South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, January 23, 1981 Page: 3 of 16
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,friday, January 23,1981
South.Texas Catholic # v
Pope shows solidarity with Solidarity
By Jerry Filteau
VATICAN CITY (NCj - Two
contemporary Polish newsmakers —
Pope John Paul II and Lech Walesa,
head of the Polish independent union
Solidarity — met for the first time Jan.
15 in the Vatican.
At the gathering the pope showed
solidarity with Solidarity by lending his
prestige to the philosophy and aims of
the autonomous union movement that
has shaken Poland and the communist
bloc in the past six months.
The pontiff also asked Solidarity to
act with courage, prudence, and
moderation and praised the Polish
government for using non-violent means
in dealing with the labor crisis.
“The creation of the free union is an
event of great importance,” said the
pope in a meeting with Walesa and his
delegation. The meeting was open to
the press.
“It shows that there does not exist —
because there should not exist — a
contradiction between such an
autonomous social initiative of working
men and the structure of the system that
hails human labor as the fundamental
value of social and state life,” he said.
The comment was a response to
frequent warnings in the official media
of the Soviet Union and other Eastern
Bloc countries that the Solidarity
movement is revisionist and has
dangerous anti -communist elements.
“It is evident that men who carry out
a determinate work have the right to
associate freely precisely by reason of
that work, for the goal of assuring all!
the goods for which that work is
appropriate,” he said, contradicting a3
basic Soviet , doctrine of direct party
control over the unions.
“This is truly, and will continue to be,
a strictly internal issue for all Poles,” he
said, echoing Polish church, govern-
ment and Solidarity declarations aimed
at fending off Soviet intervention,
“The effort of those autumn weeks
was not turned against anyone,” the
(See POPE, pg. 16}
K of C leaders meet
Austin. Texas, (Special)
Approximately 80 Texas Knights of
Columbus leaders recently concluded a
two-day meeting here by re-empha-
sizing the encouragement of vocations
to the religious life,
Emil E. Ogden of College Station,
head of the 45,000-member organiza-
tion of Catholic men, pointed out that
many seminaries and convents
throughout the state had dormitory
vacancies which should be occupied,
"We all know that priests, brothers
and nuns come from dedicated Catholic
families and we must encourage our
children to answer the call, should they
receive it,” Ogden and other officers
st ressed.
The conclave of state and regional
officers was welcomed to the capital city
fay Bishop Vincent M. Harris, a former
state K. C. chaplain, who concelebrated
a mass wkh Father Fred Bomar at St.
Peter, the Apostle, church, for the
visitors.
Other points stressed at the meeting
were the necessity for including entire
families in K.C. observances, daily
family recitation of the Rosary, fighting
abortion and pornography through
urging corrective legislation, building
youth activities and assisting the widows
of deceased Knights.
Ogden informed the K.C. district
deputies that, with the approval of the
state officers, he had informed Red
Cross authorities across the state that all
K.C. council hails were available as
disaster shelters and that all 276 local
councils were to appoint chairmen to
confer with local Red Cross officials and
enroll in disaster training courses.
Increased efforts to initiate Catnolic
men into the order and creation of
additional local councils were urged by
State Membership Director Dee Simon
of Groves, while State Program Director
Ray Neumann of San Antonio stressed
building Church, Community and
Sanctity for life programs, and
assisting federal, state and local prison
chaplains.
Relatives of local priests die
Pablo G. Gutierrez, 41, died Jan. 10
after a long illness. He was born m
Goliad and lived most of his life in
Mathis. He had been retired the last
eleven years due to illness. A Funeral
Mass and burial took place in Mathis.
Survivors include Father Jose
Gutierrez, pastor of Our Lady of the
Holy Rosary hi Corpus Christi.
Mrs. Frances Buergler, 84, died Jan.
10 in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. She was a
member of St. Boniface Catholic
Military...
a duty, neither, or both?”
According to Bishop O’Connor,
much of the belief that the church’s
teaching on the "just war” has changed
is basv.d on Pope John XXiII’s
encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” on an
assertion in the Vatican 11 document
“Gaudium et Spes” ("The Church in the
Modern World”), and on Pope Paul
Vi’s speech to the United Nations in
1965, The “just war” theory is a
centuries-old philosophy which holds
that to be morally justified a war can he
fought only for defensive purposes, as a
last resort and with a reasonable chance
for victory.
But for several reasons, the book
states, one cannot conclude that the
“just war” theory has been rejected
officially by the church. For one, Pope
John never explicitly said that no war
can ever be justified, according to
Bishop O’Connor.
Also, the bishop adds, the document
from Vatican II and Pope Paul’s U.N.
speech, while reflecting on the horror of
war in the atomic age, both continued
to support the right of nations to
Church, the Christian Mothers Society,
and the Catholic Daughters of America.
A Funeral Mass was concelebrated on
Jan.13.
Survivors include her husband,
Martin, and Fathers Boniface Buergler,
O.S.R. and Father Luke Buergler,
O.S.B.
A Memorial Mass for the repose of
the soul of Mrs. Buergler will be
celebrated in the Spohn Hospital
Chapel at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan, 23.
participate in defensive wars.
The book’s section on justification for
nuclear weapons makes similar points,
noting that the popes have not issued
outright condemnations of the building,
possession or strategic positioning of
nuclear weapons for purposes of
deterrence.
"John XXIII and his successors, the
(Second Vatican) Council and the
(U.S.) bishops, worry a great deal ~
and justifiably - about the cost of such
weapons systems at the expense of
feeding the poor and advancing
civilization, and arc anxious about
various other aspects of nuclear
weapons,” says Bishop O’Connor.
"But the expressions of horror and
revulsion found in the judgments passed
by these churchmen, relating to
developing, stockpiling, deployment as
deterrents, or use of nuclear weapons
always relate to the awesome fears
generated by the unpredictability of
such weapons,” he adds, underlining
“unpredictability.”
(From page 2)
CATECHISTS WORKSHOP Nancy Schaefer, directress of religious
education at Si* Helena *s parish, San Antonio and Father Alex Nagy, OMI,
theology professor at Oblate College, San Antonio, conducted a seminar for
CCD teachers at St, Patrick parish hall in Laredo. The seminar was sponsored
by the diocesan CCD office and coordinated by Estella Garcia, Laredo deanery
CCD coordinator. [Staff photo]
YOUTH GATHERING — Over 75 students from different parishes in
Laredo participated in a Coffeehouse sponsored by the diocesan CCD office.
The Coffeehouse format wets introduced to the youth so that they in turn could
have a parish Coffeehouse, Father Hector Vega was the spiritual director,
[Staff photo]
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 34, Ed. 1 Friday, January 23, 1981, newspaper, January 23, 1981; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840852/m1/3/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .