FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 26, NO. '45
FALL RIVER, MASS., FRIDAV, NOVEMBER 19, 1982
CHD aid
• IS asked
The annual collection for the Campaign for Human Develop ment will be taken up this week end in all churches of the dio cese. The campaign, inaugur,ated by the U.S. bishops an 1969, has as its goals ,the combating of injus tice, oppression, al,jenation and poverty in the United States. It does thIs by raising the con sciousness of Amel'icans as to the ~njustices suffered by some 35 million of their feJoloW' country men; by funding self-help pro grams for the poor; and by con tinually seeking reevaluation by individuals, families, the church and the civic community of their prioritJies with 'l'egalld to stew ardship of God-given goods. Discussing the ,root causes of poverty in America, ,the 1982 CHD report declares "God doesn"t make people poor; people make people poor." That thought, 'the report con tinues, "sums up CHoD's approach -people are poor as the result of decisions made by other peo ple and anstitutions. ' "Some peot>le are born. dnto poverty, and struggle, often un successfully, to overcOme it. But very few Americans are immune from poverty-most are only a sudden dUness, a divorce, a job 40ss away. "Some Americans are poor because of ,the color of their skin. Minorities and women 8!lso suffer from the "'last hired, first fired" syndrome in times of re cession. "Rapid economic growth made a significant dent in poverty be tween 1947 and 1963, but since then a'imost all of the reduction in povel'ty has been 'the result of government social programs precisely ,the programs being slashed today. "Another underlying cause of poverty :in recent years has been a series of shocks to the Amer ican economy, from the cost of the Vietnam war to skyrocketing energy costs to tax cuts and high interest rates that 'Choke off eco nomic recovery. "The causes of poverty are complex; so are the cures. A Newsweek cover story on ,the dramatic inorease of poverty in America 'Concluded that, 'The evidence so far suggests that the poor need something more than la:l~sez-faire solutions they neell programs to help them become ~elf-sufficient,' "That ds what the Campaign for Human Development is a'll about," 'conclu~es the CHD statement.
20c, $6 Per Vear
Nukes
meeting
focus
WASHINGTON (NC) - The morality of nuclear weapons, potentially one of the most divi sive issues for American Cath· olics in the 1980s, topped the agenda of the U.S. bishops' an nual meeting in Washington, which ended yesterday. Unusual media a.ttention was focused on the meeting due to the bishops' open opposition to U.S.' nuclear defense policy. At a news conference on its open ing day Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago, chairman of the bishops' committee pre paring a pastoraR letter on war and peace, said it is "unhelp ful" to call nuclear. freeze ad vocates dupes of foreign powers. Although the archbishop did not mention him by name, Presi dent Reagan is among those who have made such assertions. Dur ing the campaign before the November election in which nu clear freeze proposals were on the ballots in 39 jurisdictions, he argued that the freeze campaign was inspired by people who "want the weakening of Am erica," The archbishop said there are rumors that he was called to Rome because oil complaints in the United States about'the'docu ment "and was told by the holy father to layoff," ~"I received no such call," Archbishop Bernardin said. He explained that he was in Rome last month to attend a previous ly scheduled meeting of the coun· cil of the Synod of Bishops. During an audience in which Pope John Paul II received all the members of the council, Archbishop Bernardin said he spoke briefly to the pope. "All 1 said was, 'Everything is going well in Chicago,''' Fully a third of the bishops' four-day meeting was devoted to discussing the war and peace uses a walker. Putting her be pastoral. The results of their dis hind him, hands on his shoulders, cussions will be used by Arch and Miss Labocte ahead of him, bishop Bernardin's committee to Pat got them to the back of the revise the letter prior to resub buiilding, the front being ai mitting it to the full body of il'eady impassable. <J bishops next year for final ,In the smoky backyard he en amendments and a vote. countered two other confused In other matters, the bishops women and -led aU four away approved a $22.6 milliop budget from ,the fire, smashing through for 1983 for their Washington two fences and helping them off offices along with a Jtefty in7 a waH to do so. "Take it easy, crease in the "tax" on dioceses we']tJ get out," he kept reassur- . for support of the bishops' pro ing them, recalled Miss Labonte. grams. Reaching FaH River's Pleasant The new budget, which pays Street, where he turned the quar for activities of the National Turn to l?age Six Turn to Page Si~
'THANKSGIVING
Blessed are you, Lordi God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer, which earth has given and hu man hands have m€Jde.
Cause for Thanksgiving
By Pat McGowan 1t',J,] be a good Thank~giving for Miss Yvonne L,abonte and Mrs. Eva H. Berubt~ of Notre Dame parish, Fall River, mainly because ithey'U be around to' celebrate it. Except for Boy SCout Pat Jordan, 14, of Espirito Santo parish, also 'Fall River, it might not have been ,that way.
The sisters, both in their 80s, were on the second floor of a three-<lecker tenement in the path of the aft~rnooJ:l fire storm that Jast May 11 demolished Notre Dame Church and much
of ,the surrounding neighborhood. Young Pat, also a neighbor hood resident, was watching the spectacular blaze when he heard a fireman call for assistance in getting people out of the threat ened tenements. Responding, he entered the women's building. Unaware that their roof was ablaze, the sisters were watching television when Pat reached them,' in structed them to cover their mouths with wet towels and 1ed them downstaks. ;. The ,rescue was complicated by the' fact that Mrs. Berube