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FA THER MURRA Y
Church-State
Scholar Dies
NEW YORK (NC) — A re
quiem Mass was celebrated
in St. Ignatius church here
for Father John Courtney
Murray, S.J., one of the
world's leading experts on
Church-state relations. Bur
ial was in the graveyard of
Woodstock College in Mary
land where the 63-year-old
scholar was a long-time tea
cher of priests of the Society
of Jesus.
Father Murray died (Aug.
16) in a cab in New York
City while en route from the
home of his sister, in Queens,
to Manhattan. The driver
took him to Whitestone Gen
eral Hospital where he was
pronounced dead on arrival of
an apparent heart attack. The
body was then taken to Queens
General Hospital where an
autopsy was performed.
In addition to teaching at
Woodstock, Father Murray
was an editor of Theologi
cal Studies, a Jesuit publica
tion issued from the college,
and had recently been appoint
ed director of the John La-
Far ge Institute here, an
organization active in impro
ving race relations.
Father Murray was perhaps
the most famous of a number
of Jesuit scholars who helped
earn Woodstock College a
reputation as one of the out
standing theological centers in
the United States. His col
leagues there included Father
Avery Dulles, S. J., teacher of
dogma and apologetics, Fa
ther Walter Burghardt, S.J.,
the patristics scholar, Father
Vincent T. O’Keefe, S.J., now
an assistant to Father Pedro
Arrupe, the Father General
of the Jesuits, and the late
Father Gustave Weigel, S.J.,
regarded as one of the lead
ing American ecumenists.
Father Weigel often credited
Father Murray with first
awakening his interest in ecu-
menism.
John Courtney Murray was
born in New York in 1904,
son of a Scottish-born law
yer and an Irish mother. Af
ter graduating from high
school, where he specialized
in debate and dramatics, he
abandoned his earlier ambi
tion to become a doctor and
joined the Society of Jesus at
age 16. After taking his M.A.
at Boston College, he taught
in the Philippines for three
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years, then went to Woodstock
for tour years of theology.
In his third year there, he was
ordained, age 28. He did theo
logical graduate study at Gre
gorian University in Rome and
at other centers of Catholic
thought in Europe before re
turning to Woodstock to begin
his lifelong work of teaching.
As an expert on church-
state relations, Father Mur
ray* s labor of love was to show
that American democracy
provided a healthy soil in
which the Catholic Church
could grow and flourish. It
was his contention that the
Vatican should give its formal
blessing to the U.S. pluralist
system as a viable kind of
relationship between church
and government. He once
said that the Bill of Rights
was far less “a piece of 18th
century rationalist theory than
the product of Christian his
tory.”
In his 1960 book, “We Hold
These Truths,” he argued that
the Catholic Church was uni
quely suited to make a ma
jor contribution to Ameri
ca’s spiritual health in time
of crisis. He also said that
Catholics must become more
inteUectually aware of their
coexistence in a pluralist,
heavily Protestant society.
The attention which that
book received catapulted Fa
ther Murray into national pro
minence. The tall, urbane
scholar undoubtedly helped
convince many non-Catholic
Americans that a priest could
be completely committed to
his Church, yet fully devoted
to his country.
But historians may rank as
Father Murray’s greatest
achievement his work in help
ing to prepare theSecondVat-
ican Council’s Declaration on
Religious Freedom. During
that period he suffered two
heart Attacks, in January and
December, 1964, and a col
lapsed lung late in 1965.
Later, he said that the coun
cil’s Declaration on Religious
Freedom represented a “ma
jor act of humility on the part
of the teaching Church.” He
noted that the declaration
“goes right down the line”
with the First Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution, and al
so avoided any statement
touching on the establishment
of religion.
Father Murray was a mem
ber of President Johnson’s
National Advisory Commis
sion on Selective Service, a
member of the national advi
sory committee of the Catho
lic Council on Civil Liber
ties, and an honorary co-
chairman of the Gustave Wei
gel Society.
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CONCENTRATION OF U. S. CATHOLICISM
MAP L
ARE THERE ENOUGH PRIESTS?
Survey Analyzes Distribution
Of Clergy In United States
The Southern Cross, August 24, 1967—PAGE 3
BISHOP OFFERS
7-Point Program
For Inner-City
(NC News Service)
(This is the first of three
articles discussing a survey
of clergy distribution in the
United States.)
WASHINGTON — Are there
enough priests in the United
States now for the needs of
the Church? Will there be
enough in the future—say,
three years from now?
What are the areas of great
est need? If there is a short
age (or a surplus) of priests
where it it? And what is the
present and potential situa
tion of clergy distribution
throughout the United States,
diocese by diocese?
The answers to these ques
tion are not always readily
available—but the facts upon
which the bishops of the U. S.
will be able to base their own
answers have been compiled
in “Clergy Distribution U.S.
A.” The study has just been
mailed to each bishop in the
United States.
Prepared by the Center for
Applied Research in theApos-
tolate (CARA), of Washington,
under the direction of Father
Louis J. Luzbetak S.V.D., it
is carefully labeled “a pre
liminary survey of priest uti
lization, availability, and de
mand.” The introduction
points out that the study is
“factual rather than evalua
tive,” and that it is intended
to be practical in that “it
provides the preliminary data
that practical decisions pre
suppose and demand.”
Some of the questions are
answered: For instance, it is
anticipated that there will be
more priests in the U. S.
in January, 1970, than there
are now—36,478 in 1970
as compared with 35,209 in
1967, an incrase of 1,269. But
the Catholic population by Jan
uary 1970, it is anticipated,
will have increased by more
than 4 1/2 million. Thus the
ratio of Catholics to active
diocesan priests is now 1,257
for the country; but in 1970
it is expected to increase to:
1,340.
Here is the background of
the survey:
At their November, 1966,
meeting, the U. S. bishops
named a committee to study
the distribution and utilization
of priests in the U. S. Arch
bishop Philip M. Hannan of
New Orleans is chairman, and
the other members are Bishop
John J. Carberry of Columbus
and Coadjutor Bishop Peter
L. Gerety of Portland, Maine.
The committee in turn carried
out the survey through the Cen
ter for Applied Research in
the Apostolate.
CARA’s introduction to the
survey report cites its pur
pose as “to compile, analyze,
and interpret statistical data
relevant to clergy distribution
and utilization in the United
States, with a view to provid
ing for the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops prelimi
nary background information
for the development of a na
tional ‘clergy pool’ to serve
the needy dioceses of this
country.”
It has assembled a 143-
page report, 81/2 by 11 inches
in size, filled with graphs,
maps statistical tables, to give
as complete a picture as pos
sible of the clergy distribution
in the U. S.
There are a few notes to be
emphasized: The survey is of
clergy “directly subject to
local Ordinaries of the Latin
rite”; it does not include the
Military Ordinariate or the
Eastern rites. The report
points out the “referencesare
made to priests of religious
orders and congregations to
the extent that such references
highlight, clarify or supply
important complementary in
formation regarding certain
aspects of the distribution,
utilization, availability or de
mand of diocesan clergy or
because some religious
priests directly share in tasks
canonically part and parcel
of the diocesan structures, e.
g., 14% of U. S. parishes are
conducted by non-diocesan
clergy.”
Some of the facts, applying
to the U. S. as a whole, which
emerge from the report are
these:
Distribution of U. S. Catho
lics: 75% live in metropoli
tan areas, 25% in non-metro
politan arears.
Twenty dioceses contain 50%
of U. S. Catholics; the remain
ing 50% live in 125 dioceses—
and 80% of U. S. Catholics
live in 40% of the dioceses.
Size of dioceses: The lar
gest in area is Anchorage,
with 138,985 square miles; the
SAIGON (NC)--Catholics,
like their compatriots of other
religions, look forward with
anxious interest to the Sept.
3 presidential election, the
first under the new constitu
tion.
The anxiety arises partly
from the uncertainty about
what is largely a new experi
ment in this besieged and tor
mented country. The people
are worried, too, about the
pre-election maneuvers of,the
military men now in power.
These maneuvers could re-
smallest, Belmont Abbey (con
sidered as a diocese for the
purpose of this report), with
596. The next is Juneau with
43,000 square miles.
The average Catholic popu
lation ranges from 656,148 per
diocese in the Middle Atlantic
region (New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania) to 104,787
per diocese in the East South
Central region, which includes
Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala
bama and Mississippi.
Average Catholic population
per diocese for the other re
gions are:
New England (Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Vermont and
Rhode island), 486,875.
East North Central (Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and
Wisconsin), 369,996.
Pacific (Washington, Ore
gon, California, Alaska and
Hawaii), 284,996.
West South Central (Arkan
sas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and
Texas), 215,154.
South Atlantic (Delaware,
Maryland, District of Colum
bia, Virginia, West Virginia,
South Carolina, North Caro
lina, Georgia and Florida),
180,278.
West North Central (Min
nesota, Iowa, Missouri, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Nebras
ka, Kansas), 127,060.
Mountain (Montana, Idaho,
Wyoming, Colorado, New
Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Ne
vada), 140,064.
Often the ratio of Catho
lics to priest is used to de
termine the sufficiency of
priests, and the report notes
that if it is not used blindly
“it can be a useful tool, and,
in fact, it will be our basic
indicator of clergy shortage
in the United States.” It re
sult in an election that might
cause an even more calami
tous reaction abroad than in
South Vietnam itself.
The communists stand to
lose by any sort of fair, free
election in South Vietnam. That
is why they will do their best
to hamper it by terrorism.
An unfair election, even if
it put anti-communists in
power, would be of enormous
value for the communists on
what they call their “second
front,” the United States and
elsewhere.
ports “the national average
of Catholics per priest (in
general) in the U. S. is 745”
(and it is worth pointing out
the difference between this
figure and that of 1,301 per
active parish priest, includ
ing religious active full-time
in parish work).
One of the reasons for the
difference between these two
figures—the ratio to parish
priests and the ratio to priests
in general — is the fact that
some dioceses include large
communities of Religous
priests (seminaries, mon-
ateries, schools, etc.). For
instance, the archdiocese of
Washington has a Catholics to
priest ratio of 314, but a Ca
tholics to full-time parish
priest ratio of 1,241.
The ratio of Catholics to
priests by region is as fol
lows:
West South Central, 933;
Pacific, 889; Middle Atlantic,
878; Mountain, 768; New Eng
land, 765; East North Central,
712; South Atlantic, 544; West
North Central, 470; and East
South Central, 402.
The ratio varies consider
ably from diocese to diocese,
of course. Brownsville, for
instance, has 2,823 Catholics
per priest; Rockville Centre,
1,781; Newark, 1,192; with the
numbers decreasing to 268
for Steubenville, 168 for Little
Rock, and 11 for Belmont Ab
bey.
Do these ratios indicate that
those diocese with smaller
numbers of Catholics per
priest have enough priests?
Not always, because many
other factors must be con
sidered—the area of the dio
cese, for instance, how many
priests are assigned to parish
work, and how many to other
Work? Some of these factors
will be considered next week.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (NC)—
In a speech described by one
observer as “the official wed
ding of the Church and the
world,” Detroit’s Archbishop
John F. Dearden outlined to
delegates at an interracial
conference here (Aug. 20) a
seven-point program of
Church activity in the cities.
Speaking to delegates at the
biennial convention of the Na
tional Catholic Conference for
Interracial Justice at the
Jesuits’ Rockhurst College
here, the archbishop called
for:
—Reappraisal of the roll
of the Church in the com
munity.
—More realistic Church
programs for the poor.
—Greater flexibility in ap
proaching problems.
—More training programs
for community leaders.
—Widened Church-spon
sored education programs in
the inner city.
—Interfaith activity in the
service of the community.
—A new attitude toward im
plementing institutional ac
tion.
The archbishop, who is also
president of the National Con
ference of Catholic Bishops,
admitted that “innovations can
be disturbing. But disturbing
or not, they are needed.”
Archbishop Dearden opened
his address with references
to the riots that shook his
See city and continued:
“The Negro-white confron
tation in the American cities
is in great part a Negro-
Catholic confrontation. This
is true because so small a
percentage of NegroesareCa-
tholic. It is also true because
Catholics traditionally have
been heavily concentrated in
urban areas. “It is interest
ing,” the archbishop continu
ed, “that the arrival of a large
number of Negroes inourcen-*
tral cities has opened up to the
Church an opportunity of serv
ice to the poor that can no
longer be seen as a form of
self-service.”
The Archbishop launched
into an explanation of his
specific proposals
First the archbishop out
lined some of the problems
facing the Church as it moved
to meet urban needs. Com
menting that the Church sim
ply did not have the financial
resources to do the job that
must be done, he urged invol
vement of every agency for im
provement.
Then he turned to the prob
lem of manpower. “We can
scarcely expect,” the arch
bishop said, “that priests are
any more informed of social
problems than other men of
comparable training and back
ground. While it is sometimes
a more difficult task to bring
a sense of social awareness
to the middle-aged and to old
er men, somehow it must be
done.
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Catholics Worry
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