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Cuomo AppearsIn ControversyContinued from Page 1of dissent among theologians, he said, %u201cWe are living through a time of turbulence in the Church%u2019s history,%u201d but added firmly, that dissent over hundreds of years had enhanced and formed the church%u2019s sense of identity and mission.THREATENED BY DISAGREEMENT%u201cAs Catholics we should neither be surprised nor threatened by disagreements among bishops and theologians or bishops and politicians,%u201d he said, %u201cin areas that don%u2019t touch the vital central core of our belief.%u201d Offering a parallel example, Cuomo referred to differences in his own family which ultimately were subordinate, he said, to a stronger bond and set of core beliefs.%u201cThe church is a family,%u201d he stressed. %u201cAfter all the headache and the heartache of the moment%u2019s contentions, that will prove to be the greater truth,%u201d he said. The differences, he added, were an opportunity for growth. %u201cHow, after all, has the church changed and developed through the centuries except for discussion and argument,%u201d he asked.'%u201cAddressing more closely the issue of his own conflicts as a politician exercising political judgement that may differ from the doctrines of the Catholic church, Cuomo referred to his now well-known address at Notre Dame in 1984.%u201cThe question, I and many others struggled over was to what extent my belief, my full acceptance of Catholic moral teaching in such areas as birth control, abortion, divorce, capital punishment %u2014 bound me to work to make my belief the law in a pluralistic society such as ours where millions of decent and good people believed differently than I,%u201d he said.CHURCH AND POLITICS SHOULDN%u2019T MIX%u201cAt an address at the University of Notre Dame, I stated my belief that as a partner in the Church%u2019s salvific mission I was bound by it moral teachings, but that the Church did not require me to pursue that mission according to a precisely defined political plan or strategy,%u201d he added. In the same vein, he stated the church did not require that he bring the beliefs of his religion to fruition in the political realm.%u201cIndeed the church has often made the decision to abide to the civil law on questions of moral conduct where the law%u2019s direction ran counter to the church%u2019s teaching,%u201d he ;Jaitr and pointed to birth control and capital punishment as two areas where the church had not stridently enforced its moral values on the laws established in the country. %u201cEven on the question of slavery in the 1850%u2019s, a barely established church thought it prudent not to make a political fight over this elemental moral position,%u201d he said.Cuomo urged that rather than enforce the Catholic instruction with law, that Catholics pread their values through the example of heir own conduct. %u201cWe must begin with urselves, proving the beauty and worth of ur instruction,%u201d he stresed. Directly adressing the abortion issue on which he has cen challenged so many times, Cuomo said hat New York State provided programs esigned to discourage imprudent pregnanies. He later added that while he personally(P h o en ix/K o ch Photo)The church is a family. Afterall the headache and theheartache of the moment'scontentions, that will prove tobe the greater truth.Protestors in te rm itten tly interru p ted the G o vernor's speech. (P h oenix/K och Photo)opposed abortion, he would uphold the law of the constitution as well as the right for poor women to receive Medicaid for abortions, a statement that received a warm round of applause although one speaker suggested that the abortions that had taken place in New York State since Cuomo became Governor were grounds for excommunication.%u201cThe Church%u2019s principal teaching is that Christ calls on us to be centers of his energy by working not with force or wealth to change the world, but by using the weapons of the word and of love,%u201d he said. %u201cHe calls us to share our truth, not by legislating its acceptance, but by being living examples of it,%u201d Cuomo said.ABORTION DISCUSSED LOUDLYIt was the issue of abortion that was raised again during the hour-long question andanswer period following the speech, where Cuomo was once again criticized for his political support of the abortion law. One speaker who called on Cuomo to debate the abortion issue publicly and denounced him for his position on abortion was told firmly by the Governor, %u201cyou can%u2019t change people by standing up and saying you are a murderer.%u201d In response to the request for a debate, Cuomo answered, smiling: %u201cNobody I know has been dumb enough to debate this subject as much as I have.%u201d Cuomo also questioned the position of right to lifers on capital punishment, saying %u201cAsk Right to Lifers where they stand on the subject of capital punishment.%u201dOne of the last subjects Cuomo addressed that night touched on a different angle of the relationship between religion and politics.Cuomo rejected the notion that the Catholic Church involve itself directly with political candidates as it did in the 1964 election when abortion became a political platform for many candidates. %u201cIt is a mistake for the church to get specific about candidacies, individuals or parties. It weakens the church when you tie it to a specific party,%u201d he said.The audience, which had been warmly receptive to Cuomo throughout the speech, often shouting down hecklers who interrupted the Governor, included several pastors, not all of whom responded positively to Cuomo%u2019s speech. Still, at the end of his talk he received a standing ovation and thundering applause, and as Cuomo resumed his seat next to his wife Matilda he smiled broadly despite the negative chants that continued out on the street.Bishop Mugavero Responds To Cuomo%u2019s CommentsGovernor Mario Cuomo%u2019s lecture last week at the St. James Pavilion unleashed a number of different reactions, not the least to mention that Bishop Francis J.Mugavero of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn issued a statement immediately following the talk, outlining his opposition to Cuomo%u2019s public policy view on abortion. Cuomo, who diverges from the Catholic Church doctrine on public abortion policy, spoke at the Pavilion shortly after the Archdiocese of New York issued a statement in August prohibiting those who are opposed to church teaching from speaking at church sponsored events.Although the directive issued by the Archdiocese did not apply to Brooklyn and Queens, that are a separate diocese, Mugavero%u2019s statement following the lecture expressed disagreement with Cuomo%u2019s view on a separation between church and state in governmental policies and abortion in particular.%u201cThe bishop also believes that persons in political life must go a step further and work to find a way to make abortion illegal, because the present laws violate a human right that is basic to everyone in a pluralistic society and that is the right to life,\s aid .Cuomo, who has repeatedly stated that he personally opposes abortion but would not impose his religion as civic law, urged Catholics in his lecture not to attempt to legislate their beliefs into law, but rather to use their effective example in gaining support to oppose abortion, birth control and the death penalty. Mugavero concurred with Cuomo on this point.%u201cThe bishop agrees with the Governor that we should use a moving strength of our good example to proclaim our belief in the church%u2019s moral teaching on abortion,%u201d the statement said.Coverage of the lecture in New York City%u2019s major dailies also shed light on diverging interpretations of Cuomo%u2019s position as a politician and Catholic. The New York Times coverage of the event played down Cuomo%u2019s public stance on abortion and instead emphasized his adherence to the teachings of the church. Cuomo, himself, stated at the lecture that more than most politicians and many Catholics, not only oppose birth control and abortion but also the death penalty, an issue which he said was neglected. He challenged the church on its involvement with the abortion issue but its neglect of other issues, such asthe death penalty.The New York Post, on the other hand, referred to Cuomo as defiant in addressing the controversial abortion issue at the lecture, saying it defied the rules laid down by the Brooklyn Diocese. In an editorial published on Sept. 20 in the Tablet, the weekly publication of the Brooklyn Diocese, Mugavero stated that %u201cDifferences over one or another church teachings does not of itself make a person inappropriate, but to address the point of disagreement would be inappropriate.%u201d Cuomo stated at the lecture that he did not believe that the recent directive issued by the Archdiocese of New York applied to him because he did not disagree with the teachings of the church. Under this interpretation he also did not ignore the restrictions set by the Brooklyn Diocese.Cuomo, who for the last two years has repeatedly addressed the issue of differentiating between the personal and political realms, dismissed his political role as reflecting his religious beliefs. Newsday, which also covered die event, emphasized that since Cuomo first began to confront the issue two years ago that he has not developed a new strategy, and that much of what he said that night at the Pavilion reiterated his past position. %u2014 L.K.Young Artists Go Underground To Promote Their ArtworkA mural created by 13 junior high school students from the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill wasunveiled last week in the mezzanine of the DeKalb Avenue subway station. Students fromthe Ronald Edmonds Learning Center (J.H.S. 113) created five murals through theMetropolitan Transportation Authority's Adopt-A-Station program. Pictured here are JoyceEllen W einstein and Victoria Marin, who supervised the student's art, joined by studentsLeslie Dover, Lamont Hilliard and Sana Bracey (left); Maria Hall, Leslie Dove and NailahBracey (center); and Robert Kiley, chairman of the MTA, joins Lamont Hilliard. Sana Braceyand Lars Jangaard at the unveiling ceremony. (Phoenix/Koch Photo)O c to b er 9 ,1 9 8 6 , T H E P H O E N IX , Page 3