SERVING SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD l~ THE ISLANDS
t eanc 0 VOL. 22, NO. 19
FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, 'MAY 18, 1978
20c, $6 Per Year
Tuition Tax Credits Debate Will Go to Full .Ho,use WASHINGTON (NC) - Tuition tax credits for elementary and ·secondary schools, left for dead in the House Ways and Means Committee in mid-April, resuscitated by the House Rules Committee, which decided to permit the full House to debate the subject. The voice vote came after a day's wrangling before the Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. James J .. Delaney (D-N.Y.), a strong supporter of tuition tax credits. Committee members were sharply divided and exchanged barbed comments - some of which drew laughter from those in the packed committee hearing room. The voice vote went unrecorded, but it appeared from the debate the 15-member committee was spli.t 9-5 (one member was absent\ with the majority favoring full house airing of the issue. One committee member, Democrat John Young of Texas, insisted that his favorable vote be recorded. Young is involved in a primary runoff in his home district.
Appeal Returns R·each $782,888
THIS STATUE OF THE PILGRIM VIRGIN IS CIRCLING THE WORLD AND WILL BE IN THE FALL RIVER DIOCESE IN JUNE, 1979, DURING THE DIOCESAN YEAR OF JUBILEE.
Help of the half-defeated, House of gold, Shrine of the Sword, and Tower of Ivory; Splendour apart, supreme and aureoled, The Battler's vision and the World's reply. You shall restore me, 0 my last Ally, To vengeance and the glories of the bold. This is the faith that I have held and hold, And this is that in which I mean to die. - Hilaire Belloc
Returns of special gift donations and parish contributions bring the 1978 Charities Appeal up to $782,887,99, according to Msgr. Anthony M. Gomes, diocesan director. Contributions from parishes, priests and special gift donors should be made in person to headquarters from Wednesday, May 24, through 1 p.m. Friday, May 26. The Appeal books will be closed at that time and a final report will be issued Thursday, June 1. Many special gift and parish reports are still to be received from all areas of the diocese. Workers are urged to complete Turn to Page Three
Theology Series . Starts Monday The fifth Theology Institute for the clergy of the diocese of FaH River will be held at La Salette Center, Attleboro, Monday, May 22 through Thursday, May 25, with Father Johannes Hofinger, S.J.. addressing the theme of Evangelization. Father Hofinger, an Austrian Jesuit, is an internationally known catechist who studied under Father Josef Jungmann, S.J. Turn to Page Eleven
. While the debate touched several aspects of the bill passed by the Ways and Means Committee in April, the major controversy hinged upon whether or not private primary and secondary schools many of which are Catholic - should qualify for tuition tax credits. The Ways and Means Committee bill would permit parents to claim a tax credit for 25 percent of the tuition paid to send each child to school, up to a top of $100 per child for calendar year 1978. The top would be increased to $150 in 1979 and $250 in 1980. The credit is the amount the parents' tax liability
would be reduced for the year. But the measure approved by t.hat committee ruled out credits :~or primary and secondary school tuition payments, mean.ng only those in higher educajon would benefit. With college ':uition costing thousands of dol':ars a year, there was general agreement that the amount of ;~elief offered was not significant. For parents and children in primary and secondary schools, .however, where costs are lower, '~he tax credit could be important. House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. AI UllTurn to Page Three
Father Daniel Hoye Named To New USCC·NCCB Post· "None of us in Washington will ever forget Fall River because Father Hoye represents you well," Mary Ellen Madden, executive director of the National Council of Catholic Women, told diocesan women la:>t month. Her statement was borne out last Friday as the young priest from Taunton was named an associate general secretary of the U.S. Catholic ConferenceNational Conference of Catholic Bishops. The appointment came less than 10 months after Father Hoye went to Washington as an
assistant general secretary of USCC-NCCB. Also named associate general secretaries were two conferenCe veterans: Msgr. Thomas J. Leonard, formerly associate secre· tary for the NSCC education department and Father Joseph L. Charron, previously an associate general secretary for the NCCB alone. In the USCC post, Msgr. Leonard succeeds Father Robert V. Monticello, who will return to the Archdiocese of Detroit for a pastoral assignment. ImmacuTurn to Page Five
Father Higgif1ls To Retire; Mansfield Pastor 12 Years Approaching retirement in mid-June, Father John T. Higgins, pastor of St. Mary's parish, Mansfield, looked ~ack on 45 years of ministry during which he has served nine parishes, and allowed, "I've been an equal opportunity employe"; by which the affable priest meant he's "enjoyed my work in all its phases," giving equal weight to all parish and diocesan undertakings. Born in 1908 in New Bedford, Father Higgins was ordained June 10, 1933 by the late Bishop James E. Cassidy, after seminary studies at St. Charles, Catsonville, Md. and St. Ber· nard's, Rochester, N.Y. His first assignmer:t was to Sacred Heart parish, Oak Bluff." followed by two years in another island parish, St. Mary's, Nantucket.
He then served at St. James, New Bedford, until 1942, when he interrupted his parish work to volunteer as a World Turn to Page Three
FATHER HIGGINS