m '■■S&'l imiL.n .'-if. r m . The Denver Catholic Register APRIL 29, 1987 VOL. LXIII NO. 17 Colorado’s Largest Weekly CIRCULATION 80,696 32 PAGES 25 C E N T S ‘Without God ^ 8 I don’t think 1 'A • T I would have r ’y, J, ^ made it’ New York policeman shot and paralyzed W'’ seeks rehabilitation ■ jft- i. By Christine Capra Register Staff April 21 was a typical Colorado spring day. A cool breeze and blue sky prevailed. But it wasn’t a typical day for Steven McDonald. It was the first time he had been outdoors since July 12, the day Shavod Jones, 15, shot the 30-year-cld police officer in Central Park in New York, paralyzing him from the neck down. McDonald, with his wife, Patti Ann, arrived at Stapleton Air Field April 26 and went directly to Den­ ver’s Craig Hospital for rehabilitation. “ We heard positive things about Craig and what k ' they’ve done with patients,” said Patti. “ Our main goal is to have Steven home with our son.” Their son, Conor Patrick, was born Jan. 29, only V. hours after Shavod Jones received the maximum sentence of from 3 1/2 to 10 years in prison for the shooting. Cardinal O’Connor Conor Patrick was named for Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York, who baptized the baby on Steven’s 30th birthday, March 1. ’The cardinal often celebrated Mass in Steven’s hospital room at Bellview Hospital after the shooting and payed frequent visits to the couple. Since that day in July, which left Steven paralyzed James Baca/DCR Photos from the neck down, an outpouring of love by the Steven McDonald with his wife Patti Ann at a press conference at Craig Hospital. The New York police officer was Continued on page 3 shot in Central Park last July and is paralyzed from the neck down. He has come to Craig for rehabilitation. Catholic students do better, study finds By Stephenie Overman cent less likely to drop out than public school students said. “ This is where functional community comes in.” NEW ORLEANS (NC) - Catholic high school stu­ and about eight percent less likely than other private Five ye a rs ago Hoffer, Coleman and Sally Kilgore dents do better and are less likely to drop out than their school students,” Hoffer said. public and private school counterparts, largely because published “ H igh School Achievement,” which also said of the community climate enveloping the schools, a new He added, however, that the sample of non-Catholic Catholic and private school students outperformed pub­ lic school students. study said. private school students studied was small. The study, “ Public and Private High Schools: The The new study also looked at seniors making the Critics o f that book said that parents who chose to Impact of Communities,” by James S. Coleman and transition to college and work. Hoffer said Catholic send their children to parochial and private schools Thomas Hoffer, was publish^ in a book in April. Col­ school students are “ about 10 percent more likely to go were more likely to be involved in their children’s edu­ eman and Hoffer have written a number of books on on to college and are more likely to stay in college.” cation, a fa cto r the critics said skewed the findings. According to the study, students from disadvan­ education, particularly private education. Related story on Page 3. At a press conference April 22 at the National taged backgrounds — those with less educated parents, Educational Association convention in New Orleans, blacks and Hispanics — receive the greatest benefits The new study reported that public schools see the Hoffer said that the latest study of students from from Catholic schools. school “ as an instrument of society to free the child so]Aomore to senior years found Catholic school stu­ Supportive families from constraints imposed by accident o f birth” while dents are “ about an additional year ahead in math, private schools see the school “ as an agent not of the reading comprehension and writing.” Hoffer acknowledged that some difference, overall, society but o f the family ... an extension o f the parent’s There is no significant Catholic school effect on is due to the fact that Catholic school students come will, but with greater resources.” science and math, he said. from families supportive enough to make the extra Furthermore, within the Catholic schools, the effort to send them to the Catholic schools. school is seen “ not directly as an agent of the family Drop-oute But "there is still a substantial unexplained part but rather a s an agent o f the religious community of Also. Catholic school students are "about 10 per­ that cannot be attributed to family background,” he which the fam ily is a part." Page 2 — The Denver Catholic Register, Wed., April 29, 1987 T h e Archbishop’s Column ‘We are born of God’ than “ a naked ape” (the title of a recent book on The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science hover around the heads of the audience and meteors evolution and its implications for human behavior), Center in San Diego, California, was a beehive of roar toward frightening collisions.” the expectations which direct our everyday behavior Although I was unable to view the film, its title activity and motion. Hundreds of people were going in would amount to something slightly above the in­ was intriguing and vaguely unsettling. “ We Are Born and coming out. Flags and banners swayed with the stinctive world of animals. breeze in the courtyard and on the Center’s facade. of Stars” says that out of the depths of an empty But two thousand years ago in the Arabic and universe and collisions of stars there eventually Judean deserts wise people recognized that such a Balboa Park was emerged a planet earth with its eternal struggles of world had been lost to us. And a new and remarkable species against their own dissolution into something aglow with spring flowers world emerged from the rarified desert air — never other; in evolutionary term, fish into reptile, ape into and trees. The title and to be forgotten — always haunting us, when Jesus of man. The film ’s title asks the question; What does it artwork on one banner Nazareth said; “ The foxes have their holes, the wild mean to be human? Origins spell out our nature and was particularly eye­ birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has no­ catching; “We Are Bom destiny. The reductionist response implied in “ We Are where to lay his head” (Matthew 8;20). of Stars.” It was etched Bom of Stars” is this; we are solely the products of ’The first chapters of the Book of Genesis teach a against a background of the creative dust of the universe. similar wisdom. In distinction from the world of streaking meteors and ex­ animals with which he shares a body, Adam finds that ploding nebulae. Inside, Somehow, the title sounded familiar. In searching in his body he is a unique subject of experience the Center was alive with my memory, I found that it consciously or un­ Among all creatures he is called to “ till the earth hundreds of school chil­ consciously parodied a verse of the New Testament; Consequently, he is not on the same footing with any dren with their teachers “ But to all who received (Christ), who believed in his of the animals he has named. This self-knowledge waiting to view the many name, he gave power to become children of God; who helps him to realize an incredible mystery about his _________ exciting scientific exhibits were bom, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor identity; he is “ in the image of God.” Such is the and films. of the will of man, but of God” (John 1;12-13). And wisdom of the Judeo-Christian revelation. “ We Are Bom of Stars” was the title of a new immediately, there came to mind a concise frame to So modernity, with its variety of educational film. Advertised as a “ new OM NIM AX film composed describe the struggle for the heart and mind of mod­ alternatives, presents us and our children with a pro­ entirely of computer-generated graphics, (it) ushers em culture! “ We are born of stars.” — “ We are born found choice based upon our self-understanding we in a new era of cinema technology as the world’s first of God.” are either “ naked apes” or “ made little less than 3-D film created specifically for the domed screen. The issue we face in this is not a facile one. Man God” (Ps. 8;5). ’The remarkable film takes audiences on a five-billion- becomes what he perceives himself to be. If the -h J. Francis Stafford year journey through the evolution of life, as atoms human person understands himself to be nothing more Archbishop of Denver Vatican’s ‘compassion’ for sterile couples Previously, the cardinal had said such TURIN, Italy (NC) — The Vatican feels he said. This includes dialogue aimed at convinc­ ing Catholics who do not accept the docu­ situations should be resolved by dialogue compassion for sterile married couples, but “ I must say right away that artificial ment’s teachings, he said. between the local bishops and institution of­ violating Church moral teachings to have a fecundity is not a technique for curing ster­ child is no answer to their problem, said ility,” he added. ‘ "The structure of the Church does not ficials.