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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1966
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8 IN WAVE OF ECUMENISM
Cooperation Organization Is Generally Overlooked
s
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BY THOMAS F. ANDERSON
(N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON—In the wave
of ecumenism that has swept the
Church since the Second Vati
can Council, it is generally
overlooked that an official
Church agency was established
25 years ago for the specific
purpose of cooperating with
non-Catholic groups in pursuit
of a common goal.
This ecumenical pioneer is
the National Catholic Communi
ty Service, which will mark the
25th anniversary of its incor
poration on April 21.
Shortly after German troops
marched into Poland in late
1939, representatives of var
ious religious groups met to
discuss the possibility of inter
agency cooperation to provide
recreational facilities for the
rapidly growing U.S. defense
forces.
OUT OF this meeting grew the
United Service Organizations
for National Defense (USO),
whose main purpose was to set
up and maintain USO clubs as
WITH PATRIARCH
"a home away from home” for
servicemen.
Catholics were represented
at this meeting by the late Su
preme Knight Francis P. Matt
hews and die late Supreme Ad
vocate Luke E. Hart of the
Knights of Columbus, which had
performed a similar task for the
Church during World War I.
At their annual meeting in No
vember, 1940, the U.S. Bishops
decided to establish a body to
unite Catholic efforts, to rep
resent all Catholic groups in
volved in the Church’s program
and to retain contact with the
government.
As a result they unanimously
voted to establish the National
Catholic Community Service,
which immediately became one
of the founding agencies of USO,
Matthews became chairmanof
the NCCS executive committee
and continued to represent the
organization.
USO’S EARLY plans were for
some 330 clubs in about 200
communities, but before the
war was over NCCS was ope
rating more than that itself. At
the peak of operations USO had
some 3,000 clubs inl,400cities
and towns. NCCS hit a peak in
January, 1944, with its staff
operating 486 clubs, in addition
to 47 independent operations fi
nanced by the Bishops’ Emer
gency Fund.
During the course of the war
a total of 674 USO clubs and
offices were staffed partly or
entirely _ by NCCS personnel,
with over 650,000 volunteers
working in these operations. Al
most 300 million persons were
served one way or another in an
NCCS-USO club building.
Although all the NCCS clubs
were open to members of all
races, separate facilities were
usually provided for Negroes to
avoid local problems. ButNCCS
insisted on equal opportunity in
such things as training pro
grams and operated one of the
first completely integrated
clubs in the country.
After the war USO was “de
activated” but NCCS continued,
with operations serving majot
military camps, naval installa
tions and Veterans’ Adminis
tration hospitals.
In the summer of 1948 USO
was activated again, then de
activated in 1950. At that time
NCCS, the National Jewish Wel
fare Board and the Y.M.C.A.
formed the Associated Services
for the Armed Forces (ASAF)
to continue their work.
When USO reactivated in 1951
for the Korean War, ASAF
merged'with it.
At last count NCCS was di
rectly involved in the USO pro
gram in 75 points of service
around the world, with 41 pro
fessional NCCS staff members.
Although the greatest portion
by far of NCCS’s work is the
staffing of the USO clubs, it also
operates the NCCS-VA Hospital
Service, which aims at bringing
volunteers into Veterans Ad
ministration hospitals to per
form personal services for the
patients and distribute religious
articles to them.
So far there are NCCS rep
resentatives or deputy repre
sentatives in 151 of the 165
VA hospitals. The hospital
service marks its 20th anniver
sary on April 20th.
NCCS’s latest venture is in
the war on poverty, where it
provides one of the chief stimu
li behind the National Catholic
Coordinating Committee on
Economic Opportunity.
It also services the Interre
ligious Committee Against Pov
erty (ICAP), a committee oflay
and clerical leaders formed at
the request of the National Cath
olic Welfare Conference, the
National Council of Churches
and the Synagogue Council of
America.
ICAP, formed early this year,
aims at putting the full weight
of the major religions into the
attack on poverty.
NCCS has also had side bene
fits important to the Church,
says executive director Thom
as Hinton.
The ecumenical cooperation
of the major faiths in the early
1940’s was a “great experi
ment” and "a most unusual
achievement,’,' Hinton said.
* ‘It helped pave the way for the
ecumenical spirit,”he said, be
cause “the lay people were
working almost in a harness.
The staffs had to work togeth
_ _ 9*
er.
Since many of the clubs were
community-based and commun
ity-run, it also brought many
people in the community togeth
er with the priest appointed by
the local bishop to moderate the
club's programs.
This, said Hinton, helped con
tribute to a beneficial change
in the general attitude toward
the Church, especially in the
South.
Another important benefit was
the value of NCCS as a training
group for a generation of Cath
olic laymen.
"They got experience, and it
gave them a good base to move
on from,” Hinton said.
Among alumni of NCCS are
such persons as Martin Work,
executive director of the Na
tional Council of Catholic Men;
James J. Norris, president of
the International Catholic Mi
gration Commission and assis
tant to the director of Catholic
Relief Services—NCWC; Mar
garet Mealey, executive direc
tor of the National Council of
Catholic Women; and John Mc
Carthy, director of the N.C,
W.C. Department of Immigra
tion.
Despite its extra work, NCCS
has not slowed down on its work
with USO. In fact, it is now re
cruiting staff for the four USO
clubs now in Vietnam and eight
more to be opened there by the
end of June.
Pope Speaks, Telecast
ROME—Pope Paul VI took
part in an ecumenical telecast
with the Orthodox Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople, the
leader of the Anglican Commun
ion and the former general
secretary of the World Council
of Churches.
The Pope’s participation was
in the form of a declaration at
the end of individual interviews
with Patriarch Athenagoras,
Archbishop Michael Ramsey of
Canterbury and Dr. W. A. Vis-
ser^t Hooft.
The Pope spoke about the
Second Vatican Council and its
ecumenical aims, his meeting
in Jerusalem with Patriarch
Athenagoras in 1964, the mutual
renunciation of the excommuni
cations the Churches of Rome
and Constantinople hurled at
each other in 1054, and Arch
bishop Ramsey's recent visit
tohim.
He described these events as
“a good omen for possible new
steps toward the desired goal”
of Christian unity.
BUT HE CAUTIONED; ’There
is no lack of difficulties, and
they are such that they do not
permit foreseeing a speedy and
satisfactory solution.
“Some would like doctrinal
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or constitutional sacrifices
from the Catholic Church which
it cannot make without failing
in its fidelity to the truth of the
Gospel and the tradition de
riving therefrom. For its part,
the Catholic Church desires
rather to smooth the path for a
full and definitive encounter
with the separated brothers,
seeking to reassure them re
garding the logic, honorable
for all, of the Catholic posi
tions; seeking to honor them
by recognizing certain aspects
of some of their characteristic’
religious theses which deserve
common consent, and also seek
ing to favor them as much as
historical and practical reali
ties allow by simplifying the
relinquishable demands of the
forms expressing adhesion to a
single church. And we trust
that this loyal effort to draw
close will be reciprocal.’’
The Pope said that "human
ly speaking, ” the obstacles in
the way of unity are “insur
mountable.” But he said that
Christ’s resurrection is a re
minder of Christ’s own words
that ‘ tyith men this is impos-
sible, but with God all things
are possible.”
Dr. Visser 't Hooft began
the program with the same ref
erence to Christ’s resurrec
tion and Christian unity. He
said that Easter signifies the
SHOUT AND HOOT
death of the old man and res
urrection with Christ. He add
ed:
“If one thinks of the Church
in its deepest, ultimate mean
ing, it cannot be said that the
Church dies, because the
Church is eternal. But the
churches are also historical
institutions in time and as such
certainly must, under certain
aspects, die as sacrifices so
that unity may be made mani
fest. All dreams of privilege,
all dreams of power must be
sacrificed,”-
PATRIARCH Athenagoras al
so referred to the resurrection
of Christ. 'The Church too
knows that its road can be no
other than that of death and
resurrection,” he said. “It
has experienced this in all
phases of its life and its his
tory.”
He said it would be a joy and
a blessing from God if he were
to meet Pope Paul again.
Dr. Ramsey, when asked what
nonessentials the churches
should discard in order to renew
themselves, replied: "I be
lieve that every particular cus
tom that does not have its
foundation in deep theological
necessity will have to disap
pear.”
AT GIRLS 9 SCHOOL
Physician Reports
‘The Pill’Damages
NCKA CONVENTION—Archbishop John P. Cody of Chicago welcomes the keynote
speaker at the annual convention of the National Catholic Educational Association, Con
gressman Homan Puchinski, in the presence of Msgr. Frederick G. Hochwalt, secretary
general of NCEA and Bishop Ernest J. Primeau of Manchester, N.H., president general Of
NCEA. The convention attracted 22,000 registrants this year from 1 all parts of the coun
try. ‘ . .
NCEA CONVENTION
Professional Guidance
And Counseling Urged
Youths Interrupt
Russian Services
BERLIN (NC)—Gangs of you
ths tried to break up Easter
services in two major Soviet
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Union churches, it was repor
ted here.
In the ancient monastery at
Zagorsk, about 25 youths, most
of them drunk, shouted and hoo
ted through part of the ser
vices. The priests there, who
have had this trouble before,
bore the interruption stoically.
They talked to the youths, but
did not try to throw them out.
Eventually they quieted down.
Thousands of youth surroun
ded Moscow’s Yelokhovsky ca
thedral and mocked the wor
shippers, shouting “God is
dead.” Mounted policemen and
volunteers with red armbands
protected the priests and wor
shippers.
The rowdyism reached its
peak in both places when
clergymen marched out of the
churches in a traditional mid
night search for the body of
Christ.
CHICAGO (NC>—A Catholic
educator has recommended es
tablishment of a national com
mission to investigate incor
poration of professional gui
dance andcounsellingprograms
as an integral feature of Ca
tholic elementary schools.
“The commitment to the
young people in our Catholic
elementary schools must be
extended through guidance and
counselling programs on a pro
fessional level,” Father George
H. Moreau, O.M.L, said here.
“This should be done not only
in the interest of a stronger
and better America, but also
in the fulfillment of the Church’s
mission to promote the cause
of Christ among mankind.”
Father Moreau, consultant
for guidance services to the
National Catholic Educational
Association told the associa
tion’s 63rd annual convention
here: “The needs of our stu
dents as expressed in their
environmental, psychological,
social and spiritual mode of
living interests not only in the
home but especially in the
schools.”
“THE IMPACT of modern
day living is evidenced every
day by children in the ele
mentary schools to the effect
that they not only demand as
sistance in a learning situa
tion, but manifest signs that
counseling on a personal level
is now a necessity,” he said.
“The ambivalence of adult
behavior patterns and the con
stant reminder that today’s
skills will be useless for tom-
morrow’s world make a stron
ger case for better guidance
to all elementary students, and
particularly those in- the se
venth and eighth grades,” Fa
ther Moreau said.
BOSTON (RNS) ~ Serious
physical damage suffered by a
certain number of young women
after they used “birth control”
pills was described by a noted
Catholic physician before the
Archdiocesan Council of Cath
olic Women in convention here.
Dr. William A. Lynch, chief
of the medical staff of Carney
Hospital of the Boston archdio
cese, charged that the pill "has
beep thrown on the market like
peanuts”. ' He claimed that in
the dormitory of a women's
college in Boston the pills were
left in a “goldfish bowl” for
general consumption.
Researchers are primarily
concerned with the evidence of
thromboembolic phenonema
leading to strokes among young
women who have taken the pill,
he said "In one of the biggest
cities of New England,” Dr.
Lynch told the convention, “five
young women known to have
taken the pill suffered strokes,
something almost unknown
among young women.”
OTHER POSSIBLE side ef
fects are swollen limbs and
occurence of lumps in the brest,
he said.
Dr. Lynch said a preliminary
study has indicated a relation
ship to malignancies in the
brest and cervix and also “an
unquestioned ability” of all
contraceptives to produce dia
betes, he claimed manufacture
ers of the birth control pill
were allowed by the Federal
Drug Administration to make
exaggerated claims, not only
about the pills as contraceptives
but also as capable of affecting
a woman’s fertility.
'The fertility claims were
unproven in any respect”, Dr.
Lynch claimed.
ASIDE FROM moral questions
for Catholics, Dr. Lynch as
serted, the pills are endanger
ing public health.
It is obvious that the preven
tion of ovulation in a female is a
serious disruption of her entire
functioning, the convention was
told by Dr. Lynch.
'This has led to manufacture
of the pill being outlawed in Ja
pan, Israel and the Soviet Union
and in areas of Asia and South
America they are being with
drawn.
Dr. Lynch said he agreed
that over-population is a ser
ious problem but one that can
not be countered by a pill in
which serious reactions are
found to be increasingly com
mon.
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St. Joseph High
Plans Mystery Play
/CHEVROLET/
THE SENIOR class of St.
Joseph will present the three
act mystery thriller Nine Coa
ches Waiting as the Senior class
play. It will be presented on
April 22 and 23 at St. Joseph
Hospital auditorium.
, The cast, In order of appea
rance, includes: Philippe the
ten-yeai-old Comte de Valmy,
portrayed by Angelle Vuche
tich. Viviane Lewellyn plays
Berthe, a local girl who is
maid at Valmy; She is in love
with Bernard another servant
at Valmy.
JoAnn Donadlo is Madame
Leon de Valmy, elegant mis
tress of Valmy. Linda French
is Linda Martin, young English
governess.
Michael Chirico portrays
Philippes's crippled uncle and
manager of the estate, Leon
De Valmy. Bernard, portrayed
by Ronald Reed, is Leon’s de
voted valet.
Bill Todd is a Raoul de Val
my, son of Leon de Valmy.
William Blake is a pleasant
young Englishman who is ma
nager of the neighboring es
tate. Thomas Seymour portrays
William.
Chl-Chl-Florlmond is played
by Catherine Stanik and is a
Paris fashion designer. Last in
order of appearance is Paul
Werner as Hubert de Valmy,
Philippe's uncle and Guardian.
Mrs. Enid Kaler, assisted by
Sister Ann Peter, both English
teachers, is director.
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