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PAGE 8 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1964
IMPRINT ON DELIBERATIONS
Second Vatican Key
Word Is Collegiality
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
pleted. But the role of bishops
in the Church is still not clear
at Vatican II and some experts
believe there is not even the
possibility of a doctrinal solu
tion or definition at this coun
cil because, they say. theologi
cal opinion on the subject is
still in its infancy.
Progress has been made,
however, and it clearly will
continue as the bishops again
take up these two important
drafts with the opening of the
council's third session on Sept.
14.
Though the word “col
legiality" is new, the concept
is not. The distinguished Ger
man theologian and council ex
pert. Father Karl Rahner, S,J,,
of Austria’s Innsbruck Uni
versity, argues that Christian
tradition has consistently re
garded the college of bishops
as the successor to the col
lege of the Apostles, and the
Church has taught this con
sistently.
A CONSULTANT to the coun
cil’s important theological
commission. Father Rahner be
lieves the Fathers will reaf
firm this traditional view and
’Vill probably state that in the
Church there is not only a
combination of individual bi
shops. , , .but a college as a
collegial unity in its true mean
ing of a moral person. It is
also likely to state that this
unity, . .belongs to the un
changeable established law of
the Church which is ’divine’
and not only of the Church in
the sense of a positive change
able law."
Here precisely the debate
flourishes. Perhaps all coun
cil Fathers will admit of a
certain unity among the bishops
and most will even allow a "col
lege" or "senate" under the
authority of the pope. Not all,
however, will admit for this
unity any divine origin stem
ming from th e revelation of
Scripture and Tradition con
cerning the "College of
Apostles” who ruled the Church
under Peter’s supreme
authority. Dissenters would
rather submit that this col
legiality is of the Church’s
own instigation, growing out of
a need for unity in a world
which tends ever more toward
Ed Curtin
Presents
QUINTETTE
Featuring
LITTLE GEORGE
ON THI SAX
political and scientific unity.
They find difficult an admission
that this unified structure
comes directly from Christ in
establishing an Apostolic col
lege.
PERHAPS AN even more
profound difficulty for the
minority view among council
Fathers is to tailor the concept
of collegiality to fit the supreme
authority of the pope as defined
by Vatican I, If the bishops rule
the Church as a "collegial
body” or “senate”—what hap
pens to the supremacy of the
pope? Does he then become
"first among equals" after the
pattern of the Orthodox Church
and its Patriarch of Con
stantinople? Or do the bishops
derive their authority solely
from the pope and exercise it
only with his permission?
Does the "divine right”
origin of collegiality allow for
the divine right supremacy of
the pope as already infallibl}
defined, or would such an ad
mission require the Church to
include explicitly in its concept
of infallibility the college of
bishops as a group? If then the
bishops were to agree on a
doctrine which the pope
opposes (a theoretical pos
sibility only), whose authority
would win out?
Thus tne hesitation of the
council minority.
THE KEY to uniting these two
trends lies perhaps In a fur
ther idea of Pope Leo summa
rizing the others. It is para
phrased here by Bishop Pierre-
Marie Theas of Tarbes and
Lourdes, France, in his book
"Only Through These Hands”:
"The hierarchy of the Church
is not the pope alone nor the
bishops alone. It is the pope
and the bishops. The authority
of the bishops depends on the
pope, not in its origin which is
divine, but in its exercise.
Christ, Founder of the Church,
has so willed it in wisdom and
concern for unity.”
In a weekly general audience
(Nov. 20, 1963) near the height
of debate in the council, Pope
Paul VI hinted his own view on
the subject without directly for
cing the hand of the council.
He told the audience that the
Church is "a living society...
a union of brotherhood with an
organization and a hierarchy
led by the Apostles—that is, the
bishops—and the first place by
Peter—that is, the pope."
EVEN MORE delicately, Pope
Paul made a move at the open
ing of the second session which
must have seemed quite puzz
ling and insignificant to the
outsider, but whose meaning
was not missed by theologians.
On Sept. 17, through the Con
gregation of Rites, he granted
to voting council Fathers the
ceremonial honor of wearing
their traditional short capes
(mozzetas) even in the presence
of the pope. Since this cape is
a symbol of jurisdiction and is
not worn by anyone below
the rank of cardinal, nor ever
worn in the presence of the pope
without special permission, the
gesture was taken widely as a
gentle nudge in the direction of
collegiality.
Thus armed with their capes,
the council Fathers went into
the second session with col
legiality very much on their
minds.
The debate produced what is
perhaps the high point in the
council so far, as the modera
tors departed from established
procedure and on Oct. 30,
1963, called for a vote to de
termine the Fathers' thinking.
This was not to be a legislative
vote but was to act rather as a
guideline to the commission in
reframing the schema "On the
Nature of the Church’* for fur
ther consideration. The crucial
question was whether the
Fathers accepted in principle
the body or college of bishops
as the successor to the col
lege of the Apostles in the
office of teaching, sactifylng
and ruling, and whether they
thought this college together
with its head, the pope (and
never without him), possesses
full and supreme power over the
whole Church.
THE FATHERS voted 1,808
"yes" and 336 "no".
Another question covered th«
further Implication: is this pow
er of the college of bishops
united with the pope a power
by divine right, making the bis
hops thus the juridical succes
sors of the Apostles, or is it
merely a matter of practical
convenience ordained by the
Church itself? Fewer of the
Fathers would go this far: 1,-
717 "yes,” 408 "no".
But collegiality had won an
overwhelming "vote of confi
dence" in spite of the fact that,
as several Fathers pointed out,
the balloting had no strict bind
ing force.
A clear definition of "col
legiality” may not be so soon
in coming. But at least the dis
tance from definition has been
narrowed by giant theological
steps.
Such questions may sound
highly speculative to the non
theologian. Some theologians
have cal ed them such. But the
fact that they are being dis
cussed at great length in the
council indicates the im
portance of the concept and the
need to move slowly and ask
all possible questions before
making any decisions.
WHILE collegiality is hard
ly a new idea, it may be said
that Vatican I set the stage
for its formal debate. Shortly,
after that council, Pope Leo
XIII said in his encyclical on
Church Unity ("Satis Cogni-
tum") that Jesus Christ was
sent by God; and the Apostles
by Jesus Chri3t, The bishops
have been sent by the
Apostles."
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INVITATION
NATIONAL LITURGICAL CONVENTION
ST, LOUIS, MISSOURI
AUGUST 24/27
BE PART OF THE ATLANTA DELEGATION
LEARN FROM EXPERTS THE MEANING OF
THE LITURGY RENEWAL
He said the pope is not the
only leader established by Jesus
in the Church. Quoting the
Gospel: "He who established
Peter as the fountain of the
Church chose also 12 disciples,
to whom He gave the name
Apostles" (Luke 6:13), The bi
shops as their successors are
heirs to the ordinary power of
the Apostles, over and above
that delegated by the pontiff,
Pope Leo said. So the order
of bishop necessarily becomes
part of the divine constitution
of the Church. We must not
regard the bishop as a simple
vicar of the Roman pontiff, he
said. The bishop possesses an
authority proper to himself and
he carries the title of
"Ordinary of the people he
governs."
IMPORTANT FOR:
PRIESTS RELIGIOUS TEACHERS
PARENTS LAY LEADERS CHOIRS
ORGANISTS LECTORS COMMENTATORS
CONTACT: REV. LEONARD F. X, MAYHEW
P.O. 11667 - NORTHSIDE STATION
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30305
THUS THE majority view o 1
the council Fathers.
As to the bishop’s bond with
the pontiff, Pope Leo says “the
union of the bishop with suc
cessor of Peter is of evident
necessity; if this tie is severed,
the Christian people themselves
become only a multitude easily
scattered, They can no longer
form a single body and a single
flock."
STUDENTS from Drexel High, St. Pius X and St. Joseph last weekend attended the Summer School
of Catholic Action at Hendersonville, N.C. Shown, from left to right, first row: Vivian Stephens,
Regina Rogers, Rachel Cosby, Joyce Turner, Ingrid Frazier, Judy Watkins and Brenda Griffin
Second row: Benita Beckum, Sister Peter, Fr. Campbell, Fr. Shea, Sister Ernestine, Carmen Com
er, Theodore Lyons and Andrew Hill. Third row: Kurt Hill, Anita Thomas, Louvenia Duncan, Ken
neth Rogers, Angelyn Couch, Karen Thomas, Amaryllis Grogan, Penny Mickelbury, Rosemarie
Jordan and Janis Jones. Back row: Max LimbuchL Carlton Turner, Judy McCarty, John Bode and
Michael Bellamy.
THEOLOGIAN'S OPINION
Spies May Be Justified
In Committing
WASHINGTON (NC)--It may
be permissible for a Catholic
spy to kill himself to preserve
state secrets, Father Bernard
Haering, C.SS.R., theologian,
said here.
Father Haering, who first
expressed his opinion in the
Italian religious magazine
Christian Family, declared that
killing oneself is justifiable for
a captured spy if he is acting
under orders of legitimate au
thority in cases of "extreme
importance,"
THE REDEMPTORIST said
such a person would not be
“arbitrarily and idependently"
taking his own life and could
not be considered as commit
ting suicide.
“Suicide in Catholic moral
teaching has a specific mean
ing—that one disposes arbitra
rily and independently of his own
life," he said, ’The spy, by
LONDON (NC)~The American
Bishops’ plan for English in
the Mass is "consistent
throughout" even if it might
appear to provide for
“peculiar” intrusions of Latin,
according to a top English
liturgical scholar.
Father Clifford Howell, S.J.,
wrote in the Tablet Catholic
weekly published here (June
13), that the American Hier
archy’s decisions do raise some
questions.
‘THAT THE Kyrie, Gloria,
Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei
should come into English was
to be expected, and presumably
the responses are to do like
wise," he said.
"But in that case why are
the prayers at the foot of the
altar to remain in Latin? And
why the Suscipiat? And if every
thing from the Kyrie to the
Creed is in English, will it not
be peculiar to Intrude a Latin
Collect into the middle of all
this English? If the preface re
sponses and the Sanctus are in
English, why have a Latin pre
face between them? If the first
Gospel is in English, why does
the last Gospel remain in
Latin?"
Father Howell went on to say:
‘The answer is that the
American plan has not been
drawn up according to any
merely superficial convention
based solely on the order of
occurrence of the various items
in the Mass—such as *Mass
of the Catechumens in English,
Mass of the Faithful in Latin.*
"SUCH AN arrangement,
though it might seem tidy, would
obeying a strict order of legi
timate civil authority which he
is serving, and acting in cases
of extreme importance when
secrecy has to be kept for the
common good of peace, does
not commit an action similai
to the man who by desperation
or other baser motives and by
his own decision kills himself."
NEWSPAPER accounts of Fa
ther Haering’s articles stated
that he allowed suicide when a
man is obeying a superior's
orders or when he does not take
his life for selfish reasons. An
example of this would be when
self destruction is the only way
for a spy to safeguard state
secrets entrusted to him.
Father Haering was quoted
as saying: "When one takes up
espionage, the first question
one must aski oneself is whe
ther one is spying in the ser
vice of a |ust cause. If it is
just, his spying could be of
in fact be inferior as judged
by the canons of liturgical
science, for it ignores the
specific purpose and the hier
archy of importance of the dif
ferent items in the Mass. These
are properly respected in the
American plan, and there are
sound reasons for everything in
it."
The Jesuit noted that the
American plan is based on
Article 54 of the ecumenical
council's liturgical consltu-
tlon, which allows for the use
of the vernacular in "those
parts (of the Mass) which per
tain to the people." He said that
if the current interpretation of
the phrase “parts which pertain
to the people" is accepted, *:*the
plan is consistent throughout."
GAINESV1LLIAN Henry A. An-
soldo was recently elected Pre
sident of the Georgia State Elks
Association at the state con
vention held in Jekyll Island.
Mr. Ansoldo is a member of
Saint Michael’s parish in
Gainesville.
Suicide
service in avoding war if he is
able to unmask the enemy’s
intentions. In volunteering to
spy, the Catholic must know that
it might require the sacrifice of
his own life."
FATHER Haering, currently
teaching at the Catholic Uni
versity of America here, said
the accounts of his article are
"substantially accurate and
good," but the emphasized that
his was merely "a discussed
opinion in theology," and that
a spy could dispose of his own
life only if he were "convinced
in his own conscience that he
must do this,”
His opinion is based on the
moral principles of "double
effect." According to this prin
ciple, an action—not intrin
sically evil in Itself—that has
both an evil and a good effect
can be justified if the good
effect is intended by the per
son involved and outweighs the
evil effect.
SAID FATHER Haering: **I
would compare the action of a
spy with the action of a sol
dier who fulfills an Important
order during wartime which al
most certainly or certainly
would cost him his lffe. We
would not call his action sui
cide, but sacrifice of his life
under the order of legitimate
authority, and as an action of
legitimate defense in a justi
fied war."
Father Haering, a Vatican
council expert, is a professor
of moral theology at the Re-
demptorist Accademia Alfon-
slana in Rome. He will spend
this summer lecturing and
teaching in the United States.
After leaving Catholic Univer
sity, he will make visits to
St. John's Abbey, Collegeville,
Minn,* Chicago; Conception,
Mo,; New York City; Tacoma,
Wash,; St, Gregory's Abbey,
Shawnee, Okla.; and Detroit.
Meanwhile, another Catholic
theologian disagreed with
Father Haering’s opinion.
Father Francis J. Connell, C.
SS. R., retired dean of the school
of sacred theology at Catholic
University, stated that direct
self destruction of an innocent
person "is always a moral
evil.”
"It has been the constant
teaching of the Catholic Church
that the state has no direct
authority over the life of an
innocent person,” he said.
"Furthermore, an innocent
person has no authorization
from God to kill himself direct
ly.
“An aviator in war may dive
into the enemy’s warship with
the direct purpose of damaging
the ship, although his death fol
lows indirectly. But in the case
of the spy death is inflicted
directly, and the good effect—
the perservation of important
secrets—follows from the death
of the spy. In other words, we
have a case of a bad means to
a good end," said Father Con
nell.
UTURGIST HOWS
U. S. Bishops’
Mass Plan Sound
PRELATE DECLARES
Minds Must Meet
For Ecumenism
TOLEDO, Ohio (NC)—There
must be a meeting of minds on
the question of the Church be
fore the ecumenical movement
can make progress, Archbishop
Karl J. Alter of Cincinnati said
here.
He preached In Rosary ca
thedral (June 14) when Bishop
George J. Rehring of Toledo
observed the golden jubilee of
his ordination.
ARCHBISHOP Alter said Ca
tholic understanding of the
Church Is something utterly
different from the way most
non-Catholics look at the
' Church” as differing little
from other societies organized
mutual cooperation. He said:
'To their way of thinking,
the Church is by its nature,
pluralistic, admitting of many
varieties of viewpoint or de
nomination flexible in its inters
pretation of doctrine; ready to
accommodate its discipline to
current opinion; and fluid in
its membership, so that the
transition . to another 1 can be
made without seeming incosis-
tency. Church affiliation for
them may be desirable, but not
necessary."
THE URGENT question be
fore the Christian world, said
Archbishop Alter, is: “Did
Christ establish a Church to
be the instrument of out sal
vation, or did He write a book
for that purpose? Did He leave
His- disciples to flounder in
their search of Christian truth,
or did He safeguard His truth
by means of authentic teach
ers?"
Archbishop Alter said that
while Catholics and their se
parated brethren agree that
the Scriptures are Gods’ own
word, the question is, what
came first, the Church or the
Scriptures. He siad:
“WHICH IS the bedrock of
unity as well as the authentic
source of doctrine? How did
the first Christians, namely,
those who lived in the first
hundred years after Christ,
learn the truths of their re-
lifion? What served them, must
serve us also."
Remember, said the Arch
bishop, that Christ himself
wrote not a single word that
has come down to us; that
He never instructed His apost
les to write anything, and that
only two did write a summary
of Christ’s life and doctrine.
DURING the first 150 years
of Christianity, said Archbis
hop Alter, the New Testament
was not available to the in
dividual faithful as source of
instruction and most Chris
tians were dependent for their
instruction upon the spoken
word.
‘The urgent task before the
Christian world is to redis
cover the Church as the ori
ginal principle of unity and thus
restore all things in Christ,"
he said. “Fortunately, there is
a widespread desire for the
reestablishment of unity among
all who claim the name of Chris
tian, and our duty is to foster
this ecumenical movement."
INDIA: KING’S MANSION
ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE, taken as a slave-archil ret tc
INDIA, was ordered by the king to build a splendid palace. ST,
THOMAS gave the money to the
poor. When questioned, ST
THOMAS told the king he had
bni t a mansion for him in Heaven
. . . THE CLARIST SISTERS in pov
erty-scarred PANAMKUTTY (in
southern INDIA) need a chapel
for themselves, the people in
in the village, and the 156 children
in their school. Functional and in
expensive (53,200 complete), the
chapel will be a mansion for Christ
the King . . . Perhaps you’d like to
build this chapel in memory of your
father, on Father’s Day. If you wish, the SISTERS will gladly
erect a plaque . . . THE CLARIST SISTERS (some of whom
our members have helped train) are on the front lines fighting
Cpnununism; the children they teach will be the leaders of
tomorrow . . . Please send whatever you can spare-—$1, $2, S3,
S10. In helping to build this chapel, you'll build a mansion for
Christ (and, please God, a mansion for yourself in Heaven.)
Tht Holy Fstbtr’j Nituion Aid
for tbt Oruntal Church
JUNE: THE SACRED HEART
ST. GERTRUDE THE GREAT, to whom God gave the secret,
was told that devotion to the Sacred Heart would be kept for a
later age when men's hearts would grow cold . . . Your sacri
fices during June, the month of the Sacred Heart, can help com
pensate for selfishness . . . Shall we use your gift “where it's
needed most?’’
THANK YOU, JUDY
Dear Judy,
I am touched to know you intend to share your
75c allowance with our priests and Sisters.
If every 11-year-old were as generous, what a
fine world this would be!
Msgr. Ryan
WHAT YOU CAN DO
□ Build a school. The cost: $2,000 to $6,000. Perhaps a ME
MORIAL to a loved one?
□ Futnish an item for a chapel. Sanctuary bells to vestments.
A gift of $5 to $50 covers this.
Q Send a mission gift in your Father’s name. We’ll send him
a lovely FATHER’S DAY GIFT CARD, explaining
□ Help a PALESTINE REFUGEE FAMILY with a' FOOD
PACKAGE. See them through a month. Cost: $10.'
□ Have a MASS said for your Father. He’ll like that Your
MASS STIPEND will support a priest for a day
□ Join one of our MISSION CLUBS ($1 each month), thus aid
ing lepers, aged, orphans, Sisters or seminarians.
... TO BURY THE DEAD
FATHER JOHN CHEREATH, in PULAKATTUKKARA. south
ern INDIA, needs Immediately for a cemetery. He prom
ises that his people, in memory of the benefactor, will build
an altar outdoors, and that Mass will be offered regularly In
gratitude. The large crucifix for the altar will cost $90.
Dear Monsignor Ryan:
Enclosed please find
Name
Street
***** Zone State
Hs t flliss! ohsjmI
FRANCIS CARDINAL SPILLMAN, President *
M**r. Jeseph T. Rye*, Not'! Sac’y
lead ail communicatioat
CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
310 Meditea Ava. at 42nd St. Haw Yark, N. Y. 10017