ch 13, 1992 The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Bishop's Forum
I
9
By BISHOP
GERALD A.
GETTELFINGER
Last week on March 1-2, 1992, I attended the
nUal meeting of the Majors Superiors of Reli-
gious Communities and the Bishops of the State
°fladiana which is always held in Indianapolis.
e three hour tril; on Monday morning and the
turn on Tuesday afternoon in brilliant sunshine
r0ught home the beauty of the diocese in which
e live. We are blessed indeed.
h: The bright yellow "Easter" flowers along the
ghWay and in yards are a sure sign that sprinR is
ear. The wispygreen willow leaves were in tle
ale green stage.
• . Other buds of trees were about to burst forth
] leaf, and by now some surely have. Ttle pruned
| f.aards seemed poised to bloom at any moment.
[ L et, despite the balmy snrin-like weather and
uli J r o
[ - ght Sunshine, I hoped the trees and flowers and
Would not get so far along. A quick freeze
243
C°tiued from page 5
Sacred Heart
o Vincennes
I,illdidates: Gary Fortner,
l'. a HUnckler, Linda Kell ,
"las Kerlin Y
St. Francis Xavier
( Vincennes
gerlt teChUmen: Debbie Nu-
adidates: Bonnie Don-
"' 'xagela K. Hamilton
Spring is t ull of life
and hope, and danger
could damage or even destroy them. In short the
whimsical moods of spring are fraught with dan-
ger to those things that beautify our landscape.
Another most notable signal of spring was
the activity on farms. Farmers and tractors were
in fields in abundance. This has been the case all
week as witnessed in my travels across the dio-
cese. For farmers the accelerated pace of work
outside and the urgency to be prepared for the
planting make springtime a dangerous time too.
There is an exhilaration about being out-of-
doors in spring. The smell of newly turned soil
along with the pungent odor of freshly cleaned
stables bodes of new crops and abundant yields.
Preoccupation about what might be can lull the
unsuspecting farmer into carelessness around
the powerful equipment he uses.
Spring is so full of life and hope. We know
St. Nicholas
Santa Claus
Catechumen: Lee White
Candidate: Russ Winkler
Darla Kunkel, Darlene Moran
Candidates: Rebecca Bow-
man, Tamara Cox, Beth
Rutherford, Kyla Hurst
St. Joseph
Jasper
Catechumen: Lonnie
Nicholson
Candidate: Deborah Ann
Burke
all too well that it is also filled with danger for
the unwary. Farm safety is the only uniform the
farmer has to wear. There are no prescribed hel-
mets or pads. There are no referees or umpires to
levy penalties when the rules of safety are bro-
ken. Because most farmers on a moment to mo-
ment basis work "solo," there is usually no one
nearby when an accident imperils one's life.
Farm workers must abide by the rules of
safety since second chances are rare. The true ac-
cidents are those "near-misses" when rules have
been broken or short-cuts taken and a life is not
shattered or snuffed out.
We pray for all farmers. May God bless them
in their work. May their efforts bring forth abun-
dant crops. We pray in gratitude for the fruits of
their labors, an abundance of food for our tables.
We pray God to keep them safe.
St. Celestine
Celestine
Catechumens: John Dodd,
Cindy Fulkenburg, Tim
Faulkenburg, Kathrina
Traughber, Randy Traughber,
ning, Michele Stefancik
Candidates: Joyce Illing-
worth, Stacey McKee
St. Simon
Washington
Catechumens: Lynn Cox,
Jamie Lewis, Tim McDaniel
Candidates: Betty Crowe,
Opal Kelly, Rick Perkins,
Mitch Webb
,St. Joseph
Dale
Catechumen: Bonnie Hohl
Candidates: Kelly Coffin,
Ruth Gaesser, Lori Lubbe-
husen
Holy Name
Bloomfield
Candidates: Terry Gerhart,
Cindy Sensini
Randy Traughber St. John
St. Mary Candidate: Debra Betz Loogootee Holy Family
St. John the Baptist Washington Catechumen: Lisa Arvin, Jasper
Vincennes Catechumens: Billy Fields, St. Peter Candidates: David Sanders, Candidates: Carolyn Sue
I]'&lLeehUmens: Brandon Michael McCain, Kathy Sue Linton Laura Downey, Cynthia Head, Kay Fleck, Gary
''ea, Douglas Fehlinger, Ridge Catechumens: B. J. Dun- Clark, Darlene Chandler Wittmann
SOcial activists meet to assure nation's best for children
0AaHINGTON (CNS) -- Edelman, founder and presi- The conference, co-spon-
li ! activists from Catholic
eSes thr ....
-urltr ougnout me
/sh; Spent four days in
11[ "'gt°n learning how to
re t
d0iri hat the nation is
lild the best it can for its
ull.'
that's how Marian Wright
dent of the Children's De- sored by the U.S. Catholic
fense Fund, described the Conference Department of So-
goals of the U.S. bishops' re- cial Development and World
cent statement, "Putting Chil- Peace, the bishops' Campaign
dren and Families First" and for Human Development, and
of the March 1-4 conference Roundtable, a forum for so-
on Catholic social ministry in cial action discussion, in-
the '90s. cluded discussion of topics as
NOTICE
Robert J, Pigman
was omitted from the Ameritech Yellow Pages
qol:)ert j. Pigman is a member of the law firm of Berger
Berger and the firm provides legal representation in
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broad as international justice
and peace and as specific as a
refundable children's tax
credit as part of U.S. tax
reform.
"I don't know of very many
forces as effective as the
Catholic Church when you
decide to hunker down and
work on something," Edel-
man told the meeting.
During an afternoon on
Capitol Hill March 3, a mem-
ber of the House Democratic
leadership and a representa-
tive of the Bush administra-
tion presented the diocesan
social justice leaders with de-
cidedly different approaches
to the problems facing chil-
dren and families today.
The two were House Major-
ity Whip David E. Bonior, D-
Mich., and Joanne Barnhart,
head of the Department of
Health and Human Services'
Administration for Children
and Families.
CARRIAGE INN
"The poor, after all, are not
a powerful enough con-
stituency to affect change by
themselves," said Bonior.
"It's only when the Demo-
cratic Party has been able to
forge an alliance between the
poor and the middle class
that change has been accom-
plished."
Barnhart, substituting for
Secretary of Health and
Human Services Louis Sulli-
van, said the administration's
two goals to improve the
plight of children are "to
strengthen families and pro-
mote self-sufficiency."
Later that same afternoon,
the social action workers set
out to personally convince
members of Congress to ap-
prove a refundable children's
tax credit and to shift the na-
tion's budget priorities from
weapons to health, housing
and development assistance
for poor nations.
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