Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 6, NO. 47
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 28. 1968
71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Pledge
Support
CLEVELAND (NC)-Priests
from ordination classes 34 years
apart in the Cleveland diocese
assured Pope Paul VI of prayers
to sustain him in carrying a
burden of “corrosive criticism,
uncharitableness and even
disobedience.”
Press Accused
M isinte r pre ta tion of B ishops’
Pastoral DeploredBy Prelate
Coming On Jan. 1st
Liturgy Changes
Slated For Jan 1st
CHICAGO—The new canons of the Mass which will come into use
Jan. 1 give “a clearer and better understanding of what eucharistic
prayer should be,” a participant in a national liturgical meeting said
here.
Discussion of the new canons was the chief topic of the first joint
national meeting of diocesan liturgy and music commission members.
Some 450 persons attended the meeting at the Conrad Hilton Hotel
(Nov. 20-22)
Conference participants,
representing 150 U.S. dioceses,
were urged to take the lead in
introducing the new Mass
prayers-recently approved by
both Pope Paul VI and the
National Conference of Catholic
Bishops-in parishes.
Coadjutor Archbishop Leo C.
Byrne of St. Paul and
Minneapolis, chairman of the
bishops’ committee on the
liturgy, said the three new
alternative English canons had
been thoroughly studied by the
International Committee on
English in the Liturgy, made up
of 11 bishops from
English-speaking countries, which
then met in Rome in October to
approve the translations.
Now that the newly-translated
English versions have been
approved by the hierarchy of the
United States and confirmed by
the Holy See, Archbishop Byrne
said, the texts of the new
eucharistic prayers will be
distributed to parishes by Jan. 1.
He also said the bishops’
committee “has considered a
(Continued On Page 2)
Press Conference
‘Never Again’ Says
Baltimore Cardinal
BALTIMORE (NC)-“Never
again,” Lawrence Cardinal
Shehan said in an interview, after
holding a press conference on the
recent pastoral letter of the
American bishops.
Asked to elaborate, Cardinal
Shehan reportedly laughed and
said: “Never again a press
conference on a controversial
subject.”
The cardinal added that, in the
future, “when I am asked for
comments on controversial
theological or moral questions, I
shall refer the inquirer to one of
my younger and more agile
auxiliary bishops, or some
seminary professor or head of an
archdiocesan agency, s6 that in
the end, if a misunderstanding
shall have occured l, as cardinal
archbishop of Baltimore, after
proper consultation, may give a
final and authentic answer,”
Cardinal Shehan said the press
conference was very friendly, but
that he feared that
misunderstandings might arise
because few reporters had had an
opportunity to read the
11,000-word document before
coming to the meeting.
Cardinal Shehan said- it appears
that misunderstandings have
already arisen over the pastoral’s
treatment of Pope Paul’s
encyclical on birth control.
In the subsequent interview,
which was with the Catholic
Review, Baltimore archdiocesan
newspaper, Cardinal Shehan
explained some of the
“misunderstandings” that arose
after his press conference and
cited the relevant passages in the
pastoral.
At the end of the Review
interview, Cardinal Shehan
picked out that “The subject of
the encyclical Humanae Vitae
forms but one small part of the
pastoral letter. War and peace,
the question of conscientious
objection to military service, the
situation in Vietnam—these are
other subjects which are treated
by the bishops in their pastoral
letter.”
CINCINNATI—Press reports
Catholic bishops had modified
contraception drew a rebuke here
Cincinnati.
Following is the statement he
issued to local news media
concerning reports in regard to
the bishops’ pastoral letter
“Human Life in Our Day” issued
in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15, at
the conclusion of the hierarchy’s
semi-annual meeting:
“Through some unexplainable
circumstance the news media
have gravely misinterpreted the
pastoral statement of the United
States bishops both in respect to
its context and in its
implications.
suggesting that the American
Pope Paul Vi’s teaching on
from Archbishop Karl J. Alter of-
“In all such controversies the
final decision must be made by
the Supreme Teacher in the
Church, namely, the Pope. It was
to Peter and his successors that
the Lord said, ‘Thou being once
converted, confirm thy brethren.’
After much consultation, much
prayer and much patient study,
the Pope has finally spoken, not
indeed in accordance with
popular opinion,nor by reason of
economic or sociological
New Mission
arguments, but, according to his
own words, by virtue of his
responsibility as successor to
Peter and in his office as Vicar of
Christ under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit.
“The bishops of the United
States have accepted his teaching
unreservedly and have followed
meticulously the repeated
declarations of the Second
Vatican Council which recognize
the teaching authority of the
Pope.”
Lawrenceville
Opens New Center
‘‘The statement nowhere
speaks of condoning the use of
contraceptives, and at no place in
the text leaves an opening for an
ambiguous interpretation as to its
.meaning.
“The following exact
quotation from the bishops’
statement with reference to the
Pope’s encyclical should set any.
doubts at rest: ‘The encyclical is
a positive statement...it is an
obligatory statement, consistent
with moral convictions, rooted in
the traditions of Eastern and
Western Christian faith; it is an
authoritative statement solemnly
interpreting imperatives which
are divine' rather than
ecclesiastical in origin. It presents
without ambiguity, doubt or
hesitation the authentic teaching
of the Church concerning the
objective evil of that
contraception which closes the
marital act to the transmission of
life, deliberately making it
unfruitful. United in collegial
solidarity with the Successor of
Peter, we proclaim this doctrine.’
(Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, page 9).
“There is no warrant in the
text nor in the action of the
bishops which would permit by
implicaiton the right for the
penitent to conceal in the
sacrament of Penance the sin of
contraceptive usage, or permit
reception of the Holy Eucharist
without previous absolution. The
bishops of the United States
expressed their profound
sympathy in union with the Holy
Father for those married persons
who experience great difficulty in
living up to the teaching of the
Church in this matter. They
recommend patience, kindness
and understanding to all
confessors and ask married
persons not to lose confidence in
God’s mercy and assistance.
“The controversy concerning
contraception which has
attracted public attention in the
Church for at least a full decade
had to be settled sooner or later,
for the peace of conscience and
the preservation of unity in the
Church.
A Mission Center of their very
own was the scene of rejoicing
for thirty Lawrenceville families
who recently celebrated the third
anniversary of the mission’s
founding at Mass with Father
Eusebius Beltran.
The new center, located at
155 Chestnut Street,
Lawrenceville, was formerly an
appliance store.
‘‘For over a month the
members of the mission worked
to renovate the store,” said
Richard M. Johnson, a
parishioner. “The men worked
nightly to construct a sanctuary
and three religious education
classrooms, while the ladies met
during the day to make drapes,
altar clothes and to paint. The
high school students gathered
together on weekends to scrape
and sand chairs for the sanctuary
and classrooms,” he said.
Forty youngsters attend the
School of Religion at the new
center. The elementary grades
meet on Sunday mornings after
the 9:30 Mass and grades 7
through high school attend
classes on Sunday evenings.
The mission was founded by
Holy Cross Church, Chamblee in
1965 and was temporarily housed
in the Tom Wages Funeral Home
chapel.
According to Father Beltran,
pastor of Holy Cross, Archbishop
Thomas Donnellan will come to
meet the people of Lawrenceville
mission and offer Mass on
Sunday,. December 15.
Pictured above is the front view of the new Mission for the Catholic
Community of Lawrenceville, in Gwinnett County.