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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1964
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Pope Upholds Progressives
BY JOHN COGLEY
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The
fifth week of the current ses
sion of the Ecumenical Council
was a stormy season in Rome.
It rained almost every day, and
the mood of the Council match
ed the weather: sometimes tur
bulent, more often dark and
dreary, with occasional periods
of summy relief.
The week began with a corri
dor crisis in the College of Car
dinals. It ended with a group
of Eastern Rite prelates hur
ling a barrage of criticism
against the draft on the Orien
tal Churches prepared for the
Fathers' consideration. In be
tween there was a full-scale
discussion of the schema on
"Priestly Life and Ministry,’*
a series of "proposition"'
which was received with some
thing less than enthusiasm by
the bishops and with downright
disappointment by most of the
simple priests in the aula, who,
of course, had no opportunity
to speak their minds before the
assembly. A handful of parish
priests were especially invited
to talk.
TO ADD to the general flat
ness of the week’s proceedings,
an address ( in English) given
to the Council Fathers by a
British lay auditor as the wind
up of their discussions of the
lay apostolate turned out to be
a disappointment. It was given
by Patrick Keegan, normally a
highly articulate veteran of the
Catholic social movement in
England. As a purveyor of
platitudes and sodality piety
Mr. Keegan was out of cha
racter. The milky rhetoric of
his speech gave no hint of the
real man who delivered impro
bably because he was speaking
not merely for himself but for
all the lay auditors and had to
reflect a least-common-de-
nominator blandness. Neverthe
less it was a sad climax to
the career of a fiery pioneer
in the work of "declericaliz-
ing’* the Church.
"You can't please everyone,’*
Mr. Keegan explained at the
American Bishops Press Panel
when someone asked why his
remarks were so innocuous.
The real problem though was
that the talk seemed to have
been drafted with precisely that
goal in mind.
THE FOUR-DAY crisis of
course was widely publicized
in the general press. It was
occasioned by still one more
maneuver by the die-hard con
servative forces in the Roman
Curia to manage the Council
against the will of the majority
of the Fathers — this time
by relocating the proposed de
claration on the Jews from
the schema On Ecumenism
(where it would be in the hands
of the less liberal Doctrinal
Commission), and by setting up
a board of review heavily
weighted in favor of known op
ponents of the religious liberty
schema to pass on that de
claration after it is redrafted
by Cardinal Bea’s com
mission.
There was general apprehen
sion among the Fathers that
these moves would result in
eviscerating both documents,
which have become focal points
for the conservative - pro
gressive struggle in this ses
sion. Resentments were also set
up by a report that the text
on episcopal collegiality was
being tampered with by the con
servative forces who control
the machinery, though not the
sentiment, of the Council.
ALL THIS was done by pri
vate communication between
highly placed Curial prelates—
and if Rome were not a no
toriously difficult place as a
fait accompli. But within hours
the whole city knew of it, though
no one in authority would speak
for the record.
High authority, however, did
act, promptly and decisively.
A group of cardinals meeting
at the home of Cologne's Car
dinal Frings, decided to appeal
directly to the Holy Father and
did so, thereby nipping the plan
in the bud. Among them were
representatives of the Euro
pean, Latin American, and
North American hierarchies.
The two American Cardinals
in Rome at the time, Cardinal
Ritter of St. Louis and Car
dinal Meyer of Chicago, were
among those who signed the
petition. Cardinal Meyer, a na
turally cautious and deliberate
prelate, emerged, during those
critical hours when the fate
of the Council’s recent work
seemed to hang in the bal
ance, as a firm, steady, and
decisive leader. Respect for
him has since zoomed
'.mong Council Fathers and
others in Rome.
THE action of the protest
ing cardinals was almost uni
versally backed up by the A-
merican bishops and periti on
the scene, many of whom were
indignant when they got news
of what was happening. Some
of the most significant "poli
ticking" necessary in fact was
devised by a group of bishops
and priests, almost all
Americans, who for the dura
tion of the Council have formed
a kind of loose-knit community
in a large pensione open only
to the clergy. It is visited
by eminent non-American
Fathers, who enjoy par
ticipating in the discussions
held there, and has become not
only a center of intellectual
power and influence but the most
"in’* place for the American
clergy in Rome to live. A room
in the pensione Villa Nova is
now roughly the clerical equi
valent of a listing in the So
cial Register.
There was a general sigh of
relief when the director of in
formation for the Latin Ameri
can hierarchy finally revealed
that there would be no essential
changes in the controversial
documents they were intent on
saving. The tension subsided
then as quickly as it rose four
days earlier.
THROUGHOUT this whole
period, however, the journalists
in the city had to live on ru
mors, No highly placed pre
lates were speaking for the re
cord — they still have not.
Even the treatment of the sub
ject at the American Press Pa
nel was something less than
candid. No reporter dared even
ask a straightforward question
in the conspiratorial atmo
sphere. One who did venture
a circuitous inquiry was first
put off by a reference to the
"rules'* governing the panel and
then, after the reporter com
plained of "legalism" (which
has been frequently denounced
in the Council aula), he was
given a reply which was a mo
del of evasion. In the meantime,
most of the panel members sat
with stony faces, visibly
nervous; the newspaper people
were simply embarrassed. In
the United States there is cur
rently a discussion of the need
for "honesty in the Church."
Its significance was pointed up
dramatically during those hours
of impending crisis when there
was a great outpouring of pri
vate garrulousness and a public
direction verging on the
ifuneraln
In the meantime, the Fathers
in Council were discussing the
schema originally entitled "On
Priests" and then cut back to
a series of propositions called
"On Priestly Life and Minis
try."
THERE was widespread dis
satisfaction among them with
the fact that the ordinary clergy
were being dealt with so brief
ly. After the lengthy treatment
given bishops and the laity, it
was an "insult" to priests,
said Bishop Luis Sanchez Mo
reno Lira of Chiclayo, Peru,
to reduce the schema to a series
of propositions — a complaint
repeated by other bishops in
the aula and many priests out
side it.
setting of high spiritual ideals
of priestly piety. In fact, said
another Latin American pre
late, Archbishop Fernando Go
mes Dos Santos of Goianla,
Brazil, the schema aims many
exhortations to priests "along
lines which we did not dare
to lay down for ourselves" in
the schema on bishops.
IN THE course of the prac
tical discussions it was sug
gested that a greater equality
be established among priests of
a given territory, 9o that one
is not fated to live in penury
because he is dependent on im
poverished parishioners and
another enjoys the benefits of
a prosperous parish.. The so-
called "stole fees'* — the con
tribution made to the officiants
at weddings, baptisms, funer
als, etc. — said Bishop Joseph
Banic, a newly named Hungarian
Pprelate, should be put in a
common fund.
There were mild suggestions
that priests should be able to
look forward to retirement and
relief from duty in old age,
though several Fathers believed
that not age alone but only ill-
health and incompetence should
justify retirement. A member
urged that social security and
insurance plans be worked out
for the secular clergy. Others
wanted to make it illegal for
a priest to leave money to
members of his family.
ONE Father, again a Latin
American, Bishop Victorio
Garaygordobil of Los Rios, Ec
uador, said that steps should
be taken so that priests are
not left utterly at the mercy
of their bishops, whose "ar
bitrariness** in some cases can
be oppressive. After all, he
warned, priests are not merely
mechanical instruments in the
hands of their superiors but
"human’’ and "personal" col
laborators with them. He added
that bishops by the mere fact
of their consecration are not
necessarily either "confirmed
in grace'* or "infallible".'
Somehow these factors should
be taken into consideration in
working out the discipline for
the clergy. But this intervention
was a break from a steady em
phasis during the discussion on
the necessity for priestly obe
dience and observance of
the law.
There was only one dire
warning against the state of the
priesthood in modern times. It
came from a Yugoslav, Bishop
Smiljan Cekkada of Skopje, who
noted that the spirit of "na
turalism" was creeping even
into the ranks of the clergy.
He deplored the "unbelievable
laxity and general care
lessness" of some priests'
handling of delicate moral pro
blems in the confessional and
spoke of the steady "laiciza-
tion" of the clergy.
FOR example, he saw no
reason why so many European
priests want to put off the
soutane on the street and "dress
like laymen." He tied in these
condemnations with a denuncia
tion of "young girls dancing
in the sanctuary" — a pheno
menon not as scandalous as it
sounds since the reference was
to a dignified sacred per
formance. These are signs, said
the bishop, not of the much-
heralded Catholic "renewal"
but of a creeping apostasy
from the faith.
Thoughout, clerical celibacy
was taken for granted as an
abiding and not-to-be-changed
practice. There is no indication
in the schema that the law of
celibacy is even open to ques
tion and no Father suggested
that a full-dress discussion of
it be put on the agenda. What
ever rumors there were that
the question would be re-thought
at the Vatican Council, then,
seem to have come to nothing.
NOR were there any sugges
tions of how the rights as well
as the duties of the ordinary
clergy might be more firmly
established in the upcoming re
vision of Canon Law. In fact,
after the discussion of priests,
the only conclusion to draw was
that the Council Fathers plan
no radical revision in clerical
discipline.
Their frequent exhortations
were in accordance with the
existing order, and the present
pattern of priestly life would
appear to be generally accepted
as the model for the future.
THE only exception might be
the recurrent suggestion that
the clergy could well be less
locally-oriented. A Spanish
prelate, Bishop Marcello Gon
zalez Martin of Astorga, point
ed out that from one to two
thousand candidates for the
priesthood are turned away in
Spain every year because there
is no place for them in their
native dioceses, so overstaffed
are the parishes.
These potential priests, he
said, could be used elsewhere
where their services are needed
drastically. This was a surpris
ing statistic for many A-
mericans to hear, sinct there
is such an all-out effort right
now for U.S. clergy and re
ligious to undertake work in
the priestless lands of Spanish
speaking Latin America.
The discussion of the Ori
ental Churches inevitably was
dominated by prelates of the
non-Latin Rites. Some of them,
notably the sharp-tongued Pa
triarch of Antioch, the Melkite
Maximos IV Saigh, thought that
the schema (again a series of
propositions) was defective
from the very fact that it was
written separately from the
draft "De Ecclesia." The tip-
off, he said, is given in the very
first words of the Oriental
churches draft where it is
stated that the Catholic Church
wants to give a special mark
of its esteem and love to the
"Oriental Churches." This
suggests, said His Beatitude,
that the "Oriental Churches’*
are thought of as but append
ages to the Catholic Church.
Again the tension was be
tween those who think of the
Church in "Roman" terms and
those who think of it in "Catho
lic" terms.
SOME of the Eastern prelates
who spoke complained bitterly
of "Latimzers" who make their
lives difficult. These "Lati-
nizers" have a careless atti
tude toward the traditions and
history of the Churches of the
East, they claimed.
Maximos was also par
ticularly biting in his criticism
of the low estate given to the
historic Patriarchates of the
East in the Latin-Rite menta
lity.
"YOU talk," he said, "as if
the idea of a patriarch is an
Oriental phenomenon. It is
Western, too. In fact, I remind
yod that we are meeting in a
‘patriarchal basilica.’ When the
Pope lived in the Lateran, his
home was called a 'pa-
triarchum."’ It is no use show
ering patriarchs like himself
with praise, he added, when in
fact they are reduced to su
bordinate status and are
required to apply with docility
to the Roman Curia for per
missions and directives. Steps
should be taken, he said, to
restore the patriarchate to its
former dignity and to abolish
the honorary patriarchates, like
that of Venice, which are really
meaningless titles in the West
ern Church.
As nothing else has, the
discussion of the Oriental
Churches pointed up the narrow
"Roman*’ view of the Council
Fathers, even the most pro
gressive, The relations between
Catholicism and Orthodoxy,
these Eastern prelates insisted,
simply connot be thought of in
terms analogous to the relations
between Catholicism and Pro
testantism in the West. The sit
uation is entirely different.
When the East broke with the
Western Church, the notion of
papal primacy had not been
full developed. The Orthodox
knew that they were breading
with the Patriarch of the West
(the Pope) but they had no
idea of breaking away from the
Catholic Church. They had long
recognized the Pope as the pre
siding patriarch but did not con
ceive of his essential power
and authority as being anymore
extensive than that of their own
patriarchs.
It was evident as they spoke
that though they are as loyal
to the papacy as any bishop
of the West, these Oriental pre
lates, theologically, liturgi-
cally, and canonically must feel
more at home with their
"rivals’* in Constantinople or
Cilicia than with their brother-
bishops in Rome.
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