Newspaper Page Text
ol. 52 No. 40
SERVING 88 SOUTH - GEORGIA COUNTIES
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Thursday, November 18,1971
.Single Copy Price — 12 Cents
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Jackson Named
To USCC Post
A prominent Savannah
educator has been named to a
three-year term on the
Committee on Education of
the United States Catholic
Conference (USCC). He is Dr.
Prince Jackson, Jr., President
of Savannah State College
and a member of St.
Benedict’s parish in
Savannah. Dr. Jackson is also
Vice-President of the
Chatham County School
Board.
The appointment, which
was effective October 1st,
was recommended by
Savannah’s Bishop, Gerard L.
Frey, who also serves on the
USCC Edcuation Committee.
In a letter of acceptance,
addressed to Bishop William
E. McManus, Chairman of the
Education Committee, Dr.
Jackson said, “It is an honor
and a privilege for me to
accept the invitation to
become a member of the
Committee . . .This
appointment brings honor to
the .. .Diocese of Savannah,
and I am extremely indebted
to His Excellency, Bishop
Gerard L. Frey for
A HEADLINE /*'
HOPSCOTCH *
'Ball Game’ Not Over
ORLANDO, Fla. (NC) — The National Federation of Priests
Councils (NFPC) will continue to push for optional celibacy
despite the world Synod of Bishops’ reaffirmation of the
Church’s ban on married priests, the NFPC’s president said here.
“We have lost the ball game for the time being,” commented
Father Frank J. Bonnike of Chicago at a meeting of the Florida
Federation of Priests Councils.
Predicts Women Priests
OMAHA, Neb. (NC) — Women will eventually De ordained
priests, Auxiliary Bishop George Evans of Denver predicted
here. “I don’t think I’ll live to see it,” Bishop Evans said. “But
as far as I know, there are no theological barriers. I don’t see
Christ saying that the priesthood is limited to men.” He said
women are moving toward “first-class citizenship” within the
Church.
Bishops To Admit Press
WASHINGTON (NC) — The nation’s bishops voted to open
the doors of their traditionally secret meetings and let the news
media in for first-hand reporting, starting with their next
semi-annual meeting in April 1972 in Atlanta. The vote by 253
bishops at their autumn meeting here - 144 in favor, 106
against, and three abstaining - reversed a voting pattern in
which the idea of live coverage was strongly rejected in
November 1970 and barely missed approval in April 1970.
Catholic U. Appeal
WASHINGTON (NC) — Another in the series of special
yearly collections stretching back to 1903 is set for Nov. 28 in
parishes throughout the country for The Catholic University of
America. The collection is the only one in which Catholics
contribute on a nationwide basis to a single educational
institution. CU is the only university or college in the country
founded under papal sponsorship and made the special
responsibility of the U.S. bishops.
nominating me. I will serve
on the Committee in any
capacity to which I am
assigned.”
Dr. Jackson will attend his
first meeting of the
Education Committee on
December 5th in Washington,
D.C.
Dr. Jackson
CHURCH POPULATION POSITION
Wright Protests Priest’s
‘Misleading’ Phamphlet
ROME (NC) — Cardinal John Wright has protested some of the population explosion views in a new booklet by a
British priest, saying they are “misleading and incomplete representations of Catholic positions on the subject.”
The cardinal said in a statement to NC News that he sent Father Arthur McCormack a letter complaining that
the priest had lifted out of context and exaggerated a moral principle involved in a disciplinary case settled by
Cardinal Wright’s office.
Wright’s statement (1,000
words):
The passage in his brochure
to which I took serious
exception is quoted by NC
News as follows: “.. .it
would seem that a pastoral
attitude is necessary, perhaps
on the lines of the findings of
the Vatican Congregation for
the Clergy headed by
Cardinal John Wright with
regards to the case of the
Washington priests disciplined
by Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle
for signing a ‘Statement of
Conscience’ over the
encyclical Humanae Vitae.
“In this document, it says
that ‘particular circumstances
surrounding an objectively
evil human act.. .can make it
inculpable, diminished in
guilt or subjectively
defensible’.”
In other words, if women
such as I have mentioned
(Father McCormack, as
quoted by NC News) have
recourse to methods not
sanctioned by the Church one
could understand their
position and apply this
principle, especially as the
temptation to resort to
abortion would be very
considerable, and statistics
show that many fall into this
temptation.
“While upholding the
ideals of Humanae Vitae,
many bishops and priests
have adopted this pastoral
approach to individual
problems.”
I have no way (nor does
Father McCormack) of
checking the truth of the last
sentence you quote, but I did
feel free to write him as
follows on the pastoral
solution attributed to us: “I
feel bound to protest that (in
your brochure) the principle
cited from me on pp. 57-58
of your brochure has been
escalated out of all
proportion, having been
already lifted out of context.
“The original context was,
of course, the contention
(inter alia) of the Washington
priests that responsible
spiritual guides could teach
that spouses might properly
practice contraception as
positively desirable and even
good in certain circumstances
and given certain motives.
Our congregation denied the
truth of any such proposition
while, following the line of
the U.S. Catholic hierarchy’s
response to Humanae Vitae,
conceding that the degree of
subjective guilt or
impotability in a specific
instance of contraception
might be diminished even to
the vanishing point, as in the
case of other ‘objectively evil’
actions.”
“I cannot imagine the
principle we invoked (a fairly
traditional one with respect
to the circumstances reducing
guilt as you observe in your
review of Stevas’ book) as
being reasonably escalated
into a premise for the
calculated deliberate
acceptance in advance by
Catholic spouses of the
population control programs
set forth in the available
literature from my own
country.”
Father McCormack held a
news conference in London
recently to announce his new
pamphlet “Population
Explosion - a Christian
Concern.” NC News reported
the story, along with the text
of two chapters from the
pamphlet.
BISHOP JOHN J. RUSSELL of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Richmond (right in photo) and Bishop William R. Canon of the
Virginia United Methodist Conference joined on the steps of the
Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Richmond, Va., Nov. 4,
to urge members of their churches to support respective fund
drives on the same Sunday, Nov. 21. On that day Methodists
will have the United Methodist Fund for Reconciliation while
Catholics will have the Campaign for Human Development.
When the two bishops heard that the dates of their churches’
appeals coincided, they decided on the ecumenical plea. (NC
PHOTO by Charles E. Mahon)
ANTI-POVERTY EFFORT
Campaign Directors See
Chances For Development
By Joseph McLellan
(NC News Service)
WASHINGTON (NC) -
“It’s very much like a
political campaign,” said
Father Robert V. Monticello,
executive director of the
Campaign for Human
Development.
Weary from a barnstorming
tour that has taken him
through 16 major cities since
Sept. 23, the Detroit priest
was optimistic about the
future of the U.S. Catholic
bishops’ massive anti-poverty
drive.
With Auxiliary Bishop
Michael Dempsey of Chicago,
the campaign’s national
director, Father Monticello
and a small team of experts
had spent nearly two months
conferring with diocesan
campaign directors,
addressing clergy conferences
and generally plugging the
fund-raising campaign in
cities all across the country.
Both the bishop and the
priest were cautiously
optimistic as the campaign
reached its crucial date:
Sunday, Nov. 21, when the
second annual collection will
be taken up in all U.S.
Catholic churches.
The response was better
this year than it was the first
time he went out to promote
the campaign, Bishop
Dempsey said in an interview.
“There is more interest this
year and we have more to
report.”
“Last year, the only thing
we had to offer was trust in
the bishops,” Father
Monticello added. “Now we
can talk about the grants we
have already made - 188 on
the national level, totalling
over $4 million, plus another
$2 million on the diocesan
level. We have given away
over $6 million and we will
have about 75 more grants to
announce before the end of
the year.”
Two significant trends
were noted by Bishop
.
A
Dempsey and Father
Monticello in their travels,
though both men were
reluctant to speculate on the
future of either trend.
One was a hope expressed
by many priests, particularly
younger priests, that the
campaign would become a
permanent activity of the
Church, not an ad hoc
program with limited goals
and life-span. Bishop
Dempsey noted that some
dioceses have already
established permanent human
development offices and
predicted that the trend “is
going to grow as a grass roots
thing.”
“The bishops are impressed
by the response of their
people,” he said.
A second trend noted
nationwide was ecumenical
interest in the campaign.
“Several Protestant churches
have talked to us and asked
how they can help,” Bishop
Dempsey said. “Our radio
and television spots were
distributed for us by the
Broadcasting and Film
Commission of the National
Council of Churches. We
didn’t have the facilities for
that.”
The campaign is still a long
way from being a permanent
or an ecumenical activity, but
the fact that there is interest
in such developments shows
how far it has come in one
year.
What are its prospects for
beating last year’s record of
$8.5 million raised in one
collection - the biggest single
national collection in U.S.
Catholic history? Neither
man wanted to make a firm
prediction but both seemed
confident.
He suggested that the
Church apply “the
time-honored principle” of
relieving a person of
obligations that cannot be
fullfilled - and he sought to
link that approach with the
solution to the “Washington
19” case.
The Congregation for the
Clergy, headed by Cardinal
Wright, came up with a
program last April to
reconcile 19 priests in
Washington, D.C., with their
bishop, Cardinal Patrick
O’Boyle, who had disciplined
them for disputing Pope
Paul’s 1968 birth control
encyclical.
After the news conference
in London, Father
McCormack went to Rome to
make copies of his new
booklet, wrote to the priest,
and said he got an immediate
reply in which he said Father
McCormack agreed after
reflection that it would have
been better had he referred to
“ordinary moral principles”
without making any
connection to the Washington
case.
Cardinal Wright said in his
statement that he and the
priest are acquaintances who
have “gladly worked
together” before on peace
and justice problems. He
described him as “to
competent a moralist” to buy
the public policy arguments
of population planners, and
added: ‘T owe it to him (as
does NC News) to make that
clear to the readers of your
news service.”
Excerpts from Cardinal
NEW ADMINISTRATOR. Bishop Gerard L. Frey has
announced the appointment of Father Michael Delea as
Administrator of St. Peter Claver parish, Macon, effective Dec.
3rd. Ordained in 1968, Father Delea has served as Assistant
Pastor of St. James Parish, Savannah and as Associate
Co-ordinator of the Catholic Youth Organizations of the
Savannah Deanery. Twenty-seven years old. Father Delea is the
son of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Delea of Cork, Ireland, and a
graduate of All Hallows College there.