Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—February 5,1976
EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS POSTER - Father
Walter Conway, executive secretary, for the 41st
International Eucharistic Congress to be held in
Philadelphia in August, holds prize winning poster
submitted by Margaret Bauman, a 10th grader at
Central Catholic High, Greensburg, Pa. Sister Mary
Julia displays the winning entry in the fifth to eighth
grade competition, painted by Lisa J. Ganly of
Winston-Salem, N.C. The winners beat out a national
field in the competition to illustrate the congress
theme. (NC Photo by Charles F. Sibre)
Bishops And Women Meet
Wartime Document Shows
Vatican Efforts For Jews
DETROIT (NC) - Six U.S. bishops
and six women met here Jan. 16 to
discuss the results of a national Catholic
conference on the ordination of women
that was held here nearly two months
earlier.
The women, members of the task
force that organized the ordination
conference, presented a report on the
conference to the U.S. Bishops’
Committee for Liaison with Priests,
Religious and Laity, chaired by Bishop
James W. Malone of Youngstown, Ohio.
Bishop James S. Rausch, general
secretary of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops (NCCB), said
afterwards that he thought it was “very
valuable” to have the report presented
to the NCCB through the liaison
committee.
“I think we have a better sense of the
(ordination) conference now,” he said.
The conference had drawn more than
1,000 people, most of them nuns, but
oply two bishops had attended.
Dominican Sister Nadine Foley, head
of the task force, told the liaison
committee that the issue of ordaining
women is not a women’s issue. “It is a
fundamental issue of the Church,” she
said 5 “and should be placed squarely
within that context.”
Sister Patricia Hughes, publicity
director for the task force, said the task
force representatives stressed that both
lay and Religious women, single and
married women, have bonded together
to explore possibilities for new styles of
ministry. They also recommended that
the concern for the ordination of
women be seen in the broader context
of justice, she said.
Bishop Rausch asked the women to
respond to the argument that even if
there are no theological obstacles to the
ordination of women, the community is
not ready to call forth women as priests.
The task force group questioned the
validity of a conclusion that they said is
based primarily on the experience and
Msgr. Corcoran noted that a bill
introduced by Senators Robert Dole
(R-Kan.) and George McGovern
(D-S.D.) would eliminate the purchase
requirement, thus eliminating the
handling of cash by vendors.
Under the Dole-McGovern proposal,
Food Stamp recipients would simply
receive stamps worth the difference
between the purchase requirement and
the benefit level to which they are
entitled.
Catholic Charities, the U. S. Catholic
Conference. Office for Social
Development and almost a dozen other
Catholic organizations have strongly
studies, and Guillermo Romagosa, aiso
assistant professor of religious studies.
About 75 persons attended the all-day
session.
Wilcox said the new rite of penance
can be an “important way in which we
grapple with the problem of our
infidelity to the covenant relationship
with God.” It represents an approach
different from the past “act-oriented
morality” of enumerating mortal and
venial sins in closed-off confessionals.
Analyzing new theological
developments relating to divorce, he
said that while Church teaching has not
changed, some theologians and marriage
tribunal authorities are engaged in new
studies about the indissolubility of the
marriage bond, grounds for church
annulments and the re-admission to the
sacraments of 'divorced Catholics. He
commented: “At times the question of
divorce - can we or can’t we as
Catholics- get one? - has the eerie quality
of the tennis match or a mathematical
puzzle. Who will win or what is the new
answer?
“Perhaps the change in the
perceptions of men. They suggested that
Church leaders should reflect seriously
on the experience of women who have
already been accepted in a variety of
ministries.
There was general agreement among
the bishops and the women that there
must be a continuing dialogue between
bishops and theologians on the
theological issues involved.
Other liaison committee members at
the meeting were Bishops John L. May
of Mobile, Ala., Andrew J. McDonald of
Little Rock, Ark., and Arthur J. O’Neill
of Rockford, Ill. Bishop Michael J.
McAuliffe of Jefferson City, Mo.,
chairman of the bishops’ Ad Hoc
Committee on the Role of Women in
Society and the Church, was also
present.
In addition to Sisters Foley and
Hughes, task force representatives at the
meeting were Mary Schaefer, Sister of
Loretto Joan Campbell, Benedictine
Sister Mary Collins, and Immaculate
Heart of Mary Sister Karen Stepien.
supported the elimination of the
purchase requirement as one important
step in the Food Stamp reform now
being considered by Congress.
Church groups and others backing the
elimination of the purchase requirement
say this move would expand
participation in the program by bringing
in poor people who cannot afford the
purchase requirement needed to receive
the Food Stamp “bonus.”
These supporters also say recipients
would have more flexibility in how they
spend their money if they did not have
to pay out a large amount of cash for
their stamps.
celebration of the sacrament of Penance
will be the most difficult change in the
Church to date because it symbolizes
the imperative to be nakedly honest
with ourselves in the God - man -
woman relationship . . . The questions
of sin, divorce and birth control must all
be seen within the context of our call to
discipleship.”
During questions, Wilcox asserted
that many Catholics are “confused” by
the variety of statements they hear
about particular doctrines.
Brother Clark introduced the
workshop by noting that although
Vatican II authenticated many changes
in the sacraments and liturgy, these
changes were frequently “not
communicated” well and only now are
reaching many Catholics.
Father Borzaga, criticizing
contemporary theologians who “water
down” Catholic teaching, said he
welcomed the recent Vatican document
on sexuality as a subject for study.
“Clear guidelines are much needed
today,” he said.
BY JOHN T. MUTHIG
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Vatican
has released major World War II
documentation revealing the Holy See’s
efforts on many fronts to help war
victims, including Europe’s Jews.
The nearly 700-page volume - the
ninth in series entitled “Records and
Documents of the Holy See Relating to
the Second World War” -- chronicles
Vatican diplomatic moves to help the
suffering against resistance encountered
from the Axis and from the Allies as
well.
Of special interest in the volume,
released Jan. 23, are:
- Notes by the papal secretary of
state on his strong verbal protests to the
German ambassador over a large scale
arrest of Jews in Rome;
- Testimonies from Vatican officials
and other sources that too many
diplomatic protests to the Germans on
behalf of the persecuted would
probably have caused more
persecutions;
- The misgivings of Archbishop
Angelo Roncalli (later Pope John
XXIII) over growing Zionism.
The volume, reprinting documents
from 1943, contains important notes
made by the papal secretary of state,
Cardinal Luigi Maglione, following his
Oct. 16 meeting with German
ambassador to the Vatican Ernst von
Weizsaecker.
The cardinal, having heard that 1,300
Jews had been rounded up in Rome by
the Germans who were occupying the
city, strongly protested the action to
the ambassador. The cardinal appealed
to him “in the name of humanity and
Christian charity” to “save so very
many innocent people.”
“It is sad for the Holy Father, sad
beyond words, that even here in Rome
under the eyes of our common father so
many people are being made to suffer
solely because they belong to a certain
stock,” the cardinal said.
The notes reveal that the ambassador
warned the cardinal of the consequences
such a Vatican protest could have, since
the orders for the arrests came “from
the highest level.”
The cardinal recalling that his protest
was made in the name of humanity and
was not aimed against Germany as such,
added in his notes:
“But I had to tell him that the Holy
See must not be placed in the position
of having to protest. For if the Holy See
were obliged to protest, it would entrust
the consequences to Divine
Providence.”
The cardinal’s action was clearly
directed to Pope Pius XII, as Jesuit
Father Burkhardt Schneider, an editor
of the volume, pointed out in
L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican
daily, Jan. 23.
Father Schneider said that the
Vatican first heard the news of the
arrests when it was brought to Pius XII’s
attention by Princess Enza Pignatelli
Aragona Cortes.
According to Father Schneider, most
of the 1,300 Jews arrested were
deported. But the German ambassador,
as he had promised Cardinal Maglione,
had further deportations cancelled.
But, Father Schneider pointed out in
L’Osservatore Romano, the ambassador
never told Berlin of the Vatican’s
intervention, thus leaving the impression
that the Vatican had stood by passively.
This impression, Father Schneider
continued, was picked up by certain
contemporary historians who blamed
Pius XII for inactivity in defense of the
Jews.
Other documents in the thick volume
brought news to the papal secretariat of
state that continued diplomatic efforts
on behalf of war victims might actually
cause the Germans to step up their
many persecutions.
That was the view expressed by the
papal nuncio to France, by some Red
Cross officials cited in various
communiques and by the nuncio in
Berlin, Archbishop Gesare Orsenigo. The
Berlin envoy reported that in early 1943
the Nazi foreign office told him that his
zeal for the plight of Poles was “too
strong.”
Many efforts on behalf of Jews by
papal nuncio are noted in the volume.
According to another editor, Jesuit
Father Angelo Martini, 40 percent of
the documents included refer to the
situation of the Jews or to Vatican
efforts to help them.
Archbishop Roncalli, then apostolic
delegate to Turkey, was praised in 1943
for his “fatherly kindness” to Jews by a
Jewish aid organizer.
But the future Pope wrote his
superior, Cardinal Maglione, on Sept. 4
about “some uncertainty of spirit”
which he felt concerning Holy See aid
for Jewish emigrees en route from
Italian territory to Palestine.
The archbishop, noting that the Jews
were going to the Middle East with the
idea of “nearly restoring the Hebrew
kingdom,” commented:
“What their conationals and political
friends are doing is understandable. But
it does not seem to me to be in good
taste for the Holy See, through a simple
and lofty work of charity, to give the
impression or offer the occasion for
people to interpret that such an act is a
sort of cooperation, although only
REFUGEE SAYS
LOS ANGELES (NC) - The war is
over in Vietnam but the fighting lingers
on, said a refugee who left Vietnam two
months ago.
“There is still resistance 50
kilometers from Saigon,” said the
refugee, Jose Agustin, in an interview
with The Tidings, Los Angeles
archdiocesan newspaper. He described
the fighting as “sporadic action” and
added that he didn’t know where those
resisting the communist regime were
obtaining their weapons.
The “peace” that has come since the
communist take-over last spring has not
improved living conditions in Vietnam,
Agustin said. “The cost of living has
skyrocketed, and there is a high rate of
malaria because of a lack of drugs,” he
said.
Seminaries remain open, but the
communist authorities “suggest” other
ways of life for would-be candidates, he
continued. Catholic schools remain
open, but praying is forbidden in them
and communist indoctrination is
mandatory, Agustin said.
La Salle boarding school, once
operated by the Christian ^Brothers, is
now under communist control as are the
public schools, he said. Communist
propaganda is compulsory and
youngsters must spend one day a week
cleaning the streets, cutting grass and
doing other chores, he added.
Jobs are scarce especially for those
who were connected with the
overthrown anti-communist regime.
Those who were military officers under
the former government must register for
indoctrination. They are forced to plant
rice in the jungles by day and attend
political indoctrination courses at night,
he added.
Agustin’s wife, Thi Hoa, and their
two 'children left Vietnam earlier last
year. Agustin, 38, remained behind with
his 76-year-old mother.
When it became apparent that he
could do little for her, he decided to
OF CHRISTIANS
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul
VI has called for the unity of Christian
churches and unity with groups working
for peace and humanitarian goals.
In his Angelus talk on Jan. 25, the
last day of Christian Unity Week, the
Pope first called for interior unity of the
Church which, he said, was the sign by
which “everyone will recognize that we
are true followers of Jesus.”
“We Catholics, who are fortunate to
possess that unity willed by Christ for
his followers, must seek and work for
unity within the Church, for that
harmony which based on love, on
mutual service, and on solidarity
without reservations which defines us as
true disciples of the divine master.”
The Pope then spoke of “ecumenical
unity” among churches.
He said unity was necessity with
those Christians “who through baptism
and faith in Christ’s word have
established a basic identification with
Christ, but who - many of them - are
separated from communion in the single
and organic mystical, historical and
visible body which is the Church.”
The Church “owes reverence and aid”
to the ecumenical efforts now in
process, the Pope added. “We are happy
to see in these efforts a tension full of
promise. We hope that these efforts will
never be to the detriment of the
intrinsic requirements of truth and
fidelity to the original gospel ideal of
Christ and of constant and authoritative
tradition.”
initial and indirect, in the realization of
the messianic dream.”
He continued: “Perhaps all of this is a
personal scruple of mine and it is
enough to have confessed it to be rid of
it.
“Yet it is very certain that the
reconstruction of the kingdom of Israel
and Judah is only a utopian dream.”
The volume, selling for 18,000 lire
(about $25), also records the efforts of
American Msgr. Walter Carroll, papal
secretariat of state official, to set up a
Vatican information office for Italian
and German prisoners of war in North
Africa. He was successful. But only after
a great deal of Allied opposition.
leave, he said. Leaving was possible
because his father was Filipino and had
given Agustin Philippine citizenship.
Last October, Agustin managed to
smuggle a letter to his wife in Los
Angeles through Singapore. He told her
he had enough money to go to
Singapore. She turned to the pastor of
her parish, Msgr. John P. Languille, for
help.
Msgr. Languille, who is pastor of Our
Lady of Loretto parish and also director
of the Los Angeles archdiocesan
Catholic Welfare Bureau, first met Mrs.
Agustin when she came to Los Angeles
last July from the refugee center in Fort
Chafee, Ark.
“When she came one Sunday after
her arrival to register her little girl in the
parish school, I asked her where her
husband was, and she began (o cry,”
Msgr. Languille recalled. “He was still in
Vietnam, and she thought she would
never see him again.”
Word was sent back to Agustin to go,
not to Singapore, but to Bangkok,
Thailand, where it would be easier to
obtain an entry-uiaa^Qn pey. 5, Agqstin
left Vietnam.
“We owe a great debt of gratitude to
Congressman Edward R. Roybal,” Msgr.
Languille said. Roybal, a Democrat
whose district includes part of Los
Angeles, called the commissioner of the
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service, Msgr. Languille said. The call
“resulted in priority status being given
to Mr. Agustin in reuniting him quickly
with his wife and children,” he added.
Agustin, who speaks six languages,
had worked for eight years as a motion
picture technician for PANE, a U.S.
architectural and engineering firm in
Vietnam. Because of his linguistic
abilities and the pressure from
Washington to expedite his entry into
the United States, some U.S. embassy
staffers in Bangkok began to suspect
that he was a CPA agent, he said.
The Pope also called for unity “with
other religious and civil expressions for
mutual edification and for humanitarian
and social aims of our world -- especially
for peace.”
EUGENE J. SCHULTE will
head the Catholic Hospital
Association Washington office
scheduled to open next fall.
Schulte has served as director of
legal services for CHA since 1973
at the association’s headquarters
in St. Louis. In Washington he will
work with legislative, executive,
and judicial areas of the federal
government. (NC Photo)
Charities Head Gives Food Stamp Views
WASHINGTON (NC) - Dropping the
purchase requirement for Food Stamps
can completely eliminate financial
abuses committed by some stamp
“vendors,” according to Msgr. Lawrence
Corcoran, executive director of the
National Conference of Catholic
Charities.
Recent government investigations
have found that 170 of the 6,700
vendors who sell Food Stamps to
recipients are abusing the funds received
from the recipients.
More than $6.5 million has been
embezzled or stolen. Some vendors used
more than $10 million to earn interest
for themselves instead of sending the
money promptly to the U.S. Treasury.
Penance Rite May Be ‘Most Difficult’
BY JO-ANN PRICE
NEW YORK (NC) - The revised rite
of Penance “may be the most difficult
change we have experienced in the
Church to date,” a workshop of
Manhattan College alumni and their
wives was told here, in a discussion of
“the church and modern problems.”
John Wilcox, instructor in religious
studies at the college, made the
assertion while reviewing theological
thinking about sin, divorce and birth
control in the decade since Vatican II.
The workshop, sponsored by the
Manhattan College Alumni Society, was
organized at the request of Joseph
Pasquarelli, a construction engineer and
member of the class of 1949. Last
September he wrote to the college that
many Catholics appeared to be unable
to articulate their faith in the face of
overwhelming materialism “that has
swept the nation.”
Others on the program were Brother
Albert Clark, chairman of the
Manha^an College department of
religio studies; Father Reynold
Borzaga, associate professor of religious
Vietnam Fighting Continues
Pope Calls For Unity