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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1965
BEGINNING IS AUSPICIOUS 9
Self-Abolition Seen As Ultimate
Goal Of Secretariat For Unity
BY FATHER PLACID JORDAN, O.S.B.
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
ROME—The Secretariat for
Promoting Christian Unity
headed by Augustin Cardinal
Bea, S.J.y the former rector
of the Pontifical Biblical In
stitute, has a goal rare among
the numerous curial offices:
eventually to eliminate itself.
For Christian unity is the
goal of the secretariat. Once
by the grace of God it is achiev
ed, its usefulness would be end
ed.
“Of course, " said Milwau
kee-born Father Thomas Stran-
sky, C.S.P., who has been close
ly connected with the secreta
riat since its foundation, ‘look
ing at the pro
spects realisti
cally we knowwe
won't live to see
this and neither
will the next ge
neration, nor
foreseeable ge
nerations to
1 come."
FR. STRANSKY
HOWEVER, a hopeful start
has been made. The two A-
merican priests who are in on
the ground floor of this far-
reaching venture and their as
sociates are convinced the be
ginning is auspicious. Father
Stransky is one of thesd two
Americans; Father John Long
S.J., iq the other. .
Their associates are the
secretariat's secretary, Dutch
Bishop Jan Willebrands, French
Msgr. Gianfraneesco Arrighi
who heads the Protestant sec
tion, Eastern authority Fath
er Pierre Duprey, W.F., who
j heads the Orthodox section,
while a Swiss priest, Father
Erich Salzmann, is in charge
of the archives.
The, i goyeirning body, of
course^ is much larger than
this small staff which has only
j three Jay, people as office help,
i Under- Cardinal Bea there are
• two vtcfeliprisidents, Archbis-i
hop John Carmel Heenan of
Westminster and Bishop Emile
de. Smedt of Bruges in Bel
gium. Curia cardinals Paolo
Marella, Gustavo Testa and
Udebrando Antoniutti and hono
rary members of the board
along with 42 ordinary mem
bers and 18 consultors. There
are three Americans among the
former: Archbishop Lawrence
J. Shehan of Baltimore, Bis
hop Charles H. Helmsing of
Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.,
and Bishop Ernest J. Primeau
of Manchester, N.H., and two
Americans among the latter:
Msgr. John Oesterreicher of
Newark,. N.J., and Father
George Tavard, A.A„ of Pitts
burgh: also one Canadian:
Father Gregory Baum, O.S.A.
For 54 - year - old Father
Stransky, the son of a former
Wisconsin highway commis
sioner, the great adventure be
gan when the Paulists whom he
had joined sent him to Europe
in 1958, two years after his
ordination. Convert and mis
sionary work had been his a-
voca.tion even in high school
when he did quite a bit of
writing and broadcasting and
prepared himself for street
preaching.
THE thesis that earned him
his licentiate in theology at the
Catholic University of America
after he had first obtained his
B.A. and M.A, at the neigh
boring St. Paul's College in
Washington was a clear indi
cation of it. It was entitled
“Can you fall away from the
faith in good faith?*’ Eventual- •
ly he landed in Muenster, Ger
many, as a student of a fam
ed missiologist, the late Father
Thomas Ohm, O. S. B. Pre
viously he had picked up some
French during a four-month
stay in Paris. Now he added
German to his liguistic lore.
“I was asked to preach to
war orphans for practice,’’ he
explained to thi s correspondent,
“My German language teacher
termed these efforts 10-minute
sermons with a 150-word vo
cabulary!’’
WHILE in Germany Father
Stransky became constantly
more interested in ecumenism
and the European theological
revival. He went to lectures
of Protestant theologians, and
studied the liturgical and ca
techetical movements. Even
tually Father Ohm introduced
him to Father Jan Willebrands,
then die head of ecumenical
| activities^ in Haarlem, Holland,
: Father. Stbansky pursued hiS
missiological studies at the
Gregorian University in Rome
and graduated there in 1959
with a licentiate in that dis
cipline as well.
The following year came the
decisive turn of his life. He
had been present in St. Peter's
when Pope John XXIII announc
ed the establishment of the
Christian unity secretariat.
Soon Cardinal Bea was appoint
ed to preside over it, Msgr.
Willebrands was the logical
choice as its secretary because
as a result of his ecumenical
work in the Netherlands he was
widely acquainted with both
Protestant and Orthodox theo-
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logians in various countries.
"Msgr. Willebrands asked
me in August of that year to
help him with the English-lan
guage work that was to be done,"
said Father Stransky. "So there
I found myself in a bare room
on Via dei Corridoi No. 64, a
Vatican-owned building, helping
these pioneers of ecumenism
as best I could.
“CORRIDOI, incidentally, is
Italian for sprinters, and since
in putting our fingers on ecu
menical affairs the world over,
we were on the move a great
deal and it often was difficult
to reach us, this address cer
tainly was appropriate!
“Later, while an observer for
the secretariat at a Protestant
mission conference in Mexico,
I recall the rare experience
due to the fact that one may
not be seen puhlicly in cleri
cal garb in that country-
wearing a gray suit with a blue
tie and being quartered in a
Methodist girls' school dormi-
toryl
‘ 'We just had one desk and one
typewriter in those early days
in Rome, no stationery of our
own, not even soap in the wash
room, and were sort of grop
ing in the dark. However, by
late fall that year, together with
Msgr. Arrighi we managed to
hold the first meeticg with the
consultors who by then had been
invited. One of our first as
signments was to make ar
rangements for the historic
visit of the then Archbishop
Geoffrey Fisher of Canterbury
to Pope John.
"BISHOP Willebrands, you
know, is an inveterate cigar
smoker as most Hollanders are.
He almost smoked us outl But
we stood pat. We now had a
stable address and were gain
ing some modest initial stature
with the authorities in charge
of organizing the Second Va
tican Council. We soon manag
ed to submit to the Central
Preparatory Commission four
draft proposals, one of these
dealing with religious liberty,
and a report on the mixed mar
riage problem.
“However, it was not until
the spring of 1962 that we
thought of inviting non-Catholic
observers to the council. This
unprecedented initiative, of
course, was due to Cardinal Bea
personally.'’
How did Father Long come
into this picture, Father Stran
sky was asked.
"FATHER Long,*’ he replied,
"Brooklyn-born, now 39 years
of age and ordained in 1956,
got himself a doctorate at the
Oriental Institute here after
having joined the Society of
Jesus. He has specialized in
Russian studies for many years
and also in Byzantine Church
history. He spent some time
in both Greece and the Near
East. After returning to Rome
he was asked to join the se
cretariat's Oriental section in
1963 as the assistant to Father
Duprey, who has command of
both Greek and Arabic.
"Father Duprey also has a
doctorate of the Oriental In
stitute and did post-graduate
work at the Orthodox theologi
cal faculty in Athens. After
teaching for nine years at the
Melkite seminary in Jerusalem,
he was asked by Cardinal Bea
to become the head of the se
cretariat’s Oriental section.
Father Long, too, knows both
Greek and Arabic,"
Adding up all theSe languages
the secretariat can handle one
must conclude that it is mul
tilingual indeed. The list is im
pressive: English, French, Ger
man, Italian, Dutch, Greek, Rus
sian, Arabic and, of course,
Latin and Hebrew,
THE two young women em
ployed as secretaries fit into
this pattern, too. One of them,
Corina de Martini, who is Swiss,
happens to be the first woman
ever employed by the papal
However,, the status of the
secretariat within the frame
work of the Vatican administra
tion remains to be defined.
“Indications are, ” Father
Stransky said, “that the secre
tariat will become a permanent
institution, but right now we o-
perate as a conciliar organ, and
theoretically our task might
cease once the council adjourns.
"IN THE meantime we must
carry on and we will. The be
ginning has been made and the
work done so far has found
its tangible expression in the
draft proposal on ecumenism
the council has adopted. With
it begins a new era of inter
faith relations for the Church."
COURT DECREE
‘Slaves’ Ordered
To YieldChildren
POPE PAUL VI greets the rector of the North American
College in Rome. Bishop Francis F. Reh. at a private audi
ence (Dec. 18) for 62 newly ordained American priests and
their families. The Pontiff urged the new- priests to let
their "lives shine as beacons for all men to follow.”
WORCESTER INSTITUTE
Religion Cited As Man’s
Response To God-Bond
WORCESTER, Mass.(RNS)—
' ‘Religion is not simply a bond
between God and man; if is
man's response to that relation
ship. It is not only the union of
man with God; it is the acknow
ledgment of that union and the
consequent living and practic
ing of a way of life conform
able to it."
Thus did Catholic Bishop
Bernard J. Flanagan of Wor
cester challenge participants
in the sixth annual Institute on
the Person^ and the Common
Good at Assumption College
here to get on with their dis
cussions of' ‘Religion, the Com
munity and the Common Good."
Protestant and Jewish leaders
took part in discussions.
IN HIS talk opening the con
ference of 65 religious and
civic leaders of the Greater
Worcester area, Bishop Flana
gan safd. “it seems hardly nec
essary to delineate the oppor
tunities and challenges’’vyhifh
are presented to religious men
and women for common action
in today's world.
"The problems of community
and city life which beset us and
cry out for action,’’ he said,
“must not be left to solve or to
be met by those who have no
spiritual, moral or religious
heritage to bring to them."
They must be met and be sol
ved, Bishop: Flanagan said, “by
men and women who are com
mitted as citizens of both the
City of God and the City of
Man.”
BISHOP Flanagan's theme
was echoed during panel dis
cussions and by two other prin
cipal speakers — Bishop John
J. Wright of Pittsburgh and Dr,
Samuel H. Miller, dean of the
Harvard Divinity School.
Commenting on his recent
trip to India to attend the 38th
International Eucharistic Con
gress, Bishop Wright said the
interest the non-Christian com
munity took in preparing for
that event and the enthusiasm
and graciousness they showed to *
pilgrims — not only to Pope
Paul VI — proved that "re
ligion is now the prophet of a
wider human Unity than any
theocratic state.'
RELIGION has shown, Bishop
Wright said, that it can contri
bute to the community indepen
dently of political structures
and even of political loyalties,
thereby promoting the common
good. We might say," he com
mented, in addressing himself
to the theme of the institute,
“that religion is the channel
and the community the benefic
iary of the common good.’
Dr. Miller said religion is
the answer to man’s problems
because', he said, ' the function
of religion is to supply the world
with a structure of symbolism
which will articulate, not ex
plain, the mysteries of human
existence and give man some
inkling of the ultimate purpose
of life."
“WHERE the people are able
to carry in their minds some
vision of what man ought to be
and what life can be," Dr. Mil
ler added, “they are able to re
late themselves to one another
in trust and understanding. By
such a relationship they consti
tute and sustain the very build
ing of a social order, a com
munity, a society."
Dr. Miller acknowledged that
there were, indeed, many ills
'’besetting modern society, but,
it has always, been so.
, “The history of man," he
.said, “is a prolonged drama of
many scenes. The stage- set
tings change from epoch to
epoch, from the Garden of Eden
to the skyscraper cities of the
20th Century. . .but in every'
scene man stands at the cen
ter of the action — tempted,
tested, tormented, yet forced
by the exigencies of time to
answer the demands which his
own epoch lays upon him."
BUT, Dr. Miller continued,
what man has been at his best
“is simply inadequate for the
world God thrusts into our 1
hands" today. Nothing less than
a “radical transformation of
man will meet the need we face
today," he held. “Our vision
must be vaster, our passion
deeper, our insight more pene
trating, our compassion wider
and humanity humbler.”
STILL RIVER, Mass. (RNS)~
The Massachusetts Supreme
Court granted custody of five
children to their father and or
dered that they be removed
: from a communal religious cen
ter , here headed by an excom
municated Catholic priest.
Spiritual director, of St. Ben
edict Center is Father Leonard
J. Feeney, a former Jesuit ex
communicated in 1953 as a re
sult of his refusal to stop
preaching that salvation is im
possible outside the Catholic
Church.
HIS center moved to this
village from Cambridge in 1957
with a group of followers, call
ed Slaves of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary. The 85 resi
dents, including 39 children,
live on a 100-acre farm and
raise their own cattle, poultry,
vegetables and fruit.
In 1962 Father Feeney im
posed on his followers a vow of
poverty, chastity and obedience,
resulting in a separation of
families.
The rule was objected to by a
fc^lower, Robert H. Colpy,
formerly of Akron, Ohio, who
went to court to obtain custody
BIOGRAPHICAL
of his children who remained
at the center with theirmother.
A probate judge gave the
children to Mr, Colopy, ruling
that the youngsters should not
have been placed at an early
age under the supervision of
persons who were not tlieir
parents.
MRS, Colopy appealed to the
State Supreme' Court which has
now upheld the lower court's
decision.
Father Feeney has been de
prived of his priestly rights to
administer the Sacraments and
say Mass. But he maintains his
excommunication was “canoni
cally invalid," and continues to
call himself Father and cele
brate Mass at his village.
Press Closes
SOMERSET, Ohio (NC)~ The
Rosary Press, operated since
1890 by the St. Joseph (Eas
tern) Province of the Domin
ican Fathers, has closed down
here (Dec, 30), Besides print
ing the Dominican’s Rosary
magazine, the press printed the
Josephinum Review, the Torch
and the Holy Name Journal.
Dictionary Of U.S.
Heirarchy Published
The Very Rev. Louis Dion,
A.A., president of Assumption
College, was host to the insti
tute. Among those participat
ing was Dr. Joseph L. Lichten
of the B'nai B’rith Anti-Defam
ation League, a co-founder of '
the six-year-old institute.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?
NEW YORK (NC)—Nearly one
-third of the more than 850
mSh named to the American
hierarchy since its establish
ment 175 years ago are alive
today.
This is brought out in a one-
volume biographical "Diction
ary of the American Hierar
chy" published here.The author
is,Msgr. Joseph B. Code of New
Franco’s Words Spur
Protestant Optimism
BUDDHIST LEADER AT VATICAN—Pope Paul VI is
shown with Riri Nakayama. president of the Asian Budd
hist Federation, whom he received in a private audience at
the Vatican.
MADRID (RNS)— Much hope
ful speculation was touched off
in Protestant circles here by a
reference to the need for “mu
tual tolerance between the var
ious branches of the Christian
community” contained in Gene
ralissimo Franco’s customary
end-of-the-year broadcast to
the nation.
“Spain,’* the Chief of State
declared, "faithfully partici
pates in the desire, of every
one anywhere in the world to be
able to exercise freedom (of
worship) so far as the wel
fare of the community permits.
“IN OUR fatherland, history,
over the course of several cen
turies, has forced men of dif
ferent races and beliefs to
live together. Spaniards must
not harbor doubt or suspicion
where the exercise of liberty
of conscience is concerned.”
The Caudillo’s remarks were
regarded as particularly signi
ficant in view of long-stan-
Quit Segregated
Debate Tourneys
DALLAS, Tex. (NC)— Three
Catholic high schools in the
Dallas-Fort Worth diocese have
turned down invitations to take
part in > segregated debating
tournaments with public
schools.
First to reject such an invi
tation was Jesuit High School
here, which last year won a
tournament with a Negro boy on
its debating team. Also refus
ing to participate in segregated
tourneys have been Ursuline
High School here and Nolan High
School in Fort Worth.
Dallas public schools are de
segregating on a grade-by
grade basis and integration
has not yet reached the high
schools, officials have explain
ed.
ding charges of restrictiye
measures by the Franco re
gime against the comparatively
small Protestant minority in
this , ... traditionally : Catholic
\ country.
'A BILL ; to regularize the
status of the Protestant Chur-
l ches and afford them, awider
; latitude of freedom had been ex
pected to comb before parli
ament last Fall. However, it
was announced that its Introdu
ction would be delayed until
the Second Vatican Council
takes final action on a draft
declaration on religious liberty
— a document whichwon strong
initial support at the third
cession.
General Franco’s reference
to the problem of the non-
Catholic minority was regar
ded by observers as tending to
confirm the impression al
ready existing in both Catho- <
lie and Protestant quarters that
he is anxious to have the sta
tus of the Protestant mino
rity legally defined In ac
cordance with the spirit of the
Vatican Council’s declaration.
York, former professor of his
tory at the Catholic University
of America, who compiled a
similar work in 1940.
COVERING the period from
Nov. 6, 1789 to May 1, 1964,
the volume contains 850 basic
biographies of the men elevated
to the American hierarchy and
others who having been born or
educated in the U.S.-and left the
country to serve inither lands.
•4*~ i r i f j>4rS;
The biographical data and
some 33 appendices which list
the bishops in various categor
ies show the progress of the
Church in the United States,
Other interesting facts in thei
volume are:
• Seventeen bishops . of
American Sees have been ele
vated to the College of Cardi
nals, the last one, Joseph Car
dinal Ritter of St. Louis, in 1961.
• Seven Americans have been j
consecrated by a pope, two by
Pius XII, four by John XIII, one 1
by Paul VI.
• One-fourth of the American ,y
bishops were or are members
of (39) religious orders.
• Five archbishops and 10
bishops were converts to Cath
olicism.
• There were 16 blood-;,
brothers in the American hier
archy.
• Eleven bishops-elect were
never consecrated, for various
reasons.
The Dictionary of American.
Hierarchy is published by Jo
seph F, Wagner here and priced;
at $12.95.
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