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The Southern Cross, September 26, 1963—PAGE 3
Vatican Council To Consider Bishop’s Place And Function
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(Continued from Page 1)
God. Papal primacy and papal
infallibility were defined. This
brought up the whole question of
hierarchy. Yet so little was said
about the bishop’s place
among the People of God. Cer
tainly bishops are more than re
presentatives of the Bishop of
Rome. The ancient Fathers
clearly saw episcopal power as
wider than the exercise of papal
jurisdiction. In fact they con
sidered papal prerogatives
as an instance of episcopal pow
er.
Certainly the second session
of the council will tell us just
what a bishop is in the Church
and what his function in the Mys
tical Body entails. Current
theologians see the bishops as
directors not only of church
es but so untied around their
universal primate that they all
together guide the Church
universal. The idea must be
analyzed and explained. We wait
for the council to do so.
In our time we see some
clergy at work in the local
churches who are not directly
under the jurisdiction of the lo
cal bishop. These are Religious,
members of the old orders and
some younger congregations.
Known as "exempt clergy,"
they are directly under the
Pope himself.
The relationship between ex
empt Religious and the local
Ordinary is sometimes confus
ing. It seems to diminish the
bishop’s authority in his own
See. Lines must be laid down
so that the bishop’s power in
his church be made clear. The
question is an old one and goes
back to the 5th century. But the
growth of the Church in our
TO DIRECT WORK OF COUNCIL—These four Cardinal
delegates or moderators have been named by His Holiness
Pope Paul VI to direct all the work of Vatican Council II,
the second session of which opens September 29. With the
naming of the Cardinal moderators, the council’s Secretariat
for Extraordinary Affairs was abolished. The moderators
are: Far left, Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro, Archbishop
time and in complexity requires
an answer now. Once more we
can look forward to the council
for authoritative doctrine on
this very important point. Can
the bishop tell the exempt Rel
igious working in his diocese
how they are to work here and
now, or must he wait and see
what they will do? The latter
hypothesis could produce un
comfortable situations.
In our time we have become
aware that the Church is the
people of God. The laity are the
overwhelming mass in the
Church. In Greek the word for
people is laos, from which we
get the term laity. Now just what
is the role of the layman in the
Church? Is he only a child who
does not make mature judgment
but does only what he is told
by his paternal superiors? He
must have initiative if he is to
act effectively as a mature adult
member of the Mystical Body.
On the other hand, his bishop
is in all truth his pastor and
his guide. How can lay initia
tive be reconciled with epis
copal jurisdiction? Once more
we expect the council to give us
sharp and stable light.
The Second Vatican Council
will be highly significant for
Christian life. Religious,
priests, laymen, and bishops
Nun, “Too Frail To Last Week”
Rounds Out 38 Years At Leprosarium
t
of Bologna, Italy; left center, Gregorio Cardinal Agagianian,
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of
the Faith; right center,, Leo Cardinal Suenens, Archbishop of
Malines-Brussels, Belgium; Far Right, Julius Cardinal
Doepfner, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany.
—(NC Photos)
will see their existence in a new
light. The relations between one
and the other will be clearer,
making for more effective co
operation and collaboration.
This is highly to be desired be
cause the Church is a living
body which is always intensely
active. No part of the body is
passive. Even our contem
plative nuns and monks are not
outside of the corporate vitality.;
They too by their activity, spir
itual indeed, serve the Church
and her well-being.
Now we must not demand too
much of the council. It cannot
be in session for many years.
The questions about the Church
are so numerous that the short
lived council cannot take
them all into consideration.
Among the many questions only
some will be chosen for an
swers—those which press up
hardest in our time. Other coun
cils must deal with prob
lems which their moment in
history present.
Nor must we forget that a
council is a very practical un
dertaking. The needs of the
Church as an existing commun
ion must be met. A council is
not a school of theology where
theories are liesurely confected
and developed. Such work is a
very good thing, but we have
By Leroy Colter
(N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE)
CARVILLE, La.—When Sis
ter Strieker of the Daughters
of Charity of St. Vincent de
£&ul came to the U. S. Public
Health Service Hospital here
in 1925, she was described as
1 'too young and too frail to last
more than a week."
Today she holds the distinct
ion of having served here at the
only leprosarium in the conti
nental U. S. longer than any
other member of the profes
sional staff. She is a registered
pharmacist, teaches music to
permanent institutions of this
kind. Councils have no inten
tion of doing their work for
them. In consequence we shall
find the council acting not only
in the realm of theological the
ory but mainly in the order of
concrete needs. Such situations
will be under concilar scrutiny.
One final point: The council
will impart greater importance
to regional and national epis
copal conferences. Such period
ical assemblies of bishops can
deal with more questions than
an ecumenical council can. The
council, therefore, will supply
us with a device to get more
and more answers when and
where the questions arise.
It is clear that the council
by its doctrine and directives
is going to rejuvenate the whole
Church. We can expect great
things.
patients, and has directed the
annual Nativity play for years.
One of 22 sisters now staffing
the hospital, 19 of whom are
registered nurses, Sister Laura
is a member of the American
Pharmaceutical Association,
the Louisiana Society of Hospi
tal Pharmacists, the South
eastern Society of Hospital
Pharmacists, the International
Pharmaceutical Federation and
the American Guild of Organ
ists.
Sister Laura came to Car-
ville from Evansville, Ind. Her
first job was clinical clerk, or
“cynical clerk,” depending on
the patient viewpoint. She be
came an advocate of the theory
that music was good, sound
therapy for fingers damaged
by Hansen’s Disease. So in addi
tion to her other duties, she
became director of the choir
and the church organist.
The Sisters of Charity com
memorated their 69th anniver
sary here this year. They came
in 1896 to nurse the patients
and manage the struggling hos
pital for which Louisiana had
provided funds only two years
earlier.
When the U. S. Public Health
Service assumed administra
tion of the leprosarium in 1921,
the six Sisters of Charity were
retained and placed on the Fed
eral payroll on the same basis
as government personnel.
Sister Martha Lawlor was the
first chief nurse of the Federal
institution. She began her duties
November 4, 1921, and contin
ued almost until the day of her
death, May 5, 1935.
One of the most widely known
of the nuns affiliated with Car-
ville was Sister Hilary Ross,
who—before Sister Laura
Strieker came along—held the
record for the longest stay at
the hospital. Sister Hilary, who
was at the hospital for 37 years,
was internationally known in
the biochemical field. She left
the hospital in August, 1960,
to become head of the X-ray
and chemical department for a
hospital for crippled children in
Japan.
Sister Ann Elizabeth Hughes
is director of nurses at the le
prosarium. She came to Car-
ville 16 years ago as assistant
director of nursing, a post she
held for four years. She was
graduated from St. Joseph
School of Nursing in Chicago,
and holds a bachelor of science
degree from Louisiana State
University.
Duties of the Daughters of
Charity nqw include serving as
nurses, supervising the dietetic
section and operating the phar
macy.
Sound driying calls for lower
speeds on residential streets,
particularly near parked cars,
says the Allstate Motor Club.
Most child traffic accidents oc
cur when a youngster runs into
the street from behind a parked
car.
AT.I. EYES ON SEPTEMBER 29 . . .
A woman knelt in the streets of Rome and cried. June 3,
1963, the good Pope John was dead. And with his death the
work of the Second Vatican Council came to an abrupt halt.
Without a Pope there is no council. He is its president, he
alone can approve its decrees. “I hope I will live to see the
end of the council,” Pope John had said the previous
December, but if not “there will surely be another pope.”
Who was this new Pope to be? Would he recall the council?
Disband it? Postpone it? How soon could the work begin
under a new pope? The most optimistic said “six months.”
Others said “a year.” Meanwhile all eyes focused on Rome.
Within 18 days the answers started coming. The largest
conclave of cardinals ever assembled elected Giovanni
Cardinal Montini of Milan to head the Church. He chose the
name Paul VI and on the very day of his election pledged
that “the pre-eminent part of Our pontificate will be the
continuation of the Second Vatican Council, on which are
fixed the eyes of all men of good will.” This was June 21.
By July 3, the world discovered that the new Pope shared
the urgent, vital yearning of Pope John for the council and
Church renewal. The postponement was not months or years,
only three weeks. The council would reconvene on Sept. 29.
'.C-J/Z/ry /*/Z.£--55
There was no time to lose. In Rome the Central Coordinating
Commission resumed its work. At the end of the first session
Pope John said: “A good beginning has been made.” But, he
added “the work that awaits us is of the greatest impor
tance.” Part of that work he assigned to the Central Co
ordinating Commission. In the interim between the two ses
sions these 13 council fathers were charged with re-examining
and perfecting the projects presented to the council. The
stress to be on the pastoral rather than the doctrinal; co
ordinate, compress, clarify, these were their instructions.
Pope Paul added three cardinals to help expedite the work.
Not only in Rome did the study lights burn late. Throughout
the world in the 10 months between sessions all the bishops
returned to their books. Back in early February Pope John
wrote each bishop. He asked them to consider and discuss
the projects coming up at the second session. By mid-May
the Coordinating Commission had sent 12 of the 17 revised
proposals to the bishops for comment. Before he died Pope
John initialed three more. The last two were sent out in July.
On August 6, in Chicago, the 149 U. S. bishops met for a two
day briefing on the revised documents. In Europe, Africa, the
Far East, other bishops did the same.
Thus continued the education begun at the first
session of the council. An education, as it turned
out, for the whole world. One would not think
that bishops needed education. Yet Emile Cardinal
Leger of Montreal used these exact words. “The
two months of the first session were an education
for the fathers of the council,” he said, “a sort
of ‘crash-training’ program.” Over 250 theological
experts were on call. The finest minds in the
Church present in Rome at one time. Such an op
portunity had never been offered before.
It wasn’t only the bishops who learned, the world
learned as well. Newspaper headlines told the
story. MINISTERS HEAR MIAMI BISHOP.
PROTESTANT MONK HAILS SPIRIT OF COUN
CIL. CARDINAL ADDRESSES LUTHERANS.
The “first step” toward unity had been taken.
PROTESTANT OBSERVERS SURPRISED AT
COUNCIL’S FREEDOM OF DISCUSSION. COUN
CIL NOT RUBBER STAMP. The “bringing-up-to-
date” of the Church had begun. The world’s view
of the Church began to change.
In the interim the council changed too. Most important: Pope
Paul VI, the new presiding officer. He replaces Pope John
as, what one observer called, “the pivot of the council.”
Over 60 council fathers, including four cardinals are dead.
Some held posts in the working commissions. Pope Paul set
about to replace them. Heading his list of appointments are
not replacements but three new members added to the coun
cil’s Board of Presidents. These prelates preside at the day-
to-day sessions, regulating speeches, holding votes, running
the meetings. His appointments: Chicago’s Cardinal Meyer,
Poland’s Cardinal Wysznski, and Genoa’s Cardinal Siri.
CA(ZP/MAL JZU&AMBWA
During the first session many council fathers ac
quired journalistic tags. Cardinal Bea, head of the
Christian Unity Secretariat, newsmen called
“liberal.” Cardinal Ottaviani, of the Holy Office,
was labeled “conservative.” The African Cardinal
Rugambwa, they hailed as “the spokesman for the
emerging nations.” Others were labeled “moder
ate,” “progressive,” “traditionalist.” Why? Writ
ers in telling of the council’s work, tried to express
differing viewpoints in a single word. And once
labels are pasted on personalities they tend to stick.
There were differences of opinion in the first
session. There are sure to be differences in the
second. No one should be shocked. Pope John
wasn’t. “After all,” he said, “they are not monks
singing in choir.” They are discussing, debating
and deciding “questions of greatest interest to the
welfare of the Universal Church.” The nature of
the Church, the powers of bishops, the Bible, the
role of laymen, freedom of conscience, vocations.
And after the debates—votes, decisions on ways
and means of achieving the Council’s goal.
This is the key to the council: the “renewal of the
Church.” What one observer called a "revolution in
Catholic life.” But it is even more than that. It is a
prayer as well as a congress. It will be, said Pope
John, a “new Pentecost” — the coming of the Holy
Spirit of God to men. Political freedom, the conquer
ing of the atom, even the conquering of space, im
portant as they are, will not be the greatest events of
the 20th century. Because they cannot equal the impact
of the Second Vatican Council when its goal is achieved:
the conquering of the hearts of all men for Christ.