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PAGE 3—December 6,1973
SHROUD OF TURIN
“Precious and Pious Relic”
SHRINE AT EMMITSBURG -- A young girl stands
beside the statue of Bernadette at the Grotto of
Lourdes at Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg,
Md. Director Msgr. Hugh J. Phillips, says that despite
MT. ST. MARY’S
talk of a decline in Marian devotion more than 100
tours including 40 to 500 members in each were
scheduled to visit in 1973. (NC Photo)
Marian Shrine Popular
TURIN, ITALY (NC) - A linen sheet
believed by some to have been the
shroud in which Jesus was wrapped
after His death on the cross was seen on
television for the first time Nov. 23.
Pope Paul VI. in an address on the
IN OHIO
CINCINNATI (NC) - For the third
time in less than two years, the state of
Ohio is trying to convince three federal
judges here of the constitutionality of a
state aid to nonpublic education law.
In April 1972 the same three-judge
panel ruled a tuition refund law
unconstitutional. Seven months later
the panel struck down a tax credit law
that had been passed to replace the
refund law.
The same judges have now begun
hearing arguments on a third law which
would make more than $81 million in
auxiliary services and materials available
to nonpublic schools. The law is
believed to have a better chance of
survival than the others because it
involves a form of aid that has been
used here since 1967 and that has
passed earlier court tests.
The measure was passed unanimously
by the Ohio Senate in August after
winning approval in July by an 88-1
vote in the House of Representatives.
If it survives court tests, the bill
would provide an estimated $143.28 per
pupil per year for two years in the
forms of materials and services.
However, distribution of the funds has
been blocked by an injunction obtained
by the Ohio chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
The suit in federal court, filed by the
ACLU and six other plaintiffs, asks for a
permanent injunction against use of the
funds, alleging that their use would have
a “primary effect of advancing
religion,” would benefit religious
institutions and would cause “excessive
entanglement” of government and
religion.
Opposing the plea for an injunction
are lawyers of the Ohio attorney
general’s office and David J. Young,
legal counsel of the Catholic Conference
of Ohio.
The trial began Nov. 21 but was
halted when the panel of judges
indicated a need for additional
background information, including
records of previous litigation. Attorneys
for both sides were instructed to
provide the information before
arguments are heard in the case.
INTERNATIONAL MEETING
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The
fast-dwindling number of priests has
become “a real life-or-death question
for Church,” the prefect of the
Congregation for Catholic Education
told the Vatican’s International
Congress on Plans of Pastoral Action for
Vocations.
The prefect, Cardinal Gabriel
Garrone, declared: “We are witnessing
the collapse of the statistics, and we spy
here and there symptoms of defeatism.”
Cardinal Garrone, whose office
supervises the seminaries of the world,
was opening the vocations congress Nov.
20. Present were about 50
bishop-delegates of national bishops’
conference. The congress was scheduled
to end Nov. 24.
The Cardinal said he continues to
hear discouraged Churchmen say:
“Young men aren’t turning toward the
priesthood. Let’s start from that fact,
and get ourselves ready to find
substitute formulas.”
Cardinal Garrone commented: “They
think they’ll find such formulas in a
willingness of the Church to confide
every kind of ministry to laymen.”
One logical result of that, he said,
would be that the priesthood “will no
longer seem necessary and will
disappear.”
The work of the vocations congress
would be useless, he continued, unless it
confronted that view.
Cardinal Garrone also criticized the
way some seminaries are run.
“I do not fear to assert that a certain
flippancy and indifference toward the
half-hour program, called the shroud a
“precious and pious relic.”
The shroud is normally kept inside a
silver casket in a private chapel in
Turin that belongs to the former royal
family of Italy.
Judges on the panel are Circuit Judge
John W. Peck and District Judges
Joseph P. Kinneary and Carl B. Rubin.
In April, 1972 the same federal panel
unanimously ruled that a measure
granting $90 a year tuition refunds to
parents of nonpublic school pupils was
unconstitutional. The measure had been
passed by the Ohio General Assembly
late in 1971.
And in December, 1972, the same
judges ruled that a tax credit proposal
passed by the Ohio General Assembly
was unconstitutional. The tax credit
proposal would have provided parents
of nonpublic school children $90 a year
in income tax credits for each child.
In a series of decisions announced
June 25 of this year, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled against several forms of aid
to nonpublic schools or to parents of
pupils attending them-including tax
credits and tuition grants.
Involved in the case now before the
federal panel, however, is a kind of state
aid to nonpublic school pupils already
in existence and successfully tested in
the courts.
The Ohio law would release
appropriated funds to enlarge a program
established by the Ohio General
Assembly in 1967. This “child benefit”
legislation, as it was called then,
includes provision to Ohio nonpublic
schools of audio-visual instruments and
materials, testing materials, books,
guidance counselors and remedial
reading-with restrictions against their
use in teaching religion.
Late in 1971 the Ohio Supreme
Court unanimously upheld the state’s
program of providing auxiliary services
and materials to nonpublic school
pupils.
In that opinion the court noted that
separation of church and state cannot
imply the absence of all contact and
that the services and materials in
question were used not for religious
purposes but for the secular educational
process which the court declared is the
proper concern of the state.
directives of the Church and of the :
(Second Vatican) Council concerning
preparation for the priesthood and
concerning the institution of seminaries
cannot be considered insignificant.
“No practical difficulty, no
unpleasant experience can justify setting
aside what the Holy Spirit has shown
His Church, all the more so when such
experiments are not offering young men
a clear idea on their purpose, and still
less a guarantee of the means which the
young legitimately expect from the
intellectual and spiritual points of
view.”
IN WORKS
VATICAN CITY (NC) •• The Vatican
is now preparing a “plan of action” to
confront the crisis of dwindling
vocations.
Work on the plan began following a
five-day meeting of worldwide vocation
experts that concluded Nov. 24.
Two years in the making, the
International Congress on Plans for
Pastoral Action for Vocations was
convened by the Vatican Congregation
for Catholic Education.
The prefect of that congregation,
French Cardinal Gabriel Garrone, told
congress delegates in his keynote speech
that the numbers of those responding to
all forms of Religious vocations,
coupled with discouragement on the
part of vocation directors, poses a “real
life-or-death question for the Church.”
The document proposing a plan of
Last publicly exhibited in 1933, for a
holy year, the cloth, about 13 feet long
and four and a half feet wide, was
exhibited vertically and fully extended
so that imprints of both the front and
back of the person wrapped in it could
be seen in their completeness.
The imprints of the body of a man
who had been crowned with thorns,
whose wrists and feet had been
transfixed by nails and who had been
wounded in the side still show on the
cloth.
The television program was mainly
pious in its make-up and little
argumentation for the shroud’s
genuineness was advanced. Photographic
negatives of the cloth, first made in
1898, were shown with the relic itself.
The importance of the negatives,
which reveal the facial features and
other details more clearly than can be
seen directly, consists in the fact that
they establish that the image on the
shroud was not painted on, as once
believed. Instead, the imprints were
undoubtedly made by a real body
encased in the cloth.
The program traced a possible history
of the shroud from the time of Christ’s
burial in Jerusalem to the time it is
thought that it was recoverd by St.
Helena, Mother of the Emperor
Constantine, who brought it and other
items said to be relics of Christ’s Passion
to Constantinople in the fourth century.
According to the television
commentator, there are several
references to the veneration of the
shroud of Christ at Constantinople
during the centuries following. In the
Middle Ages the present relic is recorded
as having been brought to Western
Europe and eventually becoming a
possession of the House of Savoy, from
which the kings of Italy came.
Supporters of the shroud’s
authenticity cite numerous details to be
found on the marks left on the cloth.
For instance, the crown of thorns,
traditionally portrayed in Christian art
as a circlet, was in fact a sort of rude
cap covering the whole skull. This
accords with modern research on forms
of torture practiced by the Romans of
the period, although the religious art of
later centuries knew nothing of this
form of crown.
The shroud also shows that the
person wrapped in it carried only the
cross-bar of the cross and not the entire
cross. This too is a detail confirmed by
modern research but which was not
known to religious painters of earlier
centuries.
Still another point is that the man in
the shroud had been nailed to the
cross-bar through his wrists and not, as
traditionally shown, through his hands.
This detail also coincides with Roman
practices of Christ’s day.
It is expected that the shroud will be
subjected to a number of scientific tests,
including X-rays, spectroscopic
examination of blood and other stains.
One Turin archdiocesan official
denied, however, that the relic would be
submitted to the carbon 14 test. He said
that it was feared that such a test would
only damage the relic further and not
establish specifically enough the age of
the material.
In presenting the shroud on TV, Pope
Paul said:
“Whatever historical and scientific
judgment scholars may choose to make
on this surprising and mysterious relic,
we can only pray that it may lead
visitors, not only to thoughtful
observation of the outward and mortal
features of the Savior’s wonderful face,
but also to a deeper insight into His
hidden and fascinating mystery.”
action is still in the early working stage,
Vatican Radio reported, but will
contain “doctrinal reflections and some
practical proposals.”
Some of those proposals made during
the congress by various language groups
suggested:
-Bishops’ conference issue a pastoral
letter on vocations with particular stress
on enlisting the aid of parents;
-Talking “courageously” about
vocations in the earliest stages of
Catholic teaching, with emphasis on the
role of vocations centers and the place
of the family in encouraging vocations;
-Priests and Religious be encouraged
to speak often to the young about
vocations and, as the best advertisement
of the true value of a Religious
dedication, display “in their style of life
the good news and love of Christ.”
BY ANN HALL MARSHARLL
EMMITSBURG, Md. (NC) - This
yeaf more visitors than ever before came
to the Grotto of Lourdes at Mount St.
Mary’s College here.
Young and old they came, in faded
jeans and in fur stoles, a swelling stream
of pilgrims at a time when the church is
changing and we are told that Marian
devotions are somewhat out of style.
Msgr. Hugh J. Phillips, director of the
Grotto, says that over 100 tours, with
from 40 to 500 members, were
scheduled in 1973 “and only heaven
knows how many unscheduled groups
arrived, often with requests for Mass or
Benediction.”
May and October, traditionally
devoted to honoring the mother of God,
are peak months at the Grotto.
The last public pilgrimage this year
was on Nov. 18, when Father John M.
Sewell, administrator at St. Cecilia
Parish, Baltimore, led a Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine group in a day of
recollection.
Even after that, the shrines and the
stark winter hillside are not abandoned.
Joseph M. Shorb, caretaker at the
Grotto, says that 300 to 400 visitors
come each winter weekend “except in
the very worst weather.” He adds, “I’ve
seen them walk up Corpus Christi Aisle
through the snow.”
“Scheduled or unscheduled, we try to
adapt to the program of every
pilgrimage,” says Msgr. Phillips,
“although, of course, we appreciate
advance notice. A group tells us what
they want-a priest to say Mass, a talk, a
tour-and we try to arrange it. If buses
are late arriving, we wait.” He smiles.
“The Grotto is a lovely spot for
waiting.”
Non-Catholic visitors come to the
Grotto too. The 1973 registry shows,
among others, a garden club, a group of
Navy personnel and the Bible School
children (with parents) from
Westminister, Md.
Tours, which are informal, typically
begin at the Pangborn Memorial
Campanile. This 95 foot granite tower,
crowned by a 25-foot gold-leafed statue
of the Blessed Mother, stands at the
Grotto entrance. It contains 14 cast
bronze bells, the largest weighing 1,408
pounds, that ring out the hours and
send hymns pealing across the valley.
Corpus Christi Aisle, bordered by
handsome stone and copper Stations of
the Cross, leads pilgrims to the Grotto
site. Here, in a natural amphitheater
enhanced by careful landscaping, are the
main Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes,
Corpus Christi Chapel, a crucifixion
tableau, a memorial to Elizabeth Ann
Seton and the shrines of Our Lady of
the Lake, Our Lady of Perpetual Help
and St. Francis of Assisi.
Rosary Lane, a curving path on
the lower hillside, returns visitors to the
parking area. Along this walkway each
mystery of the Rosary is illustrated by a
mosaic from St. Peter’s workshop in
Vatican City.
During the years when the Grotto
was a private shrine, its care rested
mainly with the priests and young men
of Mount St. Mary’s. The Seminary
Sodality, formed originally in 1819, lists
as one of its duties “keeping the Grotto
in order.”
After the shrine was proclaimed a
public oratory by Cardinal Lawrence J.
WASHINGTON (NC) - The Division
of Justice and Peace of the U.S.
Catholic Conference (USCC) has sent to
the bishops of the United States
materials to assist in the observance of
the Seventh Annual Period of Peace
announced by Pope Paul VI for 1974.
The materials were prepared to assist
persons, especially those in liturgy and
education, to design and promote
programs throughout the year that
develop Pope Paul’s theme: “Peace
Depends on You, Too.”
The materials include a votive Mass
and homily for the World Day of Peace
on Jan. 1, a digest of material prepared
by the Pontifical Commission Justice
and Peace on the papal theme, and a
seven-week parish program examining
the just war theory, the practice of
non-violence and the issue of amnesty in
the context of Christian reconciliation.
In the homily, Father J. Bryan Hehir,
director of the USCC Division of Justice
and Peace, discusses “the tension of
being both a Christian and a citizen.”
“The loyalties are not opposed,” he
says, “but at times they do conflict.
And the Christian is always the
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Catholic
Church in mainland China “has been
completely swept away, as if by a tidal
wave,” according to Fides, the Vatican’s
news service on missionary activities.
Fides based its conclusion on
interviews with Catholics who visited
China in the past few months.
Church buildings have been turned
into anything but churches, with the
exception of the diplomatic church in
Peking and a small chapel serving the
trade fair in Canton, Fides said.
Shehan of Baltimore on Dec. 8, 1965,
the stream of visitors swelled.
Why do they come to the
Grotto-pilgrims by the busload,
uncounted visitors in private cars with
far-ranging license plates, student and
seminarians who hike up 155 steps from
the college campus?
A family from Bethesda, Md. said,
“We come six times a year usually. We
love it here.”
A Mount student said, “I walk almost
every week. It’s peaceful and I watch
the seasons change.”
Msgr. Phillips says it is his feeling
that, one way or another, “They all
come to pray.”
responsible citizen who judges his or her
own action and that of his or her own
nation in terms of the norms of the
Gospel. The Christian serves the nation
not by acquiescing in everything that
happens but by calling the nation to the
service of the world community.”
The homily says that Pope Paul’s
statements and those of the Second
Vatican Council “impose upon each of
us the responsibility of working to
create a psychology of peace within our
nation.
“A psychology of peace supports and
fosters a discriminating conscience
among the citizens of a nation. It
counteracts what the political scientists
call a war psychology-an emotional and
undiscriminating commitment to war as
an instrument of policy and to victory
as the goal of war without regard for
what the cost may be in human life. War
psychology is the attitude which assents
to every escalation, affirms any
decision, and asserts that war has its
own rules which lie outside the domain
of morality. In the light of Paul’s
concern for peace and his commitment
of us all to the cause of peace, the
posture of a war psychology is
untenable for a Christian.”
Neither bishops nor priests are visibly
at work in China, according to those
interviewed by Fides, nor do the
Chinese consider religion a safe topic to
discuss.
Fides did report, however, that
“Christian refugees who escape from the
mainland to Hong Kong” still have the
faith.
Fides confined itself to saying that
those interviewed included “quite a few
priests, both Chinese and foreign, some
Chinese Sisters and lay Catholics” who
v tourists or to visit their
forn
Third Try For Aid
Congress on Vocations
Vatican Vocation Plan
Peace Day Materials Issued
No Red China Church