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The Southern Cross
DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER
Vol. 56 No. 42
Thursday, November 27,1975
Single Copy Price — 15 Cents
Bishops Line Up Behind Lifie, Housing, Economy Issues
PREPARING TO GIVE THANKS - Pumpkins fit
for a feast of thanks are gathered by costumed children
at Plymouth, Mass., where a re-enactment of the first
Thanksgiving Day, 1621, is held at Plymouth
Plantation, the re-created Pilgrim colony. Thanksgiving
is Nov. 27. (NC Photo courtesy Massachusetts Divison
of Tourism)
New Priestly Formation Program
WASHINGTON (NC) - The nation’s
Catholic bishops have approved a
comprehensive new Program of Priestly
Formation to govern the training of
seminarians in the United States.
The 194-page document, a revision
and expansion of a five-year provisional
program that has been in effect since
January, 1971, must still be approved
by the Vatican’s Congregation for
Catholic Education. A five-year
approval of the new document is
expected, and plans are already under
way for another revision in 1981.
One significant addition to the new
program is a section calling for extensive
changes to encourage vocations among
racial and ethnic minorities and to
DECEMBER 6TH
prepare them better to serve their own
communities. That section also stresses
the need to develop sensitivity to
minority cultures among all priesthood
students, whatever their own racial,
ethnic and cultural background.
In the revised program there is also
greater emphasis on spiritual formation
in the section on the theological
seminary and an entirely new section on
spiritual formation in the section of
college seminaries.
In the only significant debate on the
program before a vote, Archbishop John
F. Whealon of Hartford, Conn., and
Bishop Alfred M. Watson of Erie, Pa.,
argued that the section on philosophy in
the seminarians’ academic program was
weak.
Bishop Watson ammended a
paragraph calling for at least 18 hours of
philosophy studies, to say that this
work should be in “an integrated system
based on scholastic philosophy and
related to all modern philosophy.” The
amendment was passed by a voice vote.
The section on high school seminaries
has been “almost entirely rewritten,”
the bishops’ priestly formation
committee said, because the situation of
these seminaries “has changed greatly in
the past years.” Five years ago, the
committee said, high school seminaries
across the country were under “severe
criticism” and many teachers and
students were afraid their institutions
would be closed, but now there is a
(Continued on page 7)
Savannah Women’s Conference
“Woman - Made in the Image of
God” is the title of the December 6
conference to be held at St. Vincent’s
Hall from' 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The
conference is being sponsored by the
Sisters of Mercy and the Alumnae
Association of St. Vincent’s Academy
to commemorate the International
Woman’s Year 1975.
The featured speaker at the
conference will be Sister Elizabeth
Carroll, R.S.M. who is presently a staff
associate at the Center of Concern in
Washington, D.C.
Sister Elizabeth is a nationally
recognized leader among religious
sisters. She served as Mother General of
the Pittsburgh Sisters of Mercy from
1964 to 1974, as national chairperson
of the National Sister Formation
Movement from 1967 to 1970, as
president of the Leadership Conference
of Women Religious in 1971 and on the
executive council of the Conference of
Major Superiors of Women for 1967 to
1973.
Sister holds degrees from the
University of Pittsburgh, the University
of Toronto and a doctorate in history
from the Catholic University of
America.
An address entitled “Women in
Biblical Tradition” will be delivered by
Sister M. Charlene Walsh, R.S.M.,
Provincial Councilor of the Baltimore
Province Sisters of Mercy. The address is
authored by Sister M. Aquin O’Neill,
R.S.M., of the Baltimore Province.
Sister Aquin wrote and delivered this
address at a recent International Woman
Year Seminar at Notre Dame College in
Baltimore. Sister M. Aquin is a graduate
of Aquinas High in Augusta and has a
doctorate in theology from Vanderbilt
University.
The conference is open to all who are
interested in the role of women in the
Church and in society.
Those attending are asked to “brown
bag” a sandwich. Beverages will be
provided. Registration is $2.00 if
postmarked by December 2; $3.00 at
the door. Send registrations to I.W.Y.
Conference, St. Vincent’s Academy
207 East Liberty Street, Savannah,
Georgia 31401.
Sister Elizabeth Carroll, R.S.M.
Sister Charlene Walsh, R.S.M.
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (NC) ~ Their
three-pronged offensive against abortion
captured most of the headlines, but the
U.S. Catholic bishops meeting here Nov.
17-20 took action on a number of other
significant social and religious issues as
well.
In a Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life
Activities, the bishops outlined an effort
against abortion, euthanasia and related
issues that included educational and
informational programs, social efforts to
provide alternatives to abortion, and
public policy-legislative efforts at every
level - national, state and local.
But the bishops also issued
statements on unemployment and the
economy, housing, Catholic-Jewish
relations, the California farm labor
situation, the 1976 international
Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia,
and the Human Life Foundation.
In addition, they approved a new
Program for Priestly Formation and
guidelines for men Religious who wish
to become permanent deacons.
On the major public policy issues of
housing and unemployment and the
economy, the bishops basically urged
“A decent home in a suitable living
environment for every American
family,” “an effective national
Detailed Stories
Pages 3 And 7
commitment to full employment,” and
“a decent income policy for those who
are unable to work because of sickness,
age, disability, or other good reason.”
They said the moral implications of
these issues must be faced, and they
promised social action and public
pressure to meet human needs in these
areas.
Commemorating the 10th anniversary
of the Second Vatican Council’s
Declaration on the Relationship of the
Church and Non-Christian Religions, the
bishops said that that document had
started a “new era” in Catholic-Jewish
relations. They praised the progress
made so far but said much more needs
to be done and urged Catholics to
become more aware of their “spiritual
bonds” to Judaism.
In size, the largest item on the
bishops’ agenda was a 194-page book
revising the bishops’ Program on
Priestly Formation. The revision,
which must still receive Vatican
approval before it goes into effect, was
described as a strengthening of the
earlier program and a “tightening up” of
guidelines that were considered vague or
confusing before. It also included a
completely new section urging
multi-racial and multi-cultural seminary
training where appropriate.
In other action items, the bishops:
Approved a pastoral letter
informing Catholics of the themes of
the 41st International Eucharistic
Congress in Philadelphia next August
and urging spiritual renewal in
preparation for the congress.
- Saluted the new Agricultural Labor
Relations Act in California as a “good
law . . .that might serve as a model” for
legislation in other states, but they
warned that “it will not automatically
resolve all the problems involved” in the
California farm labor dispute.
Pledged “continued support,
encouragement and collaboration” for
the Human Life Foundation, a
Church-initiated organization that
promotes natural family planning.
- Established guidelines for men
Religious who wish to become
permanent deacons.
- Approved the NCCB-USCC 1975
budget and plans and programs, and all
proposed changes in NCCB statutes and
bylaws except one.
That one proposed change, an item
two paragraphs long amid the hundreds
of pages of documentation for the
meeting, turned out to be the most
debated item on the agenda and the
only committee proposal that the
bishops rejected in their whole meeting.
It was proposal to end the limited
voting rights of retired bishops, in order
to bring the NCCB statutes into
conformity with the Church’s general
norms, which say that only active
bishops should have the right to vote in
national episcopal conferences. After
more than an hour of debate the
bishops rejected the revision and kept
the vote for retired bishops, although
they had been told that the Vatican
wanted them to accept the revision.
In addition to action items before
them, the bishops also heard annual
reports from all NCCB and USCC
committees and held workshops two
afternoons to discuss the new rite of
Penance, a proposed pastoral letter on
moral values, evangelization among
blacks, the priestly formation program,
and international justice.
They also took under advisement
suggestions to establish a permanent
office of the NCCB that would deal
with concerns of women in the Church
and society, to set up an instrumentality
that would counteract public dissent
from Church teaching, and to study
possible ways of restructuring parishes.
Unlike other bishops’ meetings in
recent years, the November meeting in
Washington was not faced with public
demonstrations or picketing. A number
of interest groups and individuals,
however, lobbied for their causes
quietly through information fliers or by
catching bishops in the hallway.
Among the various concerns
represented by the lobbyists were
opposition to abortion, greater rights
for women in the Church, pastoral care
and civil rights for homosexuals,
increased voice for the laity, and
changes in Church law for
divorced-remarried Catholics.
PENANCE RITE DEMONSTRATED - Father Thomas Krosnicki of the
bishops’ liturgy office demonstrates an optional rite of Penance at one of
the new workshop sessions during the U.S. bishops meeting in
Washington, D.C. Holding the microphone is Father John Rotelle, head of
the office. Bishop Walter M. Curtis of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the
liturgy committee, is the “penitent.” (NC Photo)
6 Human Life Foundation’
Receives Bishops 9 Support
WASHINGTON (NC) - The nation’s
Catholic bishops have pledged their
“continued support, encouragement and
collaboration” to insure the survival of
the Human Life Foundation, a six-year
old Church-initiated organization
working to promote scientific research
and education in natural family
planning.
The Foundation, according to
Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York,
chairman of the Bishops’ Committee for
Pro-Life Activities, has “almost
exhausted its financial resources.”
The bishops’ encouragement was
needed to help the foundation in a
major new fund-raising effort, he said.
The Foundation, first of its kind in
the world, “has played a major role in
generating international interest and
worldwide scientific research,” notes a
resolution approved by the bishops.
“The work of the Foundation, in
which we are proud to have a part,” the
resolution says, “will considerably
advance the welfare of marriage and the
family by lending those who are skilled
in the sciences -- notably the medical,
biological, social and psychological -- to
pool their efforts in perfecting the
natural methods of family planning so
as to explain more thoroughly the
various conditions favoring a proper
regulation of births.”