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Vol. 49 No. 18
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21. 1968
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HUMAN LIFE IN OUR DAY
95
U.S. Pastoral Speaks On Defense Of Life
CARDINAL DIES — Augustine Cardinal Bea, president of the
Vatican Secretariate for Promoting Christian Unity died (Nov.
16) in Rg.v.c ui the age of S7. (RNS Photo)
UNITY LEADER
Cardinal Bea
Dies In Rome
ROME (NC) -- The
Church’s best-known figure in
its search for ways to reunite
Christianity, Augustin
Cardinal Bea, has died here at
the age of 87.
The German-born Jesuit
scholar had spent a full
lifetime in Biblical studies,
but this turned out to be a
preamble to an entirely new
career that began for him at
the age of 79. Then he took
an assignment from Pope
John XXIII to lead a Vatican
office set up for Christian
reunion discussions with
Protestant and Orthodox
churchmen, in connection
with the Second Vatican
Council.
Appointed in 1960 as
president of the Vatican
Secretariat for Promoting
Christian Unity, he brought
to this work a freshness and
openness of approach and an
energetic pace that belied his
years and astonished the
world.
His death in Villa Stuart
hospital here (Nov. 16) came
after two weeks of
confinement with a
respiratory infection. The
cardinal had appeared this fall
to have recovered from a cold
he contracted in August. But
in early October he fell ill
with a heavier cold,
complicated by influenza,
and was unable to shake its
effects. His death was
ascribed to the strain put on
his heart by the respiratory
afflictions.
Cardinal Bea represented
in the hall of the Second
Vatican Council some of the
principal ideas from the
Church’s liberals now
enshrined in Council
documents, including the
declarations on Divine
Revelation, on Christian
unity, on religious liberty,
and on relations with the
Jews.
Cardinal Bea’s approach to
the reunion problem reflected
in the directives of the
Vatican council, was summed
up in a message he sent not
long ago to the Lutheran
World Federation:
“With all of you, we
deeply regret that 450 years
ago the unity of Western
Christianity was broken. We
do not wish to blame each
other for this terrible schism;
rather, together we wish to
seek ways of restoring the
lost unity.”
Cardinal Bea brought his
background as a Bible scholar
into his contacts with
non-Catholic Christians. Thus
he told leaders of the
Protestant United Bible
Societies last year that “the
Holy Spirit is surely at work
drawing us together through
the Bible.”
INSIDE STORY
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Nation’s Bishops Issue
Wide-ranging Document
WASHINGTON (NC) — The bishops of the United States have spoken on the
“doctrine and defense of life” in a 14,000-word pastoral letter prompted by the
current “threat to life in current problems of the family and of war and peace.”
In a pastoral entitled “Human Life in Our Day,” issued at the conclusion of their
annual meeting here (Nov. 11-15), the bishops deal first with the family, where “man
and life are first united,” and say “the Christian family is called more now than ever
to a prophetic mission, a witness to the primacy of life and the importance of
whatever preserves life.”
The wide-ranging
document is divided into two
chapters. The first, “The
Christian Family,” deals with
the issue of contraception
and other problems facing the
family today. The second,
“The Family of Nations,”
takes up questions of war and
peace and international
relations.
In their introduction the
bishops say the purpose of
the pastoral is “precisely the
doctrine and defense of life.”
Their aim, they add, is to set
forth “what faith has to say
in response to the threat to
life in certain problems of the
family and of war and
peace.”
The bishops call Pope Paul
Vi’s encyclical on birth
control, Humanae/Vitae, “an
obligatory statement,
consistent with moral
convictions rooted in the
traditions of Eastern and
Western Christian faith; it is
an authoritative statement
solemnly interpreting
imperatives which are divine
rather than ecclesiastical in
origin. It presents without
ambiguity, doubt or
hesitation the authentic
teaching of the Church
concerning the objective evil
of that contraception which
closes the marital act to the
transmission of life,
deliberately making it
unfruitful. United in collegial
solidarity with the Successor
of Peter, we proclaim this
doctrine.”
“The encyclical reminds
us,” the bishops add, “That
the use of the natural
rhythms never involves a
direct positive action against
the possibility of life;
artificial contraception
always involves a direct
positive action against the
possibility of life.
Correspondence with the
natural rhythms remains
essentially attuned to the
unitive and procreative intent
of the conjugal act even when
the spouses are aware of the
silence of nature to life.
“There are certain values
which may not oblige us
always to act on their behalf,
but we are prohibited from
ever acting directly against
them by positive acts. Truth
is such a value; life is surely
another. It is one thing to say
that an action against these
values is inculpable,
diminished in guilt, or
subjectively defensible; it is
quite another to defend it as
objectively virtuous.”
The pastoral recognizes
that “married couples faced
with conflicting duties are
often caught in agonizing
crises of conscience,” and
says the bishops make their
own the compassionate
counsel Pope Paul VI gave in
his encyclical.
“We feel bound,” the
bishops add, “to remind
Catholic married couples,
when they are subjected to
the pressures which prompt
the Holy Father’s concern,
that however circumstances
may reduce moral guilt, no
one following the teaching of
the Church can deny the
objective evil of
contraception itself. With
pastoral solicitude we urge
those who have resorted to
artificial contraception never
to lose heart but to continue
to take full advantage of the
strength which comes from
the Sacrament of Penance
and the grace, healing and
peace in the Eucharist. May
we all be mindful of the
invitation of Jesus: ‘The man
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who comes to me I will never
turn away’ (John 6, 37).
Humility, awareness of our
pilgrim state, a willingness
and determination to grow in
the likeness of the Risen
Christ will help to restore
direction of purpose and
spiritual stability.”
“Responsible parenthood,
as the Church understands
it,” the pastoral says, “places
on the properly formed
conscience of spouses all the
judgments, options and
choices which add up to the
awesome decision to give,
postpone or decline life. The
final decision may sometimes
involve medical,
economic,sociological or
psychological considerations,
but in no case can it
deliberately choose objective
moral disorder. If it is to be
responsible, it cannot be the
result of mere caprice nor of
superficial judgments
concerning relative values as
ARCHBISHOP Thomas A.
Donnellan of Atlanta was
elected (Nov. 12) to the
administrative committee of
the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, succeeding
the late Bishop Loras Lane of
Rockford. (NC Photos)
between persons and things,
between life and its
conveniences.”
Describing the attitude
which Christians should take
toward the teaching of the
Church on chastity in
marriage, the bishops say:
“Moreover, Christians,
however many their failures,
will neither expect nor wish
the Church to obscure the
moral ideal in the light of
which they press forward to
perfection.
“In the pursuit of the ideal
of chastity, again as of every
other virtue to which he is
bound, the Christian must
never lose heart; least of all,
can he pretend that
compromise is conquest. At
all times, his mind and heart
will echo St. Paul: ‘Not that I
have become perfect yet; I
have not yet won, but I am
still running, trying to
capture the prize for which
Christ Jesus captured me’
(Phil. 3,12). In no case, does
he suppose that the Church,
in proposing such goals,
teaches erroneously and
needlessly burdens its
members.”
The pastoral points out
that “both conciliar and
papal teaching . .. emphasize
that the interrelation between
the unitive meaning and the
procreative meaning of
marriage is impaired, even
contradicted, when acts
expressive of marital union
are performed without love
on the one hand and without
openness to life on the
other.”
The bishops’ statement
adds that, “consistent with
this,” Humanae Vitae “sees
the use of the periodic
rhythms of nature, even
though such use avoids rather
than prevents conception, as
morally imperfect if its
motivation is primarily
refusal of life rather than the
human desire to share love
within the spirituality of
responsible parenthood.”
The bishops note
“stepped-up pressures for
moral and legal acceptance of
directly procured abortion,”
and declare that “reverence
for life demands freedom
from direct interruption of
life once it is conceived.”
The pastoral discussed
norms of licit theological
dissent.
“There exists in the
Church,” the document says,
“a lawful freedom of inquiry
and of thought and also
general norms of licit dissent.
This is particularly true in the
area of legitimate theological
speculation and research.
When conclusions reached by
such professional theological
work prompt a scholar to
dissent from noninfallible
received teaching the norms
of licit dissent come into
play. They require of him
careful respect for the
consciences of those who lack
his special competence or
(Continued on Page 3)
PASTORAL COMMITTEE — Conferring with Archbishop John F. Dearden (back to camera),
president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, are members of the committee charged
with drafting the pastoral statement “Human Life In Our Day” issued in the name of all the
Bishops of the U.S. From left, clockwise: Bishops Walter W. Curtis, Bridgeport; Clarence E. El well,
Columbus; Thomas J. Grady, Chicago; Alexander M. Zaleski, Lansing; David M. Maloney, Wichita;
and John J. Wright, Pittsburgh, chairman of the group. Also on the committee was Bishop John J.
Dougherty, president, Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. The text was discussed at length
by all the bishops; in fact, 60 bishops contributed written suggestions after seeing the first draft.
(NC Photos)
MANY SUBJECTS COVERED
#
Pastoral Was Highlight
Of Action-Packed Week
WASHINGTON (NC) -
The annual meeting of the
U.S. bishops was a bit
different this year. Held at
the Washington Hilton hotel
here on a lower level (one
bishop said it was like going
down to a bomb shelter), the
week was, as usual, devoted
to study, discussion, debate
and decision making. New
aspects included a sit-in in the
lobby one evening by a group
of Washington priests and
their supporters, irritating not
a few other people using the
hotel (a second planned sit-in
fizzled when the expected
crowd didn’t show); and the
glare of television lights
almost every time the bishops
left their meeting room.
Highlight of the week was
the U.S. bishops’ pastoral
letter on “Human Life in Our
Day.” The bishops were given
a draft at the first day’s
meeting; from then on
questions about the pastoral
dominated almost every news
briefing. Auxiliary Bishop
James P. Shannon of St. Paul
and Minneapolis conducted
noon briefings: Auxiliary
Bishop Gerald V. McDevitt of
Philadelphia chaired a panel
of bishops each evening.
The p astoral was
approved, 180 to 8, at the
Friday morning session. A
drafting committee headed
by Bishop John J. Wright of
Pittsburgh had worked almost
constantly on the document,
revising it in accord with
suggestions received from
other members of the
hierarchy. As Bishop Wright
said at the closing news
briefing Friday (Nov. 15),
“the hierarchy moved to
express themselves first of all
as speaking in collegiality, in
solidarity with the Holy
Father on this point, and
therefore they have endorsed
the,teaching of Pope Paul VI
on the matter of the
transmission of life.”
Questions throughout the
week at news briefings raised
questions on conscience and
contraception, and Bishop
Wright at the Friday briefing
said: “We take the Catholic
position that an informed
Catholic conscience is one
which is informed in the light
of the teaching of the
Church, that it is not a
merely instinctive conscience
operating in a vacuum.”
The pastoral also dealt
with selective conscientious
objection, the Vietnam war,
foreign aid, licit theological
dissent, and a variety of other
topics.
In a statement on the
(Continued on Page 2)
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH \ t
NATION
News Media Criticized
PHILADELPHIA (NC) — John Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia
criticized the news media for reporting that the U.S. bishops’
pastoral letter “Human Life in our Day” had softened the
Church’s ban on artificial contraception which Pope Paul VI
reaffirmed in his recent encyclical, Humanae Vitae. “I am
completely shocked by the very grave distortions.” Cardinal
Krol told a news conference at his residence after returning here
from the semi-annual meeting of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, in Washington. “The bishops reaffirmed
without any question the teaching of the Holy Father,” the
cardinal asserted. “When there is a question of divine law, we
have no choice but to affirm and reaffirm it.” Cardinal Krol
claimed some news reports carried quotes out of context from
the pastoral letter.
VATICAN
Suicide Averted
VATICAN CITY (NC) - A 26-year-old ex-solider, Evelino
Loi, threatened for two hours (Nov. 17) to throw himself from
the roof of St. Peter’s basilica in an attempt to enlist Pope Paul
Vi’s assistance in finding employment. For two hours Loi
moved around the enormous statues which line the roof of the
basilica. He was at last persuaded to come down, but only after
a priest talked to him from a window of the Vatican palace that
was near Loi’s perch. When Loi was finally taken into custody
by police he was brought to the Vatican police station, where he
was promised that Vatican authorities would interest themselves
in his case.
FAR EAST
Viet Censorship
SAIGON (NC)--A South Vietnamese Catholic magazine has
been suspended for a month by the government for an article
(Nov. 1) criticizing some army generals irfvolved in the 1963
coup that overthrew President Ngo dinh Diem’s regime. The
Vietnamese-1 anguage weekly, Thang Tien (Straight Forward),
published by Father Phan Van Tham, was closed by the
information ministry “for criticizing army generals (unnamed)
who led the 1963 revolution, thus harming the generals’ prestige
and distorting the meaning of the revolution.” Thang Tien is the
second weekly closed by the government in its current
crackdown against publications that “fail to support the
national cause.”