Newspaper Page Text
FROM PARISH
Community Obligation
Saints in Black and White
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1964
GEORGIA BULLETIN
PAGE 5
BY LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
The days are long gone since the Church was the
dominant and determining factor within society.
During the centuries which we call the Middle
Ages, the Church was the sole religious pheno
menon within the narrow bounds of western
Europe. It also determined many aspects of social
life which were not specifically religious. At the
climax of the Middle Ages the secular states of
Europe were considered to derive their authority
from the Church. Their kings were vassals of the
Pope.
Whether this Church-oriented social system
actually produced a society which was character
istically Christian is very ques-
[tionable. In any case, it is clear
| that the Church exists in a very
^different condition in today's
\ world. She is no longer the fo-
| cus of the day to day course of
history. Nor does she set, to
| any significant degree, the
j standards of social life for any-
| thing approaching a majority
of today's population. This is
true even in no-called Christian societies and
within the bounds of medieval Christendom. If we
count the vast mass of not even nominally Chris
tian cultures and nations, then the minority posi
tion of the Church becomes really clear.
THE CONDITION of the Church in twentieth-
century society has frequently been compared with
the diaspora or dispersion of the Jews among the
pagan societies outside their own homeland. Like
them, today’s Christian is by definition at odds
with the society in which he lives. The Church is
one social group within the whole. Her influence is
only effectively exercised by suasion, not by direct
legal power or even by indirect political tactics.
Her mission can no longer be conceived as a man
date to rule society, if it was ever correct to so
conceive it.
This "diaspora" situation of the Church deter
mines her approach to the world, not only In terms
of papal pronouncements and polity, but in terms
of the kind of parish that is appropriate to our
day. The two are, of course, closely related. The
parish ought to reflect the realism of today's re-
RECTOR OF INSTITUTE
awakened sense of mission, exemplified so dra
matically in Popes John and Paul and in the Vati
can Council.
The parish of today needs a clearly felt sense of
community within itself. It needs to provide an en
vironment in which the Christian can learn and
preserve the convictions which mark him off from
the society in which he must live and work and
spend his time and energy. Since he will find him
self at odds to some degree with a majority in
the other social groups to which he belongs, he
urgently needs the experience of shared attitudes
and convictions within his religious community.
This cannot be accomplished solely on the basis
of authority. The Church and the parish must en
gage his loyalty and freedom.
THE PARISH community and the more genera
lized community of the faith can not be allowed to
degenerate into parochialism, a narrow preoc
cupation with immediate concerns. This has been
characterized as a "ghetto" mentality that has af
flicted some areas of Catholic life in the recent
past. In order to preserve the integrity of the
faith, some considered it necessary to defend
the members of the Church from contact with the*
secular and differentiated culture around them.
The so-called parallel organizations, exclusively
for Catholics in various fields, serve many worth
while purposes.
In some instances, however, they have had the
unfortunate effect of insulating Catholics from the
thinking and concerns of their neighbors. And,
they have effectively blocked understanding of
Catholicism by society at large. Pope John pro
claimed the Church open in mind and heart to the
modern world with its virtues, problems and
needs. The parish must focus its attention with
clarity and charity on the community in which it
exists and on the other groups within that com
munity.
The social group in which an American parish
lives has an urgent need to understand, in a rat-
lonaland freedom-respecting fashion, the implica
tions of Catholic doctrine. Certain groups - the
poor, the Negroes, other Christian denominations,
the Jewish community - are of particular perti
nence to the healthily aware parish. Common bonds
must be strengthened; legitimate aspirations ought
to be shared; honest differences should be discus
sed openly and with maturity.
ARCHBISHOP
Vernacular Aids Worship
Across
1. He served under
Don .... of
Portugal
6. His position was
that of a
10. Empress; abbr.
13. Panther
14. Biblical country
15. For
16. Note; music
17. Yawns
19. Traveler
21. Viper
(si.)
63. Annoyed
65. Pure Air
66. Credit
68. Female name
70. Iceland epic
71'. Cut
73. Murders
75. Ice (German)
76. A deep dish
fruit pie
79. Ort
81. Eye (Scot.)
82. Every
83. Repositcd
23. Goods cast overboard; 85. He converted the
Maritime law
25. Pull
26. Two
28. Shares
30. Blunder
33. Levitated
35. Marine
37. Roof edge
31’. Pagan
40. Storehouse
42. Troops
43. Active
45. Set systems
47. Road sign; abbr.
48. Sheep call
50. Fungus growth
52. Asiatic plant
54. Century
56. Having ears
58. Ghost
61. Tincture
87. Formerly
88. Groove
89. Rewards
Down
1. Keystone State; abbr.
2. Incite
3. Twofold
4. Quick
5. Its capital is Salem
6. 17th letter • Hebrew
alphabet
7. Emmet
8. Unspoiled
9. Take effect
10. Short poem
11. Title of address
12. Danish measure
13. He entered the
.... Order
16. Mother (Sp.)
J8- Mixed greens
20. Unique
22. Turkish Title
24. Not at all
27. Populous
29. Oust
31. Athwart
32. Tear
34. Crystalline salt
36. Water plant
39. Cheroot
41. Rhythm
44. Dewy
46. Arrest
48. A waslvng
49. Rate of exchange
51. Recites
53. Eat avnv
5 5. Elevate
57. Bargains
59. He went to the
60. Tantalize
62. Crypt
64. A dram
67. Streamlets
69. Eagle’s nest
72. A kind of duck
74. Lucid
76. May
7 7 . Chemistry suffix
78. River (Sp.)
80. Doctor of Pedagogy;
abbr.
84. Delirium Tremens;
abbr.
86. Uncle Sara
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7
DETROrr (NC) — Arch
bishop John F. Dearden of De
troit expressed appreciation for
the concessions for the exten
sive use of English in the lit
urgy but at the same time war
ned that the use of the verna
cular will not automatically
bring about "that full, conscious
and active participation in lit
urgical celebrations which . , .
is their right and duty,"
The prelate, who is chairman
of the American Bishops'Com
mission on the Liturgical Apos-
tolate, predicted however that
the use of English will be an
"effective means for an active,
understanding participation of
the people in the liturgy,"
BUT HE indicated in an in
terview here that there must
be a concerted effort to assure
a more profound understanding
of the rites of the Mass and the
sacraments so that priests and
people can join in active and
meaningful participation.
In voicing gratitude for the
speedy action of the postconci-
liar liturgical commission in
Rome in approving the Ameri
can Bishops’ liturgical decrees
of April 2, Archbishop Dear
den indicated that so far as is
known, the U, S, is among the
first national groups to re
ceive an approved text formu
lated in the light of the ecu
menical council's Constitu
tion on the Sacred Liturgy.
WHILE NO definite date has
been established for introduc
ing English in the Mass and in
the complete rites of the sacr
aments, Archbishop Dearden
said it will go into effect "as
Says Biblical Instruction
Is A Positive Document
ARNOLD VIEWING
T eapots-Rhododendron
BY-JAMES W. ARNOLD
ROME )C)—The recent in
struction issued by the Ponti
fical Commission for Biblical
Studies calling on Catholic
scholars to apply both tradi
tional and modern means of
scholarship to discover the full
meaning and significance of Re
velation is a "positive and en
couraging document."
This is the opinion of one of
Rome’s foremost Biblical scho
lars, Father Roderick Macken
zie, S.J., rector of the Ponti
fical Biblical Institute. The tall
thin, gray-haired Canadian Je
suit said the document is of
particular importance for the
development of Biblical studies
because "it is the first time
an official document Issued by
a commission of the Holy See
almost sketches out the history
of the formation of the Gos
pels."
FATHER Mackenzie explain
ed that the instruction deals
specifically "with the three
stages of the development of
the Gospels. First, what Christ
said and did. Secondly, how the
Apostles represented this to fit
the conditions of the listeners
of the time. And thirdly, how the
Evangelists reproduced this for
their readers."
The Jesuit scholar said the
instruction, while defending
completely the divine inspira
tion of the Gospels, neverthe
less recognizes that the Gos
pels were not written as "pure
history or flat reporting of
facts. Instead, he pointed out
that the commission’s document
stressed that the Evangelists
in writing their accounts had
certain goals in mind and chose
the elements of Christ's life
and actions according to the
goal they had in mind, suiting
them to the capacities of the
people they were writing for.
"THE GOSPELS preached,
as the instruction says," stat
ed Father Mackenzie. “The
Gospels are highly functional.
They were written to be used,
not simply to be read passive
ly as straight history."
Therefore, Father MacKen-
zie continued, the instruction
urges Catholic scholars of the
Bible to use not only the tra
ditional methods of Bibical
scholarship but also to employ
all that is g 00( i i n modern
techniques such as literary cri
ticism, language analysis, the
findings of archeology and com
parative studies with other wri
tings of approximately the same
periods.
FATHER Mackenzie noted
that the instruction endorses
completely the use of the his
torical method in studying Bib
lical texts and specifically the
use of literary critism. This he
identified as a form of studying
the various parts of the Gos
pels, or of the Old Testament for
that matter, in terms of its
composition, of analyzing the
units of the Gospel in terms of
style, construcion and the like.
Moreover, he pointed out the
instruction also authorizes the
use of the "form criticism"
but also cautions scholars
against dangers surrounding
this approach. He defined form
criticism as "the analysis of
the composition of the Gospel
in its small units—a phrase or
sentence of Christ’s—found in
the instructional or narrative
used in the apostolic preach
ing. This analysis aims at get
ting behind the written word to
get at the phrase or sentence
as it was uttered by Christ and
not as it appears in an context
of the text of the Evangelist."
MANY conservative Catholic
Biblical scholars have objected
to the use of form criticism
because they fear that it emp
ties the Bible of its divine in
spiration and of its miraculous
events or that it will destroy
the faith of many believers.
The Jesuit scholar said that
the historical method, and par
ticularly form criticism, was
developed initially by people
with a philosophical or socio
logical bias or by rationalists
who refused to admit the su
pernatural character of events
recounted in the Bible or of
Its divine inspiration. "Some
went so far to claim that the
Evangelists not only quoted
Christ out of context but act
ually Invented quotes and attri
buted them . to him,’-^ he said.
FOR THIS reason, he added,
it was natural that the instruc
tion cautioned scholars in ap
plying form criticism. At the
same time it did affirm that its
use is legitimate and that it
can and should be used not
only in assessing the signifi
cance of portions of the Old
Testament but also of the New
Testament.
"The importance of the in
struction is therefore to be
found In its support of the use
of modern, scientific means
of Biblical scholarship," Father
Mackenzie said. It opposes the
position of those—and this is
oversimplifying it a little—
"who feel that the application
of a little science implies the
lessening of faith."
ASKED IF the new instruction
might require some alteration
of the council's schema or pro
ject on Revelation, Father Mac
kenzie said he is of the opinion
that the schema on Revelation
is "in need of revision. It
needs a more objective ap
proach. As it stands, it is too
defensive. What is wanted is a
more calm presentation."
Summing up his opinion of
the instruction. Father Macken
zie said it is a continuation of
guidance for Biblical studies
begun with the 1943 encyclical
Divino Afflante Spiritu of Pope
Pius XII, which laid down the
guidelines for Catholic scho
larship in Biblical studies.
Housing Named For Cardinal
NEW YORK (NC) —A large
scale urban renewal project
in the Bronx here will be
named Cardinal Spellman Vil
lage in honor of the Archbishop
of New York,
Announcement of the new
name for the project was made
by Mayor Robert F, Wagner at
an interfaith dinner com
memorating the 75th birthday
and the 25th anniversary as
Archbishop of New York of
Francis Cardinal Spellman. The
dinner was arranged by Bronx
Borough President Joseph M.
Periconi.
Mayor Wagner disclosed the,
name of Bronxchester for the
project had been discarded in
favor of Cardinal Spellman Vil
lage.
Start Television
SALTO, Uruguay (NC>— The
six-year-old Catholic dally
newspaper El Pueblo has begun
originating from its offices a
daily television program of lo
cal, national and international
pews and commentary.
It would be hard to imagine a more unlikely
play to be made into a movie than ‘The Chalk
Garden," which is one of those subtle dramas
wherein aristocratic adult females insult each
other indirectly in clipped British accents while
puttering among the teapots and rhododendron.
Meanwhile, offstage somewhere, something is
happening.
The answer is that screenwriter John Michael
Hayes (a practical fellow frequently employed by
Hitchcock) has redesigned Enid Bagnold’s 1956
h*a a vehicle for Hayley Mills, the restless
Seepage actress whose talent
koeps threatening to loft her
taco orbit. The result makes a
lot more sense - sometimes too
predictably so - but 'TheChalk
Carden" is still much more of
an excellently photographed
play than a movie.
THIS KIND of statement an
guishes many readers who like
plays and prefer movies to have the same re
liance on good writing and acting, on literate
characters and verbal fireworks. The movies, in
fact, are very good at reproducing plays with
added insight provided by closeups, camera angles
and background music, and by cutting away from
the stagey "set" to other settings, both artificial
and natural. They also give a performance per
manence and make it cheaply available to a vast
audience.
But most filmgoers resent the use of their
splendid medium as merely a better or more
democratic way of staging plays. There is also
the ancient problem of form and content; the sub
stance of a work should be united inextricably
with the medium in which it is presented. If Miss
Bagnold’s play,in its entire idea and execution,
was wedded to the stage, then on screen, in a dif
ferent medium, it becomes a hybrid.
SOME YEARS ago Bela Balazs laid down a sen
sible rule for the adaptation of both plays and
novels; their basic concepts must be used as
"raw material" and reworked from the beginning
in filmic terms.
This means more, in the case of "Garden,"
than using closeups or showing things that couldn’t
be shown on stage (the heroine's habit of setting
bonfires or the pretty Dover countryside) or hav
ing people talk on tennis courts or buses instead
of talking in drawing rooms. On stage talk is
nearly everything: the real drama, the climactic
moments must be expressible in language. In
movies there can be talk but the visual must take
the lead: the heart of the narrative must be ex
pressible in pictures,
FOR THE record, "Garden" as a play was about
an aging dowager of the disappearing upper class
whose ties to an irrelevant way of life had dried
up her relationship with her daughter and made a
rebellious neurotic of her 16-year-old grand
daughter, It explored the mother-daughter rela
tionship - a woman’s need to live on in her off
spring - as Arthur Miller has often done for
fathers and sons. Coming into the situation, and
somewhat incredibly mending it, was a coldly
realistic middle-aged governess who recognized
the hopeless fantasy pattern which had led to
tragedy in her own girlhood.
Scenarist Hayes has done away with almost all
of the sociology, much of it incomprehensible any
way to a non-Brltlsh audience, and substituted
.straight Freudian possessive mother-love. He has
shifted the main conflict to the more familiar one
of governess vs. ungovernable child. And since the
governess is to be Deborah Kerr, he has changed a
dimly comic butler into a gently formidable male
tower-of-strength (played by John Mills, Hayley’s
gifted father).
THE RESULT is a different play; and certainly
an easier one to grasp. But it is still a play, whose
big and little moments are nothing but character
confrontations in dialog. This is despite able
direction by veteran director Ronald Neame
("Tunes of Glory"), whose main error in taste
is a mystery story, and really gorgeous ex
terior color photography by Arthur Ibbotson.
"Garden" is clearly a woman's sort of thing,
with Mills chiefly providing counterpoint for the
conflicting females (beautifully played by Hayley
and Deborah, as well as by Dame Edith Evans as
the dowager and Elizabeth Sellars as the estrang
ed daughter). The garden - where plants will not
grow without proper nourishment - is a frequent
symbolic device, and there are deft feminine
lines like (Dame Edith to Miss Sellars): "Did you
wear that scarf on purpose to annoy me? What
you wear is a language to me."
Its point is laudable enough: only love repro
duces itself, only love begets health and immor
tality. But it takes a long time to reach this
plateau, interrupted by too much pat Freudianism
(e.g., Hayley shrieking around her psychological
bonfires, or pouring out her love in secret on a
doll), a purple dash of melodrama (Miss Kerr's
sordid past), and of course, too much
talk.
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
For everyone: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World;
Lilies of the Field.
For connoisseurs: Tom Jones, 8 1/2
Better than most: America America, Dr.Strange-
love, Love With the Proper
Stranger* Billy Liar, Charade,
Paris When It Sizzles, The Pink
Panther.
early as possible."
But he said that time must
be allowed for printing, pub
lishing and distributii g new
altar missals and rituals. Arch
bishop Dearden predicted the
use of an English ritual for the
administration of the sacra
ments "possible as soon as
early fall."
NOTING THAT the revis
ion^ of the missalare much
more extensive including
the substitution of English for
Latin for most of the prayer
and readings which vary from
day to day— the Archbishop
said its preparation will take
considerably longer. But he said
he hopes the new missals will
be ready by the first Sunday of
Advent.
Lay Catholics need not buy
new missals to participate in
the vernacular Mass, the Arch
bishop said. He explained that
the structure of the Mass re
mains unchanged and that with
the insertion of a onepage card
containing the new translation of
the Gloria, Credo, etc., any ex
isting hand missal will be ade
quate.
ASKED A30UT the introdu
ction of English in sung Mas
ses, Archbishop Dearden said
that a board of experts would
be appointed to evaluate new
musical scores submitted by
composers to accommodate
the English usage. This board
will submit its recommenda
tions to the American Bishops
for approval.
The prelate noted that this
procedure will be time-
consuming, Thus all indica
tions are that the vernacular
will be intrduced initially in
recited Masses. Otherwise, he
said, the entire vemacularpro-
gram would be delayed still fur
ther.
PAVLA'S FIRST — Carol
Ann Guss. 23 (above), of
New Orleans is the first
Negro in the United States
to enlist in PAVLA-Papal
Volunteers for Latin Amer
ica. An alumna of Xavier
University, New Orleans,
she will soon leave for a
three - year assignment in
Brazil.
Seminary Fund
Remember the SEMINARY FUND
of the Archidocese of Atlanta in
your Will. Bequests should be made
to the “Most Reverend Paul J.
Hallinan, Archbishop of the Catho
lic Archdiocese of Atlanta and his
successors in office". Participate
in the daily prayers of our semi
narians and in the Masses offer
ed annually for the benefactors of
our SEMINARY FUND.
‘All I ever get are bit parts!”
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
Does not a letter like this make us ashamed? Read it and see if
you are willing to give in proportion to this boy I
'I am a new convert to the Church and I am very proud to be a
Catholic. It had been my dream for a long time.
I Now that I am a Catholic, I feel many responsi
bilities toward the poor Catholics of the world. I
am only 15 years old, and I also feel the pain of
be*ng poor, but not in the same way as the people
.you mention in your columns. My worries are
‘small compared to those in Asia and Africa who
| worry about having no church to go to Mass in,
while many (as do I) go to Mass in a huge cahte-
dral. Or those who don't have medicine, while
! many Americans spend a fortune on reducing pills.
As 1 said, I am.poor also. I can’t afford to go to the theater
and school dances, -and I can’t buy the latest records and clothes,
but when I add dp all of my blessings and compare them to the
sufferings of the less fortunate, I feel that I am cheating the poor
er people of their right to worship God in at least half the luxury
that you and I do. Therefore, I am sending you some extra stamps
from my collection in the hope that you can use them in some way.
They are not much, but they are all I can send you right now.
Someday I hope to be able to send enough money to build 100
churches. I am also sending you a silver dollar my mother gave
me some time ago. It has great sentimental value, but I want to
show the unfortunates of Asia and Africa that they have friends
who want to help them, that there are people who do care."
GOD LOVE YOU to V.H. for $75 "In thanksgiving for the suc
cessful sale of property and, in honor of Our Lady of Perpetual
Help." ...to P.B. for $5 "I was going 20 buy sneakers with this,
but I think the poor people need the money more to buy what they
need." ...to E.M. for $10 "In honor of St. Joseph and the Blessed
Virgin Mary." ....to M.K. for $2 "Asking for your prayers, I
give this to the Missions." ...to Mrs. J. G. for $10 "In gratitude
to St. Anthony and St. Jude for helping my daughter to find every
thing that she had lost."
Keep your family together during the summer by praying the
WORLDMISSION ROSARY. Blessed by Bishop Sheen, each decade
is a different color, representing the five continents where mis
sionaries are laboring to bring Christ to the pagans. Send your
request and an offering of $2 to The Society for the Propagation of
the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10001.
Cut out this column* pin youn sacrifice to ft and mall it to Most
Rev. Fulton J. Sheen,* National Director of the Society for the Pro
pagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York lx, N. Y. or
your Archdiocesan Director, Very Rev. Harold-J, Rainey P. O.
Box 12047 Northside Station^ Atlanta 5, Ga.