12.16.94

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t eanc 0 VOL. 38, NO. 49

Friday, December 16, 1994

FALL RIVER, MASS.

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Orphans in the storm

A political firestorm WASHINGTON(CNS)- Ever since Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., the House speaker-to-be, made remarks about cutting out welfare and putting children in orphanages, a political firestorm has brewed, the likes of which are uncommon even by Washington standards. Nov. 13, the day after one of Gingrich's post-election comments on orphanages. Auxiliary Bishop John H. Ricard of Baltimore, head of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Policy, said in response to reporters' questions, "The state has a responsibility to care for those who cannot care for themselves. And children would be disproportionately affected [by cutting out welfare)." The orphanage proposal is part of the proposed Personal Responsibility Act in the Republican Party's "Contract with America." It would end Aid to Families with Dependent Children and housing funds for unwed mothers under age 18. States could raise the age t021 and useanysavingstoestablish orphanages or group homes. The goal is to l;ut in half the 10 million now on welfare rolls and save $40 billion in the first five years. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton called the proposal "unbelievable and absurd." Gingrich, speaking on "Meet the Press" Dec. 4, suggested she go to a video store and rent a copy of "Boys Town." President Clinton will hold a private, bipartisan welfare summit in early January. There were 194 Catholic orphanages serving 76,245 children in 1993, according to the Official Catholic Directory.

Orphanages today are far different from when Thomas S. Monaghan was a boy. Monaghan, owner of Domino's Pizza and active in several Catholic causes, was sent ~ith his brother to a Catholic orphanage by their mother after their father died. In a 1988 interview, he acknowledged the loneliness and hardships of orphanage life, but said the nuns there taught him that "my first love ... is the church," and impressed upon him the importance of being fair with people. "Orphanages of years ago were opened by religious groups - nuns and brothers running these places with very little money," said Helen Hayes, executive director of St. Catherine's Center for Children in Albany, N.Y. "Those days are gone. For one thing, the [numbers of) religious aren't here to do it." St. Catherine's gets 90 percent of its funds from government sources, mostly in the form of contracts, Ms. Hayes said. The average for Catholic residential care centers is 60 percent, according to Sharon Daly, deputy assistant to the president of Catholic Charities USA. By Ms. Daly's count, government support would be cut up to 30 percent "or maybe more" by the Gingrich plan. "Placing hundreds ofthousands of children in orphanages doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, personally or profession'ally," Ms. Hayes said. The GOP proposal implies that children born to poor teenage mothers are "ipso facto in need of Turn to Page 13

Bishops urge support for Senate Bill #2 The four Catholic bishops of Massachusetts have issued a statement urging support for Senate Bill #2, which would protect state services to non-public school students and remove discriminatory language from the state Constitution, thereby conforming it to the United States Constitution. Sta,te legislators, meeting in a joint session, will deliberate and vote on Senate #2 on De:c. 19. In their statement, Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston, Bishop Sean P. O'Malley of Fall River, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of Worcester and Bishop Thomas L. Dupre; administrator of the diocese of Springfield, said that "The time has arrived for justice to prevail." Senate #2 seeks to replace antiCatholic language, inserted in the

state COn!.titution in 1855 by the Know-Nothing Party, and to replace it with the language found in the Bill of Rights: "[The General Court] shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion." Lobbyists against Senate #2, said the bishops, "have distorted the facts on the issue by falsely claiming that somehow inserting lan-' guage from the United States Bill of Rights in our state Constitution will result in Catholics raiding the state treasury and hi'ndering public education." However, "Catholic schools currently save the taxpayers of the Commonwealth hundreds of millions of dollars each year," the statement said, adding that Senate #2 "would not appropriate one cent toward the support of Catholic Turn to Page 13

l IT WAS A BIG DAY for Holy Trinity School, West Harwich, and St. Margaret's School, Buzzards Bay, as Bishop Sean O'Malley blessed the schools, both of which' opened in September. Top to bottom, left to right, the bishop with Mrs. Teresa Rosseter, principal of St. Margaret's, Rev. Richard W. Beaulieu, director, and James McNamee, superintendent of diocesan schools; time to eat at St. Margaret's; at Holy Trinity, the bishop with Rev. Thomas A. Frechette, parochial vicar, Rev. Gerald T. Shovelton, pastor, and Sister Carol Clifford, RSM, principal; Sister Terence, RSM, with some of her second-graders; children at Holy Trinity and St. Margaret's prayer services. (McNamee & Beaulieu photos)

Dr. Elders' departure unlamented WASHINGTON (CNS) - The resignation of Surgeon General J oycelyn Elders has been welcomed by critics of her outspoken views about sex education and the use of condoms, church teachings about homosexuality and other issues. President Clinton said Dr. Elders' "public statements reflecting differences with administration policy and my own convictions" led hi m to ask for her resigna tion. The White House said she made one too many statements with which Clinton disagreed.

''I'm delighted," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. "I just hope this is an opening to get someone who more closely represents the will of the people and does not have animus toward the Catholic Church." "It is my hope that the dismissal of Surgeon General Elders will clear the way for leadership in the area of public health that respects the values of the vast majority of Americans and recognizes the fundamental importance of the family

for the well-being of society," said CardinalJamesA. Hickey of Washington, who also had publicly criticized her. Dr. Elders was sharply criticized by Catholic leaders for her comments about churches which opposed some of her ideas. In letters to Clinton earlier in 1994. Cardinal Hickey asked him to disavow statements she had made about homosexuals, religion and traditional families. Dr. Elders criticized churches Turn to Page 13


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