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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 48, No. 42
LITURGICAL EXPERIMENTS are a prominent feature of the “underground church,” a growing
movement which dissociates itself from traditional parish and diocesan structure and forms small
communities meeting in private homes. The underground is reported to be particularly strong in
the United States and in the Netherlands, where this photo was taken. The original publication of
this photo, showing a Dutch boy taking the Communion host in his hand, shocked Catholics in
many parts of Europe, particularly at the Vatican. (See Editorial — page 4) Photo by RNS
EXPRESSES UNEASINESS
Pope: ‘Renewal, Yes-
Arbitrary Change, No!’
VATICAN CITY (NC) -
“Renewal, yes, arbitrary
change, no!”
With these ringing words,
Pope Paul VI began outlining
his views of the “uneasiness
which troubles some sectors
of the Catholic world itself’
in the post-conciliar period.
He was speaking to more than
30,000 visitors and pilgrims
in St. Peter’s basilica at a
general audience (April 25).
The Pope explained that a
double effect has come into
existence following ‘the
council within certain
Catholic circles: “For some,
the idea of change has taken
the place of the idea of
aggiornamento (updating),
foreseen by Pope John of
venerable memory, and thus
attributes, against evidence
and against justice, to that
most faithful shepherd of the
Church norms which are no
longer those of innovation,
but which are at times even
destructive to the teaching
and discipline of the Church
itself.”
The Pope continued by
analyzing the problem of
renewal saying:
“There are many things
which can be corrected or
modified in Catholic life,
many doctrines which can be
thought out more deeply,
integrated and explained in
more understandable terms,
many norms which can be
simplified and better adapted
to the needs of our times.
But two things especially
cannot be placed in
discussion: the truths of
faith, authoritatively
sanctioned by tradition and
by the ecclesiastical
magisterium, and the
constitutional laws of the
Church, together with the
consequent obedience to the
ministry of pastoral
government which Christ
established, which the
wisdom of the Church has
developed and extended
throughout the various
members of the mystical and
visible body of the Church
itself, to guide and to
comfort the multiform
groups of the people of God.
“Therefore,” the Pope
went on:
“Renewal, yes, arbitrary
change, no! Ever living and
new history of the Church,
yes, fractioning historicism
towards traditional dogmatic
obligation, no!
“Theological integration
of the teachings of the
council, yes, a theology
conforming to free subjective
theories, often borrowed
from hostile sources, no!
“A Church open to
ecumenical charity, to
responsible dialogue and to
recognition of the Christian
values possessed by separated
brothers, yes, an abdicating
irenicism towards the truths
of faith, inclined to form
itself along certain negative
principles which have favored
the separation of many
Christian brothers from the
cult of the unity of the
Catholic communion, no!
“A religious liberty for all
within civil society, yes, as
well as liberty for personal
adhesion to religion according
to the thought-out choice of
one’s own conscience, yes,
liberty of conscience, as a
criterion of religious truth,
not subjected to the
authenticity of a serious and
authorized teaching, no! And
so on.”
The Pope concluded by
appealing to the thousands of
Catholics listening to his
words.
“The Church has need of
the lucidity of the spirit of its
sons, it has need of their love
and firm loyalty. Do you,
beloved sons, bring to us this
clarity of ideas on the subject
of the renewal of the life with
the Church? Do you bring us
the great precious and most
dear gift of your loyalty? We
paternally hope so.”
Clergy Workshop
A Workshop on “The Priesthood and Community”
will be held for all priests in the Diocese at Sacred
Heart Church, Warner Robins, on May 9th and 10th.
The sessions will open on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. and
close at 2:00 p.m. on Friday.
The Workshop is designed to give priests of the
Diocese an insight into the purpose and goals of the
Cursillo Movement on the parish level. Priests
planning to attend should notify Father Sean
O’Rourke, 3115 E. Victory Drive Savannah, by
Monday morning, May 6th.
Father O’Rourke says that the Workshop’s 2:00
p.m. closing hour will allow more than sufficient time
for priest who will also be attending the Newman
Meeting which opens in Dublin at 7:30 p.m. on
Friday May 10th. Dublin is approximately an hour’s
drive from Warner Robins.
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AIMED A T LONG RANGE GOALS
Bishops Reveal Report On
Program For Social Action
BY JOHN R. SULLIVAN
WASHINGTON (NC) — When the bishops of the United States meeting in St. Louis this past
week announced that they would move the full weight of the American Church behind the cause
of the Negro-and all- poor, they left many unanswered questions.
What, after all, is the Church going to do in the concrete? the reporters asked. How much
money is it going to spend? What approach will its programs take toward the poor?
BISHOPS MEET IN ST. LOUIS - The National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, at its Spring meeting in St. Louis, held regular
press briefings with newsmen. Members of the panel (left to
right) are Auxiliary Bishop John J. Dougherty of Newark, N. J.,
Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh; Auxiliary Bishop Gerald V.
McDevitt of Philadelphia; Archbishop John F. Dearden of
Detroit, NCCB president.
GUIDELINES
U.S. Post Office
On Smut Law
All good questions but,
understandably, the bishops
were unable to provide the
ready answers to all of them.
But two days after the
bishops ended their Spring
meeting, Bishop John J.
Wright of Pittsburgh,
chairman of the Social Action
Department of the U. S.
Catholic Conference, released
to the public the text of the
report to the bishops upon
which they based their initial
announcements. The report
was approved “in substance”
by the bishops, which means
that some particulars may be
changed, but that its basic
approach will remain
unaltered.
The report indicates that
the Church involvement-and
the changes within the
Church-will indeed be great.
But the report also indicates
that the Church in America
does not intend to rush off
half-cocked.
“In our haste to act we
must resist the temptation to
plunge our resources into
short-term programs of
doubtful long-term value. Our
actions must be based on
long-range goals, and our
resources must be allotted on
the basis of priorities
determined in the light of
these goals,” said the report
approved by the bishops.
What then are some of the
principles and goals which
will guide the action? Eight
are set forth at the beginning
of the 19-page document.
-“The simple recognition
that racism is at the heart of
our racial crisis is not
enough,” said the report. “We
must also recognize how
racism works: through people
and through institutions. The
Church’s efforts must be
two-pronged: directed at
both “personal racism”-com-
bating it in the minds and
hearts of its largely white
m e m b e r s hip--and at
“institutional racism,”
cleansing its institutions and
organizational life of those
characteristics which tend to
reinforce personal racist
attitudes and which make it
difficult for a Christian of
good will to act in a truly
Christian manner.”
—“The black community
is often poorly organized and
fragmented, with the result
that it is unable to present a
strong, united voice on
matters affecting it, and
unable to wield effective
political power.
Economically, ghetto
residents are earners and
spenders, not entrepreneurs.
It is white society which
supplies and creates black
men’s needs, and it it white
society which reaps the
economic benefits of
providng these services.
Political, organizational and
economic independence were
important elements in the
earlier rapid integration of
immigrant ethnic groups into
the American society. The
Church must now support the
black community in its
efforts to a c hieve
organizational, political and
economic power so necessary
to break down existing
patterns of dependency and
frustration.”
-Black people have a right
to determine their own lives,
and have a “right to exert
meaningful control over
public decisions which affect
them.” Whites must help
promote these rights, and
“must be prepared to help
Negroes, without decreeing
its form and content.”
-Whites and blacks must
establish meaningful dialogue
on matters of substantial
interest to both. The Church,
with its deep involvement in
urban life, “is in a unique
position to develop such
bonds.”
-The Church has often
ignored a fact of its own
life-that in this country it is
largely a white institution-
and has ignored its mission to
preach the Gospel of social
justice to whites, while it has
devoted some of its best men
to work in the ghetto. It must
not pull out of the ghetto,
but must also recognize the
need to educate the white
persons, on whose “new will”
reform of society is
dependent.
-This “white apostolate”
will have an effect on the
ghetto because, as the Kerner
Commission noted, the
involvement of white
merchants and other
segments of society in he
ghetto is great.
-All programs must be
characterized \by strong
interreligious cooperation.
-“There is much that we
do not know about ourselves
and about the Church’s effect
on society... and because of
this the Church will make
mistakes and cause
misunderstandings. We must
therefore maintain a high
degree of flexibility both in
our actions and in our
thinking, and yet must be
firm in our resolve to act as
Christians.”
The keystone of the
Church’s concrete action is
the creation of an “Urban
Task Force.” The bishops in
St. Louis appropriated some
$25,000 for the Social Action
Department of the USCC, the
nucleus around which the
task force will be built.
Their announcement also
said that Task Force members
would be drawn from all
Church agencies and
institutions which could
touch on ghetto life.
Alone, the money
appropriated seems small, and
it is. The initial
announcement seemed
somewhat vague on the
manner in which the Task
(Continued on Page 2)
WASHINGTON (NC) -
The Post Office Department
has published guidelines for
the implementation of a
r e c e n 11 y - passed law
permitting families to halt the
mailing of “pandering
advertisements” to their
homes.
The guidelines, which
appear in the (April 19)
Federal Register, set forth
several steps to be taken by
the recipient and Post Office
authorities.
A c c ording to the
guidelines, “pandering
advertisements” are those
which are judged “erotically
arousing or sexually
provocative.” The recipient is
the sole judge of the material.
If he does not want any
more, he is directed to send
the advertisement, its
envelope and a signed
form-available from the Post
Office-to his local postmaster
with the words: “Request for
prohibitory order” on the
face of the envelope.
The Post Office
Department must then order
the mailer to remove this
person’s name from its
mailing lists, and from any
lists which he buys, sells,
rents, owns, or controls,
within 30 days of the initial
order.
If the mailer does not, it is
up to the person requesting
the order to report any more
mailings to the postmaster. If
he moves, and wants the
order to stand, he must
inform the postmaster at his
old address.
If the mailer persists in
ignoring the order, the Post
Office Department and the
Justice Department muS(t
then seek a court order
against the mailer. Violation
of this is punishable by fine
or imprisonment.
In its notice, the Post
Office Department said that
“with the major share of the
so-called pandering
advertisements coming from a
small number of dealers,
many of whom exchange
mailing lists, it is believed
that the patron’s request will
provide substantial relief to
those who do not want such
material.
\ HEADLINE
” M ‘ HOPSCOTCH Lt
diocese
joint Convention
The Joint Convention of the Savannah Diocesan Councils of
Men and Women and the Christian Family Movement will be in
session this week end at the Holiday Inn, Callaway Gardens.
Sessions will get underway at noon on Saturday with
registration and conclude Sunday after the 10:30 a.m. business
meeting. Approximately 250 people are expected to be in
attendance.
NATION
Teenagers Sue
CROWN POINT, Ind. (NC) Three Gary teenaged girls are
uing Bishop Andrew Grutka of Gary and others for $1.2
nillion damages as the aftermath of a playground explosion at
loly Angels school. The fathers of the teenagers are asking
>140,000 in addition to the $1.2 million. The three teenagers
:laim they suffered severe bums as a result of the explosion,
vhich occured while a construction project was underway on
he school’s playground during October, 1966.
VATICAN
Latin Privileged’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) - The Latin language retains a
privileged” status in the Roman Catholic liturgy “even today
r hen pastoral considerations have urged the use of the
emacular,” Pope Paul VI said here. He spoke at an award
eremony for the prize-winners in Latin prose and verse
ompetitions sponsored by the Latin-language magazine,
.atinitas. Latin must be cultivated in the Church to “serve the
astoral needs of souls,” not as an end in itself, the pontiff
autioned, warning against, “exaggerated love of the past” and
pposition to “everything that is new.”
EUROPE
Dutch Exodus
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (NC) - Between 1961 and
1966, 322 Brothers and 432 Sisters with perpetual vows left
their congregations in the Netherlands, according to figures
published by the Dutch Social Ecclesiastical Institute (April 24).
An annual average of 54 Brothers and 72 Sisters left the
Religious life in that time. Relatively, the exodus of Brothers is
greater, since there are only 7,000 Brothers in the Netherlands
and 32,000 Sisters.
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