t eanc 0 VOL. 22, NO. 46
SERVING SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1978
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A Personal View Of the Meeting Of U.5. Bishops
Bishops' Parley Final Results
By Father John F. Moore AU meetings these days seem to have a certain sameness. For example, the agenda is pretty much in order before the first call to order is issued; the same 12 per cent of the gathering will be on their feet, no matter what the issue; the same characters will perform their annual ritual of calling for a point of order; the same people seem always at the coffee table, anxious to do business on the sidelines and let someone else throw the snowballs. In this regard, the meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops differed little from that of any other body. However, the differences that did surface were interesting and as a first-time correspondent at the bishops' meeting, I thought it would be of interest to share some events and items that might not be reported in the secular media or might not, at first glance, seem significant. Tum to Page Three
WASHINGTON (NC) - Final results of the fall meeting of the U.S. bishops will not be known for at least a week, with decisions on a proposed national communications collection and whether to allow communion under both bread and wine on Sundays and Holy Days now being sought from bishops who did not attend the meeting. But the bishops completed action on a number of items, including a Middle East statement, a pastoral on the handicapped, a proposal to allow U.S. Catholics to receive Communion more than once a day under certain circumstances, an increase in diocesan assessments from seven to eight cents per CatholiC-in 1979 and revisions in the statutes of the National Conference of Catholic bishops - U.S. Catholic Conference removing voting rights of retired bishops. They rejected a further increase in diocesan assessments for 1980 and a proposal that would have permitted use of the Tum to Page Seven
Bishops Discuss Women Pri路ests
Changes Ordered In Directory
WASHINGTON (NC) - In a frank public discussion of women's ordination, several U.S. bishops urged leaders of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide for dialogue with those who support priestly ordination of women. "The bishops seem to be standing by silently," said Bishop Maurice J. Dingman of Des Moines, Iowa, who raised the issue after a report by. archbishop John R. Roach of St. PaulMinneapolis on the ad hoc Committe for the Call to Action Plan. "We meet with other people ecumenically and are willing to discuss the issue." Bishop Dingman added, "and we should do the same thing with the people in our own Church." The women's ordination issue had come up at the meeting because of the presence of some 25 women who had come to Tum to Page Five
WASHINGTON (NC) - Archbishop John R. Quinn, president of the U.S. Bishops' conference, has announced that the Holy See has ordered several changes to the national Catechetical directory approved by the bishops last year. The document drew praise for its substantial orthodoxy, but the Holy See insisted that certain areas be changed: The bishops were told to change the directory's treatment of revelation. Last year, following long debate, they voted to approve the use of the word to describe God's current activity among men. This, some bishops said, contradicted the Catholic teaching that revelation was complete with the apostles, and that nothing more : been or can be added to it. The bishops decided to capitalize the word when referring to the deposit of faith revealed Turn to Page Seven
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TURKEYS AND GOBBLERS
May those who are hungry have bread and may those who have bread have ever a hunger for justice and peace.