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ATHOLIC
DNH
Volume 5 Number 27 • March
in the Diocese of Charlotte
29, 1996
Bishops Push Clinton To Sign Ban On U.S.
Partial-Birth —
WASHINGTON (CNS) As the House prepared to vote on a proposed ban on the so-called partial-birth
Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. It
abortion procedure, the U.S. Catholic
that
bishops took out a full-page newspaper
advertisement asking President Clinton to sign the legislation without the
proposed exception he supports. The March 25 ad in The Washington Post said a proposal to add an exception
Photo by
PAUL FREDETTE
the last several years ministering to inmates at Craggy
Correctional Facility
Asheville.
in
using
with career goals"; depression, "feels
By PAUL FREDETTE BEAVER DAM — When he
anticipate. left
Simsbury, Conn., to retire near Asheville
Dan White had no idea he would be spending so much time behind
in
1987,
Not long after his arrival, White's youngest daughter, Meg, suggested he get acquainted with Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM). After meeting then-director Sam Everett, White started bars.
taking library carts to the
Asheville
White has been visiting there at least once a week for the past four years, working mainly with the Catholic inmates. He is a member of St. Eugene parish and, when Father Frank Cancro can accompany him, Mass is celebrated with the six to eight
men whom he
When
other ministers
visits regularly.
brings the Eucharist and holds a ,
brief
i.
(
and
prisoners and providing
discussion.
them
His greatest joy has come from sponsoring several of the
with
reading materials, but most of the inmates at the city jail were
men
for Confirmation and accompanying them as they
only there for a short time.
wanted
came
the
opportunity to develop
more of
a relationship with
these men, so the
Sam
Buncombe
Everett sent
him
to
Correctional Center, a
minimum
security site north of Asheville. For the next four years, White
was engaged there
into full
communion
with the Church. One such inmate, who had already served 27
in Yolkfellows.
The
was overjoyed when his mother came from West Virginia to attend his confirmation. White corresponds years,
regularly with
many
of the
worked with over the
last
men
he has
four years.
basic thrust of this program, in White's
"When
view,
see some of the guys get out, I I have a friend. They write to me as they would a real buddy. It' s very rewarding and I don't think I'll ever stop unless my health fails," he said. Although he has experienced some disappointments with inmates over the past eight years, White says his greatest
is
to use the bible as a guide for
positive thinking and to promote
more
hopeful attitudes
among the men. Since
men were
serving fairly short-
these
term sentences, White eventually started thinking about working at the
neighboring Craggy Correctional Facility where the men served longer sentences and needed more support to sustain them against year-in, year-out without much future to _ m onotony
—
I
get these letters, and
frustrations have
See
Faith,
page
when know
come from 1
I
the
woman
feels certain she cannot
continue her pregnancy because she "hates being pregnant, hates being 'fat,' hates giving birth, or has a boyfriend who doesn't want a baby." Clinton, in a February letter sent to key lawmakers, threatened to veto
The Washington Post ad was sponsored by the Secretariat for Pro-
See Abortion Ban, page
1
Students And Seminarians Benefit From Adoption Program By ELIZABETH
MAYBACH
Staff Writer
ST.
Us, a daily scripture guide for
meditation
sad, feels anxious, feels alone"; or a
any ban on the partial -birth procedure if it does not include an exception to
communion service. He Word Among
prayer,
in
or incest.
also shares The
^
He enjoyed meeting the
White himself
can't be present,
P
jail.
White
it.
other abortionrelated action, the National Right to Life Committee was lobbying members of Congress over amendments to the pending omnibus appropriations bill, and the Supreme Court rejected another state's appeal of rulings requiring them to provide abortions for impoverished women impregnated as a result of rape
Time To Prisoners Doing Time
including: fetal abnormality, doesn't
possible to justify almost any reason for
Meanwhile,
Retiree Dedicates His
more than two dozen reasons might fall under "health-of-themother" exceptions to an abortion ban and might be permitted under broad Supreme Court interpretations. Exceptions, the ad said, "can be defined as just about anything,"
listed
want a Down syndrome baby or baby with a missing limb; social/ psychological crisis, "won't fit into a prom dress," pregnancy "interfering
would allow doctors to use the otherwise-banned procedure for "health" considerations would make it that
Dan White has spent
Abortions
MEINRAD,
Ind.
—
Lamberson was completing semester of study at Seminary in St. Meinrad, first letters came.
St. Ind.,
seminary experience and the
call to
priesthood.
Bryan
his first
Meinrad when the
Suddenly, the 41 -year-old future Diocese of Charlotte had 29 pen pals, all from a seventh grade class at Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School. In the midst of exams and final papers, when he needed support most, Lamberson had been "adopted." Several of the 25 religion classes at Holy Trinity adopted seminarians at the beginning of the school year. They sent letters of introduction and Advent Spiritual Bouquets at Christmas. Right now, many classes are preparing Easter packages that include cards, pictures and prayer intentions. Since his adoption, Lamberson and the students from Carol Bell's religion class have developed a close relationship.
priest for the
In his letter, call to the
Lamberson
said his
priesthood happened while
he was working
in
the field of
laboratory medicine. "About two years ago, I began to feel that perhaps
God wanted me
to do something for something that I couldn't accomplish working at the hospital,"
him
—
Lamberson class.
said in his letter to the
"I started to
meet with the
hospital chaplain and talk to him about
my thoughts and feelings. This priest suggested that maybe God wanted me to consider the possibility of serving
His people as a priest. I have to admit that at first I thought it was kind of a silly idea because I figured a priest had to be really smart and really 'holy' and I don't think of myself in those
—
terms."
few Weeks after his adoption, Lamberson wrote the class, addressing
Lamberson also discussed the requirements for entering the seminary and answered questions about his vocation. "Lest you think that I'm somehow unique and special
each of the students and answering their questions about his background, the
See Students,
A
next page