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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1964)
PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1964 LITURGY EDITOR Sees Catholics Neglecting Bible WASHINGTON (NC)—neglect of the Bible by Catholics is “a tragic commentary on the vita lity erf our Christianity," a lit urgy expert told delegates to the 32nd national convention of the National Council of Catholic Women. “For how many of us is the Bible truly a closed book?'* ask ed Father John H. Miller, C. S. C„ liturgy editor of the New Catholic Encyclopedia in preparation at the Catholic Uni versity of America. *:How many of us feel even the slightest obligation of read ing it periodically? How many Catholics still regard—in their hearts— Bible reading as for bidden?. . . This book is the Word of God that brings salvation. How dare we ignore it?'* FATHER Miller spoke (Nove. 12) at a general assembly of the NCCW convention, attended by some 5,000 delegates from all over the country. His add ress, tied in with the convent ion theme “Vatican Council II — and You,” dealt with the meaning of the liturgy reforms enacted by the ecumenical coun cil. The Holy Cross priest said the council’s constitution on the liturgy “lays the most basic foundation for genuine and com plete renewal" within the Church. This is so, he said, because it “reorientates our thinking by drawing our at tention once again to the source and center of Christian liv ing." Calling liturgy “the very heart of Christianity," he de clared: “If we are serious in our desire to give ourselves over wholeheartedly to being instrumental in the Church’s ef fort to renew herself, then we, like the Church’s bishops, must give our first and best atten tion to making the liturgy the genuinely vital source of our On India Radio BOMBAY, India (NC)—Ad dresses by Valerian Cardinal Gracias at the beginning and end of the International Eu charistic Congress here will be carried by the Indian na tional radio network. The Bom bay archbishop, who is chair man of the congress, will speak on Nov. 27 and Dec. 7. y.,ur Hu from m«j HaX HCTZtL. 0»mr MAX * MEN'S SHOP n*SU' te - rt * l**v**al mi CMMfciw hiu tftotptef Cm «tmi PtMMtM. H «. ta mmi — ai iou share in Christ’s life and work." FATHER Miller stressed the liturgy constitution’s emphasis on Scripture as one of its most meaningful points. He quoted the constitution’s delcaration that its permission for use of the vernacular “applies in the first place to the readings" — the Scripture passages read in the liturgy. Further, he noted, the consti tution calls for preaching bas ed on scriptural texts and en courages Bible devotions. “The upshot of the council's teaching," Father Miller said, “seems to be this; the Word of God proclaimed in the Church’s liturgies 1 celebrations is the primary way Christians learn of their God, experience His love, and begin to live His life." TURNING to the nature of the litury as it has been interper- ted by the council, Father Mil ler said the liturgy “surpasses any other way in which man can learn of or experience God, for here under signs and sym bols God’s supreme act of seif- manifestation is made really present to the Christian wor shiper. Christ's redemptive mystery—His passion and re surrection— is made present so that the worshiper may make himself part of this supreme act of glorification of God." This aspect of the liturgy, he said, is emphasized in the liturgy constitution’s teaching on the necessity for participa tion by the faithful. He quo ted the document’s declaration that “such participation by the Christian people is their right and duty by reason of their baptism," “Hence, just as her liturgi cal life is the instrument of the Church for begetting the divine life in men," Father Miller said, “it is also her means of making us live the one life of Christ’s bodv- Each human being receives me life of Christ’s Spirit insofar as he is united to Christ’s body mys tical from which men drink of the fullness of His divinity. “It would be outrageous to conceive of communicants as solitary eaters in a restaur ant, for they participate in the family meal of God’s people All liturgical rites must be con sidered as integrating us into the common life of Christ’s body; they are the source and origin of the Church, for they form us into one body of Christ." FLOWFRJf IM COURTLAND STREET. N E : . •ATLANTA. GEORGIA 3030S t— ■ 1 im i , Peachtree Road Pharmacy PICK UP AND DELIVERY SERVICE I CALL CE 7-6466 4062 Peachtree Rd. Atlanta SHRINE FALL FESTIVAL November 12th and 13th at 7:30 p.m. At The Immaculate Conception 48 Hunter Street, S. W. Atlanta 3, Georgia LOADS OF FUN GIFTS TO BUY PLUS GOOD FOOD Y’ ALL COME, Y’ HEAH! GRUtlDIG Stenorette BRANAN & SCHMITZ REALTY CO. *641 Roswell Rd. N. E. Atlanta, Georgia 255-7770 BUYING OR SELLING A HOUSE? contact Branan & Schmitz for qualified personal service! Specialists in AREAS I & II- Residential Sales - Acreage - Insurance - FIRST SINCE TRENT only $2295 will 0 Pontiff Atttends Council Meeting THE WORLD’S MOST APPRECIATED DICTATING SYSTEM PHONE TODAY FOR DEMONSTRATION WITHOUT OBLIGATION HYNES COMPANY 172 WHITEHALL STREET, S.W. ATLANTA, GEORGIA PHONE - 6417 Observers have noted that this stress on the Bible is cer tain to strengthen ecumeni- ca 1 ties between Christians, and also will enrich Jewish- Catholic understanding. The Bible, in a variety of instances, has been the pivo tal point for interreligious con tact and dialogue. Most nota ble, perhaps, have been cooper ative ventures in the pub lication of new versions of Scri pture. THIS YEAR, for the first time sined the Reformation, Catho lics and Protestants in Great Britain can read the same Bible. This is the Revised Standard Version, initially published 12 years ago under the auspices of the National Council of Chur ches in the U. S. Permission was granted to the Catholic Bib lical Association of Great Bri- aln to prepare a Catholic edi tion and the publication was VETERANS' DAY 1964—A day to honor all those who have died in defense of our country. Monument (left) in Arling ton National Cemetery honors Civil War dead, while tablet (right) in graveyard of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, Alexandria, Va., honors the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War. Veteran’s Day was observed yesterday. increase study and Reading BY FR. PLACID JORDAN, OSB (N. C. W'. C. News Service) VATICAN CITY—It was a red letter day at the ecumenical council. For the first time since the Council of Trent, a pope personally presided over an as sembly of the world’s hierar chy, implicitly confirming by his presence the principle of the collegiality of bishops. When the Pope entered St. Peter’s at 910 a.m. (Nov. 6) the council Fathers had taken their seats. On ordinary days they usually swarm over the aisles engaged in animated con versation. The Pope was greet ed with enthusiastic applause. Accompanied by Eugene Car dinal Tisserant, dean of the college of cardinals; Paolo Cardinal Marella, archpriest of St. Peter’s; Archbishop Pericle Felici, the council’s secretary general; and Arch bishop Pericle Felici, the coun cil’s secretary general; and Archbishop Enrico Dante, sec retary of the Congregation of Rites, the Pope went directly to a seat in front of the al tar where an Ethiopian-rite prelate started Mass. THE Eithiopian-rite Liturgy lasted a whole hour. Then the Pope was led by Archbishop Felici to the presidents’ ros trum where the center seat had been reserved for him amidst the 12 cardinals—a bishop among bishops. The council moderators re mained in their seats in the car dinals’ stalls except for Julius Cardinal Doepfner of Munich, Germany, who took over after the Gospel had been enthroned. “The moderators have been moderated," quipped one of the bishops. It was understood that when the Pontiff was present he would act as moderator himself. AFTER Archbishop Felici had read the names of five cardinals and 14 bishops listed as speakers on the sche ma dealing with missions, the Pope delivered a brief address. It was noted that he spoke of himself as St. Peter’s suc cessor and of “you bishops, successors of the apostles," thus confirming the principle of episcopal collegiality ad opted earlier by the council. Pope Paul listened to the re port on the mission schema - given by Gregorio Cardinal Agaganian, prefect of the Con gregation of the Propagation of Faith. Then he rose, gave his apostolic blessing to all council Fathers present and their faith ful, and left the hall on foot. WHILE going out he greeted the cardinals, partiarchs, and especially Ukrainian-rite Major Archibishop Josfy Slipyi of Lvov, released in 1963 from a Soviet prison. The applause of the bishops echoed through the hall. When he reached the lower end of the hall, the Pope turned around once more, lift ing both hands in a gesture as through he meant to embrace thw whole assembly. RELIGION PROFESSOR OUTDOOR CONFESSIONS—Father Owen O'Kane, S.S.C., Superior of the Columban Fathers in South America, hears confessions in the open at Villa El Angel on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. The Columban Fathers staff 15 parishes in slum areas of Lima. But, Dr. Marty continued, “chop up and retranslate the Bible, dissect and debate and disseminate it, pick formats and languages which distract and appeal and something other occurs. Best of all, get it into the hands and hearts of shak ers and shapers in culture and aggiornamento will not be its threat but its result, its orna ment. "This shaking up is leading to realignments of Christians, new alignments unanticipated in the recent past. It is provid ing a new means to stimulate the curiosity of those who have read and heard the Bible in the past as well as those who have not. For people from the diff— ernet households to have to come to selfunderstanding and to have to hear each other with understanding might continue to be the occasion for a fresh hearing of the Scriptures." Nptes i Religious Sensitivity 9 Need BY RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE Strong support exists for a prediction that the immediate future will be marked by a sharp upsurge in both serious study and mass reading of the Bible. Long hearalded as one of the most widely distributed (though often most widely ignored) books in the world, the Bible today is receiving new attention not only from theologians and Scriptural scholars but among large masses of the population. TOGETHER with the continu ing—and accelerating— effort by Christian groups to make the Gospel message available in lands where it has not been heard, the emphasis on use of the Bible has been increased by the ecumenical movement and the conflict between Judeo- Christian traditions and irre ligious ideologies. Also, in the United States, developments which have more clearly defin ed the line of demarcation bet ween church and state may re sult in broader study of Scri ptural writings. At the present stage in the ecumenical movement — which many observers say has reach ed a new level of maturity af ter some unrealistic optim ism about early attainment of Christian unity— the Bible today stands as a major co hesive factor in the interreli gious dialogue. It has been hopefully predic ted that one of the products of the ecumenical movement even tually will be agreement on a common version of the Bible acceptable to all Christians. This goa 1 continues to be earnestly sought but remains a distant eventuality. In the meantime, Catholics and Protestants alike have placed new stress on joint study of the Scriptures — even in their many versions. As roadblocks to Christian unity are ex amined it is apparent that dis cussions will be based more and more on joint Biblical study. MUCH IMPETUS has been given by the Second Vatican Council to the trend toward greater use of the Bible. One important schema, “On Divine Revelation, ’ ’ encourages Cath olics to read the Scriptures in both their private and public sorship and encourages the- work of modern Scripture scholars and the collaboration of Catholic scholars with bibli- cists of other faiths. In addit ion, it authorizes joint Pro testant-Catholic versions of the Bible based on modern scholar ship, especially in new nations where no translations have been available. given the imprimatur of Arch bishop Gordon J. Gray of St. Andrews and Edinburgh. Dr. Luther A. Weigle, dean emeritus of Yale Divinity School, who headed the RSV pro ject, commenting on the British publishing event, said; “The Bible is coming to be, as it should be, a bond of Christian unity rather than an instrument of division. . . I rejoice that the Revised Standard Version has an effective part in the movement toward fuller reali zation of our oneness in Jesus Christ. . .’’ Among the newest Bibles is the massive publication star ted this fall by Doubleday & Co., New York publishers. A 38-volume work called the An chor Bible, the project is a joint venture by distinguished Prote stant, Roman Catholic and Jew ish scholars and reflects arch eological and linguistic discov eries of the last 50 years. The first two volumes—Gen esis and The Epostles of James, Peter and Jude — were issued this year and other volumes will be published at the rate of six each year. Edi tors of the project said that the noted scholars participat ing are men “who are not op posed either to new ideas or to the full utilization of new dis coveries." INTERRELIGIOUS coopera tion has been featured in other Scriptural publishing ventures; a United Church of Christ minister and a rabbi have writ ten a modern non-technical study guide to the Bible and sent a copy to Pope Paul VI; on the mission fields. Catholics and Protestants are collaborat ing in translating the Bible into Singhalese, Indonesian, Swahili, Zulu and Japanese; a Welsh translation has been undertaken by Protestants, Anglicans and Catholics. In the United States, the U. S. Supreme Court pointed out as it struck down devotional Bible reading in public schools that objective study of religion and the Bible is not a violation of church-state separation. Th ough admittedly distant and presenting complex problems of instruction, classroom study of the Bible has been started in several schools and some ob servers feel such courses even tually will be widespread. One pilot project for the en couragement of public Bible study will be based on a new “Citizen’s Bible" being pre pared by Catholic, Protestant and Jewish authorities. To be published next year, the Bible will draw on several transla tions— mainly the RSV— and is designed as a. source vol ume which points out different versions of specific passages. Editors of the work are Fath er Walter M. Abbott, S. J., feature editor the national Catholic weekl o America, and the leading U. *3. advocate of a common Bible for all Christ ians; Rabbi Arthur Gilbert, staff consultant to the Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project of the National Con ference of Christians and Jess; Dr. Rolfe Lanier Hunt, asso ciate executive director of the National Council of Churches’ Department of Church and Pub lic School Relations, and the Rev. J. Carter Swaim, execu tive director of the NCC’s De partment of the English Bible. ;c NUMEROUS churchmen have called for greater joint reli gious study of Scriptures, and hopes were high for such f yen- tures as the ecumenical study center to be established injer- salem by Pope Paul. One leading proponent of joint biblical study is Catholic Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh. Making the first appearance by any Catholic bishop before a major Lutheran meeting — the Lutheran Church in America convention — he urges Pros- convention — he urged Pro testant-Catholic study of early church Fathers as well as the Scriptures. Joint “second loks, along searching and filled with love," at the works of these early churchmen, he said, “can only be approved of men and blessed by God" and will help “recapture a com mon family. . . in Jesus Christ. In addition to notable advan ces in biblical scholarship, major new efforts are being launched to make Scriptures available to millions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin Ame rica who are just now learn ing to read. As members of the advisory council of the Ame rican Bible Society meet this month in New York, they will direct much attention to the “God’s Word for a new Age" campaign of all Bible societ ies from the current 51 million copies per year to 150 million a year by 1966. ACCELERATION of Christ ian literature distribution programs has been urged as a means of combatting the tre mendous outpouring of athe- stic material from Communist countries. In London, as Bible societies and churchmen for mally opened a fund drive to support Bible and Christian literature distribution, Angli can Archbishop Frederick D. Coggan of York pointed out that Communists "are pouring their propaganda by the ton into these newly-literate countries." He added: “They think they have a philosophy worth propagating and they rightly believe that- this is the most effective way of doing it. The pen is more powerful than the bomb." Calls for greater public Bib le reading have come from many quarters. President Johnson, endorsing National Bi ble Week, saw use of the Scri ptures as an effective way to “diffuse and propagate among our people the love of righte ousness, decency and peace... in this era of international ten sion." The president of the Gen eral Federation of Women’s Clubs, which has 15,000 affilia ted groups, urged observance of Bible Week by daily readings. The American Bible Society’s 21-year-old Worldwide Bible Reading program — from Thanksgiving through Christ mas— has elicited ever great er response. At the first annual Bible Communications Con gress in Washington, D. C., this year, speakers urged more Bible teaching in language modern citizens can under stand. A Catholic biblical scho lar, Father Carroll Stuhlmuel- ler, of the Passionist Fathers Seminary in Louisville, Ky., called lack of biblical know ledge a “scandal" and urged the use of mass media, espec ially television, In teaching people how to read and under stand Scriptures. IN YEARS past, according to the Protestant theologian. Dr. Martin E. Marty, the Bible has been seen as an instrument op posing world change, as a “refuge from revolution." Generations of “peddlers of luxurious, unusable, showcase ’family Bibles’ have helped cre ate this impression," he said, adding: “Anchor your coffee table with one of those mons trous creations of Victorian culture and the table won’t move in an earthquake. Nor will its owners and non-readers re cognize aggiornamento. . ." WAVERLY, Iowa (NC)—The exclusion- of' religion studied from n public ( schools in the name of religious neutrality can actually make the public schools into an instrument for atheism, a University of Iowa professor has warned. George Forell, a member of the Iowa religion faculty, told a conference on religion and the public schools held at Wart- burg College that the notion of religious neutrality can be an illusion. U. S. public schools have always been neutral in reli gious controversies between Protestant and Catholic and Jew or between people who beli eve in God and those who do not. TEACHING .religiqus sup- jicts • fif; dlfflc^Forp„ SjSjkt' ’Tbut since when Is it the task of the school to deal only with simple and noncontroversial matters?" “The school is an educational institution, not a church. Reli gion belongs in the public school as a subject for study. Worship is the responsibility of the home and the church," he said. He added that public schools with specially trained teachers could have elective courses on reli gious topics, with “the right to avoid such courses" being guaranteed. While neutrality "is the fair est solution to the vexing problem of religion in our society," he said, neutrality will become partisan if re ligion is ignored. He cited as an example the teaching of the his tory of Europe in the middle ages and during the 16th cen tury without reference to the religous issues of the times. “Unless all our ctizens are sensitized to the issues involv ed through intelligent teaching and diligent study, we will for ever react like the proverbial bull in the china shop when con fronted with the intricacies of religious tensions in places like Viet Nam or Cyprus." Forell declared. DIRECTRESS-GENERAL— Miss Reine-Aimee Welsh, a Canadian, heads the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Im maculate, a Secular Institute founded in 1952, which has grown to include 1,500 mem bers working in 18 countries. Bible Seen As Major Cohesive Factor In Religious Dialogue
