Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 3—January 9,1975
SURVEY FINDS
Catholic Support for Parochial Schools
CHICAGO (NC) -- Support for “the
idea of parochial schools is
overwhelming” among U.S. Catholics
but acceptance of papal infallibility or
of the Church’s teaching on artificial
contraception has declined
substantially, according to a survey
published here.
The survey, done by the National
Opinion Research Center (NORC) here,
found that 89 percent of U.S. Catholics
“reject the idea that the Catholic school
system is no longer needed in
modern-day life.” The study also found
that only 32 percent of U.S. Catholics
“think that it is ‘certainly true’ that the
Pope is infallible when he speaks on
matters of faith and morals” and that
83 percent approve of artificial
contraception.
The results of the survey are reported
in an article by Father Andrew M.
Greeley, Shirley Saldahna, William
McCready, and Kathleen McCourt,
directors of the NORC survey, for the
January-February issue of the Critic, a
magazine published here six times
yearly.
The study on which the article
reports is a replication of a study done
in 1963 by Father Greeley and Peter
Rossi and reported in “The Education
of Catholic Americans.” The 1974
study was done under a grant from the
National Institutes of Education.
The NORC survey was conducted last
spring on a national representative
sample of a little over 1,000 U.S.
Catholics. The response rate was 82
percent.
“There has been a substantial decline
in acceptance of the legitimacy of
ecclesiastical authority,” the authors
Cookbook
BY FREDERIC M. LILLY
BOISE, Idaho (NC) - Carla Emery,
who lives on a farm near Kendrick with
her husband and five small children, has
written a cookbook that many feel has
the potential to change rural America.
The book, the Old Fashioned Recipe
Book, is a 606-page homemade
collection of recipes, editorials on
country-living, ideas on ‘natural or
organic’ topics, and religious
meditations.
“We raise most of our own food,”
Mrs. Emery told the Idaho Register,
Boise diocesan weekly, in a recent
interview, “and about four years ago I
got the idea of writing a book about
raising all your own food. There were so
many ways of doing things that were
getting forgotten by everybody but the
older people.”
The book is more than a recipe book.
And Carla Emery is concerned with
more than just encouraging people to
raise their own food.
NEWARK, N.J. (NC) - “Ecumenism
is not a religious fad of the day, to be
discarded whenever we grow tired of it
or seek another form of religious
activism,” Archbishop Peter L. Gerety
of Newark said in a letter to priests of
the archdiocese.
Archbishop Gerety’s letter called
attention to the fact that the annual
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will
be observed Jan. 18-25. “It is not too
early to begin planning now,” he told
the priests.
The archbishop recalled that the
Second Vatican Council issued its
Decree on Ecumenism 10 years ago. He
said that as a result “greater
understanding and friendly cooperation
have emerged. Initiatives have grown
into firm procedures.”
But asserting that “we must not rest
content with good beginnings alone,” he
said that “in this decade the vigorous
said. “In 1963, 70 percent thought that
it was ‘certainly true’ that Jesus handed
over the leadership of his Church to
Peter and the Popes; ten years later that
proportion has fallen to 42 percent..,
“In terms of personal faith, only 38
percent say that they feel ‘very sure’
when they speak to their children about
religious beliefs and values. Still, 86
percent have never thought of leaving
the Church, 83 percent are married to
other Catholics, and 82 percent were
married by a priest.”
Despite the high percentage of
marriage to other Catholics, the study
found that “the proportion who think it
‘very important’ for young people to
marry someone within their own
religion has fallen from 56 percent to 27
percent in the last 10 years, and the
proportion who think it is ‘not
important at all’ has tripled to 40
percent.”
The NORC authors said, however,
that they did not find much evidence of
strong antipathy toward Church
leadership. Respondents’ 82 percent
approval of parish priests’ performance
was higher than the average Gallup poll
rating of any U.S. President for the past
40 years. The Pope at 71 percent was
slightly ahead of the average rating of
John F. Kennedy (70) and Dwight D.
Eisenhower (68). The bishops (62)
placed ahead of Lyndon B, Johnson
(54), Richard M. Nixon (48) and Harry
S. Truman (46).
The authors went on to say that,
despite general approval of the clergy,
only 22 percent described the Sunday
sermon as “excellent” and 48 percent
described their clergy as “very
understanding” with respect to
parishioners’ problems.
“The countryside should be made up
of small landowners, people who may
not have much but they have their own
piece of earth,” she maintains.
“Consolidation policies which are
prevalent in rural America today are
creating rural slums. The land is meant
to be part of the man who lives on it. I
favor family farms all the way and I will
use whatever strength I have to fight for
them.”
Mrs. Emery is beginning to amass
what may prove to be a considerable
amount of strength. Her book, which is
mimeographed in her living room by
volunteer labor and by people who
work seven hours to earn a book, has
sold 3,000 copies in the 10 months
since she completed it.
In November of last year she took a
very successful tour throughout Idaho
and California. She appeared on several
radio and TV programs and one Los
Angeles station was so impressed that
they offered her her own radio show. It
will be aired in Los Angeles and in
Spokane, Wash., and may very well be
and enthusiastic character of the
movement’s early stages must be
followed by the hard work of the slow
and serious implementation of
ecumenical ideals.
“We must do more than display a
spirit of good will and tolerant
understanding to our fellowman.”
In particular, he called for
“continuous and positive prayer,” a
study of ecumenical issues and
cooperative effort, whether this be in
the field of social or religious activity.
In asking for planning for, the Week
of Prayer, he described it as a “time for
fraternal dialogue and cooperation
planned for and implemented at the
community level.”
Archbishop Gerety said that the
invitation to unity that was extended by
Christ “cannot be ignored” and
“possesses a spiritual priority in our
times.”
The study found that 50 percent of
respondents said they would be very
pleased if their son decided to become a
priest, 2 percentage points more than
would be very pleased if their son
became an author or stockbroker, 16
points less than would be very pleased if
a son became a business executive and
23 points less than if a son became a
college professor. In 1963, 66 percent
said they would be very pleased if a son
became a priest.
The drop in approval of a daughter
becoming a Sister was from 60 percent
in 1963 to 50 percent today.
The study also found that 80 percent
of the respondents said they would be
able to accept a married clergy and 79
percent said they favor such a change.
Weekly Mass attendance has fallen
from 71 percent in 1964 to 50 percent
now. Monthly Confession has declined
from 38 to 17 percent. Those going to
church “practically never” or “not at
all” have increased from 6 to 12
percent, and those “practically never”
or “never” going to Confession have
increased from 18 to 38 percent.
The percentage of those praying
privately each day has fallen from 72 to
60 percent, of those making a retreat in
tiie last two years from 7 to 4 percent,
of those reading a Catholic magazine or
newspaper from 61 to 56 percent.
On the other hand, the percentage of
those receiving weekly Communion has
risen from 13 to 26 percent.
Eighty percent approve of the English
liturgy and 67 percent think the changes'
in the Church since the Second Vatican
Council are for the better.
The study found the following
marketed to a wider area later.
“I’m going to continually attack
corporate farms on the air,” Mrs.
Emery said. “There are so many people
who want and need the land and these
big landowners just let the land sit
there.”
“Private farms are continually getting
smaller because of the consolidation
policies of business and government.
This is wrong. People should be on the
land and I will do whatever I can
through my radio program and the
School of Country Living to reverse the
process of rural consolidation.”
The School of Country Living is in
another of Carla Emery’s
dreams-come-true. It will open on her
Kendrick farm in April and will be a
place where people can come and learn
to be semi-self-sufficient, organic, rural
folk.
Mrs. Emery is spiritually motivated in
all her work. “You can really find God
when you live the simple country life,
away from the noise and confusion of
cities,” she said.
But the book and the spirituality are
for everyone, city dwellers and rural
people alike.
Anyone who may like to know how
to make their own fruit butters, how to
dry peas or make plant sprouts, to can
and otherwise store all types of food,
including meat, to make soap or candles
from scratch, tan rawhide and
everything in between. If you live in the
city, a lot of her practical advice for
simplifying your life-style will be
greeted like a breath of fresh air.
If you want to move to the country,
you are really Carla Emery’s type of
person. Her book tells you how to find
land, how to plant, grow, harvest, store
and prepare all sorts of organic crops
and raise animals, and a host of other
related information.
The recipes are numerous, the simple
life is taught, and God really lives in
Carla Emery’s Old Fashioned Recipe
Book.
And by the way, be prepared to
assemble the book yourself, it’s easy to
do but Mrs. Emery wants to start you
on the way to being more self-sufficient
right away.
changes in U.S. Catholic attitudes
toward sex and marriage:
-- In 1963, 52 percent approved
(“strongly” or “somewhat”) remarriage
after divorce; now 73 percent do.
-- In 1963, 45 percent approved of
artificial contraception; now 83 percent
do.
-- In 1963, 12 percent approved of
sexual relations between an engaged
couple, now 43 percent do.
The authors pointed out, however,
that approval of a course of action does
not mean that a person would take that
course herself or himself. Although 72
percent of respondents agreed that it
should be possible for a pregnant
woman to obtain a legal abortion when
there was a serious chance of a serious
defect in the child, only 8 percent of
women respondents said they would
definitely have an abortion in such a
situation, while 19 percent would
consider it.
WASHINGTON (NC) - Pope Paul VI
has named four priests of the Boston
archdiocese to serve as auxiliary bishops
of that See.
They are Msgr. John J. Mulcahy, 52,
episcopal vicar for the southern region
of the archdiocese; Father Thomas V.
Daily, 47, chancellor of the archdiocese;
Father John M. D’Arcy, 42, spiritual
director at St. John’s Seminary,
Brighton, and Father Joseph J. Ruocco,
52, pastor of St. Timothy’s parish,
GENEVA, Switzerland (NC) - The
World Council of Churches (WCC) has
protested strongly against the Republic
of South Africa’s decision to
expropriate the Federal Theological
Seminary in Alice, Cape Province.
The seminary is the only center in
South Africa where Anglican,
Congregational, Methodist and
Presbyterian churches jointly train some
150 African and Indian ministers and
priests, according to the WCC.
The study found support for
parochial schools apparently unchanged.
Although about 35 percent of parents
of school-age children have children in
parochial schools, the non-availability of
parochial schools is the first reason
given for non-attendance by 38 percent
of those whose children are not in
Catholic schools, and 24 percent say
that Catholic schools are too expensive.
Only 13 percent say public schools are
better.
Eighty-nine percent “reject the idea
that the Catholic school system is no
longer needed in modem-day life,” 76
percent support federal aid for parochial
schools, and 66 percent reject the
notion that lay teachers cannot do as
good a job as nuns.
The study found 80 percent willing
to contribute more to their Sunday
collections if the pastor requested them
to do so to save a financially troubled
parish school. Of those willing to
contribute more, 59 percent would be
willing to contribute more than $50 a
Norwood.
The appointments were announced
here by Archbishop Jean Jadot,
apostolic delegate in the United States.
Bishop-designate Mulcahy is a native
of Dorchester, who was ordained in
1947. He studied at Cardinal O’Connell
Minor Seminary, of which he is spiritual
director, and St. John’s Seminary. He is
pastor of St. Mary’s parish in Lynn and
from 1969 to 1973 was rector of John
The WCC reported that the
government’s official reason for the
expropriation was the need to expand
nearby Fort Hare University. But the
South African Council of Churches
asserted: “There is more than enough
adjacent land for university expansion
other than that owned by the
seminary.”
The expropriation order was served
Nov. 26. The WCC protest was made
Dec. 23.
High
year and 31 percent would be willing to
contribute more than $100 a year.
On social and political attitudes, the
study found 80 percent of the Catholic
population saying they would vote for a
qualified Jew, or a qualified black, or a
qualified woman for U.S. President.
Ninety-four percent of white Catholics
say they would accept school
integration for their children where a
few of the other children are black; 74
percent would accept it where half the
children are black, and 49 percent
would accept it where more than half
the children were black.
The study also found that 71 percent
of the Catholic population with
school-age children have them in schools
where there are black students, and that
35 percent of the Catholic population
have black neighbors.
The authors concluded: “The picture
is a mixed one. While there is not yet
reason to despair over the future of
Catholicism in the United States,
neither is there reason for easy
optimism.”
XXIII Seminary for Adult Vocations.
Bishop-designate Daily was born in
Belmont and studied at Boston College
and St. John’s Seminary. He was
ordained in 1952. He served for five
years in Peru as a member of the
Society of St. James the Apostle. He is
at present a consultor of the society and
of the archdiocese.
Bishop-designate D’Arcy was born in
Brighton. He received a doctorate in
theology after studies in Rome. He was
ordained in 1957.
Bishop-designate Ruocco, a Boston
native, attended St. Philip Neri
Preparatory School and St. John’s
Seminary before ordination in 1946. He
has served in three parishes of the
archdiocese: St. Anne’s, Readville; St.
Catherine’s, Somerville; and St.
Catherine’s, Norwood.
Bishop-designate Mulcahy’s titular
See is Penafiel; Bishop-designate Daily’s
is Bladia; Bishop-designate D’Arcy’s is
Mediana, and Bishop-designate Ruocco’s
is Polignano.
‘Ecumenism No Fad’
May Change America
BOSTON AUXILIARIES INTRODUCED - Cardinal Thomas V. Daily, archdiocesan chancellor. At right is
Humberto Medeiros introduces his four new auxiliary Father Robert Banks, rector of St. John’s Seminary,
bishops, from left: Joseph J. Ruocco, 52, a pastor; Brighton, where all the auxiliaries studied. They will be
John J. Mulcahy, a pastor and former seminary rector; ordained to the episcopacy Feb. 11 at Holy Cross
John M. D’Arcy, seminary spiritual director; and Cathedral. (NC Photo by Philip Stack)
Four Boston Auxiliaries Named
WCC Protests S. African Order
Delegate Discusses Change in Policy on Bishops
WASHINGTON (NC) - New policies
in the Vatican account for the recent
trend toward appointing younger men
more oriented toward change as bishops
in the United States, the apostolic
delegate in the United States,
Archbishop Jean Jadot, said here.
In an interview in the Washington
Post, the 65-year-old Belgian-born
archbishop, who has been the Pope’s
representative to U.S. Catholics since
July 1973, said it is “the policy of the
Holy See to look for bishops who have a
very wide and very strong pastoral
experience.”
The present guidelines on the
selection of bishops developed from
changes instituted by the Second
Vatican Council, Archbishop Jadot said.
“The concerns of the Church today
are such that you need people of a
somewhat different bent than they were
before,” he said.
He noted that in March 1972 the
Vatican issued to its representatives
throughout the world new instructions
for consultation in selecting bishops.
“The apostolic delegates were requested
to make much wider inquiries than
before,” he said.
Now, he said, “many people,” priests,
Religious and laity are asked, “always
on a one-to-one basis,” their views on
the needs of the dioceses and, in the
light of those needs, “What kind of a
person would you like to have as a
bishop and if you have someone to
propose, propose him.”
Filling an episcopal vacancy in a
diocese now takes an average of six
months compared to two months
previously because of this new and more
lengthy process, Archbishop Jadot said.
He praised the “openness” he has
found in the U.S. Church during his stay
here. “I am so impressed by the
openness and the liberty with which
people express themselves and ask you
what you think about matters.”
He said he found this openness “not
just in relations of the apostolic delegate
with bishops and high-ranking priests,
but with ordinary men” and he called it
“one of my big pleasures in the United
States - one has the impression that you
are all on the same level.”
The apostolic delegate said he
thought this spirit of openness and
willingness to discuss differences will
assist in resolving many of the tensions
in the U.S. Church. He added that the
existence of tension between differing
viewpoints is a sign of health in the
Church.
The most serious problem facing the
Church in the United States,
Archbishop Jadot said, “is the very
severe moral crisis,” which he called a
“national problem, a problem of your
country as of many countries of the
world.” He said: “Watergate has been
one of its aspects and also the whole
question of respect for life.”
The archbishop, who served in papal
diplomatic posts in Africa and Asia
before coming here, cited as evidence of
the moral crisis in the United States “so
much selfishness -- individual selfishness
and national selfishness.”
He continued: “You have in your
country some very brilliant minorities
who are open to the necessities of the
whole world and who are really sensitive
to the responsibilities of your country
towards the whole world, but it remains
such a small minority.
“For me, one of the important
responsibilities of the (Catholic) Church
in the next year is to help to collaborate
with all other Christians and with our
Jewish co-citizens -- those who are
concerned with moral values -- to work
in such a way that we are able to give
back to this country a sense of moral
and religious values.”
He stressed the need for “not only
moral values ... but a sense of God and
a fidelity to the origins of this country,
which I think are mainly Christian.”