Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1964
GEORGIA BULLETIN
PAGE 3
REVITALIZE ACTIVITIES
Russian Orthodox Moving
Closer to Ecumenism Tie
ISTANBUL, Turkey (NC) —
The Orthodox Church of Russia,
which for two generations was
almost completely isolated
from the rest of the Christian
world, appears now to be in
tent on a new ecumenical era.
Just one aspect of this new
' presence” was the recent an
nouncement in Athens of the
forthcoming revitalization of
the Russian monastery of St.
Panteleimon * on Mt. Athos—
the monastic "republic” which
occupies a mountainous
peninsula on the southeastern
coast of Greece.
BEFORE World War I there
were over 2,000 Russian
Orthodox monks at St,
Panteleimon. Normal recruit
ment of vocations to the
monastery came to an end with
the Russian Revolution. Until
World War II the Greek govern
ment was unsympathetic on
grounds that St. Panteleimon
was a potentially dangerous
Russian enclave on Greek ter
ritory.
As a result, the Russian
monastic community dwindled
to two score monks — the
youngest about 70, and the old
est in his 90s.
ARCHIMANDRITE Juvenaly,
a spokesman for the patriarch
ate of Moscow, has announced
in Athens that 18 novices would
be coming to Greece shortly
to Join the community at St.
Panteleimon,
The Russian priest, who
had been a member of the
delegation of Russian church
men who visited the United
States in the spring of 1963,
made the announcement in the
course of a pilgrimage to
Christian centers in the Near
East, the Holy Land in particu
lar.
The announcement came less
than two months after the Soviet
ambassador to Greece, ac
companied by his cultural at
tache and several other mem
bers of the embassy staff, went
to St, Panteleimon (May 10)
for a five-day visit. Before
leaving the "holy mountain”
the ambassador promised to
work for the renewal of the
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ARCHIMANDRITE Juvenaly
before making the announce
ment in Athens told a press
conference here in Istanbul that
"the Patriarch of Moscow has
requested authorization from
the Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople to establish a
Russian episcopal See on Mt.
Athos, headed by a prelate with
the rank of metropolitan (arch
bishop).”
This promised renewal of
Russian Orthodoxy on Mt. Athos
—for 1,001 years a leading font
of Orthodox spirituality—has
not come alone. The Moscow
patriarchate’s new outward -
looking policy has become in
creasingly apparent at inter
national Christian meetings in
the past few years.
THIS started at the time of
the meeting of the First Pan-
Orthodox Conference at Rhodes
in September and October, 1961,
Since then, the Moscow
patriarchate was represented at
the second conference at
Rhodes, last year at the cele
bration of the millennium of
Mt. Athos on June 18, 1963;
at the first and second ses
sions of the Vatican council
at Rome, and at the World
Council of Churches congress
in New Delhi in 1961.
IN ANWER to a question ask-
Name Bethlehem
Street For Pope
BETHLEHEM, Jordan (NC)—
The main street of Bethlehem
has been renamed for Pope
Paul VI, who made a historic
visit here last January. The
unveiling of the memorial pla
que bearing the Pope’s name
was done by the apostolic dele
gate, Archbishop Lino Zaninl.
Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro,
archbishop of Bologna, noted the
50th anniversary of his ordina
tion while on pilgrimage here
with 20 of his priests and 50
other pilgrims from Italy.
Deaf Athletes
MADRAS, Indian ^C) — A
Catholic laywoman, Mrs.
Lourdhammal Simon, has been
elected president of the sports
association for the deaf of India,
which is cho&slng s national
team to send to the world
competition for the deaf to be
held next year in Washington,
D,C,
ed at the press conference here
about persecution of the Church
in Russia, Professor Siskin,
who teaches theolqgy at
Leningrad, said: "For Russian
theologians, the phrase 'church
persecution’ is incompre
hensible. JThe weakening of the
•faith is a physiological
phenomenon wfiich has oc
curred since Orthodoxy in
Russia lost the privileges given
it by the year9.
'This can be explained in
the following manner: In
Russia, Orthodoxy no longer
has the attraction that it had
in olden times. Formerly, one
had only to show a certificate
of membership in the Orthodox
Church and all doors opened.
Today, religion does not of
fer advantage to anyone. , .
it is natural for it to lose its
strength.”
A JOURNALIST then asked
Archimandrite Juvenaly if there
were fewer churches and
priests in Russia today. The
.»prelate replied that this was
possibly the case, “Today,”
he said, "the real scholars are
Orthodox.”
Then, speaking about the lack
of religious vocations, he said,
smiling, that "in the whole
world and in the Occidental
countries, there is a weaken
ing of Christianity and a
shortage of religious vocations,
not only in Russia. However
that may be,” he concluded,
"in Russia, the churches are
still full of people.”
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ST. JOAN OF ARC PRAYED HERE—This early 15th cen
tury French chapel, which now stands on an estate in Long
Island, N.Y., will be disassembled for shipment to Marquette
University, Milwaukee, where it will be reconstructed stone
by stone on the campus. Believed to be the chapel where
Joan of Arc prayed before leading her countrymen into
battle against the English in 1429, it was brought to Amer
ica in 1927 by Gertrude Hill Gavin for her estate at Jericho,
N. Y. The present owners of the estate, Mr. and Mrs. Marc
B. Rojtman have given it to Marquette University.
How To Understand
Liturgical Changes
BY ARCHBISHOP PAUL J. HALLINAN
Thli is the conclusion of a series of articles
written by the Archbishop to assist the people
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta In an understanding
of the fuller worship to which they have been
called to participate.
What are the youth of today thinking about
the liturgical changes? What will Their Church
be like In 19647
Each wave of human beings inherits the past,
and is responsible for the future. Most of us in
our fortiss, fifties and up recall the tinsel
trappings of the 1920'i and the. searing un
certainty of the 1930's, This includes many
parents, oldsr parsons in the professional and
laboring ranks, lawmakers and industrial lesders,
Msny priests (and most blihopi) are alio of thli
group,
Now we are followed by the World War 11 and
post-war generation! Thois now in thslrtwsntiea
and thirties, This wavs included the young mar
ried and their children, the younger teachers
and writers, scientists and engineers, executives
and the majority of the wage-earning population,
Many of our prieiti are of this generation,
It would be absurd, of eourie, to classify
Catholics on such s rigid chronological basis,
Our growth in Christian life is not Quantitative,
by years; rather, it is qualitative, by vitality.
Yet we cannot ignore certain differences that are
linked to sge, Older persons feel more the pull
of the past, and ars leas apt to aeek and hope
for a sense of renewal of things religious. The
younger Catholic la more likely to find old wayi
wanting, to aik new question, and search out
new answers, The experience and the wisdom of
an older man la more easily dismissed by the
younger, — just as the fresh knowledge, insight
and energy of the young are too readily brushed
aside by those who are older,
In her schools, the Church strives for the
formation of the "whole man.” The liturgy is a
school; it has its educational role as well as
the central function of God’s praise and man’s
salvation. It teaches man that purpose which
oversees and outreaches all his other goals:
to live as a part of the body of which Christ is
the Head, in a manner that will enroll him in
that society beyond earth In which Christ is
the Second Person of the Godhead.
The liturgy teaches man not to try to live by
bread alone. Only in Christ does man’s whole
nature (body and aoul) live the abundant life.
Yet it also teaches him not to despise bread
and material things, God looked upon all crea
tion, and saw that it was good. Jesus taught us
in his own prayer to ask for our daily bread.
The materialist and the spiritualist are shaky
guides for a man trying to be whole. This Is
one of the lessons of the Incarnation - 'The
Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us.”
Further, the public worship of the Church
teaches man that he cannot live to himself
alone. He is a part of the whole community.
It is significant that Shakespeare put the famous
rule 'To thy own self be true” - on the lips
of an old fool, Polonlus, Contemplative monks
(who withdraw from the world) keep the salva
tion of that world as th’e constant subject of their
prayer, Men pray together to their God because
thiS .we on each other Is a human mark.
Yet our philosophy goes astray if we swing to
the other pendulum of the "collectivity,” Man
is responsible not only for his brother, but
for himself, His knowledge, his power, his de
cisions must remain his own. It will not do to
bury them in a mass of togetherness. The rugged
Individualist, living to himself, is as far from
the Christian goal as the anonymous, conforming
cog in the social machinery.
All this, the Council Fathers discussed in
thsir preparation of the Constitution on the
liturgy, One of America's best liturgists, Dr,
Frederick R, McManus, has expressed it well!
"• • i the audible and visible sides of Chris
tian worship recognize the wholeness of the
human person as created by God - with lips to
sing and legs to walk in God's honor,"
And regarding the social nature of liturgy,
Dr, McManus writes!
"It is God's will that we, individual! that we
are, should be laved as s Church, as s people,
si His people,
'The Community of the faithful if not the
enemy of the individual but hli itrength.The
liturgy does not suppress the piety of the partici
pant but lifts it up, gives it growth and meaning
in the assembly — because of the union with
Christ and with Hli members,”
We ire blessed today that'both the older and
the younger generations have helped to produce
a climate in which changes in the liturgy were
called for. Now we are giving new form to the
substantial fact of human worship. It is a time
for noble work, even for greatness, Our pastors
are charged to "promote the liturgical instruc
tion of the faithful, and also their active partici
pation in the liturgy, both internally and ex
ternally.” Our people are charged to take their
proper roles, specialized (e.g. lector) or general
(the reciting or singing congregation). Difficulties
there will be, and the usual pangs of changes,
but none too great for the devout Catholic. If
he starts now, if he knows why it is being done,
if he carries It out to the best of his ability —
that will be the renewal.
And the new generation? It will find one
practical result — the unifying of their life in
Christ, Many of our young Catholics are learn
ing — of the new riches of the sacred scriptures,
They are thinking of other Christians and those
not baptized in an ecumenical mood, rather than
a belligerent and beleaguered frame of mind. They
are eager to know the Church's social teachings
for the social ills of poverty, conformity, pre
judice and parochialism. They are learning more
about theology’s place in the community of arts
and sciences, They are building their futures on
a broader (and hopefully, a deeper) base of the
Christian message.
Today, now, the 1960’s, we all come together,
pooling our old experience and love for the Church
with the new knowledge and hope for the Church,
Tomorrow the new generation can have a deeper
insight into the mysteries of our faith. It is no
time for gloom, delay, or lingering over the past.
It is a time for Christian optimism, for hope and
fulfillment,
VIENNA CARDINAL
Says Church Supports
Democracy, Liberty
Cardinal Koenig, author of
this article on the Church and
democracy, is Archbishop of
Vienna and one of the leading
figures in the Second Vatican
Council. He visited the United
States earlier this year.^,
BY FRANZISKUS CA RD1N AL
KOENIG
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
Through her history the Cath
olic Church has lived in and been
obliged, to a certain extent, to
collaborate with remarkably
diverse societies.
She hasi existed In feudal
states and city-republics, under
absolute monarchies and dicta
torships. And inevitably, be
cause the Church is a church
of men, she has adapted her
self to and to an extent accep
ted these various social struc
tures.
BUT EVEN in times of perse
cution, when cooperation with
the state was impossible, the
Church did not give way to op
portunism and modify either her
fundamental structure or her
message of salvation. Nor has
she ever given her approval to
Injustice, but at most has suf
fered an endured.
In the modern world the
Church openly and honestly
supports democracy in many
nations. This is not opportunism
nor is it a mere compromise
with those who are presently
in power. Rather, it is the way
in which the Church fulfills her
mission by using the means of
the times.
Democracy is not the only
possible way of life. It Is not
the only possible form of
society in which the Church
can live and carry on her mis
sion, But it is the best form
of society for the modern world,
TODAY It is considered
fashionable, even by many
Catholics, to criticize the
Church of the past for ex
cessive attachment to her en
vironment, The Church is held
responsible for everything bad
in a particular historical era—
as "goodness” and "badnesi"
are determined with the advant
age of hindsight,
But is not this s form of in
tellectual arrogance? The suf
fering, struggling Churchlnhsr
earthly form has always bean
a Church of human beings,
whose view is obscured, whose
wills art ltd astray, whose
thought is closely tied up with
this world.
In her human aspect, the
Church is s rather conservative
institution—that is, she seeks
to preserve certain forms to
which she has become accus
tomed, This is undeniably
paradoxical, for the message
entrusted to the Church is after
all the moat revoluntlonary
Imaginable, Indeed, in auch con
servatism there la a certain
lack of confidence in the ai-
ilitance promised to the Church
by her Divine Founder,
SUCH TENDENCIES have
often during the centuries in
volved the Church in struggles
which were not hers to defend
social forms to which she had
grown accustomed. This strug
gle has taken place not only
externally—between the Church
and outalde adversaries — but
internally aa well. Those who
point to new ways of life have
always encountered difficulties;
only once in centuries does the
Church have a pope like John
XXIII, who with his own hands
opens the door to the future—
and even John XXIII was not
understood by everyone, in
cluding some within the Church,
This tendency toward con
servatism was apparent in the
19th century in the Church's
attitude toward democracy. In
many cases the Church could
see in the self - proclaimed
democrat only an enemy, a
burner of monasteries—and in
deed many of the democrats of
that period left no doubt that
that was the way they wanted
to be looked upon.
But the need to defend her
self against that kind of de
mocracy actually caused the
Church to make use of the
forma of democracy herself. In
fighting secular liberalism and
atheiitic Marxism, the Church
inspired the organization of de
mocratic mass political
parties.
IT IS easy enough today to say
that the Church thereby made a
-mistake. But at the time, what
#lse could the Church, con
sidered in her human aspect'
and influenced by the ideologies
of the era, have done?
Today the Church is without
government, party, or social
privilege. She has only her
faithful. And this Is certainly
as It should be.
The Church in a certain sense
has always been at bottom de
mocratic, because she has re
cognized the absolute and es
sential equality of all men
arising from their status as
children of God with immortal
souls. If in the past the Church
gave more attention to the soul
of a king than to the soul of
a laborer, it was not because
she considered the king’s soul
valuable but because she hoped
to reach the soul of the com
mon man through his ruler,
IN OUR times the Church has
frequently been accused of ac
cepting and supporting de
mocracy, tolerance and re
ligious freedom only in places
where Catholics are a minority;
wherever the Church enjoys
majority status, it is said, she
seeks absolute power.
This Is a serious accusation,
and there is certainly some
historical evidence which would
seem to support It, Catholics
may not respond to it merely
with counter-charges. It in
volves a serious theological
question, and as such it will
have a large place In the com
ing session of the ecumenical
council.
Looking ahead, one may pre
dict that the Church will con
clude that, without abandoning
her claim to possess the truth
and to have a mission to spread
It, she can accept for all others
the religious liberty which she
demands for herself. In all
times and places she can re
spect the religious, and even
nonrellglous, convictions of
every individual. This is not a
surrender to relativism; behind
it, rather, lies the conviction
that- > truth is stronger than
secular power.
THUS democracy means for
the Church a fair and equal
chance—nothing more. How is
the Church to use this chance?
In the past she has done so
through Christian political
parties. Such "political Catho
licism” may indeed be neces
sary in certain circumstances
to protect the rights of the
Church. It is, however, not an
ideal situation nor a final goal.
In the long run the Church can
not engage in political partisan
ship without suffering grave
harm.
The Catholic bishop of
Austria in 1945 renewed a pro
hibition of 1933 against priests’
accepting political appoint
ments. When the Church stands
aloof from politics in this and
other ways, it is not a sign
of indifference. On the contrary,
she must be all the more in
terested in political events
since she now cannot directly
influence the shaping of policy.
Nor does such a situation im
ply that the Church is entirely
neutral with regard to all politi
cal movements in all countries.
Rather, her task now is to stress
basic issues and clarify the
distinctions that influence
political judgments,
THIS, however, is a far cry
from giving political directives
to her members. Catholics can
not and should not expect such
directives. They must make
their own decisions, using their
own reasoning and consciences.
The Church cannot do this for
them.
Christian political action
does not mean waiting for the
orders of the bishop or
campaigning under the banner
of the Church; rather, It means
bringing to politics a sense of
Christian responsibility.
It is the Church's job to
encourage and strengthen this
sense of responsibility—but not
to suggest specific political
solutions.
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