices in the 1992 elections. The 24-page statement, "Political Responsibility: Revitalizing American Democracy," urged Catholics and all citizens to register and vote. It asked them to anaIyze issues and candidates from moral perspectives and "join with·' others in advocating for important values." The bishops said there is a "new urgency" to their latest statement - the fifth in a series issued before every presidential election since 1976 - because "we fear the political life of our nation may be losing the interest and participation of many Americans." They noted that "barely half' the nation's voters went to the polls in the 1988 presidential elections. In the off-year elections of 1990, they said, "only a third voted, the lowest turnout since World War II." The new political responsibility
statement was approved by the USCC Administrative Board at its September meeting. Following the pattern of previous statements, the board highlighted 17 current policy issues of "special relevance" at this time. It summarized the moral and public policy positions taken by the U.S. bishops on each issue. The issues, in alphabetical order, are abortion; arms control and disarmament; capital punishment; discrimination lind racism; the . econ'omy; education; euthanasia; family life; food, agriculture and environment. Also health; housing; human rights; immigration; mass media; refugees; regional concerns (with emphasis on Eastern Europe, Middie East, Latin America and Africa); and substance abuse. On some issues the bishops simply reaffirmed what they said in their 1988 statement. In many areas the bishops have Seen four years of little or no progress toward their goals - such as eliminating abortion, waging a new battle on poverty and homelessness,.establishingacomprehensive Turn to Page 10
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IN CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil, Pope John Paul II blesses a victim of Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. (CNS/ Reuters photo)
.In Brazil
W ~Icome Christ is ,papal message SAL VADOR, Brazil (CNS) Pope John Paul II says the teaching of the Catholic Church contains the values needed to solve the social and personal problems of Brazilian Catholics. During an Oct. 12-21 visit to Brazil, a nation larger than the continental United States, the pope repeatedly addressed issues related to land and money, their distribution and their use. He also said families must be a top priority of the church's pastoral work. Pope John Paul asked Brazilians to be strong in their faith and to work for justice in their homeland. "Do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. This . was, in synthesis, the message which directed my thoughts during these days in Brazil," he said at the airport in Salvador before returning to Rome Oct. 21. . For their part, Brazilian Catholics asked the pope to use his influence to protect and improve their way of life. President Fernando Collor de Mello asked the pope Oct. 14 to "use the weight of your undisputed authority" to help knock down international economic barriers that he said keep developing countries poor. On Oct. 15, Rabbi Henry I. Sobel, leader of a 12-member delegation from the Jewish Confederation of Brazil, brought smiles to the faces of the pope and his delegation when he linked his request . for diplomatic'relations with Israel to the 13th anniversary of Pope John Paul's election' in October 1978. "According to Jewish tradition, 13 is the age of bar mitzvah, religious maturity," Rabbi Sobel told
the pope. "It is our fervent wish that your bar mitzvah brings with it the full ripening of CatholicJewish relations that will result from the normalization of diplomatic relations between the Vati-, can and the State of.Israel." At an Oct. 16'meeting with the leaders of indigenous tribes, the pope was asked by a spokesman "to carry our cry for justice" and for the protection, of traditional lands to the rest of the world. In a slum or "favela" in Vitoria, local schoolteacher Graca Andreatta told the pope, "We are still fighting but we are tired, very, very tired." The poor, she said in pouring rain, were looking to the pope for
help. "Please, Holy Father, we are too weak to pray. Ask God for us, take our cry for help to him, the cry of unemployed fathers, of oppressed women . . . of children who have never played." "The church wants to serve the poor in the spirit of the Gospel and for this reason has never ceased committing itself to comfort them, defend them and liberate them through innumerable initiatives and works of charity," said the pope, who donated $100,000 for the local church to build a pastoral center. But at the same time, he said, the church has a "wider perspective" pushing it to work to solve' Turn to Page 10
MR. AND MRS. PAUL CLARK, St. Mary's parish, South Dartmouth, were among 138 couples from 57 diocesan parishes who renewed their wedding vows at a St. Mary's Cathedral ceremony last Sunday. It was the 25th anniversary for the Clarks. Another photo page 8. (Studio D photo)