South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, June 29, 1990 Page: 3 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Gulf Coast Register/South Texas Catholic and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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June 29, 1990-3
AROUND THE DIOCESE
SIC
The Annual Jazz Mass
E will be held
• Sunday, July 8 at 10 a.m.
at the Corpus Christi Watergarden.
Musicians and choirs throughout the city will
perform under the direction of Eddie Olivarez,
Father Timothy Mercer will be the main celebrant
of the Mass. h-
(Bring your own seating) ®
Once-strange land
now home to immigrant
Supreme Court
.From page 1
nal board of Our Sunday Visitor, a na-
tional Catholic newspaper, (That editorial
is reprinted on page 6 of this issue.)
In h is interview with theSTC, the bishop
said about the Supreme Court's decision,
“What Rchnquisl is saying is that the
withdrawal of nutrition and hydration is
not the same as permitting a person to dic-
it’s killing her.”
He continued, “So it’s one thing to kill
a person and to assert that third panics
have the right to kill a sick person, and it’s
another thing to say that sick people have
the right to die. It’s not just a play on
words; there's a real distinction.”
“Nancy Cruzan is not dying. She’s not
suffering from a terminal illness. She is in
a terrible state, no question of that, but
she’s notdy ing. So what the court has been
asked to do is to legitimize the right of a
third party, in this case her parents, to kill
her out of pity,” continued Bishop Gra-
cida.
“Everyone agrees that the removal of
artificial nutrition and hydration proce-
dures for Nancy Cruzan would cause her
death, therefore, it is a case o; .oiling,” he
said.
Rehnquist was joined in the opinion by
Justices Byron R, White, Sandra Day
O’Cor.nor, Antonin J. Scalia and Anthony
M. Kennedy.
Dissenting were Justices William J.
Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, Harry A.
Blackmun and John Paul Stevens.
Bishop Gracida said he "fully agrees"
with the opinion of Scalia, who wrote,
"While I agree with the court's analysis
today, and therefore join in its opinion, I
would have preferred that we announce
clearly and promptly thatthc Tedcral courts
have no business in this field....This court
need not and has no authority to inject
itself into every field of human activity
where irrationality and oppression may
theoretically occur. And if it tries to do so,
it will destroy itself."
Lawyers for the 32-year-o'd Ms. Cruzan
- who was injured in a 1983 car accident
that left her in what has been described as
a “persistent vegetative state” - had urged
the high court to decide that the constitu-
tional guarantee of liberty in the 14th
Amendment should permitihc withdrawal
of food and water.
By Paula Espitia
STC staff
CORPUS CHRISTI-Rcligious faith,
family ties, love of one’s country...these
are factors which influence most people in
one way or another from the moment of
their conception. In the beginning these
elements are usually chosen for us. Then at
some point along the path we must make
decisions for ourselves and determine our
priorities. Once we accept the choices we
have made, we find a great peace and
sense of fulfillment.
In 1963, Emma Lopez began making
such decisions. She was marrying an
American and leaving her family and
country. She would be 1,000 miles from
all that was familiar to her.
Joe Hamcy, Miss Lopez’s soon-to-be
husband, was also making decisions. After
serving in the Peace Corps in South Amer-
ica and Mexico, he was taking a new wife
back to his home of Corpus Christi, where
his family had resided for generations. He
would also be finishing his training at the
police academy and beginning a new ca-
reer as a police officer for the city.
llYou have to learn to
love the country where
your children
are bom and will
grow up,”
The now-Mrs. Harney reluctantly left
her home in the mountains of Durango,
Mexico. She said goodbye to her parents,
two sisters and the place where she grew
up. She recalls that her first thought upon
arriving in Texas was, “What did I do?”
“I was lost,” she continued, “and for
the first year I was obsessed about going
back to Mexico. I would pray that my
husband could get a job in Mexico so that
we could move back.*'
Her only consolation was the support
she received from her husband’s family
and the new friends she met in Corpus
Christi.
Besides praying to go back home, Mrs.
Harney spent much of her time writing to
her spiritual director who still lived in
Durango. Her letters were filled with sad-
ness, the longing for her home and com-
plaints of how different everything was in
this new country.
Then a thought-provoking letter came
to Mrs. Harney from her friend who said,
“You have to learn to love the country
where your children are born and will
grow up.”
Mrs. Hameysaid she suddenly realized,
“That’s right! This is my family.” She
had already given birth to their first child.
The advice she received helped her adjust
and get on with raising her family.
A short lime later a job offer came from
Mexico for Harney, but it was refused by
Ihetouple who had at last begun to estab-
lish new roots.
In spite of her initial discouragement,
Mrs. Harney had been noticing the differ
ences between the two countries. “One
thing that impressed me was ho w electrons
were run, that the people could chose the
candidates.” This sense of freedom gave
her encouragement and hope.
“I began to get involved as much as I
could,” said the woman whose family
became members of St. Patrick’s Parish.
The family also increased in size with the
addition of two more children.
“We were introduced to the Schoenstatt
Community which was good for the whole
family because everyone could got in-
volved,” she said, commenting that the
support from this group, her parish com-
munity, and in-laws made her feel very
comfortable.
One of her concerns at the time was her
husband’s undercover work on the police
force, but her faith earned her through. * ‘ 1
was scared because he would be gone two
and three days at a time,” she remem-
bered, “but the Blessed Mother protected
him.”
Faith and prayers brought the Hameys
mrough many situations. One of Mrs.
Harney’s prayers was answered with the
arrival of her sister, Sylvia, from Mexico.
“I had missed her so much,” she said.
Sylvia, now deceased, had married Har-
ney’s first cousin, James Hickey. “Jim
and Joe are like brothers,’ ’ said the woman
who feels very close to her husband’s
family.
The Hamcy children are quite familiar
with their Hispanic heritage; the family
makes yearly trips to visit Mrs. Harney’s
mother and remaining sister in Mexico,
Mrs. Harney expressed her desire to
help other immigrants feel comfortable
when they start new lives in this area. She
worked as a Vista volunteer at Catholic
Social Services for a year and a half and
tutored English to those under the Am-
nesty Program.
1 ‘These were people from Mexico and I
could understand them,” she said, adding
that her involvement went beyond tutor-
ing. “After the classes they would come to
me wit/i their problems and I would rry to
help them.”
Mrs- Emma Harney
This desire to help others is shared by
her husband, who qualifies for retirement
from the police force in a year. “We want
to do something that will be helping oth-
ers,” she commented.
They have considered going back to
Mexico. “But I have grown to love this
country,” said Mrs. Harney, “I’m not sure
if I could go back to stay.”
“This is a greatcountry, I see patriotism
in people,” but she admitted, “this is ad so
a sick country, just to thinkthat abortion is
legal; but one day this will change.”
Presently, Mrs. Harney works in a moth-
ers’ day-out program and waits to see what
God has in store for her family-more spe-
cifically, herself and her husband; they
have one daughter at home who will be
married within the year.
She said she is excited about the future
and is hopeful about changes in society
which she says will come about through
prayer.
STC Summer
Schedule
The South Texas Catholic
will not publish the
1 st a.nd 2nd weeks of
July and the office will
be closed June 27
through July 10. We
will publish the
STC on
July 20 & 27
Aug, 3, 17 & 31
and return to our weekly schedule
in September.
Have a safe and blessed summer!
Luke the Evan, clist”
J
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, June 29, 1990, newspaper, June 29, 1990; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840707/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .