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PAGE 3-May 8,1975
Israeli Premier Says He Wants Peace
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
JERUSALEM (NC) - “We want an
end to the state of war, and the building
of relations for peace,” Prime Minister
Yitshak Rabin of Israel told a delegation
of U.S. Catholic editors.
The editors were on the last leg of a
two-week fact-finding tour of the
Middle East. The prime minister said he
was glad that they had come to Israel,
“for all around you, you will see
activity for development and peace. We
want a state of normalcy.”
“Real peace will give Israel real
security,” he said. “But it has to be a
move, by steps, toward peace. This is
why we welcomed the mission of Dr.
Kissinger. The decision to suspend the
talks was made by Egypt. On the final
day of the negotiations, Egypt refused
to see Kissinger when he could not bring
an Israeli acceptance of its terms.
“In our search for peace, we don’t
pretend to be objective and don’t intend
to be objective. However, this doesn’t
mean that we are intransigent. We
realize that a compromise is necessary,
but it must be a compromise that will
meet the requirements of both sides.
“What is the problem? For us, it is
the struggle for peace; the strength for
survival; the strength for building - for
peaceful development. We desire only
peace - a peace that will allow us to live
as Jews in freedom, as an independent
state. We find it totally unacceptable
other than Israel being a Jewish state
with Jewish sovereignty.”
Prime Minister Rabin noted that
there had been much adverse comment
over Israel’s insistence on it Jewishness,
not only in the political, but also in the
religious sense.
“Still, noboby raised questions when
the British partitioned the continent of
India after World War II,” he said.
“There was no other solution than to
partition the continent along religious
lines, with India made up of Hindus and
Pakistan, east to west for Moslems. The
parties wanted it that way, and it was
recognized by the United Nations.
What’s the difference in our present
situation - Israel being a Jewish state?”
On the question of Palestine refugees,
Prime Minister Rabin said it was an
accumulative problem.
“Israel has been made the scapegoat
on this question,” he said. “Great
mention is made that there are 700,000
Palestine refugees, but few recognized
that in 1948 there were 500,000 Jewish
refugees. The Jews were expelled, with
nowhere to go, but Israel integrates
them, to make them part of an
integrated society.
“The 1967 lines to which we are
asked to withdraw are, in practical
terms, the same lines agreed upon in the
1949 Armistice. We have offered peace
for 18 years, and we will continue to
work for peace. Israel seeks boundaries
of peace, but we are not going back to
the 1967 line.”
On Jerusalem, the Prime Minister
said, “We are not going to allow it to be
a city of barbed wire again, separating
our people.”
“It must become a unified city,” he
said. “Seventy percent or more of the
citizens are Jews, who want to be part
of Israel. I believe we should find a way
-- and we would agree to this -- where
the holy places would be administered
by religions in a semi-independent way.
“As long as Israel’s sovereignty over
Jerusalem is recognized, there should be
no problem of free access to the holy
places. One must recognize that for 18
years - until the ’67 War - Jews were
not allowed to visit their holy places in
the city.
Religious Leaders Back Farm Workers
LOS ANGELES (NC) ~ Eighty U.S.
religious leaders have urged “friends and
constituents ... to look to Cesar Chavez
and the United Farm Workers (of
America) as important ethical and
spiritual leaders in our time.”
The 80 joined in a statement of
solidarity with Chavez and his farm
workers’ union (UFWA) and said that
they “will not forget the cry for bread
and justice” from the “hungry farm
workers in America who feed us all.”
Their statement was issued for Farm
Worker Week, May 4-10.
They also pledged their own personal
commitment to the boycott of
non-UFWA grapes and head lettuce and
all Gallo wines.
Catholics signing the statement
included Bishop Edward O’Rourke of
Peoria, Ill.; Father Reid Mayo, president
of the National Federation of Priests’
Councils; Sister Catherine Pinkerton,
chairperson of the National Assembly of
Women Religious; Father Juan Romero,
executive director of PADRES (an
organization of Spanish-speaking priests,
deacons and Religious); and Divine
Word Father Joseph A. Francis,
president of the Conference of Major
Superiors of Men.
Following is the full text of their
statement:
Fr. Hesburgh
Most Influential
WASHINGTON (NC) - Holy Cross
Father Theodore M. Hesburgh was
named the most influential religious
leader in the United States in a poll of
his peers by U.S. News and World
Report.
While some citizens worry about
apathy in the land and others write
about the sad state of American
democracy, farm workers do their
everyday work: they harvest the food
we eat and they work and sacrifice to
build a union of their own. The issues of
their struggle are made to seem
confusing, but the human goals they
seek are the same goals that gave birth
to our nation: farm workers are fighting
for self-determination, control of their
own lives, the right to participate in
their own liberation, new possibilities
and new hope for their children. They
are fighting with the tools of
non-violence.
May 4-10,1975, will be Farm Worker
Week in the USA and Canada. We
have no grand pronouncements for our
friends and constituents. We ask them
PHILADELPHIA (NC) - “Prayers We
Have in Common” a booklet of worship
materials widely used by Protestants
and Catholics, has been published here
by Fortress Press. An ecumenical
commission spent more than five years
reaching agreement on the liturgical
texts.
The booklet is a revision of an earlier
edition published by the International
Consultation on English Texts (ICET) in
1972. After that version of the prayers
was released, the ecumenical
commission collected reactions to the
revised texts from churches that used
the new forms.
The newly worded prayers are, in
some instances, more accurate
translations of the original materials.
Other changes were made to remove
archaic words or to make phrases more
harmonious with modem English usage.
Churches participating in the ICET
work include Anglican churches in
England, Ireland, Scotland, and the
United States; Congregational, Baptist,
and Methodist churches in England;
Roman Catholics in Australia, Canada,
Great Britain, Ireland, and the United
States; the Inter-Lutheran Commission
on Worship in North America; and the
nine denominations participating in the
Consultation on Church Union in the
United States.
The ICET is not an official
organization of the participating
churches, but offers its work for use by
the church bodies.
“Prayers We Have in Common”
includes versions of virtually all the
liturgical prayers and hymns generally
to look for Cesar Chavez and the United
Farm Workers as important, ethical and
spiritual leaders in our time. We give
thanks for the farm workers’ courage,
persistance, and willingness to sacrifice
for justice. While others lead with their
voices, the farm workers lead with their
lives. They have asked us to give a part
of ourselves to their non-violence
movement. We do so gladly and with
humility. We will not buy or eat
non-UFW grapes or head lettuce and we
will not drink any Gallo wines until
farm workers have had a chance to
choose their own union. We pledge to
keep our spirits alive to the farm
workers’ struggle and to spread the
word of the boycott wherever we go.
We will not forget the cry for bread and
justice that comes from those hungry
workers in America who by their labor
and sacrifices feed all of us and our
children.
used in the Roman Catholic Mass and
Protestant liturgies, as well as other
familiar elements of worship.
An explanation of each translation is
included with the new version.
In “Prayers We Have in Common”
the form suggested for the Lord’s Prayer
reads:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
your Name, your kingdom come, your
will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give
us today our daily bread. Forgive us our
sins as we forgive those who sin against
us. Save us from the time of trial and
deliver us from evil. For the kingdom,
the power, and the glory are yours now
and for ever.
The ecumenical commission offered
the following version of the Apostles’
Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son,
our Lord. He was conceived by the
power of the Holy Spirit and bom to
the Virgin Mary. He suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and
was buried. He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again. He
ascended into heaven, and is seated at
the right hand of the Father. He will
come again to judge the living and the
dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy
Catholic Church, the communion of
saints, the forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting. Amen.
Ecumenical Prayer Texts
“Arabs are encouraged to come to
Israel. In the recent negotiations we
even offered free movement between
Egypt and the Sinai for tourism and
commerce ~ something similar to our
arrangement with Jordan. Through
Jordan and the West Bank, Arabs come
to and from their homes or business. On
the West Bank, the teachers get double
pay - from us and from the Jordanians.
Persons on the West Bank do not pay
Israeli income tax. So you see, on our
part, we encourage the free movement
of peoples.
“We would like the same policy to be
adopted by our Arab neighbors. We
must admit, however, that the policy of
our neighbors to Israel has been hostile,
and continues to be hostile. Open lines
of communication between us and our
neighbors are essential to Israel and we
will continue to work for this.”
On the question of recognition of the
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), the prime minister was adamant.
“We shall never negotiate with them,”
he said.
“How can we be expected to
recognize the PLO when it has sworn to
eradicate us as a state? How can we deal
with them when they have murdered
our women and children? No. We shall
not deal with murderers, with people
who kill the innocents -- and we
certainly won’t agree to the formation
of such a state next to us, headed by
leaders of the PLO. That’s not
security.”
Prime Minister Rabin reiterated that
Israel would take any step which would
lead to peace and an opportunity for his
country to develop its resources in the
interest of the whole area. “But while
advancing toward peace, we are making
sure we are prepared for war at the same
time,” he said.
“Israel is a country that is striving at
one and the same time to advance
toward peace and to strengthen itself
militarily in case war breaks out,” Prime
Minister Rabin said. “If we believe in
peace and also prepare for war, we shall
achieve peace.
“We need peace. The continuous wars
have naturally stifled the economy
through total mobilization. We have
suffered much and continue to suffer.
We do not know what the future will
bring, but we do know that to keep
alive, one has to be prepared - and we
are prepared for any eventuality.”
ISRAELI PRESIDENT EPHRAIM KATZIR talks neighboring countries do not recognize Israel’s
with NC writer Gerard E. Sherry in Jerusalem, saying existence. (NC)
that one of the greatest roadblocks to peace is that
IN VA TICAN CITY
Episcopalians Celebrate Eucharist
VATICAN CITY (NC) - American
and Canadian Episcopalian clergymen
celebrated a first-ever Episcopalian
eucharistic service within the walls of
Vatican City April 27 at the invitation
of Pope Paul VI.
About 30 American and 10 Canadian
deans of cathedrals concelebrated at the
Church of St. Stephen of the
Abyssinians, just behind the apse of St.
Peter’s Basilica.
The Rev. Jeffrey Cave, canon of
National cathedral in Washington, D.C.,
called the Pope’s invitation to the
service “an unprecedented gesture of
hospitality.” The service had been
arranged by Catholic Archbishop
William Baum of Washington, who had
accompanied the Episcopalian group to
Rome. Archbishop Baum has for some
years been executive director of the
Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
Pope Paul had also given this group
an ecumenical welcome at his general
audience on April 23 when he had told
them: “We consider your presence with
us here of great importance in our
common efforts to proclaim before the
world, to the glory of God the Father:
‘Jesus Christ is the Lord.’ ”
The group of Anglican clergymen
talked with Cardinal James Robert
Knox, prefect of the Congregation for
Divine Worship and the Sacramental
Congregation. They also spoke with
Cardinal Sergio Pignedoli, president of
the Secretariat for Non-Christians,
before going to Assisi April 28 for a
two-day “reflective retreat” in the city
of St. Francis.
The Church of St. Stephen, in which
the Anglican group concelebrated, was
built by Pope St. Leo III between the
eighth and ninth centuries. In the 14th
century a convent was instituted for
Ethiopian monks and in 1479 the
church was ceded to the Coptic Rite,
adding to its name the words “of the
Abyssinians”.
Commenting on the meetings here,
Dean Francis B. Sayre of National
Cathedral said: “It was our wish to seek
together with our Roman brothers, in
an informal and unofficial way, a new
vision of the grace of Christ which He
gives to us to overcome the sorry
divisions and disillusions which afflict so
many spirits in the world today.”
The dean added: “We consider it a
strong sign of the spirit in which the
Pope spoke to us, this kind invitation
which he gave us to celebrate an
Anglican Eucharist here in the Vatican,
for the first time, I believe, since the
Reformation.”
Dean Sayre added: “In this oldest
church within the sacred city, St.
Stephen of the Abyssinians, right beside
the walls of St. Peter’s, our pastors met
around the holy altar and prayed to the •
Lord for unity, in one baptism, a single
faith, and in the same Holy Spirit so
that in Christ, in His body and in His
blood we could become truly a single
unit.”
The Episcopalian clergymen had
come to Rome for their annual deans’
conference. It was the first such
conference to be held outside the
United States.
Catholic Peace Movement to ‘Revitalize’
NEW YORK (NC) - The American
branch of the international Catholic
peace organization Pax Christi will meet
at Manhattan College here May 9 and 10
in an effort to revitalize the Catholic
Peace movement in the United States.
The meeting was called by Auxiliary
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit
and Bishop Carroll Dozier of Memphis,
Tenn.
Bishop Gumbleton said Pax Christi
will attempt to set up a national
committee reflecting a cross-section of
Catholics involved in the peace
movement in the past. A number of
Catholics have been invited, he said, but
the meeting is open to all who wish to
attend.
Those at the meeting will include
Tom Cornell of the Catholic Peace
Fellowship; James Finn, editor of
Worldview magazine; Eileen Egan of
Catholic Relief Services, Jesuit Father
Robert Drinan (D-Mass.), sociologist
Gordon Zahn and Jean Eskstein of the
National Conference of Catholic Laity.
The May meeting was planned at a
November assembly of Pax Christi in
Memphis held to begin reorganization of
the American branch.
The reorganization came in the wake
of the resignation of the group’s general
secretary, Edward Guinan -- a former
Paulist priest now married -- who left in
a dispute with the board.
Guinan resigned after the governing
board rescinded an invitation to James
Douglass to speak at a scheduled
meeting in October. That meeting was
later canceled.
Douglass was sentenced to a year’s
probation in Hawaii for destroying U.S.
Air Force records in 1972 at Hickam
Air Force Base, Hawaii. He left Hawaii
in violation of his parole and had been
living in Canada.
Deplores Media Manipulation Toward Immorality
BY JOHN MUTHIG
VATICAN CITY (NC) - In his World
Communications Day message, Pope
Paul criticized media that focus on
human degradation, promote an
“insatiable greed” for consumer goods,
and manipulate their audiences toward
immoral behavior.
Pope Paul’s four-page message was
released April 28 in anticipation of the
ninth World Communications Day
which will be held Sunday, May 11.
World Communications Day was first
launched by the Vatican in 1967.
In his message, the Pope warned of
“processes and techniques which, under
the pretense of ‘neutrality’ and
‘independence,’ actually set themselves
to manipulate the facts and thereby
manipulate also the audiences to which
they are presented.”
The Pope gave examples of
“aberrations” of the media, including:
-- “A biased concentration on human
degradation;”
- “Working on public opinion in such
a way as to create an insatiable greed for
an endless succession of consumer
goods;”
- “The presentation as desirable of
manners of behavior that are either
immoral or at odds with what is actually
found in real life;”
-- “Suppression of facts, distortion of
facts, and selective presentation of facts
in regarding important happenings,
which arise in programs aimed at
ideological conditioning;”
- “The fashion of urging new
difficulties, sowing new doubts, thus
shaking the certainty of people on
ethical matters which are beyond
dispute.”
In his message aimed at press, radio,
television and cinema, the Pope also
cautioned against “the fashion of
representing as art what is simply
permissiveness, and the corresponding
fashion of throwing a bad light on the
disciplines which are imperatively
necessary if people are to live together
in civilized society, by representing
them as inadmissable oppression.”
The papal text finally mentioned the
“device of presenting as justice what is,
in fact, violence, vengeance, or reprisal.”
The Pope said the objectivity he is
urging in communications would imply
“a definite about-face from habits that
have been, regrettably too often,
espoused in the past by the sources of
information, by media professionals and
indeed by a reading, viewing and
listening public which was content to be
a passive accomplice.”
News from a variety of sources,
instead of “one official version of news
and interpretation of news,” should be
offered the public in every country, the
Pope said.
“Failing this possibility, one is left
with a sort of ‘tyranny,’ a ‘cultural
enslavement,’ imposed by a faceless and
quasi-anonymous authority.”
He characterized the world’s good
people as “sick and tired of a relentless
conditioning which, on the one part,
tends to enslave the mind and heart, and
on the other results only in the
aggravation of tensions which are
already severe.”
The mass media, wrote the Pope, are
obliged to uphold moral principles and
to obey civil laws protecting those
principles.
“It should surely be evident, for
example, that media coverage which
makes a parade of human depravity or
1
deliberately provides stimulation of
man’s immoral inclinations, dishonors
the media themselves while at the same
time blunts the moral sense of a
community and corrupts its young
people.
“Abuses of this kind cannot take
shelter behind the plea of man’s ‘right
to information.’ Neither can permissive
legislation be advocated or justified on
this plea.”
The Pope asked that the Church be
given fair treatment by the media.
“It is the right of the Church also
that public opinion should know her as
she is and, that it be given a true picture
of her teaching, her aspirations and her
life.”
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