Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1964
NEGOTIATED WITH KHRUSHCHEV
U.S. Editor Reveals Role In Release Of Ukrainian Prelate
CONTINUED FROM PAGE I
“At that December meeting, as I got up to
leave, the chairman reached into a drawer and
took out two letters on which Christmas greet
ings to Pope John and President Kennedy had
already been engraved. Then he signed the let
ters and asked me to deliver them on my return
to Rome and the United States.
“Several weeks later, after I had returned to
New York from the December meeting in Mos
cow, I had received a telephone call from the Soviet
Ambassador in Washington. Ambassador Dobry
nin asked if I could come to Washington soon.
He had some news to transmit to me.
“TWO DAYS LATER, at the Soviet Embassy,
the Ambassador said he had been asked to con
vey the greetings of Premier Khrushchev and al
so to say that the Premier was happy to ar
range for the unconditional release of Bishop
Slipyi. The Ambassador asked where and how and
to whom the Bishop should be delivered.
“I thanked the Ambassador for the good news
and immediately communicated with Father
Felix Morlion, president of Pro Deo University
in Rome, who was then in the United States.
Throughout all the arrangements leading up to the
appointments in Moscow and the Vatican, Father
Morlion had occupied a liaison role.
“Father Morlion telephoned Rome immediately
and conveyed the good news. Within a few hours
Vatican officials drew up a plan for Bishop
Sllpyi’s return to freedom. The plan, accepted
immediately by the Soviet government, called
for the bishop to be flown to Vienna, where
he would be met by the Pope's personal repre
sentative and flown to Rome.
“THE PLAN WAS successfully carried out with
in a week. Bishop Slipyi was brought to the Vati
can where Pope John, despite his now advanc
ing illness, greeted him and told of his joy at
seeing him reunited with the Church. Follow
ing this meeting, the bishop was escorted to a
secret retreat some miles outside Rome. No re
porters were permitted to see the bishop. In
deed, it was only after the bishop had arrived
at the secret retreat that the news of his libera
tion was released.
“The day following this announcement, I receiv
ed a telephone call from Ambassador Dobry
nin in Washington asking me if I had seen the
afternoon newspapers. I said I had not., The Ambas
sador suggested that I do so. Then he read to
me a news story under the following headline:
BISHOP TELLS
OF RED TORTURE
“He asked me if I would care to make any
comment concerning what appeared to be a breach
of good faith. 1 said I had no direct knowledge
o f what had happened but I was absolutely
certain that there had been no breach of faith.
I said I would telephone the Vatican directly and
find out what I could.
“Vatican officials were profoundly shocked
when I told them of the news break in the U. S.
EVEN ‘CEEJAIN PQIN1S1
Bishop Slipyi had spoken to no newsmen. They
termed the story a pure concoction. They said they
would set the record straight immediately. In
particular, Osservatore Romano would carry a front
effect that the news stories about Bishop Slipyi
were without authority and were repudiated by
both Pope John and Bishop Slipyi.
“What troubled Vatican officials most of all
was that this incident might interfere with fur
ther attempts to bring about release of church
men imprisoned in communist countries.
“I TELEPHONED Ambassador Dobrynin and in
formed him that the news stories were comp
letely unauthorized and that the next issue of
Osservatore Romano would set the record straight
on the authority of the Pope."
L’Osservatore Romano on the front page of its
Feb. 15, 1963, issue, noted that some seg
ments of the press had published detailed stor
ies concerning Archbishop Slipyi, and then ad
ded: "We are authroized to state that neither
the Holy See nor Archbishop Slipyi had any part
in issuing them."
Cousins in talking of his meeting the follow
ing April notes that he began their seven-hour
encounter “by thanking the chairman for his af
firmative response to the request for Bishop Sli—
pyi’s release."
He continues:
“ONCE AGAIN, I expressed the regrets of Va
tican officials at what had appeared to be a breach
of faith in some of the news coverage that
followed the bishop's release and of the profound
elation of Pope John at being reunited with Bishop
Slipyi.
“The chairman said he understood, adding
that some journalists didn't know what to do with
good news.
“The chairman then inquired about the health
of Pope John, saying he had often thought of,
and been inspired by, Pope John’s desire to
contribute to world peace in whatever time re
mined to him.
“This seemed like a propitious moment to
transmit to the chairman an advance copy, trans
lated into Russian by Vatican officials, of Pope
John’s encyclical, Pacem in Terris.
“The chairman said he was pleased to know
about the encyclical in advance and would read
it with great interest.
“I THEN BROUGHT up the matter of Arch
bishop Beran, of Czechoslovakia, who had been
interned for some years. Cardinal Augustus,
Bea, of the Vatican, had told me of his great
concern for the bishop’s health.
“The chairman said he was unfamiliar with
the case of Archbishop Beran, and that this was
a matter that concerned the Czechoslovak gover
nment.
“Recognizing this, I said that Cardinal Bea
was hopeful that the chairman might be will
ing to use his good offices to explore the matter
with Czech government officials.
“The chairman said he would take the mat
ter under advisement."
Archbishop Josef Beran was freed by the Cze
choslovak regime the following October, but was
not permitted to resume his duties as Arch
bishop of Prague. Last spring, however, the pre
late was moved from his relative freedom in
Mukarov to an isolated place called Radvanov,
where he has been held under close surveill
ance.
Vatican II Fathers Urged To Face
Birth Control Issue Courageously
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
net ds a drastic overhauling.
That is the most urgent re
quirement. "With this work
done on the level of principle,
moralists, physicians, and psy
chologists will be in position to
take care of further details.”
Cardinal Suenens, who spoke
with unusual force and emotion
even for him, followed im
mediately, with a plea for an
“objective” study of the theo
logy of marriage. There is rea
son to believe, he said, that the
Catholic outlook has become too
one-sided. For example, the
steady emphasis on the biblical
command to Adam and Eve to
“increase and multiply" must
be balanced with the implica
tions of their becoming “two in
one flesh." The Chruch has
learned a great deal since Saint
Augustine, Cardinal Suenens
said. (Augustine, the presiding
doctor for almost a thousand
years in the Church of the
West, is frequently cited to point
up the evil of contraception.)
He warned the Fathers that
the Church’s unwillingness to
act in this matter could turn
out to be “another Galileo
case."
"MODERN science may well
have much to tell us...and we
should keep a ready ear," he
said. The Council should set
up a commission which would
represent all the people of God
to work with the papal com
mission already studying the
question — and it would be well,
said the Belgian cardinal, if
their names were made public.
This was an obvious reference
to the fact that the commission
which Pope Paul spoke of last
Summer is still anonymous.
Maximos, as sharp-tongued
as ever, said that the main pro
blem facing the Church in this
regard is to find the "courage"
to look at the problem, for it
is at the root of a grave crisis
of conscience among Catholics.
It is not realistic to speak of
the “primary" and “secon
dary" purposes of marriage:
in marriage “the development
of personality and its integra
tion into the creative plans of
God are all one.” The tradi
tional teaching, he said boldly,
may even be the result of a
"bachelor psychosis" found
among the clergy. “Perhaps un
willingly, we are setting up a
Manichean conception of man
and the world, in which the work
of the flesh, vitiated in itself,
is tolerated only in view of
children."
The patriarch joined the car-
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How To Understand
Changes In The Liturgy
by
ARCHBISHOP PAUL J. HALLINAN
Foreword by
HIS EMINENCE JOSEPH CARDINAL RITTER
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dlnals in calling for a full-
scale study. “Let us see things
as they are,” he concluded, “not
as we would like them to be...at
stake is the future of the
Church’s mission in the
world.”
BY THIS time excitement ran
through Saint Peter’s like an
electric current. Within hours
it spread throughout Rome, to
the universities, colleges, mo
nasteries, hotels and pensioni
— wherever the Fathers of the
Council or their periti got to
gether.
Naturally, it was present la
ter in the day when the English-
speaking newsmen gathered for
their regular conference. The
theologians on the American
press panel, everyone knew,
were deeply divided on the ques
tion. There was high interest in
how they were going to react.
Father Charles Davis, the
leading young theologian of Eng
land, who recently replaced
Father George Tavard on the
panel when the latter returned
to Pittsburgh, stated that the
talks that morning had marked
a turning point in Catholic his
tory. “My position as a theo
logian today is not what it was
yesterday.” What he meant was
that only the day before, the
view of family planning he held
was regarded as dubious, but
he now felt free as a theologian
to explore all its implications.
The veteran American con- ,
servatives, Father Francis J.
Connell, C.SS.R., former dean
of the School of Theology, Ca
tholic University of America,
and Msgr. George Shea, rector
of the Diocesan Seminary in
Darlington, New Jersey, gave
signs of feeling at bay. They
were clearly not prepared for
the turn of events.
MSGR. SHEA attempted to es
tablish that since the remarks
made that morning were really
a “secret” discussion between
Fathers of the Council, the
newsmen's (and even the pro
gressive theologians’) estimate
of their importance was exag
gerated. It was quickly pointed
out to him that the knowledge
of what was said had been re
leased by the Council press of
fice.
For his part. Father Connell
repeated for the umpteenth time
the traditional case against con
traception, with all its scho
lastic distinctions and subdis
tinctions, and cited the long
continuity of the Church’s
teaching on the subject. The one
concession Father Connell
made to the morning’s speakers
was the acknowledgement that
Saint Augustine was not the only
Father of the Church living in
his time. There were other Fa
thers in the East, he pointed
out, and some of them took a
position different from Augus
tine’s on many matters.
Both these old-school theolo
gians gave the impression that
nothing much would come of
the happenings in the aula that
morning as far as changing the
fundamental position of the
Church went. Perhaps, after
study, it would be concluded that
a particular method of child
spacing, like the present “pill”
or another that might be de
veloped, would be approved as
licit because it contraceptive
effects were only incidental to
some other purpose for which
it might be used (there was even
a straight-faced discussion be
tween Father Connell and a re
porter of what would happen If
an aspirin were added to the
present pill), or because it
facilitated “rhythm” by regu
lating the female cycle. Such
a change, however, would not
constitute a change in doctrine
but merely meet the require
ments of the present natural-
law interpretation of marital
morality by chemical inventive
ness.
IT WAS evident that this is
not what some of the more mo
dem theologians have in mind.
One of them said privately that
he saw no reason why the Church
should go into the chemistry
business. Other scoffed openly
at talk about a “Catholic pill”
or “Catholic birth control."
What these theologians have lr
mind is a switch from the
whole “biological” approach to
sexual morality.
They are not opposed to na
tural law. Rather, they Insist
that human sexuality, being the
expression of the whole human
person, with all which that im
plies, must be judged .in the
total human context. It is mis
leading to equate it with animal
sexuality. Most of them would
say that there are delicate psy
chological factors which must
be taken Into account. More
over — and this is much more
important to them than the na
tural-law aspects of the pro
blem — the Christian concept
of marriage is involved. It is
this especially which makes all
the difference between “things
as they are” and as the tradi
tionalists “would like them to
be.”
THE TRADITIONALISTS
when they speak of marital
morality put almost all the
stress on the marriage “con
tract.” Their teaching is word
ed in juridical phrases like the
“marriage debt,” the “marital
rights,’’ etc. The moderns, by
and large, emphasize the love-
relationship, pecular to human
persons, which is sustained and
enriched by the total giving
expressed in the sex act bet
ween husband and wife. Their
approach is intensely biblical
and “personal.*' For example,
in the earliest accounts of crea
tion, one of them pointed out,
Adam, when he saw Eve, re
cognized her not as a fellow-
parent but as a beloved com
panion, necessary to the fulfill
ment of his sexual nature. Their
children, so to speak, were not
the “primary purpose” of their
love but its fulfilment and in
carnation.
Since it is along such lines
as this that some of the modern
theologians are thinking, they
found sympathentic chords in
the addresses of the three highly
placed prelates who opened the
subject in the aula of Saint
Peter's. Others, who would be
counted among both the con
servatives and the progressives
of the Council, have not really
turned so radically against the
traditional position. They are,
rather, looking for away “out.”
Many of them feel that they
might have found it in the de
velopment of the complicated
pills which, however they work,
promise to make birth control
among Catholics practicable.
A third group — like Cardinal
Ottaviani, who told the Fathers
that he was the tenth (and very
welcome) child in a poor family
still stress the biblical injunc
tion to “Increase and multiply”
and praise big families as the
perennial Catholic ideal no mat
ter what the demographers say.
But for most of the Fathers
and theologians who have given
the question much serious
thought, the Church seems to
be facing a kind of dilemma.
It was summed up in a paper
recently released in Rome by
the Dutch Documentation Cen
ter, which is supported by the
bishops of Holland. The docu
ment refers to a “curious pa
radox”-implicit in the present
position of the Church; “The
method which has the object
of avoiding the fertility of the
fact can be considered as mo
rally licit, only if it respects
the fertile character of the
act...” Those who have faced
up to this “curious paradox”
do not focus their argument
on the development of parti
cular pills or any other “Ca
tholic” method of family li
mitation. They stress a fresh
development of theological
thought on marriage, a deeper
understanding of the dynamism
of human sexuality, and a grea
ter awareness of the moral
implications of the population
explosion, which even among
Catholics only the most dogged
polemicists still deny.
After two days the discus
sion of marriage and family
life was halted in the Council
by vote of the Fathers. Now
all are awaiting the report of
the study which Pope Paul an
nounced last Summer will be
coming “soon.”
A VERY BIG problem, of
course is that the Catholic
Church against tremedous op
position during the last thirty
ye$rs, has consistently taught
and preached against con
traception. The position stated
by the two cardinals and the
patriarch in the aula would
haMe been unthinkable, or at
leakt unutterable, only a short
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JOHN O'Donnell, who represented President Lyndon B. Johnson
in the mock election held at St. Joseph High School was the win
ner. He is shown here as his campaign manager, fellow student
John Petzell, holds his arm up in victory. Such “elections”
were held at many schools in the Archdiocese during the week
preceding the national election.
“’‘Sfy
IP OWtS ARE SO WISE ...HOW COME
l NEVER SEE ANY Of THEM EATING
AT THE RIVIERA RESTAURANT?
by
up
time ago. It is no secret that
for some years there has been
a kind of underground dissa
tisfaction among professional
theologians with the traditional
teaching. But the public un
animity in Catholic Circles gave
little indication that any change
might be in the offing.
If, then,, the Church were to
change its position, would it be
tantamount to admitting that
it had erred during all the time
when it clung to the old position,
despite the hardships caused
in individual cases, the loss of
faith suffered by many Catholics
who could not accept the teach
ing, the hard advice offered in
the confessional, the falling-
away from the Sacraments
many who could not live
to the law proclaimed, and the
marital difficulties undergone
by those who did? This is a most
grave question, with both theo
logical and pastoral implica
tions.
A few theologicans hold that
“infallibility” is at stake; any
change in position consequent
ly is theologically impossible.
Their syllogism goes this way:
If the Church was wrong, the
Church Is not infallible. But the
Church Is infallible. Therefore
the Church was not wrong.
Others hold that infallibility
is not an issue. The strict
ures against contraception were
never a matter of revealed
truth nor did they ever re
present the beliefs of the en
tire Church, though they were
enforced by decree and direc
tive upon the entire Church.
The papal statements uphold
ing them were not an exercise
of infallibility. Therefore
change is possible, as the doc
trine of marriage and the dy
namism of the human person
are better understood.
BUT BOTH sides agree on
the pastoral problem. A change
on such an important matter,
especially a doctrine so clearly
identified with Catholicity,
could cause a crisis of faith
not only among laymen but
among priests who sincerely, an
frequently at the-cost of great
personal anguish, taught the
doctrine. To ask them to make
an about-face would be cruel.
Still, there are theologians, and
Fathers of the Council as well,
who say that to continue with
the same teaching would be even
crueller.
“We must have the courage
to approach the solution to this
problem without prejudice,”
said Patriarch Maximos. “The
Council must be courageous,”
said Cardinal Suenens — and his
speech was followed by thun
derous applause.
**THE POPE IS BECOMING A MISSIONARY ... AN APOSTLE
ON THE MOVE.” . . . The Holy Father said this of himself when
he announced he would go to India
next month. In India, only one
person in a hundred is a Catholic.
Despite this, the Pope will sec
. priests and Sisters waiting war by
§■» ^ the thousands on hunger, poverty,
ignorance, disease. The war goes
on. out of love for the poor, because
our readers build schools and con
vents, chapels and clinics ... In
KOT-TEKAD village, for instance.
Tbi Holy fathm'i 'Million jiid ‘ nun "W
4 .l rx • . i /-l r name. SISTER CECILIA) heads the
for the Oriental Church village school. KOT-TEKAD has no
Catholic chureh. however, and most of our Catholics (children
among them) regularly miss Mass ... A permanent, functional
chapel will cost on?j 53,200 altogether—and you may build it all
by yourself, if you wish, (name it in honor of your favorite
saint), in memory of someone you love. Simply write to us right
now . . . No gift ($1* $2, $5, $10. $20) is too small.
HELP WANTED: PllIESTS AND SISTERS—The Church and
the world need more religious vocations. Pope Paul told pilgrims
in St. Peter’s square. In INDIA, dedicated young men anti
women need help to become priests and Sisters. Like to train
one in memory of someone you love? The priest’s six-year train
ing costs $100 a year i$B00 altogether). The Sister’s two-year
training costs $150 a year <$300 altogether). Make the payments
to suit your own convenience. Write to us.
INDIA: POPE PAUL, APOSTLE
SIDE EFFECTS—‘‘A hundred thousand missionaries in a
hundred years may not be able to publicize Christ ... as the
International Eucharistic Congress may do in India.” according
the native priest in charge. The nine-day congress, which opens
November 28. will spotlight the good our missionaries are doing
in Kerala State, southwest India. Like to help that work along?
Mark your gift “Stringless,” and tell us to use it where it’s
needed most.
VALENTINES AT THANKSGIVING?—As a reminder of your
affection ,we’ll send your friends and neighbors, in time for
Thanksgiving Day, one of our attractive GIFT CARDS. Simply
enroll them <51 a year for individuals; $5 for a family) in this
Association, and ask us to send a GIFT CARD to their address.
THANK YOU, GOD—For all His blessings in ’64. thank God
Thanksgiving Day. You’ll think of hungry families overseas
when you cook and carve the turkey. Why not, in thanksgiving,
feed a Palestine Refugee Family for a month? U costs only SI®.
Aa a token of our thanks, we’ll send you an Olive Wood Rosary
from the Holy Land.
T * r HEN YOU MAKE A WILL, MENTION
THE CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
Dear Monsignor Ryan:
Enclosed oi«**se find for
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Street
City
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FRANCIS CARDINAL SPILLMAN, President
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m *•**»•■ Ava. at 42ad St. New Ye*. N. Y. 10017