16, 1993 The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana 5
-- Bishop's Forum --
Mixed messages from the Church
Bishop Gettelfinger's column,
July 9, dealt with the complica-
tions of planning for a fiscal year
Which does not coincide with a
calendar year He noted that the
health insurance program for lay
employees in the diocese uses the
nuary-December calendar year,
ut premiums have to be deter-
mined before the start of the Sep-
tember-August fisca] year. The
bishop referred to health insur-
ance as "one of those difficult te-
a'" P'
hties that all employers -- the
Church included -- must face.
BISHOP
RALD A
GETTELFINGER
I had considerable trouble in
writing this follow-up to my column of last
Week. There are three basic reasons.
. First, the Church has been very clear about
the rights of employees and their relationship
with the employer Pope Leo XIII, well over one
hundred years ago'wrote most clearly that em-
ployees have rights in the marketplace. Forty
Years later there was a restatement of those fun-
ttaraental principles Vatican Council II ad-
dressed the role of laity in the Church. The rights
and obligations of the laity are clearly spelled
out in the revision of the Universal Law of the
Church of 1983 The Church has not wavered
from that position from the great social letters of
the church expounding on this
very delicate relationship of em-
ployer to employee.
The Holy Father and Bishops
of our country have continued to
teach on this matter of the rights
of the employee to just wages and
benefits. Most recently, at our
June meeting in New Orleans, the
bishops of the United States unan-
imously adopted the document,
"A Framework for Comprehensive
Health Care Reform: Protecting
Human Life, Promoting Human
Dignity, Pursuing the Common
Good." That document and others
proclaimed by the National Con-
ference of Catholic Bishops of the United have
left no doubt about the position of the Church
and current Catholic teaching on these matters.
Second, we the bishops and you the faithful,
have held and preached one thing in a very uni-
versal and national manner, yet we have failed to
apply it consistently.
Need I remind you of the housekeepers, jani-
tors, lay teachers, and religious men and women
who have received salaries over the years that
were not commensurate to their services. Much
has been accomplished in this area since the Vat-
ican Council, yet there is much yet to be done.
Some of these former practices have continued
during my tenure as bishop these past four years.
What is acceptable in the marketplace with
respect to employer and employee does not al-
ways reflect social justice. On the other hand, we
are reminded in Sacred Scripture that we are cer-
tainly in the world but are not to be of it. The
Church, if it is to be authentic must be both
prophet and subject of its own prophecy. The
Church, you and I, must practice what we preach.
The Church in our time can be shown to be
both in the world and of it, whether we like it or
not. We live and work in the public forum as we
are part of it. All too often, however, when the
challenge or test comes, we tend to employ the
exemption we enjoy as a "not for profit" organi-
zation. We ourselves have not always applied
our own principles with respect to our employees
as is expected of those who are "non-exempt,"
and of the world.
Whose fault is it?
Assigning fault for failure or omission is not
my intent. Seeking remedies, finding resolution
in those instances where we have failed must in-
deed be our agenda, yours and mine.
Members of our Church who are also our em-
ployees find themselves caught in "Catch 22."
I shall reflect on my third reason for diffi-
culty in my next column.
Paul was fight on sexuality, pro-life committee says
By IERR¥ FILTEAU
Catholic News Service
{CNS} --
Paul Vl had it right in
ng about love, mar-
birth control, the
)s' Committee for
Activities said in a
raent marking the 25th
rsary of "Humanae
Vitae," which
"of human life." was
last encyclical. In
reaffirmed the tradi-
church teaching that
auples are never
to use artificial
to regulate
1968 encyclical
!ed a prophetic rues-
people to live
to welcome children
PrOtect families and
to treat human life as a
;," the committee
,. alizin that 25 years
Prsen . -
. ts the commu of a
,eneration, it is ourhope
idq e new generation might
t, HUmanae Vitae' and
ih" " Lts gentle and loving
Lge ,, the 2,500-word
" eat said.
'led for new auprecia-
t f natural family plan-
a way for couples "to
plan and space births in a
wthWiaY that is both consistent
God's law and support-
ive of their own intimacy and
unity."
Released July 13, the state-
ment was titled, "Human
Sexuality from God's Per-
spective: 'Humanae Vitae' 25
Years Later."
The statement deplored the
"pervasive and dominant"
secular perspective on human
sexuality, which it described
as "purely pragmatic" and de-
void of any understanding of
God's love.
"'Humanae Vitae' provides
a positive and dignified un-
derstanding of sexuality as a
ift from God which enno-
les, enriches and reconciles
married couples," it said.
"The teaching of the
church is and has always
been countercultural," said
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of
Los Angeles, chairman of the
Committee for Pro-Life Activ-
ities. "Nowhere, perhaps, is
this more clearly so today
than in regard to the church's
teaching on human sexuality
and the transmission of life."
Cardinal Mahony said
church teaching on sexuality
it too often portrayed as nega-
tive.
"Nothing could be further
from the truth," he said. "The
teaching of the church in re-
gard to marital love, child-
bearing and the importance of
the family is a positive teach-
ing, a liberating teaching."
"Through sexual union,"
said the statement, "couples
strengthen their marital rela-
tionship and participate in a
special way in God's creation
of new life. From this follows
the profound meaning of a
life of intimacy -- that com-
munion of two persons who
must be open to each other in
a mutual self-donation that
reaches its apex in the loving
union that bears fruit in chil-
dren."
In "Humanae Vitae" Pope
Paul said the church's teach-
ing against all forms of artifi-
cial contraception "is
founded upon the inseparable
connection, willed by God
and unable to be broken by
man on his own initiative, be-
tween the two meanings of
the conjugal act: the unitive
meaning and the procreative
meaning."
The only licit means of reg-
ulating birth, he said, is nat-
ural family planning, in
which the couple "take into
account the natural rhythms
immanent in the generative
functions, for the use of mar-
riage in the infecund periods
only."
The bishops' committee at-
tributed high rates of divorce,
abortion, sexual abuse and
sex outside marriage in
- - |IIII
America to pervasive atti-
tudes of individualism, con-
fusion about the meaning of
sexuality and trivialization of
sex.
I111 I IIII I I I
PRAYER FOR THE SYNOD
Diocese of Evansville
LET US PRAY
of life and 'e, You sent Your m to Hve arr
that we might know and love You,
that we might 'e and p You as Your f k.
Assist us in living holy lives as faithful d'ipks of Jesus, Your Son,
so that Your preser may be known and fdt in our midst,
that others too may come to know and love You
so they may begin to serve and worship You.
Empower us with Your Spirit to use fully the many gifts You have given us.
Incase our faith.
Help us to see Your plan for the Church.
As we look to the future, may our plans be faithful to Yours,
so that we, the Church of,Southwestern Indiana,
may further Your kingdom through preaching and living Your gospel.
All praise be Yours through Jesus Christ Our Lord!
AMEN!
I I I I
I [11 II I I J I
|IMClOUl HOIHMiJt I)OlflRl
Ieh I nd North
High School -- Evelnllvllle
15- 16- 17
