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CLERGY, RELIGIOUS SHORTAGE Council Fathers Expect To Discuss Vocations Problem The following article gives some of the back ground for the vital problem of vocations, which is expected to be taken up by the bishops of the world when they gather in St. Peter's for the second session of the Second Vatican Coun cil, which begins on September 29. The writer is the executive secretary of the Pontifical Office for Religious Vocations at the Vatican, an oper ation within the Sacred Congregation of Religious. A native of Iowa who was ordained a Passionist priest in 1946. He was in the forefront in the voc ations movement in the United States for a dozen years prior to assuming his Rome post in Dec ember, 1961. Author of six books and numerous pamphlets on recruiting and vocational guidance, he was director of the First International Con gress for Religious Vocations, held in Rome in 1961, BY FATHER GODFREY POAGE, C.P. (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE The lack of priests and Religious is so acute in many parts of the world that the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council are almost sure to take up the problem of vocations. Why is it, the bishops want to know, that vo cations flourish in some places and appear virtually nonexistant in others. The statistical- analyzing apparatus of today—the Pontifical Office for Religious Vocations installed a UNIVAC com puter over a year ago—throws the situation in bold relief. WHY are there such differences, for example, between the number of Catholics in certain coun tries and the number of priests serving them? Belgium, for instance, the ratip of Catholics per priest is 600 to 1, while in Guatemala it is 11,000 to 1. In the United States, while the ratio is 820 to 1, that figure is rapidly changing, for the Catholic population here has increased 35.9 per cent in the last decade and during the same time the priests have increased only 22.2 per cent. The Montreal archdiocese, with some 1.3 million Catholics, has 2,180 priests. Madrid, with 2.6 million Catholics, has 2,349 priests. And Manila, with a Catholic population of 2.7 million, has only 725 priests. THE OVER-ALL picture in the Church is one of vocation shortage. In Europe the Catholic popu lation has been increasing steadily, while the number of priests has been decreasing. In Latin America the population increase has been explosive, for in the past five years the Catholics have doubled percentagewise over the number of seminarians. The few figures available for Africa and Asia show the beginnings of similar phenomena. Some regions of Africa have already attained a condition like that of Latin America. Only in the United States has there been an increase in the number of vocations. The enrol ment in U. S. seminaries today totals some47,000. All of the rest of the Catholic world accounts for only some 50,100 seminarians, so the United Stares, with less than 10 per cent of the total Catholic population, accounts for almost half the seminary students. DURING the closing days of the first session of the ecumenical council,Leo Cardinal Suenens, Archbishop of Malines-Brussels, gave everyone present a copy of a book he had prepared on the changing conditions of religious vocations in the modern world. He had titled this study “The Nun In the Modern World, “but immediately quali fied it. “When we talk of nuns,” he said, “we have also in mind all souls dedicated to God whose object is visible apostolic propagation. . . such as Brothers. . . and lay apostles of all kinds.” Most of the recipients had time only to pack the book with council Documents before setting out for their home dioceses. But during the inter vening months all have now had a chance to read and evaluate-Cardinal Suenens' appeal for a more modern approach to the idea of the religious life. He wants to extend the Church’s aposto- late to new dimensions, and makes some start ling suggestions for utilizing present personnel more effectively. “Many practices and regulations of today’s Religous are outmoded,” he assets. “For this reason vocations are decreasing everywhere. . . Often it is due to the poor image so many communities have in the eyes of the laity. “I THINK is is significant,” he adds, “that the least affected are the missionary and purely contemplative congregations. Their image is still that of heroic apostolic activity and of a life devoted to God in silence. “The ones who are suffering most,” Cardinal CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 PRAY FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY Archdiocese of Atlanta SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES VOL. 1 NO. 33 ATLANTA, GEORGIA THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1963 $5.00 PER YEAR AT COUNCIL Liturgy Chapter A ‘Magna Carta’ Toward Renewal AUXILIARY Bishop Givoanni Colombo of Milan smiles as he receives the news, August 14, that Pope Paul VI has named him to be his successor as Ar chbishop of Milan. The 60- year-old prelate was born at Caronno in the Archdiocese of Milan. PHILADELPHIA (NC) — The study of the liturgy and its place in the life of the Church will receive greater attention as pne of the first fruits of the Second Vatican Council, Philadelphia’s Archbishop John J. Krol told the 1963 North American Liturgical Week here. “This Liturgical Week has a unique advantage,” the conven tion host said. “For the first time the Liturgical Week is able to direct its discussions and activity with a certainty derived from the approval by the general session of the Second Vatican Council of the preamble and first chapter of the consit- tution on Sacred Liturgy.” THIS CHAPTER which deals with the general principles for reforming andfosteringliturgy, he said, “has been likened to the Magna Carta, the promotion and reform of the liturgy.” “It contains in face specific directives on the subject of your Liturgical Week, 'The Renewal of Christian Education’,” he noted. NEW PROGRAM SET Teacher Workshop To Open Monday Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan, will address the teachers of the archdiocese on August 26 at the opening of a three-day RELI GIOUS AND READING WORK SHOP to be held at Saint Pius X Catholic High School Cafe- torium. Also teachers new in the Archdiocese of Atlanta Catho lic School System will attend a two-day ORIENTATION PRO GRAM at Saint Pius X Catho lic High School Cafetorium on August 29 and 30 from 9;30 to 12:00 each morning. ft MRS. MATTHEW J. Dwyer, past president of St. Joseph’s Infirmary Auxiliary, will at tend the National Convention of the American Hospital Asso ciation in New York City Aug- U0t 24-29. Mrs. Dwyer will re present the State of Georgia. SISTER M. Leonard and Sis ter M. Andrea, O.S.F. from Pittsburgh will conduct the re ligion session. The LIFE WITH GOD SERIES on Monday. On Tuesday teachers of Grades One through Four will meet as a group and teachers of Grades Five through Eight as another group. The final ses sion on Wednesday will be for the entire group. Discussion will be on SERVICE OF THE WORD and activities which can be used to activate the reli gion program in the schools. Miss Mary Heffeman, edu cational consultant for Ginn and Company, w ill conduct the read ing session. Each morning the workshop will begin at 9:30 and continue until 12:30. All teachers, re ligious and lay, are expected to attend this workshop. SISTER MARY Severity, C.S.J., archdiocesan supervisor, will conduct this orientation pro gram, the first of its kind to be offered in the archdiocese. Some of the topics to be con sidered will be the Handbook of Policies for the Archdiocese, Record Keeping, Scheduling and Lesson Planning, Discipline, Textbooks, Manuals, Teachers’ Guides, Supervisory Visits, ABC’s of Classroom Manage ment, and the Importance of being Professional. “By virtue of this chapter,” the Archbishop continued, “the science of liturgy will become a major discipline in the eccles iastical study of rubrics or of the history' of rites. Neither will it be limited to such accidentals as the cut of a sacred vest ment, the form of a sacred vessel, the position of the altar, or some of theincidental pract ices and ceremonies which un fortunately have been regarded as hallmarks of Liturgical re form,” According to the decrees of the council, the Archbishop sta ted, liturgy must be studied in its theological, historical, spir itual, pastoral and juridical aspects. “By bringing the mystery of Christ and the history of sal vation into clear focus,” he de clared, * 'the relation of each ec clesiastical subject with liturgy will emerge spontaneously. The science of liturgy, without inva- CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Council Session Closes Dec. 4 Vatican city (NC)-The second session of the Second Vatican Council will end this December 4, a high council source confirmed. The spokesman acknowledged the closing date after some council Fathers had revealed it in their own areas. The se cond session starts September 29. The closing date had been communicated to the bishops of the world, but not made pub lic by the Holy See. IN A JOINT pastoral of the Catholic Bishops of the United States, members of the Church and its agencies are urged to get personally involved in efforts toward race harmony. In this photo, a Milwaukee ^nun, Sister Rebecca visits with a group of children living in an overcrowded section of the nation s capital. She is one of a group of summer school students at Georgetown University who are doing social welfare work in the city in their spare time. STRONG APPEAL Pope Paul Asks Unity With Orthodox Groups DISCRIMINATION EVIV Bishops Reiterate Racial Stand As Moral Question • SEE TEXT PAGE 2 WASHINGTON (NC)—The na tion’s Catholic Bishops have urged members of the Church and its agencies to get per sonally involved in the quest for harmony during the present racial crisis. Individual Catholics and Church groups should sponsor biracial discussions of mutual problems and concerns, the Bishops said. They urged simi lar action by civic associations. THE PASTORAL noted that the hierarchy has condemned racial discrimination twice in the past, 1943, and 1958. But it said that in the “present cri sis,” the Bishops wish to offer “some pastoral suggestions for a Catholic approach to racial harmony.” Condemning all forms of dis crimination and segregation based on prejudice, the Bis hops counseled Catholics: “It is our strict duty to respect the basic human rights of every person. “NO CATHOLIC with a good Christian conscience,” they ad ded, “can fail to recognize the rights of all citizens to vote. “Moreover, we must provide for all equal opportunity for employment, full participation in our public and private educa tional facilities, proper housing and adequate welfare assistance when needed.” Appealing for action to in crease knowledge of the atti tudes among both races before action is taken to correct ine quities, the Bishops said; “We can show our Christian charity by a quiet and coura geous '‘determination to make the quest for racial harmony a matter of personal involve ment. We must go beyond slo gans and generalizations about color and realize that all of us are human beings, men, women and children, all sharing the same human nature and dignity, with the same desires, hopes and feelings. We should try to know and understand one ano ther.” GROTTAFERRATA, Italy (RNS) — Pope Paul VI, in one of the most momentous talks of his pontificate, made a strong appeal to the Eastern Ortho dox Churches to unite with Rome. “The barriers between us are not based on real differences,” he declared during a visit to the 11th century Basilian Abbey here near Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence some 15 miles from Rome. POPE PAUL ignored a sum mer storm to celebrate Mass for the Eastern Rite monks and a group of worshippers in the monastery church of St. Mary. After the Gospel, he gave an improtu and unexpected talk in which he urged that the barri ers which separate the East ern Churches from Rome “fall without delay.” “We do not,” he said, “wish either to absorb or mortify the great flowering of the Eastern Churches, but we wish it to be regrafted again on the one tree of the unity of Christ. “The barriers between us are not based on real differences. It is not good that either of us should stand on statements and words which separate us for the reasons of who is right and who is wrong. In no argu ment are the rights or wrongs undivided on one side.” THE POPE'S appeal came just six weeks before the sche duled opening o f the second session of the Second Vatican Council at which Christian uni ty will be a major topic of so- called Byzantine or Uniate Ca tholics who are in full com munion with die See of Rome although differing their liturgy rites, laws and customs. Describing the Basilian Abbey as “an Eastern com munity at the gates of Rome,” Pope Paul told the monks that “you yourselves, in your rites, invite me to look toward all the Eastern Churches that have the same baptism, the same fundamental faith, a valid hei- rarchy and Sacraments that are full of grace.” Asking whether the delay on the road to reunion had not been due to lack of understand ing on the part of Catholics themselves, he said: “We are all a bit deaf. We are all a bit dumb. May the Lord open us up to understand the voices of history, open to us to understand His voice, the word of God.” DECLARING that “we ex press a great salute of honor to these ancient and great Eas tern Churches and our vener ation for them, with the great est sincerity,” the Pope said it was “a brotherly expansion of spirit” which had prompt him to send Bishop Francois Charriere of Lausanne, Fri bourg and Gena, Switzer land, to celebrations in Mos cow last July honoring Patri arch Alexei, supreme head of the Russian Orthodox Church, on the 50th anniversary of his episcopal consecration. “It was done,” he said, “with the intention of rendering re spect, of showing there is no reason for rivalry for presti ge. It was done neither from pride nor ambition nor any de sire to perpetuate dissonances, dissidence which existed in the past, but which are now, it seems to me, totally anachron istic.” “Let us, ” the Pope continu- CONTINLED ON PAGE 8 “We know”, they said, “that public authority is obliged to help correct the evils of unjust discrimination p racticed against any group or class. We also recognize that every mino rity group in America seeking its lawful rights has theobliga- tion of respecting the lawful rights of others. “We may act through the va rious lay organizations of the Church as well as with civic groups of every type,” they said. CIVIC action will be more fruitful, the Bishops said, if all citizens “openly and explicitly proclaim the religious basis of racial justice and love.” Knights Foot Bill WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (NC)—The Knights of Columbus have made $25,000 available to the Archdiocese of Washington to provide 10 hostels for participants in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to be made August 28. A statement by Archbishop Patrick A. O'Boyle of Washington says: "The Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus at their annual convention in Milwaukee appropriated $25,000 to the Archdiocese of Washington to provide ten hostels for participants in the March on Washington. These hostels include the gymnasium at Georgetown University, the Catholic University and eight Catholic parish halls in the city of Washington. “The hostels will provide supper and breakfast for those participants who because of distance or illness will find it difficult to return to their homes the night of August 28. The hostels will be staffed and directed by committees representing the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Interracial Council, diocesan and religious priests and Brothers of the Archdiocese of Washington.”