South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, September 3, 1993 Page: 2 of 20
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2-September 3,1993
SECOND FRONT PAGE
America
From pigt ]
I am aware that the United States is suffering greatly
from the recent flooding in the Midwest. I have felt close
to the American people in their tragedy and have prayed for
the victims. I invoke almighty God’s strength and comfort
upon all who have been affected by this calamity.
There is a special joy in coming to America for the
celebration of this World Youth Day. A nation which is
itself still young according to historical standards is host-
ing young people gathered from all over the world for a
serious reflection on the theme of life: the human life which
is God’s marvelous gift to each one of us, and the transcen-
dent life which Jesus Christ our savior offers to those who
believe in his name.
I come to Denver to listen to the young people gathered
here, to experience their inexhaustible quest for life. Each
successive World Youth Day has been a confirmation of
young people’s openness to the meaning of life as a gift
received, a gift to which they are eager to respond by
striving for a better world for themselves and their fellow
human beings. I believe that we would correctly interpret
their deepest aspirations by saying that what they ask is that
society — especially the leaders of nations and all who
control the destinies of peoples — accept them as true
partners in the construction of a more humane, more just,
more compassionate world. They ask to be able to contrib-
ute their specific ideas and energies to this task.
The well-being of the world’s children and young people
must be of immense concern to all who have public
responsibilities.
In my pastoral visits to the church in every part of the
world I have been deeply moved by the almost universal
conditions of difficulty in .
which young people grow tip
and live. Too many sufferings
are visited upon them by natu-
ral calamities, famines, epi-
demics, by economic and po-
litical crises, by the atrocities
of wars.
And where material condi-
tions are at least adequate, other
obstacles arise, not the least of
which is the breakdown of fam-
ily values and stability. In de-
veloped countries, a serious
moral crisis is already affect- . . . ---
ing the lives of many young
people, leaving them adrift, often without hope, and con-
ditioned to look only for instant gratification.
Yet everywhere there are young men and women deeply
concerned about the world around them, ready to give the
best of themselves in service to others and particularly
sensitive to life’s transcendent meaning.
But how do we help them? Only by instilling a high
moral vision can a society ensure that its young people are
given the possibility to mature as free and intelligent
human beings, endowed with a robust sense of responsi-
bility to the common good, capable of working wi th others
to create a community and a nation with a strong moral
fiber.
America was built on such a vision, and the American
people possess the intelligence and will to meet the
challenge of rededicating themselves with renewed vigor
to fostering the truths on which this country was founded
and by which it grew.
Those truths are enshrined in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and they
still today receive a broad consensus among Americans.
Those truths sustain values which have led people all over
the world to look to America with hope and respect.
To all Americans, without exception, I present this
invitation: Let us pause and reason together (cf. Is 1:18).
To educate without a value system based on truth is to
abandon young people to moral confusion, personal inse-
curity and easy manipulation.
No country, not even the most powerful, can endure if
it deprives its own children of this essential good. Respect
for the dignity and worth of every person, integrity and
responsibility, as well as understanding, compassion and
solidarity toward others, survive only if they are passed on
in families, in schools and through the communications
media.
America has a strong tradition of resprect for the indi-
vidual, for human dignity and human rights.
“The bounty and providence of God
have laid an enormous responsibility on
the people and government of the United
States. But that burden is also the
opportunity for true greatness. ”
in every immigrant, in every native-bom son and daughter
... The ultimate test of your greatness is the way you trot
every human being, but esprecially the weakest and most
defenseless ones. The best traditions of your land presume
resprect for those who cannot defend themselves. If yew warn
equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace,
then, America, defend life! All the great causes that are
yours today will have meaning only to the extent that you
guarantee the right to life and protect the hitman pierson'
(Departure spieech in Detroit, Sept. 19,1987).
Mr. President, my reference to the moral truths which
sustain the life of the nation is not without relevance to the
privileged pxrsition which the United States holds in the
international community.
In the face of tensions and conflicts that too many peoples
have endured for so long — I am thinking in particular of
the Middle East region and some African countries — and
in the new situation emerging from the events of 1989 -
especially in view of the tragic conflicts now going cm in the
Balkans and in the Caucasus — the international commu-
nity ought to establish more effective structures for main-
taining and promoting justice and peace.
This implies that a concept of strategic interest should
evolve which is based on the full development of peoples -
out of poverty and toward a more dignified existence, out
of injustice and exploitation toward fuller respect for the
human person and the defense of universal human rights. If
the United Nations and other international agencies, through
the wise and honest cooperation of their member nations,
succeed in effectively defending stricken populations, 1
whether victims of underdevelopment or conflicts or the
_________ massive violation of human
rights, then there is indeed hope
for the future. For peace is the
work of justice.
The bounty and providence
of God have laid an enormous
responsibility on the people and
government of the United
States. But that burden is also
the opportunity for true great-,
ness. Together with millions of'
people around the globe 1 share
the profound hope that in the
present international situation
the United States will spare no
effort in advancing authentic
I gladly acknowledged this during my previous visit to
the United States in 1987, and I would like to repeat today
the hope I expressed on that occasion:
“America, you are beautiful and blessed in so many
ways... But your best beauty and your richest blessing is
found in the human person: in each man, woman and child,
freedom and in fostering human rights and solidarity.
May God guide this nation and keep alive in it—for
endless generations to come, the flame of liberty and justice
for all. May God bless you all! God bless America! t
Denver
tizer, “What did you go out to the desert to see?” could just
as well be prnt to all who piarticipiated in any way, to any
degree, in the activities of World Youth Day. What did you
go to Denver to see? What did you tune in Denver to see?
What they saw of course was Popie John Paul II interact-
ing with the youth present to him in the various activities
of the day.
SOUTH T1XAS
t Catholic
(ISSN 0745-9343) -
Publishedbt-vweklyJan 1-Dec 31,ereepttofthemonthotJulybythe
Dloceee of Corpus Chflsfl for $10 00 par year Office address 1200
Untana St. Corpus ChrtaM, TX 78407-1112, (512)289-1752. Second
dass postage paid In Ccrpue Christ), Texas POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to SOUTH TEXAS CATHOLIC, 1200 Lantana.
Corpus Christ!. TX 78407-1112.
Bishop Ren* H. Gradda
Publisher
Father John Michael Vega
Editor
Rev. Deacon Pete Horseman
Executive Editor
Luz Loza
Spanish Editor
Debbie Gluck
Production Manager
This peripatetic Pope who is possessed of boundless
energy came to Denver determined to preach the Gospiel
with great clarity and forcefulness, and he did.
Returning again and again to the same fundamental
theme of all his talks—that Jesus Christ is the Way, the
Truth and the Life-the Pope called on all who were
listening to his words to strive for fullness of life through
Christ and to spiend themselves in defense of all human life,
espiecially the lives of the innocent and the defenseless in
our societies.
Judging from the reactions of those present in the various
assembles, the Popie's words were welcomed and received
with enthusiastic acceptance. There was a marvelous
mystical bonding created between this charismatic Pope
and the young pieople present in Denver. I have no doubt
that, for many of them, their contact with the Pope in
Denver will be a turning point in their lives.
“Blessed are those who do not find in me a stumbling
block,” Jesus had said. The same could justifiably be said
of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who did not
find in the Vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul II, a stumbling
block in Denver.
The sad truth is that some of the media persons did find
a stumbling block in the Pope and the Gospel of Christ
which he preached in Denver. Not all of the television
reporting was hostile, to be sure, on the contrary, much of
what I saw on television during my time in Denver was
very pxasitive and reflected good objective repxrting.
However, it seems almost diabolical to me that televi-
sion producers so frequently recruit dissident and even, at
times, apjostate Catholics to comment on the Popes
message. The track record of the communications media
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From page 1
in Denver all too often shows that they tried to keep their
focus on dissidence in the Church.
There was one priceless moment forme when one of the
television repxrters asked a teenage girl what she had to
say about all of the Catholics who disagree with the Pope
on so many important questions such as abortion, artificial
birth control and clerical celibacy. Without hesitation she
replied: “Well, their disagreement is not really with the
Pope, it is with Jesus Christ!”
The disagreement with the Gospiel of Christ as preached
by Popie John Paul II and his predecessors which is so
characteristic of the producers of network news on ABC,
CBS, CNN and NBC at times manifests itself as open
hostility. The media is new, but the hostility is not.
It has been present continually since the beginning of
the Church. In his welcoming remarks to Pope John Paul
II at the beginning of the closing Mass on Sunday,
Archbishop Francis Stafford, Archbishop of Denver, re-
minded the Popie, and us, that Jesus did not promise St.
Peter, His first Vicar, anything but martyrdom. And so it
has been from the beginning for all of the Popies.
And not just for the Popies. Fidelity to the Gospiel carries
with it exposure to the ridicule, contempt and even
piersecution of those who, for whatever reason, feel that
the Church's proclamation of the Gospiel poses a threat to
the value system which they have constructed and within
which they seek to live out their lives.
It is for this reason that the Pope in Denver called a°
insistently on Catholic young people to be courageous®
their fidelity to the Gospel, to be courageous in giving
witness to the Gospel in their lives, to be courageous ®
See Denver, page 7
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Horseman, Pete & Vega, John Michael. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, September 3, 1993, newspaper, September 3, 1993; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth856060/m1/2/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .