VOL. 32, NO. 45
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Friday, November 11, 1988
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Bush wooed Catholics schools - among them GeorgeWASHINGTON (NC) -Cathtown University and the Univerolic issues and Catholic voters figsity' of Scranton - but during his ured prominently in the 1988 presacceptance speech at the Demoidential election won by Repubcratic National Convention in July lican George Bush, with both singled out for praise a Capuchin parties saying before election day priest, Father William Kraus, for that they used different strategies to target Catholic voters. his work at a Denver shelter for Vice President Bush defeated the homeless, Samaritan House, his Democratic opponent, Michael run by the Archdiocese of Denver. Dukakis, by 54-46 percent of the Their running mates also made popular vote and by 426-112 votes appearances at Catholic functions. in the Electoral College. An ABC The Republican vice-presidential News exit poll of voters, however, candidate, lndiana Sen. Dan had Dukakis ahead of Bush among Quayle, who is Presbyterian, Catholics by 53 percent to 46 perattended a Sunday Mass with Bush, cent. an Episcopalian, at a Catholic During the final week before his church in a Cleveland Polish neighelection, Bush visited three Catholic borhood last August just after the colleges - the University of Notre Republican convention. Quayle's Dame, Fairfield University in Democratic counterpart, Texas Connecticut and Immaculata ColSen. Lloyd Bentsen, also Presbylege in Pennsylvania - as well as terian, delivered a speech the last Lansing Catholic Central High week of the campaign at St. Mary's School in Lansing, Mich. University in San Antonio. At the end of October he also Officials at each campaign said met in Philadelphia with Cardinal they had recognized the Catholic John J. Krol, the retired archbi- vote as essential to a victory. shop of the city. Dinesh D'Souza, a Catholic and Dukakis, the governor of Mas- head of the Bush campaign's sachusetts, visited fewer Catholic· Catholic liaison, said that from the
outset Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater said that "the key to the election was three groups evangelicals in the South, the women's vote and the Catholic vote." "The [Bush) campaign made an effort to identify with Catholic values," D'Souza said, pointing to the vice president's positions on abortion, voluntary school prayer and tuition assistance. Dukakis spokeswoman Lorraine Voles said the Democrat's campaign used a grass-roots approach, rather than national efforts, to garner Catholic support. She said Catholic events were a concern of the campaign's field offices, which sent representatives to speak at church breakfasts or at parish council meetings. Washington Post columnist Mark Shields wrote earlier that Dukakis owed a "tremendous debt of gratitude" to Catholic voters, "without whose overwhelming. support he could not have won" key Democratic primaries. Turn to Page 15
PRESIDENT-ELECT George Bush walks with Cardinal John Krol after attending a private Mass at the cardinal's Philadelphia residence in the course of a campaign stop. (NCj UPI photo)
Pope emphasizes value of "Humanae Vitae" VATICAN CITY (NC) - Continuing his emphasis on the prophetic nature of the 20-year-old "Humanae Vitae" encyclical of his predecessor, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II has discussed it in recent weeks with bishops from Ohio and Michigan and with an international group of bishops in Rome to discuss pastoral approaches on marriage and the family. The pontiff praised U.S. bishops in general for their fight against abortion and encouraged them to make "more systematic efforts" in teaching natural family planning to couples. He based his remarks on Humanae Vitae, which·condemned abortion and artificial methods of birth control. . He said he deeply appreciated the efforts of the U.S. bishops' conference in pro-life matters, particularly its annual "Respect Life Program." Part of the bishops' task, the pope added, is to provide engaged and married coupks with complete church teaching on human sexuality. "We must emphasize the sanctity of human life as a precious gift from God that needs to be protected and fostered, while making greater and more systematic efforts to offer instruction in the natural methods of family planning," the pope said. Natural family planning, as a method of spacing births, relies on periods of sexual abstinence in order to avoid conception. The pope said such techniques help
couples "understand God's design for sex, and invite them to d·ialogue, mutual respect, shared responsibility and self-control." The pope said that "in a world that often reduces sex to the pursuit of pleasure, and in some cases domination," the church should emphasize sex as an expression of married love that is open to parenthood. Couples need encouragement on this point, he added, because ."materialistic and selfish attitudes often deny the value of the child." The international bishops' meet-
ing was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The pope said the council was an example of what local bishops could and should be doing to deal with pastoral problems in marriage. Similar organizations should
be set up by 10.cal churches to help deepen doctrinal understanding among Catholics, he said. The pope has several other S\lggestions for the bishops in their search for a pastoral approach: - Make clear that, while psychological and anthropological aspects. of sex and marriage are important, the first task of the church is to teach that marital sex is a gift of God entrusted to men and women. . - Seek out pastoral workers who "are not afraid of meeting difficulties and a lack of understand-
ing when they outline God's plan for matrimony." He noted the "bitter and even contemptuous reactions" prompted by Humanae Vitae - "even in some parts ofthe church community." In the years that followed its publication, he said, there were "unjustified criticisms and unacceptable silences," but also a growing awareness that the encyclical was "rich in prophetic meaning." The pope acknowledged ~hat there are "many, sometimes serious, problems that priests and couples experience - the former in announcing the whole truth about conjugal love, and the latter in living it." But he said the failure to accept these teachings was "the fruit and the sign of other, more serious, difficulties," including a loss of respect for offspring, the refusal to transmit life and a subjective interpretation of married love. At the root of all this, he added, was a corrupted idea of freedom and the failure to recognize the divine source of love and fertility. The pope said one positive development over the 20 years since the encyclical was published was a better overaIl understanding of"the ecclesial and social meaning of marriage and the family" as the main place where lay Catholics live out their faith. The pope said he hoped more such meetings would be held and called for closer collaboration between the Council for the Family, headed by Cardinal Edouard Gagnon, and the world's bishops.
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