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J i j The Southern Cross DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Vol. 56 No. 39 Thursday, November 6,1975 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents “SUMMIT AND SOURCE” « Anglican and Catholic theologians in a national dialogue group have agreed on a statement on the purpose of the Church. In it the Eucharist is described as the “summit and source” of ANGLICAN-ROMAN CA THOLIC the Church’s mission. The writers placed “proclaiming the Gospel” at the heart of that mission, but said that it must involve working for justice as well. (NC Photo by Paul Tucker) Agreement On Purpose Of Church BY JERRY FILTEAU WASHINGTON (NC) - In their first major statement in several years, members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission in the United States (ARC) have expressed “substantial agreement about the purpose or mission of the Church.” “We have uncovered no essential points on which we differ,” the group said. The statement, released here in New York Oct. 31, is entitled, “Agreed Statement on the Purpose of the Church.” It takes an approach to its topic that is unusual for such ecumenical ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH T. RYAN, 62, of Anchorage, Alaska, has been named coadjutor to Cardinal Terence Cooke, military vicar of the U.S. armed forces. He will leave his Anchorage diocese, but no successor to that See has been named yet. (NC Photo) statements: It places its chief focus on the liturgical prayer of the two churches as an expression of the churches’ central beliefs. “Since the prayer of the Church is the most intense expression of our faith in God and commitment to his purpose for the world,” the ARC group said, “and since the Eucharist is seen in both our churches as bringing us into a new relationship of union with Christ and with one another in His sacramental Body and Blood, we have decided together to write our common belief about the Church’s purpose or mission ... in a context interwoven with prayers from our contemporary Eucharistic liturgies. We invite the reader to reflect upon this relationship between prayer and belief . . .” The ARC group, consisting of about 20 Catholic and Anglican theologians, has been meeting since 1965. It is headed by Bishop Arthur A. Vogel of the Episcopal diocese of West Missouri and Bishop Charles H. Helmsing of the Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. In their statement the theologians agreed that there is a “remarkable convergence” of their churches’ beliefs on the question of the Church’s purpose, as expressed in each Church’s authoritative statements and liturgical texts. They agreed that: “The Church comes from God . . .(and) is that community of persons called by the Holy Spirit to continue Christ’s saving work of reconciliation.” - Despite a “long history of human selfishness and sin,” the Church is “a community created and called by God. Its task is evangelization and salvation: to be an instrument of God’s work in the world focused in the saving and liberating mission of Jesus Christ.” - The Church’s mission of witness to Christ “is to be carried out by the proclamation of the Good News, the praise of God’s Name, and service to all people . . .and it is the responsibility of all - not just some - of the Church’s members.” - Its witness “must first find expression in the lives of its individual members and in the Church’s regulation of its own structures and agencies,” and only then can it be expressed in the structures of society. - Its first task here and now is “proclaiming the Gospel,” but the Scripture and the churches’ liturgies also “lead us to affirm that ‘action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world’ are fully a ‘constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel’ .. . The imperative of evangelism, therefore, has many dimensions.” - The Church “expresses its own life most fully when it gathers as a community for worship, especially the celebration of the Eucharist, which is the summit and source of its mission.” - To many, “the witness of worship is only fully complete when it results in a commitment to service.” However, “while this call to serve others and to place our resources at the service of others is recognized and widely discussed in each of our churches, we must confess that it does not appear that either of us has yet found the means to carry out this aspect of mission as successfully as we might.” - “Human liberation, we agree, is that aspect of the Church’s mission of service which is most challenging for our time . . .‘But the totality of salvation is not to be confused with one or another aspect of liberation . ..’ ” Following major common affirmations, the Anglican and Catholic theologians included parallel liturgical (Continued on page 7) More Than 4,000 Respond To Self-Study In Savannah Satisfaction with the existing situation as well as a willingness and need to change some facets of deanery life have surfaced simultaneously as the general impressions of Chatham (Savannah) Deanery Catholics. In response to the massive opinion poll, recently conducted by the deanery self-study and Self-Study Steering Committee, some 4100 laypersons and 77 priests and religious contributed to the 75 question questionnaire. In addition, 636 of those contributing also submitted a “comment sheet,” which called for written discussion of the “strengths” and “areas for improvement” in the individual parishes, deanery, and diocese. The initial findings of the questionnaire were dialogued during October at the first in a series of three parish “town meetings.” At this time, the Steering Committee also met to discuss certain patterns which were emerging from among the responses tabulated. Though returns are still being analyzed and correlated, the Self-Study Steering Committee has announced what seem to be distinct trends among the findings. Since the responses of clergy and religious were tabulated separately, and, since these responses differed, at times, from those of the j^ity; separate consideration is given to the responses of clergy and religious in reporting some of the findings. To date, general findings of the survey reveal that: I. Respondents appear to be MUCH SATISFIED with the present situation COMMENT SHEET RESULTS ON PAGE 7 in the Deanery in: a. the schedule and variety of weekend liturgies. b. teamwork between priests, sisters, and parish staff. c. sermons (though priests and sisters are less satisfied) d. performance of lectors and commentators (priests and sisters are considerably less satisfied) e. service and availability of parish priests. f. regular confession times. g. the survival and strengthening of Catholic schools. II. Respondents appear to be MUCH CONCERNED FOR IMPROVEMENT in: a. the practice of special devotions such as rosary, benediction, novenas (priests and sisters somewhat less supportive of these) b. outreach to non-practicing Catholics. c. outreach to the material poor. d. outreach to separated and/or divorced Catholics. e. an annual parish mission and business meeting (priests and sisters extremely supportive of this measure) f. outreach to neighbors of other faiths (priests and sisters very supportive of this measure) g. outreach to neighbors of other ethnic backgrounds (priests and sisters very supportive) h. more “welcome activities” for newcomers. III. Respondents show a widespread LACK OF OPINION, CONCERN, OR KNOWLEDGE concerning: a. whether adequate monies, proportionate to Catholic school expenditures are being committed in the Deanery to CCD programs (priests and sisters inclined to say not enough money is expended on CCD) b. whether young people are actually being reached through present CCD programs (priests and sisters feel they are not) (Continued on page 7) tM If*' '-Vi 2.500 ATTEND Charismatics Meet In Augusta BY JOHN E. MARKWALTER Charismatics of the Southeast were told in Augusta that the movement had completed its first phase. Kevin Ranaghan, member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee, told those assembled for the annual Regional Conference on the Charismatic Renewal (Oct. 31-Nov. 2) that “the Lord has been teaching certain basic principles of walking the way of the Spirit for the past eight years and that, now, that teaching has matured.” “That teaching has matured,” Ranaghan said in his theme message, “it has become visible and accepted. In many ways, now, we can expect it to radiate throughout the whole of the Church, the whole world.” The need for Charismatics to share their gifts was echoed at the Sunday General Session which featured messages proclaiming a word to the Church in the Southeast. Those at this session heard Father George T. Montague, S.M., General Editor of The Catholic Biblical Quarterly and rector of Marianist Seminary, Toronto, Canada, say, “God has given us great gifts, but he wants us to share and not think that we are going to lose them by giving them away. The gifts of God are not lost by giving them away. They are only lost by holding on to them.” “God is saying something to the Church in this hour,” said John Poole, a Pentecostal Minister from Philadelphia. “We dare not apologize for it. We’ve got a message. God is saying something to the Church in this age, and we dare not compromise it.” Warnings of hard and difficult times ahead were also given at the three-day meeting. In his opening address, Kevin Ranaghan said, “the Lord has filled us with the Holy Spirit, not just for our own personal lesson, but so that we, filled with this Spirit, are transferred into powerful members of His Body, the Church -- in a powerful and effective way - in times that are going to be difficult.” Ranaghan said that it was important to take a hard look at the world in which we live, commenting: “The situation of the world is increasingly desperate. We are finding all kinds of crises - hunger, starvation, shortages of natural resources, the increasing spread of nuclear weapons, a collapse of faith in political systems and in government. We are seeing a continued oppression of the poor.” “The situation you and I face, as Christians, is very serious. We do not seem to face an easy time of it. We must face the situation and recognize the facts.” At the Friday evening session, John Poole told his listeners that what they were witnessing was unique. “That under the influence of the Holy Spirit there’s something going on that’s not happening in any other part of Christendom.” “There’s a coming together of people,” he continued, “who don’t agree on doctrine, but who recognize in one another the common bonds of faith and righteous living, and who are willing to say we will maintain the unity of the Spirit, and leave to the Lord the unity of the Faith.” On Saturday morning, the General (Continued on page 7) GEORGE CHAMPION CONFERENCE MASS - Fr. Michael Smith, principal celebrant (center at altar), and four priest homilists at the Saturday evening Mass of The Southeastern Charismatic Renewal Conference. Over 40 priests concelebrated. Banner proclaiming conference theme is in background.