VOL. 48, NO. 45 • Friday, November 26, 2004
FALL RIVER, MASS.
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Bishops to emphasize marriage and family By PATRICIA lAPoR CATltOUC NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - A sense of urgency about emphasizing the Church's teaching on marriage and family seemed to outweigh U.S. bishops' concerns for their new priority-setting procedures as they voted 195-20 to approve a new pastoral initiative on marriage. The marriage initiative will begin with a survey of bishops about the issues they want addressed, followed by a symposium of theologians and social scientists, focus groups of lay people and sessions with pastoral leaders and bishops' conference committees. A potential national research project through the Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University also would be incorporated into the planning. After that process, expected to take place in 2005-06, a pastoral letter will be written and approved, probably in 2007. Steps to implement the pastoral letter are expected to begin in 2007. ''We can help to create a positive climate that places healthy marriages at the heart of strong families, a strong nation and a strong and holy Church," said Bishop J. Kevin Boland of Savannah, Ga., chairman of the Committee on Marriage and Family Life. "TIns is a pastoral moment we should seize upon." The bishops voted down an attempt to remand the proposed marriage initiative to go through a newly adopted process of committee review of all priorities and plans. Aday earliera proposal for a pastoral initiative to encourage Catholics to study the Bible was remanded for review. Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk had moved to
put both initiatives back through the planning process adopted earlier. But by the next morning, there was little support among the bishops for taking the same step with the marriage initiative. Bishop Boland said the recent debate about same-sex marriage has shown that while most Americans agree that marriage should be defined as a lifelong union of a man and a woman, many struggle to connect that ideal with what they encounter in daily life. People still tum to churches and faith communities to help them prepare for, to be sustained in and to heal marital relationships, he said. Bishop Boland said the development of a pastoral letter could address such issues as why the U.S. marriage rate has declined by more than 40 percent in the last 30 years; the consequences of delayed marriage and the increase in the number of people who never marry; the effects ofdivorce; the effect ofcohabiting relationships on marriage; and the beliefs and behaviors that contribute to strong, happy marriages. In urging the bishops not to set aside the marriage pastoral proposal, Coadjutor Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann ofKansas City, Kan., said if the bishops get carried away with the idea of only taking up subjects that have been through the vetting process they risk finding themselves "in the position where the only thing we are speaking on is sexual abuse." Bishop Victor B. Galeone of St. Augustine, Aa., said that while he supported pressing forward with the pastoral letter plans in light ofrecent events he fears that a project which takes many years is "too little, too late."
BISHOP GEORGE W. Coleman, center, listens during a session at the bishop's fall meeting held last week in Washington, D.C. (John Kearns Jr. photo)
Bishops end meeting early after votes on marriage, unity, abuse By NANCY FRAZIER O'BRIEN CATltOUC News SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Finishing up their business a day earlier than originally scheduled, the U.S. bishops concluded their fall general meeting in Washington with a flurry of votes on a national catechism for adults, a multi-year pastoral initiative on marriage and a historic decision to join a national ecumenical forum. On a busy final day of their November 15-17 meeting, the U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops also voted to gather annual information about new sex abuse accusations against Catholic clergy and other Church workers; approved three Spanish-language liturgical changes; and accepted a proposal to streamline the 2005 diocesan audits on sex abuse matters. But athree-page report from the bishops' Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians - origi-
nally scheduled for public discussion by the conference - was presented in written form without comment or discussion, at the suggestion of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick ofWashington, who heads the task force. The report said the bishops would develop a ''Reader on Catholics in Public Life" and that their doctrine and pastoral practices committees have agreed to take up the matter of Church teaching on when it is proper for Catholic politicians, and all Catholics, to receive Communion. The 456-page "U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults," approved by a 218-10 vote, was written in response to a Vatican request that bishops or bishops' conferences develop such catechisms to complement the universal "Catechism of the Catholic Church" issued in 1992 by Tum to page 13 - Bishops
Advent: A time for hope and a season for social holiness By DEACON JAMES N. DUNBAR
FALL RIVER - The first candie on the Advent wreath seen on The Aru:hor sfront page this week - and in our parish churches this Sunday, ushers in the holy season of Advent. While it is a time of preparation to fully participate in the mystery and joy of Christmas recalling Christ's first coming in his birth at Bethlehem, it is also a time to look forward with hope and await Christ's second coming at the end times, when we will encounter him, face to face. It is important to keep in mind
that the two are but one event that extend throughout history - not two different comings, but one. Hope is at the very center ofAdvent. Mark Searle, in his 'The Spirit of Advent," points out that human beings cannot live without hope; that they are "blessed - or cursed - with the ability to think about the future and to fear our actions to shaping it." After all the vitriol, hate and discontent that have formed the nation's climate the past few months in the national election, the prospect of "a season of social ho- .
liness." is "a refreshing counterpoint," says Stephen M. Kent, in an editorial in The Catholic Northwest Progress, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Seattle. . Kent, executive editor of the Progress, points out that "A season of social holiness" is the term crafted by the "philosopher-poetpope, John Paul II," to encourage Catholics around the world to bring Gospel values to the search for justice, peace and respect for human rights. "It resonates with those who have endured a period of political Tum to page 13 - Advent