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PAGE 6 GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1963
PROTESTANT GROUP
Church Merger Dispute
Appealed To High Courl
WASHINGTON (NC)—A com
plex and long-standing dispute
among several Protestant
church groups over the "con
trol, functions, benefits and
funds of several national chur
ch agencies has been appeal
ed to the U. S. Supreme Court.
Key factor in the case is the
merger carried out in the re
cent years between certain con
gregational church bodies and
the Evangelical and Reform
Church to form the new United
Church of Christ. A constitu
tion for the new body was ac
cepted at a meeting in Phila
delphia in July, 1961.
THE APPELLANTS are four
Congregational churches and a
number of individual church
members who have refused to go
along with the merger. They
are seeking a declaratory judg
ment to settle who will control
a number of national Congrega
tional agencies and their funds,
estimated at more than $100
million.
In their appeal to the high
court, they note that other suits
involving issues arising from
this same church merger are
pending in several states.
THE PETITION declares that
the merger has resulted in "a
widespread 'schism* among the
Congregational Christian chur
ches, many of which have vigo
rously opposed the 'union.* ”,
It cites figures as of October
18 to the effect that at least
1,365 Congregational Christian
churches have failed to join the
United Christ of Christ.
A crucial point in the case,
according to the petition, is the
organizational setup of the Con
gregational churches.
INDIVIDUAL Congregational
churches, it says, are autono
mous and no single agency has
the authority to speak for all of
them or to dispose of the con
trol and funds of their coopera
tively maintained national agen
cies in such fields as missions,
pensions, publishing, education
and church building.
The petition is highly critical
of the role played by the Con
gregational general council in
working for the merger. It de-
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nies that the council has autho
rity to act for or to bind thi
churches, individually or col
lectively, in a matter of churcl
union or otherwise.**
THE PETITION declare*
**One substantive issue. . .It
whether the national boards anc
agencies of the Congregation*;
Christian churches by their owr
actions can transfer their con
trol, functions, benefits anc
funds to a new or different de
nomination, free from any ob
ligation or responsibility to
those churches, ministers and
members who choose to con
tinue .as Congregational Chris
tian churches.
'The determination of this
issue affects not only the Con
gregational Christian churches,
but all denominations governed
By, congregatidnal polity, such
as Baptists (91,931 churches,
21,374,126 members), Unitar
ian Universalists (665 chur
ches, 151,557 members), and
Disciples of Christ (8,001 chur
ches, 1,801,821 members). **
A CASE Involving similar is
sues in the dispute over the
Congregational - Evangelical
merger was before New York
state courts in the early 1950*s.
The state appellate courts re
fused the relief sought by the
dissident Congregationalists on
the grounds of "lack of juris
diction,” according to the peti
tion.
The new case, now before the
Supreme Court, has been car
ried on in Federal courts. The
U. S. Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit ruled last Au
gust 1 against the dissident Con
gregationalists. The appeals
court said the issues had been
settled in the earlier case be
fore the New York state courts.
COMMENTING on this, the
petition says:
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"This case is difficult and
unusual. The legal and factual
issues are complicated.
"But the parties, under con
stitutional due process, are en
titled to at least one declara
tion and determination of their
civil and property rights; and
not be shuttled out of a state
court, for a claimed lack of
jurisdiction due to absence of
necessary parties, and then,
out of the Federal court, on
the ground that the state court
‘determined’ all of the issues.”
Parish Homes
Poorest Family
LA PAX, Bolivia (NC)—A pa
rish here, which plans to build
100 homes for its needy fami
lies, has completed a $2,000
five-room house for its poorest
family.
Mary, Help of Christians, pa
rish in this city’s center, whose
parishioners range from very
poor to well-to-do, built the
house on the land given by the
city government. The building
project is directed by Father
Juan Berta, S.D.B.
For Your 1963 Traifel Plans
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THI WORLD'S URGENT JgtMNfj
I
j City. Zone/State
UNDER THE approving eye of Sister Dolores of Holy Trinity school In Dallas, Texas, Joan O’
Connor and Phillip Civello put the finishing touches to a bulletin board proclaiming the forth
coming beautification of Mother Seton, foundress of the American Sisters of Charity. The com
munities in the U. S. which claim Mother Seton as their foundress have a total of 9,900 members.
IN KATANGA
Archbishop Confirms UN
Looted Churches
rrt
1roops
BRUSSELS — A prelate from
the Congo has confirmed re
ports that United Nations Ethio
pian troops looted and damaged
a number of Catholic churches
in his See.
Arcnbishop Joseph Cornells,
O.S.B., of Elisabethvllle, capi
tal of the Congo's secessionist
province of Katanga, made the
confirmation.
THE ETHIOPIAN soldiers
were serving with forces which
took over Elisabethvllle In the
BETTER COVERAGE
WINDSOR, Ont. (NC) —An
easing of restrictions on the
press during the second ses
sion of the Second Council which
convenes on September 8 was
advocated here by Auxiliary
Bishop G. Emmett Carter of
London, Ont.
"Many of us were not satis
fied with the council news ser
vice,” Bishop Carter said. ”We
felt the secrecy observed at
previous councils was no longer
necessary and that newspaper
men should be allowed in the
sessions.”
THE BISHOP said changes
resulting from the council will
be mainly "in the areas of at
titudes and ideas," but their ef
fect "may not be felt for many,
many years." He speculated:
"Most of the changes will be
permissive. Bishops may be
given permission, for instance,
to use more English in the
Mass. But whether they do so
or not is up to them. They are
not being told what to do.”
During an interview here Bis-
UN drive to force Katanga to
recognize the authority of the
Congo’s central government in
Leopoldville.
(In Elisabethville, Father Ed
ouard Killesheye, Vicar Gene
ral of the Elisabethvllle arch
diocese, protested against "the
flagrant breach by United Na
tions troops of international
conventions sacred to all civi
lized nations.”
( "Sacreligious profanities”
were committed” against the
hop Carter said the strongest
advocates for changes in atti
tude were bishops from France,
Germany, Holland and Belgium.
He added: "We North Ameri
can bishops were surprised at
how outspoken they were."
BISHOP Carter said occas
ionally there were sharp dif
ferences of opinions on mat
ters of methods and attitudes
expressed during the sessions.
He detailed: "Many bishops feel
that often our doctrine is stated
too harshly. Those of other
faiths are repelled. Opinion
was expressed at the council
that emphasis should be shifted
from the statement of the dog
ma to the actual words of Christ,
as recorded in the Gospels."
Bishop Carter said former
councils were concerned lar
gely with condemnations and
definitions, but the Secont Va
tican Counc il has been consid
erably different. He said the
stringent regulations governing
the press Is one of the hold
over customs from previous
councils and should be changed.
Holy Eucharist,” the priest de
clared In his protest to UN rep
resentative Elias Mathu.)
ARCHBISHOP Cornells said
in an interview here:
"According to reports I per
sonally received, the Ethiopians
completely looted St. Benedict’s
church and broke into the taber
nacle of another church in the
Kasapa suburb of Elisabeth-
ville.
"St. Boniface’s church was
hit by two mortar salvos. Sis
ters took shelter in the cellar
all night while their convent
was being severly bombed.
"The reports also confirm
the cruelty of the killing of Ka-
tangese civilians. A girl was
violated and bayonneted in the
stomach. Two others violated
and killed.
"SEVENTY corpses were
brought to Prince Leopold hos
pital.
"All this was done by the
Ethiopians.
"When one of my mission
aries complained, an Ethio
pian officer replied literally:
"My soldiers are children,
there you are.’
"Katangese boys aged over 17
who were returning from a
Church school on January 1
were held up by Tunisian troops
and forced to fill their pockets
with cartridges. Then they were
accused of carrying ammuni
tion and threatened with death
until some officers intervened.
"These are only a few sam
ples.
"I feel helpess and sad at
hearing that my people are be
ing maltreated and that any in
tervention is Interpreted as po
litical interference.”
Archbishop Cornells spoke
before his scheduled return tc
the Congo.
Bishop Wants Press
At Council Sessions
NON-CATHOLICS
Council
BALTIMORE (NC)—The non-
Catholic delegate-observers at
the ecumenical council were
"genuinely and sincerely hap
py” with their treatment, a pro
minent ecumenist who trans
lated for them said here.
Father Gustave Weigel, S.J.,
a professor at Woodstock (Md.)
College, a Jesuit seminary, al
so said that the observer’s
presence and the actions of the
assembled bishops’"have made
It clear that ecumenical action
is something essentially Ca
tholic.”
IN AN interview. Father Wei
gel added: "The Catholic
Church, formally and fully, ac
cepted the ecumenical drive as
something proper to Catholics.
Within Catholicism, therefore,
ecumenicism is no longer un
der any kind of question.”
Pleased
Father Weigel, who spent the
first session of the Second Va
tican Council translating the
Latin proceedings for some of
the Protestant and Russian Or-
thodix observers, said the ob
servers "saw the council Inti
mately and from the inside.”
"They were kept from noth
ing,” he said. Observers were
given books which were the ba
sis of council discussions. They
heard every word spoken,
translated into their own lan
guage.
FATHER Weigel also ex
plained that the observers who
had a point to make could do
this through the Holy See’s
Secretariat for Promoting
Christian Unity.
The secretariat held a meet
ing with observers weekly and
Clerics
was able to introduce their ob
servations into discussion at
council sessions.
The Jesuit was confident that
the brotherly reception given
the observers has achieved a
greater friendliness between
Catholicism and their churches.
SURMISING on what the ob
servers will write in their re
ports to their own church bod
ies, Father Weigel said:
"I imagine that they will
point out there are still many
questions we have to discuss,
that progress on the Catholic
side must still go on.
“This will certainly be part
of their reports. But the very’
fact that they will say In the
beginning, ‘We were treated
ecumenically’—this is going to
do 3 great deal of good right
NO USA FOR OTHERS
Israel Officials
Request Jewish
Immigrant Only
JERUSALEM, Israel (NC)—
Israel’s Interior Minister has
asked the Foreign Office to in
struct all Israeli diplomatic
and consular missions not to
give "immigrant” cards to per
sons who cannot prove they are
Jews.
The request by Interior Min
ister Halm Moshe Shapiro fol
lowed hard after the ruling by
the Israeli High Court that a
Jewlsh-born Carmelite friar is
not entitled to Israeli citizen
ship simply because of his Jew
ish heritage.
THE SHAPIRO request made
no mention of the case of the
Carmelite priest. It referred
to the fact that the "Law of
Return” allows any Jew to im
migrate to Israel and receive
automatic citizenship. It noted,
however, that many such im
migrants turn out to be non-
Jews, and so reveal themsel
ves on such occasions as mar
riage and divorce.
Shapiro made it clear that
diplomatic and consular offi
cials should refuse immigrant
visas under the Law of Return
to persons who have been con
verted from Judaism to ano
ther religion.
IN THE High Court decision,
the judges ruled four to one
against Father Daniel Rufei-
sen's suit to make the govern
ment of Israel recognize him
as a Jew and grant him an im
migrant card under the Law of
Return.
Father Daniel, now 40, be
came a Catholic while being
sheltered from Poland’s nazi
conquerers during World War
’.I by Carmelite nuns.
The High Court's decision
marked the first time Israel
has tried to give a legal defi
nition of a Jew. The Israeli
Knesset (Parliament) has ne
ver officially decided whether a
person becomes Jewish by
birth, religious observance or
belief. Israel’s immigration au
thorities have previously held
the view that anyone is a Jew
who professes to be one and does
not hold other than Jewish reli
gious beliefs.
BEFORE the decision, Father
Daniel had stated: "My ethnic
origin is and always will be
Jewish. I have no other nation
ality”. Israeli authorities told
him that he could become a
naturalized citizen but that the
government would not recog
nize him as a Jew.
The High Court's ruling up
held that position and means
that a Jew cannot be convert
ed to Christianity and then come
to Israel and claim automatic
citizenship under the Law of
Return.
The court expressed sympa
thy for Father Daniel and gra
titude for his work in saving
Jews from nazis in occupied
Poland.
BUT JUSTICE Moshe Sil-
berg said In the majority opin
ion that the court's gratitude
did not give grounds "to de
secrate the name and the con
tent of the concept of Jew.”
Father Daniel was born Os
wald Rufeisen in 1922 in the
village of Zywies in southern
Poland. He was taken into the
German army as an interpre
ter by officials Ignorant of his
Jewish birth, but had to flee
for his life when it was learn
ed that he had arranged the es
cape of 300 Jews scheduled to
be killed.
The Carmelite nuns then
sheltered him for 16 months.
He joined a partisan group in
Belorussia and when the Ger
mans fled that region in 1944
he entered a monastery. He ,
was ordained in 1952.
Institute Head
ST. LOUIS (NC) — Father
Theodore V. Purcell, S.J., has
been named acting director of
the Institute of Social Order at
St. Louis University.
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