FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS VOL 39, NO. 47
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FALL RIVER, MASS.
Friday, Decembel' 1, 1995
Southeastern 'Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
$11 Per Year
Magisterium is misunderstood, says pope
A chance to say thanks to retired religious :Dec. 9-10 WASHINGTON (CNS) - The eighth annual U.S. collection for retired religious will be taken up in parishes nationwide on the weekend of Dec. 9-10. The theme of the 1995 Retirement Fund for Religious Collection is "Your Chance to Say Thanks." The collection, which has averaged $25 million a year, is used to alleviate the immediate needs of retired rdigious and to fund costcutti ng development projects so that religious institutes can reduce their own unfunded retirement liability. Sister Mary Noel Blute, RSM, Episcopal Representative for Religious in the Fall River diocese, indicated that past response in this area has been outstanding. "People of this diocese are very generous," said Sister Mary Noel. Since its inception seven years ago, diocesan giving to the collection has increast:d nearly every year. The grand total for the seven years is $1,007,525.10. Religious retirt:ment programs currently are "underfunded by an estimated $6.3 billion," according to Sister of St. Joseph Janet Roesener, director of the National Religious Retirement Office. But "Catholics never hesitate to show their gratitude," she said. "Successful business people who graduated from Catholic schools often remark that it was priests, brothers and sisters who trained them in good work habits that stayed with them throughout their lives." Of the $175 million raised to date, 96 percent goes directly to support elderly religious, said Sister Roesener. "I don't know of any collection which uses only 4 percent of its entirt: collection for production of fund raising materials, staff, mailing, etc." "There is plenty of evidence that the collection addresses real needs," Sister Roesener said. Citing changing demographics within religious orders, she noted that among the nation's more than 100,000 men and women religious there are more "over 80 than under 50." In the United Statt:s, the current median age is 67.5 for women religious and 59.8 for men religious. "Many orders have to weigh obligations to ministries and obliT~Jrn to Page 10
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BETTY AND RON, who asked that their last name not be used, with little Adriana Douglas. (eNS/ Lucero photo) -4
Abandoned in restroom
Totfinds love with/oster parents SUPERIOR, Wis. (CNS) The foster parents of a baby girl abandoned in a shopping mall restroom in Superior feel no bitterness toward the child's mother. Only sorrow. "I would just like to take her hand and give her a hug," said the foster mother, who asked to be identified only as Betty. "She could have done worse with this baby." Betty lllnd husband Ron, members of Holy Assumption parish in South Superior, will care for the child known as Adriana Douglas for four to six months while the process of adoption is under way. They are grateful that Adriana's mother did not abort her. "She's scared, I'm sure," said Ron in an interview with the Catholic Herald, Superior's diocesan newspaper. That fear came out in a letter the mother wrote when she left her 38hour-old baby in a mall restroom last Aug. 16. Jilene Johnson of Superior found the infant lying on the floor of a bathroom stall, wrapped in a towel. She took her to a nearby store and called the police.
"She was born Aug. 15th between 3:30 a.m.-4:30 a.m.," the mother wrote on steno pad paper. "I deliver [sic] her myself. I'm very sorry for living [sic] her like this. I had no choice about it. Who ever finds her please take care of her. I do love her." "She did give the baby a chance [to live] and I have a lot of respect for the m.om for doing that," said Betty. "My feelings on her abandoning the baby is that she was around [the mall restroom] and she waited for somebody" to find the baby. "She just didn't drop her and walk away." A paramedic squad was called to the mall and transported the ·infant to St. Mary's Medical Center in nearby Duluth, MN. There she underwent surgery Aug. 20 to remove dead bowel tissue, possibly caused by a stressful birth. While the child was in recovery, the hospital nurses named her Adriana, which they said means lost child, and Douglas, after the county in which she was born. Ron and Betty, who have been foster parents since 1981, said they had no hesitation about taking
Andriana when the Department of Human Services contacted them Aug. 18. "We were absolutely thrilled," said Betty. The couple had been following the abandoned baby's story closely and Betty was saving newspaper clippings about it. Now she plans to make a scrapbook and give it to Adriana's adoptive parents. The couple, licensed as caretakers for children up to 2 years of age, said they've opened their home to about 50 foster kids. "My love for children got me involved in the program," said Betty. "It's been a rewarding experience. We've always got room for a child. If not, we make room." Adriana has received numerous gifts from the community. A radio station held a baby shower for her, and people wrote letters inquiring about adopting her. "It's really phenomenal," said Diane Marshall, a social worker with the Department of Human Services. "I n some ways it's been an uplifting thing for the community - the amount of support being given to this child."
VATICAN CITY (CNS) Criticism by theologians and other Catholics of recent papal pronouncements demonstrates a widespread misunderstanding about the church's teaching authority, Pope John Paul II said. Addressing members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Nov. 24, the pope said the disse'nting voices threaten to create a "countermagisterium." Particulary dangerous, he said, was the mistaken idea that only those church teachings declared infallible need to be followed. The pope's strongly worded talk reflected on the mixed reception several of his key documents have had inside the church. His remarks indicated concern about the level of public opposition that has been expressed in some quarters. "Today we have to acknowledge a widespread misunderstanding of the meaning and role of the church's magisterium. This is at the root of the criticisms and challenges which you have observed about some pronouncements. especially the reactions in not a few theological and ecclesial areas to the most recent documents of the pontifical magisterium," he said. The pope said this criticism had been directed at such authoritative statements as his two recent encyclicals on human life and moral truths, and his apostolic letter on the all-male priesthood. He said there had also been opposition to the doctrinal congregation's recent reiteration of the church's ban on Communion for divorced Catholics in invalid second marriages. He said it is important to distinguish between legitimate theological questioning, in which difficulties about certain teachings are presented, and a stance of public opposition by theologians who would propose alternative teachings for the faithful. He said theology operates within the church and its basic doctrines; theologians cannot ignore this, and they must respect the authority of the magisterium when it clarifies or pronounces on specific issues. The pope said it is important for the church's doctrinal officials to use a style and language that will help convince the consciences of Turn to Page 13
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