Correspondence
Virginia remembered Evanston, 111. To the Editors: Virginia Volini Marciniak's unutterably moving poem [October 23] prompts me to write. I knew her as a college student, a fellow worker...
...The method requires extensive abstinence (or alternative behavior) during the months of breastfeeding or the years of menopause...
...Through them we can learn more about both Christ and our faith...
...And Saint Paul admonished husbands and wives, "Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control" (1 Cor...
...Assumptions about the meaning of natural law in this regard were formulated at a time when the age of menarche averaged five to ten years older than is the case today, when menopause occurred five to fifteen years earlier, and when most women (and men) died before age fifty...
...or both partners may have to work long hours on differing schedules in order to feed their families...
...That comes about only as a result of being changed ourselves by our involvement in ministry...
...PATRICIA M. McDERMOTT...
...Heroic...
...Without this melding, we face the danger of returning to the mentality that led to the rise of clericalism in the first place...
...Granted that experience may reveal serious defects in the Oregon proposal, the federal government's disapproval of it has interfered with what could be a very instructive state initiative in improving access and controlling costs...
...I am fifty-nine...
...Also overlooked are the expansion and development of ministry that would never happen in our parishes if left to "Father" or "Sister" to do...
...MIKE EVANS Deacon Mike Evans is pastoral associate in Sacred Heart Parish in Anderson...
...11,31, Ray, Rothco...
...This letter, written in the spirit of obedience to Christian discipleship, is my small contribution toward that goal...
...Pregnancy is not necessarily the most virtuous solution to such conditions...
...it reoccurs annually with the raising of a pint of beer on Saint Patrick's day...
...7:5...
...It is based upon a daily sympto-thermic temperature chart requiring morning readings every day before getting out of bed (even if the baby is screaming for attention), personal examination of cervical mucus tests, careful charting of one's illnesses, stresses, moods, unusual events, etc., and a firm awareness that the time of ovulation may well be thrown off schedule not only by illness but by any extended travel, by changing work schedules, by emotional upheavals of any sort...
...NINA POLCYN MOORE Relaunching the YCW Oak Park, 111...
...In recent months we have seen a growing interest in relaunching the Young Christian Workers and Young Christian Students...
...The saints still serve Collingswood, N.J...
...Despite knowing only the Christ-centered church the article describes, I believe that the saints provide a rich resource for all Catholic Christians...
...or one partner may be aged or in some way disabled...
...Special two-year rate: U.S...
...While NFP is, when practicable and under ideal circumstances, probably indeed the best and safest form of contraception from a medical, humane, and spiritual point of view, it is unquestionably contraceptive in actual practice...
...p. 28, Cork...
...Serials Data program No.: ISSN 00103330...
...To the Editors: The supplement on the laity [September 11 ] leads me to remark that the Chicago Declaration of 1977 went astray in its expressions of concern about lay involvement in church-centered ministry...
...Add to this the possibility (or likelihood) that one or both spouses are less than ideally mature...
...my husband and I will soon celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary...
...p. 13, photo by Daniel T. Magidson;' p. 20, Salo, Rothco...
...An understanding of natural law not resting on an accurate understanding of the facts of nature is inherently flawed...
...All Canadian and foreign subscriptions must be paid in U.S...
...foreign, $72...
...p. 22, Valerry...
...Natural family planning requires a diligent focus upon the question of possible fertility...
...I now pray that the pope and all Christians may soon clearly recognize the complicated moral choices involved in a truly loving, responsible, and continually growing marriage, along with the necessity of focusing on medical safety (many contraceptives now in use are condemnable on this score) and on improved contraceptive methods (including NFP...
...The distinction he makes, also made in Humanae vitae, ignores what is actually involved...
...W.P...
...Will wonders never cease...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y...
...MARY IRENE ZOTTI The writer is an editor of Cardijn Newsletter, "For and about Former Young Christian Workers in the U.S.," 210 S. Wesley Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60304...
...As the evidence cited by Philip Murnion indicates, the growth in professional parish staff has increased rather than lessened the level of involvement in every kind of ministry...
...I became a Catholic in 1955, and believed in the church so firmly that thirty years ago I even wrote a letter to Commonweal, rather similar to William Talbot's...
...Under ordinary circumstances, unprotected sexual intercourse must be limited to approximately seven days per month...
...My exposure peaked with choosing a Confirmation name...
...Treating Jesus as the "universal patron saint" in some ways does a disservice to the many who have lived their lives for Christ...
...and at additional offices...
...1,1924, to current issues available through University Microfilm, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 and on Microfiche from Bell & Howell, Wooster, Ohio 44691...
...Those who assist in the distribution of Communion (especially in parishes with an active ministry to the sick and homebound) are similarly affected, and those who engage in the ministries of hospitality become icons of the need for connectedness in an anonymous and uncaring society...
...Lay leadership in catechetics, sacramental preparation, youth ministry, liturgy, social services, parish development, and a host of subministries would never take place if parishes did not encourage the sharing of lay gifts in the church's mission...
...In parishes where there are, say, 100 eucharistic ministers, 60 lectors, 80 altar servers (of both genders), and ministries for youth, families, and seniors, the demarcation between church-centered ministry and secular affairs is blurred, resulting in the incorporation of the secular into the sacred...
...Rational rationing Milford, Del...
...Canada, $66...
...Looking to the saints reminds us of the struggles of many of our predecessors in faith...
...PORTZ NFP: What it takes Storrs, Conn...
...After reading Richard Mazziotta's "When the Saints Commonweal Went Marching Out" [October 231,1 understand better why that might be...
...Canada, $39...
...We have seven wonderful children, ranging in age from thirty-nine to twenty-seven, the youngest an interracial adoptee...
...While we struggle to be like Christ, the saints embody Christ...
...If the church could fully recognize this reality, it might contribute to improvements in the method, and to greater cooperation among all people of good will to help women everywhere understand and establish control over their own sexuality...
...What God has joined together, let no one put asunder" (Matt...
...This is why it has also become a priority method for the successful treatment of infertility...
...When Humanae vitae came out in 1968, I felt guilty that my own words in some small way may have helped mislead church leaders, because I had tried so hard to ignore the evidence of my own experience and the testimony of so many other women and men...
...or other responsibilities (sick children, for example) may require extra attention...
...We also have nine grandchildren, with more on the way...
...Further, the assumptions have to do only with particular acts, considered outside of any context, rather than with the significance of the entire marital vocation...
...19:6...
...But (Continued on page 30) Commonweal is indexed in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Catholic Periodical Index, Index of American Periodical Verse, Book Review Digest and Book Review Index...
...I grieve that the papal decree helped precipitate a sense of excommunication for Catholics everywhere, including those of my own family: a disaster for Christ's mystical body which only time, much prayer, and compassionate clarification will remedy...
...2: 20 November 1992 Commonweal CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 2) Christ said married couples "are no longer two, but one flesh...
...It is true, as Higgins pointed out, that this proposal was limited to Medicaid and AFDC recipients, but looked at in the context of furnishing broader care to a larger number of this group, it seems tendentious to view this decision as merely a political one...
...Thus any couple seeking to obey the papal injunction to responsible parenthood must plan their whole married life around this calendar, rather than around their duty to give each other comfort, communication, and emotional support whenever it is needed...
...NFP also eliminates the substantial expense of other kinds of contraception (to the dismay of their profit-making producers...
...Cardijn Associates, a loosely knit organization of former YCW and YCS members, has received a number of inquiries about how to go about it...
...or that the marriage is suffering severe financial or cultural stress...
...Many of us are torn between wanting to live as Christ calls us to live and wanting to live as our peers, the media, and the advertisers tell us we should live...
...or that one is temporarily disturbed, clinically depressed, abusive, narcissistic, selfish...
...To the Editors: I am saddened that William Talbot [Correspondence, October 9] is still able to persuade himself that natural family planning (NFP) is not a form of contraception...
...It seems to me that Higgins overlooks the larger question that Oregon's proposal was intended to address: Is it better to use a finite amount of money to broaden coverage for prenatal care, pediatric preventive care, and treatment for more acute illnesses which require medications rather than for procedures that generally do not restore individuals to a high quality of life...
...Ask any lector or eucharistic minister to tell you how her or his everyday life has changed...
...We have also learned that a number of groups are actually in existence, one a high school YCS group in a nearby parish in my own suburb...
...Copyright © 1992 Commonweal Foundation...
...If the parish is the domain only of "Father" and "Sister," and the people are to "pray, pay, and obey," there will never be a diffusion of our Catholic values into the world at large...
...RUTH B. MOYNIHAN Ministry & life Anderson, Calif...
...Most couples today have to deal with many occasions of required abstinence...
...Many of my friends who are Commonweal subscribers sent me copies in case I had missed it...
...Illustrations: cover, Emil Antonucci...
...Microfilm from Vol...
...The church maintains that the use of any other form of contraception is wrong under all circumstances—even for those of other faiths or none, or those in polygamous cultures or truly exploitative relationships, thus effectively laying heavy burdens on the shoulders of the very women most in need of help and understanding...
...Not once in all that time did she mention cancer, pain, suffering...
...p. 24, Baloo, Rothco...
...p. 4, Maddox, Rothco...
...While Christ should remain very much the center of our faith, the saints continue to serve on earth by showing us how to lead more impassioned, fuller lives in Christ...
...I knew her as a college student, a fellow worker at Saint Benet Shop in Chicago, the mother of my godchild, Kate, a fellow traveler to Europe twice, and a dear friend...
...In many parts of the world, where sanitation, clean water, privacy, and all the other facilities of our privileged "first" world are often nonexistent, careful education and potential improvements in natural family planning methods may indeed be the only practicable form of contraception most of the time...
...One or the other spouse may be away for extended periods (in military service, on business trips, caring for aging relatives...
...foreign, $41...
...All this has real advantages in terms of self-understanding, but it makes for an excessive emphasis on the sexual aspect of marriage, and it certainly does not leave "every marriage act open to the transmission of life...
...Single Copy, $2...
...p. 7, Chariot...
...Today very few doctors know anything about NFP and it is not even taught in Catholic hospitals and clinics...
...To the Editors: Despite eight years of Catholic grammar school education and four years at a Catholic college, any real education about the role of the saints in the church's history and in my own life was, for the most part, limited and even accidental...
...bank...
...p. 26, Birkett, Rothco...
...But as long as flawed philosophical distinctions muddy the teaching, the church's doctrine is destructive of both Christian morality and married love...
...In these and other circumstances, the spouses may be "put asunder" by man-made church law even during their limited time together...
...To the Editors: In his criticism of the Oregon request for a Medicaid waiver ["Rationing in Oregon," September 25], Thomas Higgins made a very telling point about the need for holistic judgments about individuals in triage decisions...
...To the Editors: Thank you for including Mary Good's review of my recent book on the Young Christian Worker story [A Time of Awakening, Loyola University Press] in your excellent issue on the laity [September 11...
...In a typical parish setting, the employment of a few professionals brings at least a hundred other parishioners into participation in both the ministry of the church and ministry in the communityA factor regularly overlooked is the effect of their work in church-centered ministry on the lives of individual ministers . Often those engaged as lectors are themselves deeply converted by the Word they proclaim...
...Yearly subscriptions, U.S., $36...
...Perhaps the choice between the twelveyear-old boy with leukemia and the terminally ill patient was ill-conceived, but faulty judgments are going to be made in any foreseeable type of medical care...
...dollars by International Money Order or by check on a U.S...
...or that the couple simply lack sufficient faith in the wisdom of celibate rulemakers...
Vol. 119 • November 1992 • No. 20
