Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2
GEORGIA BULLETIN
THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1964
CARDINAL SVENENS SAYS
Christians Must Awaken
To Their Apostolic Duty
WASHINGTON (NC)--Chris
tianity today stands in need of a
“great awakening" among its
members to their duty to bring
Christ to the world, Leo Car
dinal Seunens said here.
number of non-Christians. A
half a billion compared with two
and a half million, flow will we
succeed in having each Chris
tian bring the message of life
to four others?"
The Archbishop of Malines-
Brussels, in an address at
Georgetown University • (May
8), said the passivity of Chris
tians is "the fundamental prob
lem for the Church" today.
‘THE PROBLEM is of capi
tal importance," he said, "One
need do no more than compare
two figures to realize the fact:
the number of Christians, the
MOTOR HOTEL
*, FREE PARKING
• TV ft AIR CONDITIONING
• FAMOUS MIAMI BUFFET
• ICE ft BEVERAGE STATIONS
• COFFEE MAKER. EACH ROOM
Hsrrf Donohuu, Umnmgtr
Am*rlc«n Expr*,,*
Credit Cards Accepted
LUCKIE AT CONE ST.
|| A Good Addreaa In Atlanta
Although the duty of Chris
tians to be apostles "flows
quite simply from the fact of
their Baptism," Cardinal
Suenens said, "in point of fact
our Christian people have not
yet come to see that their
Christian Baptism is a call
to the apostolate."
"EVERY CATHOLIC has a
duty to be an apostle," he said,
"All who love God must try to
make others love Him too. All
who love their neighbor must
try to share their greatest
treasure, th e Faith. That is
elementary charity."
The Cardinal took issue with
the standard catechism expla
nation of the reason of human
PI.AMKNCO DKCOR
^ now collection of tino. nond>foi*vod wrought
*n and handcrafted, wood article* with th*
romantic touch of Spanish designs to aloaso
th* Anftriean taste.
Mad* l* Muiis fasloilvsty far
PinAmirlein Imports
tt*V<*daehtryc (in Buckhoad)
IGNATIUS HOUSE
RETREATS IV JESUIT PRIESTS
Woekend* For Mon
And
Weekends For Women
6700 Riverside Drive N. W. 255-0503
Atlanta* Georgia 30328
“PET.^you betl”
PET
MUM COMPANY
DAISY DIVISION
For Convenient Home Delivery In
Atlanta Call 636-8677
OFFICIAL
CATHOLIC
DIRECTORY
ARCHDIOCESE OF
ATLANTA
?964
PRICE
SI.OO
Your Nanto
Address...
City State .
existence: ‘To know, love and
serve God."
RATHER, HE said, the pur
pose of a man’s life is "to
know God and make Him known;
to love God and make Him loved;
to serve God and make Him ser
ved."
Cardinal Suenens received
Georgetown’s 175th anniver
sary Medal of Honor from Fath
er Edward B. Bunn, S.J., the
university’s president.
EARLIER THE same day the
Cardinal spoke and received an
honorary doctorate of humane
letters at the Catholic Univer
sity of America,
He said the growing appre
ciation of "diversity" within
the Church requires "minds
which are gifted with an extra
ordinary degree of suppleness,
minds which are, above all else,
capable of distinguishing with
precision that which Is not sub
ject to change from that which
is changeable In the Church and
in all the elements that go to
make her up."
HE SAID much of the "heal
thy tension" in the Church to
day is "rooted in the sensitivi
ty of one part of her members
to ’the deposit to be preserved’
and in the sensitivity of another
part to ’the talent to be develop
ed.’ "
"Both groups are In the
right," he commented. "Both
groups have tasks to perform
toda y within the pne and only
Church."
DISCUSSING Pope JohnXXIII’s
plan for an aggioraamento—up-
dating--of the Church, he said
it is "more than a strategic
measure aimed at giving the
Church a greater hold on men,"
but instead "looks to the very
nature of the Church, to the es
sence of her mission on earth,"
‘The Church cannot appear
unadorned here below," he said.
"And yet she finds herself to
day dressed in a good number of
styles which not only are or
seem to be out of fashion, but
which may not be genuine gar
ments at all. The Church must
change them, but without touch
ing the substance of her own
being and without exposing her
self to the danger of existing,
for a time, disembodied."
CARDINAL Suenens said this
task "calls for the most loyal
and the most generous of ef
forts."
"It calls for the grace of the
Holy Spirit and an entire ecu
menical council if we aye to ad
vance, without delay yet without
undue haste, In this business of
bringing up to date, of discov
ering the new cultural forms
which are destined to replace,
neither too early nor too late,
the old", he said.
Youths Plan
Prayer Day
WASHINGTON (NC)— Catho
lic college students and youth
groups all over the United Sta
tes will observe a national day
of prayer for human rights
on Sunday, May 17— the 19th
anniversary of the Supreme
Court decision that ordered the
end of segregation in public
schools.
A resolution signed jointly by
directors of the Catholic Youth
Organization, the Nationa
Newman Club Federation and
the National Federation of
Catholic College Students, ob
served: "It is only through
prayer that the final answer
to man’s Intolerance toward
his fellow man will be found."
They urged that members
pray and work for "legislation
which seeks to recognize the
dignity of man, the brother
hood of men under the faith-
hood of God, and the establish
ment of laws which protect the
human rights of all men."
Not Mere Copies
ST. CHARLES, 111. (NC)--
Catholic colleges and universi
ties can never become '"mere
copies of secular schools’’
turning out people "well versed
in profane knowledge but medio
cre in the knowledge and prac
tice of their Faith," it was stat
ed here by Albert Cardinal Mey
er of Chicago.
ACCORDING TO THE MARONITE LITURGY—Twenty-one priests of the Maronite Rite
gathered around the "Mary Altar" in Washington's National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception. May 3. to concelebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Maro
nite Liturgy in Arabic and Syriac. Auxiliary Maronite Bishop Francis Zayek. of Brazil:
Father Robert Jshaheen of Danbury. Conn., the Maronite priest he ordained the previous
day there, and Father Elias El Havek. rector of the Maronite Seminary. Washington, and
other priests of that rite are shown on that happy occasion.
ELIMINATING DISTORTIONS
Examine Religion Texts
In Light Of Ecumenism
BY RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE
That Catholic textbooks on
religion have been found to con
tain some ’’negative and dis
torted’’ references to Protes
tants, Jews and other non-Cath-
olic groups made headlines in
the press this week. But the
story was not a "negative" one;
it was, in fact, a positive re
port of a highly important na
ture.
It was a sign of the times —
another contribution by a ma
jor religious body to ecumenism
and interreligious understand
ing.
FOR THIS three-year study
of Catholicism’s texts was made
by Catholics just as a simi
lar study involving Protestant
texts was conducted by Protes
tants and a current investiga
tion of Jewish volumes is be
ing carried out by Jews.
The self-examination of Cath
olic religious texts was under
taken at St. Louis University,
a Jesuit institution, by nun-
researchers and writers under
the supervision of a noted Jes
uit educator. As was true of the
Protestant study, completed ini
1963, it pulled no punches.
Of the many textbooks used
by U.S. Catholic schools, at
least one made this reference
to Jewish rejection of Chris
tianity: "The Jews as a nation
refused to accept Christ, and
since His time they have been
wanderers on the earth with
out a temple, or a sacrifice,
and without the Messiah.**
ANOTHER, IN a reference to
Latin America, said that "Pro
testantism and communism
have hindered the Catholic
Church in South America.’’Still
another applied to leaders of
the Protestant Reformation
such terms as "adulterous ty
rant. . .self-satisfied monarch
. . .obstinate heretic. . .’’
The older the textbook the
more likely it will contain neg
ative or distorted data, the re
searchers found, and they urged
publishers to withdraw offen
sive material.
As was found in the study,
"Faith and Prejudice,*’ by Dr.
Bernard E. Olson, of Protes
tant religious education mater
ials, the Catholic survey show
ed that the blatant charge and
counter-charge type of writing
is rare compared with that
which omits or gives quick and
inadequate reference to other
faiths.
IN HIS BOOK, Dr. Olson, a
Methodist clergyman, associat
ed with Union Theological Sem
inary, cited this quotation from
a Protestant religious text:
"Luther said a heathen with
the necessary wisdom and abili
ty is to be preferred as a rul
er to a godly man who lacks
any qualifications. A good
Christian may not make a good
official. To elect a man merely
because of his creed shows
poor judgment. However, a
Christian should not vote for
persons whose religion makes
them dangerous to the welfare
of the sute. Roman Catholics
are pledged to further the in
terest of the Pope above all
other interests. Mormons,
atheists, certain religious fana
tics, Communists and other
radical groups are apt to en
danger the welfare of the state.’’
Such references are regarded
as hangovers from another era,
but the experts stress a need
for all religious bodies to re
study their religious curricula
and the texts employed.
SAID FATHER Paul C. Rein
ert, S.J., president of St. Louis
University, in announcing the
Catholic study:
"(In preparing textbooks) the
problem of identifying in a posi
tive manner with other reli
gions are more difficult and
complex than those of identify
ing with other racial and ethnic
groups.
"Although racial prejudice
may be America’s most press
ing social concern, interreli
gious relationships pose mere
complex problems in the prepa
rations of religious teaching
texts...
"This is understandable,
since the religious textbook is
where each group sets forth
its own faith and recounts its
own history. Critical judgments
regarding other faiths may be
unavoidable, but great care
must be exercised to prevent
bias and prejudice from dis
torting teaching materials."
FATHER REINERT said that
the "self-studies’* by Protes
tants, Catholics and Jews "are
designed to help make textbook
writers, religious educators
and clergymen more sensitive
to the problem of prejudice in
religious texts."
Catholic research — and this
was true of Protestant texts,
too -- revealed that religious
texts contained far more "posi
tive references" to Jews than
to other Christian bodies.
"Negative” comments about
Protestants tended, the St.
Louis study disclosed, to con
centrate on historic religious
conflicts — Protestantism’s
doctrinal differences with the
Catholic Church; the Reforma
tion; and areas of present day
Catholic-Protestant competi
tion.
In his study of Protestant
textbooks, Dr. Olson reported
that "protestants are more
preoccupied with other reli
gions and picture them less
favorably. They are less dis
posed, as our findings clearly
indicate, to make negative judg
ments about racial and ethnic
outsiders and more disposed to
identify sympathetically with
their prblems and aspira
tions."
JUST AS the Protestant sur
vey showed that the Catholic
Church occupied rhe lowest po
sition in textbook references
from the standpoint of men
tions, the Jesuit-directed sur
vey revealed Catholic texts
place Protestantism in the same
category. Both religious groups
(or, more precisely, their writ
ers, editors and publishers of
religious texts) have been weak
in covering the other Christian
body. And both devoted much
more study and space to rela
tionships with the Jews, with
the Negro and with other mino
rities.
The authors of the St. Louis
University study have recom
mended that Catholic texts avoid
generalizations, oversimplifi
cations and over-all judgments
of an entire group. In teaching
about Protestants, it advocated
that Catholics reject the "apo
logetic” approach, one aimed
at destroying Protestants* reli
gious arguments, and adopt, in
stead, a "kerygmatic” method
stressing the positive virtue of
love of God and neighbor.
FATHER TRAFFORD P. Ma-
har, S.J., the project supervi
sor, held that research into
Catholic texts revealed that
"intergroup communications
still need much more attention.
If the many groups in our hete
rogeneous society are going to
prepare our children to live
more intelligently and con
structively, much more time
and attention must be given to
human relations and integroup
knowledge and skills.
"It is hoped that these re
search projects will serve as a
stimulus to school people in the
great work of preparing child
ren to live harmoniously in the
democracy that is the United
States of America."
The interreligious coopera
tion plays a major role in such
studies was evident in the way
the Catholic texts story was
released — simultaneously by
a Jesuit university and the
American Jewish Committee,
pioneer U.S. organization dedi
cated to combating bigotry and
advancing human rights.
THE JEWISH agency helped
finance, and assisted, the Pro
testant and Catholic projects; it
also is a moving force in the
study, soon to be released, of
Jewish texts investigated by
Dropsie College for Hebrew and
Cognate Learning in Philadel
phia.
A similar survey has been
authorized by the National
Council of Churches’ Division
of Christian Education and Bur
eau of Research and Study. It
envisions intensive research
to analyze education materials
as possible breeding ground for
prejudice. Many denominations,
members of the Council, are
participating or contributing
materials for study. Dr. Olson
is directing the project.
According to the prospectus,
the NCC survey will examine
not only textbooks, but all areas
of communications between in
structor and student, including
films and other audio-visual
teaching aids.
Studies of what children read
and what they must study are
undergoing continuing scrutiny
by public, private and parochial
schools and by Sunday Schools.
Difficulties are presented in
ever field, from routine ele
mentary school civics to the
production of catechisms. Re
cently, Dr, Judah J, Harris of
New York released a three-
year-study on "The Treatment
of Religion in Elementary
School Studies." Dr, Harris’
research was compiled for the
‘HISTORIC’
Methodists Hear
Bishop Wright
PITTSBURGH (NC)--Bishop
John J. Wright of Pittsburgh
told the quadrennial general
conference of the Methodist
Church here that "blood is
thicker than water" when it is
the Blood of Christ and that
we can therefore welcome each
other as Christians.
"What is also true,” he said,
* is that precisely as Chris
tians, and despite the differen
ces among us, we share a dif
ference from the spirit of the
world.
"IF IT IS true, and it is, that
we remain divided from one
another by differences in faith
that cannot be ignored,"he con
tinued, "it is also true, and not
less basic, that we share, pre
cisely as Christians, a differ
ence from the spirit of the
world. That shared difference
must be intensified and unite us
ever more deeply and intimate
ly in the face of certain athe
ist humanism, a spirit of secu
larism which wants no part of
the Christ who must be all and
in all for us."
Bishop Wright was the first
Catholic bishop ever invited by
a Methodist general conference
to address it. The occasionwas
described by both Bishop W,
Venon Middleton, resident
Methodist Bishop of the Wes
tern Pennsylvania area, and
Bishop Fred P. Corson of Phil
adelphia, president of the World
Methodist Council, as "histo
ric."
BISHOP CORSON introduced
Bishop Wright as "one of the
outstanding theological inter
preters of the ecumenical
movement." He told the 868
Methodist delegates from
throughout the United States,
Europe, Asia and Africa that
"what we are doing John Wes
ley in his way is approving too."
John Wesley was the founder of
Methodism.
Another 2,000 observers were
in the gallery of the Civic
Arena for Bishop Wright’s ad
dress.
that we entrust one another with
our confidences."
With regard to the latter,
Bishop Wright alluded to the
presence of Methodist obser
vers at Vatican Council II and
underscored how intimately
they had shared the "secrets"
of the council.
"THEN AGAIN, as Christians
we are more even than friends,"
the Bishop declared, "since
among all people blood is thick
er than water, and among Chris
tians the Blood of the Saviour
is involved,.,We welcome one
another as Christians."
Bishop Wright emphasized
that there are "many, deep and
basic doctrinal differences’*
between Catholics and Metho
dists, and he said it would be
"dishonest and un-Christian to
deny this."
’THESE DIFFERENCES,"he
commented, "involve our very
concepts of the Church itself,
sometimes even of Chrlst.They
therefore involve differences in
faith, in the cult that is the lit
urgical expression of faith, and
all things so close to conscience
that we must avoid any confu
sion in their regard, lest, in
deed, we give scandal, the last
thing in the world we would
wish to do as Christians, es
pecially to the little ones of
the flock."
Bishop Wright based his de
scription of "the Christian dif
ference from the spirit of the
world” on an early Church
anonymous document, the Epis
tle to Diognetus, detailing the
ways in which Christians dif
fer from the rest of mankind,
BISHOP WRIGHT declared
that "the difference that we
have in common, that power we
have to hold the world together
as Christians, comes precise
ly from the difference that be
lief in Christ must bring into
the way of thinking, the way of
loving, the desires, the deeds,
the very lives of those who bear
His name."
BISHOP WRIGHT welcomed
the Methodists ’ as a neighbor”.
In fact, he continued, the wel-
com is "much more than this;
it is the welcome of a friend—
for we are friends, in that we
share one another’s concerns,
that we like the same things,
The Bishop remarked that
"although we cannot compro
mise faith by confusion in cult
and liturgical prayer, we can
longingly and lovingly unite In
the prayer the one Christ taught
us.” The Bishop then recited
the Lord’s Prayer,
DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS—At a special convoca
tion at Catholic University of America, May 8, the honorary
decree of Doctor of Humane Letters was conferred on Jo
seph Cardinal Suenens, Archbishop of Malines-Brussels and
Primate of Belgium. He is shown here (center) at the
ceremonies with Archbishop Patrick A. O’Boyle (left), of
Washington, chancellor of the University and Auxiliary
Bishop William J. McDonald, rector of the University.
Anti-Defamation League of
B’nai B’rith, Jewish service
organization.
HE FOUND that some 120
school texts ignored the reli
gious pluralism of U.S. life,
generally favored Protestan
tism over Catholicism and
Christianity over Judaism, and
showed some bias in treatments
of religious persecution, Mus
lims and various phases of the
Reformation.
B’nai B’rith's report said
such a study has needed to
"stimulate improvement of the
treatment of religion as his
tory" — one designated to pro
duce texts giving American
youngsters ”a better under
standing of our culture and a
better background for the solu
tion of intergroup tensions."
Intentness of the world’s re
ligious leaders to remove mis
understanding and unnecessary
"negative” approaches about
other religions is perhaps best
shown in the case Involving two
Popes and Judaism,
Jews were pained because the
Catholic Good Friday liturgy
contained the phrase’‘Oremus
pro perfidiis Iudaeis” (Let us
pray for the perfidious Jews).
The late Pope Pius XII in
structed that the Latin phrase
be translated as “Let us pray
for the unbelieving Jews.”
SCHOLARS in the U.S. noted
that innumerable Catholic au
thorities had held that the prop
er translation of "perfidiis”
was "lack of faith,” or rather
a lack of Christian faith.
In 1959, in a move hailed by
Jewish leaders throughout the
world, Pope John XXIII order
ed the word "perfidiis” strick
en from the liturgy. Now Cath
olics, on Good Friday, say:
"Let us pray for the Jews,”
For much the same reason
— to remove misunderstanding,
to promote goodwill and inter-
religious friendship — Pro
testants, Catholics and Jews in
the U.S. are scanning their re
ligious textbooks to spot and
eliminate that which is "nega
tive and distorted" about those
of other faiths.