Newspaper Page Text
k
GEORGIA BULLETIN' THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1968
iop’s Notebook
TOPIC ON TELEVISION-CELIBACY
During Vatican II, celibacy was not discussed. But in thousands
of rectories it was. After more than 1,000 years of this special
way of life, it was being contested by priests, young and older.
The recent encyclical summed up the Church’s teaching. So
did Leger, Ancel and Suenens. Although they were liberals,
they were opposed to a change. But the controversy continued.
In future weeks, because it touches laymen as well as priests,
several columns will be devoted to celibacy. Recently, I was
invited by Walter Cronkite of CBS to take part in a TV tape with
two or three .married priests. Allowing for ’’clipping on
the part of both sides, here is the telecast:
CRONKITE: The Roman Catholic Church is concerned these
days with the quietjy growing controversy over celibacy. Some
estimates say as many as 1,000 Roman Catholic priests
throughout the world each year aSk to be released from their
•vows, often, it appears, to get married. The figure, if correct,
represents only a small fraction of the priesthood worldwide.
But there’s some feeling that the current shortage of priests is
due, in part, to the doctrine of compulsory celibacy. Tonight,
we’ll begin to take a look at the issue, with this first of two re
ports from CBS NEWS Correspondent John Hart.
FATHER ALLEN CARTER: Ave Maria, Ave Maria. Come,
oh holy spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them
the fire of your love. Allelulia.
HART: In this Roman Catholic church, the mass is for its
people, but the prayer is for its priests, those of the celibate
elite who find a cornerstone of their calling has become a mill
stone on their necks.
FATHER CARTER: For all of those priests who have left
the practice of the ministry, that Almighty God may be ever with
them, to guide them, to strengthen them, to give them joy in his
service, that all their brother priests may livein unity and har
mony, one with another.
HART: The man who prays for his priesthood also works to
change it. Father Allen Carter is Vice President of the Na
tional Association for Pastoral Renewal.
CARTER: 1 feel that there is plenty of room in the life of a
priest, of a good priest, doing his work in the apostolate, there’s
plenty of room for him to have a very holy love for a woman.
HART: all of these men are Roman Catholic priests. Two
remain celibate; the other two have married and are working
outside the church, though they insist they are still priests,
'it All four argue that priestly abstinence should be chosen, not
required. They argue that Christ's commandment was to love,
! with no restrictions on gender, that ten of the 12 apostles
were married, that celibacy is not commanded by any scrip
ture. They quote a survey of 3000 American priests in which
two-thirds wanted the option, at least, to marry, and other sur-
Fath er O’ Shea Says Requiem
For Sister
veys in which nearly half the laity support the liberty of choice.
They point to the papacy itself. Some forty of the early popes
had wives. The last of them was Adrian II, who lived in the
Vatican from 867 to 872 with his wife and daughter. The dissent
ing priests say they wish not to abolish the priesthood, but to
save it.
CARTER: I don’t want to change the priesthood because to
do that I would have to change Christ, and I cannot do that. But
I think I would like to change some - 1 know I would like to
change, there’s no question about this - some of the forms in
which this priesthood is exercised, because I think some of
these forms are just not practical today for all men and also I
might say I don’t think they are even just for all men,
HART: These Roman Catholic priests who demand the right
to marry are meeting in the home of one who did, and whose
marriage was not blessed by Rome. He insists he is still a
priest. Mr. and Mrs., or Father and Mrs. Herbert Hooven.
Mrs. Hooyen, how did you meet your husband?
MRS. HOOVEN: I met him through a girl friend of mine who
was double-dating, she • was dating a priest, and she ask
ed me if I wanted to double date with her, and I said, well, all
right, it’ll be different, all right, I’ll go and that was it. One
date led to another and five months later we were married.
HART: You are Catholic?
MRS. HOOVEN: Yes, I am.
■ HART: What were your feelings about dating a priest?
MRS. HOOVEN: Well, I just didn't. I felt well, if he, if he
feels it’s all right to date someone, then I shouldn’t have any
feelings about it, any wrong feelings about it, any guilt feelings,
so I went out, too.
HART: were there any problems in dating a priest?
MRS. HOOVEN: It was kind of touch and go at that time, sort
of hide and seek really. You couldn’t go out in normal company
and go into a restaurant and enjoy yourself without feeling that
maybe there was somebody there that he would know and would
see us, and go back and report it.
HART: Well, is there considerable dating among priests? I
mean, by priests?
HOOVEN: Well, I think it has to be said honestly that there's
a good deal more dating goes on than the bishop knows about,
but on the other hand I think the dating is rather small in com
parison to the number of priests.
HART: Having had no dating experience, how do you go about
dating a girl for the first time? This must be a tremendous
problem.
HOOMiN: Well, no more so than, I think, for any adolescent.
I think it has to be said that on that score priests are frequently
rather adolescent in their dating patterns, but I think we're
all human enough to learn rather quickly.
HART: Into the path of this movement Pope Paul has thrown
this document, an encyclical which in another era would have
ended the debate, but it has already provoked new views of
papal authority itself. That is part of our next report. ,
This is John Hart, CBS NEWS, Washington.
-0-
CRONKITE: Last night we began a look at the Roman Catholic
requirement of celibacy in the priesthood. Pope Paul supports
the traditional view of celibacy, most recently in a Papal ency
clical dealing with the issue. Now, in our second and final re
port, John Hart, the correspondent.
ARCHBISHOP PAUL HALLINAN: Man, created in God's im
age and likeness, is not just flesh and blood. The sexual in
stinct is not all that he has. Man is also, and pre-eminently,
understanding, choice, freedom. Thanks to these powers he is,
and he must remain, superior to the rest of creation •
HART: In the recent encyclical on priestly celibacy, Pope
Paul with careful tenderness, reviews the arguments of priests
who wish to marry, and with the finality of church tradition,-
rejects them. Reading the papal encyclical is Archbishop Paul
Hallinan of Atlanta, whose convictions remain with the pope
and tradition.
HALLINAN: Many are plunging in here without regard to the
tradition, the heritage of about a thousand years which has pro
duced much good, and saying, "let’s make it optional."
HART: Father Allen Carter, vice president of the Association
for Pastoral Renewal, a leading voice for change, does not see
the encyclical as the final word.
FATHER CARTER: I honestly feel that we've got to try and
understand, - what did Christ want? What was in the mind of
Christ when he picked his married apostles, Peter, James and
John and the rest of them? What was in his mind? Did he say
well, after you fellows, no more marriage, or did he leave it
open? And I thoroughly believe he left it open.
HALLINAN: The emphasis, rather than being exclusively
biblical here, is the example of Christ himself, of the total giving
to God of his life. It is the need of detachment from the world.
CARTER: These are good men we are losing, So many, many
of our priests who are leaving. And there are many of them,
good men, they’re men who have been up to their eyes in work,
but who are just disgusted with the structural forms that they
have to live under.
Father John J. O’Shea, pas
tor of St.-John the Evangelist,
Hapeville, said a requiem Mass
Monday for his sister, Mrs.
* Holy Cross
Brothers
TEACHING • BOYS’ HOMES
MISSIONS • TRADES
For Information, write:
BROTHER DONALD, C.S.C.
4950 N. DAUPHINE ST.
NEW ORLEANS, LA. 70117
FIRST LADY
BILL (formerly with Rich*)
BEPPY & JOHN
(formerly with Jamisons)
324 Pharr Rd. 237-3542
Thomas ;M. Bergen, Monday at
Most Blessed Sacrament
Church.
Mrs. Bergen, the former
Margaret O'Shea, lived at 869
Braemar Ave., SW. The homily
was given by Father Walter
J. Donovan, pastor of Blessed
Sacrament.
Burial was in Westview
Cemetery,
Survivors include her hus
band; two daughters, Miss Par-
ticia Bergen, Miss Mary Ber
gen, both of Atlanta; three sons,
Thomas M. Bergen Jr„ George
S. Bergen, James J. Bergen,
all of Atlanta; a sister, Miss
Mary O’Shea Flemming of Mil-
ledgeville; seven brothers, Fa
ther O'Shea, T. J. O’Shea of
Columbus, Ohio, James J.
OF Columbus, Ga„ Gerald
O’Shea, Cornelius F. O'Shea,
both of Detroit, Arthur O’Shea
of Chamblee, N. S. O’Shea of
A tlanta.
WANTED
CUSTOMERS
FOR fabric at LOW-LOW
prices, 45-in. fiberglass
and antique satin drapery
material. Full rolls, 59£
per yd.; 45-in drapery lin
ing, full pieces, 39<f per
yd.; Dan River checks, 39£
per yd., full bolts.
PEPPERS FABRICS
4926 Covington Hwy., Dec.
.289-8963
(At Wesley Chapel Rd.)
and Mableton,Ga. 938-7211
MSGR. JOHN Roudan, Pope Paul's special envoy in the Middle
East, holds an open-air "class" for young refugees during his
visit to Jordan. The priest was on an inspection tour of refugee
camps in the Middle East in behalf of the Pope. He also visited
the Gaza Strip and the west bank of Jordan, areas now occupied
by Israel. (RNS Photo),
19 St. Joseph Pupils Inducted Into Society
IF YOU ARE
principal - teacher - -student
- artist - handicrafter
See Ug
For Supplies
A-Mac Supply
2187 Briarsliff Road, N.E.
Atlanta, Ga. 30329
. 634-1562
INTERNATIONAL
CATHOLIC
TRAVEL
\
DUFFY TRAVEL
AIRUN E-STEAMSHIP-
HOTEL-AUTO-RESERVATION
QUALITY TRAVEL
37 west Paces ferry rd., n.w.
ATLANTA, GA. CALL 261-6624
/
Nineteen St, Joseph juniors
and seniors were inducted into
the high school’s chapter of
the National Honor Society on
Jan. 12 at a school assembly.
Following an address by
Helen Anne Williams, presi
dent of the St. Joseph Chapter
of the National Honor Society,
Father Paul Kelley, principal,
announced the names of the
newly elected students. Pa
rents of the inductees attended
the ceremony.
The new members are: Vir
ginia Bush, Janie Clarke, Wayne
Karoly, Gail Mattox, Georgia
Ann Monnerat, Rodney Ray,
Barbara Sutherland (Seniors);
Cecilia Alexander, Frank Bel
tran, Clayton Byrd, Alice Clark,
Lynne Cooper, Connie Daugher
ty, Kathy Leary, Tom Lozano,
J immy Matthews, Michelle
Murphy, Nancy Rosenthal, and
Lillian Sutor (Juniors). The
students were not told of their
election prior to the ceremony.
A reception for new mem
bers, their parents, and the
faculty was held in St. Joseph
High School’s cafeteria follow
ing the induction ceremony.
RODNEY Ray, Helen Anne Williams, President of St. Joseph’s
Chapter of the National Honor Society, Gail Matto* and Sister
Mary Placide, CSJ, assistant principal of St. Joseph High School,
are shown at the NHS induction.ceremony.
Serra Club Sets Shepherds’ Night
A social hour will begin at
7 p.m. with dinner.
The Serra Club of Metro
politan Atlanta will hold its
fannual Shepherds’ NightThurs- , , .
The club sponsors the annual
day; Jan. 25, a t the Piedmont night to honor pastors in the
Driving Club.
archdiocese.
HALLINAN: Celibacy is a major contributing factor to a good
priesthood.
REPORTER: Now, how do you tell that to the Protestants?
HALLINAN: Well, I know many Protestant ministers, and I
would say that I admire all that I have met, as dedicated men.
Several have given rather direct testimony, although they would
not give up their wives for anything, they miss our freedom. I
cite as an example of this the responsibility, say, of a minister
in one of the southern states, let's take Alabama. A number of
them had to leave their congregations because they spoke against
racial injustice. When a man has to consider his future, his
wife, his family, this is a real problem.
HART: Do you think that married priests will be allowed in
the church in your lifetime?
CARTER: 1 have faith in my prayer that Almighty God says
whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give to you, and
I believe that my own devotion to the mother of God, to whom
I pray daily in the mass, and this is one of my petitions to her,
that this be-granted, and I donotbelieve that she will turn a deaf
ear to us. I believe it is coming, and I think it will be a great
relief to the church, to the hierarchy, to many priests, and a
great consolation to the laity, also.
HALLINAN: We have always preceeded to go ahead on the
basis that if a man said I will do this, he would do it. I think
that our people, our laity, have a right to look to their priests
for this. What the future development of celibacy might be, I
do not know; I do not think anyone knows today, but suddenly to
make it optional, to make it no longer a necessary part of the
priesthood, that this is going to stretch fidelity a great deal
more, - to a point where our people will not be edified. Their
priests will no longer be witnesses of this special kind of life
which does involve courage, it involves humility, and it involves
in many casesacertain amount of sufferingand actually heroism.
I’m not saying that in each individual case this is what would
happen. I'm saying that a general abandonment of celibacy
would be an abandonment of fidelity.
HART: A church is more than a building and its acolytes.
It is the people who follow change, sometimes lead it, often
wait for it. It was Pope John who resisted the mass in English
and Paul who later allowed it. Now Pope Paul resists optional
celibacy, and it may wait his successor to welcome it.
John Hart, CBS NEWS, Washington.
> /fL
ARCHBISHOP OF ATLANTA
Specializing In Long Hair
Open 9 a.m., Until
And Wigs
12 Midnight
Rid \
C^oiffureS
212 Belle Isle Drive, N.E.
Around the Corner From Gigi’s
on Roswell Road
Phone 252-3665
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
UDiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiHiiiiiniiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiwiiiaiiiimiwiiMHiiMMHMaMHniiinniimintiiiiiiinmmiiii
Brand New
RIVIERA GARDEN APTS.
Now renting- 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, some with fire
places - 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, ALL G.E.
KITCHENS, wall to wall carpeting -• washer & dryer
connections, hot & cold water furnished - walk to
Grammer & High School, extra large swimming
pool - large recreation room with kitchen facilities.
1/2 block off N. Druid Hills Road on Buford Hwy.
For information call 633-5343 or 634-1352 Res. N
Mgr. Mrs. Kingsbury, 2998 Buford Hwy Apt. #1
N.E. Atlanta, Georgia.
Agnew, Rockefeller
To Support Change
In Abortion Laws
NC NEWS SERVICE
Two of the nation's most in
fluential Republican governors
have backed proposals to change
their states'anti-abortion laws.
Maryland’s Gov. SpiroT. Ag-
new said he would supports pro
posal to eliminate abortion la,ws
from his state's criminal code.
New York’s Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller said he supported
"modification of 'the present
state law," but would not be
more specific.
Both delivered their opinions
at press conferences as their
state Legislatures began their
1968 sessions.
Agnew said he “felt that the
question of abortions is pro
perly a medical question and not
a legal one."
RBM
MOTORS
FACTORY AUTHORIZED
VOLKSWAGEN
dealer
N. Expressway, Griffin, Ga. 288-2771
9ndu/uznce. in all ili jj&und!
91 Wi. uMiUten, lae uiAite it
Sutter & Mdeltan
1422 RHODES WAVERTY BLDG
JAckson 5i2086
warn iNtunANoc is a profession mot a sideline