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» I The Southern Cross /ol. 57 No. 45 WAY OF LIGHTS - Twelve new electro-art scupltures of children , 4*rrouTiding a glittering fountain of lights accentuates this year’s Way of Lights at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows of Belleville, Ill. With a theme of “Peace for the Children,” the display will continue until Jan. 9. (NC Photo) HEADLINE HOPSCOTCH Value Of Life Conference DALLAS (NC) - More than 500 people representing 94 communities throughout Texas focused on bioethical concerns at the three-day Value of Life Conference at the Dallas Hilton Hotel. The ecumenical conference, three years in planning, was designed an open forum to raise public awareness and understanding of bioethical issues. A relatively new term, “bioethics” has been defined as “the moral, ethical, and legal implications of contemporary life sciences technology.” Ecuador Expells Priest QUITO, Ecuador (NC) - The military government here said it has expelled Spanish Father Juan Casanas Curi “for mingling in national politics. The rest of the 28 persons detained at the end of November, including two former Religious, remain in jail here. At the time of their arrest, Interior Minister Bolivar Jarrin said the group was planning to stage a coup and establish a “totalitarian” regime. NATURAL IMPRESSION ~ The sun beating on a cross in a cemetery in Le Mars, Iowa, loosens snow that had stuck to the cross during a storm. (NC Photo by Calvin Stickel) DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH NEWSPAPER Thursday, December 16,1976 Single Copy Price — 15 Cents Church Law Revision Continues VATICAN CITY (NC) - A giant step toward finishing the vast revision of the Church’s Code of Canon Law has just been completed here by international specialists. According to officials of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, study groups charged with rewriting the present 2,414 canons (laws) of the 60-year-old code have completed their work. The drafts submitted by the study groups, made up of about 100 clergy and lay experts from various fields, are now being sent to the world’s bishops, to offices of the Roman Curia (the Church’s central administration) and to Catholic universities for evaluation and criticism. The consultation with these groups is expected to take a year, according to Msgr. Mariano De Nicolo, an official of the papal commission. The revised draft on Church trials and “processes” has already been sent for criticism to the bishops, Curia and universities, and the other sections of the drafts will be in the mail soon, Msgr. De Nicolo added. The suggestions resulting from the consultation will then be analyzed by the commission. “The time it takes for the commission to complete the analysis will simply depend upon whether we get back 1,000 or 10,000 responses,” said the monsignor. The present Code of Canon Laws, which became the general law of the Church in 1917, lists rights, duties and obligations of various groups in the Church from the Pope and bishops, to priests, Religious and associations of lay people. It regulates celebration of the sacraments, and includes lengthy sections on marriage legislation - much of which has already been updated by special papal decree. The current code also regulates penalties for various offenses, process for ecclesiastical trials, and a host of other disciplinary matters. Pope John XXIII announced in 1959 that he would begin revision of the World-War-1 era code. The papal commission has been working since 1963 on the current revision. The 1917 revision had taken 13 years to complete. Eastern Catholic Churches have a code of law distinct from that used in the Western or Latin church. In 1972 Pope Paul VI established a separate pontifical commission to revise the Eastern Code. Forty-four cardinals from all over the world are the members of the Latin-rite law commission. Their task is to review the work of the 100 experts and the suggestions of the world’s bishops, the Curia and Catholic universities. NCCB PRESIDENT AND DELEGATE General WASHINGTON - The President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) has emphasized that “individual private confession and absolution represent the ordinary way of celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation” in the Catholic Church. “It is not the intention that general confession and absolution be the common form for this sacrament, but rather that they be reserved for exceptional cases involving real necessity,” said Archbishop Joseph L. Bemardin of Cincinnati. Archbishop Bernardin made his comments in a statement issued in light of a December 5 reconciliation rite in Memphis, Tenn., during which general absolution was administered to a crowd of some 11,000 persons. The ceremony was authorized by Bishop Carroll T. Dozier of Memphis. Archbishop Bemardin noted that Church law permits general confession and absolution under certain conditions and it is up to the local bishop to decide whether circumstances in his diocese meet the conditions. “Thus,” he said, “the decision in the case of the Memphis ceremony was Bishop Dozier’s responsibility. It was not a decision about which he either consulted the Conference of Bishops «s a whole or was obliged to do so.” Archbishop Bernardin also noted that for divorced and remarried Catholics to participate in a rite of general confession and absolution “by itself does not regularize their marital status in the eyes of the Church.” “Where such regularization is or may be possible, it must come through the Church’s established procedures for marriage cases,” he said. In another statement, Archbishop Jean Jadot, Apostolic Delegate in the United States, said that, contrary to the impression given in some news reports, he had not given his approval to the use of general confession and absolution as part of the Memphis ceremony. “In fact I made no judgment on the matter. It would have been beyond my competence to do so,” Archbishop Jadot said. Following is the text of Archbishop Bernardin’s statement: The Conference of Bishops is receiving many inquiries concerning the reconciliation rite which took place on December 5 in the Diocese of Memphis, particularly the administration of general absolution. Thus a restatement of the Church’s norms on this matter seems in order. The basic legislation on the subject is contained in an instruction entitled Pastoral Norms Concerning the Administration of General Sacramental Absolution (SACRAMENTUM PAENITENTIAE) dated June 16,1972, and issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. When the Holy See promulgated the new Rite of Penance in 1973, all the norms of the 1972 instruction were incorporated in the section on general absolution. Advisory guidelines prepared and issued over a year ago by the Committee for Pastoral Research and Practices of the Absolution Draws Response Bishops’ Conference repeat these norms. Finally, the norms have been restated most recently in a letter dated October 29, 1976, and sent to me as President of the Conference of Bishops by James Memphis Details See Page 3 Cardinal Knox, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship. The three conditions for general confession and absolution are these: 1. that the small number of confessors available in relation to the number of penitents makes individual confession and absolution impossible within a reasonable period of time; Ordinary after he has conferred with other members of the episcopal conference. “Thus the decision in the case of the Memphis ceremony was Bishop Dozier’s responsibility. It was not a decision about which he either consulted the Conference of Bishops as a whole or was obliged to do so. With respect to divorced and remarried Catholics or those involved in other irregular marital unions, it should be noted that participation in a rite of general confession and absolution by itself does not regularize their marital status in the eyes of the Church. Where such regularization is or may be possible, it must come through the Church’s established procedures for marriage cases. Where it has been determined that regularization is not possible, the spiritual well being of such persons is a pastoral responsibility of local Church authorities and is to be sought on a personal basis in accord with the Church’s doctrine and discipline. Following is the text of Archbishop Jadot’s statement: Some news reports concerning the Memphis reconciliation rite have given the impression that, in correspondence with Bishop Dozier, I approved the use of general confession and absolution on this occasion. In fact I made no judgment on the matter. It would have been beyond my competence to do so. Instead, I simply expressed to Bishop Dozier, as any bishop or pastor would do, my support for efforts, responsive to Pope Paul’s exhortation on evangelization and in accord with the Church’s teaching and discipline, which seek to reconcile alienated Catholics with the Church. In doing so I did not address the question of general confession and absolution. PAPAL MEDALIST Desmond V. O’Driscoll Dies 2. that, as a result, the penitents would otherwise, through no fault of their own, be deprived of the grace of the sacrament or prevented from receiving Holy Communion; and 3. that this would be the case for a considerable time. All three conditions must be present simultaneously for an Ordinary to authorize general confession and absolution. Individual private confession and absolution represent the ordinary way of celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is not the intention that general confession and absolution be the common form for this sacrament, but rather that they be reserved for exceptional cases involving real necessity. At the same time, the 1972 instruction specifies that “the judgment as to whether the conditions ... are present and, consequently, the decision as to when it is lawful to grant general sacramental absolution are reserved to the local Desmond Vincent O’Driscoll of Savannah died Friday, December 10. A member of the James B. Copps Memorial Choir at Savannah’s Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, O’Driscoll was honored by the Church in 1961, receiving the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” medal from Pope John XXIII. A native of Savannah, he was a 1919 graduate of Benedictine Military School and a member of Savannah K.C. Council 631. He was employed by Cashman Construction Co. and had retired after 50 years employment with the Central of Georgia Railroad. Mass was offered Dec. 13 at Blessed Sacrament Church. Burial was in the Catholic Cemetery. Survivors are his wife, Mrs. Catherine M. O’Driscoll of Savannah and two daughters, Miss Mary Lucile O’Driscoll and Miss Michaela Ann O’Driscoll, both of Savannah. Christmas Collection For St. Mary’s Dependent children of the Savannah Diocese are beneficiaries of the annual Christmas Collection. We ask our readers to bear this collection in mind and to give their first gift to The Christ Child for the children of St. Mary’s Home. THE CHARLESTON BOYS CHOIR, under the direction of Dr. Magin, presented a musical-liturgical drama Saturday evening Dec. 11th, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and offered several musical selections, gleaned from medieval and modern music, during the 5:30 Mass. They were a delight to all who attended the evening Mass. A group of the parish Council of Catholic Women served dinner to the choir boys before they returned to Charleston. Those serving included Katherine Sheppard, Nell Runyon, Dorothy Cope, Eleanor Salter, Rita Wright, and Margaret Murphy.