Poughkeepsie Journal from Poughkeepsie, New York • Page 9

Soturdoy, July 17, 1776 Catholics Critical Of Carter's Stand On Abortion PouflMi pile Journal 9 Br IIAYNES JOHNSON Washington Port Writer NEW YORK fn the doting moment of Jimmy Carter' proudest day, when he won his party's presidential nomination, a scene of unnoticed drama and symbolic significance occurred on the podium. It spelled trouble for Carter with a critical element of the voters Catholics. "Scheduled to give the benediction, at this most harmonious Democratic convention In memory, was the Rev. Robert N. Deming of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception In Kansas Ctty 'Mo.

Out in Missouri members of Father Demlng's church were bewildered when he failed to appear. Hlsptace before the delegates and the nation was taken, Instead, by a New York City priest, the Rev. Leo J. Daly; Earlier In the day Father Deming hadtjuietly mbmitted a letter to Democratic officials explaining why he felt unable, as a matter of conscience and principle, to fulfill his assignment. He could not agree either wltCthe party's adopted position on abortion, or with their candidate's on that Issue.

Tfe Incident went unreported. The DeAcrats who knew about It maintained silence, and the nominating night ended on a note of euphoria and wide predictions of victory in November. But among the hard eyed political realists here both the platform event and numerous others are creating what is commonly being described as a tense of uneasiness about Carter and the Catholics. The discomfort goes far behind all the clamor between the opposing camps on abortion. For the first time In IS years, the old American question of politics and religion is being debated again.

There Is sharp Irony in this. Sixteen years ago, in a vastly different America, it was the Southern Protestant, led by Baptists, who placed John F. Kennedy, the Catholic candidate from the urban North, In his most difficult political position. Today, it is Catholics who are looking critically at Carter, the Southern Baptist from the rural South. In an otherwise rambling nominating speech for anti abortion candidate Ellen McCormack on Wednesday night.

James Killilea cited one Catholic view as posing a warning tor Carter and the Democrats this fall. Killilea quoted an editorial by the Rev. Edward O'Donnell in The St. Louis Review as saying: The discomfort goos far behind all the clamor between the opposing camps on abortion. For the first time in 16 years, the old American quostion of politics and religion Is being debatod again.

"The platform makes It official. The Democratic party doesn't want Catholics. Oh, It will accept our votes. It will condescend to permit us to be gll watchers and precinct captains, ut as far as real power In the party goes, the Democrats have decided to revive the natlvist slogan: no Catholic need apply. They have read us out of the party.

Leading Democrats here do not agree with so flat an assertion, but there does exist common concern about Carter's appeal to Catholics. It Is a complex equation, compounded by lack of knowledge about the candidate, by conflicts within today's evolving Catholicism, uncertainty over the nature of the campaign to come and Increasing criticism by some Catholics. In an interview shortly after Carter announced his vice presidential choice of Sen. Walter F. Mondale Thursday, the candidate's chief pollster, Patrick Caddell, conceded a certain amount of unease over the Catholic question.

Carter, he said, faces "A potential weakness, a softness" among Catholic voters, especially in the key Northeastern Industrial states. But, he Insists, the actual campaign will prove Carter's appeal to voters in the large northern cities. Caddell also reacted strongly, and personalty, to talk about Catholic difficulties for Carter, and about the existence of a "Catholic vote." "As a Catholic, I'm offended by the Idea I should be appealed to a slogan or as a symbol of my faith. I'm an American voter first." He, and others, make another point, one backed up by political statistics and recent history. There is no such thing as a monolithic Catholic vote.

A generation ago Catholics spoke with one voice, and one authority. That Is no longer so. Within the range of Catholic thought and practice, enormous diversity of opinion exists from the military liberalism of Father Robert Drinan, the Massachusetts Jesuit who serves in Congress, to a William F. Buckley, representing markedly differing conservative views. In the last decade Catholics have taken leading rotes in the civil rights movement of the Deep South and in the anti war protests.

Others have reacted equally strongly against Sudden changes within both the church itself and American society at large. Yet, as Father Drinan remarked Thursday, here at the convention, it isn't that Catholics in such areas as Boston or New York are against Carter, but they feel "rather en uneasiness. They don't know him J' For older Catholic voters particularly and they are the ones who historically vote in the greatest proportions the prospect of a Southern Baptist fundamentalist, a "born again" Christian reflecting the old Protestant evangelic awakens old doubts. Doubts about the South and the Ku Klux Klan and appeals to old prejudices against the presumed menace of America being dictated to by the Pope in Rome. Further complicating the question has been the recent awakening of ethnic pride and resulting political action among many Catholics In the North Irish, Polish, Italian Americans among them and tension and conflicts between them andj blacks In the big cities.

Although the public focus of Catholic protest against Carter at this convention has been on abortion, lr private a number of Democrats are worrying about losing support of Catholics who do not identify with the candidate's background. Caddell, for Instance, sees the possible problem as being more one of culture and style than of Ideology. There are, however, some tough KUtical tacts that every practical mocratlc political must recognize. In America today there are apr proximately 40 million potential voters who are Catholics. Of these, some 29 million are registered to vote.

Nearly 7 out of 10 of these voters are concentrated In 12 large states. Those states contain a total of 271 electoral votes. Religion In Brief vl nChurch Membership Rising NEW YORK KPl Membership In religious bodies In the United States has risen after losing ground in recent ycafS. according to the National Council of Churches. The Council released a Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches that reported 132,287,450 persons are members of religious groups, a gain of 1.042,311, or less than 1 per cent, over 1974.

The yearbook also showed that the percentage of the US. population holding formal membership In chiirches in 1975, 62 3 per cent, was up from the 1974 total of 61.9 per cent. Constant Jacquet editor of the yearbook, said 223 religious bodies In the United States were surveyed. He said a factor In church growth seemed to be "aggressive missionary activity, efforts by religious groups to reach people In many situations. The highest rates of growth were recorded by the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latterday Saints (Morman), the Assemblies of God, and Jehovah's witnesses.

Catholics Conduct Classes SPOKANE. Wash. (AP) The Rev. Kenneth Baker, concerned that many students entering Catholic colleges and universities have little knowledge of their religion, conducts an experimental class in "Rremedial Catholicism" at Gonzaga University here Baker, a former president of Seattle University and current editor of the HomUetic Pastoral Review, said Initial reaction to the class was so great that It had to be shifted to larger facilities. "The first assignment directed the students to write a letter telling me about their religious history," Baker letters make most interesting reading.

It's too bad our bishops cannot see them. Of the 41 students, only one claims any basic knowledge of the faith, though most are graduates of Catholic schools." Evangelist Is Happy Loser In Presidential Bid DALLAS. TEX. (AP) Evangelist Arthur Blessitt, who had made a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination after carrying a big wooden cross halfway around the world, says he is a happy loser because spiritual and moral reform has become a major campaign issue anyhow. The Baptist street minister, 35, told a statewide youth rally that the "most important thing is for the candidates to provide moral and spiritual leadership in the nation." In an Indirect reference to Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter, Blessitt said "we need a born again, soul winning witness in the White House." Beginning at Sunset Strip in Hollywood, in 1969.

Blessitt has carried a 90 pound wooden cross for 12,500 miles through 25 counties on three continents. He said he has been Jailed, shot at and beaten with rocks and sticks because of his stand for Christ but "I haven't met anyone who's having more fun than I'm having." He said he'll resume his cross carrying odessey in August in Hawaii, and go through Australia, New Zealand and southwest Pacific islands. 'Bill Of Rights' Published Women's club NEW YORK (AP) Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox JeWtjh organization that sponsors diversified programs for Jews, has punished a "Bill of Rights" for Jewish hospital patients. Patterned after an American Hospital Association "Patient's Bill of Rights," the Agudath publication lists what a Jewish patient can expect rqw a hospital administration. While the Agudath form Is not legally binding, the organization said, however, "We are confident that a polite but forceful request for any or all of these rights Will be honored, me "Sill or Rights" includes such things as being served Kosher food, deferred advance payment until the close of the Sabbath or a festival, observance of Jewish rituals where not "medically counter indicated," refusal of outpatient appointments scheduled for the Sabbath or festivals, and the right to consult with spiritual advisers before deciding whether to undergo medical procedures that might pose religious questions.

Deseareqation Support Asked MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The president of the American Lutheran Chuich has called upon all his group's congregations to support court ordered desegregation programs and work toward equal educational op i portunlty in their communities. Dr. David W. Preus said "The 1 busing of students has occasioned no I more difficulties In those com imunlties where school desegregation is an issue than in the thousands of communities where young people are regularly bused because of distance from school. However.

In a few communities. efforts to provide equal educational opportunity through desegregation and busing "have met with fear, hatred and even violence," he said. "There are no winners when this happens, he said. "Everyone suffers unnecessarily." "In communities where this occurs I ask American Luthem Church members to give active support to the required desegregation programs and to those responsible for Implementing them," he said. American Jewry Declining NEW YORK (AP) A low birth rate among Jews and a high intermarriage rate have been cited a as factors that could deplete American and Israeli Jewish communities.

WUllam Berman, executive director of the Jewish Population Regeneration Union, said "To maintain its numbers any group must average 2 5 children per family. The Jewtsn birth rate, however, Is estimated at 1 .5 per family." "Coupled with an intermarriage rate of 40 per cent In the U.S., dismal picture emerges. Sociologists maintain that If the present birth intermarriage rate continues, American Jewry will be reduced to a paltry remnant within four generations, with the present rate of decline calculated at more than 100,000 per year," Berman wrote in the Jewish Journal. He said that it the birth rate of Jews in Israel remains similarly low, "Israeli Arabs will populate the Jewish state out of existence." Choir To Present Music Program sThe' Walter Hovlng Home choir froakGarrison will present a program of music Sunday at Faith Assembly of God'91 Hooker at 7 p.m. Associated with Teen Challenge, (tbiWalter Hovlng Home, Is a home for girls who have been Involved In drug addiction, alcoholism, delinquency and other related problems.

The public Is invited to attend the concert and hear personal testimonies of members of the group. Schedules Luncheon FISHK1LL The Dutchess County Christian Women's Club will hold a lunch on Tuesday from 1 1 30 a m. to 2 m. at the Holiday Inn, Route 9 Weaving, handcraft and softcraft will be featured. Chuck Rigby Babylon, will be the solist and guest speaker.

Reservations should be made with Mrs. Nelson Fox, Beacon Fishkill, or Mrs. Carl Gerberlch, Poughkeepsie. Group Plans City Church Concert NEWBURGH The Voices of Ebenezer, a recently formed choral group, will present a concert of sacred music at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 76 First on Sunday at 7 p.m. The nine voice ensemble, headed by Ronald L.

Sutherland, director of music at the church, will present works by George F. Handel, Peter Tschesnokoff. R. Vaughan Williams and Randall Thompson. Works by black composers William Grant Still and William Dawson will also be presented.

A reception will follow at the church. The concert is free and open to the public. COME ENJOY THE MINISTRIES OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY ALLIANCE CHURCH TRADITIONAL DRIVE IN WORSHIP JULY 18. 9 A M. OVERLOOK DRIVE IN COME AS YOU ARE WOR SHIP IN YOUR CAR RAIN OR SHINE.

Coffee Served MESSAGEt No Alternative MUSIC Nancy Gronback ANEW lift, Brian BUry BI CENTENNIAL TENT MEETINGS BockwHh Property, Rt. 44, Pleatant Valley Musical Groups, Singing, Tettimonlei, Words of Living Rain or Sfina, Nightly 7(30 PM July 12 25 Ktds'AdlvHlM Evtry Morning 10:30 AM CHURCH SERVICE 9:30 a.m. SUNDAY SCHOOL 10.45 am. MORNING WORSHIP 7:00 p.m. TENT MEETING Forbuji Cherry Pole, Rev.

Charles Heler, Pattor What A Week! at FAITH ASSEMBLY OF GOD 91 Hooker Ave. Poughkeepsie presenting SUNDAY at 7:00 PM JL STARTING WED. JULY 21st THRU SUNDAY JULY 25th 7:30 NIGHTLY (Except Saturday) mid summer! CRUSADE FOR CHRIST A spirit filled faith building ministry with Austin Miles ilSSSSSSSSBMPi i. wi i sssmssssi i Rii'V kHssssVisf Bst" i ix IbeB mkl ibbbV rSI 'America's No. 1 Ringmaster Now in full time ministry FAITH ASSEMBLY OF GOD t.

DAMIANI, Pastor DANNY EZEIL, Director of Chrbtlan 'Education I.