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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- Redd The Classified .To Buy .To Rent .To Offer or Seek Services Phone Today 237-7296 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: TAX RETURNS TURNER AUDITING SERVICE 2355 MATHEWS ST, N.E. ATLANTA 19, GA. BROOKHAVEN CE 3-3584 By Appointment Only Nighti and Weekends tjlatfisl) Kfnj FAMOUS ALL-PURPOSE DRESSING DELICIOUS ON Salads-Meats-Seafood 'SOLO AT LEADING STORES' "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 $2,000 five-room house for its poorest family. Mary, Help of Christians, pa rish in this city’s center, whose parishioners range from very poor to well-to-do, built the house on the land given by the city government. The building project is directed by Father Juan Berta, S.D.B. For Your 1963 Traifel Plans r PILGRIMAGES To Every Shrine In The World! The Shrine of your favorite devotion la included somewhere, *5 AIR FRANQE’s 1963 Pilgrimage IJoo&lpt L$t us prove that you can realize this travel dream eeonbmilally and swiftly on AIR FRANCE JET ' ** ^ AIR FRANCE AIR FRANCS 1120 Conn. Ave. Wash 6, D.C. Please send your free, illuatrated 1963 Pil grimage Booklet at once. Name Address 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. We Need Our / Advertisers Our Advertisers Need You II Tell them you saw it in the Georgia Bulletin