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EUGENE CARSON BLAKE
Says Mr. Kennedy Ended
‘Catholic President’ Fears
Philadelphia (RNS) —The
"high significance and sym
bolic meaning" of the late
President Kennedy's scheduled
appearance here before the tr
iennial General Assembly of the
National Council of Churches
was not completely lost even in
the slain Chief Executive’s ab
sence.
The young President was
vivid in the memory of some
3,000 delegates, observers and
consultants and several thous
and visitors at special worship
services,
MR. KENNEDY would have
been the first President, as well
as the first Roman Catholic nat
ional leader, to address an NCC
GENERAL MEETING.
The service was conducted by
Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, chief
executive officer of the United
Presbyterian Church in the U,
S. A., and Bishop George W.
Baber of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, First Dis
trict, Philadelphia.
In his meditation, Dr. Blake
asked the assembly to "pray to
God that by his sovereign pow
er He will now use us all to tr
ansform a death into new life,
and a monstrous wrong into a
great new right."
The late President's appear
ance, Dr, Blake said, would
have had great significance for
both the ecumenical movement
and the campaign for racial ju
stice.
HE SAID that even in his sh
ort time in office, Mr. Kennedy
made it "abundantly clear that
those who had feared, for any
reason, a Roman Catholic Pre
sident had misunderstood both
the man and his Church."
cuses we had given for delay,
and the shape of the new world
in which we found ourselves in
1963, demanded an effort to ch
ange our racial attitudes and to
amend our racial practices
hardly short of a voluntary re
volution."
Mr. Kennedy's recognition of
the racial question as a moral
and spiritual issue," Dr, Blake
said, was "perfectly evident,"
"HIS COMING here. . .would
have symbolized the fact that
beyond all partisan differences
and transcending all theological
divisions, there was a call to
all Christians to act for jus
tice in faith, in courage and in
love."
The Presbyterian leader said
he wojld not attempt to explain
"why the Almighty has permit
ted this dark cloud of tragedy
to come upon us all." Instead,
he asked for prayers that "this
young President's life and dea
th will be used among us, who
profess faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. . ."
Gov. William W. Scranton of
Pennsylvania, who also partici
pated in the service, noted "sa
dly" that he no longer had the
opportunity to welcome Pre
sident Kennedy to his state and
paralleled the assassination
with the death of Abraham Lin
coln.
IN SPITE of great changes in
society, he said, the "eternal
warfare on the forces of tyra
nny" continue and the continu
ing task for Americans is to
strike it down.
The governor recalled that in
the turmoil of Lincoln's day,
he rallied the nation to the cause
of union by appealing to the
common sense of the people,
"America will survive so
long as we have leaders of the
people who use as their guide
lines the people's common se
nse," he said, "While politic
ians and lawyers discuss the
legalistic fine points of civil ri
ghts legislation, the tyranny of
prejudice is doomed because
the American people In their
deep common sense realize It
is wrong,
"Today, 100 years after Abr
aham Lincoln, , .and within a
few weeks of the death of ano
ther martyred President, let us
resolve to keep faith with the
memory of the men who had
such great faith in us as a na
tion. If we but do that, this
nation, under God, will have a
new birth of freedom. , .shall
not perish from the earth,"
BISHOP Baber gave a moving
benediction, praying that Pre
sident Kennedy did not die in
vain, that his death may bring
a "new dignity to man and a
moving forward toward the full
brotherhood of man."
"We earnestly ask thy for
giveness for the evils of hate,
arrogance and austerity that
continue to plague this day's
stream of humanity," he pra
yed. "In grief we also plead
for forgiveness for the evil hand
shining hour of history,"
A total of approximately
9,000 persons attended the me
morial service, which included
a concert by the Philadelphia
Symphony Orchestra and The
Singing City Chotrs.
TEACHING STAFFS
"John Kennedy by his actions
as President demonstrated that
he was indeed a good Catholic,
but more — that his kind of
Christianity was a strength ra
ther than a handicap to his ser
ving the whole people of the
whole nation under the Consti
tution and under God."
As the Second Vatican Cou
ncil has provided strong and
"welcome" impetus for the ec
umenical movement, Dr. Blake
said, the late President's ap
pearance here "would have cl
early symbolized the beginning
of a new era of hope for Ch
ristian cooperation in the
United States. ..."
^ On the racial issue, he said,
"President Kennedy was one
who first saw that the slow ad
vance towards justice, the ex-
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A Gaud ut All.a
Many More Laity
In Grade Schools
WASHINGTON (NC) -- Lay
teachers in U. S>, Catholic grade
schools now make up 3273 of the
teaching staff, a new study has
disclosed. This compares with
9% ten years ago.
In five U. S. dioceses, lay
teachers make up 50% or more
of the elementary school teach
ing staff. The highest ratio in
the nation is 60% found in both
New Orleans and Baton Rouge,
La.
THESE FIGURES are report
ed by William D. Pflaum, a
graduate student at the Catholic
University of America, in an
article in the current (Novem
ber) issue of the Bulletin of
the National Catholic Educat
ional Association.
Pflaum say that in the 1962-
63 school year there were 111,
312 teachers in Catholic ele
mentary schools, 35,571 of them
lay teachers.
HE NOTES THAT there was
a drop in the number of Sisters
teaching in elementary schools
between 1961 and 1962,
In 19ol, there were 78,118
Sister-teachers, but the/next
year that figure dropped to
75,741, he says. #
THIS DROP TOOK place, he
notes, even though the total
number of Religious teachers
did not decrease. In 1962,
he says, the number of Sister
he says, the number of Sisters
totaled 173,351, as compared
to 168,527 in 1960.
Pflaum said a variety of ex
planations have been given for
the decline in the number of
teachers. He described these
explanations as "probably valid
in some degree," but said that
"the relative importance of
each has not been established,"
"ONE EXPLANATION," he
writes," is that more thorough
training given to Sisters in re
cent years has slowed down the
flow of new teaching Sisters
from motherhouses to class
rooms.
"Another explanation points
out that most of the Sisters
professed during the past
several years were born
between 1934 and 1940, a period
of low birth rate in the nation.
Consequently, it is held that a
decline in the number of new
ly professed Sisters was to be
expected at this time,
"A THIRD explanation states
that greater numbers of Sisters
have been going to the foreign
missions, especially Latin
America, and that greater num
bers have also been engaged In
social work and hospital work,
teaching in high schools and
serving full time with the Con
fraternity of Christian Doct
rine."
In addition to New Orleans
and Eaton Rouge, other dioceses
reported to have more than 50%
of the grade school teaching
staff made up of lay people
are: Lafayette, La„ 52%; El
Paso, Tex,, 51%} and St, Au
gustine, Fla,, 50%.
The diocese reported to have
the lowest ratio of lay teachers
is Worcester, Mass,, with 7%,
Legate Named
VATICAN CITY (NC) — Am-
leto Cardinal Cicognani, papal
Secretary of State, has been
named Papal Legate to celebra
tions in Tarragona, Spain,
marking the arrival of St. Paul
in that country 1,900 years ago.
ARCHBISHOP PAUL J, HALLINAN is shown as he blessed the new classroom building at D’You-
vllle Academy last Sunday, The Archbishop was assisted by the Very Rev, Harold J. Rainey.
Chancellor of the Archdiocese, at the left, 3
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
National Council Puts
Stress On Race Rights
PHILADELPHIA—The sixth
General Assembly of the Na
tional Council of Churches un
animously approved the broad
est racial program in its his
tory and called for a congres
sional speedup on civil rights.
Congress could undermine the
faith of the American people in
the capacity of its political in
stitutions to function," as well
as world confidence in this cou
ntry’s committment of free
dom, the resolution said.
ing, public accommodations,
and labor unions.
—Churches work for "recon
ciliation" in communities di
vided by racial issues.
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 12, 1963 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGL 3
STALLED PROGRAM
Christians, Jews
Back Rights Law
WASHINGTON, D. C. (RNS)
— Protestant, Roman Catholic
and Jewish representatives th
rew their support behind a ma
jor move to take civil rights
legislation out of committee and
place it on the House floor for
a vote.
In a statement Issued here,
father John F. Cronin, head of
the National Catholic Wel
fare Conference's Social Ac
tion Department, hailed the Na
tional Council of Churches'call
to Congress to take every step
neeeasary to insure the earliest
possible passage of the bill,
"1 WELCOME the news of the
National Council of Churches'
action," said Father Cronin.
The priest added that he
would be in the House gallaries
with James Hamilton, the
NCC's Washington represen
tative, on Dec, 9 when a dis
charge petition will come up on
the bill.
Also with Father Cronin and
Mr, Hamilton will be Rabi Ri
chard C, Hirsch, who said he
wouid be there in his capacity
as director of the Religious Ac
tion Center, an agency of the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations and the Central
Conference of American Rab
bis.
Father Cronin said his de
partment will continue to coop
erate with all religious groups
in the civil rights struggle,
THE PRIEST’S comments
came as two major Catholic
groups — the National Council
of Catholic Men and the Natio
nal Council of Catholic Women
— Also backed the move to get
the bill out of committee. They
sent telegrams to their atflli-
ates urging a response in sup
port of the discharge petition,
Frank Heller, head of the NC
CM, said that the civil rights
legiilation was "at a crucial
point," He asserted that "Cat
holic support is vital to suc
cess," His message went to 72
diocesan councils representing
a total of 8,000 ,000 Catholic
men,
A similar message was sent
by Margaret Mealey, executive
director of the NCCW, to that
group’s 150 diocesan councils
which have a membership of
10,000,000 Catholic women.
The discharge petition needs
218 signatures to bring the bill
out of the House Rules Com
mittee for action on the floor.
Delegates to the triennial
meeting of the church federat
ion urged Congress "to take
every step necessary" to pass
the civil rights bill.
THEY ALSO CALLED on all
Christians to write, phone or
wire their congressmen asking
them to support a discharge pe
tition aimed at getting the rig
hts bill out of the House Ru
les Committee.
And in their 10-point racial
Justice program, they advoca
ted across-the-board dese
gregation of churches and ch
urch institutions, selection of
pastors and church workers
without regard to race, and ex
penditure of church funds only
with firms that do not practice
discrimination.
THE DRAMATIC actions on
racial Justice highlighted the
meeting that brought together
some 5,00 delegates repre
senting 31 Protestant, Anglican
and Orthodox denominations
with 41 million U. S. members.
Official Catholic and Jewish
observers also attended the
convention.
Two of the observers, a Ca
tholic priest and a Jewish rabbi,
hailed the National Council of
Churches’ stand on civil rights.
Msgr. Daniel Cantwell, chap
lain of the Catholic Interrac
ial Council of Chicago, and Ra
bbi Irvin Blank, chairman of the
Social Action Committee of the
Synagogue Council of America,
said they hoped members of
their churches would also start
a letter-writing campaign to
Congress,
The church council moved to
implement Its civil rights stand
by sponsoring a bus trip by
some 80 delegates (Dec, 6) to
Washington to press individual
congressmen for a speedup.
Following the dose of the con
vention (Dec, 7) other delegates
returnedhome by wayof the ca
pital city for the same purpose,
THESE EFFORTS went ahead
despite news of assurances by
House Rules Committee chair
man Rep, Howard W, Smith of
Virginia that the Ryles unit wo
uld act on the civil rights bill
in January,
The Rev. Robert W, Spike,
executive director of the Na
tional Council’s Commission on
Religion and Race, expressed
skepticiam and said: "If there
had been evidence that
Congress was moving, this
resolution would not have been
necessary.
"MURDERS, BOMBINGS,
assassinations have made this
a year of horror—and of fate
ful decision. Relying on the Ho
use Rules Committee to bring
the civil rights bill to the floor
of Congress early next year is
a gamble," the Rev. Spike sa
id.
The General Assembly reso
lution on Civil rights legislat
ion said "the eyes of the wor
ld are upon the American Con
gress.
"FURTHER DELAY BY the
The 10-point race justice
program voted by the General
Assembly urges that:
—Every church be open to
all, regardless of race.
—Pastors and all church
workers be selected without re
gard to race.
—Church camps, dubs, con
ferences and meetings be ope
rated on an interracial basis.
— Church schools select ma
terial pointing up "the Chris
tian's responsibility in the st
ruggle for racial justice."
—Boards, staffs and clien
tele .of church-owned hospitals,
homes and welfare agencies be
integrated.
—All contracts for church
construction include fair emp
loyment practices clauses.
—Churches invest funds only
in enterprises that have no ra
cial discrimination policies.
—Churches support Federal,
state and local legislation guar
anteeing equal rights in voting,
education, employment, hous-
THE GENERAL ASSEMB
LY’S traditional "message to
the churches" stressed racial
justice and the ecumenical mo
vement.
It said Christian churches
now must either "profess
or deny Christ" in their atti
tude toward racial justice.
The message also referred
to the "new climate of dialo
gue" between Catholics, Ortho
dox and Protestants. It said:
"Conscious of the deep divisi
veness and wide diversity which
mark our several traditions, we
thank God that He is leading us
to discover ways by which these
divisions can be healed and this
diversity be brought within
wider forms of unity."
ONE OF THE FIVE Catholic
observers described himself as
"very impressed" with what he
had seen and heard at the
meeting.
Msgr. Joseph N. Moody, cha
irman of the social science de
partment at Ladycliff College in
Highland Falls, N. Y., said the
assembly had put "tremendous
emphasis" on racism "as a
problem of the time for the ch
urch."
SOEUR SOURIRE
Belgian
Nun Is
NEW YORK (RNS) — The
most popular recording artist
in the U. S, today is Soeur So-
urire, the smiling Sister of the
Dominican convent of Ficher-
mont, Belgium.
According to three record tr
ade journals, the songs of Soeur
Sourire, whose real name is Si
ster Luc-Gabrielle, are now at
the head of the best-seller list.
Her songs, in French, have a
folk-type quality,
THE MOST popular of the tw
elve songs in her album, 'The
Singing Nun," is "Dominique,"
a joyful ballad about the foun
der of her order.
As a single disc, "Domini
que" has sold more than 750,
000 copies since October. The
full album has had a sale of
600,000 and is expected to top
the million mark by Christmas.
Soeur Sourire, who composes
the music and words to her son
gs, accompanies herself on a
guitar she named Abele. She bo
ught the guitar in Brussels as
a last purchase before enter
ing the gates of the Fichermont
convent in 1959,
The young singer was a stu
dent of decorative arts in the
Belgian capital when she dec
ided to enter the Dominican or
der to become a missionary
nun,
IT WAS IN the convent that
her gift for music was discov
ered. In the evening, after stud-
Singing
On TV
ying or working in the field,
the other sisters gathered to
hear her songs of faith. Soon,
she was asked to record them.
With permission of her
superiors, Soeur Sourire went
off to Brussels to make a pri
vate recording of her songs.
The stuido technicians were so
impressed that they asked her to
allow them to issue the record
ing to the public,
Later, the Dominican order
signed a contract on Soeur So-
urire’s behalf. There were two
conditions: the nun would never
appear in public and the recor
ds would never carry her real
name.
Almost immediately her
songs became a hit in Europe
and it was expected they would
be greeted with some suev-ess
in this country,
TO DATE an estimated $100,
000 in royalties from the re
cordings have gone into a spec
ial fund for Dominican missi
onaries.
Meanwhile, Soeur Sourire Is
studying advanced catechism in
preparation for a missionary
assignment in an underdeve
loped area. She is slated to ap
pear Jan, 5 over the Columbia
Broadcasting System on the Ed
Sullivan Show.
Mr. Sullivan said he has ob
tained permission to tape the
performance in the Fichermont
convent.
THREE VOLUMES
New English-Latin
Breviary Is Ready
Ttie Liturgical Press, Col-
legeville, Minnesota, has pub
lished The Hours of the Divine
Office in English and Latin,
which contains the complege
text of all the Hours of the
Roman Breviary. The Latin
portion follows verbatim the
text of the latest Vatican enditio
typica; the English portion is
given in parallel columns.
All of the rubrics are given
in English only. Apart from
the Scripture portions, most of
the English sections are new
translations. The Psalter is
enriched with explanatory
notes.
THE EDITION CONSISTS of
these three volumes, each with
approximately 1,900 pages.
Each volume is printed in red
and black, has five ribbons and
soft, flexible binding. Volume
One covers the period from
Advent to Passion Sunday;
Volume Three from August to
Advent. Volume One is sched
uled to appear during Decem
ber, Volumes Two and Three
during the first part of 1964.
The new publication is to be
sold as a set only anil the price
of all three volumes is to be
$33.00. This means that the
books will be sent only to sub
scribers who pay the full sub-
scriptions may be placed
through local bookstores, or at
the publication office, the Lit
urgy Press, Collegeville, Minn.
Subscription is on a ten-day
trail basis, with the privilege
of returning the first volume
for a full refund.
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