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News & Herald Volume 4 Number 44 • September
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
The
1,
1995
U.S. Catholic
Conference Issues Labor Day Statement Labor Day finds the American economy shifting, churning, and adapting to new realities. Even as our economy continues to expand from the
This
last recession creating millions
jobs,
it is
of
new
reported that most Americans
have seen
income decline or just
their
hold even.
Young people with only
a
marked disadvantage. As they enter the work force, they start jobs paying some 30 percent below similar jobs of the late 1970s. Indeed, wages for most Amerihigh school education are
cans First day fun. Father Jim Byer, pastor of St.
some
time with St. Leo kindergarten students. Photo by full back-to-school coverage.
only a high school edu-
cation have deteriorated. Families must
Leo in Winston-Salem spends
edition
who have
at a
the Sept. 15
work longer hours with more members
ELIZABETH MAYBACH
of the family in the workforce just to
Coming
in
keep pace. Income for middle-class families stagnates.
Bishop Curlin Announces
— Bishop William
G. Curlin has announced changes to the diaconate program that include the appointment of four regional diaconal diIn the Asheville region, Rev. Mr.
ment
of the
— and strengthen community — It
will
also allow the regional directors to of-
more manageable geographical
The
Sept. 15 edition
of Charlotte.
the regional directors in supervising
of The
Catholic High School.
A ceremony to bless and dedinew CCHS
takes place
Sept. 10, at 3 p.m., at the location,
new school
7702 Pineville-Matthews
Rd. The public
is
all
diaconal ministry in the diocese. "In addition," explained Bishop
cordially invited.
fittest."
Once our economy depended almost totally on the land. Each farmer, or more likely a family, could live fully off the land. Now agriculture employs just 1 .6 percent of the American workforce. Then
the industrial revolution devel-
oped the factory where many people prospered within the structure of manufacturing. In the last 25 years, the manufacturing sector, which helped many workers join the middle-class, has lost millions
of jobs and
now
appears on the decline.
Change has brought us from
the
always places
it
at the service
of the person. "The modern business
economy has positive aspects. Its basis is human freedom exercised in the economic
field, just as
it is
exercised in
many other fields. Economic activity is indeed but one sector in a great variety of human activities, and like every other sector, it includes the right to freedom,
making responThe economy is human experience,
as well as the duty of sible use of freedom."
only one part of the not its sole determinant.
It,
like other
work to build the common good. As Pope John Paul II aspects of society, must
notes, Catholic teaching envisions a
society of work freely chosen, of enterprise,
and of participation.
He
envi-
sions a society not directed by, or di-
rected against, the market, but where society and the
government appropri-
West has the important
agricultural age, to the manufacturing
ately regulate the economy to guarantee
tasks of evaluating our current diaconal
age, to the still evolving service/information age. This emerging sector beginning to dominate the American economy brings challenges both to the workplace and to workers. Today, the economy relies increasingly on our
that the basic
knowledge knowledge
sponsibilities,
its
service throughout the
new applicants for future diaconal min-
News & Herald will feature the dedication of the new Char-
cate the
He will work closely with
diocese; meeting with and assessing
Catholic lotte
area.
Bishop Curlin has also appointed Father Mauricio West, chancellor and vicar general, as Director of the Permanent Diaconate ministry in the Diocese
ministry and
Coming Soon
new
economy. They do not have the sophistication or basic knowledge which would enable them to express their creativity and develop their full potential in this new environment. Without additional training and education there is no way for them to enter this network of knowledge and intercommunication.
eastward to Hamlet. These appointments are intended to encourage and foster the develop-
KEANE
Curlin, "Father
defined as Charlotte and
effective and
ciety, but
regional diaconal director for the Charlotte region;
make an
dignified contribution in this
the market and of enterprise within so-
the deacons and their pastors, within a
—
the ability to
American companies, American people and American workers find that the "old ways" of working or doing business no longer exist. For too many, the assumed social contract between employer and employee has been replaced by "survival
fer increased individual assistance to
—
freeing for
South, to the high tech, aerospace industries of the West,
Western Counties of the diocese, including parishes from Burnsville to Murphy. Rev. Mr. Andy Cilone heads up the Hickory region encompassing an area roughly defined from Jefferson to Gastonia. The triad area from eastern point of Reidsville west to Mount Airy, south to Ashboro will be coordinated by Rev. Mr. Gerard Schumacher. Rev. Mr. Ben Wenning is
Vandermeer
director for the far
is
Catholic social teaching increas-
will serve as regional
Jos
new technology
ingly recognizes the positive value of
within the Order of Deacons.
rectors.
This
many; but others face serious problems, all associated with economic change. The fact is that many people do not have
and auto plants of
Associate Editor
CHARLOTTE
While our nation still grows huge amounts of food and still manufactures a vast number of goods, it relies more and more on "high technology" rather than human brawn to provide our daily bread.
the Midwest, the textile mills of the
East, the steel mills
Plans For Diaconate By JO ANN
From the shipyards of the
of doing something for someone else.
istry ;
and evaluating our diocesan train-
ing program for candidates."
The Diaconal Ministry in the
is
thriving
Diocese of Charlotte. The recent 1 1 new permanent dea-
ordination of
cons has raised the total number of permanent deacons to sixty. See related story, Vatican To Ex-
amine World's Expanding Permanent Diaconate, page 2.
— especially — our capacity
scientific
for interre-
and compact organization, as well as our ability to perceive the needs of others and to satisfy them. More than ever, our work is work with others and our work is work for others: It is a matter
lated
needs of the whole society
pope
re-
us, is not just '"a society
of
are satisfied. Business, as the
minds
capital goods';
it is
also a 'society of
persons' in which people participate in different
ways and with
specific re-
whether they supply the
necessary capital for the company's activities or take part in such activities
through their labor."
See Labor, page 6