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THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5 THEOLOGY AM LAW Period Of Adjustment Saints in Black and White GUILT FOR CRUCIFIXION ST. JOHN LEONARDI 118 BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW We live, as Catholics, in an age of transition. This is so obvious and commonplace an observa tion as to have become trite. The fact remains, however, that many of the implications of the transitional character of our time have not had their full impact on us. This partial awareness of our present state at this given moment is surely inevitable. When affairs of great moment are in a profound state of flux, it is difficult, even im possible, to grasp them firmly. They do not stand still. There is too much going on for most of us to analyze. At the same time, this partial awareness of what is involved in an adjust ment such as the Church is ex periencing is the source of much of the difficulty and discomfiture felt by many Catholics. We are passing from a state marked by a deep conviction of the supremacy oflaw.The moral and spiritual demands of the Christian faith were couched, by preference, in terms of law: natural law, divine positive law, canon law, civil law, end lessly distinguished so that it would fit every theoretically possible combination of circumstan ces. Extremism within this mentality produced casuistry, an abstract system of morality con cerned more with situations than with persons. Canon Law was in fact if not in principle, the su preme science of the Church. Even the doctrinal content of our faith was frequently measured prin cipally by the degree of authority its various facets held from Councils, papal documents, theological manuals, and so forth. IN SUCH a situation, things were at least clear. At least, they seemed so. That, to many both with in and especially outside the Church, truth and morality were not so clear nor so simple, was of ficially ignored. This is the state to which we have become accustomed. Unchangeable practices and immutable truths were our daily fare. Authority could always be depended on to provide definite, even instant, solutions. It is not true that all this has changed. Far from it. What is true is that a good many of the ideas and assumptions we took for granted are in the process of changing. We do not, and cannot, know exactly what our future state will be in every de tail because the change is not yet complete. It is still going on. In many instances, the letter of the law has not been able to keep pace with the intro duction of new practices.This is true, for instance, in liturgical matters, where progress has been so rapid under the impetus of the Constitution of Sac red Liturgy of the Vatican Council. Pope Paul has spoken frequently of the coming revision of Canon Law which, presumably, will incorporate the chan ged approach of the Church to these and other matters. WHAT APPARENTLY disturbs many Catholics is the loss of the absolute certainty and uniform ity that the legalistic approach guaranteed. They mistrust a future marked by flexibility, variety and incompletely controlled initiative. They per haps fear that freedom will really degenerate into license, as the text of so many sermons warned us. There are many motives for confident optimism. The change from rigid legalism is not being made in a void - nor, into a void.The Church, and those whose leadership she is accepting, are planted on a firmer base than law. The starting-point and guideline is theology - our always partial but al ways progressing understanding of God’s mys tery-filled word to us in Christ. In some instan ces, it means a return to traditional ideas which have been temporarily obscured. Principally, it means what Pope Paul spoke of in his brilliant and important encyclical, Ecclesiasm Suam. THE CHURCH is in the process of considering its inmost nature and constitution. Pope Paul writes that from this contemplation of the mystery of the Church we must conclude what practical steps of reform and renewal are to be taken. Change will follow on knowledge and the enlighten ment Christ promised always to provide. QUESTION BOX About Lay Trustees? 3Y MSGR. J. D. CONWAY Q. In your answer about lay trustees in a parish you say that in signing the annual report he cer tifies that it is true to the best of his knowledge. This sounds like you’re ducking, and I know you better than that. Does the trustee have a respon sibility to study the report and understand it? If he i,d<?9 s g!t v ijp/derstand i$,49fl§ he have a respop- pnestri and dpes the priest have a responsibility to see that he does under stand it. Unless your answers are yes, please ex plain why there are trustees. A, My answers are yes. In our own state the trustees are members of a corporation. Certain ly they have a right and a responsibility to know the details of the corporation's operation, espec ially when they are certifying a report of these — operations to the president of the corporation, the bishop. On the other hand, it is sel dom, in practice, that the trus tees will make or demand an audit of the parish books. They trust the report prepared by their pastor, and in this sense they certify that it is true to the best of their knowledge. There may be circumstances when they should demand more thorough investigation. Then they may lose their jobs as trustees. Which is no great loss, since the pay is poor. ♦ ** Q. Please give your opinion on these so-called novenas. We receive one in the mail: a novena to Our Lady of Fatima, nine Hail Mary's and nine Our Father’s, 'This was started by the Sisters of St. Francis and has been around the world four times. Copy this and send it to nine different peo ple within four days. If you don’t wish to continue this, please send it back to the Sisters of St. Francis, Boston, Mass. Don’t let this be broken in your home. On the ninth day you will receive a favor from Our Lady of Fatima.” The other was found in church. It is a nine-day novena to St. Jude: "Say the following prayer for nine days in succession leaving a copy in church each time. It hasneverfailedtogranta request by the ninth day.” A, This sort of thing is plain superstition - not religion, I am sure that Fatima novena has been around the world far more than four times; it has passed by me at least a score of times, and it has always been broken when it reaches me. Those poor Sisters of St. Francis in Bostonl Imagine the burden of junk mail they receive - if it is ever delivered. I counted up one time, but my memory is poor: there must be 25 to 50 convents of the Sisters of St. Francis in Boston. What is a poor postman to do? Probably most pastors have shared with me the nuisance of picking up that St. Jude novena from the floor of the church day after day. St, Jude was a pastor himself, and I am sure he would not look with favor on litter bugs. Say your prayers with love and devotion to adore the great and good God who made you, saved you and sanctifies you. Offer yourself to Him through His Son who became man to link us to Him. Honor the Mother of this Son, and all His faithful Apo»- tles, martyrs and other saints. But beware of charms and incantations, of never-failing prayers, and of nine times nine equals certainty. There is only one place for chain letters: the waste basket. And prayers dropped delibe rately on the floor end up in the incinerator. Q. A Greek Orthodox church in our town has returned to the Greek Catholic Rite, and my moth er says that the Greek Rite is the same as the Roman Catholic Rite. What is the difference, if any? Does the Greek Rite obey the Pope of Rome, or do they have a separate pope? A. A Catholic church of Greek Rite has dif ferent ceremonies, customs and traditions, but is just as Catholic as the Roman Rite, It is subject to the same Pope, Paul VI. And you are per fectly free to assist at its Sacred Liturgy (Mass) and to receive Holy Communion in it. You will receive there under both forms, bread and wine. SAVE SOUTH VIETNAM? Your World And Mine CONTINUED FROM PAGE *1 as did the patriots fighting the French after World War IL The south has for three years been trying to apply the same process in re verse. All the indications are that it has failed to achieve any worthwhile success. Why is the government of South Vietnam un able to evoke the enthusiasm of the masses? I think the answer can only be that it is not a government of the people, and— however ob scurely — they know it. Admittedly, this part of the world, where force was ever the cement of public order, never in the past knew a govern ment of the people. But one may legitimately wonder if the Communists have not ushered in a new era in which self-interest must combine with terror to achieve government stability. Ngo Dinh Diem was the only figure of na tional proportions to emerge in South Vietnam since partition. He understood the use of power within the traditions of rule of his country. He had the personal integrity and the moral forma tion to make those who knew him hope that he could govern in the interest of all Vietnamese. p ' Z w /6 ri J 41 % IT H far 7 7 'J. f r it Jews Of World Troubled By Pending Council Text Of £* *>7 V 7S- 7t J - T3T It 174 7* 17* [7 7 ACROSS 60 chemical abbrevl- 23 1 quadragesima atlon 26 5 color 62 formerly 30 9 facts 64 taboo 13 object of art 65 Baseball term 31 14 football team 66 one of his out- 34 15 folk singer standing virtues 16 lowland 69 limited 35 17 made 70 man’s name 37 18 mastaba 71 seed covering 38 19 portico pier 72 state 39 20 estop 74 feats 21 counterpart 75 mid-western city 40 24 initials of a rellg- 76 trouble spot 41 ious group 77 desist 42 25 African worm 78 pas 43 27 agency 79 spruce up 44 28 comparative suffix 80 baldrick 48 29 fillip DOWN 49 31 stage (fr.) 1 5-year periods in 32 in that degree ancient Rome 51 33 rancor 2 silkworm 52 36 Orient 3 none (dialect) 54 40 fruit of tropical 4 toward 57 Am. tree 5 near 58 43 sirs 6 area measure 59 45 French pronoun (Annam) 60 46 fuss 7 preposition 61 47 Anglo Saxon letter 8 rate 63 48 He did much to 9 malady 67 spread our 10 state (v.) 68 50 glad 11 banter 70 52 He is said to have 12 flower 73 been very 13 rule 74 63 pronoun 16 flying mammals 55 scene of a recent 17 salty 76 war 22 ancient times 77 56 mast way season principal medical asst, (abbrv.) elevate Presidential nick name fourth, calip Latin pronoun 10th wedding an niversary wagon girl's name puncheon souvenir nothing a rural idiom So. American In dian group boat cutting tool= personal entity he was one habitat Japanese coins emperors tarn diphthong senior (Fr.) glide trade pollol Balmoral Castle’s river rank (abbr.) Columbium BY JAMES C. O’NEILL (N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE) VATICAN CITY -- The Jews of the world are greatly con cerned with what will be the final text of the ecumenical council’s declaration of the re lation of the Catholic Church and the Jews because of the ef fect it can have on the future. Dr. Joseph L. Lichten, di rector of the department of in- tercultural affairs of the Anti- Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said it is for this rea son that the final form of the declaration deals with the rela tions between the Catholic Church and those outside it.” “I WOULDNT DARE,” he said, ' to interfere with pure ly internal matters, but as a Jew I am extremely involved in this matter because of what the council will have to say.” Lichten said the chief objec tion to the declaration draft as it now stands is that it fails to state clearly that Jews are not guilty of the crucifixion of Christ, that is, of deicide or the killing of God. *‘WE, THE Jews of the world, and I as a Jew, feel that the deicide issue is the most im portant issue of the declara tion,” he said. 'The present draft is much weaker even than the original chapter four of the ecumenism schema which was not taken up at the last ses- ARNQLD VIEWING ‘Tennessee’ Huston BY JAMES W. ARNOLD Tennessee Williams is tilting at the same old tired windmills in "Night of the Iguana," and if this film is more bearable than others made from Williams plays, It is due largely to the tough, sardonic genius of director John Huston. What's more, for all its char acteristically bizarre situations, "Iguana" now and then oddly resembles Graham Greene- in its theology, if not in its aura of cracked optimism. is at can Let it be emphasized, dutifully, that "Iguana” not everyone's idea of a scintillating night the picture show. Set in a decaying Mexi- Unfortunately, he allowed family and class con siderations to prevail over his instincts. Yet nothing has been gained by his assassina tion. The current regime enjoys even less popu lar backing than did his. It has grown more cor rupt by the month than the other by the year. In such circumstances, the me gained by a military pause can only run in favor of the Com munists. The people of thesouthhave already lar gely lost the will to fight. Defections from the army are increasing. If the south stagnates in corruption while the north drives ahead w ith the creation of a stronger economy and a more equitable social system, the people will in due course make their inevitable choice. The dilemma is one which the United States faces in many parts of the world. What we offer to underdeveloped countries as the democratic way of life proves neither meaningful nor viable in the terms in w hich we present it. But now here is the issue more clearly defined than in South Vietnam today. We need not only a greater effort but a very different evaluation, if we are to make democracy a goal for which Vietna mese will fight and work. seacoast resort during the sweltering off season, it is mainly about a crisis in the soul of a half- mad ex-minister (Richard Bur ton) who knows and loves God better than most but can't re sist temptation, a fix that is clearly both tragic and comic, rlt is also an oddball love story involving the cleric, an Inhibited Nantucket spinster (Deborah Kerr) and the hotel proprietress, a cackling South-of-the-Border Auntie Marne (Ava Gardner). HUSTON has coolly thrown out some of the sensations Williams habitually pulls from his bag to keep the audience alert, and substitu ted others (a pathetic-comic seduction, wrest ling on the beach, etc.) that are familiar adult film fare. But mostly he has added comic coun terpoint to the high drama, salted in some sen timent, made the characters more likeable, and paved the way for a happy ending that would enchant the editors of Ladies Home Journal. It has been done without compromising Wil liams, who has been repeating himself, in mar velously poetic dialog, for an embarrassingly long time. This is still Williamsville. where ap pearances are turned upside down; the saved are lost, the immoral are moral, the monst rous is beautiful, and there is no sight so horrible as Virtue Triumphant. BASICALLY, "Iguana" is a moral fable argu ing the case for romantic naturalism. The hero charges that religion has turned a God of Love into a "senile adolescent. . . who brutally pun ishes all He created for his own faults in con struction" Moralists, he complains have chan ged man into their own creation, not God's. Williams takes special trouble this time to specify that sex is not everything, though temptation and fall are clearly more human than no temptation at all. NOW THE arid spinster, scorned in the ortho dox Williams gospel, emerges as heroine- saint: "There are worse things than chastity," she says, meaning chiefly the prime Existent ialist sin, unkindness to a fellow sufferer in this baffling world. She has devoted her life to her 97-year-old grandfather, a poet who, tragicomically, has outlived his talent by 60 years. The whole law of God. Williams has dis covered, is love, meaning not sex but charity. None of this is especially new. There has hardly been an intellectual drama in 20 years that has not taken a club to Victorian morality (by now a hoary Freudian stereo type of Religious Man) and urged kindness, understanding, endurance and (above all) commu nication between the isolated. The great theme persists: why is God silent, and what do we do, lost out here in the stars? Many Catholics do not dig Williams, of course, because secure in their Faith, they have either not thought of these questions, or already found answers. WHAT IS NEW is the note of hope. The spin ster’s sacrifice bears fruit; the old man pro duces one last brave beautiful poem (extolling, not surprisingly, the need for human courage in the face of decay and death). And when she throws out a final prayer-"Please, can’t we stop now?"- the Silent God answers, almost with a thunder clap (and echoes of Bergman’s "VirginSpring”). Huston indulges his noted fondness for setting characters in conflict in an exotic locale and let ting them tear each other apart. He relies heav ily on closewups and wrings every emotional overtone from lighting effects and camera set ups. (Still, for film purists, this is only a film ed play, shrewdly crafted, withspotlight on actors and language). SOME sequences are pure Huston: the pitiless observation of a busload of Texas women on a cheap Mexican tour, a beach brawl (to the tune of "Mexican Hat Dance") in which the clean- cut American boy is not only wrong but badly humiliated. The Huston- Anthony Veiller script often im proves on the original. Sometimes it is in such complicated maneuvers as clarifying the moral relationship between Burton and the predatory 17-year-old 'Sue Lyon) or softening the Gar dner character. Sometimes it is simply trimming the fat from dialog, as when Miss Kerr tells of pitying that poor deviate underwear salesman in Singapore. BURTON’S acting is probably the best he has ever done on the screen. Sample: the remark able way he lets his character slip impercep tibly back into the jolly-good-fellow manner isms of a public relations-minded minister. Miss Kerr still belongs on my mantle next to Greer Garson, and Miss Gardner, thanks cer tainly to Huston, is just about convincing for perhaps the first time in her career. The film is hard to its villains, the middle- aged schoolmarms who are forced to re-re- sent stupidity, frigidity, old-time religion and spiritual desolation all at once. But Williams and Huston clearly do not think much either of the Cool Generation (represented by Miss Lyon) and its tight pants, go-go morality. The old and young women have reversed their morals, but their hearts and minds remain bar ren. sion. He was referring to the fact that in the earlier draft there was a specific sentence stat ing that the Jewish people were not to be blamed for Christ’s crucifixion. Reports on the present text say there is a sentence which states that con temporary Jews are not to be charged with this guilt. LICHTEN said he has been in Europe since mid-July visiting Catholics on a goodwill mission aimed at a constructive decla ration about the attitude of Cath olics toward Jews to be adopted by the council. "I have met several Euro pean cardinals and bishops, and I have been extremely well re ceived with great understanding of my mission and intentions,” he said. "My mission was to tell them how as an average Jew I feel about the issue of the present draft of the declaration and the unhappy result that would come about if the present draft of the declaration is adop ted by the council, and particu larly that portion about deicide which needs considerable strengthening.” In connection with the "un happy result” that would re sult, Lichten principally cited the results of a survey of U.S, Catholic and Protestant atti tudes toward the Jews, A sum mation of the survey, sponsored by B’nai B’rith and conducted by a California university’s re search center, was released in Rome by the Dutch documenta tion office. 'THE initial results of the survey found that a significant number of American Catholics show anti-Jewish prejudice which can be traced to their interpretation of the crucifixion story,” said Lichten. "We hope that the council declaration could free us Jews from the charge of deicide and will help to combat this kind of prejudice.” Secondly, he said that if the deicide question is not faced by the council, the result will be to create antagonism rather than better relations between the two bodies. "If the declara tion does not deal with the dei cide charge, we will waste our time in explanations why the deicide charge was not a part of the declaration instead of working more actively and vig orously for the common good of all men,” he said. THE survey covered the atti tudes of 545 Catholics and 2,326 Protestants. It was based both on questionnaires and personal interviews. Among the conclu sions reached in the summary prepared by Lichten for the Dutch documentation office were: "Generally speaking, the ma jority of Catholics acknowledge their mutual roots with Ju daism, although there is a mod est tendency to Christianize the Old Testament, THE survey linked anti-Sem itic prejudices to religious tenets and noted that similar patterns were found to an even greater degree among Protes tants. Lichten said he was still opti mistic about the council decla ration, He said he placed his hopes particularly in the American bishops “because they come from a country which has the largest Jewish commun ity in the world. They are the ones who understand the Jewish community, and they have had a chance to observe the tremen dous success of our colloquy and discussions.” God Love You BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN Within the past three weeks there came to our office two of the most remarkable women of God it has ever been our privilege to know. Both of them were religious. One of them founded a commu nity twelve years ago which now has 270 members and whose pur pose is the service of the poor. In addition to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a fourth vow is taken, namely, the vow of always serving neighbor in preference to self,The nun who found ed this community has already had 16,000 converts in India, Al most all of them were men and women whom she found dying in the gutters and to whom she preached the love of Christ as they The other religious is starting in Africa the first contemplative community in the history of the world for lepers. This nun, who is an American, has as her prioress, a French contemplative who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Southeast Asia during the war, (When the Japanese heard the American and British planes flying over the concentration camp they brought the nuns into the city streets so that the bombs might fall on them.) The prioress escaped however, founded the first contemplative order for Africans and now one of her daughters is doing the The prioress escaped however, founded the first contemplative order for Africans and now one of her daughters is doing the same for lepers. Imagine a community in which only stumps of hands will hold the breviary for Divine Office, in which some will crawl to choir on knees half-rotted from leprosy, and in which the passive acceptance of suffering will be crowned with the active surrender of will in the hard discipline of total abandonment to Christ. How many of our readers would be willing to send $5,000 to help start this contemplative convent for lepers and to further other sacrificial work in the mission world? Cut out this column and send it to The Society for the Propaga tion of the Faith tion of the Faith with your sacrifice. We will not divulge either the name of the religious or the community. Both wish to remain hidden unknown. You may take our word as representatives of the Pontifi cal Society for the Propagation of the Faith. It is better that you wait until the day of judgment for the joy of knowing how many sins you have made up for by any sacrifice made in Christ’s name, GOD LOVE YOU to J.C.P, for $100 "Inspired by your article, 'What I saw at the Council,’ I*m once again enclosing $100 for you to take to the Council to distribute among the poorest bishops you meet there. I wish to remain anonymous. I’m sending it in care of my good guardian angel.” ....to L.A. Jr, for $20 “We have a lot to be happy for, I hope the Good Lord will continue to be good to us, as He has been in the past.” You carry the Blessed Mother’s image in your heart, but why not show it by wearing her GOD LOVE YOU medal? The ten letters of GOD LOVE YOU form a decade of the rosary as they encircle this medal designed by Harry Winston and originated and blessed by Bishop Sheen to honor the Madonna of the World, With your request and a corresponding offer you may order a GOD LOVE YOU medal in any one of the following styles: $ 2 small sterling silver $ 3 small 10k gold filled $ 5 large sterling silver $10 large 10k gold filled Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York 1, N. Y, or your Archdiocesan Director, Very Rev. Harold ■J. Rainey P. O. Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.