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SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
Vol. 49 No. 17
NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y.
(NC) — The president of
Catholics United for the
Faith (CUF) said the goal of
the nationwide campaign in
support of dissident priests in
the Washington archdiocese
“is to rebuke, humiliate and,
if possible, crush a prelate
who conscientiously tries to
carry out the burden
confided
Church.”
to him by holy peace to the Church.
“Many Catholics--and
perhaps all of our
bishops-will feel a certain
revulsion at this open effort
to intimidate and coerce the
successors of the Apostles,”
Lyman Stebbins said. “Such
tactics can never restore
HEADLINE A#
HOPSCOTCH • t
DIOCESE
Senate Date Change
The Priests’ Senate of the Diocese of Savannah has changed
its meeting from December 5th to December 12th. The meeting
will be held at 10:00 a.m. at Johnnie Ganem’s Restaurant in
Savannah. Proposals should be submitted to a Priest Senator by
November 21st.
EUROPE
Irish Violence
LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland (NC) - Violence over
the civil rights of Catholics in Northern Ireland broke out again
here as police and Catholic civil rights supporters clashed during
a demonstration headed by the Rev. Ian Paisley, militant
Protestant leader. The new violence flared when police tried to
keep apart Catholic civil rights supporters and Paisley’s
demonstrators. A policeman was carried away with a bloody
face being hit with a stone and several persons in the crowd
received minor injuries in scuffles which lasted for several hours.
Reports of the number of demonstrators varied.
VATICAN
No Time For Polemics
ROME (NC) — The time for declarations and polemics
against Pope Paul Vi’s encyclical on birth control, Humanae
Vitae, is over, Father Bernard Haering, C.SS.R., said in an
interview here. The well-known theologian said that Humanae
Vitae’s chief concerns should find a full response and its positive
teachings should be deepened and brought to a fuller
understanding. Father Haering made it clear that his “scientific
position” -- that contraception may be justified by
circumstances-has not been altered substantially. He
emphasized that his present, irenic approach to the problem has
not been forced upon him but is the result of a change that has
occurred since the issuance of the encyclical.
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1968
$5 Per Year
IHMIHIIIIMHIIHII
REGIONAL PRIESTS’ MEETING - Pictured between sessions of Regional Meeting at Savannah
of representatives of Priests’ Senates and Associations of Southeast United States (1. to r.) are:
Rev. Charles Mulholland, President Raleigh Priests’ Association; Rev. Ralph E. Seikel, President
St*vorr*^|» Pfip'cts’ P.<*v priests’Senate; Rev. Creston I.
Tawes, President Charleston Priests’ Senate and Rev. Richard Condon, President Charleston
Priests’ Association. (Staff Photo by Bob Ward)
LAY GROUP BACKS PRELATE
*Crush’ Cardinal O’Boyle
Seen Aim Of Dissenters
Stebbins was commenting
on the dispute between
Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle and
some 40 Washington
arch diocesan priests over
interpretation of Pope Paul’s
encyclical on birth control,
Humanae Vitae. In a personal
letter to all U. S. Catholic
bishops, Stebbins said that
CUF has launched a “Vigil of
Prayer’’ campaign urging
Catholics to “join in praying
that special grace may be
bestowed upon all of our
bishops” during their
November meeting in
Washington.
Stebbins said the purpose
of the “Vigil of Prayer” is “to
help open the channels of
Christ’s love to His troubled
shepherds, and their troubled
flocks.” He urged concerned
Catholics to send their
bishops a card saying they are
joining the “Vigil of Prayer”
and to spread word of the
campaign.
CUF was organized in
September to encourage lay
men and women “to support,
defend, and enthusiastically
advance the efforts of the
teaching Church,” and to
offset the tendency of some
Catholics “who wish to break
the doctrinal bonds that unite
Rome and America.”
Stebbins said at the time the
group views the current
conflicts within the Church as
bigger than birth control,
going to the heart of the
Church’s ability to teach with
authority. “We are Catholics
united for the faith, not
Catholics united against birth
control,” he stated.
In the Washington
archdiocese, meanwhile,
Catholics were invited to take
part in a 24-hour prayer vigil
(Continued on Page 5)
CLERGY COUNCILS MEET
Area Priests Hear Call
For ‘Optional Celibacy’
Priests representing clergy senates, associations and councils from the archdioceses
of Atlanta and Miami and the dioceses of Raleigh, Charleston and Savannah met in
Savannah last week (Nov. 7-8) to consider church issues such as reform of Canon
Law, the spiritual life of the priest, the role of Senates, the election of bishops,
optional celibacy for priests, equitable procedures of resignation from the obligations
and exercise of the priestly ministry and the dispute between Washington Archbishop,
Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle and 54 Washington priests.
Discussion centered
around papers prepared for
discussion at the request of
the National Federation of
Priests’ Councils (NFPC),
with headquarters in Chicago,
and reports submitted by
various NFPC committees.
As expected, the
controversial issues of
optional celibacy and the
confrontation between priests
and bishops in Washington,
D.C., and in San Antonio,
Texas, generated the greatest
amount of discussion.
A resolution urging the
NFPC to espouse the cause of
optional celibacy before the
Catholic Bishops of the
country was attacked as an
“overly-simplistic answer to
the problems of discontented
priests and the decline in
seminary enrollment.”
“It gives the impression
hat we think all we have to
do to solve our problems is to
allow priests to marry if they
chose it,” said one
priest-senator, asking for a
resolution aimed at securing
greater individual freedoms
for priests than simply that of
marriage.
This objection
c o u ntered with
observation
delegate that
journey begins with a single
step and this, at least, is a
step in the
was
the
by another
“the longest
direction of
greater freedom for priests.”
The resolution in favor of
optional celibacy passed by a
large majority. It declared
that since “celibacy is not an
inseparable requirement for
priesthood, and since each
competent human is free to
marry, be it resolved that
each priest is free to follow
his own course with regard to
celibacy or marriage.”
F o Mowing lengthy
discussion of the suspension
of Washington priests for
public disagreement with the
latest encyclical on birth
control, “Humanae Vitae,”
the priest-delegates voted
almost unanimously to send
telegrams to all the bishops in
North and South Carolina,
Georgia and Florida, as well
as to Cardinal O’Boyle;
Cardinal Lawrence Shehan;
Archbishop John Dearden,
President of the National
Council of Catholic Bishops;
and Bishop Joseph
Barnardine, General Secretary
of the NCCB.
The telegrams urged them
to seek the intervention of
the NCCB not only in the
Washington confrontation,
but also in the case of priests
disciplined by Archbishop
Robert E. Lucey of San
Antonio after they publicly
called for his ouster by Pope
Paul VI. The telegrams also
asked the bishops to assist in
moving the NCCB to establish
a “working relationship” with
the National Federation of
Priests Councils.
NFPC president Rev.
Patrick O’Malley attended the
Savannah meeting and
defended his organization
against charges of apathy in
not having intervened in the
two cases. The southeastern
U. S. is the only part of the
country from which
significant pressure by priests’
organizations for intervention
has come, Father O’Malley
said.
One priest offered a
resolution which would have
put the meeting on record in
opposition to the birth
control encyclical, and called
for the development of a
“theology which honors the
freedom of the faithful.” It
was defeated.
A paper on the spiritual
life of the priest, prepared at
the request of the NFPC for
consideration at the Savannah
gathering and at similar
provincial meetings
throughout the U.S. was
rejected and four suggestions
put forth by the Rev. William
V. Coleman of Savannah were
adopted as the suggested
nucleus for another NFPC
paper on the spiritual life
“more in keeping with the
needs of the modem priest.”
The four suggestions are:
Rapid dismemberment of
large parishes so that all
priests may assume the role
of “molder of community;”
Relaxation of liturgical laws
and customs so that all priests
may take an active and
imaginative role in “creating
liturgy;” Relaxation of
existing pressures which
inhibit free expression in the
Church so that “all priests
may exercise their role of
prophet;” Elimination of the
custom of incardination, so
that priests could take
advantage of their “celibate
state to respond to the needs
of the universal church.”
Incardination means that a
priest can only serve in a
diocese when he has been
officially “adopted” by the
diocese and cannot leave it to
serve in another diocese
without the express
permission of his bishop and
the bishop of the diocese he
wishes to serve. Such
permissions are rarely given.
In a discussion concerning
reform of Canon Law, it was
charged that recommenda
tions of the Canon Law
Society of America are being
ignored by Vatican officials
working on renewal of church
legislation and a question was
posed as to ways of effecting
the changes suggested by the
Canon Law Society. One
effective way, said Father
Coleman, is to “remember
that custom takes precedence
over law” and laws with
which we don’t agree can be
ignored.”
A motion to ask the
Executive Board of the NFPC
to endorse the recommenda
tions of the Canon Law
Society and to seek its
endorsement by the National
Council of Bishops received a
favorable vote.
Also passed were
resolutions urging more
equitable procedures of
resignation from the
obligations and exercise of
the priestly ministry and the
election of bishops. With
regard to resignations, the
priests approved
recommendations on the
matter prepared for the
NFPC by a committee of the
(Continued on Page 5)
THE ‘AYES’ STAND to signify approval of a resolution at clergy meeting held last week in
Savannah. (Staff photo by Bob Ward)
REVEREND JOHN F. MCDONOUGH, president of Atlanta
Senate of Priests, addresses regional meeting of Priests’ Councils
on “The Role of Senates.” (Staff photo by Bob Ward)
PAPAL KNIGHT
A.M.Battey Sr.
Dies In Augusta
Monsignor Daniel J.
Bourke, V.F. was celebrant of
the Mass of Requiem (Nov. 8)
for Alfred M. Battey Sr., at
St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Church,
Augusta.
Mr. Battey, a Knight of St.
Gregory the Great and former
President of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association of
Georgia, died Nov. 6
following a brief illness. He
was chairman of the board of
Augusta Federal Savings and
Loan Association, which he
organized in 1949.
He was a member of St.
Mary’s parish and a past
Grand Knight of the Patrick
Walsh Council, Knights of
Columbus. In recent years, he
was one of the leaders in
building St. Joseph’s
Hospital, St. Mary’s Church,
St. Mary’s parish school and
in establishing Aquinas High
School.
In recognition for his
devotion to the Church, he
was made a Knight of the
Order of St. Gregory the
Great in 1961 by Pope John
XXIII.
He was a charter member
of the Augusta Kiwanis Club
and served on boards of
several local corporations.
A native of Augusta, Mr.
Battey was the son of the late
Dr. William Whatley Battey
and Annie Louise Barbot
Battey. He was a graduate of
St. Patrick’s School, Sacred
Heart College and attended
the Sorbonne in Paris.
He was a descendant of
Caleb Carr, colonial governor
of Rhode Island, and his
great - great-grandfather,
William Henry Battey,
established the family seat in
Louisville, Ga., and the name
became closely associated
with the Old South.
Survivors include his
widow, Mrs. Therese Dugas
Battey, Augusta; daughter,
Mrs. Battey Schwab, London,
England; two sons, Dr. Alfred
M. Battey Jr. and Dr. Louis
L. Battey, both of Augusta;
sister, Miss Terrence Battey,
Augusta; brother, Dr. Colden
R. Battey, Beaufort, S.C.; 13
grandchildren; and nieces and
nephews.
Burial was in Summerville
Cemetery.
INSIDE STORY
French B.C. Statement Pg« 2
Biafra-Nigeria War Pg. 3
More Than Love Needed Pg. 4
Bishop Speaks At Mercer Pg. 6