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The D enver Catholic R egister Voi. LXVIl No. 40 October 9,1991 Colorado's largest Weekly 36 Pages 25 Cents Project life; Ekiding fedeial funding o f abortion By David Myers still going through both the Senate and the House which Register Staff need to be addressed by the conununity and brought to One signature can mean the difference between the attention of the Legislature. destroying or saving a life. For example. Title X, a bill which would overturn Thousands of signatures can save a multitude. regulations that keep family planning and counseling Project Life, a letter-writing campaign which began out of clinics that perform abortions, currently is being in the Archdiocese of Denver in Jime, recently cel­ debated. ebrated the defeat of a bill which would have made “If, for instance, a Planned Parenthood clinic is abortions free and legal on military bases overseas. getting federal funds for family planning, then they According to Mimi Eckstein, Director of the Resj>ect cannot use those funds for abortion,” Eckstein ex­ Life Commission for the Archdiocese of Denver, the plained. national campaign was designed “to pressure our legis­ “Planned Parenthood is infuriated because they are lators into voting against any kind of funding of abor­ making $47 billion from abortions yearly,” she added. tions, in the United States or overseas.” Because the organization no longer could advise “Our cards and letters were one of the main reasons about and perform abortions in the same building, they the bill was voted down in committee,” she said. would be forced to build a separate facility. October is Respect Life Month Starting with Light of the World Parish in Littleton, According to Eckstein, Planned Parenthood is spend­ October marks the beginning of the renewed Re­ the project quickly grew to 42 parishes throughout the ing $5 million to pressure the legislature in Washington spect Life campaign. As the Church celebrates 100 archdiocese. Currently, more than 10,000 cards have to overturn those regulations. years of Catholic social teaching, the 1991 Respect been signed and sent to the U.S. Congress. Still, Eckstein remains confident in the campaign. Life Program focuses on the dignity of all human life. Eckstein added, though, that there are numerous bills Continued on page 3 Colorado's needy Archbishop opposes cut in aid Opposed to "balancing the state budget by Passage of this bill into law will signal the intent to depriving the disadvantaged of basic necessities," balance the Colorado state budget even if it means Archbishop J. Francis Stafford appealed to the depriving the neediest of our citizens of basic neces­ Colorado General Assembly and to Gov. Roy sities. Undercurrent legislation, a family composed of Romer to reject House Bill 1039, legislation which two adults (one of whom is disabled) and two children would reduce dual beneflts from Aid to the Needy receives $486 per month under the AND/AFDC pro­ Disabled and Aid to Families with Dependent gram. Children. But according to the provisions of this bill, a family In an open letter to the Governor and the Colo­ applying for assistance will receive only $451 per rado legislature OcL 4, Archbishop Stafford said month, a net reduction of $35 or 7.2 p>ercent of their the legislation would save a "relatively insignifi­ monthly income. cant amount" in state spending, but would deprive Balancing the state budget by depriving the disad­ "the neediest of our citizens" of 7.2 percent of their vantaged of basic necessities violates justice by deny­ monthly income. ing to the most vulnerable the assistance a compas­ The full text of the statement by Archbishop sionate society must provide. The relatively insignifi­ Stafford follows: cant amount saved in the present will inflict substan­ To the Governor and the Colorado Legislature; tial hardship on families denied dual eligibility in the I wish to express my concern about House Bill future. 1039 which has been passed in the special session of I therefore urge the General Assembly and the the Legislature. The proposal would radically reduce Governor to reject this legislation. payments to future needy families by abolishing dual eligibility for benefits from Aid to the Needy Disabled J. Francis Stafford THE PROPOSED cut in aid would affect needy (AND) and Aid to Families with Dependent Children Archbishop of Denver families who have a disabled family member. (AFDC). HIV/AIDS: >Aocations The Italian section The impact on the Awareness Week A special section honoring Hispanic community O ct. 13-19 Italian Americans PAGE 3 PAGES PAGES 13-24 Page 2 — October 9,1991 — Denver Catholic Register The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars inquietum est conec requiescat in te” —”Thou has (Editor's note: The following homily by Arch­ made us for mee, and our hearts are restless until mey bishop J. Francis Stafford was delivered at the ARCHBISHOPS rest in Thee.” On me omer side of me culture-war are Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Sept. 29 at mose who say, wim so much of our intellectual elite, the Eucharist concluding the annual meeting of the COLUMN mat me meaning of me human person is to be under­ Fellowship of Catholic Scholors in Denver.) stood in terms of modernity’s quest for me autonomous My dear brothers and sisters in Christ: with me joys and hopes, me griefs and anxieties of me The Scripture which the Church proposes for our men of this age (as we are bidden to do by “Gaudium et self: me self who has been liberated, on this understand­ ing, from such pre-modem bugaboos as belief in God reflection on this twenty-sixth Sunday in ordinary time Spes”). reminds us that the call to prophetic wimess echoes The Christologically-centered anthropology of John and conviction that mere exits an objective moral order down the centuries from the time of Moses and Joshua Paul II, which me pope expounded so powerfully in his which we can know, and to which we are accountable. to the time of Jesus; and it reminds us that we who have inaugural encyclical, “RedemptorHominis,” and which Put anomer way, mere is me humanism of me been baptized into Christ Jesus, we who have been he has developed in a remarkable fashion in me new radically autonomous self, in which rights are trumps; called by name to a Christian vocation, we, too, have the social encyclical, “Centesimus Annus,” is a truly pro­ and mere is me older and truer humanism, in which responsibility to speak phetic word for Camolics, indeed for all Americans, rights are me instruments by which we fulfill our duties. truth to power in our time thinking about and stmggling wim me question of Put yet anomer way, mere is me false humanism and in our place, as pro­ discipleship and pub he responsibility at this time and in which teaches that freedom is a matter of doing what phetic wimesses to that this place. Tirelessly and eloquently, me Holy Famer one wants, so long as no one else gets hurt; and mere is truth that alone makes us reminds us that Christ is bom me revelation of God to Lord Acton’s concept of freedom, that freedom is not so free. man, and me revelation of me tme meaning of man in much a matter of doing what we like as having me right How shall Catholic himself. The one who is most dependent upon God, me to do what we ought. intellectuals bear wimess one who is most responsive to God’s continuing sum­ That is me “Kulturkampf.” Its resolution will deter­ to that truth in these United mons to communion within me life-giving love of me mine whemer America remains, in me words of me States, in this last decade Trinity — that person is, at one and me same time, me bishops of me Third Plenary Coimcil of Baltimore, of the 20th century, as we man or woman who is most truly human. The answer to “This Home of Freedom,” or whemer America be­ prepare ourselves spiritu­ me false humanisms of this age is me true Christian comes newly enslaved to me tyranny of liberty debased ally to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the Incarna­ humanism of which me Holy Famer is me world’s into license. We should not think that vmning mis tion of Christ? premier exponent. struggle for me soul of America is going to be easily Thanks be to God, we have been given a great It would be difficult to imagine a more powerfully won. It is not. And yet, I think mere is room for pmdent exemplar of Christian wimess at this moment in his­ prophetic message for Camolic intellectuals to bring optimism. tory: “habemus papam,” we have a pope who is an into mis culture and society at this time. As you have Part of mat optimism comes from a confidence in me accomplished intellecmal in his own right and who has explored in your program here in Denver, America is goodness of our people, who want to be called to a demonstrated throughout his scholarly and pastoral now riven by a “Kulturkampf,” a culture-war. The war destiny higher man me mere exploitation of appetites. career that it is entirely possible to be a modem intellec­ is being fought on many fronts. It is most urgently and But me omer source of my cautious optimism de­ mal without becoming a modernist. In this. Pope John publicly evident in me crisis of abortion. It is growing rives from a reading of me signs of me times in Paul II continues to implement the teaching of the increasingly evident, and disturbingly so in me debate American intellectual life.

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