Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021, September 26, 1963, Image 1

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Southern cross., September 26, 1963, Image 1

About Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1963)

Page of 6

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (5.3 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 6

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextH l May Include Local Bishops Vol. 44, No. 12 10c Per Copy — $3 A Year Paul VI To Decentralize ‘Ponderous’ Roman Curia LEAVES FOR SECOND COUNCIL SESSION—Bishop Thomas J. McDonough bids fare well to Monsignor Andrew J. McDonald, Chancellor, as he left Savannah, last Saturday morning, for the Second Session of the Ecumenical Council. In Church Structure Vatican Council To Consider Bishop’s Place And Function (The following article high lights the question of the na ture of the Church, which is expected to be the first major topic up for consideration at the second session of the Second Vatican Council. The author, who earned doctorates in phil osophy and theology at the Geor gian University in Rome and has received an honorary doc torate from Yale, is professor of ecclesiology—the study of the nature of the Church—at Wood- stock (Md.) College. A leading participant in the ecumenical dialogue in the United States, he is a consultant to the Vati can Secretariat for Promot ing Christian Unity and serves as an interpreter for non-Ca- tholic delegate-observers at tending the council.) By Father Gustave Weigel, S.J. (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) The Apostles’ Creed pro claims the Christian’s faith in God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It also affirms belief in the Holy Catholic Church. In the early ecumenical councils the doctrine of the Trinity was ex amined and in part defined. The Incarnation of God the Son also received conciliar attention. But no council has ever defined the Church. In Sacred Scripture there is much that has to do with the Ecclesia, the Church. But the Church is always considered in terms of images; no definition is attempted. The reason for the glaring lack of definition in so impor tant a reality as the Church is that she is a mystery. God, be ing a mystery, cannot be defin ed according to the rigor of phil osophic definition. This is equally true of God’s Church. If no council of the past has giv en us a defining formula, we need not expect one from the Second Vatican Council. Yet, though the Church can not be defined, much can be known and said about her. Dur ing the last few centuries many questions have been raised about the Church and her nature. These questions have been ser ious and trying. We expect from the present council some an swers to some of these ques tions. The Church of Christ is one, but it has many dimensions. You can look at her through the glass of liturgy. She can be studied in her very reality as grasped in faith. Since she is a visible communion, she needs laws to keep external order in the people of God. Consideration of this latter aspect of the Church is thus juridical. Much juridical meditation has been made in the past. In some centuries it was the only consid eration given. However, study of this kind is superficial and does not satisfy the faith - enlight ened mind in its search for deeper understanding of the reality which is so close to us. Theologians in the last hun dred years have been push ing for a fuller vision of our ecclesiastical structure. The time has come to lay down some guide lines and it is to be ex pected that the council will sup ply what we need. Pope John XXIII in his intro ductory exhortation at the first session of Vatican Council II urged the bishops to speak in such a way that the people could understand the doctrines of faith. He wanted something more practical than subtiephil osophizing or merely legal out lines. It is safe to say that in the second session of the council the bishops will earnestly try to fol low the advice given by the de parted pontiff. We know that they will not answer all the questions which the fact of the Church raises, but there are certain questions which are acute in our time. The First Vatican Council dealt with one facet of the Church. It taught us what the pope’s place is in the house of (Continued on Page 3) FIRST DAY AT NEW SCHOOL—Benedictine Cadets gather for their first Roll Call at the new Benedictine School which they occupied last Monday.—(Savannah Morning News Photo—Buddy Rich) (Radio, N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) VATICAN CITY—His Holiness Pope Paul VI has announced he will simplify and decentralize the Roman curia, the Church’s central administrative body. Pope Paul said the Curia has “grown ponderous with its own venerable age.” The Pope announced his plan 'to the cardinals, priests and laymen of the curia at a special audience. The reforms of the curia, he stated, “will be for mulated and promulgated by the Curia itself.” He outlined some of the re forms: —Members of the Curia will be recruited on a “superna tional” basis. At present its membership is predominantly Italian. —Members will receive what the Pope called an * ‘ecumeni cal” education in preparation for the curia work. —Local bishops will take over functions now performed by the curia which can be hand led more efficiently on a local basis. —Local bishops may be brought into the curia. Pope Paul stated: “And We shall say more: Should the ecumenical council show a desire of seeing some representatives of the episco pacy, particularly prelates who direct a diocese, associated in a certain way and for certain questions. . .with the supreme head of the Church in the study and responsibility of ecclesias tical government, the curia will surely not oppose it.” The Pope spoke in the Hall of Benedictions over the front porch of St. Peter’s Basilica. Members and workers of the Curia—from cardinals to typists—filled the vast room, which is as long as St. Peter’s is wide. Pope Paul began his 3,000- word speech with a tribute to the Curia. He said he had brought the Curia members together in an audience to give them all his “cordial and reverent greeting.” He continued: * ‘We ourself had the honor of giving Our humble service in the Roman Curia for many years. In the ranks that com pose it We have had very worthy superiors and teachers, excel lent colleagues, collaborators and unforgettable friends. . .” He turned then to the ecu menical council now underway. He said it had been desired by “a Pope to whom in fact the spontaneous acclamations of the public voice apply the Gospel words about the forerunner of Christ: ‘There was a man sent by God whose name was John.’ ” The Curia must “live” this council, he said. The Pope said that he has made Pope John’s heritage his own, and that he is making of that heritage a “program for the entire Church.” He emphasized several times that perfect unity of minds must reign between the Pope and his Curia. “We are certain that no hesi tations regarding the chief de sires of the Pontiff will ever come from the Roman Curia: that the Curia will never be suspected of any differences of judgment or of feelings with regard to judgments or feelings of the Pope,” he said. He spoke of the * ‘immediate adherence and absolute obe dience” which the Pope relies on from the Curia to carry out his mission. “And it is this essential re lation of the Roman Curia with the exercise of the Pope’s apos tolic activity which is the justi fication or rather the glory of the Curia itself,” he said. He described the role of the Curia as “hearing and inter preting the voice of the Pope and at the same time not letting him lack any useful and objective information, any filial and well- considered advice.” Criticism of the Roman Curia comes chiefly from the Curia itself, he said, adding that such criticism is “providential.” “We must accept the criti cisms that surround us, with humility, with reflection and even with gratitude,” he said. “Rome has no need to defend itself by making itself deaf to suggestions that come to it from honest voices. . .” Pope Paul categorized the Curia as part of the “advance guard of that perennial reform of which the Church itself, inso far as it is a human and earthly institution, has perpetual need.” The Pope declared that Rome itself has called for an aggior- namento—bringing the Church up to date; that Rome itself had announced plans for reform of canon law; Rome itself had brought the Church “regular, untiring, coherent, stimulating government.” The Pope said it is obvious that the Roman Curia, "this old and complex organization,” needs reforms. He recalled that the Curia owes its present form of organization to reforms of Pope Sixtus V in 1588, of Pius X in 1908, and to the 1917 Code of Canon Law. “Many years have passed,” the Holy Father noted. ‘ ‘And it is understandable how such an establishment should have grown ponderous with its own (Continued on Page 6) Urges Editors To Stronger Influence VATICAN CITY, (NC)--His Holiness Pope Paul VI has call ed on the Italian Catholic press to penetrate society with an effective and unified Christian voice. The Pontiff gave a special Sunday audience (Sept. 22) to more than three hundred Italian Catholic journalists who had come to Rome after holding their annual convention in Bol- sena, Italy. The audience, which was to have been a small affair, had to be moved to the Hall of Bene dictions to accommodate 3,000 other persons in Rome with pilgrimages. "We would wish that your voice be greater,” the Pope 'loIO the Catholic editors. "We would wish that every possible instrument to perfect your technical and editorial capacity be given to you and that you would have greater, more systematic, more con stant diffusion among the Ita lian public, among Catholics especially. . . . "We would wish that your voice be more in harmony. We allude especially to the daily and periodical press. Not that it is desirable to impose a unifor mity of writing, but rather a more substantial and spontane ous conformity of judgment which would work to the great credit of the Catholic press. . . And finally We would wish that your voice always resound with a Christian tone.” The Pope said that it is not necessary "for a paper to limit itself to publishing religious news and comments; nor must it artificially stress its con fessional and apologetic cha racter to the detriment of its primary function of informa tion.” "Christian wisdom must al ways penetrate its every word and the reader must always be left with a sense of admiration at what he has read in his pa per,” he said. SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1963 What Has The Council Achieved So Far? The first session of the Second Vatican Council opened on October 11th, 1962, and concluded on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1962. While the mere coming together of the bishops of the Catholic Church was in itself a tremendous achievement, we are referring here only to the precise points of doctrine or of the Chris tian life acutally studied by the Council. In all, five “Schemata” or Draft Decrees were examined. These were as follows: 1) 21st October - 13th November: The Sacred Liturgy—The Liturgy is the public worship of the Church and includes the Mass, the Sacraments, Sacred Rites, Sacred Art and Sacred Music. 2) 14th November - 21st November: The Sources of Revelation—By this the Church means Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, along with the Problem of Bible Interpre tation. This was the point at which Pope John intervened and set up a special commiss ion on 21st November to reconsider the whole question and to report back once again to the Council. 3) 23rd November - 26th November: Press, Cinema, Radio, Television and Theatre— This schemata was passed almost unanimously but was returned to the proper Commis sion for shortening, and with a view to use for pastoral purposes. 4) 26th November - 1st December: On the Unity of the Church—This Draft Decree, while appearing to be general in its title, dealt in fact with reunion with the Eastern Churches. The Council Fathers arranged that this unity statement should be joined to the two other unity statements which were still to come, so as to form one document. 5) 1st December—The discussion “On The Church” Draft Decree began. And so, on the 8th of December, the first session came to an end. During the first session there had been thirty-four General Congregations and there had been thirty-three ballots; 587 bishops had spoken and 523 bishops had contributed written statements. In the intervening months, the work of re-drafting and of shortening, simplifying and co-ordinating the many schemata or draft decrees has been going on, so that it can be expected that the second session of the Council will move more quickly than did the first. Of Georgetown, U.S. Constitution Pope In Live Telecast Notes Double Anniversary NEW YORK, (NC)--His Holi ness Pope Paul VI in a live telecast via Telstar helped launch the 175th anniversary celebration of the oldest Catho lic college in the United States, Georgetown University. Pope Paul noted that George town, a Jesuit school in Wash ington, D. C., was founded in 1789, the same year that the U. S. Constitution was ratified. “So it is that the Church, ever interested in inculcating in the youth of a nation the reli gious and civil principles upon which society and national life are based, has been present in the noble work of education right from the beginnings of your Republic,” he said. The Pope spoke on Septem ber 26, his own 66th birthday. He remarked that the day is also the feast of the North American Martyrs, the Jesuit mission aries who lost their lives in the American missions in the 17th century. The telecast was picked up from the Telstar communica tions satellite by the NBC net work’s "Today” shoW (between 7:30 and 8 a.m.) knd by other programs. Congratulating both the uni versity and the nation on the double anniversar y—of Georgetown and the Constitution —the Pope noted that many Georgetown graduates hold posts of responsibility and lead ership in society. He emphasized that the uni versity’s "greatest contribu tion” has been in instilling sound moral principles in its students and preparing them for healthy family life. Pope Paul imparted his blessing to the faculty, alumni and students of Georgetown and to all U. S. Catholics. Vatican Council Modify Secrecy Rule VATICAN CITY, (NC)--The rule of secrecy will be lifted for the second session of the Vatican Council in regard to discussion on the Council floor. This is the highlight of a new plan for press information which is in the final stages of preparation and will be an nounced shortly. The secrecy rule, according to plan, will apply only to what takes place at meetings of the Council’s Commissions, where propo- RECEIVES ASSIGNMENT—Bishop Thomas J. McDonough is pictured as he presents assignment to the Rev. Thomas Murphy shortly after his arrival last week. On loan for two years from the Diocese of Cork, Father Murphy has been assigned to Sacred Heart Church, Warner Robins. Father joins three other priests from the Diocese of Cork who arrived last week. sals are prepared for consid eration by the full assembly. It is also expected that the secrecy rule will be retained for remarks of Council Fathers who express the wish that their remarks not be given the pub lic. According to high officials, officers of the various language sections of the Council press office will be permitted to at tend the "cneral Council ses sions and free to release any newsworthy information they gather. It is expected that two priest journalists from Vatican radio will summarize the Council proceedings. These summaries will be available to language section officers in mimeograph almost immediately after a Council session ends. PRAY FOR OUR PRIESTLY DEAD REV. ALEXANDER J. SEMMES Sept. 27, 1898 REV. GEORGE S. O’BRIEN Sept. 29, 1887 Oh (rod, tVho didst give to thy servants by their sacredotal office, a share in the priest hood of the Apostles, grant, we implore, that they may also be one of their company forever in heaven. Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.