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PRAYERS FOR WORD CONFERENCE ON FAITH AND ORDER
Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter
On Christian Unity
My dear brothers in Christ:
Today is the first day of the new pontificate
of Pope Paul VI. We are united in spirit with
that vast assembly of some 300,000 who are
watching the new pontiff accept the crown and the
cross that will be his to bear until the day he
dies. As we kneel to share his blessing, are we
prepared to share his burden? It is of this bur
den that I write you today, a day heavy with his
torical meaning as important in our century as
the days that marked the beginning and end of
the reign of our beloved Pope John, and the mo
mentous days of the Second Vatican Council. Our
task as Catholics is clear and urgent. It demands
of us a re-examination of our role, and it calls
for the high courage of men and women who are
strong enough to take risks.
Pope John said when he convened the Council:
•*The Church today is witnessing a society in
crisis. While mankind is at the threshold of a
new era, grave and Immense tasks await the
Church.(l)'In his first address to the Cardinals
June 22, Pope Paul enumerated these tasks -
"peace among the nations - as a reflection of
God's order"; improvement of living standards
everywhere; and the fulfillment of that goal for
which Pope John offered his life - ut omnes
unum slnt, "that all may be one M'(2),That we
in the Archdiocese of Atlanta may be fully pre
pared to work with our new Pontiff, I address
this pastoral letter on Christian Unity to our
priests, religious, and especially to our laity.
We will examine the source of unity, its respon
sibilities, and its goal.
ON THE night before He died, Our Lord de
voted His last long discourse to this theme. From
the depths of His soul came a tender plea for
the unity of those who love God. To all Christians,
He said:
"I am the Vine, you are the branches. He*
who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much
fruit, for without Me, you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in Me, he shall be
cast outside as the branch, and wither."
Then He prayed to His Father, first for His
own: "Keep in Thy name those whom Thou has
given Me, that they may be one, even as we
are." Finally, for all those who some day would
believe in Him, He prayed: "That all maybe one,
even as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee; that
they also may be one in us, that the world may
believe that Thou hast sent Me."(3)
THESE words are strong yet tender; words
that are unyielding in their substance, yet plead-
Unity Prayer
"O Holy Spirit, giver of life and light, help
those who take part in this Conference to serve
Thee both in the church and in the world of our
time. Grant that they may think honestly and speak
wisely, and make them ready also to listen to
others. And upon them and all Thy people bes
tow Thine own gift of charity, which is the bond
of unity and peace: that so men may know us
as followers of Christ, because we have love one
to another, and that with one heart and one voice
we may glorify the Eternal Trinity, God blessed
for evermore."
ing in their expression. There must always exist
in the Church that unity which He placed there,
a unity of doctrine, of moral principles, of sac
raments, and of government. This unity cannot be
compromised because it is the core of the divine'
guarantee, the rock upon which die Church is built.
In all the talk of change in the Church today,
there can be no change in the essentials. It is
rather in the expression of them, their applica
tion, the separation of them from their acciden
tal setting - here is where change is called for.
And beyond this unity of essentials, there is still
another unity to be achieved - the unity of all
persons. This is our concern; it is the concern
too of all separated Christians, both Protestant
and Orthodox.
Never has this longing for Christian unity been
more intense. The high and prayerful hopes with
which the Second Vatican Council was opened are
even higher now as our Pope Paul VI pledges
to continue it with all the energies the Lord has
given him. And we join with Protestants in the
prayer that their own World Conference on Faith
and Order, to be held in Montreal this coming
month, will be blessed with every grace. We are
all growing more conscious that the Holy Spirit
of God, brooding over our troubled world and our
divided Christendom, is stirring now the souls
of men in many places, providing the light and
strength without which reunion would remain an
empty dream. What is our specific task as Ca
tholics in these historic times?
SURELY it is no simple task. Humanity- has
crossed the threshold of space, yet only last
October we stood close to the possibility of total
nuclear destruction. By speedy transport and by
instant communication, we are close to every
inhabitant on earth, but never has there been such
gross misunderstanding of each other’s motives.
In this summer of 1963, American communities
seem on the surface, models of harmony and good
will. But the poisons of discord and hate, poverty
and frustration are daily more evident, - simply
because too many refuse to give their brethren
and their fellow citizens the basic human rights
to which they are entitled. The image of the
Christian society, which should be the radiant re
flection of Christ Himself, has not been achieved.
"Love for our neighbor" our new Pope has de
clared, "is the acid test of our love for God.'(4)
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
PRAY FOR
CHRISTIAN
UNITY
SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
VOL. 1 NO. 26
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1963
$5.00 PER YEAR
REV. MR. JAMES F. SCHARER
REV. MR. EDWARD A. DANNAHER
ON ACTIVE DUTY
Deacons
Summer
A recent caller to the Cat
hedral of Christ the King Rec
tory wanted to know if it were
true that there are three priests
in the Archdiocese who are not
allowed to say Mass, or to hear
confessions. It was explained
that the gentlemen in question,
The Rev. Mr. Morris, the Rev.
Mr. Danneher and the Rev. Mr.
Scharer, could not, indeed, say
Mass, hear confessions orper-
form other purely priestly fun
ctions because they are not
priests, but ordained Deacons,
an ancient church office
that goes back as far as the
Old Testament.
assistance to their parishes,
but provides them with pract-.
leal experience which will be
valuable to them later on when
they are assigned to their first
parishes as priests.
A typical day in the offi
cial life of a deacon begins
with meditation and hearing
Mass. After this their tasks
vary, but follow a general pat
tern, including visiting the sick,
instructing religion classes and
working on parish records, par
ticularly of baptisms and mar
riages. Sometime during the
day they must recite the Office.
REV. MR. MICHAEL A. MORRIS
... distributing Holy Communion. ... wearing deacon's stole.
POPE’S PLEDGE
Work Of Unity Will Continue
VATICAN CITY, (NC)—His
Holiness Pope Paul VI pro
mised in his coronation speech
to strive to hasten Christian
unity and to carry on a dia
logue with the non- Christian
modern world, which is "also
affected by the Holy Spirit and
grace."
In his multilingual address
the Pope also pledged to resume
the ecumenical council to adapt
the Church to the needs of the
times, and to dedicate himself
to the "encouragement of gre
ater mutual understanding,
charity and peace among peop
les."
THE Pontiff likewise de
clared that he "will defend the
Holy Church against errors of
doctrine and <custom , which
both inside and outside the Ch
urch threaten its integrity and
spoil its beauty-."
Pope Paul gave special praise
to Eastern Rite Catholics and
PAULO SI!
PABLO NO!
MEXICO CITY (NC)- His
Holiness Pope Paul VI is call
ed "Paulo" in Spanish instead
of "Pablo," the usual Spanish
equivalent for Paul, according
to the Mexico City dally Ex
celsior. The usage applies only
to popes, the paper said.
made particular mention of the
persecuted and the ill.
He used nine languages in his
address, speaking successively
in Latin, Italian, French, En
glish, German, Polish, Spanish,
Portuguese and Russian.
CONCLUDING his speech in
Russian, he said: "Ourthought
is also addressed to the whole
Russian people, upon whom We
call the blessing of the Most
High."
In the French portion of the
speech, Pope Paul declared:
"Permit the new Pope to use
a language so widespread and
widely understood to declare
humbly but strongly to the world
at the dawn of his pontifi
cate what feelings motivate him
and what attitudes he Intends to
adopt to the Catholic commun
ity, the separated churches and
the modern world."
THEN he praised Eastern
Rite Communities as "bearers
of ancient and noble traditi
ons" which are "worthy of ho
nor, of esteem and confidence."
The Pontiff continued by say
ing: "To those who, without be
longing to the Catholic Church,
are united with us by the power
ful link of faith" in Christ,
"We address Ourself with. . .
an Immense desire, the very one
which for so long has moved
so many among them to hasten
the realization of the prayer of
Christ on the eve of His death:
’That they may be one,' "
Recalling the late Pope John's
efforts for Christian unity, Pope
Paul went on:
SUPPORTED only by the
weapons of truth and charity,
We intend to puraue the dia
logue that has begun and to ad
vance, as much as it will be
in Our power, the work that
has been undertaken."
The Pontiff continued:
Five Named
Observers
ROME (NC)— Two North
American priests are among
the five Catholic observers
appointed by the Secretarlst
for Promoting Christian Un
ity to attend the Faith and Or
der World Conference to be
held in Montreal July 12 to
26.
They are Fathers Godfrey
Diekmann, O.S.B., of the
United States, and Gregory
Baum, O.S.A., of Canada.
The other observers at the
meeting, sponsored by the
Protestant World Council of
Churches, will be Fathers
Jan Grootof the Netherlands,
George Tavard, A.A., and
Bernard Lambret of France.
"But beyond the frontiers of
Christianity there is another
dialogue in which the Church is
engaged today—the dialogue
with the modern world. In a
superficial examination, the
man of today can appear to be
more and more a stranger to
all that is religious and spiri
tual. Aware of the progress of
science and technology, intoxi
cated by spectacular successes
domains until now unexplor
ed, he seems to have divine pow
ers of his own and to want to
do without God. . .
"BUT behind this facade it
is easy to find the profound
voices of this modern world,
also affected by the Holy Spi
rit and grace. It aspires to
Justice, to a progress not only
technical but human, to a peace
which is not only the precar
ious suspension of hostilities
between nations or between so
cial classes, but which per
mits finally an openness and
collaboration of men and
peoples in an atmosphere of
reciprocal confidence.
"In the service of these cau
ses it is possible to practice
the virtues of strength and cour
age, the spirit of enterprise,
of devotion, of sacrifice. We
say it without hesitation: all that
is ours. And We cite for proof
of It the Immense ovation which
was given the voice of a pope
recently calling all men to or
ganize society in brotherhood
and peace."
Since the beginning of the Ch-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
RECEIVES KENNEDY
Pope Lauds U.S.
For World Peace,
Many other questions have
been asked about the Deacons:
Can they marry? (No, they have
already taken their vows of celi
bacy. ) How should they be ad
dressed? (Technically, they are
called "Reverend Mister," but,
since they wjjj. priestly garb
Including the Roman collar, it is
perfectly correct to address
them as "Father.")
The practice of having dea
cons attached to a parish has
dropped out of general use in
modern times and, although At
lanta is not the first American
diocese to adopt the experiment,
it is perhaps being carried out
more intensively here, in what
is referred to as "the active
diaconate," with each deacon
assigned to the full duties of
his office,
The diaconate is one of the
three steps of progress toward
the priesthood, preceded by the
sub-diaconate and followed by
ordination to the priesthood.
Ordinarily, the candidate f or the
priesthood would spend the
summer before his final year in
the seminary on vacation. He
would then be given the dia
conate in the fall and be or
dained to the priesthood in the
following spring.
In the case of the three de
acons assigned here, Arch
bishop Paul J. Hallinan made
arrangements for them to come
here (they will all ultimately be
assigned to the Atlanta Arch
diocese) and to be ordained
to the diaconate on last June
9 in the Cathedral. They were
then assigned to parishes-Fat
her Danneher to St. Thomas
More in Decatur, Father
Scharer to the Cathedral and
Father Morris to Our Lady of
the Assumption. The services
of the deacons is not only of
VATICAN CITY, (NC)—
President Kennedy was receiv
ed by His Holiness Pope Paul
in a meeting which marked the
third time a U. S. president
has been received in a papal
audience.
The first was in 1919 when
Pope Benedict XV saw Pre
sident Woodrow Wilson. The
second time was in 1959 when
President Dwight D. Eisen
hower visited Pope JohnXXlIL
The same protocol was used
for all three visits.
THE Vatican said afterwards
that the President and the Pon
tiff had discussed peace, space
efforts and racial discrimat-
ion. The Pope lauded President
Kennedy for his efforts for
world peace and for his work
to insure equal citizenship for
all.
The arrival of President Ken
nedy’s motorcade in St. Peter’s
square at 9:45 a.m. Rome time
(July 2) was greeted by a cheer
ing crowd kept back by wooden
barricades. The official pro
cession of cars was preceded
by a police escort.
PRESIDENT Kennedy, riding
in an open car, waved at the
crowd in the square.
A platoon of Swiss Guards
presented arms as the motor
cade passed through the Arch of
the Bells, and papal gendarmes
lined the route which curves
behind St. Peter's basilica and
up into the San Damaso Court
yard.
In the courtyard, a guard of
honor from the Palatine Guard
snapped to attention as the
President’s car pulled to a stop.
The President and his party al
ighted from the cars and stood
at attention while the Palatine
Guard band played the U. S.
national anthem.
AFTER quickly reviewing the
Palatine Guard, President Ken
nedy entered the Apostolic Pal
ace and walked to an elevator
where he was greeted by Arch
bishop Genarro Verollno,
Secretary of the Sacred Cere
monial Congregation, and by
three Americans of the Pa
pal Secretariat of State, Msgrs.
Paul C. Marcinkus of Chicago,
Pius A. Benincasa of Buffalo
and Daniel A. Cronin of Bos
ton.
The President was then pre
sented to Msgr. Federico Cal-
lorl di Vignale, papal major-
domo, who accompanied the
President on the elevator to the
preaching the sermon.
Work
Justice
third floor of the Apostolic Pal
ace. Others in the President's
party followed in a second ele
vator.
At the elevator exit, the party
was met by papal ushers and a
detachment of SwlssGuards and
was escorted to the papal apart
ment.
The Blessed Virgin Mary
bell, (above) is one of nine
large bells of the 56-bell cari
llon to be installed soon in the
bell tower of the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception,
in Washington,