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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY AUGUST 20, 1964 JESUIT CORRESPONDENT ASSERTS Pope Paul’s Encyclical Reveals ‘Surprisingly Modest Scope’ BY FATHER EDWARD DUFF, S. J. NEW YORK (RNS) — Pope Paul’s first ency clical, Ecclesiam Suam (His Church), has a surprising modest scope. The world expected a program paper, detailing the policies his Pon tificate would espouse, indicating the major or ientations it would impose on world Catholicism. It got whay many will deem an Inconclusive causerie. These expectations were based on forgetful ness. Paul VI had already set forth his program and announced his aims. In his first radio mes sage to the world following his election His Holiness had declared: "The chief task of our Pontificate will be the progress of the Ecumeni cal Council, Vatican II, on which the eyes of all men are fixed.” TO THIS "principal work” of his reign he promised to devote "every last bit of energy the Lord has given us.” In his allocution open ing the second session of the Council last Septem ber 29 he had indicated the central idea provid ing focus for the new Pontificate and for the con tinuing Council with clarity, simplicity and direct ness; "We should proclaim Christ to ourselves and to the world around us; Christ our begin ning, Christ our life and our guide, Christ our hope and our end.” The encyclical, His Church, then, has a simple objective. It is to "reveal the mind” of the Holy Father, especially to his fellow bishops in a "simple conversational letter,” For while aware that his audience includes the entire Catholic world and the millions of others who have grown to listen with respect to Papal pronoun cements, Pope Paul's first encyclical is pri marily addressed to his fellow bishops to share with them his preoccupations and to suggest the attitudes that should be theirs when the Church is in Council. The mind of Paul VI was known to be an acute, profound and subtle one. Of an intense interior spirituality, absorbed by the mystery of the identification of the Christian with Christ through grace, aware of the achievements and perils of technology, it was recongnized to be a mind unhurried in judgment. It was a studious mind, alert to and avid of developments in theology, philosopy and culture, but also one that had long been exercised on the larger administrative problems of the Roman Church in the contemporary world. NOW IT appears to be a mind made cautious by the complexities of the historical situation and made sober by the responsibilities of the pastoral charges of the pontifical office. It is likewise a mind conscious of the participation of the universal Catholic episcopate in the direc tion of the Church. Sensitive to the role of the Council, the ency clical deliberately eschews treating themes that fall within its province which is to say all of the concerns of the Catholic Church in her efforts to achieve internal renewal and to enlarge the area of peace, justice and brotherhood in the world. It contents itself with offering some "methodological considerations.” Although there is no specific allusion to "col- legiality,” the word currently employed to indicate the solidarity and shared responsibility of the bishops of the Catholic world as successors of the twelve apostles with and under the succes sor of Peter in ruling the Church, the encycli cal, is marked by a striking deference to the collective authority of the Council Fathers and by a touching reliance on their active collabora tion. The Council is adverted to 22 times. Phrases soliciting fraternal cooperation abound. Pope Paul asks his fellow bishops "the com fort of your agreement, your counsel and your example." His Holiness continues: "We look to you as the authoritative voice. . . We look to you to say how we should together propose for the life of the Church. . . The Council is to give us, too, new and salutary instructions and all of us must certainly prepare ourselves now to hear them and carry them out." TWO SIGNIFICANT, if passing, points in the encyclical might be missed in a rapid reading; the hint that the Council may not at all be near ing its end and a frank espousal of religious freedom. Thus, the Council’s merits are praised "even at this moment when we are still awaiting the major part of its deliberations.” Again, the proclamation of the gospel, the encyclical as serts, "will not be introduced in the armor of external force, but simply through the legiti mate means of human education, of interior per suasion, of ordinary conversation and it will offer its gift of salvation with full respect for personal and civic freedom." Moreover, "religi ous liberty” is listed among the "common ideals" of all theistic religious. The "methodological considerations” outlined in the encyclical include those encouraging a deeper awareness of the essential inner nature of the Church as the prolongation of Christ in time, those indicating the proper character of the reform of the Church and those detailing the dif fering dialogues with different categories of fel low men. A continuing meditation on the Church, the ob ject of contemporary theological exploration and of Pius XII's encyclical on the Mystical Body, will yield "many spiritual benefits, the very ones we believe the Church stands in need of,” the encyclical promises. A freshening of spiri tual faith through study of the mystery of Christ in the Church has long been a preoccupation of the present Pontiff. REFORM OF the Church is to be pursued, the "aggiornamento” of John XXIII being kept in mind "as our program of action.” What this program of action is in fact to be, so far as legislation goes, "naturally, it will be for the Council to say.” But Pope Paul admonish es; "The Church will rediscover her renewed youthfulness not so much by changing her ex terior laws as by interiorly assimilating her true spirit of obedience to Christ. ...” Indeed, the Pope ^appears alarmed that the spirit of reform may have gotten out of hand, that a wordly spirit is abroad "so that a danger bord ering almost on vertiginous confusion and bew ilderment can shake the Church’s very founda tions and lead men to embrace most bizarre ways of thinking, as though the Church should disavow herself and take up the very latest and untried ways of life.” The demand for conces sions to "secular norms” engenders "the ten dency of throwing overboard every restraint and incovenience from the conduct of life. . . " The very mission of the Church, the ency clical Ecclesiam Suam argues, requires that "we must meet the world and talk with it" in a dialogue characterized by clearness, meekness, trust and pedagogical prudence. These differ ing conversations are envisaged as involving a series of circles including unbelievers, those "who above all adore the one, supreme God whom we, too, adore,” the circle of Christianity and finally those of the household of the Catholic fairh. WHILE IT is noted that "the dialectic of this exercise of thought and patience will make us discover elements of truth in the opinions of others,” its purpose is unabashedly missionary and intransigently uncompromising in maintain ing the essentials of the Catholic faith, including the primacy of the Pope as the center of autho rity and unity. The attitude, a stiffening undoubtedly of that of John XXIII, is frankly justified by the ency clical in these words: "An immoderate desire to make peace and sink differences at all costs is, fundamentally, a kind of scepticism about the power and content of the word of God which we desire to preach.” Such an assertion of abso lute claims should not disconcert the member ship of the World Council of Churches. It has been accustomed to a similar attitude expressed by the Orthodox Churches from the beginning of the ecumenical enterpirse. Tedious and so far unfruitful negotiations with the governments of Czechoslovakia and Hun gary to obtain freedom of action for the Church in those countries has made sorrowfully clear the difficulty of dialogue with atheistic communism. Invoking the distinction of Pacem in Terris, between an ideology and those who pre ‘by mnmE majorut sum ably profess it, Pope Paul promises con tinued efforts, not least in the interest of peace between men which y explicitly listed as one of his ministries. WITH NON-CHRISTIAN religions, the encycli cal expresses a desire "to join with them in promoting and defending common ideals of reli gious liberty, human brotherhood, good culture, social welfare and civil order.” Stressing "what we have in common rather than what divides us” is the encyclical's recom mendation on the subject of the dialogue with fellow Christians. An evident affection and res pect for other Christian traditions shines through the paragraphs on this theme. The silences in dicate the intractable problems involved. The seriousness of the task of fulfilling Christ's clear will that his followers be one as a sign of their unity in Him rules out all shallow and super ficial solutions. No program of action is indica ted, again undoubtedly in deference to the Coun cil which will discuss this precise point; no schedule of theological conversations is announc ed. The attention of Catholics is directed to the purfication of their own Church as a prerequis ite for "the longed-for reconcilation.” The spirit of dialgoue within the Catholic Church itself is set down in ringing hopes of a respon siveness "to all truth and virtue and to all the reality of our doctrinal and spiritual inheri tance, sincere and sensitive in genuine spiri tuality, ever ready to give ear to the manifold voice of the contemporary world, ever more capable of making Catholics truly good men, men wise, serene and strong.” Certainly not comprehensive in content, scarce ly decisive on several points, sometimes not even definite in conclusions, the encyclical Ec clesiam Suam is best considered as margina lia on the magistral themes of the Pope’s allo cution opening the Second Session and as practi cal suggestions, the fruit of his 13 months of pastoral responsibility, for the prayerful con sideration of fellow—bishops as they prepare to resume the Council. FLOWERS Radio Forecasts Approval Of Unity Schema TOitAe* PAUL D. WEST SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS FULTON COUNTY VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The Schema on Ecumenism or Chri stian unity is "likely to be approved without susbstantial amendments by the immense majority of the Council Fath ers" when the Second Vatican Council convenes for its third session Sept, 14, Vatican Ra- / n |’.'St ''-"'J V4y r" i- n OPEN WIDE NOW... PftTtND YOU ARE FATING A BIG THICK STEAK AT TWE RIVIERA RESTAURANT • For any occasion: Weddings, organizational mootings, any social events • Formal or informal • Special menus custom- prepared to your requirements • Pip.ug hot foods— meat and fish • Sandwich platters • Hors d’oeuvres • Gourmet canapes • Beverages of all kinds • Bar servic* arranged • Chi?>a • Flatware • Napery • Decorations • Waiters and waitresses • Butlers • Personal atUftlion of catering consultant • Instant service. V.Yra ready, willing and able to iz the catering right away. • Budget terms. Aifairs tailored to ycur budget. Nothing too Mg... nothing too small. When Dinkier does except inviting the catering,forget the guests! about everything DINKLEB-PLAZA 222 U) Tn* rtoort of Atlanta • 90 Forayth Straat, N.W., Atlanta fit fra caRultatiaa, call out Cattnng Dapartmant at JA 4-2461. Sand fcr fra pocn e?, fitting all Oimuar hotalt and motala acroit tha country. nmtt mm, Marta*!**, i* imKK, w% timmm t * « i lumtmt a i»—i-«««a (*»*•"•» BE SMART GO Buckheod Men’s Shop For Quality Traditional Clothes at Lowest Prices. We Ask only That you Come in- Browse & Compare. Collage Days August 20th until September 5th. 20% Discount Brand new Suits Blazers - Sport Coats An opportunity For real savings Before returning to College. 3047 Peachtree Rd. CE. 3-6759 dio stated. It said its prediction was bas ed on assurances by Augustin Cardinal Bea, president of the Secretariat for Promoting Ch ristian Unity, and other spon sors of the schema. The broadcast said the schema on ecumenism is to be voted on by the Council as a while, and two declarations or appendices — one on religious liberty and the other on Jews and non-Christians — are to be discussed and voted on. The schema is one of 13 before the Council. ’The Second Vatican Coun cil is, therefore, one of expe ctation, of confident expecta tion," said Vatican Radio. "It looks forward to a more wide spread and more fraternal par ticipation in its own authentic ecumenicity. This note of confi dent expectation, as the world kows by this time, runs through every line of the schema on Christian unity.” MEANWHILE, it said, ’The same note of confident yearning has marked the numerous con tacts of the Holy Father of our bishops and our Catholic laity with our separated brethren in groups large and small during these past months of the in terval between the second and third sessions of the Council.” The station went on to note as "particularly moving and com forting" the welcome extended in July by the Second biennial convention of the Lutheran Church in America to Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh, a ranking member of the Vati can Council’s Theological Commission, It recalled that Bishop Wright earlier had been accorded "a most cour teous hearing" at the quadrenn ial General Conference of The Methodist Church in the United States, IN THE former instance, the Vatican Radio said, Bishop Wright was "at pains to point our certain heartening signs of the times which underscore the Holy Father's observation that union is well on the road to reality when it becomes the ob ject, however frail and obscure, of our sincere desire, a de sire which unites instead of one that devides.” The station then went on to quote lengthy excerpts from Bishop Wright's talks to U.S. Lutherans and Methodists on ecumenism. EARLY in its broadcast the station recalled that in his ad dress opening the Vatican Council's second session, Pope Paul VI had set forth the four main goals of the Council — awareness of the Church, re form of the Church, bringing together all Christians in unity, and the dialogue of the Church in the contemporary world. 'The Pope," it said, ’laid particular stress, as Pope John XXIII had done before him, on the promotion of Christian un ity, on the dialogue with our separated brethren. ‘THIS third object of our yearnings and our delibera tions,’ said the Vicar of Christ on Sept. 29, 'is one which may be called its spiritual drama. It directly affects the other Christians who believe in Christ, but whom we have not been numbering among our selves in the perfect unity of Christ which only the Catholic Church can offer them.' " ' This unity, objectively speaking, ' Pope Paul added, ‘should be theirs by baptism. It is something which, virtually at least, they already desire. Recent movements, at present in full development within com munities of Christians separa ted from us, make two things, plain; the first is that th^hurch of Christ is one and one alone, and therefore must be unique; the second is that this mystic union cannot be obtained ex cept in identity of faith, by participation in the same sac raments, and in the organic harmony of a single ecclesi astical control, though this al lows for a great variety of ver bal expressions and move ments and lawful institutions, and personal preferences with regard to manners of acting." VATICAN Radio said the Council had "left no doubt about the attitude toward the great numbers of our separated bre thren, nor about the possibi lity of multiple external mani festations within the unity of the Church.” ‘The Council," it added, "aims at complete and univer sal ecumenicity. That is what it desires, that is what it prays and prepares for. It does so today_ in the hope that tomorrow it may see the reality. Whilst calling and counting its own sheep who belong in the full est and truest sense to the flock of Christ, it opens the door and calls out, too, to the many sheep of Christ who are not at present within the uni que fold.” THE 12 schema still before the Vatican Council, in addition to the one onecumenism, areas follows: 1. Divine Revelation— to be discussed and voted on. 2. The Church — chapters on the Virgin Mary and the saints to be discussed, and the whole to be voted on. 3. Pastoral Duties of Bishops in the Church (formerly Bis hops and the Government of Diocese) — the chapter includ ed from the former schema on pastoral work to be discuss ed, and the whole to be voted on. 4. The Eastern Churches— proposition-to be voted on. 5. Missions — proposi tion to be voted on. 6. Members of Religious Or ders (formerly States of Per fection)— proposition to be vot ed or., *\ Priests (formerly Clergy) — proposition to be voted on. 8. The Lay Apostolate— sch ema to be discussed and voted on. 9. The Sacranr^ent of Marriage — a votum on which the Fath ers are required merely to vote. 10. The T raining of Priests — aproposition to be voted on. 11. Catholic Schools— a proposition to be voted on. 12. The Presence of tRe Church of the Church in the Modern World— schema to be discussed and voted on. 166 COURTLAND STREET, N F. ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30JUJ Peachtree Road Pharmacy PICK UP AND DELIVERY SERVICE! CALL CE 7-6466 4062 Peachtree Rd. Atlanta BEWARE TERMITES TC SISTERS IN SARIS—Shown here are members of the Fran ciscan Missionaries of Christ the King, who are in charge of Our Lady of Fatima school in Karachi, India, The nuns wear saris, a white garment with three red stripes along the edges, and have their convent in a six-room apartment in the Catholic housing buildings—"among the people, with the people, like the people," as Mother Bridget, a founder of the society, says. Left to right: Mother Bridget; Mother Lucy, who is mother general; Sister Christine, principal of the PRIMARY MARKETS IN APPROXIMATELY 100 UNLISTED STOCKS TAX-FREE MUNICIPAL BONDS PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS C. Bradford & Co. Members of the New York Stock Exchange & American Exchange Thomas H. Stafford, Resident Manager SUITE 736, BANK OF GEORGIA BUILDING. PHONE JAckson 2-6834 ATLANTA, GA.