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j ft 4 4 QUESTION BOX New Priest Married? BY MONSIGNOR J. D. CONWAY Q. I read in our diocesan paper last week about a Protestant Minister being ordained a Catholic Priest. How can a man with a wife and family be ordained in our Church? I thought when priests were ordained in the Catholic Church they gave up the world and took Christ for their bride. The most beautiful thing lever experienced was to see a group of saintly looking young men give their lives to God and his holy service, but after reading the story about the Protestant minister, I thought to myself: What has he given up any more than any other business man? So I am much discouraged as a Catholic to read such. A. We should be cautious when we deprecate the sacrifices of someone else. Ernest Adam Beck, who is soon to be ordained for the Diocese of Mainz, in Germany, has surely made great sacrifices on his way to the holy priesthood. First, he gave up his Lutheran pastorate, with its consolations, its dignity, and its security for himself and his family. In its place he accepted a job with Catholic Relief Services in St. Louis. Then apparently he gave up his wife and children, at least for extended periods while he pursued his studies in Mainz, Paderborn, and at the seminary in Conception, Mo. He must have given up many friendships and close connections with his Lu theran relatives and friends. And now it seems that he must give up his homeland, for a time at least, and be ordained for a foreign diocese. It is perhaps a reflection on the maturity of our Catholicity in America that he had to seek holy orders from a foreign bishop. The impression given is that we Americans wouldn't be able to take it; we would be scandalized. This im pression easily forms against the background of our traditional intolerance of the married clergy of our Eastern Rite brethren in this country. It is only a couple of generations ago that one of our great liberal bishops let his Eastern Cath olics become Orthodox rather than tolerate a married priest in his diocese. And now we have authorization from Rome to require Eastern priests to desert their holy and venerable customs before they may do parochial work in our midst. We have a great tendency to sanctify the habitual. Those things are right which conform to the customs we know. For this reason many American Catholics fail to see the evils of segregation and discrimination. Those things are evil which up set the status quo. For this reason many of our Cathqlics are suspicious of civil rights legislat ion, and of welfare projects in general. We tend to see Communism behind all change. Certainly married priests are a novelty in the Latin Rite of modern times. But it was not always so. St. Peter was married, and probably most of the other Apostles. It was well into the Middle Ages before celibacy was generally en forced in a practical manner among the clergy of the Western Church. The East has always retained the custom of ordaining* married men, and there are some areas in which a pastor is expected to resign and retire to a monastery if his wife should die. He may not marry again, and the people lack confidence in a pastor who lives without a wife. Sometimes a widower of this kind may become a bishop. Bishops and monks do not have wives. Pope Pius XII, who was certainly no radical, was the first to break centuries of Latin tradi tion regarding a celibate priesthood. He grant ed permission for a former Bishop of Mainz to ordain ihe Rev. Rudolf Goethe on Dec. 22, 1951, just before his 71st birthday. Since then four other former Lutheran ministers have been ordained in Germany; and like Father Goethe all were permitted to continue normal married life. In Denmark a similar ordination took place in 1960, and just last year a former Calvinist minister was ordained in Holland. Two more convert Lutheran pastors are now studying for Holy Orders in Germany. When Pope Pius XII gave the first dispensat-' ion of this kind 12 years ago he made it clear that he was not setting a precedent. But when the future Father Beck becomes the eighth such priest to be. ordained it would seem that a precedent will be rather well established. Our last three popes have concurred in granting this favor. Who knows how far it may go in the future? We regularly have convert ministers in the U.S.A., and I doubt that we will send them all to Germany to be ordained. In time we will grow up ourselves. Celibacy of our clergy is not about to the abolished. Far from it. But we are learning that what God permits we need not always forbid. And God has evidently per mitted married men to be priests for nearly twenty centuries. NY ARCHBISHOP Scores Anti-Semitism NEW YORK (NC)--Francis Cardinal Spellman scored every form of racial and religious bigotry here and asserted that anti-Semitism, in particular, “can never find a basis in the Catholic religion.” The Archbishop of New York said (April 30) that “far from emphasizing the differences which divide Jews from Chris tians, our Faith stresses our common origins and the ties which bind us together. HE SPOKE at a dinner ses sion of the 57th annual meet ing of the American Jewish Committee, at which Secre tary of State Dean Rusk re ceived the annual American Liberties Medallion. Cardinal Spellman said that the causes of prejudice are mysterious and that its roots are deeply buried. He cited a recent survey into the causes of anti-Semitism made by B’nai B’rith, a Jewish fraternal organization, which showed that “a surprising num ber" of people interviewed re plied that in their opinion it was a punishment for the Jews’ part in the Crucifixion. “FRANKLY I was appalled," the prelate said. ‘This is not Christianity. I don’t know where they learned it but surely it was not from the teaching of their Church. It is one of those distorted and terribly harmful notions which somehow gains currency and like a cancer spreads among certain people who wish to justify their own bigotry." Cardinal Spellman said the responsibility for the Crucifix ion must be carefully stated. "RESPONSIBILITY for the Crucifixion of Jesus as an event of history belongs only to those individuals who were present at the time and who cooperated in His death," he said, “it is simply absurd to maintain that there is some kind of continu- Sabbath Holy DUBUQUE, la. (RNS) — Archbishop James J. Byrne, of Dubuque, urged "don’t do any buying or selling, on Sunday" in a communication to all clergy, religious and laity. ing guilt which is transferred to any group of people and which rests upon them as a curse for which they must suffer. ’The Christian Faith, on the other hand, does teach that Christ our Saviour died for all of us, in expiation for the*sins of all mankind. In this sense we do believe that we are all mys tically implicated in His death— but all without exception and all in the same way." CARDINAL Spellman, in an allusion to charges made in Rolf Hochhuth’s play, ’The Deputy,” that Pope Pius XII remained silent about nazi per secution of the Jews, recalled a broadcast he make to the Hungarian people and their leaders in 1944. The broadcast, he said, was made “at the re quest of Pope Pius XII to pro test the bloody persecution of Hungarian Jews." “I reminded them,"Cardinal Spellman said, “that their ac tion was ’in direct contradic tion to the Catholic Faith’ and I told them that ’no one who hates can be a follower of the gentle Christ, and no man can love God and hate his brother.’ " CHRIST’S ASCENSION Climax Of Redemption CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 voluntarily and totally to the will of God. Like all things human, this is a “timed" process, that is, it took place step by step, stage by stage. The consummation of this filial worship took place when the man Christ Jesus is established in glory "at the right hand of God" in unending oneness. There, as St. Paul says. He is our High Priest, “living always to make intercession for us." The Church calls the Ascension of Our Lord "wonderful" because it affords such marvelous substance to our hope. The Head of the body has passed through death and is established in glory. Therefore, in one sense, we are already trans ferred to heaven. It is only natural that the mem bers of the body should follow where the Head leads. From the eminence of his glory, Christ dispenses his Holy Spirit to live within us. The life that we call “grace" is then a shared life with the three Persons of the BlessedTrinity, because of Christ, What stronger pledge should our hope require? THE ASCENSION began the kind of presence of Christ in the world that we know from exper ience. Before that He was among men visibly as one of them. None of us has experienced that. Beginning with the Ascension, Hispresence on earth is through His body, which is the Church, In other words, Hispresence in the world is in and through us, His members. During His public life, His humanity was witness to God’s love and to the divine offer of reconciliation. From the day of His ascension, it is oursel ves who are His body and therefore the princi pal witness to this same divine love and offer. Before He left the Apostles, He prescribed that they should be “witnesses to the very ends of the earth." The Ascension is then a mystery and a feast of our mission as well as of theirs. The liturgy, the spirit of Pope John and of Vati can Council II have made all of us, clergy and laity alike, more acutely conscious of our com mon mission. The feast of the Ascension defines that mission most precisely. It rescues us from seeing our Christian moral imperatives primarily in terms of abstrat virtues and laws. The real mission we share is to convey the living presence of Christ to a here and now ex isting world in terms which that world can un derstand, That will mean myriad and varied de cisions of personal initiative- acts of love, of compassion, of devotion to truth, of sacrifice. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5 Saints in Black and White ST. JULIA 100 RETURN TO STATUS QUO? School Prayer Testimony Goes On In The Congress ACROSS 1. Astern 4. chalice 8. smash 11. crock 14. goddess 15. baker 1C. suffix denoting crirrln 17. time before 18. Dealer (abbr.l 19. left 20. prohibition 21. River, S. Poland 22. Mona 24. lunchtime 26. stamp 27. lives 30. small hollow 33. 8panlsh Mr. 36. Place where her relics are. 40. Triple S 43. keen 45. escort 46. Turner 48. cold 60. meaning 51. South Sea Isle 63. duck she died 71. expectation 74. cymo 77. rend 78. A S. one 28. 29. 31. 32. 34. 79. pc-sesslve proncun 35. 81. exude 84. ‘T M 85. belonging to 86. prefix - ahead 87. aroma 88. road sign 89. degenerate 90. comb, form, within 91. 13-19 92. lamprey 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 44. 47. 49. 52. 54. DOWN 1. muddled 2. Name of Governor who wished her to 57. worship his god 59. 3. ankles 62. 4. pledge 64. 5. salutation 66. 6. Swiss herdsman 08. 7. ccmb: form, inner 69. 8. associate familiarly 70. 9. Greenland Eskimo 71. 55. Red River rebellion 10. decade leader 11. Mexican dollar 72. 56. She was a noble— 12. Elliptical 73. 60. principle 19. contribute 75. 60. She is one 23. blockhead 76. 61. inveigle^ 25. prep, of possession 79. 63. reappraisal 26. Her was 80. f>6. post charmed with her 82. 6?. The way in which fidelity 83. exact point catch Senora tabbr.) lays pointed arch ignite again > Mont. Alpine peak between France ami Italy panel Sister of ‘Astaire’* Sue was sold as material to express contemns Jockey pertaining to algae sand hill insects. 20th lpttcr of Hebrew alphabet late Japanese plant deplore explosive look! ganders N.R.A. symbol drivel The Governor had her torn off on nuisance plunder male nickname unlock vase Woman’s noma eagle ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 BY GEORGE E. REED (N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE) “Let us return to the status quo before June, 1962." This is the theme of many persons testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in favor of a proposed constitu tional amendment to negate the 1962 and 1963 decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court against prayer and Bible reading in public schools. LIKE MANY slogans and fa cile phrases, the current one loses much of its thrust when carefully scrutinized and when put into historical perspective. The House hearings are dis closing a deep and significant change in the historic religious- cultural pattern of the United Sttes. MANY WITNESSES have tes tified to the historical fact that the reading of verses from the Bible and recitation of prayer in public school rooms are a product of the Protestant cul ture which dominated our edu cational institutions and Ameri can society in general during the 19th century. The First Amendment of the Federal Constitution did not af fect growth of religious exer cises in schools because dur ing this period the amendment was not considered applicable to the actions of a state. It was solely a limitation on action by the Federal government. THE RELIGIOUS practices in the schools, therefore, were a reflection of dominant Protes- ARNOLD VIEWING Whither The Legion? BY JAMES W. ARNOLD Now and then a man must take what politicians call the long view, and have an eyeball-to-eye- ball confrontation with his own conscience. Here are some mildly revolutionary thoughts on the movies, set down in a week when the only new shows in town were “A Question of Adultery" (we guessed how that one would come out) and a new Elvis Presley epic (in which the Grand Old Man of rock-n-roll plays two parts distinguish ed by different colored wigs): Whither goest the Legion of Decency? The Bishop’s state ment two weeks ago, on the Le gion's 30th anniversary, was an inspiration to those of us who expend much of our eye sight on the cinema. Of parti cular delight were their re jection of the view that films must always remain bland es capist entertainment, their recognition of movies as a fully developed art-form, and their criticism of the new Hollywood trend to immortalize the Playboy view of life. MY FAVORITE passage was the one which chastized educators for continuing (50 years after D. W. Griffith) to teach the appreciation of litera ture while ignoring the visual literature that sur rounds us: “Young people are still taught as if TV and films did not really exist, as if these media had no influence on the formation of their lives upon the molding of 20th century culture and values.” The Legion's own problems, however, were not fully explored. Oddly enough, the fame week (April 18) in Ave Maria, Gary MacEoin was ask ing some hard questions. He wondered if the Le gion (1) had failed in its effort to uphold the moral level of films, and (2) had helped project the image of the Church as a negative monolith seeking to impose its moral values on. others. He suggested the possibility of a new approach at a time when that celebrated “new wind" is blowing so much invigorating change through the Church. UNFORTUNATELY, one can only speculate about the answers to MacEoin’s questions. How great is the Legion’s modifying effect on film producers and distributors? (Certainly it was con siderable when the vast majority of moviegoers were family groups seeking a few hours'diver sion. Now most of this audience stays home and watches television. The Bishops note that in 1938 some 93 per cent of films reviewed were approved for the family. By 1963, the figure had fallen to 27 per cent. The incredible success of the new sex comedies suggests a serious change in the moral attitudes of what remains of the unsophis ticated majority audience). More crucially, does the Legion significantly influence Catholics who go to movies often? If it does, it will also influence those who make movies. Clearly, it helps little to win the vigorous support of those who unscrew their purses at the box- office only two or three times a year. And if Catholics select moral films, is it because of the Legion? Or would they tend to make the same choices anyway as responsible Catholic film- goers? THOUGH RESEARCH into these questions may well produce two very different sets of answers. One, that ratings do influence parental selection of films for children, and thus indirectly influence the availability of such films. Two, that with the likely exception of condemned films, the ratings have a declining effect on the choices of adult Catholic movie fans and correspondingly on those who make adult films. This is only a guess, but it is consistent with box-office evidence. Good children’s films gen erally succeed, whereas good adult films often lag far behind the Doris Day-Rock Hudson-Jack Lem mon masterworks. If research supports this con jecture, there would seem continued justification for that part of the Legion program which (1) classifies films as morally suitable for children and (2) brands clearly dangerous pictures as prob able occasions of sin for adults. THE CONTINUED practice of condemnation would, of course, depend on prudent answers to other questions: Does the "C" rating encourage attendance by others who may be attracted by the publicity? Does it do real harm to the image of the Church as a patron of the Intellect, Freedom, and the Arts? Is it the only way, or the best way, of dealing with objectionable films? CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS: For everyone: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Lord of the Flies, Lilies of the Field. For connoisseurs: Tom Jones, 81/2, The Leopard. V - •' " " - - FAMILY ROSARY processions are annual events in St. Paul and Minneapolis, with thousands taking part. Peggy Carr, 6, sat on the shoul der of her father, Minneapolis attorney Patrick H. Carr Jr., to see over the throng, as the pro cession moved toward St. Mary’s basilica in Minneapolis. Families, high school and college students, clergy, religious and other groups recited the rosary as they walked in the pro cessions. tant attitudes rather than an implicit interpretation or con struction of the First Amend ment. Because of this, for example, Catholic children who were re quired to participate in sec tarian prayers and practices could not appeal through their parents to the Federal courts. Their only recourse was the state courts which, with a few exceptions, declined to enforce the rights asserted by Catho lic parents. FURTHERMORE, as protests against religious practices in public schools mounted, the states, at the turn of the cen tury, began enacting laws to protect Bible reading. The his torically dominant Protestant cultural tradition was thus translated into law in many states. This was a paradoxical de velopment since at the same time the culture that gave rise to this tradition was losing its prominence and religious plur alism was gaining ascendancy. THIS IMPORTANT social change coincided with a revolu tion in constitutional law which resulted in the extension of the First Amendment and the prin ciples embodied in the Bill of Rights to state action. Since the 1930s, the First Amend ment has served as a limitation on state as well as Federal ac tion. There were, therefore, two new factors affecting American life—a different culture, plur alistic in nature, and a new body of applicable law. THE SUPREME Court de cisions were made against this background and the court ap plied the First Amendment to this new social condition. In ruling out prayer and Bible reading as devotional exercis es, the court endeavored, through awkwardly, to react re alistically to the new culture, rather than to perpetuate the Protestant tradition in Ameri can culture. IN ADDITION, the plea for a return to the status quo before 1962 raises two important ques tions. First, why return only to June, 1962, the month when the court held unconstitutional rec itation of a 22-word prayer in New York public schools? Why not return to the status quo be fore 1948 when the basis was laid for the prayer and Bible reading decisions? IT WAS THE McCollum de cision of 1948 that served as legal precedent for these later decisions by ruling out any in volvement of public schools and public school officials in reli gious instruction. The court held unconstitutional the hold ing of religious instruction classes on public school prop erty. If, therefore, a constitutional amendment limited to prayer and Bible reading is adopted, it might be validly argued that the McCollum decision is irrevo cably recognized as an accep table part of constitutional law. THIS COULD put one in a rather anomalous position be cause on the one hand, schools would be permitted to conduct religious exercises, while on the other hand, use of school property for voluntary reli gious instruction is denied. The second important ques tion is this: would the proposed prayer amendment actually re store the status quo? THE AMENDMENT would certainly not restore the old culture which has yielded to religious pluralism. Moreover, prayer and Bible reading in public schools would derive from the authority of constitu tional law, rather than com munity consensus. Admittedly, these two fac tors, constitutional law and par ental will, would coincide in many instances. The fact would remain, however, that Federal law would underlie this prac tice—a law which would re-es tablish a practice which was a product of a culture that no longer exists, THIS IS the rub; this is the stumbling block which confronts the advocates of the prayer amendment. And this is the reason why so many religious bodies are opposing it. God Love You BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEtf Breaking the Commandments is news, but virtue never makes headlines. Juvenile delinquents are “good press,” but how about Kood young men, such as this public-school student who writes: "Enclosed please find a money-order for $32 which I want to donate to the Holy Father's So ciety for the Propagation of the Faith. 1 didn’t earn this myself, but I formed a mission club called The Laymen’s Missionary Society. I’m a teenager in public school, but I want to share my Faith with all my non-Catholic friends. I also want to help the missionaries share it with the poor, because I believe the ‘poor rich Church’ of America is keeping the Redemption of Our Lord to itself. Our mission club is small, consisting of 29 members from the ages of 10 to 87. Eleven are high school students, so don’t think you are fighting alone. "My dear Bishop, the reason I am telling you about our mis sion club is because I would like to order 16 Worldmission Rosaries. We are going to start saying the Rosary for the Mis sions at our meetings. To give you a glimpse of our enthu siasm, let me tell you about our last session. I started it with a talk which I assembled from reading MISSION magazine. Then we were instructed in Christian doctrine by our parish priest, We have decided to meet twice a month for the mission meeting, fol lowed by instruction. There were 35 people at this meeting, and if we get a few more members, we will ask our pastor to let us make this a parish society. “My dear Bishop, pray for us so we will become like lambs, so we will shed some of our wool for the poor. And please tell the Holy Father to use all the money you give him quickly, be cause I can't wait for the poor pagans to meet our Divine Savior. I’ll never stop praying for the Missions I" GOD LOVE YOU TO ANX. for $775 “At the suggestion of my confessor, I send this to the poor of the world.” ....to C.S.T. for $2 “1 received this for serving a wedding. I decided this was a good time for a teenager to do something useful with his money.’.’ ....to C.S. for $10 "Through the past three years, while I have been in nurse’s training school, I have made all kinds of excuses for not sending you an offering. I am now sending you a day’s wages from my extra job at the supermarket. It is in gratitude to Our Lord and Our Lady for helping me complete my course and begging their help in this blessed calling.” We are not only asking for your sacrifices, but for your prayers too. Send your request and an offering of $2 for the WORLDMIS SION ROSARY, and we w.ll send you these multi-colored beads blessed by Bishop Sheen. Each time you say the WORLDMIS SION ROSARY you will remember to put aside a daily sacrifice for the Holy Father. Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Moat Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York lx, N. Y. or your Diocesan Director, Rev. Harold J. Rainey, P. O. Box 12047, Northslde Station, Atlanta 5, Georgia.