Newspaper Page Text
i
The Southern Cross, April 22. 1965—PAGE 3
N.C.E.A. TOLD
Schools Are Essential
To Church’s Strength
ifew YORK (NC)—A veteran
CT^olic educator predicted there
will be a “soft spot” in the
strength of the U. S. Church if
it departs from the effort to offer
“across-the-board” education to
as many children as possible.
Catholic schools, said Auxili
ary Bishop Clarence E. Elwell
of Cleveland, where he has been
superintendent of schools since
1946, provide ah essential “nu
cleus of good Catholics” who
supply strength and leadership
for the Church.
The outspoken prelate, in a
wide-ranging survey of the
strengths and weaknesses in Ca
tholic education, opposed with
drawal of nuns from schools for
other apostolates, said a new way
of financing schools is needed
and urged small communities
of nuns to stop trying to supply
t their own teaching training pro
grams and turn instead to the
big universities.
Bishop Elwell, who holds a
doctorate in education from Har
vard University and is the author
of several textbooks, spoke(April
21) at the third general meeting
of the 62nd annual convention of
• Rational Catholic Educational
ociation.
The prelate expressed confi
dence that much of the pressure
being felt by Catholic schools be
cause of big student enrollments
and a shortage of teachers is due
to ease in the next four or five
years.
The lack of Sister-teachers in
the past five “critical” years
has been due, not to a decrease
in religious vocations, but to a
smaller body of Americans from
which they come, he said.
“The middle third age group
of the American and American
Catholic population is at pre
sent the smallest segment,” he
said.
But, he said, relief is on the
way because the “first large
postwar high birthrate classes
are now in high school and the
first year of college. It will
take three or four more years
before they supply us with tea
chers.”
The bishop took exception in
his prepared remarks with Sis
ter Mary Jacqueline, president
of Webster College in St. Louis,
Mo. Noting a report in which she
is quoted as saying, “I am against
any attempt to get every Catholic
child into a Catholic school,”
Bishop Elwell called this an “un
believable statement.”
Catholic schools are neces
sary, he said, because “every
discipline needs the Christian
corrective.”
“For instance, in literature
the eternal struggle of good and
evil is always the main axis of
the plot. The hero in the novel
solves the triangle by divorce
or by nobly committing suicide.
Or is it noble? Only a Catholic
classroom can freely ask the
question. To send the pupil where
the question is unasked is harm
ful to student and society,” he
said.
Bishop Elwell, who began in
the Cleveland diocese’s education
office in 1938, strongly opposed
withdrawal of Sisters from Ca
tholic schools—“where some say
they are wasting their time when
they could be out engaging in
apostolic activity, teaching
liturgy to all and doing social
work. . .”
The laity could do this work,
he said. “A little simple arith-
DUST AND
THE HOLY FATHER'S MISSION AID TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCH
They are the children of Arab refugees who
lost their homes, farms, schools, and hospitals
as a result of a cruel war 17 years ago. There
is little these children can do to help them
selves if we, who can, do not help them now.
Take Eid, a dark haired seven year old. He will
be blind as long as he lives. ... To give him
sight is beyond the power of medical science.
As an adult he will live by touch and taste and
sound. What will become of him? He need not
be a beggar on the streets, ragged, dusty, and
helpless. At the Pontifical Mission Center for
the Blind he can learn to read in Braille, learn
a trade, prepare himself for a useful life. To
make room for Eid and children like him of all
ages, the Pontifical Center needs additional
classroom space, equipment and facilities. The
Holy Father asks your help! $2300 will provide
a vitally needed classroom wing (name it for
your favorite saint, in memory of a loved one).
$616 wil buy a set of Braille Encyclopedias,
$124 a Braille classroom dictionary. $300 will
pay for Eid’s training at the Center for a year.
$14 his lunch for a year, $8 his classroom
“reader,” $5 his own slate and stylus.
THE DUST
FLIES THICK
ON THE
GAZA STRIP,
AND
HUNDREDS
OF CHILDREN
THERE ARE
BLINDED
IN INFANCY
BY
CONJUNCTIVITIS
OR
TRACHOMA.
DRESS
THEM UP
TO
RECEIVE
CHRIST
MASS
IN
THE HOLY
LAND
For many months children of the PALESTINE
REFUGEES have studied hard in catechism
classes led by our devoted mission priests and
sisters. They know the answers—at least most
of them! . . . And now comes the great day of
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION. Shall they go to the
altar in ragged, hand.-me-downs, the only cloth
ing their parents can provide? . . . Not if you
help them. For only $10 you can supply a child
with a new outfit. What a lovely gift.
Missionary priests in the Holy Land depend
almost solely for their support on Mass offer
ings, If you are going to remember a deceased
loved-one during this Easter season, by having
Masses celebrated, we will be happy to receive
your offerings and send them on to priests in
the Near East.
Dear enclosed please find $
Monsignor Ryan:
FOR
Please name_
return coupon
with your street.
offering
STATE.
ZIP CODE-
THE CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
NEAR EAST
MISSIONS
FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN, President
MSGR. JOSEPH T. RYAN, National Secretary
Write: Catholic Near East Welfare Assoc.
330 Madison Avenue* New York, N.Y. 10017
Telephone: 212/YUkon 6-5840
metic reveals that only one out
of every 116 Catholic females is
a Sister,” he said.
“And yet, everybody with a
new idea wants nuns for his pro
ject: deaf, blind, retarded, car
diac, crippled, confraternity,
home visitation, social work, in
terracial marchers, etc.
“How about the other 115 I
ask? This is the day of the
laity. They want a share in the
administrative and policy making
action of the Church. Many seem
not too interested in personally
involving themselves in apostolic
activities, the work of the
Church—but they have been ini
tiated and sealed with the sacra
mental signs just for that mis
sion and work of the apostolate. ”
On financing, Bishop Elwell
said government should grant
not “one cent for the religious
education,” but “justice and as
sistance” for courses such as
history, arithmetic and others.
That Catholic schools per
meate courses with religion, he
said, is not an issue. “Every
system of education is based on
an ideology. . .We desire for
permeation-by-religion the same
privilege granted permeation-
by-secularism, or any other
‘ism’ as long as the non-reli
gious subject matter is adequate
ly mastered,” he said.
In the absence of such help,
however, he said, other steps
can be taken. All Catholics, not
merely parents of parochial
pupils, should recognize an obli
gation to support Catholic
schools, he said.
In addition, he proposed that all
parishes contribute a set per
centage of their income to a
central diocesan school fund,
operated by a board of pastors.
The fund would be given schools
according to need, he said.
Bishop Elwell urged small
communities of teaching nuns to
stop trying to give teacher train
ing to their own members.
“Too often, the only one they
have available for Educational
Psychology or other subjects is
Sister Mary Superannuata who is
well enough to teach three
periods per week, but that is
all,” he said.
He suggested a central de
partment of education to train
all Sisters of one diocese or
region or establishment of fa
cilities at or near Catholic uni
versities.
He also told his audience he
is unimpressed by changes being
made in the teaching of reli
gion. “This has been a field
of great ferment, but I’m not
sure of the caliber of much
that is being done,” he said.
“We have a whole new vo
cabulary—commitment, salva
tion history, witness, kerygma—
all good and necessary ideas,
but I find little comprehension
of what they mean,” he said.
TO “PROMOTION”
NEW ORDINATION RITUAL—This Spring newly ordained priests in the U.S. will
participate with their ordaining prelate in a concelebrated Mass, and will receive
Communion under both Species. Here in such an ordaniation ceremony (April 3)
in St. Louis, Cardinal Ritter communicates two newly ordained priests. (NC Photos)
U.S. PRELATES SAY
6 Constitution On Church’
Enhances Marian Devotion
The Second Vatican Council’s
teaching on the Blessed Virgin
should enhance the devotion of
Catholics toward the Mother of
Christ.
This is because the council’s
“Constitution on the Church” and
its chapter on Mary stress her
as inseparable in God’s plan
from the Redeemer.
This is the consensus of U.S.
prelates whose comments on thei
council’s teaching about Mary
were gathered by the N.C„W.C V
News Service through a question
naire and a survey of formal
remarks.
Several prelates took sharp
issue with what they called con
clusions that the council sought
to downgrade the role of the
Blessed Virgin in the Church.
Archbishop John J. Krol of
Philadelphia, who is an under
secretary of the council, noted
MIDWEST TORNADOES — Msgr. Chas. F. Bolte
(handkerchief to face) mourns tornado damage to
church he built in the late ’50s. His successor as pastor
of Holy Trinity church in Grand Rapids, Mich., Fa
ther William Hoogterp, surveys damage (April 12)
following five-State twister that killed more than 220
people and sent hundreds to hospitals in more than
50 communities. (NC Photos)
LOOKING
FOR
EXTRA
CASH?
The Southern Cross is looking for free-lance feature articles dealing
with Unusual Catholic Activity — Human Interest Features — Histori
cal articles on Diocesan Agencies, Organizations — Buildings, etc-
UPON ACCEPTANCE ONLY, WE WILL PAY
$35.00
Articles should run at least 1,000 words in length and MUST be
accompanied by two (2) photographs of professional quality.
Send articles or address inquiries to:
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180
SAVANNAH, GA.
Statement Outlines
Prelate’s Objections
the “prolonged applause” from
the council Fathers when Pope
Paul VI declared Mary to be
the Mother of the Church. This
step had the “wholehearted ap
proval” of the Fathers, he said.
The prelate also noted that
the Fathers were “equally grati
fied” when Pope Paul empha
sized the “universality of the
devotion to Mary” by concele-
brating Mass during the council
with bishops in whose dioceses
are located major Marian
shrines.
Bishop James E. Kearney of
Rochester, N.Y., made one of
the most determined responses
to reports that devotion to Mary
is being minimized.
He denounced “extremists” on
Church reform, including “ex
treme liturgists (who) ask us to
minimize devotion to Mary and
the saints,” and said that to
counter such voices 1965 in his
diocese was to be dedicated to
the Blessed Virgin as “Mother
of the Church.”
Similarly, Bishop Marion F.
Forst of Dodge City, Kan., said
“an attempt has been made to
downgrade our Blessed Mother”
and that “most of the trouble
has centered upon the attempts
of a few to use terms that are
extravagant, that would make it
seem that a person believes that
Mary was herself divine.”
“Who are we, sinners all, to
belittle the honor and the glory
that belongs to Our Blessed
Lady?” he asked.
Jospeh Cardinal Ritter of St.
Louis asked about inclusion of
the council’s treatment of Mary
in the Constitution on the Church,
called this “highly appropriate.”
“It would seem well-conceived
to restate the venerated position
of the Virgin Mother of God,
while affording new insight into
her position as the first of the
redeemed and the type of the
member of the Church,” he said.
Archbishop Krol spoke of “the
fact that devotion to Mary cannot
be separated from that we pay
to her Divine Son; that devotion
to Mary would lose its reason
for existence were it to be dis
associated from devotion to
Christ, and that our expression
of homage to Mary in no way
makes her equal to Christ.”
Bishop Charles H. Helmsing
of Kansas City-St. Jospeh, Mo.,
when asked about exaggerations
in devotion to Mary, replied that
“I believe that most of our Catho
lic people have had a true and
proper devotion to Mary.”
“They understand that she is
for them a model of virtue.
They understand her role as
one to be invoked as their advo
cate. They understand her all
powerful intercession with God.
The stress on the place of Mary
in salvation’s history and the use
of Scripture in describing her
role in the Church should elimi
nate any so-called exaggerations
or problems that we must some
times meet,” he said.
CAIRO (NC) -- An Eastern-
rite prelate who strongly opposed
the appointment of Eastern-rite
patriarchs to the college of car
dinals at the February 22 consis
tory has issued a statement here
setting forth his objections.
He is Archbishop Elias Zogh-
by, vicar for Egypt of Melkite-
rite Patriarch Maximos IV Saigh,
one of the patriarchs who were
made cardinals.
Archbishop Zoghby stressed in
his statement that the pa
triarchate is a traditional and
universal institution in the
Church which has been recog
nized by the ecumenical coun
cils, while the - rank of cardinal
is only “local and Roman.”
Therefore, he said, a patriarch
cannot be “promoted” to the
rank of cardinal.
In the “conclusion” of his
statement, the archbishop de
clared;
“To sum up and state the
true idea of the patriarchate,
here is the teaching among us
on this point as emphasized in
the minutes of the plenary ses
sions of the patriarchal synod
held on the matter last Febru
ary 4, 5 and 13.
“1) Eastern-rite patriarchs
may be members of the college
of cardinals or of the center
council of the Church solely by
virute of their patriarchate—
which is already a summit—and
must not be belittled by any
‘promotion’ whatever, or by the
title of cardinal, which is higher
according to protocol. This, on
the ecumenical level, is a most
important matter because of its
implications and consequences.
“2) In the sacred college or
any other universal central or
ganism of the Church, patriarchs
must be at the top. In fact, their
title and function are the posi
tive actuation of a responsibi
lity of an episcopal nature which
are shared by the pope himself
as patriarch of the West, con
trary to the dignity and rank of
cardinal which, of its nature, is
of a presbyteral or even dia-
conal character. As for the su-_
burbicarian bishops of Rome,
their formal situation as cardi
nals in relation to the pope is a
situation of ‘suffragance,’ of su
bordination, not of ‘parity,’ since
they do not share with him a
common, supra-episcopal func
tion such as the patriarchate.
“The patriarchs must: (1) be
long to the college of cardinals
or the central council of the
Church without being cardinals,
and (2) be at the head of the
college or council. His Beatitude
Maximos IV, in agreement with
his synod, tried everything he
could to obtain these two con
ditions. The minutes of the most
recent meeting of the synod,
held in Damascus on February
13, plainly mention the synod’s
proposal to the patriarch to make,
on arriving in Rome for the
consistory, a final effort to be
dispensed from the title of car
dinal. Official deocuments con
cerning this ‘promotion’ of Pa
triarch Maximos to the rank of
cardinal, which we have in hand,
will prove in a striking manner
all we have just said when it is
possible to publish them just as
they are.”
In March, Cardinal Saigh gave
his reasons for accepting
appointment to the college in a
sermon in hi s cathedral in Bei
rut, Lebanon. He said that al
though he had earlier maintained
that the dignity of a patriarch
was incompatible with the rank
of cardinal, he changed his mind
because of the development of
the college which has made it an
institution of the whole Church
rather than of the See of Rome.
He also said he could not
refuse Pope Paul Vi’s desire to
“have us...closer to him in the
central administration of the
Church.”
Another reason he agreed to
his appointment, he said, was
the fact that he and other East
ern-rite patriarchs were not
given titular churches in Rome
but entered the college with the
title of their patriarchal Sees.
Doyle Chemical & Supply Ce.
SCOTT TOWELS-TISSUE-WAXES
CLEANERS
COMPLETE LINE ‘
SANITARY MAINTENANCE SUPPLIES
C. OF GA. WHSE. NO. 12
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
AD 2-8143
HUGHES-BALL
COMPANY
Jobbers And Distributors
Hardware Millwork
Building Materials
Warehouse and Office — 615 Stiles Avenue
Phones: AD. 26104
P. O. BOX 3011
SAVANNAH. GEORGIA
cm)
&CO.
DEPARTMENT STORE
SAVANNAH BEACH, GA.
If you’re planning a trip to the Beach — Save
time. Do your one stop shopping at T. S. Chu’s
Largest selection of Swim and Sportswear
in the Southeast..
9’ X 4” AUTHENTIC
FIBERGLASS
SURF
BOARDS
& up
TORO
LAWN MOWER
COST & 10%
SUPER KEMTONE
PAINT
$5.69
Reg.
6.95 Gal.
Gal.
GIANT BEACH & POOL
SWIM BOARDS
$2.98
Reg. 6.50
NOW
Garden Supplies, Sportswear, Toys, Cosmetics,
Drugs, Fishing Tackle, Paints, Imported Orien
tal Teakwood Furniture if you desire the Best.