Voting Rights Bill Moves Toward Final Acf/onl
Washington — (NC) —Final
Congressional approval of the ad
ministration’s voting rights bill
seemed assured after it was over
whelmingly passed by the House
of Representatives.
Next step in the measure’s prog
ress is a House-Senate conference
to iron out differences between
the House bill and the version
passed by the Senate May 26.
Major difference is that the
House-passed bill outlaws poll
taxes in state and local elections,
while under the Senate’s version
the government would file suits
challenging the legality of such
taxes.
HOUSE PASSAGE came (July
9) on a 333 to 85 vote. Twenty
three congressmen from the South
voted for the bill, including Rep.
Hale Boggs of Louisiana, who won
a standing ovation with a dramatic
announcement of his support. Al
though he is House Democratic
whip, Boggs voted against the 1964
Civil Rights Act.
The bill suspends literacy tests
in areas where less than 50 per
cent of the adult population regis
tered for or voted in the 1964
elections. This selection would af
fect Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi
ana, Georgia, South Carolina, Vir
ginia and 34 counties in North
Carolina.
FEDERAL REGISTRARS would
be appointed in these areas to reg
ister voters. To end federal inter
vention, the jurisdictions would
have to prove to a three-judge fed
eral court in the District of Co
lumbia that they have ended vot
ing discrimination.
Criminal penalties are provided
for intimidating, threatening or
coercing any person for voting,
trying to vote, or urging or aiding
anyone to vote.
An amendment to the bill
passed by the House provides
criminal penalties for fraudulent
voting practices. Among amend
ments defeated was one to exempt
Puerto Ricans educated in Span
ish from New York State’s E.
lish-language literacy test and!
other to make it easier for J
affected by the bill to avoid h
eral intervention.
A Republican-sponsored sub*
tute bill, which retained lita,
tests for those without a sir
grade education and allowed»
of federal registrars only after!
ing of 25 meritorious comply
of discrimination from local n
dents, was beaten, 215 to 166 1
fore final House passage of’t
administration’s bill.
POPE PAUL VI greets an invalid pilgrim from Fiesole, Italy,
at an audience in St. Peter’s (July 4). (NC Photos)
$5,000,000 Suit
Priests Charge Libel
In Life Abortion Story
Merced, Calif. — (NC) — A
$5,000,000 libel suit has been filed
by five priests against Time, Inc.
over an article which appeared in
the June 4 issue of Life magazine.
The article concerned Mrs. Wil
liam G. Stonebraker, a Catholic
woman who underwent an abor
tion this year after contracting
German measles early in her preg
nancy.
Also named in the suit was Rob
ert Liang, a reporter identified as
the writer of the article.
THE FIVE PRIESTS, each of
whom asks $500,000 in compensa
tory damages and $500,000 in pu
nitive and exemplary damages,
are: Msgr. Francis G. McKenna,
pastor of Our Lady of Mercy par
ish, and his two assistants, Father
Gerald Murphy and Father John
J. O’Friel, and Father John J.
Kennedy, pastor of Sacred Heart
parish, and his assistant, Father
Rudolph Rigo.
Mrs. Stonebraker, wife of a non
Catholic Merced accountant, is a
former parishioner of Our Lady of
Mercy parish. She now lives in
Sacred Heart parish. She contract
ed German measles from her 12
year-old son, Billy, this spring in
the second week of her pregnancy.
ACCORDING TO the Life arti
cle, Mrs. Stonebraker consulted
her “parish priest” about her deci
sion to seek an abortion. The arti
cle identifies the priest as a mem
ber of “a committee opposing leg
islation that would liberalize the
California abortion law.”
It quoted this unnamed priest
as saying: “You should not use
religion as an excuse for not mak
ing a decision.”
In their action, filed in Merced
County Superior Court by attorney
Richard McCormick, the priests
deny what they describe as the
article’s suggestion: that they re
fused to give religious advice to
their parishioner, Mrs. Stonebraker,
when she was considering the
abortion; that they advised her
that “her religion should not af
fect her decision,” and that they
“encouraged, approved and con
doned the practice of abortion
and commission of an abor
tion . . .” which is against the
tenets of the Roman Catholic
Church.
THE ARTICLE, the priests con
tend, was “false in every respect.”
Mrs. Stonebraker, the suit says,
did not consult them about her
plans and the purported incidents
related in the article are “wholly
fictitious.”
They claim the article was “in
tended to expose them to hatred,
contempt and ridicule, and has
caused them to be shunned and
avoided . . . and injured them in
their occupation as priests and in
their position in the Roman Catho
lic Church.”
Secretariat for Non-Believers
Progressing, Cardinal Reveals
Vatican City — (RNS) — The
Vatican Secretariat for Non-Be
lievers created by Pope Paul VI
last April is now well on the way
to formation, moving beyond the
blueprint stage.
This was disclosed by Franz Car
dinal Koenig, Archbishop of Vien
na, who was named to head the
new body. Father Vincenzo Miano,
dean of the faculty of philosophy
at the Pontifical Salesian Univer
sity, Rome, serves as secretary.
CARDINAL KOENIG said the
secretariat will be aided not only
by bishops of various nationalities,
but also by clerical and lay ex
perts — both Catholics and non
Catholics—and by atheists.
He said the secretariat will con
duct “polls and inquiries in depth,
and establish contacts with philos
ophers, political leaders and gov
ernments noted for their atheistic
beliefs.”
THE CARDINAL said the prac
tical activity of the secretariat
will be oriented largely toward a
scientific study of the origins of
atheistic movements and the “re
percussions” of atheism on science
and literature.
“The secretariat.” he explained,
“is not against, but for unbeliev
ers and it is not a matter of or
ganizing a battle against atheism
but to act in favor of peace. It
is not a matter of fighting against
r
Sees Need
For More
Decency Groups
New York — (NC) — An inter
religious decency group here has
called for the organization of simi
lar, permanent organizations else
where in the country to fight ob
scenity.
The board of directors of Opera
tion Yorkville singled out Chica
go and Los Angeles, “two major
pornography centers,” which it
said are in need of such organi
zations.
The boards statement was
signed by its chairman, Rabbi Ju
lius G. Neumann of Congregation
Zichron Moshe, who founded Op
eration Yorkville together with
the Rev. Robert E. Wiltenburg,
pastor of Immanuel Evangelical
Lutheran church, and Father Wil
liam T. Wood, S.J., rector of St.
Ignatius Loyola church.
The statement expressed con
cern that “the traffic in obscene
and atheistic propaganda among
our children has not noticeably
abated but has indeed worsened in
the past two-and-one-half years.
It said Operation Yorkville was
turning its attention “to the for
mation of a permanent organiza
tion, to work under our interfaith
direction, to garner public opinion
and channel it to proper focal
points, and to exert pressure and
lobby for our children.”
UNDERGOES SURGERY
Lisbon — (NC) — Manuel Car
dinal Goncalves Cerejeira, patri
arch of Lisbon, 76, underwent an
eye operation (July 5) in Lisbon.
atheism so much as becoming
aware of all the possibilities of
assuring religion the position it
aspires to hold in society, and of
establishing contacts so that it can
engage in a dialogue of an intel
lectual character which can ani
mate action toward peace. . . .
IN THIS connection, he re
marked that it will be “most diffi
cult for the new secretariat to
learn who among its interlo
is interested in contact and
logue.
He said the secretariat will i
front atheism* in its triple id
practical atheism such as ag
cism and religious indifference n
supported by officialdom; dm
nal atheism organized but still i
officially supported; and ath
as practiced in Communist
tries.
New York Repeals
Birth Control Ban
Albany, N.Y. — (NC) — New
York State’s 84-year-old ban on
sale and distribution of birth con
trol devices and information will
pass into history Sept. 1 under
legislation signed into law by Gov.
Nelson Rockefeller.
The new law specifically allows
“the sale or distribution of any
instrument or article, or any reci
pe, drug or medicine for the pre
vention of conception.
However, the measure author
izes the sale of birth control de
vices in licensed pharmacies only,
forbids their advertising or dis
play, and bans their sale to per
sons under the age of 16.
It also leaves intact an existing
ban on the dissemination of de
vices or information for producing
an illegal abortion.
The measure was approved by
the state assembly by a vote of
85-50 and by the state senate,
41-13.
Under the old law, which had
been widely ignored, distribution
of birth control devices or infor
mation was a misdemeanor pun
Spanish Union
Leader Cites
Progress
Madrid — (NC) —The Minister
of Trade Unions in Spain said the
recent formation of the National
Workers Council was “a positive
step towards perfecting the trade
unions.”
Jose Solis, who presided over
the establishment of the new coun
cil in Valencia, said it was a “pow
erful organization” which would
replace “the diversity of unions
that brought us to disunity,
preached hate to us, and plunged
us into a war between brothers.”
In the new council, he said, “there
is a place for everyone who
preaches understanding between
classes, and tries to solve problems
by responsible negotiations.”
Solis, a Catholic, said that he ex
pects men with a Christian educa
tion to “set an example in the
workers council, but that he does
not want to see the organization
labeled ‘Christian.’”
He said he felt that Catholics
could often do more good by en
tering existing secular organiza
tions than by “baptizing them, or
setting up rival organizations of
their own.”
ishable by up to a year in jail,
a $1,000 fine, or both.
Its only exception was one p*
mitting doctors to prescribe cot
traceptives when judged necessaij
for the “cure or prevention of di»
ease.”
Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher, presi
dent of the Planned Parenthood
Federation of America, hailed the
signing into law of the new me»
ure. He said it “signifies birth con
trol as an essential health service
and gives it the recognition it
needs.
Other groups besides the fed
eration backing the measure in-j
eluded the Citizens Committee for
Children, the New York State Med
ical Society, and the Federation of
Protestant Welfare Agencies.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June
7 struck down a Connecticut low
barring the use of contraceptives.
Massachusetts is currently weigh
ing the repeal of a law forbidding
the dissemination of birth control
information and devices.
Did Liturgy
Changes Come
Too Quickly?
Nelson, B.C—(NC) - Changes,
in the liturgy may have come to*
quickly for people to absorb them,
a specialist in liturgy suggested »
a press conference here. •
“I think we oversold the idea of
the unchanging Church,” said ^
ther Godfrey Diekmann, O.SJt,
professor of theology at St. Johns
University, CoUegeville, Mina,
who was named for the annum
Cardinal Spellman Award as tne
outstanding theologian of ™
The result, he said, was turn
‘people were not prepared ,
iuch changes as the use « ®
vernacular and the celebration
if ass with the priest facing"*
:ongregation. This imprePf1^"
less, he said, caused some of ^
initial objections to the change
In many ways, Father DiekmU*
laid, the new presentation «
Mass is a “disservice, since p®--,,
were too accustomed with me
in Mass to change easily to tne
lacular. ,
“It’s a matter of involvement,
ae said, adding that the c o
were made so the Mass
he a more personal celebrations
worshippers. _____——