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t f The Southern Cross, September 26, 1963—PAGE 3 Vatican Council To Consider Bishop’s Place And Function r j (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.