Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6 — February 12,1970 *
DURING LENT
Pope Paul Asks Youths
Give To Fund For Poor
NEW YORK (NC) - Pope
Paul VI appealed to the more
than 5 million U.S. Catholic
elementary and high schools
students to contribute
generously during Lent to the
1970 American Catholic
Overseas Aid Fund Appeal.
His appeal in an Ash
Wednesday (Feb. 11) radio
message, carried by the
country’s major networks,
marked the opening phase of
the 24th annual overseas aid
appeal.
He reminded the students
there are “millions of boys
and girls, in many countries
of the world, who are poor,
hungry, sick, without a home
or shelter.”
The Pontiff recalled his
visit last year to Uganda where
he learned of the suffering as a
result of the Nigerian-
Biafran civil war. He said
more than 2 million persons,
many of them children, died
of hunger, but many more
would have died “if American
Catholics like you and your
parents had not given
generously for emergency
aid.”
The Pope said the
generosity of U.S. Catholics
“also consoled and relieved
the poor and the sick in many
other lands, such as Vietnam,
Palestine and Latin America.”
“And you have been so
good, and so generous, that
this relief work of American
Catholics probably gives more
help, to more people, than
any other group in the
world,” the Pope said. “You
have done a great deal; but
much more still remains to be
done.”
BY REV. MR. PETER
SCHINELLER, S.J.
“I think I know what’s
bothering the students. I
think that what we are up
against is a generation that is
by no means sure that it has a
future.” These are the words
of Dr. Georgia Wald, a Nobel
prize winning biology
professor from Harvard,
trying to pinpoint the
problem facing young people
today.
Perhaps because of this
uncertainty about the future,
we find ourselves surrounded
by so many extremes. Last
year the young cried, “Make
love, not war!” In recent
years many campuses have
been virtual battlegrounds.
Man today has the power
to do things undreamed of
years ago. Yet mass media
makes us more aware than
ever of our failings in solving
the most basic problems of
poverty and hunger. We reach
the moon while most of the
people in the world go to
sleep hungry.
All these paradoxes must
challenge the Christian. He
realizes more than before his
responsibility in being his
“brother’s keeper.” He
realizes that it is up to
man-created by God,
redeemed through Christ and
destined for God--to shape his
own future.
Man might not survive if
he settles down in a town or
country, surrounded by social
evils. He must be the pilgrim
or pioneer, realizing his part
in improving the human
situation. His salvation is
achieved not by escaping
from this world, but by
working to improve it.
This concern for a better
world is really what the
rebellious young are trying to
bring to our attention. We are
missing something very basic
if we are content to have 40%
more money spent annually
on war and weapons for war,
than on education, according
to figures released by the U.S.
In recent years
contributions to the annual
overseas aid fund during Lent
by U.S. school children have
exceeded more than $1
million a year. The annual
appeals are conducted under
auspices of the U.S. bishops.
The 1970 appeal will be
climaxed during the second
phase of the campaign for
adults with the traditional
Laetare Sunday, March 8,
collection, taken up in
parishes throughout the
country.
The fund is the principal
source of revenue for
operations of Catholic Relief
Services, the overseas aid
agency of U.S. Catholics. As a
result of last year’s campaign
CRS was enabled to alleviate
sufferings of more than 40
million destitute in 70
countries.
The text of the Pope’s
message to U.S. students
follows:
Dear Children:
This is your Holy Father,
speaking to you from the
Vatican, as we do every year
on the first day of Lent.
During this season of
self-denial and sacrifice. We
would remind you of the
millions of boys and girls, in
many countries of the world,
who are poor, hungry, sick,
without a home or shelter.
We tell you of their
sufferings, so that you will
use your little sacrifices
during Lent to help and
comfort them, by giving the
results of your self-denial to
the Annual Overseas Aid
Fund of your bishops.
Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency.
Many of the concerns of
youth today must be the
concerns of Christians,
seeking war rather than
peace, freedom rather than
oppression, and reminding us
that the quality of life is
more important than the
material aspects.
At the center of the
upheavals in the world is
basically the cry of man who
wants to be given his
God-given rights, who wants
to be human, and share with
all men in the riches and
beauties of creation. So many
are oppressed by the
creations of man, by
structures that limit rather
than enrich.
Government, industry,
military, even the Church and
its hierarchical structures-
these are intended to serve
man and improve the quality
of life. Yet they are being
criticized for controlling and
oppressing man. While the
criticism is often more
destructive than constructive,
behind it is the wish to
reaffirm that man is lord of
the sabbath. The sabbath of
man-made structures should
be subservient to the needs
and desires of man, guided by
the Spirit of God.
The path of the pioneer is
more dangerous than the safe
life of the settler. But most
people in the world do not
have the food or resources to
become settlers. Thus the
pioneer is more typical, and
more human-more aware and
responsive to the needs of his
fellow man. He refuses to give
in to the temptation to
surround himself by the
safety of the town-because
the town itself all to
frequently is surrounded by
men living in unjust and
inhuman conditions of
hunger, poverty and
oppression.
* * *
(Next Week
AUTHORITY)
For more than 25 years,
your bishops have been
sending wholesome food,
warm clothing, and good
medicine, to millions of
needy children. This
wonderful work is done by
Catholic Relief Services, as
the bishops’ agency abroad,
in performing this important
task of the Church, in the
world of today. So, if you
support this annual appeal
actively and generously, you
are obeying Our Lord’s
teaching to love one another,
and to help our brothers and
sisters in their necessity.
Not having enough food,
or education, or a good job, is
already a great burden for
many people. But today,
things are made even worse
for them, because wars are
going on around them, and
cause food to spoil, schools
and hospitals to be destroyed,
homes to be broken up, and
families to be separated.
You know that last year
we visited Africa. Our heart
went out to the boys .and
girls, with their fathers and
mothers, who are suffering
especially because of the civil
war in Nigeria. More than two
million of them, it is said,
many being children like
yourselves, have died of
hunger. Even more would
have died, and pain and
sorrow would be much
greater, if American Catholics
like you and your parents had
not given generously for
emergency aid. In fact, your
American bishops’ agency,
Catholic Relief Services, has
given more food and
medicine to the people of
Nigeria, we think, than any
other organization. In the last
two years, it has sent more
than $10 million worth of
help to that unhappy land.
But Catholic Relief
Services have also consoled
and relieved the poor and the
sick in many other lands,
such as Vietnam, Palestine,
and Latin America. Now, the
only way they can send this
help to boys and girls just like
you, in many countries, who
have not enough food, or
schools, or hospitals, or even
good homes to live in, is by
the support you and your
parents contribute to the
program of your bishops.
And you have been so good,
and so generous, that this
relief work of American
Catholics probably gives more
help, to more prople, than
any other group in the world.
You have done a great
deal; but much more still
remains to be done. That is
why, today, we ask you to
give as much as you possibly
can to the collection for your
bishops’ overseas aid fund.
We ask you in our own name;
we ask you also in the name
of all the children,
everywhere on earth, who
will be helped by your
sacrifices and donations and
prayers.
You can provide them
with a nourishing school
lunch each day for the next
year. For most of them, that
will be the only meal they
will eat during the whole day.
You can help build for them,
schools and training centers,
so that they can learn to earn
a living when they grow up.
You can put good clothing on
a boy or girl who is now
wearing only rags. You can
give those poor children
medicine to cure them when
they are sick, and a hospital
to go to, when they suffer
and are in pain.
Please be generous,
therefore, dear children. Give
with love, like the love Our
Lord has for each of you, to
provide all these necessary
things for your brothers and
sisters everywhere. Jesus will
reward you and your families,
if you make a sacrifice for
noble purpose.
It is in His Name that we
call down from heaven richest
graces for each of you; and
that we impart to you, dear
boys and girls, to your
parents, your teachers, the
priests and Religious of your
parish, and to all your
friends, our affectionate
apostolic benediction.
God bless you all!
MAN
Viewpoints
On Theology
POPE PAUL VI, in a message to school children of the U.S., for broadcast on Ash Wednesday,
Feb. 11, appealed to the children to contribute generously to the 1970 American Catholic Aid
Fund Appeal. (NC Photo)
ECUMENICAL*
New Lectionary
Fruit Of Cooperation
WASHINGTON (NC)-
Twenty-five years of
scholarly ecumenical
cooperation will reach a
climax on March 22 when the
newly approved Lectionary
of Scripture readings and
Psalm Responsaries is
introduced into the Sacred
Liturgy of the Mass.
The New American
Version, as it is to be called,
has been translated from the
original languages by
American biblical scholars,
Catholic and Protestant, all
members of the Catholic
Biblical Association of
America.
“A great majority of the
faithful will be hearing the
word of God in a fresh,
meaningful, dignified, and
thoroughly intelligible
vernacular translation in the
language of today, said
Father Stephen Hartdegen,
O.F.M., of the United States
Catholic Conference Division
of Religious Education
(CCD).
Father Hartdegen told NC
News Service that the New
American Version will soon
be published in its entirety
besides its use in the new
Lectionary. He described the
work as “the first translation
in the United States of the
entire Catholic Bible made
directly from the original
languages into English.”
Father Hartdegen noted
the New Testament portion is
not related and should not be
confused with the readings of
the Roman Missal in use since
1964, nor with the revision of
the Rheims-Challoner
revision from the Vulgate in
1941.
“It attempts to avoid
‘Bible English’ of any period,
archaisms, words or speech
patterns, no longer in use,
he said. “It does not confine
itself to a limited vocabulary,
nor is it modern-journalistic
in style. It seeks to be as
faithful as possible to the
various styles of the biblical
authors.”
“The new text reads
beautifully, and carefully
avoids the snags to which
objection was made in the
1964 Lectionary due,
understandibly, to the haste
with which the text was
orderd to be prepared for the
liturgical changes of that
time,” Father Hartdegen
continued. He added that the
“collaboration of several
non-Catholic biblical scholars
in the new translation gives
the work an ecumenical
character.”
The New American
translation found in the
Lectionary is the fruit of a
project initiated as early as
1944 by the later Archbishop
Edwin V. O’Hara of Kansas
City, Mo., chairman of the
Bishops Commitee of the
Confraternity of Christian
Doctrine, and continued by
Bishop Charles Greco of
Alexandria, La. The hierarchy
of the country approved the
project.
Besides a large number of
translators of individual
books and of associate
editors, the Board of
Editors-in- Chief consisted of
Msgr. Patrick W. Skehan,
director of the department of
Semitic Languages and
Literature at the Catholic
University of America; Father
Louis Hartman, C.S.S.R.,
assistant director of the same
department and general
secretary of the Catholic
Biblical Association of
America, chairman of the Old
Testament Section; Msgr.
Myles Bourke, professor of
Scripture at Fordham
University and chairman of
the New Testament Section.;
Father Gerard Sloyan of
Temple University; Father
Hartdegen, Assistant Director
of the Division of Religious
Education, (CCD) Scripture
Section - coordinator of both
Testaments and secretary of
the board of editors.
Father Hartdegen said the
Lectionary will contain a
three-year cycle of readings
for Sundays and solemn
feasts, a two-year weekday
cycle, and a one-year
sanctoral cycle, in addition to
the readings for a great
variety of Masses: for the
common of Saints, Votive
Masses, Ritual Masses and
Masses for various needs.
There are also Responsorial
Psalms to follow the first
readings, and Gospel or
Alleluia Versicles to follow
the second readings.
The introductory material,
summaries of readings,
rubrics, and refrains for the
responsorial psalms are the
work of the International
Commission for English in
the Liturgy under the
direction of Father Gerald
Sigler. The entire work has
been supervised by Father
Frederick McManus, director
of the secretarial of the
Bishops’ Committee on the
Liturgy.
Preparation of the New
Lectionary has been the work
of Father Hargdegen and his
staff.
A sample of the New
American Versin found in the
Lectionary is the following
passage from Paul’s letter to
the Philippians: 1,20-24, 27.
“Christ will be exalted
through me, whether I live or
die. For, to me, “Life” means
Christ; hence dying is so
much gain. If, on the other
hand, I am to go on living in
the flesh, that means
productive toil for me- and I
do not know which to prefer.
I am strongly attracted by
both: I long to be freed from
this life and to be with Christ,
for that is the far better
thing; yet it is more urgent
that I remain alive for your
sakes. Conduct yourselves,
then, in a way worthy of the
gospel of Christ. "
The typical edition of the
new Lectionary (New
American Version) is being
published by the Catholic
Book Publishers of New York
also by the Liturgical Press
Collegeville, Minn, and by the
10 major publishers of
Missalettes who will use it for
their weekly ol monthly
church booklets.
NEW YORK AUXILIARIES - Pope Paul VI has named two
New York prelates to be auxiliary bishops of Terence Cardinal
Cooke of New York. They are Msgr. Patrick V. Ahem (left),
pastor of Our Lady of the Angels church in the Bronx, and
Msgr. Edward D. Head, director of Catholic Charities of the
Archdiocese. (NC Photo)
Dutch Bishops
React To Letter
AMSTERDAM, The
Netherlands (NC)— The
bishops of the Netherlands
have interpreted Pope Paul’s
latest pronouncement on
priestly celibacy as an offer
to discuss the matter, and not
as a rejection of their support
for a rule change.
They said they appreciated
the pontiffs latest statment.
“The Dutch bishops
appreciate the offer of the
Holy Father to discuss with
him the priest problem in the
Netherlands. They hope that
this consulation will have
good results,” said a
communique (Feb. 5) from
the secretariat of the Dutch
bishops’ conference.
The Pope had said in a
letter to Jean Cardinal Villot,
his secretary of state, that
many other bishops and
priests had implored him
“not to make any changes in
such a venerable tradition” as
mandatory celibacy for the
priesthood. He said they also
wanted the Dutch bishops to
confer with him on the.
matter.
“For our part, we are
more than ever desirous to
seek with the shepherds of
the dioceses of Holland the
means for the fitting solution
in their problem in a similar
way for the good of the
entire Church,” Pope Paul
said.
In the same letter, the
Pope said the reasons given
for a relaxation of the rule of
obligatory priestly celibacy
“do not seem to us
convincing.”
He went on to reaffirm his
determination to maintain
the present discipline, saying:
v “The bond, established for
centuries by the Latin Church
between priesthood and
celibacy, constitutes for her
an extremely precious ,and
irreplaceable good.”
The Dutch bishops had
said Jan. 19 that the Church
in the Netherlands would be
better off if there were
optional celibacy, if married
men could be ordained
priests, and if priests who had
married could return to the
ministry in certain cases.
The bishops’ statement
supported the Dutch National
Pastoral Council, which had
earlier voted overwhelmingly
in favor of optional celibacy.
The Dutch National
Catholic daily De Tijd
commented on the Pope’s
statment: “This is not a
matter of doctrine. In a world
Church that is constantly
becoming more democratic,
the view of the Pope is not
final nor the only one that is
decisive. If more hierarchies
take a flexible stand with
regard to the policy and views
of the Dutch bishops, the
Pope could be influenced.”
The paper went on to say
tha the Pope might as a
result, feel obliged to change
his personal opinion on these
laws based on tradition. It is a
disciplinary affair, the paper
said.
“The Dutch bishops as
pioneers will undoubtedly
start an international
development,” De Tijid
continued. “There are many
signs of that.”
Another national Catholic
daily, De Volkskrant, said:
“The papal letter to
(Cardinal) Villot signifies a
small opening and probably a
gap in the celibacy wall. Until
a few days ago, the ban on
married priests in the Church
of Rome seemed a rampart
that could never be
conquered.”
Scripture
(Continued from Page 5)
generally” should see to the
“wise distribution” of
Scriptures published in
various forms for the use of
non-Christians. The Latin
phrase just translated as
“Christians generally” could,
more literally, be translated
“Christians of every status” -
it is a sweeping phrase
(Christiani cuiuscumque
status) which includes all
Christians of every age and
station.
With that many people
called to it, and with that
scope of both personal and
missionary spiritual work
involved, the Biblical
apostolate should be the most
important thing happening in
the Church. It really isn’t
though. Not yet. A great
obstacle stands in the way:
the large group of Catholics
who do not know, or just will
not believe, that daily
encounter with Christ in the
Scriptures is something for all
Christians. More precisely, of
course, it is their mentality
rather than their persons that
constitutes the obstacle.
Nevertheless, it is that great
mass of persons who have to
be persuaded before the
Biblical apostolate can enter
into the phase for which it is
ready.
There are some, still a very
small group, who know a
great deal about the
Scriptures from their college
theology courses. I know one
of them who says, “If I hear
that word ‘salvation history’
again, I’ll scream!” At the
other extreme are the people
who think all of Scripture is
very difficult and requires
higher study, which they are
not cut out for. In between
there is - the large group, I
have already mentioned.
They think that anyone who
is going to read Scripture
daily and pray daily with the
Scriptures must be heading
for the priesthood or the
convent. This group-and I am
afraid it is a very large
group-thinks such encounter
with Christ is for “chosen”
souls.
This large, inert group is
not something new in the
Church. It has been there all
through the past 70 years,
through the reigns of all the
Popes from Leo XIII to Pope
Paul VI. Every one of those
Popes wrote an Encyclical
Letter, and Pope Paul signed
a Conciliar document, which
urged daily reading of the
Scriptures for all Catholics: It
is quite clear that the
majority of our Catholic
people never responded to
this call, and they still do not.
There are signs, however,
that a change is coming in the
large, inert group. There have
always been some who took
up the Scriptures, read, and
found Christ their Lord
speaking to them. Now many
more are doing so. Now there
is less cause for fear that they
will be thought by others to
be candidates for the
priesthood or the veil. Those
who read what 1 have put
together in this series can
make quite a change in the
picture. I am thinking of you
as a small group studying the
Scriptures together with me.
A word on how to manage a
small study group, a word on
books and other materials,
and then we’ll move on to
our first inquiry.
The friend I mentioned at
the beginning had a note of
urgency about getting the job
done. I think he was referring
to the mounting danger of a
nuclear holocaust or fatal
pollution of the environment.
He may even feel that the
Lord’s Second Coming is not
far off. At any rate, I’m
basically optimistic. I tend to
feel we should work as if we
have at least two months for
the job.
Some may ask why I
mentioned that my friend is a
wealthy man. I analyze it this
way: any of us could have
said what he said, but he is
putting his money behind his
words. Some of the
achievements in the Biblical
apostolate movement will be
due to his financial support. I
suppose I was thinking, too,
that he ought to be given
some credit for it (he insists
on remaining anonymous)
and I suppose, too, that I was
subconsciously hoping people
of his ability would be
similary inspired. Let no one
be put off, however. We need
everyone in the Biblical
apostolate at the working
level. We’ll be talking at that
level in this series.