Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2 — The Southern Cross, February 26, 1970
4 BRAIN DRAIN’ SEEN
Rome-Based Scholar On
Celibacy Controversy
BY MARJORIE HYER
NEW YORK (NC) - The
crisis over celibacy brought
on by the recent Dutch
Pastoral Council’s
recommendations has caused
a “massive brain drain” in the
Catholic Church, a
Rome-based priest-scholar
declared here.
Father Leo Alting von
Geusau, secretary general of
IDOC-Intemational based in
Rome, said the “enormous
exodus” from the Church of
priests, many of them top
scholars and theologians, is
not caused so much by the
celibacy law but “because of
their pessimism that any real
reform along the lines of
Vatican (Council) II
pessimism that any real
reform along the lines of
Vatican (Council) II
concerning new models of
Christian community and
ministry will ever come
about.”
“Their problem is more
with the structure of the
Church than with celibacy,”
he added.
K.(. LEAGUE
Father von Geusau told a
press conference here that
accurate statistics on priests
and nuns leaving their
vocation are not available
since “many of them do not
any more ask for laicization.”
Nevertheless, he cited
figures gathered by his wide
research and documentation
agency which indicate that in
January, 1970, during which
the conflict over celibacy
between the Vatican and the
Dutch Church came to a
head, more than twice as
many priests left the
priesthood, “though not
necessarily the Church,” as
had left during any month in
1969.
A disproportionately large
number of those who leave,
he said, are seminary and
university professors,
scientists, anthropologists,
leaders and writers.
According to Father von
Geusau, such men are
“generally highly involved in
the ideological changes in the
Church and feel a greater
degree of frustration. They
6
St. Mary’s
Undefeated
St. Mary’s boys defeated
second pi ace Blessed
Sacrament 48 to 33 for the
second time this season and
have practically assured
themselves first place in
regular season play.
Scores of games played
last weekend are: in the boys
division, St. Mary 48 - Blessed
Sacrament 33; Cathedral 32 -
St. Michael 31, - St. James 27
Nativity 18 - Blessed
Sacrament 43 - Sacred Heart
13.
In the girls division of the
K of C Parochial School
League in Savannah, Nativity
edged St. James 24 to 21 to
retain second place only two
games behind Blessed
Sacrament.
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In the girls division Blessed
Sacrament 42 .- St. Mary 19;
Cathedral 33- St. Michael 21;
Nativity 24 - St. James 21;
Blessed Sacrament 43 -
Sacred Heart 13.
Games scheduled for next
weekend will all be played at
Sacred Heart gym. Saturday,
February 28th at 1:00 P.M.
Cathedral boys - Sacred Heart
boys; 2:00 P.M. Cathedral
girls - Sacred Heart girls; 3:00
P.M. St. Michael boys - St.
James boys; 4:00 P.M. St.
Michael girls - St. James girls.
On Sunday, March 1 at
1:00 Blessed Sacrament boys
- Nativity boys; 2:00 P.M.
Blessed Sacrament girls -
Nativity girls; 3:00 P.M. St.
Mary Boys Cathedral boys;
4:00 P.M. St. Mary girls -
Cathedral girls.
The team standings
league are:
in the
Boys Won
Lost
St. Mary
9
0
Blessed Sacrament
8
2
St. James
5
4
Nativity
4
5
Cathedral
3
6
St. Michael
3
6
Sacred Heart
0
9
Girls
Won
Lost
Blessed Sacrament
10
0 ,
Nativity
8
1
St. Mary
5
4
St. James
4
5
Sacred Heart
3
6
Cathedral
2
7
St. Michael
0
9
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often leave the priesthood
with the same vocational
ideal with which they entered
it.”
“If we add to this
consideration the greatly
reduced number as well as
quality of those entering
seminaries, we find ourselves
able to speak of a massive
brain-drain in the Catholic
Church of today,” he said.
“Ironically, this seems to
be happening-although not
to the same extent in many
other churches-at a time
when interest in the study of
theology „ seems to be
increasing in most universities
of the world,” he added.
Most of the students who
pursue such studies look to
careers as teachers or
theologians, “but not in the
ministry,” he continued.
Father von Geusau is
himself Dutch although the
headquarters of the
transconfessional
IDOC-International, which he
heads, is in Rome. He was in
New York to announce the
beginning, in March, of a
fort-nightly English-language
edition of the IDOC Reports.
He said the April 4 issue
would feature the complete
documentation of the
conflict between the
Netherlands and Rome.
One of the tragedies of the
current conflict, he said, is
that the celibacy issue has
eclipsed the larger and more
significant aspects of the
question of Church renewal
under consideration at the
Jan. 5 to 7 session of the
Dutch Pastoral Council.
Within this larger
framework of renewal of the
total Christian community,
Father von Geusau
continued, the of the
Christian community in
today’s world. g
“What was at stake was an
understanding of what is the
Christian community. What is
the place of the Christian
community in the world?” he
said.
In the changing conditions
of today, he explained,
“Christian community comes
about spontaneously around
engagement in the search for
a new sense of the
transcendent in a new kind of
commitment around an issue.
" In these efforts, Orthodox
Protestants and Catholics
may be united.”
It was in this context of
the search for the basic
Christian community of the
future, he explained, that the
concept of the ministry was
discussed.
“The ministry seems more
and more as a new kind of
service. The minister is not
someone from the outside
who may pronounce certain
sentences that no one else can
pronounce,” he commented.
Such a ministry, he said,
would “become a much more
flexible service, following
new patterns in which the
priest and the Religious
would be more than ‘the
fellow-man minister,’
participating more as an
insider.” In this context,
Church renewal “would come
from the base and move to
the top,” he detailed.
Within this larger
framework of renewal of the
total Christian community,
Father von Geusau continued,
the Dutch Pastoral Council
concluded that “there would
be a place for married as well
as for celibate priests.”
He explained that in
Holland, “the question of
celibacy has been openly
discussed for 12 years.
Catholic public opinion,
including many of the more
conservative groups, does not
have any special problem
with an issue which is seen as
a disciplinary rather than
doctrinal.”
BEFORE SHE WAS ASKED TO LEAVE — Sister Vivian Votruba, a Maryknoll nun, a native of
Duluth, Minn., and a medical doctor, was one of 29 Catholic missionaries deported from Nigeria,
Feb. 19, in the wake of the Biafra war. This picture, taken last October, shows Sister Vivian at
work in Owerrinta hospital, near Aba, East Nigeria. Theirs was the second group of Catholic
missionaries to be deported. (NC Photo)
EATING LEAVES’
Ousted Missioners Cite
Misery Of Biafran POW’S
Editor: ED. NOTE:
BY PATRICK RILEY
. ROME (NC) - The second
group of Catholic missioners
to be deported from Nigeria
in the wake of the Biafra war
have brought out a tale of
death-dealing hunger in the
former enclave.
Even prisoners of war in
Nigerian prisons are reduced
to eating grass, they said.
Bishop Joseph Whelan,
C.S.Sp., of Owerri said that
while imprisoned in Port
Harcourt he was awakened at
night by the sound of
prisoners of war climbing
trees outside his cell to eat
the leaves.
“They were just skin and
bones,” the Irish bishop said.
“They ransacked the
leavings of meals that were
sent in to us by friends from
outside the prison.”
Bishop Whelan was one of
17 members of the Holy
Ghost congregation who were
deported Feb. 19. He arrived
in Rome the same day with
all the deportees, including
one American Maryknoll nun,
eight Sisters of the Holy
Rosary, two Vincentian
priests and one diocesan
priest.
All are Irish save Sister
Vivian Votruba of Duluth,
Minn., the Maryknoll nun.
She is a medical doctor.
Several of the missioners
said the condition of
prisoners of war should be
brought to the attention of
Nigerian federal authorities
and of the world.
One reported that a dozen
prisoners of war were dying
daily in Port Harcourt prison,
which had about 2,000 such
prisoners.
“And conditions were
worse in Ikot Ekpene,” he
said. “There, there were 300
men in a cell built for 16.”
The Missioners said that
despite the manifest goodwill
of those working with the
Nigerian Red Cross, including
some European teams, food
in sufficient quantities was
failing to reach even the
cities, let along the villages.
The vitorious Nigerian
Government’s decision not to
utilize relief workers on the
spot--chiefly mission
personnel-has meant the
abandonment of a widespread
network of hospitals and
feeding centers, they
emphasized.
This network had been
created during the Biafran
war by foreign relief agencies,
chiefly the World Council of
Churches (WCC) and the
international Catholic relief
agency, Caritas Internation-
alis.
About 80 trucks of the
fleet used by Caritas
Internationalis to distribute
food during the war have
been confiscated and sold to
merchants for the equivalent
of about $250, they reported.
Such trucks could have
been used to distribute food
kept in Caritas stores within
the former enclave.
Bishop Whelan indignantly
rejected charges that food
distributed by missioners and
other relief workers during
the war only served to
prolong the fighting and
therefore prolong human
suffering.
“That’s utterly fallacious,”
he declared. “Our Caritas
food went only to civilians,
especially to the very young
and the very old. None of it
went to soldiers, but only to
people who had nothing to
do with the prosecution of
the war. But even if feeding
all those children did prolong
the war-which I don’t at all
admit-none of us could say
to a starving child: ‘We have
to let you starve for the
greater good.’ That’s the sort
of policy people 1,000 miles
away might create. Nobody
on the spot could
conceivable carry it out.”
Bishop Whelan said the
charges against the missioners
were entering Nigeria illegally
and failing to have a residence
permit.
(Charges against the first
group of missioners, deported
early in February, were illegal
entry and working without a
permit.)
The bishop described the
trial at Port Harcourt.
“Each of us answered not
guilty,” he said. “Our defense
was two-fold. We pointed out
that where a human law
conflicts with God’s law, we
are bound to obey God’s
law.”
The missioners said their
duty before God was to help
the people under their care,
even if that meant violating
some civil laws.
Bishop Whelan explained
the second defense put
forward by the missioners.
“We also argued that a law
that cannot be observed does
not bind,” he said. “It was
impossible for us to apply to
the immigration officer to
enter the area. It was
impossible for us to get a
residence permit.”
On Feb. 14, the missioners
were found guilty and
sentenced to four months in
jail on each count or the
payment of $140 fine on
each count. They were also
ordered deported.
“Then our real drama
began,” Bishop Whelan said.
“Right after our trial, after
we had paid our fines, we
were taken to prison.
“We refused to go inside.
The warder asked the police
who brought us there for a
warrant, but they had none.
The police and the warders
went inside for a while, and
then the warders told us to
come in. We refused.
“More policemen came,
armed with batons, but we
still refused to enter. We had
paid our fines.
“We stayed outside the
prison all night, sleeping on
mats. Next morning the
military police came. A
military policeman pushed
me toward the prison. He
kept pushing me for 20 or 30
yards, right into the prison
door. Happily, the rest of the
missioners just followed.
“We had made our
symbolic resistance.”
Our young people today
are rebelling and becoming
“hippies” and revolutionists
because they are fed up with
the hypocrisies and double
standards of adults and
parents.
Your printed editorial
“The Safest Course” (Feb.
19, 1970) is a perfect
example. You make the point
that the use of marijuana by
our 13-year-old and up
children can be extremely
dangerous and in most cases
may result in addiction and
death.
The questions you asked
proving that marijuana “has
an effect on the emotions and
the senses that can last from
two to four hours;” “effect
can vary from depression to
excitement and sense of time
and distance can be
distorded,” and other dangers
can be equally applied to the
use of the drug alcohol.
Yet, incredible as it may
seem, you and your church
not only condone the use of
alcohol in moderation, you
encourage its use by serving it
at church socials, bazaars,
outings, official meetings, etc.
You are also engaged in its
manufacture. (The Christian
Brothers, Schenley)
Since my children
must live in the society that
you are contributing to, I feel
that you should offer some
explanation of this
incongruity.
VATICAN CITY (NC)-
Officials of the Vatican
Secretariat for Christian
Unity have hailed as a
“breakthrough” a decision of
the Russian Orthodox Church
synod meeting in Moscow
permitting Roman Catholics
under various circumstances
to receive the sacraments
from Russian Orthodox
priests.
The decision was
approved by the synod of the
Russian Orthodox Church,
meeting under the Patriarch
Alexis, in Moscow in
December. The synod has
advised priests under its
jurisdiction that Roman
Catholics and “Old Believers,
a schismatic branch of
Russian Orthodoxy to be
found only in Russia, should
not be refused the sacraments
when they apply for their
administration.
(The Russian Orthodox
decision was reported Feb. 19
in Athens by the daily
newspaper Ethnos, which said
the Russian Orthodox Church
had informed other Orthodox
churches that it had decided
to enter full communion with
the Roman Catholic Church.
The paper said the decision to
administer all sacraments to
Roman Catholics was made
by the synod of the
Orthodox Church of Russia
in December.)
An official of the Unity
Secretariat said it was fair to
term the decision a
“breakthrough” because the
Russian synod is the first
major juridical body of
Orthodoxy to grant this
permission which has already
been granted by the Roman
Catholic Church to its
faithful under various
circumstances.
The ecumenical directory
issued by the Unity
Secretariat in 1967, carrying
To our knowledge, neither
the medical profession,
lawyers of law enforcement
people, nor any group
professionally knowledgeable
about the effects of alcohol
taken in moderation and the
effects of drugs, including
marijuana, have found any
appreciable similarities
between the two.
When the church condones
the use of alcohol in
moderation, she is simply
saying that such use does not
constitute sin, and when
alcoholic beverages are served
at church-sponsored
functions, the church does
not therby encourage its use
any more than it encourages
the use of pickles or relish or
tiny sandwiches and cheese
snacks which are also served,
and which can make some
people sick.
We would also respectfully
point out to Mr. Lewis that
Roman Catholics do not
come close to comprising a
majority of voters in any
county in Georgia. Yet, there
are several counties, cities and
towns which have legalized
the sale of liquor by the drink
and most Georgia couties,
many of which have only a
handful of Catholics, have
legalized the sale of beer and
wine.
It would appear to some
that if there is hypocrisy and
double standards on the part
of adults and parents, it is
much more attributable to
parents who force their
children to sit through
Sunday attacks on the use of
liquor, but who sell their
grain to distilleries and who
use alcohol, themselves.
out the desire of the Second
Vatican Council, specified;
“Besides cases of
necessity, there would be
reasonable ground for
encouraging sacramental
sharing if circumstances make
it materially or morally
impossible over a long period
for one of the faithful to
receive the sacraments in his
own Church, so that in effect
he would be deprived,
without legitimate reason, of
the spiritual fruit of the
sacraments.”
This provision of the
directory applies specifically
to the Eastern Churches. The
decision of the Russian
Church to extend a like
provision fulfills one of the
cautions contained in the
directory, which says of
relations and the sacraments
of Eastern non-Roman
Catholic Churches:
' “In granting permission
for sharing in the sacraments,
it is fitting that the greatest
possible attention be given to
‘reciprocity.’ ”
In other words, the sharing
of sacraments should be a
two-way relationship where
possible.
The secretariat official
noted it was remarkable that
the Moscow Patriarchate,
rather than the Patriarchate
of Constantinople
(Instanbul), was establishing
the first reciprocal
realtionship of any Orthodox
body.
The official also noted
that the decision of the
Moscow synod was not
limited to churches inside
Russia and therefore
presumably applied to
churches under its
jurisdiction in the United
States, Latin America and
elsewhere.
St. James P.C.C.W.
The St. James Council of Catholic Women (Savannah) will
meet on Monday, March 2, at 8 P.M. in the assembly Room of
the school. Proposed changes in the Constitution and By-Laws
will be voted on. Guest speaker will be Rev. Paul Nix, Pastor of
the Isle of Hope Baptist Church. A special fund-raising sale of
Avon products will be featured.
World Day Of Prayer
World Day of Prayer is an international Christian service
celebrated each year on the First Friday in March. This date was
fixed to ensure its falling within the Lenten period for the total
Christian family, Orthodox as well as Protestant and Roman
Catholic. It is sponsored by Church Women United, an
ecumenical national group. In Statesboro the annual service
rotates from church to church and will be held this year at St.
Matthew’s Catholic Church on Friday, March 6, at 8:00 p.m.
The scripture theme for this year is “Everyone helps his
neighbor and says to his brother, ‘Take Courage’. ” (Isaiah 41:6)
The prayer service will be followed by a Fellowship Hour in the
Parish Hall.
Correction!
THE SOUTHERN CROSS erroneously reported in
the issue of February 5 that Father William Simmons,
pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Thunderbolt,
had been appointed Diocesan Director of the Catholic
Youth Organization. Father Simmons was named
CYO Moderator for the Savannah Deanery. The new
Diocesan CYO Director, succeeding Father Herbert
Wellmeier, is Father Thomas Healy, Assistant Pastor
of St. Joseph’s Church, Macon. His appointment was
effective February 21st.
Respectfully,
W.B. Lewis
Pooler, Ga.
ORTHODOX ACTION
Vatican Hails
Russian Move