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Final Council Week
Council In Review
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JFK REQUIEM IN POPE’S CATHEDRAL—Overall view of the requiem Mass celebrat
ed on November 25, for U. S. President John F. Kennedy in Pope Paul Vi’s own cathedral,
St. John Lateran in Rome. Some 40 cardinals, more than 1,000 bishops, diplomats and
high Italian government officials attended the Mass celebrated by Francis Cardinal Spell
man of New York. It was the climax of three days of mourning in Italy.—(NC Photos)
At Council
Relations With
Non-Catholics Discussed
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Ex
treme liberality was the key
note of the final week of the ecu
menical council’s second ses
sion as the council Fathers
discussed ways to encourage
ecumenical relations with non-
Catholics.
The measures recommended
included recognition of the vali
dity of mixed marriages before
non-Catholic ministers, per
mission to attend non-Catholic
religious services and coopera
tion with non-Catholics in the
intellectual field.
During the week the date for
the council’s third session was
set for Sept. 14 to Nov. 20,
1964.
Forty-three Fathers were al
so elected to additional posts
on council commissions, in
cluding six members of theU. S.
Hierarchy. No other country had
so many bishops elected to the
additional posts.
U. S. Bishops chosen were
Auxiliary Bishop Gerald V. Mc-
Devitt of Philadelphia; Bishop
John W. Comber, M.M., Super
ior General of Maryknoll;
Bishop Loras T. Lane of Rock
ford, Ill.; Bishop Allen J. Bab
cock of Grand Rapids, Mich.;
Bishop Charles H. Helmsing of
Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.;
and Bishop Ernest J. Primeau
of Manchester, N. H. Also elect
ed was American-born Bishop
John E. Taylor, O.M.I., of
Stockholm.
During the week council
debate was on Chapters II and III
of the schema on ecumenism.
Chapter II deals with the imple
mentation of ecumenism and
Chapter III with separated
Christians. Since Chapters IV
and V of the schema, which
concern Christian relations
with Jews and religious free
dom, had not yet been submitt
ed to a vote for acceptance as
part of the schema, Chapter
III was the last topic to be
discussed pending the fate of the
two final chapters.
Chapter III is divided into
two parts, one dealing with the
“special situation of the Orien
tal church’’ — the Orthodox
—and the other with “commun
ities that have arisen since the
16th century onward’’—the
Protestants.
Part I recognizes that “in
the East many local churches
had their origin directly from
the Apostles’’ and admits the
debt of the Church in the West
to the Eastern churches
for many of its liturgical ele
ments. In phrases of highest
respect, the schema says that
“pastors and faithful of the
Catholic Church should give
special attention to the fraternal
communion existing among
these churches on the eccles
iastical level and also to their
antiquity and opostolic origin.”
With an eye to reunion the text
declares: “The council solemn
ly affirms the principle of ‘unity
in diversity of custom and prac
tices, especailly when these are
sanctioned by the Church Fath
ers . . . The full observance
of this traditional principle, too
often disregarded, is a neces
sary condition to the restora
tion of unity.”
Acknowledging that a wall di
vides the Eastern and Western
churches, the schema declares:
“It is our wholehearted purpose
to demolish that wall, so that
there may be but a single dwell
ing whose cornerstone, Jesus
Christ, will make both one.”
As for the “communities that
have arisen from the 16th cen
tury onward,” the schema re
cognizes the common accept
ance of the Bible as “an inval
uable means for the bringing
about of dialogue.”
While the faithful “are ad
monished to abstain from all
superficiality and from any im
prudent zeal,” nevertheless the
text commends “the first steps
of Christians to enter into a
dialogue which has already
brought them closer to one an
other.”
Speaking on Chapter II, Jo
seph Cardinal Frings of
Cologne, Germany, said the
council should demonstrate that
one church is possible here and
now and is not necessarily
something to be awaited in the
distant future. To demonstrate
this possibility, he urged
recognition of the validity of
mixed marriages contracted
before a non-Catholic minister.
He did so, however, with some
strong reservations. He said:
“We should at the same time
declare disapproval of mixed
marriages. We should insist on
the question of religious schools
for the education of our chil
dren. If a non-Catholic party
feels it is against his con
science to promise to bring up
his children in the Catholic
F aith, he is not to be sub
jected to pressure, but he should
give up an idea of marriage in
the circumstances. We should
declare the validity of mixed
marriages contracted in the
presence of a non-Catholic min
ister and should remove the ec
clesiastical penalties of such
marriages. All this would clear
the atmosphere and prepare the
way for fruitful ecumenical ac
tivity.”
Cardinal Frings was suppor
ted in these suggestions by Fa
ther Hilaire Capucci, superior
general of the Melkite Rite Or
der of St. Basil of Aleppo, who
also added that legislation on
participation in non-Catholic
religious services should be
changed.
Coptic Rite Auxiliary Bishop
Jean Nuer of Thebes, Egypt,
urged participation of Catholic
priests and laity in non-Ca
tholic religious services.
Beyond cooperation with non-
Catholics in the social field,
Archbishop Haycinthe Thian-
doum of Dakar, Senegal, said
there should be cooperation
also in the fields of science,
art and culture.
“We should not lose sight of
the importance of intellectual
activity in the work of recon
ciliation,” said Archbishop
Emile Blanchet, rector of the
Catholic Institute of Paris. “We
should carefully avoid any feel
ings of superiority or condes
cension and should guard
against any attitude which might
give the impression that accept
ing the Catholic Church is like
abandoning one’s mother. We
should have respect for the
positive aspects of the faith of
our separated brethren.”
Opening the discussion of
Chapter III, Antonio Cardinal
Bacci of the Roman curia not
ed that the schema states that
it is the duty of the Roman
See “to preside in charity.”
To this, he said, should be
added “and in authority.”
Melkite Rite Patriarch Max-
imos IV Saigh of Antioch ex
pressed his regret that some
council Fathers had suggested
a unification of the two codes
of canon law of the Latin and
Eastern churches. He said
“Rome has gone to consider
able trouble to give the orien
tal churches a code of canon
law different from that of the
Latin Church. The results of
this project are certainly not
perfect, but they are leading
in the right direction.”
Bishop Bernardin Collin,
O.F.M., of Digne, France, was
the first of two bishops who
suggested that the Anglican
Church be given special treat
ment in the schema, just as is
given the Orthodox. The other
was Coadjutor Archbishop Paul
Gouyon of Rennes, France.
Maronite Rite Patriarch Paul
Meouchi of Antioch said;
“Progress in ecumenism can
be likened to progress in the
spiritual life, in which the first
steps are in the'purgative way.’
In the Spirit of this way, it is
important to purge ourselves of
all prejudice and false impres
sions and thus to buildup a gen
uine respect for the churches
of the Orient.”
Fernando Cardinal Quirogay
Palacios of Santiago de Com
postela, Spain, urged that there
be special mention in the sche
ma of the dogmas which are
shared with the separated Eas
tern Christians, such as the Eu
charist and the Apostolic Suc
cession of the episcopate.
The objection was raised by
Bishop Helmsing that the text
refuses to apply the term
“Church” to non-Catholic com
munities. This will certainly be
an obstacle to any effective
ecumenical action, he said.
Bishop Helmsing defended
the use of the term “church”
as applied to non-Catholic re
ligious bodies by citing the won
derful spirit among Pro
testants. He paid tribute to the
Rev. Martin Luther King—a
leader of Negro efforts to win
civil rights—as an example of
the witness non-Catholic com
munities show for Christ. La
ter, at the U. S. Bishops’ press
panel meeting he added: “We
American Bishops are all very
much impressed by the Negro
clergy leadership in the drive
for racial equality.”
Bishop Thomas K. Gorman
of Dallas-Fort Worth support
ed this statement saying: “All
southern bishops would join in
this sentiment.”
Bishop Helmsing added at
the end of his council’s speech
and exhortation to the F athers
to proceed to a vote on accep
tance of Chapters IV and V of
the schema before the end of
the session on Dec. 4. He was
voicing what was a growing
concern, coupled with resent
ment, among many of the coun
cil Fathers that there might be
a studied attempt to stall a
decision on the chapters and
end the session without sub
mitting them to the promised
vote.
During the week it was an
nounced that there would be a
solemn vote and promulgation
on Dec. 4 of the constitution of
the liturgy and the decree on
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VATICAN CITY, (NC)—Ex
treme liberality was the domi
nant note of the ecumenical
council’s Nov. 28 meeting as
the world’s bishops discussed
ways of encouraging ecumeni-
c al relations with non-C atholics
of East and West.
The measures recommended
included such things as recog
nition of the validity of mixed
marriages before non-Catholic
ministers, permission to attend
non-Catholic religious srvices
and cooperation with non-
Catholics in studies.
In spite of the fact that a
majority vote had closed dis
cussion of the second chapter
on the schema on ecumenism,
which deals with the implemen
tation of ecuminism, 15 coun
cil Fathers succeeded in finding
another five Fathers each to
support them in their requests
to continue speaking on Chapter
II. As a result, although tech
nically speaking consideration
of Chapter II was already clo
sed, only four of the day’s
speakers could be heard on. the
topic properly under discus
sion, Chapter III dealing with
separated Christians.
One of the 15, Archbishop
Eugene D’Souza of Bhopal, In
dia, yielded the floor in view
of the great number of Fa
thers who had asked to speak
on the second chapter. He was
roundly applauded.
The long list of speakers on
the “closed chapter” had a
noticeable effect on the meet
ing. This reporter had never
seen the council hall so empty.
A majority of the bishops were
in the side aisels of the basi
lica, walking up and down and
conversing privately.
One of the bishops comment
ed that he believed there was
no one left in the council hall
but the bishops listed to speak
and the five bishops each who
had supported their request to
speak.
During the morning, ballots
of the council Fathers forelec
tion of additional members of
council commissions were col
lected. Since each ballot called
for 45 votes, the tally of some
2,000 ballots could not be made
until the following day.
First speaker on Chapter
IV was Joseph Cardinal Frings
of Cologne, Germany. He said
the council should demonstrate
that one church is possible here
and now and is not necessarily
something to be awaited in the
distant future. To demon
communications media. A defi
nition copy of the liturgy con
stitution was distributed (Nov.
29) to council Fathers with the
advice that a definitive copy of
the communications decree
would be distributed on Dec. 2.
Archbishop Pericle Felici,
council general secretary, add
ed to his announcement that,
given the special pastoral char
acter of the council, the Fa
thers should rest assured that
no vote on any document is
intended with a view to infal
lible definition and that, if such
a case should arise, this fact
would be clearly indicated.
The documents to be con
sidered at the public session
of Dec. 4, he said, are pure
ly disciplinary and, although
they present the authentic
teaching of the Church, there
is no question of infallible de
finitions. He added that the Pope
had asked the council Fathers
to study the texts in question
very seriously and to pray fer
vently that the light of the Holy
Spirit might guide them in their
vote.
strate this possibility, he urged
recognition of the validity of
mixed marriages contracted
before a non-Catholic minister.
He did so, however, with some
strong reservations.
While urging the council to
declare the validity of mixed
marriages before non-Catho
lic ministers, he said:
“We should at the same time
declare disapproval of mixed
marriages. We should insist
on the question of religious
schools for the education of our
children. If a non - Catholic
party feels it is against his
conscience to promise to bring
up his children in the Catholic
Faith, he is not to be subjec
ted to pressure, but he should
give up an Idea of marriage in
the circumstances. We should
declare the validity of mixed
marriages contracted in the
presence of a non-Catholic
minister and shoudl remove the
ecclesiastical penalties of such
marriages. All this would clear
the atmosphere and prepare the
way for fruitful ecumenical
REQUIEM MASS for Father
John LaFarge, S.J. (above),
author, editor and champion
of interracial justice, was
held in St. Ignatius Loyola
Catholic Church in New
York, on Nevember 27. The
83-year old priest died in hia
sleep. (NC Photos)
Broadcast
Spokesman Hits
Church Stand
PHILADELPHIA (NC)--The
president of the National Asso
ciation of Broadcasters said
here that a church group’s re
cent statement on broadcasting
would lead to government
“domination” of radio andtele-
vision.
LeRoy Collins, NAB presi
dent, made this claim in an
address (Nov. 30) to the Assem
bly of United Church Men, a
unit of the National Council of
Churches. He was referring to
a statement on broadcasting is
sued last June 8 by the National
Council.
Collins said the church coun
cil “is not . to be criticized for
seeking to get higher standards
in radio and television pro
grams. But the way to accom
plish this is not through greater
Federal control.”
Meanwhile, it was announced
that representatives of the NAB
and the church council will meet
in New York Dec. 9 to discuss
the statement.
A spokesman for the broad
casters association said it ob
jects particularly to the state
ment’s “call for regulation by
the Federal Communications
Commission of commercial an
nouncements and its endorse
ment of network licensing.”
activity.”
Cardinal Frings was follow
ed in these suggestions by Fa
ther Hilaire Capucci, superior
general of the Melkite Rite
Order of St. Basil of Alsppo,
who also added that legislation
on participation in non-Catho
lic religious services should
be changed.
Beyond cooperation with non-
Catholics in the social field,
Archbishop Hyacinthe Thian-
doum of Dakar, Senegal, said
there should be cooperation also
in the fields of science, art and
culture.
Bishop Vicente Reyes of Bo-
rongan, the Philippines, sug
gested that it would be a prac
tical step to promote a joint
novena with non-Catholics in
preparation for the feast of the
Pentecost for the intention of
unity in faith and charity.
“We should not lose sight of
the importance of intellectural
activity in the work of recon
ciliation,” said Archbishop
Emile Blanchet, rector of the
Catholic Institute of Paris. “We
should carefully avoid any feel
ings of superiority or condes
cension and should guard
against any attitude which might
give the impression, that ac
cepting the Catholic Church is
like abandoning one’s mother,
We should then have respect
for the positive aspects of the
faith of our separated bre
thren.”
Abbot Benedict Reetz, O.S.B.,
President of the Benedictine
Congregation of Beuron, Ger
many, recounted his exper
iences with theologians of the
Protestant faculty of the Uni
versity of Tuebingen, Germany,
who sometimes make a retreat
in his monastery. He said:
“One of their major com
plaints is what we might call
contorted and acrobatic theo
logy . . . Similarly they dis
like the excessive scholasti
cism in our theology which is
often lacking the Biblical
touch. They dislike undue juri-
dicism, which exalts the le
gal element in the Church to
the point where it becomes dif
ficult to understand its rela
tionship with human liberty.
“Lastly, they object to cer
tain forms of piety which ob
scure true piety . . .
* ‘On the other hand, they
admire our liturgy with chant,
the marvelous unity of the
Church, the monastic life, the
celibacy of the clergy and sa
cramental confession.”
Since Chapter II speaks of
the Biblical movement as a
pledge and augury of the suc
cess of the ecumenical move
ment, said Bishop Guillaume
Shoemaker of Purwokerto, In
donesia, the council should en
trust the preparation of a text
of the Vulgate for all Chris
tians to a post-council commis
sion, with experts from ev
ery nation and religious con
fession collaborating.
Bishop Garabed Amaduni,
Apostolic Exarch of Armenian
Rite Catholics in France, sug
gested a special college in Rome
for the training of Eastern Rite
clerics which would also admit
clerics of churches separated
from Rome.
In order that “this great
grace of the council” not to
be simply recorded and filed
away, Archbishop Henrique
Golland Trinidade, O.F.M., of
Botucatu, Brazil, urged that
public opinion be taken into ac
count. He said “We cannot in
fluence this opinion by radio,
press, or television, but it is
always in our power to influ
ence it by good example.”
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The Southern Cross, December 5, 1963—PAGE 3
Anti-Catholic Campaign
Continues In Vietnam
SAIGON, Vietnam (NC) —
The Campaign of intimidation,
false accusations and occasion
al physical ill treatment against
Catholics has continued in four
provinces of central Viet
nam, according to word re
ceived in Saigon.
It is now reported from Bonh
Dinh province also.
In one district of Quang Tri
province, (through which the
17th parallels dividing south
Vietnam from the Red-ruled
north passes) leaflets attack
ing Catholics appeared in mid-
November. After two days,par
ties of youths went around the
villages searching Catholic
houses. They seized and bound
15 persons of whom 11 were
Catholics.
In one village, two groups
of youths made the rounds of
Catholic families converted in
recent years, putting pressure
on them to give up their reli
gion.
One old woman Catholic was
dragged to the pagoda where her
captors tried to force her to
make prostrations before a sta
tue of Buddha.
Placards and leaflets have
been displayed in some villages
accusing Catholics of preparing
to kill Buddhists, of storing
arms in churches for this pur
pose and of having dug pits in-
Progressives,
Conservatives
Both Right
FLORENCE, Italy (NC)--One
of the ecumenical council’s four
moderators has declared that
both the council’s so-called
conservatives and its so-called
progressives are right..
Both, said Leo Cardinal Suen-
ens of Malines-Brussels, Bel
gium, have a task to accomplish
inside the Church.
The Cardinal was speaking at
the University of Florence on
“The Church Before the Evo
lution of Today’s World.” He
was the first speaker in a ser
ies of meetings on the council
organized by Florentine mem
bers of the Italian Federation of
Catholic University Students.
Cardinal Suenens said:
' ‘Truly for the first time the
world is becoming explicitly
aware of its unity and also of
its diversity. This situation is
new for the world. It is new
for the church.
“A great part of today’s heal
thy tension inside the Church it
self derives from the fact that
some of its members are more
sensitive to the inheritance to be
guarded, and others to the talent
to be exploited. That is, one part
underlines perenniality and the
other underlines dynamism.
“Both are right and both
have a task to accomplish to
day inside the one Church.”
New Nuncio For
Phillippines
VATICAN CITY, (NC) — Pope
Paul VI has named Archbishop
Carlo Martini to be Apostolic
Nuncio to the Philippines. The
Archbishop had served as Nun
cio to Paraguay. He succeeds
Archbishop Salvatore Sino, who
was named Nuncio to the Phil
ippines in March, 1959 and died
in Rome Oct. 8, 1963.
PATRONIZE OUR
ADVERTISERS
side churches to bury their
victims.
Secondary school students
are prominent in anti-Catho.lic
activities in some rural areas.
The similarity of slogans and
false accusations in dif
ferent places indicate a plan
ned campaign. It is feared mat
communist Vietcong agents ai-e
involved.
Maj. Gen Tran van Don, Min
ister of National Defense, and
Maj. Gen. Ton that Dinh, Min
ister for Security, flew to Hue
(Nov. 28) and later visited Da-
nang (formerly Tour an e) to in
vestigate and take measures
to remedy the situation.
Unity Octave
Intentions
Announced
GARRISON, N.Y. (NC)~The
Chair of Unity Octave, an eight-
day prayer period for the re
union of Christendom, will be
observed Jan. 18-25.
Father Titus Cranny, S. A.
director of the Chair of Unity
Apostolate at the motherhouse
here of the Francisan Friars
of Atonement, announced the
daily intentions as follows:
Jan. 18, for the unity of all
Christians in the Church; Jan.
19, for separated Eastern bre
thren; Jan. 20, for Anglicans;
Jan. 21, for European Chris
tians; Jan. 22, for American
Christians; Jan. 23, for spiri
tual renewal of Catholics; Jan.
24, for the Jewish people; Jan.
25, for extension of the Church
in other lands.
Father Cranny said that “a
holy longing for unity should
sweep over the world, inspir
ing people of all faiths, but
especially Catholics to pray
for unity.”
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