Sept 1, 1995

Page 1

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ATHOLIC

)

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


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