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PAGE 2 - The Southern Cross, November 23,1972
Prelate Charges Israelis
Unfair to Christian Arabs
BY LOUIS PANARALE
HAIFA, Israel (NC) -- Archbishop
Joseph M. Raya of Acre led me into his
office, sat down behind his desk and
smiled warmly as he welcomed me.
But the smile faded as the 55-year-old
Melkite-rite archbishop began to discuss
the conditions of the nearly 40,000
Catholic Eastern-rite Arabs who live in
the Galilee region.
“I am afraid that the Holy Land is an
unholy land in many ways these days,”
the archbishop said. “Division is growing
not only between Arabs and Jews but
among Christians as well.”
Archbishop Raya made these remarks
in leading up to a discussion on the
hundreds of thousands of Arabs displaced
since the state of Israel was founded in
1948.
Since he arrived here in 1968 to take
up his duties, the Lebanese-born
archbishop has been one of the most
outspoken critics of Israeli government
policies toward Arabs in Israel.
Before his consecration as archbishop,
he served for 17 years as pastor of a
Melkite-rite parish in Birmingham, Ala.
Before that, he served for two years in
Patterson, N.J. He became an American
citizen.
As archbishop of Acre, he has not
hesitated to send letters of protest to
high-ranking members of the Israeli
government and to Prime Minister Golda
Meir over what he considers injustices to
Christian Arabs in Galilee.
Archbishop Raya’s deepest concern
today is the growing housing crisis facing
countless thousands of Arabs, some of
whom have lived in poor housing
conditions since 1948. The problems of
these Arabs are even greater today,
according to the archbishop, because
Israel is in the midst of a building boom
in which all new apartments and homes
are exclusively for Jews.
A year ago, in a letter to Israel’s
ministry of religious affairs, the
archbishop made a plea on behalf of some
Arab Christians whose villages, he said,
were willfully demolished by Israeli
forces.
The archbishop said that today the
conditions he described in that letter still
prevail. Many of those Arabs, he said, still
live under the same sub-human
conditions. The dry wells, small shacks
and one-room houses that they were
forced to move into more than 20 years
ago are still their dwelling places. And
although living space is restricted, the
families continue to grow, he said.
Archbishop Raya said he has visited
one-room dwellings in which as many as
15 people live together - “grandparents,
parents, the son-in-law, and the
sisters-in-law with babies, the brothers
and the sisters of all ages.”
What adds to the sorrow, and the
desperation of many Christian Arabs is
the nearly total lack of concern by
Christians in other parts of the world,
said the archbishop.
“The question that is repeatedly
thrown at me by Arab Christians is:
‘Where is Christian brotherhood.’ ”
Without Church support they become
concerned with preserving their identity
“in the midst of an alien group,” he said.
“Every Jew in the state of Israel feels,
knows, and proclaims every Jew in the
world to be his brother,” the archbishop
said. “The economy of the state of Israel
is supported by the Jews of the world.”
The archbishop cited as examples the
many hospitals, schools, homes for the
aged, and orphanages which are
“donated and offered by the brother
Jew for his brothers of Israel.”
“But where,’
brotherhood?”
he asked, “is Christian
As Archbishop Raya sees it, the most
acute problems facing the Holy Land’s
dwindling Christian population are the
housing bans. “Arabs have always been
contending with crowded living
conditions,” he said. “But in the past
they had at least the hope of escaping by
buying or building a new home.”
The archbishop said he is not
impressed with the fact that those
Christian. Arabs who have remained in
Israel enjoy economic prosperity much
superior to that of Arabs in neighboring
countries.
Israel is in the midst of an economic
boom, but for the Arab ~ whether he be
Christian or Moslem - this prosperity
is illusory and without a future, said
Archbishop Raya.
DIOCESAN SEMINARIANS MEET WITH BISHOPS. During
semi-annual meeting of U.S. bishops last week in the nation’s
capital, seminary students for the Savannah diocese studying
at Theological College, Washington, met with Bishop Gerard L.
Frey (2nd from rt.), recently transferred from Savannah to
Lafayette, La. and Bishop Andrew J. McDonald, formerly
pastor of Savannah’s Blessed Sacrament parish and now bishop
of Little Rock, Ark. The seminarians are (1. to r.): Rev. Mr.
Norbert Lain, Wayland Brown, Ron Pachence, Seminarian at
far rt. is Pierre Malochee of New Orleans, who was a student at
St. Frances Cabrini grade school, there, when Bishop Frey was
pastor of the parish.
Bishops’ Education Pastoral
“Imperatives of Peace”
WASHINGTON (NC) - The bishops
of the United States, holding their annual
meeting here, approved a “Resolution
on the Imperatives of Peace.” Partial
text of the resolution, approved Nov. 16
by a vote of 186 to 4 follows:
This is the critical moment in the
history of the Vietnam war. Intensive
efforts on the part of our government as
well as other parties involved appear to
be refining the final details of a
settlement which will end the fighting.
Recalling our exhortation a year ago to
our nation’s leaders and to leaders of all
nations to “bring the war to an end with
no further delay,” we pray earnestly to
Christ, the Prince of Peace, for a
successful outcome of the present
negotiations: that is, for a just and
lasting peace with stability and freedom
for all the nations and peoples of
Southeast Asia. We couple this prayer
with a plea to both sides for an end to
bombing and terrorism which are
causing such loss of civilian life and
destruction of the land itself. Indeed, a
particularly anguishing and, in many
cases, immoral aspect of this war has
been the suffering and death inflicted
on non-combatants.
It is vitally important that Americans
now turn their attention to the task of
reconciliation not only in Southeast
Asia but also in our country. This war
can well leave a residue of bitterness
which could poison our national life for
years to come. This must not be allowed
to happen. We must instead seek to
resolve our differences in a spirit of
mutual understanding and respect.
Special attention must be given to the
young people of our nation whom the
war has profoundly affected in so many
ways, material, psychological, and
spiritual. Our returning veterans, and
especially the wounded and the
prisoners of war, must be given every
possible consideration and assistance to
enable them to reintegrate their
personal and professional lives into
civilian society. Our sincere compassion
should be extended to the families of
men killed in the fighting. The dead, the
maimed, and the missing in action
should have constant remembrance in
our prayers. Those who continue to
serve in the military should also receive
the moral and material support of the
nation.
Generosity must also mark our
participation in efforts to rebuild the
war-torn nations and societies of
Southeast Asia. There can be no doubt
that the people of North and South
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have
suffered a tragedy far greater than ours.
The dramatic and successful programs
of aid and reconstruction carried out by
the United States following World War
II provide a model for what is
demanded of us now. We must be
unstinting in the expending of our
moral, material and technical resources
and skills on behalf of the people of
Southeast Asia who have suffered so
grievously.
Finally, we believe that the
imperatives of peace now demand
intensive study of many complex and
pressing moral issues. The return of
peace should not cause a slackening of
attention to these matters. The
experience of recent years amply
illustrates the fact that grave ethical and
moral questions regarding warfare
reamin unresolved.
While recognizing the right of a
self-defense, we are nevertheless
convinced that war is not an apt means
of settling disputes. The quest for viable
means of preventing war and for effective
alternative methods of resolving
conflicts - through such agencies as the
United Nations -- is an urgent
imperative. Technological skill in the
science of war must not outstrip
humane skill in the arts of peace.
Church agencies, including the United
States Catholic Conference, Catholic
educational institutions, diocesan
offices for justice and peace and
organizations of the laity should in the
months and years to come take a
leading role in the effort to work for
international justice and to find ways to
ensure that peace -- which, God willing,
is returning to Southeast Asia and also
to the United States -- will be the
permanent condition of human life in
all nations and for all time.
BY ROBERT W. RAIMONTO
WASHINGTON (NC) - The
American bishops have issued a
collective pastoral message that exhorts
Catholic educators and parents to take a
series of steps to maintain and improve
schools and all other educational efforts
of the Church.
The pastoral, the first such document
issued by the U.S. hierarchy in four
years, also suggests that religious
education programs for Catholic
children attending public schools be
strengthened through increased use of
professional staff and common funding
with programs in Catholic schools.
The bishops approved the pastoral by
Savannah Sister Trains
Japanese Peace Corps
MARYKNOLL, N.Y. - “In my
English classes, I work towards an
understanding of what it means to live
in and appreciate another culture,” says
Sister Julie Miller who is the only
overseas sister-missioner from Savannah,
Georgia. She has spent the past three
years in Japan as language staff member
of the Japanese Peace Corps training
center.
“I am the only American on the staff
which includes people from India,
Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, El Salvador
and Japan,’’states Sister Julie, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Miller of 506
Lee Boulevard, Savannah, Georgia. The
Japanese volunteers are a cross-section
of Japanese youth and represent a
variety of specializations which they
wish to share with people in other parts
of the globe.
“Japan has a population of more than
100,000,000 of whom less than one half
of one per cent are Christians,” noted
Sister Julia, who holds a bachelor of arts
degree in Community Service from
Rogers College, Maryknoll. “Therefore
we try to prepare the Japanese
volunteers for insertion into a
multiformity of religious
environments.”
Sister Julie, who graduated from St.
Vincent’s Academy, Savannah, Georgia
in 1960, recently attended a meeting of
delegates at the Maryknoll Sisters
Center, Maryknoll, N.Y. Sixteen sisters
representing the body of overseas
missioners evaluated mission
experiences and community concerns
and defined directions for 1973.
The Savannah missioner who entered
the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in
1961 spent three years in Boston
Chinatown before being assigned to
Japan.
Founded in 1912 by Mary Josephine
Rogers (later Mother Mary Joseph), the
Maryknoll Sisters Congregation is the
first American missionary community
of women to be established in the U.S.
There are more than 1100 sisters serving
in the U.S. and in 22 countries in Asia,
Africa and Latin America.
‘In addition to Japan, the Maryknoll
Sisters serve in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Panama, Mexico in Central
America; Bolivia, Chile and Peru in
South America; the Marianas, Caroline
Islands, Marshall Islands and Hawaii in
the Central Pacific; Korea, Hong Kong,
Taiwan and the Philippines in the
Orient; Indonesia in southeast Asia;
Tanzania, Keyna, Uganda and Zambia in
Africa.
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COLUMBUS
a vote of 197 to 29, with four
abstentions, on the second day of their
annual fall meeting here.
Entitled “To Teach as Jesus Did,” the
28-page statement had undergone a
series of changes before it was
considered by the bishops. The prelates
did not significantly alter the pastoral
before they approved it.
The document is divided into five
main sections: “To Teach As Jesus
Did,” “A World in Transition: “Faith
and Technology,” “Giving Form to the
Vision,” “Planning the Educational
Mission,” and “A Ministry of Hope.”
The pastoral begins by stating that
the Church’s educational mission
consists of proclaiming God’s message,
developing a Christian community, and
serving that community.
The mission is of great importance,
the pastoral’s second section states,
because modern technology has
produced a crisis of faith that must be
resolved through education.
According to the document’s third
section, “Catholic schools afford the
fullest and best opportunity to realize
the three-fold purpose of Christian
education among children and young
people.” However, it concedes, “this
school system is shrinking visibly.”
“To insure the continuance and
improvement of this system, the
pastoral says Catholic educators and
parents should:
- State “clearly and compellingly”
the goals of Catholic schools.
- Increase “association” with other
nonpublic and public schools.
Practice “fiscal, professional,
academic and civic accountability.”
- Conduct “vigorous programs of
student recruitment.”
- Join “with other nonpublic schools
in public relations efforts.”
Exercise “firm control over
operation costs and practice greater
efficiency in the use of facilities and
personnel.”
- Intensify “efforts to increase
income from private sources, including
those which have generally gone
untapped up to now.”
-- Enter “into partnership with
institutions of higher learning.”
- Undertake “school consolidations
at the elementary and secondary levels
when circumstances make this
educationally desirable.”
-- Participate “fully in the search for
solutions to the racial crisis in American
education.”
After listing these measures, the
pastoral declared:
“If the Catholic community is
convinced of the value and advantages
of Catholic schools, it must and will act
now to adopt such measures and face
such challenges as these.”
Also in the same section, the pastoral
devotes much space to “Religious
Education Outside the Catholic
School.” The bishops acknowledge that
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine
(CCD) programs “face serious problems
which should be the concern of the
entire Catholic community.”
Specifically, the prelates suggest that
CCD and religious programs in Catholic
schools be drawn closer together
through such means as “common
funding of all catechetical education in
a parish for both the school and
out-of-school programs.”
During the bishops’ consideration of
the pastoral, Auxiliary fishop George
Lynch of Raleigh, N.C., proposed an
amendment to the document that said,
in part, “Those in charge of Catholic
institutions of higher learning should
consider it a matter of conscience that
any teaching contrary to the doctrines
of the Catholic faith should not be
permitted under the guise of academic
freedom or for any other alleged
reasons.”
The proposal was defeated by a voice
vote, apparently because the bishops
felt that it was too specific for a
document that strives for a general
approach to the conditions of Catholic
education in this country.
Cathedral No vena
Begins Nov. 29
Sister Julie Miller
Father Joseph Otterbein, pastor of
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Port
Wentworth, will preach a novena at the
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist,
Savannah, in preparation for the Feast
of the Immaculate Conception.
The no vena will start on Wednesday,
November 29, and will conclude on
Thursday, December 7. Services will be
conducted each day with a Mass at 12
noon and at 5:30 P.M., except that on
the final day of the novena the evening
service will be conducted at 7:30 P.M.
There will be only one afternoon or
evening Mass celebrated in Savannah on
the Vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception, the Mass at the Cathedral
at 7:30 P.M. It will be a Mass
concelebrated by Bishop Frey and the
priests of Savannah.
Father Otterbein will speak on Our
Lady’s place in man’s salvation history:
Wednesday, November 29 - Mary, the
Woman for our times
Thursday, November 30 - Mary, sign
of God’s Mercy and Love
Friday, December 1 - Mary, sign of
God’s goodness and generosity
Saturday, December 2 - Exemplar of
Faith
Sunday, December 3 - Model of
Prayer
Monday, December 4 - Model of
Suffering
Tuesday, December 5 - Mother of the
Whole Christ
Wednesday, December 6 - The Perfect
Person
Thursday, December 7 - Close
The public is invited to attend.