SERVING ••• SOUTHEASTERNMASSACHUSmS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 24, NO. 44
FALL. RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30; 1980
20c:, $6 Per -Year
Christian families, called to buck mo,dern, culture VATIcAN CITY(NC) - With a firm "yes" to the indissolubility ot marriage and to present church teaching on artificial birth control, Pope John Paul II closed the 1980 world Synod of Bishops. He said divorced and remarried Catholics should "not be considered separate from the church" but cannot be admitted to the Eucharist unless they "take on themselves the duty. to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from acts in which only married couples can engage." , . The pope said all of ,the discussions at the synod turned on "two hinges ... namely, fidelity toward the plan of God for the family and a pastoral way of acting." In discussing the status of women, Pope John Paul quoted from a section of the synod propositions which urged that "women not be forced to engage in external work ... so that the family might be able to live rightly, that the mother might devote .herself fully to the family." ' , Those in mixed mljrriages can. not simply "accommodate themselves in a passive and easy
manner to existing conditions but must try so that, with patience and good will, they might find a common willingness to be faithful to the duties of Christian marriage," the pope said. He also praised the synod's efforts to achieve "a deeper awareness and consciousness either of the riches which are found in various forms in people's cultures, of the benefits which eV,ery culture brings with it." Christian families must sometimes "choose a way of life that goes contrllry to modern culture in such matters as sexuality, 'individual autonomy and maternal wealth," participants in the synod said in their closing message. The eight-page "Message to Christian Families in the Modem World," read at the closing synod ceremony Oct. 25 in the Sistine Chapel, touched on most -of the issues raised 'during the month-long meeting. But the bishops said they did not intend "to give answers to all the complex ,questions in' our day about marriage and ~he family." "We only want to share with you the love, confidence and hope
which we feel," they added. The message strongly reaffimed the indissolubility Of marriage and the 1968 encyclical, "Humanae Vitae," which states that sexual relations "must be fully human, total, exclusive and open to new life." But the bishops also expressed compassion toward those who fail to adhere to the church's ideal. "In no way do we ignore the very difficult and trying situatioI;l of the many Christian couples who, although they sincerely want to observe the moral norms taught by the church, find themselves unequal to the task because of weakness in the face of difficulties," the message said. Quoting from a 1970 address by ~ope 'PaUl VI, it added, "The journey of married' couples, like the whole journey o( human life, meets with delays and difficult and burdensome times . . . But this is the moment in which the Christian, rather than giving way to sterile and destructive panic, humbly opens up his soul before God as a sinner before the saving love of Christ." The synod participants i 'criticized governments and, f'some Tum to Page Nineteen
Candidates respond to NC News questionnaires By JIm Lackey WASHFNGTON ('Ne) - President Carter and Republican presidenti"al 'nominee Ronald Reagan have responded to National Catholic News Service questionnaires - regarding their stance on various -issues. Some of ,their statements follow:
PRESIDENT CARTER President Carter has reiterated his opposition ,to tuition tax creddts, saYing a better way to aid non-public school students is .through targeted federal programs.
'11 believe :it is far more equi,table and efficient -to aid private school children who have special needs through existing federal programs - rather than' resorting to tuition tllJ( creddts or vouchers, which distribute, aid without regard to need," said Carter. In his responses, Carter also: . -Defended the right of organized religion to speak out on ,issues such as abortion, but said he was concerned about highlyfinanced and organized attempts by reHgious groups to shape the outcome of an election:
-Said he did not agree with objections by :the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to the use of the pope in televised campaign commercials; -Repeated his personal OPPOsiNon to abor.tion and his, view that it would not be advisable to enact a constitutional amendment that would prohibit abortions, and ""","Said the United States will continue supporting the current civilian-miltitary junta 'in El Salvador as long as it continues to try to reduce violence between Turn to Page Four
SISTER GIULIANA CAVALLINI, OP, a world authority on tbe' lu,e and spirituality of St. Catherine of Siena, speaks at Fail River Family' Day sponsored by Dominicans of St. Catherine of Siena for all Dominican sisters, priests and tertiaries in the diocese. The presentation of the fonner UNESCO delegate, who directs a Catherinian study center in Rome, was a highlight of the community's yearlong observance of the sixth centenary of the death of the saint.
Celibacy norms :come fr01m Vatican' By NC News Service , The Vatican Congregation' for the 'Doctrine of the Faith has told, bishops and superiors of religious orders of priests that a dispensation from' celibacy is not to be considered a right belonging to all priests. The statement came in a letter dated Oct. 14 and signed by Cardinal Franjo Seper, prefect
of the congregation, and Archbishop Jerome Hamer, its ,secretary. The letter accompanied a new set of eight procedural norms, or rules, for handling cases in which a priest asks to be dispensed from celibacy and to live as a layman. Such cases are processed first, by a diocesan bishop or religious Turn to Page Eighteen