MADE IN DETROIT
Fox, Thomas C.
MADE IN DETROIT THOMAS C. FOX An unprecedented assembly of American Catholics, meeting in Detroit, has asked the American bishops to resist U.S. arms policies, support the ordination of women and...
...This is not a legislative body...
...One delegate referred to the assembly as a gathering of "middle management...
...Signs directing delegates to caucuses were set up in hotel lobbies and at conference headquarters at Cobo Hall...
...This upset many of the more conservative Catholics, especially on issues involving theology...
...But, added the cardinal, "They won't make it...
...In keeping with such a spirit, delegates listened attentively to minority spokespersons such as Brian Mc-Naught, of Dignity, when he .told delegates the word "gay" did not offend homosexuals...
...15, six days before the conference opened, when he said the 1,340 delegates had emerged from a broad consultative process...
...It's always been part of the fine print that the conference would only be making recommendations...
...The document also asks the bishops to "serve the pastoral needs of those persons with a homosexual orientation" and "to root out those structures and attitudes which discriminate against homosexuals...
...The Oct...
...A Latin-speaking American talked of immigration problems faced by Mexican-Americans...
...Included in the delegations were 110 of the nation's 300 bishops, they participated in section discussions, but many refused to vote, saying they would later have to act on the recommendations as bishops...
...It further calls upon the bishops to petition the Pope to allow married men to be ordained...
...The document further calls for a "Catholic Bill of Rights" affirming human rights, including the right to freedom of conscience, speech and assembly...
...It addressed injustices within,the church, specifically the denial of women to priestly ministries, the lack of financial accountability of church leaders, and discrimination in church leadership representation, for example of Hispanic Americans...
...Ten had earlier been rejected, allegedly due to lack of proper credentials...
...Victims of injustice raised their voices...
...The complete texts of the documents will be in the bishops' hands by December, for study before the bishops go to Chicago in May...
...Reservations among many bishops, which grew as the conference progressed, solidified three days after the conference's completion when Archbishop Joseph Bernardin, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, "too much was attempted" and that "special interest groups advocating particular causes seemed to play a disproportionate role" and "dominated the conference...
...The document also asks that there be more black and Hispanic bishops and that an Indian be appointed...
...Catholic community condemn, and be among those who lead in resisting the production, possession and proliferation and threatened use of nuclear weapons...
...We said we were going to set an agenda for the next five years," Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit declared...
...Wending, while polite, was not compromised...
...Parishes were asked to discuss justice-or the lack of it-and report topics and actions they wished to have presented at the conference...
...I for one have very definite theological doubts about the possibility," he said...
...A document entitled Work pledges the church to support of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S...
...Before leaving Detroit, one delegate said that if the bishops ignore the conference's most critical recommendations, the result will be "catastrophic...
...Speaking at a press conference, Cardinal Dearden expressed doubts about the feasibility of the womens' ordination recommendation...
...Just how representative tie conference was became one of the most talked about questions during the gathering...
...Conservatives further argued that the delegates did not adequately represent the views of most American Catholics...
...One delegate, in a working section, argued that "Catholics in the pews back home" will,not understand and will be offended by the conference's recommendations...
...Many recommendations called upon the bishops to form national and diocesan committees or initiate studies...
...to allow women to fie ordained priests and deacons...
...It also highlighted a growing tension among American Catholics who, while' raised to respect the nation's democratic ideals, are within a church which limits decision-making...
...It was more than that, as the presence of blacks, Hispanics and Catholics of Eastern European background clearly indicated...
...Writing committees, chaired by bishops, gathered suggestions, summarized them into eight working papers in which recommendations were included...
...The document further pledges the church "to a serious effort to reconcile separated, divorced and remarried Catholics within our community of faith...
...Roughly half the dioceses in America participated in the preparation...
...Delegates were forced to proceed quickly during deliberations, but there is no evidence that prolonging them would have substantially changed the outcome of the conference...
...Clearly, the three-day gathering picked up a momentum of its own...
...Where opposition was expected, the delegates found a willingness to listen and for the amendments to be received...
...Constitution...
...They can move in the direction of the demands and alienate conservative Catholics or they can disregard them and disillusion those who've put their energies into the assembly...
...Upon arriving and checking into hotels, many delegates joined previously arranged caucuses...
...An American Indian told delegates to speak of faith in a "spiritual!' context and not simply one limited to church dogma when examining the section on native Americans...
...His statement seemed aimed at nipping the expectations of conference participants...
...It also asks that laicized priests be "fully accepted" as lay Catholics within the church...
...His remarks were an about-face from comments he made on Oct...
...The document on church calls upon the bishops "to initiate dialogue with Rome...
...In all, conference delegates-priests, nuns, laypersons, bishops-formally approved 26 recommendations included in eight documents entitled Church, Work, Personhood, Family, Neighborhood, Ethnicity and Race, Nationhood and Humankind...
...The "Church" documents delegates indicated in casual conversations Over coffee, was clearly one of the most essential and controversial of the conference...
...The document entitled Personhood asks that the church in America acknowledge that it is living "in' a state of conflict and anguish arising from tension between the common understanding of church teaching on contraception and the current practice of many Catholics...
...The document on Family requests the bishops to repeal the penalty of automatic excommunication decreed by the Third Council of Baltimore...
...Six regional hearings were held...
...The recommendation asks that "the U.S...
...According to conference organizers, over 800,000 suggestions for discussion topics and actions grew from these meetings...
...The effect of such a move would be to welcome back into the church an estimated four million divorced and remarried Catholics...
...He apparently did not understate his case...
...The greatest number of respondents, according to program research director Sister Alice Gal-lin, suggested that barriers to true community exist within parishes and that to end them, women should be free to do all ministries in the church...
...It also asks that the "sales or transfers of arms overseas be halted...
...Gumbleton said he personally does not think the bishops will approve some of the conference's most important recommendations, but added that the gathering has already been a success...
...However, within the recommendations delegates made suggestions for several hundred specific actions which they want the American bishops to take to work toward ending injustices...
...Much depends on how balanced and thoughtful that study is...
...Their refusals, however, were interpreted by some delegates as an effort to wash their hands of the conference...
...On each day,, and during every level of discussion, the recommendations grew longer and stronger...
...The conference agenda was two-years in preparation, representing, in the words of the bishops' Bicentennial committee, headed by Cardinal John Dearden of Detroit, "the largest program of grass roots participation in the history of the church in this nation...
...A feeling emerged that for the church to address injustices in the world, it must first begin by attending to church matters, by providing proper pastoral care for divorcees, homosexuals, or laicized, priests...
...The agenda was drawn up by Catholics working over the past two years...
...In most instances delegates during the caucuses agreed to write amendments to the working papers in order to strengthen them...
...He said increased "cynicism" would settle among those Catholics who take church participation most seriously...
...Delegates shed initial hesitations, grew in confidence, expressed surprise at learning other delegates from other parts of the nation harbored similar thoughts and feelings-that radical change within the church is required...
...It further calls for amnesty for Vietnam war registers...
...The bishops, conference organizers, and delegates knew in advance what they were to consider and had adequate time prior to the conference to reflect on the agenda...
...It also calls for the arms race "to be universally reversed, paving way for initiatives for disarmament leading to general and complete disarmament...
...In most cases, except for the stronger use of language, the final recommendations were outgrowths of recommendations that delegates had received prior to coming to Detroit...
...Many delegates expected to receive opposition to the amendments...
...His remarks advocating that the recommendations be taken very cautiously failed to note that each recommendation in final voting received the overwhelming support of delegates...
...These papers served as initial discussion papers for the conference...
...The gathering of a broad spectrum of Catholics from across the nation marked a new assertiveness among lay Catholics in attempting to form church policies...
...Perhaps, part of the problem stems from the way the conference was advertised...
...He said that "just gathering 1,300 people together to say 'stop the arms race'" is a major achievement "It [the disarmament statement] is out there in the public domain and whether the bishops endorse it or not may not be as important" as its being there...
...For as the conference developed, it became increasingly clear that recommendations would call for radical change in the church...
...Following a vote in a preliminary section meeting, one favoring the ordination of women, Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia charged that "rebels" had taken over...
...Both the neighborhood and nationhood documents call for further consultation with the bishops and that such consultation "become a regular element in U.S...
...A sense emerged among a clear majority that justice cannot be compromised, cannot be denied any person-if the church is to be faithful to its teachings, if the church is to be credible...
...But when delegates from the caucuses joined section discussions with written alternatives in hand, they found it unnecessary to take a militant posture...
...Demands for action grew in number and strength...
...In every instance, delegates deferred to minority groups when dealing with issues involving them...
...The conference became a national forum for priests, sisters and laypersons to call for radical change, taking the bishops' call and church teachings as the grounds for that change...
...The disarmament statement passed by the assembly is based on Vatican statements, most recently one to the United Nations in April, 1976...
...Specifically, a recommendation including the request for women priests won the support of an estimated 95 percent of the delegates...
...But I think until those doubts are solved, obviously, I could not as a person be a party to any recommendation that would say I feel this should be done...
...Catholic life...
...More than 20 dioceses held their own hearings...
...It asks the bishops to use their pastoral leadership "to affirm more clearly the right and responsibility of married people to form their own consciences" on birth control matters...
...some called for meetings with Pope Paul with the intention of ending certain church traditions...
...The Detroit conference probably did not represent the full specturm of American Catholics...
...But after a fight in the credentials committee the ten disputed representatives were allowed to be seated...
...The "Call to Action" conference was the final stage in a two-year consultation process in which an estimated half-million Catholics participated under the direction of the bishops...
...It calls for the bishops to study changing "the present discipline" to allow priests to marry...
...Recommendations from the conference will be considered by the bishops to be translated into five-year action programs when they meet in Chicago in May, 1977...
...Clearly, the hands of liberal bishops in America, such as Gumbleton, have been strengthened by the conference...
...What began two years ago as an effort to find out what troubled Catholics and what they wanted church leaders to do in areas of social justice had, by the time the conference ended, snowballed...
...They can now speak to the bishops in their meetings, arguing for strong anti-arms, anti-military statements, for example, with the weight of the American Catholic community behind them...
...arms policies, support the ordination of women and married men, allow priests to marry and invite divorced and remarried Catholics back into the church...
...Some 94 national Catholic organizations sent representatives as delegates...
...The bishops," Dulles said, "are faced with a critical dilemma...
...Women's ordination, peace and justice, black and Hispantic caucuses each met late into the night on the eve of the conference to discuss strategies...
...In addition there were 1,000 observers, most of whom participated in discussions, but not in the voting process...
...He said the conference was "being manipulated by a few people" who received the support "of a naive group of little ladies...
...Archbishop Bernardin is correct in suggesting that' too much was attempted during the three-day conference...
...Theologian A very Dulles, while generally praising the conference, said it would result in "more tension" in the American church...
...21-23rd conference, a Bicentennial observation of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose Bicentennial theme is "liberty and justice for all," examined injustices in the church and society and drew up recommendations to right wrongs...
...it did, however, seem to represent those Catholics most active in the church in America, those priests, sisters and laypersons who seriously took the call of the bishops to speak up and address social ills in and outside the church...
...Finally, the documents recommend that delegates from the conference be appointed by the bishops to promote the implementation of the conference recommendations and, within five years, set in motion another conference to evaluate the results of the recommendations...
...o Most conference delegates were chosen by their bishops, often according to guidelines set down by the Bicentennial committee which called for delegations to be a third each of parishioners, diocesan administrators and persons who have suffered the prejudices of American society due to race, ethnic background, or age...
...Finally, it requests church authorities "at all'levels" to hold themselves financially accountable...
...Testimony taken...
...A document on Ethnicity and Race calls upon the church to recognize cultural pluralism in American society and the right of ethnic groups to develop within their traditional cultures...
Vol. 103 • November 1976 • No. 24
