Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021, May 04, 1963, Image 2

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1 f PAGE 2—The Southern Cross, May 4, 1963 TEXT OF ENCYCLICAL PACEM IN TERRIS The following is the second in a series of installments of the text of the ency clical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) of His Holiness Pope John XXIII. Part II Relations Between Individuals And The Public Authorities Within A Single State Necessity and Divine " Origin of Authority Human society can be neither well ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people in vested with legitimate author ity to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all. These, however, derive their authority from God, as St. Paul teaches in the words; ' ‘There exists no authority ex cept from God/ ’ These words of St. Paul are explained thus by St. John Chrysostom: “What are you saying? Is every ruler appointed by God? I do not say that, he replies, for I am not dealing now with individual rulers but with au thority itself. What I say is, that it is the divine wisdom and not mere chance, that has or dained that there should be gov ernment, that some should com mand and others obey.” Moreover, since God made men social by nature, and since no society "can hold together unless some one be over all, di recting all to strive earnestly for the common good, every civilized community must have a ruling authority and this au thority, no less than society itself, has its source in nature, has, consequently, God for its author.” But authority is not to be thought of as a force lacking all control. Indeed, since it is the power to ..command accord ing to right reason, authority must derive its obligatory force from the moral order, which in turn has God for its first source and final end. Wherefore Our predecessor of happy memory, Pius XII, said. “That same absolute order of beings and their ends which pre sents man as an autonomous person, that is, as the subject of inviolable duties and rights, and as at once the basis of society and the purpose for which it exists, also includes the State as a necessary so ciety invested with the authority without which it could not come into being or live . . . And since this absolute order—^as we learn from sound reason, especially from the Christian Faith—can have no origin save in a personal God who is our Creator, it follows that the dig nity of the State’s authority is due to its sharing to some ex tent in the authority of God Him self.” Where the civil authority uses as its only or its cheif means either threats and fear of pun ishment and promises of re wards, it cannot effectively MISS GEORGIA MOORE, a Junior at Aquinas High School, Augusta, has been chosen to represent the Louis Battey Post Auxiliary, at the eigh teenth Annual Georgia Girls State which will open on Sun day, June 16th. It will be held on the campus of the Georgia Military Academy, College Park, Georgia. Six days of companionship, recreation, enjoyment and education will be given. Miss Moore was chosen for her physical and mental ability, cooperative and dependable qualities and her potential for developing further qualities of leader ship. move men to promote the com mon good of all. Even if it did so move them, this would be altogether opposed to their dignity as men endowed with reason and free will, Since authority is chiefly con cerned with moral force, it follows that civil authority must appeal primarily to the conscience of individual citi zens, that is to each one’s duty to collaborate readily for the common good of all. Sine e by nature all men are equal in hu man dignity, it follows that no one may be coerced to perform interior acts. That is in the pow er of God alone, who sees and judges the hidden designs of men’s hearts. Those, therefore who have authority in the State ma y oblige men in conscience only if their authority is intrin sically related with the author ity of God and shares in it, By this principle the dignity of the citizens is protected. When, in fact, men obey their rulers, it is not at all as men that they obey them. Through their obedience it is God, the provi dent Creator of all things, whom they reverence , since He has decreed that men’s dealings with one another should be re gulated by an order which he Himself has established, More over, in showing this due rev erence to God, men not only do not debase themselves but rather perfect and ennoble themselves. For "to serve God is to rule.” Since the right to command is required by the moral order and has its source in God, it fol lows that if civil authorities leg islate for or allow anything that is contrary to that order and therefore to the will of God, neither the laws made nor the authorizations granted can be binding on the conscien ces of the citizens, since "we must obey God rather than men.” Otherwise, authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse. As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “Human law has the true nature of law only in so far as it corresponds to right reason, and therefore is derived from the eternal law. In so far as it falls short of right reason, a law is said to be a wicked law; and so, lack ing the true nature of law, it is rather a kind of violence.” It must not be concluded, however, because authority comes from God, that men therefore have no right to choose who are to rule the state, to decide the form of government, and to determine both the way in which authority is to be exercised and its lim its. It is thus clear that the doctrine which We have set forth is fully consonant with any truly democratic regime. Attainment of the Common Good Is the Purpose of the Public Authority Individual citizens and in termediate groups are obliged to make their specific contri butions to the common welfare*, One of the chief consequences of this is that they must bring their own interests into har mony with the needs of the com munity, and must dispose of their goods and services as civil authorities have prescrib ed, in accord with the norms of Justice, in due form, and within the limits of their competence. This they must do by means of formally perfect actions, the content of which must be mor ally good, or at least capable of being directed towards good. Indeed since the whole reas on for the existence of civil authorities is the realization of the commond good, it is clearly necessary that in pursuing this objective they should respect its essential elements, and at the same time conform their laws to the needs of a given histor ical situation. Essentials of the Common Good Assuredly, the ethnic charac teristics of the various human groups are to be respected as constituent elements of the common good. But these values and characteristics by no means exhaust the content of the com mon good. For the common good is intimately bound up with hu man nature. It can never exist fully and completely unless, its intimate nature and realization being what they are, the human person is taken into account. In the second place, the very nature of the common good re quires that all members of the political community be entitled to share in it, although in dif ferent ways according to each one’s tasks, merits and circum stances. For this reason, every civil authority must take pains to promote the common good of all without preference for any single citizen or civic group. As our predecessor of im mortal memory, Leo XIII, has said: "The civil power must not serve the advantage of any one individual, or of some few persons, inasmuch as it was es tablished for the common good of all.”' Considerations of justice and equity, however, can at times demand that those involved in civil government give more at tention to the less fortunate members of the -community, since they are less able to de fend their rights and to assert their legitimate claims. In this context, We judge that attention should be called to the fact that the common good touches the whole man, the needs both of his body and of his soul. Hence it follows that the civil authorities must undertake to effect the common good by ways and means that are proper to them. That is, while respecting the hierarchy of val ues, they should promote si multaneously both the material and the spiritual welfare of the citizens. ov These principles are clearly contained in the doctrine stated in Our encyclical, "Mater Ma- gistra,” where We emphasized that the common good of all "Embraces the sum total of those conditions of social liv ing whereby men are enabled to achieve their own integral per fection more fully and more easily. Men, however composed as they are of bodies and immortal souls, can never in this mortal life succeed in satisfying all their needs or in attaining per fect happiness. Therefore all efforts made to promote the common good, far from endan gering the eternal salvation of men, ought rather to serve to promote it. Responsibilities of the Public Authority and Rights and Duties of Individuals It is agreed that in our time the common good is chiefly guaranteed when personal rights and duties are maintain ed. The chief concern of civil authorities must therefore be to ensure that these rights are acknowledged, respected, coor dinated with other rights, de fended and promoted, so that in this way each one may more easily carry out his duties, For “to safeguard the inviolable rights of the human person, and to facilitate the fulfilment of his duties, should be the es sential office of every public authority. This means that is any gov ernment does not acknowledge the rights of man or violates them, it not only fails in its duty, but its orders completely lack juridical force. Reconciliation and Protection of Rights and Duties of Individuals One of the fundamental duties of civil authorities, therefore, is to coordinate social relations in such fashion that the exer cise of one man’s rights does not threaten others in the ex ercise of their own rights nor hinder them in the fulfilment of their duties. Finally, the rights of all should be effectively safe guarded and, if they have been violated, completely restored. Duty of Promoting the Rights of Individuals It is also demanded by the common good that civil author** ities should make earnest ef forts to bring about a situation in which individual citizens can easily exercise their rights and fulfill their duties as well. For experience has taught us that, unless these authorities take suitable action with regard to economic, political and cultur al matters, inequalities between citizens tend to become more and more widespread, es pecially in the modern world, and as a result human rights are rendered totally ineffective and the fulfilment of duties is compromised. It is therefore necessary that the administration give whole hearted and careful attention to the social as well as to the ec onomic progress of citizens, and to the development, in keep ing with the development of the productive system, of such es sential services as the building of roads, transportation, com munications, water supply, housing, public health, educa tion, facilitation of the practice of religion and recreational fa cilities. It is necessary also that governments make efforts to see that insurance systems are made available to the citizens so that, in case of misfortune or increased family responsibil ities, no person will be without the necessary means to main tain a decent standard of liv ing. The government should make similarly effective efforts to see that those who are able to work can find employment in keeping with their aptitudes, and that each worker receiv es a wage in keeping with the laws of justice and equity. It would be equally the concern of civil authorities to ensure that workers be allowed their proper responsiblity in the work undertaken in industrial organization, and to facili tate the establishment of inter mediate groups which will make social life richer and more ef fective. Finally, it should be possible for all the citizens to share as far as they are able in their country’s cultural ad vantages. ■ rr ,,r Harmonious Relation between Public Auth ority’s Two Forms of Intervention The common good requires that civil authorities maintain a careful balance between coor dinating and protecting the rights of the citizens, on the one hand, and promoting them, on the other. It should not happen that certain individuals or special groups derive special advantage from the fact that their rights have received pre ferential protection. Nor should it happen that governments in seeking to protect these rights, become obstacles to their full expression and free use. “For this principle must al ways be retained: that State activity in the economic field, no matter what its breadth or depth may be, ought not to be exercised in such a way as to curtail an individual's freedom of personal initiative. Rather it should work to expand that free dom as much as possible by the 100TH BIRTHDAY COMMUNION—One-hundred-year-old John Joseph Sullivan received Holy Communion from Bishop Patrick Shanley, O.C.D., on his birthday in the chapel at Villa Maria Home for the Aged in Miami, Fla. His son, Daniel P. Sullivan, director of the Greater Miami Crime Commission, serves the Mass. The elder Sullivan, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, and came to the U. S. in 1884, once served as a construction worker on the Washington Monument.—(NC Photos) effective protection of the essential personal rights of each and every individual. The same principle should in spire the various steps which governments take in order to make it possible for citi zens more easily to exercise their rights and fulfill their duties in every sector of social life. Structure and Operation of the Public Authority It is important to determine, once and for all, what is the most suitable form of govern ment, or how civil authorities can most effectively fulfill their respective functions, i.e., the legislative, judicial and execu tive functions of the State. In determining the structure and operation of government which a State is to have, great weight has to be given to the historical background and circpinstances of given political communities, circumstances which will vary at different times and in dif ferent places. We consider, however, that it is in keeping with the innate demands of human nature that the State should take a form which embodies the threefold division of powers correspond ing to the three principal func tions of public authority. In that type of State, not only the official functions of gov ernment but also the mutual relations between citizens and public officials are set down ac cording to law, which in itself affords protection to the citi zens both in the enjoyment of their rights and in the fulfil ment of their duties. If, however, this political and juridical structure is to produce the advantages which may be expected of it, public officials must strive to meet the prob lems which arise in a way that conforms both to the complexi ties of the situation and the proper exercise of their func tion. This requires that, in constantly changing conditions, legislators never forget the norms of morality or constitu tional provisions or the objec tive requirements of the com mon good. Moreover, executive author ities must coordinate the ac tivities of society with discre tion, with a full knowledge of the law and after a careful consid eration of circumstances. And the courts must administer jus tice impartially and without be ing influenced by favoritism or pressure. The good order of society also demands that indi vidual citizens and intermed iate organizations should be effectively protected by law whenever they have rights to be exercised or obligations to be fulfilled. This protection should be granted to citizens both in their dealings with each other and in their relations with government agencies. Law and Conscience It is unquestionable that a le gal structure in conformity with the moral order and corres ponding to the level of develop ment of the political community is of great advantage to achieve ment of the common good. And yet, social life in the modern world is so varied, complex and dynamic that even a juridical structure which has been prudently and thoughtfully established is always inade quate for the needs of society. It is also true that the re lations of citizens with each other, of citizens and inter mediate groups with public au thorities, and finally of the pub lic authorities with one another are often so complex and so sensitive that they cannot be regulated by inflexible legal provisions. Such a situation therefore demands that the civil authorities have clear ideas about the nature and extent of their official duties if they wish to maintain the existing juridical structure in its basic elements and principles, and at the same time meet the ex igencies of social life, adapting their legislation to the chang ing social scene and solving new problems. They must be men of great equilibrium and integrity, competent and courageous enough to see at once what the situation requires and to take necessary action quickly and effectively. Citizens’ Participation in Public Life It is in keeping with their dignity as persons that human beings should take an active part in government, although the manner in which they share in it will depend on the level of development of the politi cal community to which they belong. Men will find new and ex tensive advantages in the fact that they are allowed to parti cipate in government. In this situation, those who administer the government come into fre quent contact with the citizens, and it is thus easier for them to learn what is really needed for the common good. The fact too that ministers of govern ment hold office only for a lim ited time keeps them from growing stale and allows for their replacement in accord ance with the demands of social progress. Characteristics of the Present Day In modern times, where there is a question of organizing po litical communities juridical ly, there is observable first of. all the tendency to write in concise and limpid phraseol ogy a charter of fundamental human rights, which is, as of ten as not, inserted in State constitutions or is an integral part of them. Secondly, there is also an in clination to determine, by the compilation of a document call ed the constitution, the pro cedures through which the gov erning powers are to be creat ed, along with their mutual re lations, the spheres, of their competence, the forms and sys tems they are obliged to follow in the performance of their office. The relations between the government and the governed are then set forth in terms of rights and duties. And it is clearly laid down that the par amount task assigned to gov ernment officials is that of rec ognizing, respecting, reconcil ing, protecting and promoting the rights and duties of citi zens. It is of course impossible to accept the theory which pro fesses to find the original and single source of civic rights and duties, of the binding force of the constitution, and of a gov ernment’s right to command, in the mere will of human be- ings, individually or collective ly. The tendencies to which We have referred, however, do clearly show that the men of our time have become increas ingly conscious of their dig nity as human persons. This awareness prompts them to claim a share in the public ad ministration of their country, while it also accounts for the demand that their own inalien able and inviolable rights be protected by law. It also re quires that government offi cials be chosen in conformity with constitutional procedures and perform their specific func tions within the limits of law. Pope Gives Thanks For Favorable Reception Of His Encyclical On Peace VATICAN CITY, (Radio, NC) —His Holiness Pope John XXIII has expressed his gratitude for the favorable worldwide recep tion given to his peace encycli cal, Pacem in Terris. The Pope said at his weekly general audience (April 24): “We consider it a sacred duty to spread this peace throughout the whole world from this cen ter of Catholic unity. Seeing that good Providence blessed Our efforts is a comfort to Our heart. The encyclical Pacem in Terris received a favorable echo everywhere. We say this with a sentiment of profound gratitude.” In his talk on peace the Pon tiff noted that he spoke on the eve of the feast of St. Mark, patron of Venice where he served as patriarch, and that the words “Peace be with you, 0 Mark, my evangelist” are on the shield of Venice. Referring to his encyclical Pope John said; “We have lighted a torch for the men of Our age. Therefore you can well imagine the joy and emotion of Our heart in seeing this light spreading, penetrat ing hearts and minds grad ually.” Present at the audience were 50 women from 15 countries representing the Women’s Strike for Peace movement. Among them were Dorothy Day, editor of the Catholic Worker monthly, and 32 other Ameri cans. Also attending was Mrs. Therese Gasgrain of the Cana dian Voice of Women organiza tion. The Women’s Strike for Peace group had earlier sent a statement to the Pope declar ing: "Impelled by your inspiring leadership and most particular ly by your Easter encyclical, Pacem in Terris, we have come to show by our presence tie measure of our support and concern. We are all workers for peace—Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Orthodox, Quakers and nonbelievers from many countries but united in our com mon goal.” The group presented the Pope with hundreds of letters ex pressing gratitude to him for his encyclical, including one letter signed by 800 residents of Los Angeles. Among the visitors was a victim of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Youko Miriki. The Westminster London Boys’ Choir and the Little Sing ers of the Wooden Cross from Paris sang at the audience, and the Pope received two lamps lit at the Holy Sepulcher from two Austrian students. Pope Asks Prayers For Council VATICAN CITY, (Radio, NC) —His Holiness Pope John XXIII has asked the Catholics of Rome and the world to pray for the success of the ecumenical coun cil during May, the month of Our Lady. The Pope’s appeal was sent to Clemente Cardinal Micara, Vicar General of Rome. But the Pontiff added: “Our voice is turned at the same time and with the same confidence toward the dioceses of the whole world.” Pope John said the Second Vatican Council “was convoked for the good of souls and is providentially destined to have beneficial effects on everyday life through a more just arrangement of institutions and of international life in truth, justice and love and in the free dom of Christ. This most noble aim, which human efforts alone cannot achieve, depends on the all-powerful gift of the Lord.” The Pope asked for the pray ers of bishops, priests, nuns, families, youths, small child ren “and particularly those who suffer in body and spirit and who offer their hidden sorrows to the Lord and who are called upon to offer a collaboration of irreplaceable value for the Mystical Body of Christ.”