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News & Herald 510 J

Volume

Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Campaign Begins For New

7

Number

5

October

3,

1997

{Hispanic Center By

MIKE KROKOS

Editor tract of land off Tuckasegee Road in northwest Charlotte will serve as the future home of the Diocese of Charlotte's Catholic Hispanic Center. Vincentian Father Vincent Finnerty, diocesan director of Hispanic ministry, said the three-phase project will include a church, community center, day-care facility and health clinic to meet the needs of the diocese's growing Hispanic community. Catholic Social Services' Hispanic Program will also move into the complex. Cost of the project is estimated at $5 million. "We've wanted to do this for a long time," Father Fiimerty said Sept. 26 when announcing the start of a four-month campaign to raise $300,000 for the first phase of the project a $1 million community

CHARLOTTE

— A 16-acre

See New Center, page 3

new Catholic Hispanic Center in Charlotte show a front view of the proposed church (above) and a general view of the complex (at right).

Architectural renderings of the

Photos by Joann Keane

A New Mission

Bishops Urge Parents Of IHomosexuais To Accept Their Children, Themselves In the

new pastoral message released Sept. 30, U.S. bishops stress accephuman dignity and sexuality as a prerequisite

tance of God's revelation about

propriate help" for themselves and for their child, but note that a person's right

choose or refuse therapies must be

to

for understanding homosexuality in a person's

WASHINGTON

— Parents

who

life.

suggestions to priests and pastoral min-

have a homosexual orientation are urged to accept their children, themselves, and Church teaching on human dignity, the

isters

U.S. bishops stress in "Always

Our ChilA Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions

ing of the "Catechism of the Catholic

dren:

Church" that states that homosexual persons "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity." With the document, "the bishops translated that message into a useful form for parents and families," Bishop O'Brien said. "Always Our Children" develops the theme of acceptance in three parts. It notes that parents need to accept themselves and their own struggle; to accept and love their child; and to accept God's revelation about human dignity and sexu-

The message, which is

self-described

was made and approved by the

as an "outstretched hand,"

public Sept. 30, bishops' administrative board nual fall meeting, Sept. 9-11.

at its an-

It was developed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' (NCCB) Committee on Marriage and

Family, which represents the bishops on marriage and family issues. Bishop Tho-

mas

J.

O'Brien of Phoenix chairs the

committee.

The message speaks rectly

to parents di-

and notes that if they learn that may have a homosexual ori-

their child

JIMMY ROSTAR Staff Writer

how

who has an apvalues and who

a year-long sabbatical, During one Catholic priest spent a

understands the complex nature of sexuality," the bishops said. "Such a person should be experienced at helping people discern the meaning of early sexual behaviors, sexual attractions, and sexual

brief time in a town where the faith had been shuimed for two decades by political oppression and environmental obstacles. After six hours and a few

"Look

also addresses specific

learn that their teen-age or adult children

for Pastoral Ministers."

By

re-

spected.

The message about

Former Greensboro Pastor Leads Ethiopian Effort

to assist

and counsel

homosexual persons. The bishops underscored the teach-

families and

for a therapist

preciation of religious

fantasies in

ways

that lead to

more

clar-

and self-identity. In the course of this, however, it is essential for you to remain open to the possibility that your son or daughter is struggling to understand and accept a basic homosexual orientation." The statement did not enter into the debate about the origin of homosexuality

ity

but simply stated that "multiple facseem to account for a homosexual

tors"

orientation.

"Generally, homosexual orientation experienced as a given, not as some-

brief interactions with villagers, he de-

in a mission tercided that this place would be ritory in southwest Ethiopia home for the next several years. Vincentian Father Frank Maguire,

his

who

served at St. Mary Church in Greensboro from 1982-96, spent time on the road this summer telling Americans about a new priestly endeavor in and around the town of Aman, an area like so many others in Ethiopia struggling with issues of culture, survival and self-

understanding homosexuality in a person's life. The bishops urged parents not to break off contact with a child and warned that rejection can lead to substance abuse

thing freely chosen.

sidered sinful, for morality presumes the

His mission: to revive church presence for one generation of Catholics, and to introduce to a younger one a faith that for many of its members is only an ab-

or suicide.

freedom

stract reality.

ality as a prerequisite to

child may need you and the now more than ever," they said.

is

a

itself therefore,

homosexual orientation cannot be con-

"Your

entation, they can face a challenging,

By

to choose," they said.

In a section

summarizing Church

confusing time marked by such emotions

family

as anger, relief, guilt and fear. Because

"He

of that, the bishops said, "Always Our Children" aims "to offer loving support, reliable guidance, and recommendations for ministries suited to your needs and those of your child."

child,

of every person created in God's image and said that the virtue of chas-

you,

tity is

gift:

or she

is still

the

same person. This

who has always been God's gift to may now be the cause of another

your family becoming more honest, and supportive."

teaching, the bishops emphasize the dignity

nity.

a

sufficiency.

way of respecting

personal dig-

The bishops urged heterosexual and

in a Strange Land Father Maguire traveled to Ethiopia August 1 996 after learning of the dire need for pastoral presence in the apostolic prefecture of Jimma-Bonga, a mis-

Stranger in

respectful,

The bishops urge parents to seek "ap-

See Human

Dignity,

page 2

See

IVIissionary,

page 2


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