Newspaper Page Text
4
b
*
BY CATHOLIC CHURCH SPOKESMAN
Labor Movement Is Lauded, Challenged
CIRCUS FANS CHAPLAIN - Father Robert
Dagwell of McGhee, Ark., national chaplain of the
Circus Fans Association of America, meets Maitai, an
elephant starring in the Wallace and Rogers Circus.
Mrs. Helene Hartzell, circus owner, handles the
introduction. They were at the fans’ national
convention in Seattle, Wash. (NC Photo)
NEW YORK (NC) - Despite its
imperfections, organized labor is still
the best way for the nation’s
disadvantaged workers to gain fair Wages
and decent working conditions, a
Church spokesman on labor has
declared.
Msgr. George Higgins, secretary for
research of the United States Catholic
Conference, said there are still many
disadvantaged workers of this country
who need the protection and support of
the labor movement.
In a homily at the annual Mass for
labor at St. Patricks’ Cathedral here,
Msgr. Higgins said there are those who
convey the idea to Blacks that the labor
movement is their enemy, not their
friend.
“This kind of advice is a great
disservice to the black working class
community,” he said. “There is reason
to think that the majority of black
workers understand this very well.”
Quoting the black civil rights leader
Bayard Rustin, Msgr. Higgins said Blacks
have the choice of joining and
strengthening the labor movement or
staying out of it.
In the first instance, Msgr. Higgins
said, by joining the union the Blacks
could help wipe out the vestiges of
segregation that remain |n it. Or else,
said Msgr. Higgins quoting Rustin,
blacks could “offer themselves as pawns
in the conservatives’ games of
bust-the-unions.”
“But if black workers have a choice,
so does the labor movement,” said Msgr.
Higgins. Labor can either practice what
is preaches about racial justice and racial
equality, or fail to do so and thereby
gain the hatred of the black community,
he said.
He said that with the exception of
organized religion, no organization
should be more dedicated to the service
of the poor than the labor union.
“If the Church, as Pope Paul has
pointed out, should be characterized by
disinterested will to serve and
‘preferential respect’ for the poorest of
the poor, no less can be expected of the
labor movement.” he stated.
Noting that the largest percentage of
the poorest of the poor are black and
Spanish-speaking, Msgr. Higgins said it is
not enough for the unions to comply to
the spirit and letter of laws that guard
against discrimination.
The unions must also “make up for
lost time and make amends for past
injustices by going well beyong the
technical and even moral requirements
of the law,” he said.
“One group of Spanish-speaking
workers numbering in the
t housands--namely the farm
workers--have already made their
choice. They have opted dramatically to
work out their economic destiny in and
through the labor movement.”
Msgr. Higgins said that despite the
bitter feelings that Chicanos, Filipinos
and Blacks have had in trying to
organize farm labor, “the tide is
beginning to turn in their favor.”
“Organized labor is sometimes
accused of having done less than what it
might have done or might have been
expected to do in years gone by on
behalf of these exploited farm workers.
“Be that as it may, the labor
movement is now beginning to make up
for lost time. Its generous support of
the current farm workers’ organizational
drive, in terms of experienced personnel
and financial assistance, is
commendable^”
ST. FRANCIS AT BALLPARK - This statue of St. Francis of Assisi
was dedicated recently at Candlestick Park, home of the San Francisco
Giants baseball team. Sculpted by Ruth Cravath, it was part of the original
design for the park 12 years ago. (NC Photo)
BY PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC ECUMENISTS
Church Unity Outlook Seen Bright
g^mijj
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
GARRISON, N.Y. (NC) -- Among
Anglicans and Roman Catholics “there
is a basis for finding one communion of
faith,” and “this should become organic
union” according to Father Ralph
Thomas, head of the Graymoor
Ecumenical Institute here.
The view voiced by Father Thomas
was one of many optimistic appraisals
INSIDE STORY
Readers’ Reply
Pg. 2
'Know Your Faith’
Pg. 5
'Obrecht Award’
Pg. 7
Cook’s Nook
Pg. 8
of ecumenical progress expressed among
60 participants at the interconfessional
dialogue sponsored by the institute Aug.
13-17.
It was also suggested that Catholics
and Lutherans generally agree on the
“central doctrines” of faith, that
Catholics and the Reformed churches
are ready for more pastoral cooperation
in mixed marriages, and that the
disagreements between many churches
over the Eucharist “are no longer
theologically necessary.”
Speaking of the Anglican-Roman
Catholic dialogues on both the national
and international levels, the Rev.
Roland Foster, dean of General
Theological Seminary, an Episcopal
school in New York, said he believes it
will be possible to “associate Anglican
and Roman Catholic ministries in this
century.”
Peter Day, ecumenical officer for the
Episcopal (Anglican) Church in New
York, said that in a number of places
such as New York, Milwaukee, Chicago
and Worcester, Mass., local bishops of
the two faiths have formed covenant
agreements which involve Catholic and
Episcopal parishes in programs of
common worship, joint efforts for
“social justice and the common good,”
and common prayer and work for
reunion.
Day estimated that 80 percent of the
Episcopal clergy are “thoroughly in
favor of working toward full
communion with the Roman Catholic
Church.”
The Rev. Robert W. Huston, chief
ecumenical officer of the United
Methodist Church, reported that after
seven years of dialogue between
Catholics and United Methodists, “a few
significant and mutual stereotypes have
been dissipated, unexpected areas of
strong agreement uncovered, old areas
of conflict examined more
dispassionately and some new areas for
discussion discovered.”
He pointed out that the
Catholic-Methodist dialogue does not
suffer from the history of polemics and
bitterness that affects many dialogues,
since Methodism did not start as a break
from Roman Catholicism.
The Lutheran-Roman Catholic
dialogue has brought about “a growing
awareness that we are in general accord
on the central doctrines of the Christian
faith,” said Dr. Paul C. Empie,
co-chairman of the Lutheran-Catholic
dialogue group in the United States.
While there is a “convergence,” the
Lutheran official said, it has “not
resulted from theological horse-trading
or doctrinal concessions, but from the
gradual discovery that in respect of the
central and indispensable elements of
the Christian faith, each in its own way
clings loyally and tenaciously to the
apostolic deposit.”
According to Dr. Raymond Kearns,
ecumenical officer for the United
Presbyterian Chruch of the U.S.A., a
recent workshop involving couples in
Catholic-Presbyterian mixed marriages
resulted in a series of recommendations
that could change pastoral practice
significantly for interdenominational
marriages.
Father Charles Angell, editor of “The
Lamp,” a magazine devoted to Christian
unity, said many theologians of
different faiths are finding themselves
more and more in agreement on the
Eucharist.
He cited a concensus statement
published in 1970 by a group of 19
theologians who had met under the
auspices of the National Council of
Churches’ faith and order commission.
Arkansas Gets Spanish Office
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (NC) -- The Center for Mexican-Spanish Affairs has been
established here to represent the Little Rock diocese throughout Arkansas in all
Mexican-Spanish matters. Father Robert A. Torres, a Spanish teacher at Little Rock
Catholic High School for Boys, has been named chairman of the organization by
Bishop Andrew J. McDonald.
No New Rules on Latin
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul VI is not thinking of reimposing Latin in any
part of the Mass, according to an official of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
“When the Pope says he hopes Latin will be preserved in the singing of the Gloria and
Credo and other parts of the Mass, he is not introducing anything new,” the official
said. “He is merely recalling the rule laid down by the council that Latin must be
preserved in the Mass, especially in the Gloria and other sung hymns.” Pope Paul had
told an audience: “Many are asking that the Latin Gregorian chant be preserved in all
countries for the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei. May God will that it
be thus. Just how it can be done might be restudied.”
Bishop Warns of Schism
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands (NC) -- Bishop Jan M. Gijsen of Roermond has
strongly warned of a schism in the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. Bishop Gijsen
stressed in an interview here that it is necessary to speak frankly of the threat of
schism in order to try to head it off. Eight theology students have said that they are
not prepared to bind themselves to the bishop. Bishop Gijsen has asked the faculty of
the seminary to choose clearly between loyalty to the bishop or loyalty to the
students.