Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 6, NO. 44
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAYtJiOVCMDCR 7, 196fr
On Church, World ^0 /Vy / ^
AmericanBishopsWill
Issue Pastoral Letter
WASHINGTON (NC)-When the bishops of the United States open
their annual fall meeting here Monday, one of the items on their
agenda will include another joint pastoral letter. At their November
meeting last year, the bishops approved a pastoral on “The Church in
Our Day,” which was published in January this year.
.Late.
Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan is pictured with San Diego Bishop,
Francis Furey as they met in the nation’s capitol while attending the
annual meeting of the National Conference of Bishops.
imyrna
St. Thomas the Apostle
To Have Dedication
Begun as a truly Ecumenical
project in the Smyrna area, St.
Thomas the Apostle Church will
have the dedication of its own
parish plant this coming Sunday
evening in ceremonies presided
over by the Most Rev. Thomas A.
Donnellan, Archbishop of
Atlanta.
The parish of St. Thomas the
Apostle was founded in June
1966, when the Rev. Richard A.
Morrow was transferred as pastor
of Carrolltown’s Our Lady of
Perpetual Help Church to become
the founding pastor of the new
St. Thomas the Apostle parish in
Smyrna.
Father Morrow offered Mass on
Sunday mornings in the Belmont
Hills Theatre; on Sunday evenings
the congregation would move to
use the facilities of St. Jude’s
Episcopal Church; and religious
instructions and Holiday Masses
were offered at the First
Methodist Church in Smyrna.
Construction began on the new
parish complex in August of
1967, and the Catholic
Community began use of its new
facility in April 1968 with a
congregation of 300 families.
Dedication ceremonies will be
followed at 7 p.m. Sunday
evening with a Concelebrated
Mass by Archbishop Donnellan,
the Rev. John Mercer S.M.,
pastor of the Church of St.
Joseph in Marietta, and Father
Morrow.
Following the Mass, a public
reception will be held in the
parish hall.
Law Society
Repudiates
Corrigan
PITTSBURGH (NC) - Father
Adam J. Maida, president, Canon
Law Society of America, said
here no one had been authorized
to represent the society at a
Priests Day program (Nov. 11) in
Washington, D.C.
The program in Washington
was arranged to support some 40
dissenting priests who differed
with Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle
over Pope Paul’s birth control
encyclical.
In announcing the program,
Father William Corrigan, leader
of the dissent Washington priests,
said a speaker from the Canon
Law Society would discuss
“Human Rights in the Church”
and answer questions.
“For the record,” Father
Maida said, “Neither the board of
governors nor the president of
the Canon Law Society of
America has authorized anyone
to represent the society or speak
in its name at this meeting.”
Under preparation by a
committee headed by Bishop
John J. Wright of Pittsburgh, the
new pastoral will deal with the
subject matter touched upon in
the Second Vatican Council’s
Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modem World.
Bishop Wright has consulted all
the U. S. bishops on the contents
of the pastoral letter. This
consultation was resulted in the
expression of widespread and
strong desires that the doctrine
on family life in the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in
the Modem World and in the
encyclical Humanae Vitae be
developed in the U. S. bishops’
collective pastoral.
There was also a majority
endorsement from the bishops on
development in the pastoral of
selective conscientious objection
and related questions of war and
peace.
The bishops, meeting as the
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops and as the United States
Catholic Conference, will be in
session from Monday until noon
Friday at the Washington Hilton
Hotel here.
Committee reports on matters
to be discussed at the five day
meeting have been distributed to
all the bishops. In addition,
individual bishops may bring up
on the floor other matters they
may wish to have discussed. Such
discussion may very likely
include Pope Paul Vi’s encyclical,
Humanae Vitae, and statements
which have been issued on it by
various episcopal conferences
throughout.the world.
The Bishops’ Committee on the
Liturgy has prepared an 84-page
report on liturgical matters for
the bishops’ consideration. These
include various matters
connected with the Liturgy, such
as a Thanksgiving Day Mass,
Communion more than once a
day, use of Latin in the Mass, and
lay persons distributing
Communion under certain
circumstances. Some of the
matters to be discussed by the
bishops require confirmation by
the Holy See; others involve
requests to the Holy See.
Thanksgiving Issue
Copy for the Issue of the
Georgia Bulletin," published
Thanksgiving Week, should be
in the office no later than
Monday^ November 25th.
Among other committee
reports to be considered are:
Bishops’ Committees on •
Priestly Formation, which deals
with academic curriculum for the
college seminary, and various
aspects of the theologate,
including spiritual formation,
community life and discipline,
and pastoral formation.
Bishops’ Committee on
Ecumenical and Interreugious
Affairs, in which the work and
functions of the committee are
described.
Archbishop Thomas A.
Donnellan received two
appointments this week during
the annual meeting of the
Catholic Bishops in Washington,
D.C.
The Atlanta Archbishop has
been named to the
Administrative Committee of
the National Conference of
Bishops, and also is a member of
the new liaison committee for
Religious, priests and laity.
Pope Wires Nixon
VATICAN CITY (RNS)-Pope
Paul VI has cabled his
congratulations to Richard M.
Nixon on his election as the 37th
President of the United States.
Bishops’ Committee, on
Missions, which discusses a
proposal for more effective
communication and cooperation
between those most directly
responsible for missionary
promotion and activity.
Bishops’ Committee on the
Permanent Diaconate, which
outlines the action taken toward
restoration of the permanent
diaconate in the United States,
following the necessary approval
received some weeks ago from
the Vatican. Bishop Ernest L.
Unterkoefler of Charleston,
acting chairman of the
committee, reported that more
than 20 men, married and
unmarried, from various back
grounds and localities had written
to him indicating their interest in
the permanent diaconate.
Ad Hoc Committee on
Vocations, which offered various
proposals for continuing liaison
between bishops, vocation
directors and the laity, and for
more effective ways of
coordinating the promotion of
vocations.
Ad Hoc Committee for
Foundation on Human Fertility,
following a memorandum
submitted to the September
meeting of the NCCB
A dministrative Committee by
Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle of
Washington.
Reports will also be made by
the episcopal chairman of the five
departmental committees of the
United States Catholic
Conference, the departments of
Communications, Christian
Formation, International Affairs,
Health Affairs and Social
Development.
The Pope told Mr. Nixon that
he would pray “that God may
grant you abundant graces of
strength and guidance” in
carrying out his duties as
President.
Full text of the papal message
follows:
“Expressing felicitations upon
your election to the Presidency,
we assure you of our prayers that
God may grant you abundant
graces of strength and guidance in
the accomplishment of your
future arduous duties, and may
bestow upon you, your family,
and the beloved American people
prosperity and happiness in
justice and true peace.”
The Pope and Mr. Nixon met at
a private audience at the Vatican
in March 1967. Their 45-minute
conversation, which Mr. Nixon
' described as “a really good talk,”
included the Vietnam war as
“one of the major areas of
discussion,” Mr. Nixon said.
He praised Pope Paul for an
“amazingly wide knowledge” of
international affairs.
Mr. Nixon also met Pope Pius
XII at the Vatican in May 1957
when he was Vice President of
the U.S. He never met Pope John
XXIII.
Vatican-
Communist
Conferences
VATICAN CITY
(RNS)-Official Vatican sources
are silent on the subject of
current negotiations with
Communist countries, but
unofficial reports continue to
speculate on this topic.
Observers here cite an unusual
concentration of visitors from
Communist countries presently in
and around Vatican City.