Newspaper Page Text
Pope W ants T o Counteract
Theological Speculation
By ROBERT A. GRAHAM, S.J.
ROME (RNS)--There is no enigma as to the purpose of the
“Year of Faith*’ proclaimed by Pope Paul VI to commemorate
the 19th centennial of the martyrdom in Rome of Saints Peter
and Paul.
In his recent apostolic exhor
tation the pontiff was inspired
by a! concern over the growing
confusion among masses of the
faithful resulting from 'certain
post-copciliar developments.
He wants to counter-act sensa
tionalized theological specula
tion by public gets of faith all
over the world.
The Pope desires thaton June
29, the Feast of the two Saints,
the Creed be recited in every
cathedral in the presence of
the bishop, his priests, the sem
inarians, the religious, and lay
people engaged in apostolic ac
tivities, and as many of the
faithful as possible. He also
wants the same ceremony cen
tering on the theme of faith con
ducted in every parish church,
religious house, school or in
stitute, and indeed in every
Christian household where, as
he wrote, “The vote of faith
can be raised to proclaim and
strengthen a sincere adherence
to our common Christian call
ing.*’
Both saints, who died in the
persecution of Nero, repre
sent in a peculiar way, as the
pontiff pointed out, the Chris
tian’s life'.of faith. .It was
Peter who was made Prince of
the Apostles because of his act
of faith in Christ. And to Paul
the Church owes the concept of
faith as the beginning of justi-.
fication. The Pope hopes that
the call for common public act
of faith will also find response
from both Protestant and East
ern Orthodoxy Christians who
themselves put great store by
Pope Described
As Pessimistic
VATICAN CITY (NC)—The
official papal theologian, Father
Luigi Ciappi, O.P., has de
scribed Pope Paul'Vi’s present
outlook on the Church’s doctri
nal problems as not fully opti
mistic.
Father Ciappi, commenting in
the Vatican City daily, L'Osser-
vatore Romano, on a recent
papal letter said:
"The Pope indeed does not
appear to be wholly optimistic.
And how could he be, he who
calls himself, and is, the suc
cessor of Peter?"
The Papal theologian, who
bears the title of Master of the
Sacred Palaces, said the Pope's
letter proclaiming the 19thcen-
tenary of the martyrdom of Sts.
Peter and Paul sounds "the vi
gilant pastor's clear signal of
alarm.” 1
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apostollcity and recognize the
same ancient traditional pro
fession of faith.
The act of faith is recom
mended for recitation every
where but in theological facul
ties. At least in the enumera
tion, the theology professors
and Scripture scholars are not
specifically invited to join in
such ceremonies. At the end of
his message the Pope calls
upon them, however, to assist
the Church teaching authority in
defending the true faith from er
ror. Whether the omissionwas
pure coincidence and without
significance, the papal exhor
tation warns against dangerous
trends evidenced in some con
temporary writings.
The Pope has on a half dozen
recent occasions regretted the
decline of religious sense to "a
so-called post-conciliar men
tality*’ which these writings,
he says, try to introduce among-
the people of God.
He said ‘‘they question or
distort the objective sense of
truth taught by the Church and
under the pretext of adapting
religious thought to the con
temporary mind, they prescind
from the guidance of the
Church’s teaching and dare to
rob Holy Scripture's testimony
of its sacred and historical
character." The Pope con
cludes his criticism by asking,
“What would remain of the con
tent of our faith, or the theo
logical virtue that professes it,
if these attempts, free from the
support of the church’s teach
ing authority, were destined to
prevail?”
Old Romans recall that! Pope
St. Pius X, faced with similar
Church crisis 60 years ago,
resorted to the famous oath
against modernism. To this
day the clergy on assuming im
portant new posts must,recite
this solemn pledge. Profes
sors in theological institutes
are reqired to repeat it at the
beginning of the academic year.
This time Pope Paul is fol
lowing a different tack. The act
of faith Is encouraged among the
-faithful^ rather than required 6f‘
the professdhh. Arid this act
will, as the Pope puts it, be “in
dividual and collective, free and
deliberate, internal and exter
nal, humble and frank.” At the
same time he insists again that
he wishes to encourage study of
the teachings of the recent Ecu
menical Council and “to sus
tain the energies of Catholic
thought in its search for fresh
and original expressions, while
Remaining faithful to the doc
trinal deposit of the Church.”
But Pope Paul is counting right
now more on his appeal to the
religious sentiments of the
faithful in his effort to steer the
Church and the People of God
through the critical years just
ahead. At least in the coming
centennial beginning June 29 he
intends to stress faith rather
than theology.
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GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1967 3
Letters To The Editor
JOSEPH Najjar and Joan Gipe, above, have been selected as the
most representative boy and girl of St. JoSeph High’s Class of
1967. Both students are members of The National Honor Society.
They’ve also served on the student council.
Ottaviani Asked
Not To Resign
VATICAN CITY (NC)--Pope
Paul VI has asked the 76-year-
old head of the Doctrinal Con
gregation not to retire.
In a personal letter to Al
fredo Cardinal Ottaviani dated
Feb. 17, the Pope referred to
the cardinal as “my old super
ior and teacher” and expres
sed the hope he would serve the
Church in his post of high re
sponsibility "for many more
years to come.”
While confirming the exis
tence of the letter, the cardinal
told NC News Service it had
nothing to do with rumors he
had submitted his resignation
in January, as was stated in the
Milan daily, 1 Corriere della
Sera, which published the first
news of the letter March 1.
The newspaper said the car
dinal had submitted his resig
nation after the Pope overruled
an opinion of the Doctrinal Con
gregation in relation to a re
quest that Catholics be allowed
to participate in an ecumenical
prayer service ln.Rpmf£s An
glican Church of All Saints dur
ing the”. week'(of. Tprayep for
Christian unity (Jan. 25). An
swering a query of the Rome
vicariate, members of the con
gregation had said that such
Baptists Lag
Facing Issues
NASHVILLE (RNS) — A com
prehensive survey of almost
two-thirds of the leaders of the
Southern Baptist Convention re
vealed their agreement that
Baptists are not giving suffi
cient attention to contempor
ary moral, social and econo
mic problems.
More than 6,800 Baptist lea
ders from 590 churches were
polled. Questionnnaires were
returned by 3,445 persons.
Included in those returning
the questionnaires were 320
pastors, 214 religious educa
tion or music directors, 352
Sunday school and Training
Union leaders; 193 Woman's
Missionary, Union presidents,
103 Brotherhood presidents,
170 chairmen of deacons, 1,005
other laymen and 949 lay wo
men.
Conducted by the Research
and Statistics Department of
the Baptist Sunday School
Board, the poll showed that,
more than two-thirds of the
respondents agreed to some ex
tent that Southern Baptist chur
ches often seem to be afraid
to face controversial issues.
Catholic participation in a ser
vice in a non-Catholic church
was “inopportune at least for
the time being” in Rome. Short
ly after, the Pope went against
the decision and approved the
specific request for the All
Saints’, ceremony, but not in
time for the scheduled service.
The cardinal specifically de
nied he had submitted his resig
nation on this occasion.
Long identified as a leader
of the Church’s “conserva
tive*’ element, Cardinal Otta
viani was one of the most col
orful and important figures of
the Second Vatican Council. He
has often admitted his conser
vatism, and insisted that it is
part of his job as head of that
office in the Church which is
dedicated to the promotion and
defense of the faith in its doc®
trinal purity.
EDITOR:
It is disturbing to me how
any Catholic paper intended not
merely for theologians and in
tellectuals, but also for ordi
nary Catholics of different
learning and intelligence,
should give space to Leslie De
wart’s opinion calling into ques
tion the Existence of God, since
the existence of God is so clear
ly expressed in Holy Scripture.
To cite just one text: "I am
who am." (Ex. 3. 14).Theexis-
tence of God is also a teaching
of the Church throughout the
centuries. Surely the saints,
doctors and martyrs of the
Church of past centuries were
men of intelligence and faith,
or is the twentieth century the
only century of enlightenment?
The article of Msgr. Victor
Pospishil criticizing the
Church's divorce rules, 1 think,
is alsooutof place in a Catholic
paper which should guide, not
disturb the faith of its readers.
The true teaching of the Church,
which to say the least, is very
rash to question, is expressed
clearly in the famous Encylical
of Pope Pius the XI entitled Cas-
ti Connubii.
After mentioning the various
opinions for divorce current in
his day, the Pope says, and I
quote: "Opposed to all these
reckless opinions, Venerable
Brethren, stands the Unalter
able law of God, fully confirm
ed by Christ, a law that can
never be deprived of its force
by the decrees of men, the ideas
Of people or the will of any le
gislator: 'What God hath join
ed together, let no man put asun
der.' And if any man, acting
contrary to this law shall have
put asunder, his action is null
and void, and the consequ.-nee
remains, as Christ Himself has
explicity confirmed; 'Everyone
that putteth away his wife com-
mitteth adultery; and he that
marrieth her that is put away
from her husband committeth
adultery.'”
Dutch Clear Up
Catechism Issue
AMSTERDAM, The Nether
lands (NC) — The Dutch hier
archy has issued a statement
saying that the Dutch catech
ism published last October does
not require official approval by
Vatican authorities.
Informations Catholiques In
ternationales, Paris. Catholic
News magazine, carried an item
saying that the new catechism
had received the formal appro
val of the Holy See. Later a
Dutch group of traditionalists
called Confrontation spread the
' story that the new catechism
had failed to obtain the neces
sary Vatican approval.
The bishops of the Nether
lands stated that they are fully
and exclusively responsible for
the publication of the new ca
techism. They said they had
received no report of studies
made in Rome of the new ca
techism.
The Dutch bishops said that
they have not been informed
that the Vatican has taken any
notice of a petition sent to Pope
Paul VI by the Confrontation
group. Sent after publication of
the catechism, the petition
asserted that in the book “one
finds many things that are either
in total contradiction to the fai
th or that represent the truths
of the faith in an ambiguous way,
with the result that everyone
can select his own interpreta
tion in agreement with the faith
or not.”
To gain the good will of those
who'are not Catholic, according
to Pope John XXIII, it is not
lawful to water down Catholic
doctrine. Let us treat our non-
Catholic brethren with all cha
rity. Let us respect their honest
opinions, collaborate with them
where possible, but do not sur
render any of our basic Ca
tholic beliefs. If Catholic aca
demies and colleges wish the
confidence and support of Ca
tholic people they must be 100
-per cent Catholic,
REV. A. KALB C.SS.R.
F ort Oglethorpe
EDITOR:
This coming Saturday, I shall
do a very strange thing. At the
proper moment, in a very ela
borate ritual for the ordination
of subdeacons, I will take a
short step forward, the same
kind I’ve been taking for a quar
ter of a century. Except thatthis
time, I will be walking right
out of my own private life, and
right into yours.
For with that little step, I
will walk away from a wife and
family of my own, and 1 shift
my direction fully toward you, in
the hope that I can serve you
better as a priest who is un
married. The celibacy that I
will publicly embrace creates
a unique kind of loneliness in a
man, not a morbid isolation, but
an emptiness which can be filled
ortly by loving service to God's
People.
Nothing else will substitute,
for celibacy is a gift which is
given to some of God’s People
for the sake of all His People;
it is a way of life that is orien
ted by the Spirit from first to
last toward the needs of His
loved ones.
That is why theChurchallows
me to begin praying the official
prayer for Her People, the Di
vine Office, the same day I
pledge myself as a celibate ser
vant. For my celibacy makes no
sense, unless it is continually
spent in living^ relationship with
you. That is why I had to tell
you about this Saturday, and that
strange little step.
BOB K1NAST
The Pontificial College
Josephinum
Worthington, Ohio
The bishops have delcared
that most of the petitioners’
complaints, if actually investi
gated, could not be considered
valid.
In an editorial the Dutch na
tional Catholic daily De Volks-
krant stressed the fact that the
riew catechism has been approv
ed by the Church. "The Dutch
hierarchy is part of the autho
rity of the Church and if has its
own responsibility," the edito
rial said. The new catechism
was written, it pointed out, by
theologians of the Higher Cate
chetical Institute of the Catholic
University at Nijmegen "at the
request of the bishops of theNe-
terlands,” as is stated on the
catechism’s first page. The
book also has the imprimatur
(approval for publication) of
Bernard Cardinal Alfrink of
Utrecht.
The book abandons the old
question-and-answer formula.
Centered on Christ and written
with a strong Scriptural orien
tation, the catechism empha
sizes the social nature of the
Christian faith, i
L
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