Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No. 12 Thursday, March 20,1975 Single Copy Price - 15 Cents
PLEDGE 10 PERCENT OF INCOME
Priest Leaders Promise Help for Hungry
BY JERRY FILTEAU
ST. PETERSBURG BEACH, Fla.
(NC) -- About 200 priest-delegates at
the annual convention of the National
Federation of Priests’ Councils (NFPC)
here pledged to give 10 percent of their
gross income for a year to feed the
world’s hungry.
The move was the most dramatic in a
wide-ranging series of action steps
adopted by the convention March 12 to
carry out its search for reconciliation.
Among other reconciliation measures,
the NFPC delegates voted to :
- Ask the U.S. bishops to consider
lifting excommunication of divorced
remarried Catholics “as a visible sign of
reconciliation” for the Holy Year;
WESTFIELD, N.J. (NC) - What the
Church teaches on doctrinal matters has
gained far more acceptance among
Catholics living in an affluent suburban
parish here than has Church teaching on
morality.
That is one conclusion being drawn
from a 60-question survey to which
about 700 parishioners of Holy Trinity
parish responded. Some 2,800 surveys
were distributed as part of a parish
renewal program designed to determine
the educational needs of the parish and
provide material for discussion
programs, according to Msgr. Charles M.
Murphy, pastor.
Questions were asked in four general
areas: doctrine, liturgical practice,
morality and a miscellaneous section in
which one key focus was concepts of
the Church.
-- Call for dialogue between the NFPC
and the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops (NCCB) aimed at finding ways
to “reconcile and reinstate married
priests in appropriate ministries;”
- Urge that out of respect for the
“primacy of conscience” exclusion from
the Eucharist “no longer be applied” to
parties in a second marriage who are in
good conscience and have shown a
desire to share fully in the life of the
Church;
-- Acknowledge their own part in the
existence today of a “grave” degree of
“hurt and disaffection” among young
(age 14-30) Catholics, and urge local
priests’ councils to devote attention to
youth ministries, including support for
“a full-time vicar for youth in each
diocese” and for youth-to-youth
ministries;
Almost invariably, respondents either
strongly agreed or agreed with doctrinal
statements they were asked to comment
on. But there was a much closer division
between those choosing one of those
two responses and those disagreeing or
strongly disagreeing with questions on
morality.
Ninety-six percent, for instance, agree
in varying degrees that God is personally
concerned about mankind. Eighty-eight
percent accept the notion of Christ as
brother, 65 percent believe the Holy
Spirit is guiding events in thy Church, 95
percent accept Christ as God’s son, 92
percent believe in heaven, 79 percent
believe in hell, and 79 percent believe in
Mary’s perpetual virginity.
At the same time, 57 percent strongly
agree or agree that their faith “has
changed considerably over the years.”
- Urge priests in member councils to
pledge 10 percent of their gross annual
income to the feeding of the hungry,
and to seek the same pledge from other
Catholics;
- Mandate the establishment of a
full-time national justice and peace
director of the NFPC, and call on local
councils to establish a wide range of
educational programs and to develop a
local political action network dealing
with issues of justice in the distribution
of the world’s resources.
The moves were among more than 60
recommendations or action steps
approved by the convention in a
reconciliation document that, in draft
form, ran some 25 pages.
That change is evident in the section
on morality. While 94 percent say they
agree with the statement that they are
accountable to God for their decisions,
39 percent do not believe it is against
God’s law for the divorced to remarry,
38 percent do not agree that abortion is
wrong under all circumstances, 32
percent do not agree that premarital sex
for engaged couples is wrong.
In the area of worship and devotion,
52 percent believe “God wants me to
worship Him any way I like,” 24
percent believe changes in the Mass have
been harmful, 66 percent say confession
means less to them now than it did a
decade ago, 22 percent would prefer to
take Communion in their hands, 57
percent think devotion to Mary has
been downgraded.
While 84 percent believe they share in
Christ’s worship of the Father through
the Mass, only 39 percent believe
receiving Communion under both kinds
is more meaningful than receiving just
the Host.
In the miscellaneous category, 73
percent say there is a fundamental
equality of persons in the Church, but
47 percent say that priests do not
expect the laity to be leaders. Thirty-six
percent reject the doctrine of
infallibility, and for 43 percent the
Church is more hierarchical than a
community of faith, love and concern.
Fifty-five percent find sermons of little
help, 33 percent believe women should
be ordained as priests and 53 percent
believe priests should be permitted to
marry.
however, actually calling for the
reinstatement into full, active ministry
of resigned married priests.
They also rejected, primarily on
procedural grounds, consideration of a
whole seven-page section on
reconciliation between liberal and
conservative Catholics. They moved
instead to have the document submitted
to a special task force for extensive
refinement.
The first three days of the four-day
NFPC convention were devoted to
drawing up and voting on the
reconciliation document, which is to
serve as chief agenda for the federation
over the next year. It was the heart of
this year’s convention, which was
devoted to the theme, “Reconciliation:
Risks and Possibilities.”
Surprisingly, the significant move to
pledge 10 percent of their incomes for
feeding the hungry was passed by the
group virtually without debate -- even
though it will demand at least some
change in material life-style for almost
every priest at the convention.
By contrast, the issue that caused the
most debate was the resolution -
ultimately defeated by a 91-71 vote - to
“support and affirm those priests who
have decided to marry without seeking
laicization” and to urge that those
priests “be allowed to bear witness to
this dual vocation.”
One opponent pointed out that if the
delegates at the convention passed the
resolution, they would call for allowing
priests married outside the Church to
exercise a public ministry, including
celebrating the Eucharist and
administering the other sacraments.
In other portions of their statement
on resigned priests, the delegates
reaffirmed both the witness value of the
“celibate priesthood” in the tradition of
the Western Church and the possibilities
within authentic Church tradition for a
married clergy. They also apoke out
strongly in favor of easing the return to
the lay state of priests who wish to be
laicized, and they expressed serious
concern that ways should be found to
bring back into the active ministry those
who have left the active ministry only
out of necessity - not out of desire or a
sense of changed vocation. But they
stopped short of a direct call for the
reinstatement of unlaicized, resigned,
married clergy.
The crux of the problem with the
rejected resolution, several observers
told NC News afterward, seemed to
center around the question of how the
Church could give official, public
recognition in ministry to persons who,
regardless of the personal integrity and
conscientiousness of their decision to
marry without being laicized, had in
fact publicly flouted existing Church
law.
A contrast lay in the willingness of
the convention delegates to urge that
divorced/remarried Catholics who are in
good faith should be allowed to
participate in the full life of the Church,
including reception of the Eucharist.
One delegate pointed out on the
convention floor that there is a
difference between the private
reconcilation of a divorced remarried
person with the Church and the public
acceptatnce of a married priest for an
officially sanctioned ministry.
Several observers remarked
afterwards that the distinction marked
the difference between authentic
reconciliation, in which both sides
moved to a common understanding
without giving up their principles, and
“total surrender” in which one side
would have to give up its principles to
find a meeting around with the other
side.
It was a fine line, certain to the cause
debate but indicative of the “risk” the
NFPC expected in its selection of this
year’s theme, “Reconciliation: Risks
and Possibilities.”
The tenuousness and riskiness of the
line was expressed in the course of the
convention when the delegates sang
during a prayer service, “The answer.
my friends, is blowing in the wind . . .”
In the section on divorced/remarried
Catholics, the delegates also urged the
development of active family life
centers to help couples prepare for
marriage and to sustain them in
marriage. They recommended continued
study by the Canon Law Society of
America and the Catholic Theological
Society of America on the theology and
Church law in areas of marraige
indissolubility, the Eastern Church
tradition of divorce, and questions of
the relationship between faith, Baptism
and marriage.
They recommended procedures to
streamline diocesan marriage courts and
pledged to help educate pastors and
marriage court officials in the latest
legal documents so that requests for
judgments on previous marriages can be
given more just and uniform hearing
throughout the country.
They also urged the development of
more effective pastoral care programs to
provide for the spiritual and emotional
needs of divorced persons.
The part of the priests’ statement
dealing with youth ministries stressed
the need for specialized training of
priests in youth ministry and the need
for priests who are working full-time
with youth.
In a departure from the rest of their
statement the priests addressed a special
section directly to young adults, asking
them to forgive past neglect and work
together with priests in a shared
ministry of reconciliation.
INSIDE STORY
Irish Children Pg. 3
Called by Name ...Pg, 4
Book Reviews Pg. 6
Tribute to Teacher Pg. 7
ALBANY HOLY YEAR PILGRIMAGE. Nearly 500 persons gathered
last Sunday (March 16) in St. Teresa Church, Albany, for a celebration of
Reconciliation in observance of the Holy Year. Ceremonies consisted of
the Way of the Cross, Communal Penitential Service, individual
confessions and a concelebrated Mass. Shown here at Mass are Fathers
Michael Burke, J.J. Conovad, Con O’Leary, Fred Kirschner, Herbert
Wellmeier, Pat Adams, Peter Sheridan, Ray Govern.
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School Desegration
WASHINGTON (NC) - The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will begin a “thorough
investigation” of the Boston school desegregation controversy within a few weeks. The
investigation will be followed by public hearings in Boston or Washington, or both
places. “Integration,” a commission report said, “must move forward for moral and
legal reasons irrespective of the difficulties along the way. Integration has not failed
where there has been a genuine effort to achieve it. It still represents the nation’s only
road to domestic tranquility.”
National Clearing House
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (NC) - A national conference of Catholic volunteer agencies
has agreed to move toward setting up a national clearing house for volunteer referrals
in an effort to coordinate better the recruitment, screening and training of lay
personnel for such agencies. The recent conference at St. Mary’s University here was
co-sponsored by the U.S. Catholic Mission Council (USCMC), an agency of the
Newark, N.J., archdiocese called International Liaison, and the Texas Catholic
Conference’s Volunteers for Educational and Social Services. Participants agreed to
submit a statement to the USCMC designating the Newark archdiocese’s International
Liaison as the national clearing house for volunteer referrals.
Ford Proposals'Inadequate’
WASHINGTON (NC) - In addition to being “wholly inadequate,” the Ford
Administration’s economic proposals “reflect insensitivity to the real needs of people
in these difficult times,” the Council on National Priorities and Resources charged at
Senate Budget Committee hearings. The council is a broad-based coalition of groups
concerned with the economy, including the National Conference of Catholic Charities
and Network, an organization of nuns lobbying on social justice issues, as well as
business, labor, civic and environmental groups.
Parliament Calls It Murder
LONDON (NC) -- The British government considers it murder to allow aborted
infants to die or to kill them, a parliamentary spokesman has stated. Lord Wells-Pestell
was replying to a question from Lord Hailsham, former lord chancellor of the
Conservative administration, who asked whether “to allow babies to be born alive and
leave them to die, or worse still to kill them, is either murder or manslaughter?” Lord
Wells-Pestell replied: “The view of the government is that it is murder.”
The priests rejected a resolution,
RECONCILIATION PROCESSION -- Marching out procession to start their eighth annual meeting. The
of the ballroom of the Don CeSar Resort Hotel in St. crosses symbolized willingness to take up Christ’s cross
Petersburg, Fla., delegates to the National Federation and try to follow his path. (NC Photo by Jerry Filteau)
of Priests’ Councils carry crosses in a reconciliation
Poll on Doctrine, Moral Teaching