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Catholic
News & Herald Volume 5 Number
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
1 •
September
15,
1995
Works To Get
Vatican
Motherhood, Religion, Parents Into Document —
BEIJING (CNS) The first week women' s conference ended
of the U.N.
religion
cluding sexual and reproductive health,
final
and parental rights out of the Beijing document.
free of coercion, discrimination
as attempts to
"A minority coalition is vigorously blocking efforts" to include five important principles from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican spokesman, said Sept 9.
In addition to religious
Reasons For Celebration
,200
By ELIZABETH
MAYBACH
Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE
—
Many have
dubbed Charlotte Catholic High School' new facility, 'The Miricle on Highway 51.'
It's
true.
time
in
amount of money raised, the which the move was accom-
plished and the outpouring of support at the facility dedication and blessing.
At 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the dedication and blessing of CCHS was held at the school's new location on Pineville-Matthews Road. Nearly 1 ,200 parents, students, alumni and friends attended the ceremony. Basketball goals were rolled up to the ceiling and out of sight, the floor
lined with
structed adjacent to the building.
Funds
Certain aspects of the
project have been miraculous: the in-
credible
modate up to 1.200 students. Not only was the main building completely renovated, but also a gymnasium/fine arts complex and football stadium were con-
rows of chairs and there
was were
large plants in front of the stage. Every-
one was dressed up and waiting expectantly, talking quietly until the student
choir began.
"This school
is built
on Jesus Christ,"
Bishop William G. Curlin said homily. "This
in his
a place of Christian
for the
the
$3 million capital campaign, chaired by Charlotte businessmen Dick Keffer and Chuck Grace. The campaign, working with the theme of "Building Faith Through Education," the largest capital
campaign
in the
rights, the
form a family, the right to special protection for motherhood and the "equal dignity" of women and men. While the heads of the more than 180 delegations participating in the right to
Sept. 4-15 conference
speeches in the plenary
made formal hall, their
team
members were negotiating the language of the final conference document in closed meetings. The committees met throughout the Sept. 9-10 weekend and by Sept. Navarro-Valls was in the conference press room proclaiming victory. 1
,
"My statement cleared the air" and
result of a
was
freedom
Vatican wanted the final document to recognize the
and parental
1
new CCHS were
matters related to their sexuality, in-
In the contested draft document, the paragraph had begun: "Sexual rights
include
Navarro-Valls said the Vatican's pledge to stick with Cairo conference language must be understood as including its reservations on the 1994
document's treatment of artificial contraception and abortion, which violate church teaching. The Vatican, he said, pledged not to re-open the debate on those issues "so as to not block the process" of adopting
document in Beijing. "The question of the relationship of Beijing to Cairo is trivial in comparison a final
to the relationship of Beijing to the
Universal Declaration of Rights,"
the Vatican delegation, told a Sept. 8
meeting of Catholic organizations observing the conference.
As one example, she
said, the
the European Union, to re-evaluate their
fundamental importance of the family and the importance of efforts to keep
positions on the five points, he said.
While many observers expected main conference struggles to be over issues related to sexuality and the
families strong.
Diocese Director of Development Jim
reproduction, there appeared to be a
But in the Beijing draft, "marriage, motherhood and family tend to be presented as an impediment to women's
Kelley.
general consensus that the Beijing
self-fulfillment," she said.
document would simply repeat agreements on those areas reached at last year's U.N. conference on population
to the family as a theater of violence,
history of the diocese, according to
Kelley said that the diocese has
done about 53 fund-raising campaigns since 1987, but the CCHS capital campaign was unique in a number of ways. "Most of our campaigns are parishspecific, just intended for one church or parish, but this was a regional campaign covering all of Mecklenburg county." Kelley also said that the campaign had a larger number of donors and volunteers than any other cam-
in Cairo.
The only exception was
a hotly
contested reference in the Beijing draft to recognizing "sexual rights." The term
was not defined, but groups lobbying end
for an
to discrimination against
lesbians felt
its
inclusion
was impor-
The document includes
a reference
which it unfortunately can be, Ms. Glendon said, adding the Vatican is "not romanticizing the family."
"But the family is also a theater in which we realize our potential to be brothers and sisters to each other, to give and receive love, to be good citizens," she said.
Navarro-Valls also said some del-
tant.
While not opposing a recognition cluding homosexuals, the Vatican did
our young people. With Jesus in their lives, our young people will graduate,
already paying for capital campaign
not want homosexuality defined as a
itself to the interpretation that
new human
of unrelated people
taking that
we
teach here, the faith
and grows here
same spirit of love with them
948
international declaration recognizes the
of the
faith
1
forced several delegations, especially
here because a lot of these people are
The
Human
Mary Ann Glendon, head of
will nurture
value.
that's lived
and vio-
lence."
paign in the history of the diocese. "I think the sacrifice was very significant
is
women
rights of
and decide freely and responsibly on
saw
1
'The human
at what it keep motherhood,
with the Vatican outraged
Building Faith Through Education. Months of f undraising and construction were celebrated during the dedication of the new CCHS. From left: Retired Bishop Michael J. Begley, Father Anthony Marcaccio, priest secretary to Bishop Curlin, Father Mauricio West, chancellor and vicar general, Bishop William G. Curlin and Photo by JOANN KEANE Mercy Sister Paulette Williams, CCHS principal.
saying:
include their right to have control over
pledges to their parish. People this
made
kind of commitment above and their giving to their parish. I
human
"This
is
rights of all people, in-
right.
not a conference that has
human
egations were "pressing to change 'family' to
the politically correct
biguous word 'families'
and am-
— which lends
may
any group
call itself a
family."
into the world."
beyond
the ability to redefine universal
Sunday's ceremony marked the end of a 12 month, $10 million project to move the high school from its former Park Road address. The new school has almost 100,000 more square feet than the Park Road location and can accom-
think this says very clearly that people
rights,"
pur-
nize as families households headed by
want good Catholic education
pose is "to reaffirm universal rights" as they apply to women.
gay couples, unmarried couples or any other grouping of two or more people.
area."
in the
Navarro-Valls said.
U.N.
See Dedication, page 8
Its
said,
could recog-
spokeswoman Therese
Gastaut said Sept. 1 1 that a consensus iieen reached to accept a sentence I
The change, he
See Motherhood, page
1