The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, June 18, 1964, Image 8

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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." LI66EH DRUGS... REXOLU 5136 ROSWELL ROflD.Nl.NN, aw* a&mfo mk. exaU! 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