Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021, July 11, 1963, Image 1

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Southern cross., July 11, 1963, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Textt l Protestant Conference Called Important For Church The author of the following article was received into the Catholic Church in 1955 after serving for 16 years in the Anglican ministry in England. Unmarried, he was ordained a Catholic priest after four years of study at the Beda College in Rome. Since 1959, he has worked at the Catholic Inquiry Forum in Montreal and is a frequent lec turer on ecumenical subjects. By Father Walton Hannah (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) The international ecumenical meeting j which opens in Montreal the July 12 weekend has special significance for Catholics be cause it will take up issues Catholics hold as basic to unity discussions. The assembly is the fourth conference of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches which last met at Lund, Sweden, in 1952. The Montreal conference will run from July 12 to 26. As separated Christians who are active in ecumenical work see grounds for re joicing in the Second Vatican Council, so too have Catholics grounds for cautious op timism in the movement toward unity among Protestants and Orthodox. In this 20th century, they are tackling realistically such problems as episcopacy and the place of Tradition. It is too much to hope that perhaps in the 21st century (and such matters cannot be hurried) they may with equal realism and historical courage consider the pos ition of the head of the corporate episco pate, the papacy? The awareness of the scandal of Chris tian disunity is nothing new, but this twen tieth century is the first since the Refor mation seriously to take it to heart and do something about it. The Faith and Order Commission traces its origins to the Edinburgh Missionary Con ference of 1910. The Edinburgh Conference was concerned with practical operation in the mission field to eliminate wasteful and scan dalous competition. But a yearning for unity was born of it. Two movements emerged: “Life and Work,” which was mainly concerned with working together in a spirit of Christian charity in the social field, and “Faith and Order.” which attempted the far more dif ficult task of seeking reconciliation in the realm of theology and ecclesiology. In 1948, these two movements merged in the World Council of Churches at the Am sterdam Conference. But within its frame work, Faith and Order continues as a sep arate commission. A spirit of optimism pervaded the ear lier international conferences of Faith and Order at Lausanne (1927) and at Edinburgh (1937) at which most of the main Protes tant traditions were represented. The method employed at the outset might be described as “comparitiveecclesiology.” Each body stated and defended its own position on the nature of the Church, the ministry, and the sacraments, tried to re move misunderstanding, and leaned over backwards to see how much was held in common. The main discovery was the “given unity” (a phrase which became a slogan) which they already possessed vertically, so to speak, in Christ the Head of each and every body of Christian believers. Their task, then, was that this existing unity should be man ifested in a “horizontal” unity to the world. The third World Conference of Faith and Order at Lund was disappointing to the overoptimistic enthusiasts, but encouraging to the realists. Comparative ecclesiology had gone about as far as it could, and irreconcilable dif ferences still remained. “The ecumenical honeymoon is over,” one of the delegates remarked. There was a certain feeling of deadlock between the “Catholic” concept of the Church, represented principally by the Anglicans and the Orthodox, and the “Protestant” view of most of the other delegates. The differenc es centered mainly around episcopacy and the apostolic succession. Despite the warm atmosphere of charity and Christian fellowship, the dialogue was still being conducted with ear plugs. The cry went up, ‘ ‘what is the use of talking so much about our ‘given unity* in Christ if we fail to show that unity to the world?” Theologians came out of their shells and admitted ruefully the uncomfortable fact that many divisions were not due to theological differences at all, but to more mundane causes which had little to do with loyalty to Christ. In England, for example, the “non-confor mist" bodies, particularly the Congregation- alists and Presbyterians, still remember their brief political triumph over Anglicanism in the days of Oliver Cromwell, and their decisive defeat with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. These attitudes were reproduced in the North American colonies. “Bishop” became a dirty word because bishops were regarded (Continued on Page 2) .•,V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.‘.V. Vol. 44, No. 2 10c Per Copy — $3 A Year SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1963 Death Threats Claimed Moslem Convert Hides > From Nasser Agents DUESSELDORF, Germany, (NC)—A young Catholic convert from Islam is living in hiding here because he fears he will be murdered by Moslem fana tics and persons connected with the United Arab Republic Em bassy who wanted to prevent his Baptism. He is a Lebanese-born Egyp tian—John Kamal Roushy, 22— who was baptized under police protection last month following threats of violence from Moslem students who were ac tively supported by Abdel Cha afi of the U.A.R. embassy. He claims that he was forcibly held for two days at the Embassy where threats were made against his own life and the life of the priest who later baptized him. Roushy came here from Egypt to take a job as an apprentice in a Duesseldorf factory, where he had contact with Catholic It circles and decided to become a convert. While here, he met Father Lukas Malik, O.P., a brother of Charles Malik, for mer Lebanese Foreign Minis ter and once a president of the United Nations General Assem- bly. ► Father Malik is the founder of the Rainbow, an association of leading citizens here which seeks to aid young people from Asia and Africa who are work ing and studying in Germany. The Rainbow tries to find them homes with German families and bring them into contact with ( German youths. Father Malik instucted Rou shy for Baptism, which was to take place on Easter. On Good Friday, however, Arab students besieged the house, where Rou shy was living with a German Catholic family named Hahnen. The next day an Egyptian came to see him on behalf of the U.A.R. embassy in Bonn and persuaded him to go to the Ger man capital to discuss the mat ter with embassy officials. Rou shy was accompanied to Bonn by Father Malik and Mr. and Mrs. Hahnen. Mr. Hahnen went to the em bassy and told an official there that Roushy was willing to talk with a representative of the embassy at a neutral place. Members of the Embassy’s cul tural department then met Rou shy at a nearby restaurant. They demanded that he go with them to the Embassy where, they said, he should put through a telephone call to his father to tell him about his plans. They said Roushy could be back in Duesseldorf within two hours. Roushy was not able to re turn to DuesseldcJTf for two days, thus missing his sche duled Baptism. But, he re ported, on Easter Monday he was able to escape and ask for the protection of the German police. The police took him at once to a secret place and tape- recorded his report of what had happened to him at the embassy. He said embassy officials told him that Father Malik is a Zionist agent who uses hypno tism on young Arab students in Germany to promote his own political aims. They also told him that the priest is paid $125 for every Arab he baptizes, Roushy declared. Embassy officials, he contin ued, warned him that if he were baptized, he would be consider ed a traitor to Islam and the Arab nations, and forcibly sent VATICAN CITY, (NC)—His Holiness Pope Paul VI welcom ed to Rome a group of Greek Orthodox professors and stu dents and told them that this center of the Catholic world is in “great and wonderful har mony with your own hearts . . . with your faith in Christ the Lord.” He gave a special Sunday audience (July 7) to a dele gation from the Vellas school in Greece. The Orthodox teachers and students were in Rome as guests of the Catholic ecumenical or ganization known as Unitas. They were introduced to the Pope by Father Charles Boyer, S. J., president of the Interna tional Unitas Association.' Pope Paul, addressing the group in French, paid tribute to the heritage given the west ern world by pagan and by Christian Greece. “Are not we all in some way disciples of Greece?” he asked. “All of us have felt the influ ence of her history, her lan guage, her heritage of thought and of art, her place in the tradition of Christianity. Her saints, her patristic literature and her liturgy are venerated throughout the Christian world, or at least—and We do not hes itate to say so—throughout the back to the U.A.R. and treated as a spy. Roushy said they add ed that a plan had been worked out to prevent his Baptism by stabbing him and kidnapping Father Malik and drowning him in the Rhine River. On June 2, Roushy was taken under police protection to the Dominican monastery here and baptized by Father Malik, taking the name of John. During the ceremony the monastery was guarded inside and out by police. The U.A.R. embassy has re fused to comment on the case save to tell newsmen: “We know nothing about it. It must be Zionist propaganda.” The em bassy has also refused to see a lawyer representing Roushy and Father Malik. The attorney, however, has informed the Ger man Foreign Ministry about the matter. entire Catholic world.” Noting that the group was the guest of the Unitas association, Pope Paul continued.: “Is not this visit, for which We give thanks to the Lord, (Continued on Page 6) STATE CHAPLAIN—Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew J. McDonald Chancellor of the Diocese of Savannah, has been named State Chaplain of the Knights of Col umbus. Announcement of the appointment was made last week by Bernard Dunstan, Augusta, State Deputy. Orthodox Pope Welcomes Greek Pilgrims Court Rulings Seen Favoring Aid To All POPE PAUL’S GIFT TO U. S. PRESIDENT—Pope Paul VI and U. S. President John F. Kennedy look at a small reproduction of Michelangelo’s famed statue of the Pieta presented to Mr. Kennedy by the new pope during their audience at the Vatican on July 2. The late Pope John XXIII had agreed to loan the original Pieta for exhibition at the New York World's Fair next year. (NC Photos) French Priest Murdered In Haitian Village DETROIT, (NC)—Recent Church-State rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court support the con stitutionality of Federal aid to church-related schools a Ca tholic lay leader said here. Francis J. Coomes, executive director of the Michigan Catho lic Conference, said the court's rulings in three recent cases “set forth the principle that there is no violation of the First Amendment if a statute primarily is intended to carry out a valid secular public pur pose.” “We contend that Federal aid that assists the secular educa tion of children attending state- approved nonpublic schools. . . is in complete harmony with the First Amendment. This conten tion is based on the criterion in the cases just referred to,” Coomes said. Coomes spoke (July 7) at the First Unitarian-Universalist church here. He discussed the Supreme Court’s June 17 rulings barring devotional Bible reading and re citation of the Lord’s Prayer from public schools and uphold ing a Seventh Day Adventist woman’s right to receive state unemployment compensa tion even though she refused on conscientious grounds to accept available Saturday work. Coomes said the ‘ ‘basic pro blem” in the current debate over Church-State affairs in the United States is “the preserva tion of religious liberty.” “There should be no eco nomic penalty for exercising freedom of religion,” he said. “Parents who choose to ex ercise freedom of choice in edu cation by sending their children to a nonpublic school, which meets standards of the state, should not be required, as in the Seventh Day Adventist case, to regard receiving a public welfare benefit—like Federal aid to education—as the price for freedom of religion,” he said. Coomes denied that the Su preme Court’s ruling on prayer and Bible reading would bar Federal aid to church-related schools and pointed out that the ruling did not deal with this is sue. He noted that although Jus tice William 0. Douglas wrote a concurring opinion in which he expressed the belief that Federal aid to church-related schools would be unconstitu tional under the First Amend ment, no other member of the Supreme Court joined with him in signing this opinion. Captive N ations Week WASHINGTON, (NC)—Presi dent Kennedy, in proclaiming the week beginning July 14 as Captive Nations Week, has ur ged Americans “to give renew ed devotion to the just aspira tions of all people for national independence and human liber ty.” The (July 5) proclamation asked that the American people observe the week with appro priate ceremonies and activi ties. Mindszenty Held Symbol Of Hope DETROIT, (NC)—A Hungar ian religious-political leader said here that Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty should remain in Hungary as a symbol of hope for the eventual freedom of the Red-enslaved nation. Msgr. Bela Varga, who serv ed as Vice President of Hun gary before the communists took over that country, noted (July 7) that negotiations have been going on between the Vati can and the Hungarian com munist government for the re lease of Cardinal Mindszenty. “If he leaves Hungary, the hopes of the people for their liberation wil deteriorate fur ther than they already have,” said Msgr. Varga. He reported that the Red government’s campaign against the Church in Hungary is “sys tematically continuing” and that only five per cent of the priests in the predominantly Catholic country have joined the ranks of the so-called “peace priests” collaborating with the communists. He criticized the United States for its failure to con tinue its policy of objecting to the admission of Red Hungary to the United Nations. He said it would have been the ' ‘great est victory” the U. S. could have won even if this country had lost its fight to keep Hun gary out of the U. S. SANTO DOMINGO, Domini can Republic, (NC)—A French priest has been murdered in Caracol, a village on the nor thern coast of Haiti, according to reports reaching here. The priest, named LeScao and aged about 50, was killed with a machete during the night of June 24-25 in his second floor bedroom, the reports said. Information on the incident is incomplete because the regime government of President Fran cois Duvalier tightly restricts communications, it was noted here. The mayor and village police chief of Caracol and two other men have been arrested for complicity in the murder, ac cording to information reach ing here, and have reportedly confessed to the murder. It was said that Father Le Scao, a priest of the Cap Hait- ien diocese, was well liked by the people of Caracol, but did not get along with the local of ficials. According to reports, Father Le Scao was at a parish feast in the nearby village of Trou on June 24. He returned to Caracol in the evening, and it is presumed that the assasins were then hiding in his home. The next morning, the Cara col police chief went to Trou and told the priests there that Father LeScao had been mur dered. This was the first pub lic knowledge of the murder. Police in Trou questioned the chief and then went to Caracol. On their way, they arrested a man wearing a bloody shirt who reportedly admitted being an accomplice and said that the police chief and the mayor had instigated the murder. On reaching Caracol, the Trou po lice arrested the mayor and another man they found wearing a bloody shirt. According to the reports, an attempt is being made to im plicate the U. S. government in the murder by spreading ru mors that the U. S. arranged it to stir up ill will between France and Haiti. (The U. S. recently cancel ed its last aid program in Haiti, construction of a $2.8 million airport, and Haiti is now turning to France for financial help. (A French priest expelled from Haiti in August, 1959, said then that the Duvalier regime, which has expelled 3 bishops and 17 priests since 1959, was es pecially antagonistic to French priests. Many priests in Haiti are French or Canadian.) The reports said that the manager of a sisal factory in the village of Dumas, near Cap Haitien, has been arrested and charged with accepting $1,000 from the U. S. government to instigate an incident which would jeopardize Haiti’s rela tions with France. NEA Relaxes Opposition DETROIT, (NC)—The Na tional Education Association has relaxed its policy of total opposition to any proposal for Federal school aid which in cludes help for education in nonpublic schools. The association’s delegates voted down (July 5) an amend ment presented from the floor which would have recommit ted the powerful organization to its past position. Spokesmen for the NEA’s leg islative commission—its influ ential lobbyists in Washington— told the 6,800 delegates inCobo Hall that they needed more el bow room in negotiations than the old policy afforded. The new policy is not a blank check. Delegates were told that the NEA still would oppose Fed eral education aid which it rates as in violation of Church-State relations. The resolution itself said the (Continued on Page 6)