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6 THE GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1968
Seminary Professor
0
Catholics Participate In
Faith And Order Meeting
HARRISBURG (NC) - Modern atheists have rendered a service to
Christians “by raising questions which will force believers to return
again to the never-finished task of purifying and refining their
concepts about life and faith,” a Catholic seminary professor told an
ecumenical gathering of theologians here early this week.
Addressing the second
conference on Faith and Order
sponsored by the Pennsylvania
Council of ■ Churches, Father
Demetrius Dumm, O.S.B.,
professor of theology at St.
Vincent’s Seminary, Latrobe, Pa.,
said that the “seeming
irreconcilability of God’s
omnipotence and man’s freedom
has become a major factor in
modern atheism.”
.“One of man’s most
worrisome problems,” Father
Dumm told the almost 200
participants in the conference,
“concerns the possibility of true
human creativity under the
sovereign majesty of God.”
“Can one speak seriously of
authentic human freedom,” he
asked, “while still holding to
God’s omnipotence?”
“Many are saying,” Father
Dumm declared, “that we must
choose between a sovereign God
with man in slavery or no God at
all with man the free master of
his destiny. For an omnipotent
God, taken seriously, means
immature men, they say.
Accordingly, a mankind ‘come of
age’ must, for its own survival, was chosen by
reject the patronizing, enervating, commissions
emasculating presence of an
all-powerful Deity.”
need to achieve full manhood by
emptying himself also. All along
the line, therefore, power must
be renounced. The chain-reaction
of redemption can occur only in
a continuous commitment to
folly...The redemptive foolishness
of the cross is the foolishness of
love that causes a man to empty
himself for others—to become
weak so that others may be
strong.”
“Nothing can be more
creative,” Father Dumm
declared. “Nothing can be less
■ endangered by the omnipotence
of God,”
In the other major address
given by a Catholic theologian at
the two-day conference, Msgr.
Philip J. Dowling, professor of
dogmatic theology at St. Charles
Borromeo Seminary,
Philadelphia, and chairman of the
Cardinal’s Commission on Human
Relations in the. Philadelphia
archdiocese, discussed the
concepts of continuity and
development in Catholic
theology.
reality ever susceptible of deeper
penetration;
“A more exact understanding
of the biblical revelation and of
solemn doctrinal statements;
“The restatement of doctrine
in different categories of thought;
“The theology of
the times.’ ”
the signs of
The answer, Father Dumm
suggested, lies in the fact that
God “emptied Himself” in
becoming man.
“Once one has seen God as a
‘fool,’ he can never again see Him
as a tyrant,” he said, “no matter
how much power He may still
display.”
“The human freedom
achieved through God’s emptying
of Himself,” Father Dumm
concluded, “is immediately
limited to man’s corresponding
Msgr. Dowling-who, with
Harrisburg’s Msgr. William Keeler,
the ecumenical
of the 10
Pennsylvania dioceses to serve as -
a Catholic advisor to the
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Faith and Order Committee-
identified as key concerns
operative among Catholic
theologians today:
“The fostering of a deeper
appreciation of mystery as a
“A notion captivating many
theologians,” Msgr. Dowling
declared, “yet still in a most
tentative stage, is to see these
‘signs of the times’ as God
continuing to reveal Himself in
history.”
Msgr. Dowling cited as an
example of the restatement of
doctrine a shift in emphasis from
the description of revelation as
“the communication of truth”
and of faith as an “assent to
truth” to the description of
revelation as “God’s initiative in
inviting men to communion with
himself” and of faith as “the
response to the whole person
(including assent to truth)
committing himself to God.”
“This is to acknowledge a
certain pluralism in the
expression of revealed truth,”
Msgr. Dowling declared, “but to
acknowledge it as a good only if
within the necessary unity of
faith.”
In an interview following the
confernece, Msgr. Dowling noted
that half of those attending the
sessions were professors of
theology, from Catholic
institutions of higher learning,
with the largest single
delegation-19 persons—from the
Philadelphia archdiocese.
Urge Discontinuance
Of Mixed Marriage Promises
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. (NC)-Some
30 chaplains-Catholic, Lutheran,
Methodist and Presbyterian—from
Minnesota state college and
university campuses advocated at
a recent meeting here that the
C a t h o lie C hurch should
discontinue its demand for
pre-marriage promises from the
non-Catholic partner in a mixed
marriage.
At an all-day session early in
November, the chaplains resolved
that couples in a mixed marriage
should be “encouraged to raise
their children with an opennes to
all churches.” Instead of being
called “mixed,” such marriages
should be called “ecumenical,”
the chaplains said.
Partners in such marriages,
they added, should “strive for
ecumenical development in then-
own marriages and in the world
around them,” by meeting with
“other such couples on a
continuing basis” and setting up
common religious instruction for
their children, based on the Bible.
Are YOU being called to
serve GOD
as a contemplative NUN
in the Dominican Cloister?
Write to Dominican Monastery
802 Court St. Syracuse, N.Y. 13208
CHRISTMAS
YOU* RE
IN
THE HOLY FATHER’S MISSION AID TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCH
This Christmas you’ll be remembered in the
Midnight Mass in Bethlehem. The celebrant,
Archbishop Albert Gori, will offer the Mass for
the members and benefactors of this Associa
tion. . . . How better can we say thank you? In
18 mission countries (where Catholics, though
few, are mostly of the Eastern Rites) the Holy
Father helps millions because you read this col
umn. Blind boys in the Gaza Strip (not one of
them a Christian) are learning rug making,
basketwork, the ABCs, at the Pontifical Mission
Center for the Blind. Lepers in India are cared
for by native priests and Sisters. The poor have
the Gospel preached to them in Egypt, Iraq, Iran
and Ethiopia. . . . This season especially, won't
you remember the missions in your prayers? Our
priests and Sisters depend on you. They ask the
Christ Child to bless you always!
OUR
GIFT
TO
YOU
MASSES
YOU
REQUEST
HINTS
FOR
CATHOLIC
SHOPPERS
Dear Mrs.M:
Yes, priests in the Holy Land will be pleased
to offer soon the Masses you request. Simply
send us your intentions.
Msgr. Nolan
4k
vr
If you want your gift credited in tax-year ’68, be
sure it’s postmarked by Dec. 31. Here are three
gifts of lasting value:
TRAIN A NATIVE PRIEST. It costs only $8.50 a
month ($100 a year, $600 for the entire six-year
course), he will write to you regularly, and pray
for you. He’ll be ordained, please God, in 1973.
(A $3,000 Burse trains a seminarian in per
petuity.) r
TRAIN A NATIVE SISTER. We’ll send you her
photo, and she’ll write to you. Make the pay
ments at your own convenience ($12.50 a month,
$150 a year, $300 for the entire two-year
course).
BUILD A MISSION CHURCH, NAME IT FOR
YOUR FAVORITE SAINT, IN MEMORY OF YOUR
LOVED ONES. We can tell you where it’s needed,
its size and location will determine the cost
($1,850 to $4,350), and the Bishop overseas
will keep you informed. ($10,000 builds an
entire parish ‘plant’ — church, school, rectory
and convent.)
Dear enclosed please find $.
Monsignor Nolan:
FOB
Please name
return coupon
with your street.
offering
.ZIP CODE.
THE CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
NEAR
MISSIONS
MSGR. JOHN G. NOLAN, National Secretary
Write: Catholic Near East Welfare Assoc.
330 Madison Avenue-New York, N.Y. 10017
Telephone: 212/YUkon 6-5840
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