Newspaper Page Text
t
The Southern Cross, January 28, 1965—PAGE 3
FOR SAKE OF UNITY
Church’s Teachings Can
Not Be Hidden, Modified
VATICAN CITY (NC)-Pope
• 1 VI had warned Catholics
inst the temptation to hide,
modify or deny “those teach
ings of the Catholic Church
which are not today accepted
by the separated brethren.”
Christianity, he said, “is a
divine truth which is not given
to us to change but only to as
certain and to accept for our
salvation.”
In an address to those attend
ing his weekly general audience
(Jan. 20) during the Chair of
Unity Octave, Pope Paul noted
that he was speaking “during
a week dedicated to prayer and
study for the great cause of the
recomposition within the single
Church of Christ of those who
believe in Him and who are
now separated among themselv
es and from us.”
He noted that the decree on
ecumenism promulgated (Nov.
21) at the ecumenical council
, “has the intention . . . facilitat
ing, however it may be possi
ble, the enjoyment of the full,
living and sincere participation
of all followers of the Gospel
in the riches of this mystery
(of unity).” He urged all Cath
olics to pray for success of this
intention.
• said that Christian unity
seem a simple problem to
those who do not know much
about it. But he added “to those
who know the historical, psy
chological and doctrinal aspects
of the question itself, the great
and obvious difficulties of every
type and from every side are
Heywood Grooms
CONSTRUCTION
Custom Building — to your
pians or ours.
Alterations — only quality
materials used throughout
“FREE ESTIMATES”
Rt. 3, Box ft 1
354-3128 Day or Night
apparent.”
He said, however, that he did
not want to discuss these dif
ficulties but to call attention to
a temptation “which can de
velop in good persons and give
rise to a wrong and invalid at
titude for resolving what are a-
mong the most serious difficul
ties, the doctrinal ones.”
This, the Pope stated, “is a
temptation to put aside controv
ersial points, to hide, to weak
en, to modify, to render vain,
to deny, if needs be, those
teachings of the Catholic Church
which are not today accepted
by the separated brethren.
“We- say this is an easy
temptation because it can seem
unimportant to minimize and
get rid of certain truths and
certain dogmas, which are the
object of controversy, so as to
attain comfortably the so great
ly desired union.
“But Christianity is a divine
truth which is not given to us
to change but only to ascertain
and to accept for our salva
tion.”
The temptation attracts not
only those who are ignorant of
theological questions, the Pope
said, but even experts “who
seek, often in good faith, some
expedient rationale for smooth
ing out the way of coming to
gether with the separated breth
ren.
“The intention is good. The
method is not.”
From the Catholic point of
view, Pope Paul continued, “to
want to recognize how much
good is still found in the patri
mony of the churches and
Christian confessions detached
from our Church is fine. To
want to present Catholic doc
trine in its authentic and essen
tial aspects, leaving aside its
debatable and nonessential as-
;;;;;; /.I.W !■ iV. .' '■ 4^ 'ii’.Y.
stf? a a «••••* v t/ w f/'u f/
«
9
&
sHU $
FA1
riMA
Rd
1E&
SHE
IINES
OF EUROPE
&H0LY LAND
«
m
«
«
§
I
9
«
ft
!§ Catholic Travel Office
WASHINGTON CHICAGO ROME LONDON ijjjj]
® CATHOLIC TRAVEL OFFICE SG W
Dupont Circle Building, Washington, D. C. 20036 jjjjlj
jijSji Please send me your free illustrated booklet describing in £
detail the “world-covering” pilgrimages. V
AS
Name
CATHOLIC PROGRAM 1965
AIRLINES
if Address.
City/Zone/State
Hi :i*. / A, .*:«« / A, //in*. f /;::;*.
I VP Wttff\f W» VW « V*
••••••
ii
/*
v*
pect, is fine.
“It is fine, too, to seek to
present controversial points in
terms whicn can render them
more exact and understandable
even in regard to those who do
not share them. This is brother
ly patience . . . This is charity
at the service of truth.
“But to pretend to resolve
doctrinal difficulties by seeking
to discredit or disregard or con
ceal affirmations which the
teaching authority of the Church
declares binding and definitive
is not a good service.”
This does not aid Christian
unity efforts, the Pope said, be
cause it either arouses suspic
ions or creates false hopes. IF
also makes Catholic fear that
unity is sought “at the price of
truth.”
Pope Paul said he hopes to
make Catholics ever more cap
able of engaging in the ecumen
ical dialogue “by means of a
more open and humble sinceri
ty; by means of the passion
and joy they must feel for the
light of the truth of a whole
and lived faith; by means of a
didactic, gradual explanation of
our teaching; and by means of
respect, esteem and charity to
ward those to whom we are
speaking.”
Catholics should engage in the
dialogue in this way, the Pon
tiff said, so that separated
Christians “may see that ours
is not an ‘a priori’ dogmatism,
nor a spiritual imperialism, nor
yet a formal juridicism. but a
total homage to the total truth
which comes from Christ.”
The fullness of the faith, the
Pope said, ‘is not a treasure to
be held onto jealously, but ra
ther a treasure .... which
makes us all the happier the
more we can give it to others
and say that it is not ours but
Christ’s and everyone’s.”
Legion Of
Mary Work
Praised
VANCOUVER, B.C. (NC)—A
prison chaplain asserted here:
“Clergy and professionals in re
habilitation work must come
down from their ivory towers
and see Christ in every man,
even the criminal.”
Father Thomas Francis Cor
coran, senior Catholic chaplain
of British Columbia told a con
ference of provincial chaplains
that in ten years of work at Oa-
kalla Prison Farm, the Legion
of Mary achieved many succes
ses through spiritual counseling
devoid of clinical analysis, psy
chological jargon and a patron
izing manner.
“Only when we apply our
Christian teaching of loving our
neighbor as ourselves will we
turn bitterness into love and re
place resentment with self re
sponsibility,” he said.
Father Corcoran, president of
the British Columbia Correction
al Chaplains Association, sug
gested establishments of more
half-way houses, patterned after
Sancta Maria House opened here
five years ago for women of all
religious denominationss and
operated by Legion of Mary vol
unteer workers.
COLUMN RIGHT! Newly uniformed band and color guard of the largest Catholic high
school in the nation (6,300 students), Cardinal Dougherty high school, Philadelphia,
marched up the Avenue of Presidents in the (Jan. 20) Inaugural parade. (NC Photos)
HARDSHIPS RECOUNTED
Catholicism In VieVnam
Traces History To 1615
SAIGON (NC) - The 350th
birthday of the Catholic religion
in Vietnam fell on Jan. 18, 1965,
but because of recent political
disturbances no celebr a t i o n s
were held.
On Jan. 18, 1615, five Jesuits
—Father Francesco Buzomi, Ita
lian, and Father Diego Carval
ho, Portuguese, and three Bro
thers, two Japanese, one Portu
guese — landed near what is
now Danang in central Vietnam.
They were not the first Catho
lic missionaries to come to Viet
nam. They were the first to suc
ceed in establishing a perma
nent mission.
The earliest record of Chris
tianity in this country is an
edict of 1533 prohibiting the re
ligion of Jesus as preached in
three villages of the north by a
foreigner. Before the end of the
16th century, Dominican and
Franciscan missionaries, Portu
guese and Spanish, attempted
to preach the Gospel here but
made no progress. The seed did
not really take root until the
Jesuits founded their mission in
1615.
They were missionaries forc
ed out of Japan. Their first ef
forts in Vietnam were made
easier by the presence of some
Japanese Christians in Danang.
On Easter Sunday, 1615, they
baptized their first 10 converts.
From this mission the fam
ous Father Alexandre de Rho
des went to Tonkin in northern
“WE PRAY that Almighty God may grant to the leader of
our country wisdom and understanding, strength and cour
age, in these days of stress and strife,” was in part the
prayer of Archbishop Robert E. Lucey of San Antonio, giv
ing the invocation at Inaugural ceremony (Jan. 20) at the
U. S. Capitol, as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice
President Hubert H. Humphrey stood with bowed heads.
(NC Photos)
BURNHAM VAN SERVICE
Find Your Local
Agent In
The Yellow Pages
COMPLETE MOVING SERVICE TO ALL STATES
“Call The Man From Burnham Van
5?
Vietnam, where he arrived on
St. Joseph’s Day, March 19,
1627.
Obstacles and persecution
came early and often. In 1630
a Christian was beheaded in
the north. In the south a catech
ist was executed in 1644. Per
secution recurred until the 1880s
and began again, under the
communists, in 1945. And it is
still going on in communist-rul
ed North Vietnam.
By the end of the 19th centu
ry Vietnam had earned ‘the
name of “Land of 100,000 Mar
tyrs.” Of these, 119 have been
formally beatified. Some of the
beatified martyrs are French
and Spanish missionaries, but
the majority are Vietnamese
priests, catechists and ordinary
layfolk.
After the Jesuit missionaries
came priests of the Parish For
eign Mission Society (1664),
founded largely through the ef
forts of Father de Rhodes. Span
ish Dominicans came next
(1676).
The Catholic population of
Vietnam grew, in spite of per
secution and restrictions, until
now it is estimated to be 10.2%
in the south and 5.6% in the
communist-held north. The to
tals are about 1,500,000 in the
south, about 850,000 in the
north.
The first Vietnamese priests
were ordained in 1668. Today
most of the bishops, priests and
religious in the country are
Vietnamese. Only two of Viet
nam’s 21 dioceses GO in the
north, 11 in the center and
south) have foreign-born bish
ops.
The present 350th anniversary
of the first permanent mission
is a reminder that the Catholic
religion had taken root in Viet
nam more than 150 years before
the American Declaration of In
dependence and more than 240
years before the beginning of
French colonial rule here.
No religion practised in Viet-
name originated, or is found ex
clusively, in this country. The
veneration of ancestors and ani
mism are widespread in nearby
lands. Buddhism entered Viet
nam from China, for the most
part, through Cambodia in the
Mekong delta.
Brunswick
Committee
Chairmen
Additional Committee Chair
men were named at the Janua
ry meeting of St. Francis Xavi
er PCCW, Brunswick. New
chairmen are:
Miss Peggy Lloyd, Parliamen
tarian; Miss Katie Lenz, Pro
gram Chairman and Mrs. Tho
mas C. Pace, Corresponding
Secretary.
Reports were presented by
the various committees with
Mrs. P. D. Joines, Jr., announc
ing that copies of the revised
Constitution would be available
at the February meeting.
REGULAR MEETINGS
Church Council
To Hold Interfaith
Talks With Rome
ENUGU, Nigeria (NC) — The
central committee of the World
Council of Churches has named
an eight-man working group to
hold regular meetings on inter
faith matters with the Catholic
Church.
The decision to appoint the
group was made unanimously
by the 100-man policy - making
committee of the WCC, which
represents 214 Protestant, An
glican and Orthodox churches
in more than 80 countries.
The committee is not author
ized to negotiate unity with the
Catholic Church or to make any
decisions without the agreement
of the WCC’s member churches.
A WCC report on the appoint
ment said the group is planned
as a strictly consultative body
that “would not be able to make
any decisions.” The report add
ed that a “clear distinction must
also be made between the sub
jects which can be properly dis
cussed between the World Coun
cil and! the Roman Catholic
Church and those which must
be discussed in bilateral con
versations between the individu
al member churches or confes
sional bodies and the Roman
Catholic Church.”
The central committee said
the questions with which the
working group can deal include:
• Pr a ct i c a 1 cooperation in
charitable, social and interna
tional matters.
STATE’S FIRST
• Theological studies concern
ing ecumenism.
• Specific problems which
have caused tension between
Catholics and non-Catholics such
as mixed marriages, religious
liberty and proselytizing.
• Comjmon problems in the
mission field.
It was reported here that the
naming of the working group
followed six months of talks be -
tween representatives of the
WCC and the Vatican’s Secre
tariat for Promoting Christian
Unity, headed by Augustin Car
dinal Bea, S.J.
The secretariat’s two observ
ers at the central committee
meeting here lauded the WCC
decision and said that it “is in
harmony with the recent decree
of the ecumenical council on
ecumenism.” The observers are
two French priests: Fathers
Pierre Duprey, W.F., the secre
tariat’s undersecretary for East
ern churches, and Father Je
rome Hamer, O.P., former rec
tor of the Dominican’s ecumen
ical study center at Le Saul-
choir near Paris.
The Rev. Lukas Vischer, who
was a WCC observer at the ecu
menical council, said the newly
named working group will have
to leap “a pretty formidable
procedural hurdle” in its dis
cussions with Vatican represent
atives.
California Bishop
Will Be Reburied
SAN FRANCISCO (NC)—Arch
bishop Joseph T. McGucken said
“special historical and religious
ceremonies” will be held here
when the remains of Archbishop
Alemany, O.P., first Archbishop
of San Francisco, are brought
here from Spain for burial.
Archbishop Alemany was born
in 1814. He joined the Domini
cans and went to the United
States when he was elected pro
vincial of the Dominican pro
vince then based in Tennessee.
In 1850 he was appointed Bishop
of the Californias by Pope Pius
IX and was named the first
archbishop of San Francisco
when that See was erected in
1853. His reign saw the rush of
thousands of people seeking
quick fortunes in the famous
Gold Rush of ’49.
Reports said the prelate’s
body was exhumed (Jan. 23) in
t h e village of Vich, northern
Spain. Church and civil authori
ties of Barcelona and Vich at
tended a Solemn Mass offered
in the cathedral at Vich by
Bishop Ramon Masnou Boixeda
of Vich. Father Francis Weber,
recor of Queen of Angels Semi
nary, San Fernando, Calif., was
present. The remains are to be
brought here by plane.
Negotiations for reburial of
Archbishop Alamany’s body here
have been conducted for a year
between the San Francisco arch
diocese, the Spanish government
and the Alemany family.
He will be interred in a spe
cial chapel in Holy Cross Ceme
tery where Archbishops Patrick
W. Riordan, Edward J. Hanna
and John Mitty, his successors
as archbishops of San Francis
co, are buried.
Archbishop Joseph T. McGuc
ken said “special historical and
religious ceremonies” will be
held here when the remains of
Archbishop Alemany first Arch
bishop of San Francisco, are
brought here from Spiain for
burial.
In his 31 years as head of the
archdiocese he built a cathedral
'and some 150 churches, four
hospitals, eight orphanages, 18
elementary and six high schools;
and other institutions. When he
arrived in San Francisco, there
was one frame Catholic Church;
three priests and 500 Catholics.
When he resigned as archbishop
in 1885 there were 200,000 Catho
lics and 250" priests.
soctiikkn
VENETIAN
BLIND CORK
REPAIRS - REFINISHING
LAUNDRY
BRADLEY LOCK
& KEY SHOP
KNIVES - SISSORS - BARBER CUPPERS
YALE KEYS — SAFESOPENED
KEYS FITTED -- GUNSMITHS
AD 2-2148 BONDER 24 E. SUt#
NIGHTS - EL 4-1047 Savannah, G*.
Croft Heating &
Air Conditioning
GM Delco 365 Conditioners
—DISTRIBUTOR-
ALL MAKES REPAIRED
5406 Skidaday Rd.
354-8620 Savannah, Ga.
iruntid'
WUM!
IRON WORK
• >>0RCH COLUMNS & RAILS
• - T EEL STAIRS
MISC. IRON WORK
r2| : • L*CHT STRUCTURAL STEEL
® I Yeart Experience
ALBERT CLARK - Owner
Clark and Sons
IRON WORKS
5518 WHITE BLUFF RD,
SAVANNAH EL 5-1340 «
Xnnett&L
Over 40 Years of Dependable Courteous Service
SAVANNAH. GEORGIA
Home of
Person to Person
Service
Savannah Bank
& TRUST COMPANY
your Hometown Bank