050674 ncr Catholics, Baptists differ on abortion

WASHINGTON (NC) - A meeting here between U.S. Catholic Conference officials and two top American Baptist leaders was described by participants as helpful but it did not result in any compromise in a conflict over an antiabortion amendment to the Constitution.

Describing the meeting as '6positive and constructive," Bishop James S. Rausch, USCC general secretary, said it "did not arrive at any easy consensus. None was expected at this time. What is significant is the willingness on both sides of the dialogue to discuss their respective points of view candidly and charitably."

The Rev. Robert C. Campbell, general secretary of the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., called the meeting "very constructive" and said he was helped by hearing that Catholic officials were primarily concerned about human rights and did not want to impose a moral position upon the American public.

Those participating in the meeting were Bishop Rausch;, Dr. Campbell-, Archbishop William W. Baum of Washington, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; the Rev. Robert G. Torbet, executive director of the American Baptist Churches' Division on Cooperative Christianity; Father John F. Hotchkin, director of the secretariat of the bishops' ecumenical committee; and Monsignor

James T. McHugh, director of the USCC Family Life Division.

The meeting was a consequence of a statement adopted by the General Board of the American Baptist Churches on March I which expressed concern that the U.S. Catholic Bishops support for 9 constitutional amendment recognizing the rights of the unborn was an effort "to coerce the conscience and personal freedom of our citizens through the power of public law in matters of reproduction."

Both Catholic and Baptist participants in the meeting said they agreed on the value of dialogue between the churches on this and other issues and on the responsibility of the churches to give witness to the importance of ethics in public life.

Father Hotchkin said that the Catholic participants emphasized the Catholic Church's concern with human rights in the abortion issue.

" It is not the intention of the Church to impose a specifically Catholic morality on the nation," he said. "We are concerned with it as a general issue of human rights. We feel it is the task of the Church and its leaders to give testimony to the value of the life of the unborn, not to enter into specific legislative or constitutional questions."

What the Baptists wanted to communicate to the Catholic leaders, Dr. Campbell said, was their concern that individual conscience be recognized in the abortion issue and their concern that the good relations that have developed between their church and the Catholic Church be maintained.

The American Baptist Churches, he said, have not taken a stand for or against a constitutional amendment on the abortion issue. That is why the denomination did not testify at the hearings by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments but instead expressed its concern to the U.S. Bishops "about relations in the body of Christ."

He said the May 8 meeting "opened doors" and expressed the hope that the question will be pursued in other conversations that would bring in other Protestant bodies.