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CALLS GOD TO WITNESS
Pope Paul VI Promises
To Use ‘All’ For Peace
VATICAN CITY (NC)—Pope
Paul VI, calling God to witness,
has declared himself ready to
venture off well-worn paths of
diplomacy in search of peace.
He said experiences of recent
days had demonstrated that the
voice of a defenseless Church
appealing for peace between
powerful armed forces "is
heard with respect, and even
sought out and desired."
Pope Paul was speaking (Jan.
8) to foreign diplomats who
assembled in the Vatican's con-
sistorial hall to wish him a
happy New Year, To these vet
eran diplomats he said:
"God is our witnejss that we
are ready, for our part, to try
every approach whatever—even
outside the ordinarily accepted
forms of protocol—every time
we judge that the Church can
usefully bring to the govern
ments the weight of its moral
authority for the maintenance
and progress of a just peace
among men and among peo
ples."
HE URGED the diplomats ac
credited to the Holy See to beg
their governments to continue
their efforts for peace, "as we
are continuing ours."
The Pope’s speech, in French,
was a wide-ranging essay on
the Church’s new attitude to
ward the world and the world’s
new attitude toward the Church.
He began it with the declara
tion that the Church’s response
to the aspirations of mankind,
far from falling on indifferent
ears, "is awaited and heard.”
He continued: "We need no
other proof of this than the wide
repercussions of our discourse
last autumn in the United Na
tions and, more recently still,
of our interventions for peace
in Vietnam.
"PERHAPS still more signi-
ficant— and it is of this that we
want to speak to you today—is
the attention which public opin
ion followed fo r m p5e_ t^antliree
years the debates and decisions
of the Second Vatican Ecumeni
cal Council.”
Pope Paul noted that councils
"are by definition essentially
religious events and concern
first of all the internal renew
al of the Church’s life." The
Church’s self-examination in
this past council, he said, had
been carried out under the eyes
of the world. "A communion
of thought and of reciprocal in
terest was little by little estab
lished between the council and
public opinion."
"And if some minor incon
veniences followed, we do not
hesitate to affirm nontheless
that this fact, quite new for an
ecclesiastical assembly, was
on the whole felicitous and bene
ficent.”
The Pope proceeded to out
line two further characteristics
of the council.
First, he said, was that in the
council, “the Church appeared
anxious before all to define it
self, to delimit its structures,
to stipulate the powers and du
ties of its members—bishops,
priests, Religious and laymen--
and codify in texts its attitude
toward other religious groups,
both Christian and non-Chris
tian, and toward the world in
general."
The second characteristic,
which he said was not always
clearly illumined in the past,
was that the Church "showed
herself entirely disengaged
from every temporal inter
est.”
HE DECLARED: "Today its
independence is total in the
face of the competitions of this
world. This for its own greater
good, and we can well add for
that of temporal sovereignties
too,"
The Church offers its help to
all, the Pope said. "But it does
it today—and this is a new
characteristic of the council
which has often been cited~it .
does it in a way that contrasts
in part with the attitude that
marked certain pages of its
history.
"In its anxiety to go forward
to meet men and to reply to
their expectation, the Church
today adopts by preference the
language of friendship, of in
vitation to dialogue." Pope
Paul here quoted the words with
yrhjch Pope John XXIII opened
the council: ‘Today the spouse ,
of Christ prefers to have re
course to the remedy of mercy
rather than to brandish the
arms of severity: it believes
that rather than condemn, it
replies better to the needs of
our epoch by putting the wealth
of its teaching in a fuller light.”
THE POPE said he had tried
to be faithful to this program,
and said he had been supported
by “the quasi-unanimity’
the world’s bishops.
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‘That certainly does not
mean that the Church should
henceforth be indifferent to er
rors, or that it gnores the am
biguity of the values of the
modern world. It knows what
equivocations, threats and dan
gers they can contain. But it
dwells more willingly upon the
positive aspects of these values,
upon what they contain of value
for the construction of a bet
ter and more just society. The
Church would like to help rally
all men of good will to resolve
the immense problem our cen
tury must face. And that is
why this council pronounced no
anathemas."
The Church, he continued,
has no technical, economic, po
litical or military solutions to
propose. "Its action extends
on a really different and deeper
plane: that of the basic moral
demands upon life in society.
‘The conscience of modern
man is not insensible to this
discernment of different planes.
It even perceives more clearly
perhaps than was done in cer
tain past epochs the distinction
of the temporal and the spirit
ual, and sets a more just price
upon their reciprocal rela
tions and influences.”
He declared, “as for Church,
in any case its desire to col
laborate with the powers of this
world is free of hidden inten
tions. The actions of the council
have proved that brilliantly,”
Naming Town
For Pope John
MONTE POTRERO, Argen
tina (NC)—The town council of
this community has decided to
rename the town after Pope
John XXIII.
A spokesman for the council
said the citizens favored the
change because Pope John has
. "a champion of justice among
men and of raising the dignity
of the humble.”
MESSENGER OF PEACE—Pope Paul VI in his Christmas broadcast (Dec. 23) appealed
to all men: ‘‘Brothers, do heed the message of peace which Christmas brings . . . check
the way things are going. It is possible you’re on the wrong track. Stop and think!"
GREAT TASK OF UNITY
U.S. Ecumenism Stirred
By Bishops’ Involvement
WASHINGTON — Nineteen
sixty-five will go down in the
history of the American Catho
lic Church as the year when
bishops became officially in
volved in the great task of
seeking unity among Christians.
This fact, according to the
executive director of the U.S.
Bishop’s Commission for Ecu
menical Affairs, overshadows
all the high-level dialogues,
the joint prayer services and
the areas of religious coopera
tion that were significant steps
forward in relations among
Christian bodies.
The various activities of
American Catholics in this
field, said Msgr. William Baum
in an interview, were a direct
result of the Second Vatican
Council’s decree on ecumenism
promulgated toward the end of
1964.
“THE ECUMENISM decree
gave all Catholics a mandate
for ecumenical action,” he said.
‘‘In light of that decree the
American bishops created an
episcopal commission to offer
guidelines for Catholic parti
cipation and to engage in for-
LOYOLA PROFESSOR
Progress No Sign
Religion ‘Dead’
CHICAGO (NC)— A Loyola
University professor of philo
sophy said that technological
progress is not a sign that God
is no longer meaningful in mo
dern life, but rather a challenge
to the “dead and deadening idols
of men.”
Father Walter Bado, S.J.,
addressed the Loyola chapter of
Phi Sigma Tau, national honor
society in philosophy, on the
‘‘God is Dead” movement in
contemporary Protestant theo
logy.
‘‘The ‘God is Dead’ issue,
over the relevance of God in
modern man’s life, does not di
sillusion the truly contem
porary Christian, but it does
shatter the illusions of the un-
authentic Christian,” Father
Bado said.
THE BELIEF that God is no
longer relevant arises in some
men's minds due to a pseudo-
religiousness born of false
views of God, Father Bado ex
plained. An example of this, he
said, are farmers who once
prayed to God for good crops,
as if He were an agricultural
factor which can now be re
placed by more efficient fer
tilizers. Such a god, Father Ba
do said, is a pseudo-god.
Father Bado referred to the
19th century German-born phi
losopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s .
criticism of Smug, Sunday
Christians. The phrase “God
is Dead” probably originated
with Nietzsche. “He errone
ously identified all Christians
with this type of person who,
in hiw opinion, had killed the
in his opinion, had killed the
living God by substituting dead
idols for God in their lives,”
Father Bado stated.
“Nietzsche's call for a ‘will
to power,’ an acceptance of all
that life entails, has meaning
for Christians today,” Father
Bado said. ‘‘The contemporary
Christian should not hide be
hind God from the problems of
the world.”
MODERN Christians should
listen and observe carefully
what men of every opinion have
to say about our age,” the
Jesuit philosopher remarked.
“Christians should then apply
these opinions to their faith,
thur seeking new interpre
tations and dimensionsfortheir
religious values.”
Father Bado warned, how
ever, hat “careless express
ions,” such as “God is Dead”,
“can furnish fuel to atheism.”
NEW ZEALAND
d THI TW0T8!MITIES*MURIUQ
[ CHRISTMAS 1965
X E W ZEALAND’S 1965
Christmas stamp featured
Murillo's painting, "The Two
Trinities." It is the fifth in
a series of Christmas stamps;
depicting old masters.
mal dialogues with other Chris
tian groups.”
The . participation of the hier
archy in the growing dialogue
among Christians is vitally im
portant for three reasons, said
Msgr. Baum.
“First, the bishops them
selves are engaged. In the past
we have had many contacts
among scholars—theologians
and biblical experts. But n<?w
it is no longer the exclusive
work of academic theologians.
The bishops themselves have a
voice in the dialogue. In light
of our Catholic teaching of the
episcopacy, it is significant that
they are taking part.”
SECOND, he said, the involve
ment of bishops aswell as scho
lars will result in amore “pas
toral” approach to ecumenism.
It will affect dioceses and par
ishes and lay persons. Msgr.
Baum noted that in an effort
to broaden the pastoral contact
the commission was enlarged
in November from seven to 14
bishops. Its chairman is Bis
hop John J. Carberry of Colum
bus.
Finally, he said, the involve
ment of the bishops is a sign
of the committment of the U.S.
hierarchy to the viewpoint of
the ecumenism decree.
“Their entering into a re
lationship with other Christians
shows a desire to deal on an
institutional basis, church-to-
church. We are no longer mere
ly treating others as sincere
Christians but as members of
Christian churches. This is a
sign of our acceptance of the
viewpoint of the council which
sees the ‘churchly’ nature and
value of these communities.”
Msgr. Baum was quick to add
that the new involvement of bis
hops was not the whole of the
ecumenical movement in 1965,
nor will it be in the future. The
very fact that bishops took part
in the dialogue and established
their own office for ecumenical
affairs opened the door to con
tacts on all levels. Meetings
among scholars will continue;
so will dialogues on a formal
level between official church
representatives; and contacts
on the part of priests, nuns and
lay persons are bound to in
crease. This -is the so-called
“grassroots” ecumenism that
is so necessary if high-level
talks are to be successful.
“BUT,” HE said, “unless the
bishops acted first, few lay
Catholics would or could act.”
In this regard, he said the pos
sibility of Church leaders com
ing to understandings that are
beyond the reach of the laity
is a “perennial danger” in the
history of ecumenism.
“It is a danger especially
in the Christian East,” he said.
“You will remember that the
Second Council of Lyons (in
1274) and the Council of Fer-
rara-Florence (from 1438 to
1443) reached agreements that
the Christians of the East were
not ready or willing to accept.
“This is why it’s important
to have dialogues on all levels.
From the Catholic side, of
course, unless there is official
involvement, dialogue on a lo
wer level, cannot be wholly fruit
ful.”
MSGR BAUM noted, however,
that there is no real danger of
the hierarchy moving ahead of
the Catholic laity in the U.S.,
since the high-level talks in this
country are not “negotations”
aimed at eventual church union.
In 1965 there were four of
ficial meetings between sub
committees of the U.S. bis
hops’ commission and repre
sentatives of other Christian
churches.
A subcommittee headed by
Bishop Charles H. Helmsing
of Kansas City-St. Joseph met
with Episcopalian leaders in
late June. A second meeting is
scheduled to be held in Kansas
City for three days beginning
Feb. 2.
The first formal dialogue be
tween Lutherans and a Catholic
group headed by Auxiliary Bis
hop T. Austin Murphy of Balti
more was held in early July.
Another is scheduled for Feb.
11-13 in Chicago.
Presbyterians and Catholics
led by Bishop Ernest L. Unter-
koefler of Charleston met late
in July. Repcesentatives of the
Standing Conference of Ortho
dox Bishops and a Catholic sub
committee headed by Bishop
Bernard J. Flanagan of Wor
cester met in that city Sept.
9th.
Besides these, Msgr. Baum
said other meetings are being
planned for the new year. A
subcommittee headed by Bishop
Carberry will sit down with top
officials of the National Council
of Churches in Batlimore jan.
25. Another subcommittee,
chaired by Auxiliary Bishop
Joseph B. Brunini of Natchez-
Jackson, will meet with Metho
dist leaders for the first time
probably before July, he said.
OTHER SUBCOMMITTEES
have been formed to supervise
other work of the ecumenical
commission. The commission
was instructed last November
to explore possible contacts
with Jewish groups, and it esta
blished a subcommittee with
that aim under Bishop Fran
cis P. Leipzig of Baker, Ore.
Msgr. Baum acknowledged
that ecumenical dialogue in the
United States has its own uni
que problems. Or one, there
are more diverse religious
groups in American than there
are in Europe, making it im
possible to confer directly with
each of them. He said the unity
movement among other Chris
tian churches may do much to
alleviate this difficulty.
Then there are problems that
arise over public issues, such
as church participation in the
government’s poverty program,
tax support for education and
birth control measures.
Not all of the ecumenical
commission’s efforts in its first
year of existence were devoted
to high-level contacts with other
Christian leaders. A subcom
mittee on ecumenism and Ca
tholic education under Auxiliary
Bishop James Shannon of St.
Paul, president of the College
of St. Thomas, has begun tore-
view teaching methods and text
books in an effort to promote
an ecumencial viewpoint on all
levels of Catholic education:
parochial schools, colleges, e-
minaries, Sister - formation
programs, Newman groups and
adult education courses.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1966 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 3
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