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W'S Journey of faith Recently and soofHo-be eommfc- missioo teom if* ftfooscfe Meadow look forward to fomsing a spWtool commo* nity Seepage id. Sleepless Kiii^i^ bastetbalteafn East Oass AAA <ooches to Ios0 Thursday. February 11. 1988 16 Pages Bonni*TiaMat/Couriw-Joumal Ahhough Father Ctuwtos E. Curran dectr^ most srjeaking engagements, he agreed to tafc at St. Mary's Downtown Commiinity Forum because of the support he had received from the parish staff during his conflicts with the Vatican. Curran talk avoids mention of fight with Vatican, CUA By Karen M. Franz Anyone who attended last week's Downtown Community Forum luncheon hoping to taste the spice of controversy may well have found the entree nourishing but far blander than an- ticipated. Instead of discussing his ongoing battle with Catholic University of America or his conflicts with the Vatican, the speaker, Father Charles E. Curran, served his audience of nearly 300 exactly what the menu promised — a college- level, political-ethics lecture on the role reli- gious denominations should take in the deter- mination of American public policy: Father Curran is teaching a course on these issues this semester at Ithaca's Cornell University, where he is a visiting professor of religious studies. Entitled \Religion and Politics in the USA: Moral Arguments and Public Policy!' the talk was sponsored- by St. Mary's Church, Rochester. It provided listeners with an ethi- cal framework by, which to judge religious . grpuos' involxementjjn the. 1988 election. ?'Thelecj^^g^ ^%^i^0^m^^$t6the specific questions ofa^iumali'-iifeWendment to the U.S. Con- stitution and of church groups' efforts to ef- fect ; such an amendment. \1 do not think that the U.S. bishops in any way are violating the separation of church and state by working for such an amendment'' he began, \because one of the rightful involve- ments of the state is to protect human rights. If any individual or ahy group believes that a human right is involved, I think that in our so- ciety they have every rijght in the world to work for legislation to protect that right.\ According to Father Curran, the bishops are not only politically justified but also morally compelled -to involve themselves in human- rights issues. Quoting from the documents of the 1971 Synod of Bishops, he said, '\action on behalf of justice and the transformation of the . world is a constitutive dimension of the preach- ing of the Gospel and the mission of the church for the redemption of humankind! \In other wordsT he continued, \ypu can have the best preaching in the world, the best liturgy in the world, but if you lack the social mission you are lacking in a constitutive aspect of what it means to be church? The theologian further asserted that \whatever affects human beings, human com- munities and their environments by its very na- ture is a moral question, a human question and for the believer, a Christian question!' Yet he acknowledged that, especially in deal- ing with complex issues, churches must recog- nize that specific policy questions \involve a tremendous amount of data from economics, from political science. They involve a definite amount of prudential judgments that must be made. \The churches or anybody else who's going to speak out is going to have to do their home- work;' Father Curran continued. \We have to, know the data involved. We have to be familiar withall the.aspjecjts of .the case!' He said tMs stipulation avoids a two?fpld extrone^'The one epr^meiays,theich^fi~^^p^]^mess talkingabout these issues; the other extreme says tHe church is able to know quickly, readi- ly and easily exactly what God is doing in this issue.\ Moreover, he cautioned that determinations of legitimacy frequently are biased by the ideo- logical views of the beholder. \When the church comes out against 'our' position, the danger is saying, 'That's a violation of church and state!\ he remarked. \But when the church comes out in favor of 'myVposition, then that's all right!' , ' And he observed that the nation's, \politi- cal rhetoric is negatively affected\ by people who would accuse the U.S. bishops of violat- ing the separation of church and state by tak- ing political stands. \You can say they're wrong — by all means — if you disagree with them; but I don't think they should be accused of violating the separation of church and state,\ he said. Contiaoed on Page 11 Bishop announces reconfiguration of Monroe County schools w* By Lee Strong Bishop Matthew H. Clark has announced several changes in the configuration of Cath- olic schools in Monroe County. These changes will become effective in September, 1988. In the first change, seventh- and eighth-grade students currently attending Annunciation School on Norton Street, will be transferred to Blessed Sacrament Junior High School on Oxford Street. Annunciation School will con- tinue to offer pre-kindergarten through sixth- grade classes. The second change will allow individual seventh- and eighth-grade students from St. James Parish to choose either Blessed Sacra- ment Junior High or St. Ambrose School. In September, 1989, however, St. James Parish will have to choose which of the two schools all of its junior-high students will attend. Ac- cording to the plan, St. James will continue to offer preschool through sixth grades. The third change involves a realignment of the three Catholic schools in Brighton: St. Thomas More, OurLadyofLourdes and Our Lady Queen of Peace. St TOomas More^will hous^kindergarten through third grades for all threeSiarishies. Sfc Tnbmas Moi^s Iteurth through sixth grades will be tramfent^to Our Lady of Lpuide& Apreschc«l rjrogiam for tluTC|r>arishes wiU'be consoU existing program at Our Lady Queen of Peace, and Seton Junior High will remain at Our Lady of Lourdes. Bishop Clark said the changes stemmed from the ongoing process established three years ago to plan the futun^of Monroe Coun- ty Catholic schools. According to Brother Bri- an Walsh, superintendent of diocesan schools, these changes also have been made in light of the work being done by the Implementation Committee for Catholic School Planning for the City of Rochester and Monroe County, and the Leahy Committee, a sub-committee of the Five-Year Financial Planning Process Task Force. The changes were based on recommenda- tions made by the parishes and the parish school boai^i^ sup^rmtendent noted. These recommendations were submitted to the dio- cese by>€>ecember 1, 1987, and the changes were approved after dialogue and consultation among c«oc«?s^i officials and the parishes. Brother Wa^ri acknowledged that changes involving[schoolsoutside Monroe County — along with further changes that may be made for Monroe County schools—are being con- sidered at tlu^ time, but that the final decisions have not yet been made. Additional changes. — if any —will be announced by March 1. The most radical of the announced changes was the realignment of the three Brighton schools, Brother Walsh remarked. The plan chosen by Bishop Clark was one of two sub- mitted by a long-range planning committee consisting of representatives of the three par- ishes. This committee studied such factors as facilities, enrollment projections and finances in making its recommendations. While de- veloping these recommendations, the commit- tee regularly sought input from parishioners, the parish councils and the schools, noted Fa- ther Anthony Valente, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish. \The planning committee put in a lot of work over the last year and did a good job|' Father Valente said. \They developed models which would build in good, .quality education in our schools!' Although the Queen of Peace pastor ac- knowledged that- some form of consolidation of the three schools was necessary, he said he had mixed emotions about the announced realignment. \I'm open to going into this con- solidation, but I also realize we're losing some of the presence the school provided in the par- ish!' he said. On the other hand, he said he was pleased the preschool program will remain in the school. \One of the priorities of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish has been school ministry!' the pastor explained. \Even a lot of the physical plant was designed around -having a school!' The school ministry has been the parish's most visible ministry, he noted, adding, \If we didn't have any school presence, it would almost seem like we had no ministry going on at all!' Parishioners at St. Jamds Parish also had a Continued on Page 11 Around the Diocese Page 2 Calendar Page 5 Classifieds Page 11 Columnists Pages 12-13 Echo Page 10 Features Page 16 . Obituaries Page 14 Editorial & Opinion- PageJ4 Sports : Pages 6-7 World & Nation Pages 3-4 m -r-
