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PRAY FOR
THE COUNCIL
VOL. 1 NO. 39
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1963
$5.00 PER YEAR
GEORGETOWN University in Washington, D. C. opened a year
long observance of the 175th anniversary of its founding. The
Jesuit school was founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll
of Baltimore, the same year the U. S. Constitution was ratified.
This illustration depicts President George Washington addressing
the students in 1796 from the porch of the "Old North” building.
COUNCIL
Strong Optimism
Marks Beginning
VATICAN CITY (NC)--Reac-
tion of non-Catholic delegate-
observers at the Vatican coun
cil to Pope Paul Vi’s opening
address to the council was gene
rally favorable.
This appeared front conver
sations with several of the dele
gate observers in a position to
express the prevailing views.
WHAT STRUCK a particu
larly responsive chord, these
sources indicated, were the
sentences in which Pope Paul
"humbly begged God’s forgive
ness and asked pardon of our
brethren who feel themsleves
to have been unjured by us.”
As an American delegate who
did not want his name to be
used expressed it:
"This is the first time sin
ce the Reformation that such
gratifying words have come
from a pope.”
This delegate felt that a sta
tement of such sincerity- will
go far in allaying many a Pro
testant apprehension in regard
to the prospects of more inti—
THE EDITH STEIN AWARD for
1903 will be presented on
October 13 to Mother Kath
ryn Sullivan (above), scrip
ture scholar and author, at
Manhattanville College of
the Sacred Heart, Purchase,
N. Y. The annual award is
given by the Edith Stein
Guild for promoting good will
and understanding between
Catholics and Jews,
mate interfaith contacts.
"WE OURSELVES," he ad
ded, "must follow suit. We
must not be less generous than
the Pope, for we as well need
an ’aggiornamento.”
("Aggiornamento” — updating
—is the word applied by Pope
John to the work of the coun
cil with regard to the Church
The general feeling among the
delegate-observers is that Pope
Paul went even further than
Pope John in stressing the tra
nscending importance of the ec
umenical movement and that
on the strength of so friendly
a disposition on the part of the
Catholic Church, further pro
gress in interfaith relations
now may well be expected.
In one respect, however, the
observers are hesitant to ex
press approval.
THIS IS when it comes to the
Pope's statements about Ch
ristian unity- as he seems to
understand it.
"To speak of unity,” said
one observer, "and to interpret
it as though, as the Holy Fa
ther put it, there should be
only one church, cannot but
elicit certain basic reser
vations on our part.”
Tills impression at least in
part appears to have been crea
ted by a faulty translation of
the Italian text of the Pope's
address, where the words "a
single ecclesiastical direction”
were translated as meaning
"single ecclesiastical control.
The Latin text says "unicl ec
clesiastic! regiminis."
Armenia Church
Attends Council
VATICAN CITY, (NC)-The
separated Armenian Church has
sent two observer delegates
to the second session of the ec
umenical council.
The delegates are Bishop
Parkev Gevorkian, member of
the Supreme Spiritual Council
of the Kaihollkos of Echmiad
zin, and a lay theologian Gri-
gor Bekmezian.
SEPARATED BRETHREN
Large Delegation
Of Observers For
Council
VATICAN CITY (RNS)—Some
60 non-Roman Catholic deleg
ate-observers and guests, in
cluding 17 from the U. S.,
were listed by the Vatican Se
cretariat for Promoting Chris
tian Unity as attending the Se
cond Vatican Council’s second
sesskon.
The observers, and their al
ternates or substitutes, are of
ficially representing non-
Catholic international confess
ional bodies, or the World Co
uncil of Chruches, which com
prises Protestant, Anglican and
Orthodox groups. The guests-
eight — are present as indivi
dual churchmen and do not re
present their respective deno-
, minations. All are noted for
their efforts toward the advan
cement of unity among Christ
ians.
Sessions
Dr. Dana McLean Greeley of
Boston, head of the Unitarian
Universalist Association; and
Prof. George H. Williams of
Harvard Divinity School (subst
itute), for the International As
sociation for Liberal Christian
ity.
Guests are Dr. Stanley I. St-
uber of Jefferson City, Mo.,
executive director of the Miss
ouri Council of Churches, who
was also present at the first
session; Dr. William A. Nor-
gren of New York, director of
faith and order studies for the
National Council of Churches in
the U. S. A.; and Archpriest
Alexander Schmemann, dean of
St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary
New York, also present last
year.
REOPENS ECUMENICAL COUNCIL. Pope Paul VI, Bishop of
Rome, wears a mitre instead of a crown to show his equality
with other bishops at the opening of the second session of Vatican
Council II, September 29, in St. Peter's Basilica.
SOME OF the observers and
guests also attended the Vati
can Council’s first session last
year, when about 40 churchmen
from non-Roman Catholic bod
ies were present.
working session
Council Fathers Settle
Into Tasks Immediately
World confessional organi
zations which have so far named
observers include the Anglican
Church, World Lutheran Fe
deration, Congregational Coun
cil, Friends World Committee
for Consultation (Quaker), In
ternational Association for Lib
eral Christianity (Unitarian Un
iversalist), and World Conven
tion of Churches of Christ (Dis
ciples).
The World Council of Chur
ches, with 209 members, named
four observers, including a
Greek Orthodox churchman.
So far only two Eastern Or
thodox Churches have designa
ted official observers, They are
the Russian Orthodox Church
and the Armenian Apostolic (or
thodox) Chuch(Etchmiadzin Pa
triarchate), both naming two
each. At the Council’s first
session, the Russian Church
was the only Eastern Orthodox
body represented.
THE 17 Americans include
14 observers and three guests.
The observers are:
Prof. William J. Wolf of the
Episcopal Theological School,
Cambridge, Mass., for the An
glican communion.
VATICAN CITY (NC)-The
Second Vatican Council got right
down to business at its first
working assembly.
The draft proposal "On the
Nature of the Church" was ac
cepted as a whole for detailed
discussion by the second ses
sion of the ecumenical council
by an overwhelming majority of
council Fathers.
The action was taken at the
second session’s second gene
ral meeting, with only 46 dis
senting votes out of 2,301 Fa
thers present.
The vote meant that the Fa
thers agreed to go on to a dis
cussion of the parts of the
project. Technically, it could
still be scrapped. But com
ments on the project taken as
a whole were favorable with
out exception. This seems to
guarantee that, when certain
details are amended after dis
cussion of the project’s parts,
it will be given final approval.
Comments on the Project on
the Church — "De Ecclesia”
—were led off by Joseph Card
inal Frings, Archbishop of Col
ogne, and by Giuseppe Card
inal Siri, Archbishop of Genoa.
The consensus appeared to be
that the schema was generally
acceptable. Several recom
mendations were made looking
toward its improvement,' how
ever.
CARDINAL FRINGS made a
general reference to "some ob
scure points likely to give rise
to doubt and uncertainty.” He
also requested that more space
be given in the schema to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, even
Christmas Stamp
WELLINGTON, New Zealand,
(NC)--New Zeland's postal ser
vice will issue a special stamp
commemorating Christmas*for
the fourth straight year.
The stamp will carry a color
reporduction of 16th-century
Venetian painter Titian's work,
"The Holy Family.” The ori
ginal painting hangs in the Nat
ional Art Gallery in London.
though the council will later take
up for consideration a separate
schema concerning St. Mary as
Mother of God and Mother of the
Church.
A change in the title of the
"De Ecclesia” schema was
suggested by Cardinal Siri. It
should not be simply ’The Ch
urch,” he said, but rather 'The
Church of Christ.” He under
lined his pleasure at seeing the
schema express "the long-awa
ited declaration of the sacra
mental nature of the episcopal
consecration.” He said, how
ever, that this point should be
further clarified and be assign
ed a theological note.
Speakers on the first day in
addition to Cardinals Frings and
Siri included Armenian Rite
Patriarch Ignace Pierre XVI
Batanian of Cilicia; Archbishop
Caslmiro Morcillo of Saragossa
Spain; Archbishop Pierre
Ngo dinh Thuc of Hue, Viet
nam; Archbishop Ermeneglldo
Florit of Florence; and Ar
chbishop Giuseppe Gargitter of
Bressanone, Italy.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
Dr. Georg* Llndbeck of Yale
Divinity School and Prof.
Warrne Quanbeck of Luther
Theological Seminary, St. Paul,
Minn., (substitute), for the
LWF.
Dr. Robert McAfee Brown of
Stanford University, Palo Alto,
Cal., for the World Presbyte
rian Alliance.
Bishop Fred P. Corson of
Philadelphia, Prof. Albert C.
Outler of Southern Methodist
University, Dallas, Texas, and
Dean Robert E. Cushman of
Duke Divinity School, Durham,
N. C. (substitute), for the World
Methodist Council. Bishop Cor
son is president of the Council.
Dr. Douglas Horton of
Randolph. N. H., former mode
rator of the International Con
gregational Council, and three
substitutes: Prof. Heiko A. Obe-
rman of Harvard Divinity Sc
hool; Prof. Elmer Arndt of Ed
en Theological Seminary’, Web
ster Groves, Mo.; and Dr. How
ard Schomer, president of Chi
cago Theological Semonary.
PROF. DOUGLAS V.Stecre of
Haverford (Pa.) College, for the
Friends World Committee,
^ ^ COFFINS, containing the bodies of 32 braceros, Mexican farm workers who were
killed when a train plowed into their truck-bus, was placed in the Palma High School gymnasium,
Salinas, Calif,, where a requiem Mass was offered for them on September 26. Nearly 10,000
persons, mostly mexlcan farm workers, attended the services.
COUNCIL OPENING
Pontiff Gives
Encyclical In
Living Words
BY ARCHBISHOP HALLINAN
• SEE PAPAL TEXT PAGE 2
With his voice frequently bre
aking because of his own deep
feelings, Pope Paul opened the
second session of the Vatican
Council 11 Sunday morning. For
2,450 of us in St. Peter’s, the
Pontiff chartered the course the
Council would follow in our mo
dern world. It was a lengthy
address, really an "Encyclical
in living words,” as he called
It.
He glanced often at his wrls-
twatch and spoke rapidly as if
conscious that, after two hours
ceremony, the one hour allo
cution was tiring his audience,
but he did not falter. And now,
the Fathers have listened to two
historic landmarks of Christi
anity, John’s opening address
last year, and Pope Paul's to
day.
Liberally, this first-hand re
port will concentrate on three
high points and a little back
ground:
Paul VI acknowledge our de
bt to John in warm, personal
words, calling on him by name:
"You have gathered the broken
thread of the first Vatican Cou
ncil,” The bishops confidence
rose as the new Pope dispell
ed any idea that John's Ponti
ficate was a single shot in the
dark.. There was anything but
retreat in Paul's challenge:
"Let us, therefore, brethren,
go forward.”
The discourse was orderly,
easy to read in the English
text that our Roman Seminar
ian, Jerry Hardy, brought me
right after the ceremony. There
was a starting point, the vis
ion of the Church as the Bride
of Christ: a road to follow:
and a goal. Four sections dealt
with the Church's awareness of
herself, reform, unity, and the
modern world. "We ought to be
realists,” he said, and every
paragraph was a blueprint for
reality.
PRESIDENT’S BILL
Words long suspect, or at le
ast alien, *were used by Pope
Paul with sureness and insight.
One of the humbling experien
ces of a Council is to hear the
Pope make his own profession
of faith, Insuring no break in
the line of Christian faith. But
then came words like reform,
dialogue, ecumenicity, the
bridge toward the contemporary
world, youth expressing Itself,
and the liberty which men of
culture and learning must en
joy.
At no point was the great
soul of the Pope more evident
than when he said to our separ
ated brethern, "If we are in
any way to blame for that sep
aration, we humble ask God’s
forgiveness." Protestant ob
servers noted this carefully,
as they did Cardinal Bea's fr
iendly smile as he passed them
after making his obedience to
the Pope.
The opening-was more
businesslike than last year; no
outdoor procession, smaller
crowds, less ceremony. "The
work ahead,” said Paul, "is
vast and burdensome.” The
modern world must be served
and saved, not conquered or
despised. This work begins
tomorrow, the Schema on the
Church itself. Next week
the voting on the liturgy should
come.
The urgency of the task ahead
had a symbol in today’s cere
mony. TTie Pope was carried in
his chair half way down the ai
sle. Then , like John before
him, he dismounted and walked
with firm steps the rest of the
way, as if anxious to get on
with the work. Beautiful Ro
man sunlight was everywhere.
As it came through the high
windows of the Basilica, it was
a token of nature for the Pope's
ringing words, "Let no other
light be shed on this Council,
but Christ, the Light of the
World.”
Religious Leaders
Ask Rights Action
WASHINGTON (NC)— Religious
leaders here have called on
Congress to adopt the Kennedy
administration's civil rights
bill at this session.
The 46-member Interreligi
ous Committee on Race Relat
ions, under the chairmanship
of Catholic Archbishop Patrick
A. O’Boyle, also criticized op
ponents of the legislation’s pro
vision against discrimination in
public accommodations.
NOTING ARGUMENTS that
private property rights should
not be "violated” by the govern
ment, the committee said in a
statement this is a "spurious
moral issue.”
"Neither law nor morality
sanction th e concept of the ab
solute right of private pro
perty,” th* churchmen said.
"Both insist that th* owner
must use his property in a so
cially responsible manner.”
"THOSE WHO fear that equal
access to public accom
modations for all citizens may
violate 'private property rights'
should be reminded of the ex
tent to which provisions for en
forced racial segregation are
now being imposed upon pro
perty owners by state and local
ordinances, often at consider
able expense to such owners.
MSGR. ELMER H, BEHRMANN,
A MEMBER OF President Ken<
nsety's Panel on Mental Ret
ardation, will speak tomorrow
at 8 pm, at the Dinkier Plasa,
before Our Lady's Association
for Exceptional Children.