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NEGOTIATED WITH KHRUSHCHEV
U.S. Editor Reveals Role In Release Of Ukrainian Prelate
NEW YORK— Norman Cousins, editor of the
Saturday Review, disclosed he went to the Soviet
Union in December, 1962, to negotiate with then
Premier Nikita Khrushchev for the release of
Archbishop Josyf Slipyi of Lvov, who had spent
nearly 18 years in jail and under house ar
rest.
Archbishop Slipyi’s release was announced in
Moscow on Feb. 9, 1963, two months after
the Cousins-Khrushchev meeting, and at the very
time that the Catholic prelate was secretly ar
riving in Rome. Pope John XXIII confirmed news
of the release on the morning of Feb. 10, a
Sunday, and met the Ukrainian Catholic primate
the same afternoon. Archgishop Slipyi has remain
ed in the Rome area since his release, and last
February Pope Paul VI conferred on him the new
title of “major archbishop.*'
COUSINS TELLS of his part in gaining free
dom for the Byzantine Rite leader in the lead
article of the Saturday Review for Nov. 7,
entitled “Notes on a 1963 visit with Khrus
hchev.” In it, the 52-year-old editor makes
public the fact that he had long meetings with
Khrushchev both on Dec. 7, 1962, and on April
12, 1963. He did not report on the meetings
when they occurred, Cousins states, because
he was serving as a “private emissary” rath
er than as a journalist.
The second meeting took place two days after
Pope John’s encyclical on peace, Pacem in
Terris, was released at the Vatican. Cousins
relates that he had been entrusted with an ad
vance copy of the encyclical, translated into Rus
sian by Vatican officials, for presentation
to the Soviet Premier. He recalls that when he
gave the copy of the encyclical, Khrushchev
told him he was pleased and would “read it with
great interest.”
Of the first meeting, in Moscow, Cousins sta
tes: “I was acting in behalf of church leaders
who felt the time might be opportune for ex
ploring the possibilities of enlarged freedoms
inside the Soviet Union. In particular, the object
of the mission was to obtain the release of Bis
hop Slippi, head of the Ukrainian Rite. . .”
THE EDITOR records that his liaison with
the Holy See in the Slipyi negotiations was Fath
er Felix Morlion, O. P., president of the Pro
Deo University in Rome.
Of his initial meeting, Cousins states:
“I was authorized to say that Pope John was
hopeful that the bishop might spend his few re
maining years—he was now in his seventies—
at some distant seminary.
“The chairman (Khrushchev) had said. . . that
he would like to establish good relations with the
Vatican and that he had a profound regard for
Pope John, but he feared that the release of Bishop
Slipyi would have exactly the opposite effect.
“In what way?* I had asked.
"The moment he is released, there will be big
headlines saying the bishop was tortured by the
Reds,* he had said. ‘This would not exactly help
the cause of improved relations.'
“I HAD REPLIED that it was my understand
ing that Pope John was not seeking the release
of Bishop Slipyi for the purpose of propa
gandist exploitation. He was genuinely concern
ed about the health and well-being of the bishop.
As a matter of basic human justice, he hoped
the bishop would be freed.
“The chairman proceeded to expound on the
case of Bishop Slipyi for almost 20 minutes.
He traced the long history of rivalry between
the Ukrainian Rite Orthodox Church and the
Russian Orthodox Church. He spoke about Bis
hop Slipyi’s predecessor, Metropolitan Shepty-
tsky, who died, the chairman said, under cir
cumstances that suggested his departure from
this earth may have been unnaturally acceler
ated, although he did not say by whom. In any
event, he said the bishop had been imprison
ed for good and sufficient reason.
“My prupose was not to argue that
point, I had said. But it was seventeen years
since the arrest took place. Surely any further
punishment could serve no useful purpose.
“YOU MAY BE right, he had said, adding
that he would look into the matter and let me
know.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
of Atlanta
HELP YOUR
UNITED
APPEAL
SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
iWii
VOL. 2 NO. 44
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1964
$5.00 PER YEAR
EVEN ‘CERTAIN POINTS’
Vatican II Fathers Urged To Face
Birth Control Issue Courageously
LOVE for the sick, the handicapped, the crippled, marked the life of Blessed Luigi Guan-
ella, the social action priest whom Pope Paul VI beatified (Oct. 25). Here the Holy
Father kneels to chat with a group from the Father Guanella Home in Rome.
AID. APPRAISAL
Educators Hopeful About
Future Of School Issues
SAN FRANCISCO (NC)—Two
of the hottest topics in Catholic
education—Federal aid and the
reappraisal of Catholic schools
—got encouraging forecasts at
the 57th annual meeting here
of the superintendents depart
ment, National Catholic Educa
tional Association.
A complete set of “Crite
ria for the Evaluation of Catho
lic Elementary Schools,"which
could be used by all U.S. dio
ceses, was described by Sis
ter St. Regina Marie of the
NCEA’s elementary school de
partment. A prediction that
grants to meet specific needs
WILL SEE MINDSZENTY
Austrian Prelate
To Visit Hungary
VIENNA (RNS) Franz Cardi
nal Keonig, Archbishop of Vi
enna, may visit Hungary in Jan
uary in another attempt to settle
the controversial issue of Joz-
sef Cardinal Mindszenty, ac
cording to Austrian Underse
cretary of State Carl H. Bob-
leter, who was in Budapest on
an official mission.
He was reported here as say
ing the expected Cardinal Koe
nig would receive a visa in or
der to meet the Hungarian Pri
mate who has be«.n living in the
U.S. legation in Budapest since
October, 1956.
MR. BOBLETER’S statement
was made after he had confer
red in Budapest with Archbishop
Endre Hamvas of Kalocsa, head
of the Hungarian Bench of Bish
ops.
Cardinal Koenig, as well as
special emissaries of the Vati
can tried to bring about a settle
ment of the “Mindszenty case”
last year, but without success.
The Primate, who had been
sentenced to life imprisonment
in 1949 for allegedly leading a
conspiracy to overthrow the
Hungarian Communist govern
ment, was freed by insurgents
in the 1956 revolt, but had to
take shelter in the U.S. legation
when the uprising was crushed.
Hungarian authorities have
for some times indicated a
readiness to permit Cardinal
Mindszenty to leave the legation
but only provided he goes into
exile. However, the cardinal
reportedly has refused to leave
the country unless the govern
ment agrees to liberalize its
policies toward the Catholic
Church.
may be approved instead of a
general Federal aid to educa
tion program was made by Wil
liam Consedine, director of the
National Catholic Welfare Con
ference's Legal Department.
PRAISING the work of the 88th
Congress, Consedine said
“more good legislation has been
passed for education in this ses
sion than in any other Congress,
and in every bit of legislation
the private schools have been
treated fairly, b nine major
bills passed there has been no
discrimination against the pri
vate schools.”
Looking toward future trends,
Consedine said that a general
aid program no longer seems
likely and Congress probably
will turn to a series of special
-purpose grants for education
al purposes.
THIS, he noted, could possibly
create a de facto general aid
program without such a pro
gram ever being enacted.
“Congress seems to be con
vinced of a national commitment
to education as an essential
ingredient to democracy,” he
said. “President Johnson has
said that he is for aid to educa
tion within constitutional limi
tations, This statement leaves
the door open to those for and
those opposing Federal aid to
private, nonprofit schools to
prove their own cases by trying
to establish what is the mind of
the Constitution.”
BY JOHN COGLEY
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — On
October 28, Cardinal Agagi-
anian, one of the four modera
tors of the Ecumenical Council,
told the Fathers that on “cer
tain points” which fell under
Schema 13, The Church and
the Modern World, there would
be no public discussion in the
aula of Saint Peter's to avoid
misinterpretation and mis
understanding outside the Coun
cil. It was generally under
stood that among these “cer
tain points;; would be the de
licate matter of birth control,
which has been on the Council
Fathers’ minds ever since dis
cussion of the schema got under
way. The cardinal advised the
bishops not to speak but to send
in written interventions.
That same day, Archbishop
Patrick O’Boyle of Washington,
D.C., speaking for all the
American bishops in Rome,
made a strong statement de
nouncing racial segregation and
every manner of discrimination
based on pride of blood. Op
position to racism, the arch
bishop said, must be founded
on sound theological principles.
In this area, he told the Fa
thers, the bishops of the United
Sates have learned that cooper
ation between Catholics and
other Christians can be most
fruitful.
A YOUNG bishop from Gary,
Indiana, the Most Rev. Andrew
Grutka, was even more out
spoken. He denounced the evils
resulting from racial ghettos
and cultural deprivation in his
own country and elsewhere.
“Virtue cannot be expected
from a slum anymore than
beauty can be found in a gar
bage dump.” Catholics who
move out of a neighborhood rat
her than live side be side with
a Negro family, Bishop Grutka
said, have tarnished the image
of the Church — “The pas
toral work of priests is vi
tiated and tne apostolic work
of missionaries stymied.”
Prelates from other parts of
the world spoke against divorce,
the continued existence of sla
very, and. the growth of poly-
Official
The following appointment
has been announced by the Chan
cery Office: It is effective No
vember 11, 1964.
Reverend Joseph D. Kavanagh
to be assistant at Immaculate
Heart of Mary Church, 2855
Briarcliff Rd„ NE Atlanta.
JOHN COGLEY
gamy even among Christian Af
ricans. Several pleaded for a
statement from the Council af
firming the dignity and rights
of women.
The social concern shown in
the Council, then, was fairly
universal. The problems vary
from nation to nation and from
continent to continent, but it was
evident that the bishops felt
the social doctrine of the Church
was broad enough to meet dif
ferent manifestations of injus
tice, inequity, and social evil.
Only a very few of the remarks
made as the discussion
proceeded would conform to the
once-widespread image of the
Catholic hierarchy as an ultra-
conservative, complacently re
actionary force in a revo
lutionary era.
FOR A TIME, it seemed as
if the subject which was fore
most in many of the Fathers’
minds— family planning and the
control of population —might
not come up in the aula at
all but be dealt with secretly
by commissions protected from
the ever-curious press. That
certainly is the way many of
the Fathers would have liked
it, for the subject of contra
ception at this point in the
Church's history is the most
“delicate” matter imaginable.
It would be less than honest
to say that the Fathers of the
Council see eye to eye on it.
The possibility that by airing
their differences thay would
create a scandal was always
present in their minds.
The next day, though the
breakthrough was made; the
general congregation on Oct
ober 29, 1964, was one of the
most dramatic meetings of the
Council since it began in the
Fall of 1962. Only the day
before, attendance had been
meager and the coffee bar had
been overly busy. On Thursday,
the 29th, practically every place
in the aula was filled. Word
had gotten around Jhat three
leading ecclesiastics were
going to challenge the present
Catholic teaching on birth con
trol and plead for a new look
at the problem.
The three were Cardinal Sue-
nen, Archbishop of Malines-
Brussels, Belgium, Cardinal
Leger of Montreal, Canada, and
*s Beatitude Maximos IV
Saigh, the Melkite Patriarch of
Antioch, Syria. Each one of them
is regarded as a giant among
the Council Fathers. Any one
of them would have received
rapt attention. Together, they
made a formidable team. A
prelate like the retired former
Archbishop of Bombay, the Most
Rev. Thomas Roberts, S.J. —
who has a reputation for being
consistently off-beat and some
thing of a “loner” — might
easily have been dismissed as
an eccentric. But these three
are universally recognized as
leaders among the bishops.
CARDINAL Leger was the
first to speak. He pointed out
that confessors the world over
are confronted by people who
have difficulty with the Church’s
teaching on marital sex. The
bishops, of course, were pain
fully aware of this. He suggest
ed then that many of the dif
ficulties facing the Church
in this matter may be due to
the "fear of conjugal love which
has pervaded so many moral
theology tracts.” The usual text
book statements about procrea
tion being the “primary" pur
pose of marriage, he said, are
not enough. In marriage, hus
band and wife are not rfterely *
procreators, they are also per
sons who need each other’s love.
More attention, then, must be
given to the purpose not of mar
riage abstractly conceived but
of individual marital acts. The
theology of marriage, short,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
I X T E R X A T I OX ALLY
KNOWN British author and
economist. Barbara Ward,
(Lady Robert Jackson) will
address the 32nd national
convention of the National
Council of Catholic Women
in Washington. D.C. (Nov.
13) .(See story, page 6)
Archbishop’s
Notebook
• WE TURN A PAGE TOGETHER
I want to thank you, once again, for the wonderful week of wor
ship. Truly it was a fine teaching experiment involving thousands.
It was a great demonstration, by voice and mind and heart, of
how our people feel about God and about worship to Him. It
awakened many local persons of different faiths who know we
take seriously our part in the work of unity.
But most of all it was an overwhelming prayer in which we
all joined, a common banquet to which we all sat down and ate.
One felt the Church of 1964 coming alive in us. The liturgy is
the source and the summit of our lives. Now we begin to live
out-at home and school and work and neighborhood - these mea
sures of grace. The seed is planted. The harvest means work.
The lamp is kindled. The full light will take time. But it is a
great thing to have taken this first step. Let us walk with our
Brother Christ toward the full worship of a full day.
• IN AND OUT
Apparently my stopping in at St. Joseph’s Hospital was a sur
prise to everyone except the doctors and me., Actually, hepat
itis is not only a long word; it has long effects. My schedule
had called for me to go in, as prescribed, for tests, a check
up and a rest. And contrary to everyone’s opinion, I did not over
work during the Conference On Worship-our fine priests,
Sisters and laymen did all the planning and work.
It just happened that some virus made it necessary for me to
be hospitalized the day after the Conference. I surely appreciate
your prayers, but want to warn against panic everytime you hear,
“the Archbishop’s in the hospitall” I expect it may happen again.
Meanwhile, I still hope to get to Rome for some of the Council,
and there’s plenty of work on my desk each morning.
• AHEAD BIG PLANS
By the end of the year, all of our 45,000 laymen, Sisters and
priests will be viewing the growing Archdiocese with a new pers
pective. Our members are few, but our future needs are many.
We have to plan so that we do not duplicate.
The three new parishes are going so well, four new convents
are under way, and we have a growing program for a growing
Archdiocese being lined up.
Underneath it all is the growth of the mind (raising our Edu
cational Standards) and the heart (touching our areas of compas
sion).
The new spirit of worship is our best Insurance that we will
not be ^st engaged in an external show. It is the bond between
God and us that really lives.
(/Lj? 9-
ARCHBISHOP OF ATLANTA