V
PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY. DECEMBER 19, 1963
ECUMENICAL SIGNIFICANCE?
Pope’s Holy Land Trip Stirs Excitement And Speculation
VATICAN CITY (RNS)—Ex
citement carefully controlled by
the exigencies of protocol cha
racterized ecclesiastical Rome
in the days following the almost
casual announcement of Pope
Paul VI in his closing discourse
to the second session of the
Vatican Council that he pro
posed to make a pilgrimage of
prayer and penance to "the
Holy Places where Christ was
born, lived, died, rose again
and ascended into heaven."
Such a journey involves vi
siting two countries still tech
nically at war, for Bethlehem,
the Way of the Cross, Golgo
tha, the Sepulcher and the Mount
of Olives are in Jordan, where
as Nazareth, the Mount of the
Beatitudes, Cana, the side of
the Lke of Tiberias most fea
tured in the Gospel narrative,
as well as the Cenacle, are in
Israel.
THE RISING expectation that
the pilgrimage will be of major
ecumenical significance con
trasts with the meager and per
functory applause in St. Peter's
Basilica when the announcement
was made "as a final word"
toward the end of an otherwise
undramatic closely - written
address.
The discretion displayed in
Vatican circles is dictated by
two factors: caution, lest the
trip be misinterpreted as hav
ing political purposes and,
again, lest it appear in any way
to force the hand of die leaders
of the Orthodox Churches, not
ably sensitive on questions of
protocol and prestige and mis
trustful for many centuries of
"Latin duplicity."
THE CONTROLLED press of
Cairo promptly and shrilly
complained that the Pope's pil
grimage is public support for
the state of Israel. The foreign
minister of Syria, Hassan
Mreywed, welcomed the visit
"as enabling His Holiness to
see for himself the justice of
the Arab cause." The silence
of Osservatore Romano, semi
official Vatican City daily, was
designed to spare Orthodox sus
ceptibilities. It did not even
publish the exuberant reaction
of the Ecumenical Patriarch
who termed the pontiff’s idea
"inspired by God.”
In a sermon on the Feast of
St. Nicholas (Dec. 6) His Bea
titude, Athenagoras I, was so
lemnly earnest (if somewhat
prolix) in declaring that "it
would be truly a work of divine
providence if, during this pious
pilgrimage of Paul VI, all the
heads of the Churches of the
East and the West could meet
in the Holy City of Zion. There
in common fervent prayer and in
the spiritual recollection of the
Christian spirit, on their knees,
tears in their eyes, and in a spi
rit of unity, on Golgotha which
was wet with the most holy blood
of Christ and before the Sepul
cher whence sprang reconcilia
tion and forgiveness, before
tion and forgiveness, they could,
for the glory of the holy name
of Christ and for the profit of
all humanity, open the way to
the complete reestablishment of
Christian unity according to the
sacred will of the Saviour."
THE INITIAL reaction of the
Patriarchate of Moscow to the
proposal from Constantinople
(Istanbul) was measured, a
spokesman noting "its extreme
importance" and promising that
"it will surely be the subject
of a long and careful examina
tion by the leadership of the
Russian Orthodox Church be
fore a decision is taken."
The sincerity of the senti
ments of Patriarch Athenagoras
are well-known in Rome. As
Greek Othrodox archbishop in
Boston he was a close, personal
friend of Cardinal Cushing. But
the scope of his authority, it,is
realized, must not be exaggerat
ed. The continuing hostility of
the Hellenic Greeks under Met
ropolitan Chrysostomos, to any
contact with Rome is a factor
the Ecumenical Patriarch must
bear always in mind. More
over, his control over his own
Church is largely a moral one,
the affairs of the Patriarchate
of Constantinople being gov
erned by a synod consisting of
il bishops and presided over
by the patriarch.
THE SYNOD ELECTS the pa
triarch and may depose him as
has happened not infrequently,
the last case being that of Pa
triarch Meletios whose encycli
cal letter of 1920 proposing a
league of churches paralleling
the new League of Nations did
much to bring the Orthodox in
to the life and work movement,
one of the ecumenical organi
zations later to fuse with the
World Council of Churches. The
synod has, then, enormously
more power than the Roman Cu
ria. It is not merely conser-
Should
BY MRS. DANIEL SCHEAFLEY
(St. Louis, Mo.)
Would die substitution of
the Three Kings for Santa Claus
be a contribution the Christian
churches could make toward
interracial understanding and
, unity during these troubled
.times? Santa Claus as a symbol
of Christmas is of compara
tively recent origin and not un
iversally used. He is an Ameri
can concept, die name, but not
die figure, being derived from
St, Nicholas who visited the chi
ldren of die Dutch colonists in
New Amsterdam.
In all parts of die Christian
world children are brought gifts
during the Christmas season,
but the givers vary. In Aus
tria die Christ Child puts toys
in die children's shoes on Ch
ristmas Eve. Bishop Nicholas
comes to the children in
Munich on December sixth. Ba-
buschka in Russia and Befana
in Italy are old women who re
ward good children on the Feast
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vative as most bureaucracies
are but is rootediy anti-Roman,
harboring the memory of the
past injustices of the West dat
ing from the Fourth Crusade
which sacked Constantinople.
Father Pierre Duprey, a
brilliant, charming White Fa
ther, formerly of theSeminaire
de Ste. Anne a the Pool of Pro-
batica in the Old City of Jeru
salem and now on the staff of
the Secretariat for Promoting
Christian Unity, was sent to
Istanbul with a wholly private
letter informing Patriarch Ath
enagoras of the Pope’s travel
plans. Given the tradition of
hospitality of the Orient, it
seems unlikely that the Ecu
menical Patriarch will not be
in the tiny chapel of Calvary
in the Basilica of the Holy Se
pulcher at the time of the pon
tiff's visit, since that portion of
the shrine is under the juris
diction of the Greeks.
IN THE MEANTIME the gov
ernments of Israel and Jordan
are making arrangements to
welcome their guest, Israel an
nouncing an inter-cabinte com
mittee of supervision with six
sub - committees. Inevitably,
there will be contacts between
Israeli and Jordanian officials
concerning, among other is
sues, security measures and
travel facilities for the press.
Here is an added boon. Apart
from the brief, annual contacts
concerning pilgrims to Bethle
hem at Christmastime, officials
of the two governments meet
only in the mixed armistic com
mission under U.N. supervi
sion. It is not altogether impos
sible — although improbably —
that the Pope’s presence might
occasion a meeting between
King Hussein of Jordan and Pre
sident Zalman Shazar of Israel.
Anything could hapen when
even Radio Moscow blurts its
astonishment at this "sensa
tional news."
The news is "sensational’’
because the world, particularly
the Catholic world, had been
accustomed to viewing the Pope
as a permanent fixture of Rome,
almost as a monument. Return
ing tourists describe to friends
the ravens in the Tower of Lon
don, the Tivoli Gardens in Co
penhagen, the Louvre in Paris,
the Leaning Tower of Pisa —
and "then we saw the Pope in
Rome."
EVEN WHEN the Lateran
Treaty of 1929 put an end to
the self-imposed exile of the
"prisoner of the Vatican", the
Pope's auto trip to his summer
villa at Castel-Gandolfo, a Ro
man hillside suburb, causes the
newspapers to speculate on w hat
day he will go. For the Pope
grants audiences. He sits in the
center of Christendom and peo
ple come to him. Thus, the last
two gatherings of the Catholic
bishops of the world in a Gen
eral Council have been held in
Rome. True, Pope John XXIII
took to dropping into hospitals,
seminaries, even visiting the
Regina Coeli jail in the Eternal
City where he explained to the
prisoners that "since you could
not come to see me, I decided
to come to see you." Before the
opening of the Vatican Council
Pope John took the train to the
shrines of Loretto and Assisi
but the pilgrimage was deem
ed a sentimental excursion of a
pious old man.
And now a Pope leaves the
Western world to jet to the
Near East where perhaps he
licopters will take him from
sacred scene to sacred scene.
The style breaks with tradi
tion but the route has im
mense significance. It is a re
turn to sources: "We will see
that blessed land whence Pe
ter set out and to which none
of his successors has return
ed," Pope Paul declared. It
was the centrality of Christ
that was the dominant theme
of the papal discourse opening
this past session of the Coun
cil: "We should proclaim Christ
to ourselves and to the world
around us; Christ our beginning,
Christ our life and our gide
Christ our hope and our end."
How normal, on reflection, this
pilgrimage to “the spots made
sacred by Christ" and at Beth
lehem, the birthplace of the
Prince of Peace to summon
solemnly all mankind to new
efforts for peace and unity.
THERE IS MUCH speculation
about the immediate inspiration
of the pontiff's pilgrimage. It
is known that as Cardinal Mon-
tini he told a bishop of Gali
lee that a visit to the Holy
Land was the dream of his
life. The confidence was made
to Melkite Bishop Georges Ha
kim who each year invites
groups of bishops to the Holy
Places of Palestine. At the end
of the Council’s second session,
200 archbishops and bishops
were officially received by the
Israeli government.
French sources pridefully
suggest the influence of an un
usual French priest in the de
cision.
FATHER JOSEPH Gautier, a
former seminary professor
from Dijon, is a slim, intense
man in his early forties with
a passion for the poor. Unable
to give himself to the discon
tinued priest-worker move
ment in France, 1 ike Charles de
Foucauld and St. Ignatius be
fore him, Father Gautier went
off to the Holy Land to identi
fy himself with the humble life
of Christ in the humble sur
roundings Christ knew at Na
zareth. Working among the poo
rest, he decided to try to im
prove their appalling living con
ditions and, with the help of
the Israeli government, form
ed a housing cooperative. Young
men from Europe came to join
him.
Today on a wooded slope of
Nazareth 250 small, white ce
ment units exist. When two
years ago I met Father Gau
tier in the wooden shack that
serves as private chapel, bed
room, library- and construction
headquarters, he impressed me
as both a mystic and a man of
action. With a smile he re
counted his inquiry at a gov
ernment office about the feasi
bility of becoming an Israeli
citizen. "Why bother", he was
told. "You are a member of
histadrut, it’s the same thing!"
Histadrut is the country’s trade
union movement.
LAST AUGUST 15 in the name
of "Twenty Companions and
Carpenters of Nazareth” Fa
ther Gautier addressed a let
ter to Pope Paul that made two
points. The first asked that the
successor of Peter "confirm"
his brethren in supporting the
ideas of a group of bishops
with whom Father Gautier had
discussed the necessity of the
Church’s concerning herself
with the poverty of the mass of
mankind. The second pointurg-
ed a pilgrimage to the Holy-
Land.
On October 11 Giacomo Car
dinal Lercaro, himself an apos
tle of the poor, told Father
Gautier that the Holy Father
had received the documenta
tion of the Nazareth group and
had charged the Archbishop of
Bologna to pursue its study.
No mention was made of the
invitation to the Holy Land.
SIGNIFICANTLY, it was Car
dinal Lercaro who in the clos
ing days of the first session of
the Council begged that the
Church be the Church of the
poor, that the misery of hu
manity and its evangelization be
the principal preoccupation of
the Council.
During this session there
were reminders of the urgency
of that theme. The director gen
eral of the Food and Agricul
tural Organization told the an
nual conference of that U.N.
specialized agency, meeting in
Rome in November, that near
ly half a million people are star
ving andthatamillionmorelack
the essential necessities of life.
The situation is deteriorating.
A report in August of the Of
fice of Economic Cooperation
and Decelopment predicted that
the average income of people in
the developed countries (481
million in all) would increase
36 per cent between 1962 and
1970 while in the underdevelop -
ed countries (1,432 millions of
people) the average income w ill
increase only 9 per cent. At
present income in the develop
ed countries is 14 times that
of the underdeveloped coun
tries; in seven years it will be
17 times greater.
OTHERS IN THE Catholic
Church, more influential than
Father Gautier, share his pre
occupation. Each week during
the second session of the Coun
cil an international group of
bishops and experts, under the
chairmanship of Pierre Cardi
nal Gerlier of Lyons, worked
to elaborate a new orientation
of the Church toward the prob
lems of mass poverty, a new
respect among the clergy for
manual labor.
W ith an explicit approval of
Pope to Cardinal Lercaro, the
group included Maximos IV, the
Melchite Pat4iarch; Auxiliary
Bishop Holder Camara, well-
known in the Favelas of Rio de
Janeiro; Auxiliary Bishop Al
fred Ar.cel of Lyons who as a
bishop worked as an artisan;
of Mwanza, Tanganuika, the
blunt Dutchmanwho is watching,
and with sympathy, Africa stir;
Bishop Franjo Franic whose
episcopal residence and office
in Split, Yougoslavia, is a sin
gle room; and Bishop Charles
Himmer whose diocese of Tou-
rnai includes the played-out
coal fields of Belgium’s Bour-
rinage.
THE GROUP WANTS to have
its ideas color every future
schema, it wants a permanent
WRITER ASKS
The Magi Replace Santa?
of the Epiphany, January sixth.
In Spain and Latin America ch
ildren look forward to the arri
val of the Three Kings on Jan
uary sixth with gifts for them.
SAINT MATTHEW tells us
only that Magi came from the
East with gold, frankincense,
and myrrh for the Infant Savior.
We do not know who they were
nor how many, but we have more
than a thousand years of popu
lar tradition which has made
them kings, usually three
in number, Gaspar, Balthasar,
and Melchior, represent the th
ree great races of mankind as
they were known in die Mediter
ranean world. That one of the
Magi was to be a dark-skinned
Affrican seems to be foretold in
the words the psalm which
are quoteu in the liturgy for the
Feast of the Epiphany: "Let
great ones come forth from Eg
ypt, let Ethiopia stretch out her
arms tj God," (Psalms - 67
.32)’’
The Magi in their act of ado
ration symbolize the essential
unity and equality of all man
kind, these three wise and gre
at men kneeling as brothers,
humble before their Fadier.
Using the Three Kings in Ch
ristmas activities in church and
church - related institutions in
stead of Santa Claus would ef
fectively illustrate the Christ
ian’s view of racial differences,
and because of the ancient or
igins of the legends it would be
at once understood that this has
always been die doctrine of Ch
ristianity a refutation of racist
interpretations of Scripture.
THE CUSTOM OF presenting
die Three Kings of different ra
cial origins would immediate
ly furdier interracial co-op
eration and understanding in a
practical way. We in America,
who have inherited from a se
gregated past neighborhoods
and church .congregations wh
ich give us little opportunity to
know and work wldi those of a
different color , would have to
reach across the barriers that
divide us to find a black or wh
ite King to work with us on
project in which all have the
same status.
The demonstration of re
cent months have brought into
sharper focus the descrimina-
tory practices which hobble
American Negroes. It seems
to me that there is now a gre
ater awareness of the injustices
but if this new perceptiveness
is to be a step toward equa
lity of opportunity and integra
tion many positive programs
should be undertaken.
HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT,
and education are vital needs
but in none of these can inte
gration really be successful un
til we come to the realization
that jobs, houses, and schools
cannot be isolated, ripped out of
the social fabric in which they
exist. Integration must be a re
ality in every aspect of commu
nity life if it is to be wholly
successful in any.
secretariat at the Vatican for
the multiple schema 1“, "the
presence of the church in the
modern world," to be central
in the next session, as us theme
should be dominant at the Eu
charistic Congress at Bombay
next fall. On November 28 Pope
Paul assured the group, through
Cardinal Lercaro, that schema
17 will be given full considera
tion at the next session but af
ter the amended document on
"The Church."
As for the reasons for Pope
Paul’s pilgrimage, it is most
prudent to take the simple ex
planation of the papal discourse.
Undoubtedly, there was, also, a
realization that the visit would
augment the prestige of the Or
ient and make possible a fra
ternal encounter with some
heads of the Orthodox Churches
who have been waiting seem
ingly for Rome to take the first
step.
panoply which John once said
was that of "a Persian sat
rap." A youngish French theo
logian, Father Rene Laurentin,
humorously if ebullently hopes
that "on his return from the
Holy Land Paul VI will accept
the offer of an American mu
seum to buy the Sedia Gesta-
toria (the raised platform on
which the Pope is borne) Sedia
which the Pope is borne) and
the money given for new houses
in the poor village of Naza
reth."
At a minimum the pilgrimage
proves that a Pope is (if the
word can be used without ir
reverence) portable and that
Pope John XXIII was right once
again. Some monihs before his
death he told a missionary bis
hop from Africa; "I am too old
too old to return your visit. At
best 1 can only travel by train.
But my successor will be much
younger than I and he, will go
visit you in an airplane."
HOWEVER, FATHER Gautier
and his high-placed friends pra\
that it means, too, a deliberate
gesture of indentification of the
papacy w ith evangelical simpli
city of life and a future mini
mizing of that ecclesiastical
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