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V
NCCB Issues Mixed
Marriage Guidelines
WASHINGTON (NC)
Guidelines tor marriages
involving Catholics with
persons .of other faiths were
issued here by the National
Conference of Catholic
Bishops (NCCB).
Based on the mixed
marriage norms issued last
spring by Pope Paul IV, the
guidelines remove the demand
that the non-Catholic party
promise not to block his or her
Catholic spouse from the
Catholic’s obligation to raise
children of the marriage as
SOURCES SAY
Catholics.
Approved by the bishops at
their receent semiannual
meeting; here, the guidelines
-- which take effect Jan. 1 -- are
to be implemented at the
diocesan level.
The bishops’ statement also
makes it possible for a mixed
marriage to be performed in
places other than a Catholic
church and before a minister
or official other than a
Catholic priest, as long as some
kind of public record is
Gen. Abrams
Is A Convert
SAIGON (NC) - Gen.
Creighton W. Abrams Jr.,
commander of U.S, forces in
South Vietnam, has converted
to Catholicism, sources here
said.
Abrams was baptized in a
quiet unpublicized ceremony
about two weeks ago, they
said.
Cardinal Terence Cooke of
New York, military vicar for
Catholics in the U.S. armed
forces, is to administer the
sacrament of Confirmantion
to Abrams during the
cardinal’s current tour of
military bases in the Far East,
other sources said. The
cardinal is scheduled to be in
Vietnam Dec. 21 to 27.
A spokesman at Abrams’
headquarters refused to
confirm or deny the reports.
Father Adam J. Bydlon of the
Philadelphia archdiocese,
Catholic chaplain at Abrams’
headquarters, also refused to
confirm the reports. “Gen.
Abrams’ position is his own
personal matter,” Father
Bydlon said. “I will make no
further comment.”
The original report of
Abrams’ conversion said he
was baptized at his
headquarters in a private
service in late November. Staff
officers who work with him
daily were unaware of the
service or that he had been
receiving instructions in the
Catholic faith.
Abrams’ official military
biography does not list a
religious affiliation. He has
attended both Protestant and
Catholic services in Vietnam.
The general is said to have
wanted no publicity
concerning his conversion.
involved.
In both instances, the local
bishop must be consulted,,
however.
The guidelines cover 20
points, including the promise
the Catholic party must make
to continue practicing his faith
and do all in his power to raise
the children as Catholics.
Specifically ruled out is the
possibility of two religious
services or a single service in
which both the Catholic and
non-Catholic ritual are
celebrated jointly or
successively.
Intercommunion is- also
forbidden.
Local bishops, however,;
may give permission for a
non-Catholic minister to
participate in the Catholic
marriage service by giving
additional prayers or blessings
or other words of greetings.
The bishops, in an
introductory statement, noted
that the Church discourages
mixed marriages. But they
added that the love
demonstrated by the marriage
partners should help heal the
divisions between Christians
of other faiths.
The bishops also instructed
that programs be developed to
provide for basic pre-marriage
and marriage education
instruction involving such
couples; to explore the
possibility of an ecumenical
form of mixed marriage; to
develop a pastoral care plan
for mixed marriages to be
given in seminaries and
through continuing education
programs for the clergy.
■y» ■iiiiiii,i»iiii|iiiiiiin>B/SgOP EDVCATOR""****™”***^
6 Go Limit In
Keeping Parish
Schools Open’ j
CHICAGO (NC) - The
bishop who directs the
Chicago archdiocesan school
system appealed to pastors
and educators “to go to the
limit to continue parish
schools, even though some
other form of ministry may
hold promise of greater
awards.”
“The Catholic school still
is an institution which lends
vigorous vitality to a Catholic
parish,” Auxiliary Bishop
William A. McManus of
Chicago told 600 pastors and
school principals at a meeting
here.
He said the road ahead for
Catholic schools is uphill but
the need for their
continuance is greater now
than ever.
Realization of what a
Catholic school means never
is more apparent to children
and their parents than when
the problem of continuing a
financially hard pressed
parish school is raised, he
said.
“After it’s all over,”
Bishop McManus said, “what
you remember is a mother’s
indictment -- ‘I never thought
the Catholic Church would
throw my child out of a
Catholic school.’ ”
The bishop, a member of
the President’s Panel of
Nonpublic School Education,
cautioned: “Let us be sure of
a better form of ministry
before we destroy schools,
which, in fact, are pastorally
productive.”
WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS SCENE - Mrs. Richard M. Nixon reaches over to adjust one of the
figures in the creche located in the White House. (NC PHOTO by Christie McGue)
FORMAL AND STATELY
The White House
At Christmas
By Mary Esslinger
WASHINGTON (NC) —
To First Lady Pat Nixon the
White Hou'se is always “full
of history, but especially novy
when it’s so aglow with the
magic and spirit of
Christmas.”
If' you happen to be a
diplomat, a congressman, a
White House staff member or
one of the many other
distinguished people the
Nixons hosted this Christmas
season, you would have to
agree. -
It was decorated with you
in mind.
In all seasons the White
House wears its traditions
well; at Christmas it sparkled
with life and promised good
times.
But if you were not on the
official White House guest
list, a daytime tour with your
brother rubberneckers can
bring feelings of rejection and
just a little envy.
Even from the outside, the
Executive Mansion is inviting:
yew trees wind along the
circular drive to the front
entrance, and from each of
16 windows on the first and
second floors large candle-lit
wreaths with bowed red
velvet hint warmly of delights
inside.
Entering the Great Hall
you stop and gasp.
Magnificent 50-inch wreaths
adorn the walls. Banked along
those walls are seven-foot
masses of scarlet poinsettias.
The Grand Staircase is
entwined with swags of ivy
and still more poinsettias; the
columns and chandeliers are
decked with ivy, pine boughs
and red velvet.
Inviting you forward with
its soft lights of blue, gold
and white is the White House
Christmas tree, a 20- foot
white spruce with an
eight-foot base that
completely fills the doorway
of the Blue Room ahead of
you-an invitation you eagerly
accept.
' The White House has been
superbly prepared to receive
its guests. In a moment you
feel music will begin and
guests in elegant holiday
clothes will fill the rooms.
And then nothing happens.
No one comes to greet you,
take your coat, lead you to
the holiday punchbowl. The
only sounds are the dry tones
of the tour guide.
The White House keeps
waiting with poise\d
hospitality, and then you
know. It is riot waiting for
He said the current school
crisis is one “of confidence,
or perhaps a crisis of faith in
the eternal values inherent in
the Catholic school.” He
called for facing the crisis in
“reflective, prayerful fashion,
undisturbed . . .by our
agonizing worries about the
schools’ incessant financial
problems.”
The bishop challenged
pastors and principals to
occasionally let students
speak their minds about the
parish school.
Bishop McManus declared
fund raising, improved
efficiency in schools
administration and operation
are needed, as well as a
-resumption of “methods of
recruitment which were
discontinued during the big
boom years in our schools.”
AT GEORGETOWN U.
Lombardi Center
WASHINGTON (NC) -
Georgetown University here
will establish the Vincent T.
Lombardi Cancer Research
Center as a memorial to the
former coach of the Green
Bay Packers and the
Washington Redskins.
Lombardi died of cancer at
the university hospital Sept.
3.
Mrs. Marie Lombardi, the
coach’s widow, and Father
R.J. Henle, S.J., university
president, stated the center
will provide a multi-discipline
approach to cancer research
and facilities “of the most
sophisticated nature for the
diagnosis, care and
rehabilitation of cancer
patients.”
Father Henle said planning
of a cancer research center at
Georgetown, one of the
country’s largest medical
teaching institutions, has
been in progress nearly two
years under a National Cancer
Institute grant.
PAGE 3 ‘- December 24, 1970
WHITE HOUSE CONF.
Support Of Family
Pleases Catholics
you.
Moving through the part
of the White House that is a
crowd-trampled public
building, you cannot help
wondering about the other
part of the White House that
is a private home. Do the
Nixons have special trinkets
they put on the treg every
year? Little,, private
Christmas ceremonies that
have become family
traditions?
Out there in the public
section, decorated by an
expert from a New York
department store, you simply
can’t tell.
Cool aloofness and
detached inspection are the
safe refuge where you Shelter
your crushed expectations for
the rest of the tour. You will
not be misled again.
All the decorations have
been carefully designed to
complement the decor of the
famous White House
rooms--and they do.
Exquisite, they seem to you
now, formal, stately,
reserved.
The 18th-ceritury Italian
creche in the East Room with
30 baroque handcarved wood
figures is lovely. But you see
no sign of the childish hand
that daily advances the Magi
to the stable-they are already
there like the Baby Jesus and
have been since Dec. 14.
And the magnificent
Christmas tree that winked at
you from the doorway is
perfect: no bare spots to hide
or scraggly limbs to trim.
Each decoration was crafted
with skill and patience, not
cut from construction paper
and pasted with well-intended
but sloppy childish
enthusiasm.
So you muster what
dignity you can in your dusty
streetclothes and congratulate
the White House for being a
splendid showcase but
impersonal^ like a
museum--and you head
homeward to the comfort
and warmth that waits for
you and say it is better, at
least for you.
WASHINGTON (NC) r?
One of the most pleasing
facets of the White House
Conference on Children was
that “its central thread gave
strong support to the family
unit.”
This was .the observation
of Msgr. Lawrence J.
Corcoran, coordinator of the .
committee which organized
Catholic participation at the
meeting here Dec. 13-18. ,
“It was the consensus of
the Catholic delegates,” the
monsignor said, that the
conference provided “an
excellent opportunity” to
endorse the family unit as
“the basic unit responsible
for the child’s development.”
Msgr. Corcoran, secretary
of the National Conference of
Catholic Charities, added that
delegates told him the family
unit “must continue as this
basic unit with other agencies
such as schools and day care
centers remaining supportive
of the family--rather . than
taking on its responsibilities.”
Another concern to
Catholic delegates, Msgr.
Corcoran said, was to make
certain that conference
recommendations urging
stronger protection of the
nation’s children would be
implemented. Some
recommendations tentatively
TO PREACH
proposed by delegates called
for creation of a child
advocate to serve as a
children’s lawyer and a
children’s lobby aimed at
constructing better legislation
on behalf of those under 14
years of age.
Msgr. Corcoran pointed
out that Stephen Hess,
national chairman . of the
conference, publicly had
cited a four-pronged
approach to implementation,
but “we want to make sure
there will be a follow
through.”
lie ^s indicated that
implementation of
suggestions by the
conference’s 4,000 delegates
would occur 'through:
promised serious
consideration by the
president, the conference’s
own unit busy outlining a
path toward implementation,
a _ proposed budget from
Congress and a complete
review of conference
recommendations in a year.
“We’re glad tb see these
expressions of implementa
tion,” Msgr. Corcoran said,
“but see even more need to
establish in various branches
of the federal government
ongoing agencies to assure
implementation and to assure
that our concern for children
is constantly looked into.” ■
Berrigans Seek
Court Permission
HARTFORD, Conn. (NC)
— Fathers. Philip and Daniel
Berrigan, imprisoned in
Danbury, Conn., for
destroying draft records, came
to federal court here Dec. 14
seeking permission to preach
personally or on tapes to
people gathered outside the
walls of the prison.
The priest-brothers sought
permission to preach from
U.S. District Judge T. Emmet
Claire. At the same time, they
challenged the right of
Danbury warden J.J. Norton
to censor their writings. They
claim the censorship is a
violation of their religious
freedom.
In their first appearance
together since last April, the
two priests said they lacked
effective means to respond to
accusations made against them
last month at a Senate hearing
by FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover.
Hoover claimed the two
were participants in a plot by a
militant anti-war group called
East Coast Conspiracy to Save
Lives to kidnap a high
government official and to
disrupt electric power sources
in Washington, D C.
The Berrigan brothers and
members of the conspiracy
denied Hoover’s accusation.
At the same time, editors
across the nation joined with
some congressmen to
condemn Hoover’s - remarks
and to ask him to either retract
his statement or to bring
charges against the two priests,
Jesuit Father Daniel
Berrigan, 49, asked whether he
wanted to reply to the Hoover
accusations, answered “To 1 say
that was my desire is the
understatement of the year.”
But, he added, federal prison
regulations barred him from
responding to the FBI chief. -
Father Philip Berrigan, .a
47-year-old Josephite,.;
affirmed that he too had been:
depied an •„opportunity toi._
respond to the t Hoover;
remarks. He also said that he
heard about the Senate _
testimony indirectly from
other prisoners.
The specific suit filed by
the two priests centers on a
sermon they vyrote in
September at the request of a
New York religious, group.
Both men say they were
refused permission to preach
the sermon in person or to
record it.
Testimony given by the
two indicated that they had
not sought permission from
the prison warden but from
caseworkers inside the
Danbury penitentiary. .- The
priests also testified that they
did not press their search for
permission to preach because
they wanted to win a court
hearing.
Father Berrigan admitted
under cross-examination, that
he tried to circulate three
uncensored letters outside the
prison by hiding them in his
shoe. Asked if he realized that
Was a violation of prison
regulations, Father Berrigan
said “Yes, that’s what this suit
is all about.”
The brothers’ suit, broughti
against the warden of Danbury
prison, the director of the
Bureau of Prisons and the
attorney general of the United
States, is being argued by
lawyers representing the
Center for Cohstitutlonal
Rights in New York City. .
Problems Of Priests, World Justice On Synod Agenda
By Father
Leo A. McFadden
VATICAN CITY (NC) -
The problems facing the
ministry of priests and world
justice from the two-point
agenda for the second general
synod of the world’s bishops,
according to an informed
Vatican source.
The synod will convene on
Sept. 30, and will be in
session for about four weeks,
delegates have been informed.
The source said this intial
announcement was general in
tone and was meant as a
reminder to presidents of
bishops’ conferences to begin
electing their delegates.
The announcement, in
Latin and produced as a form
letter, gave no more
information about the agenda
except to indicate that the
synod fathers will be briefed
on the progress in the revision
of the Code of Canon Lavy
underway in the Vatican now
for several years.
“This announcement does
not mean that the synod will
not get down to specifics,
such as celibacy or authority
or what is a just war in the
1970’s,” another source said.
In former sessions of the
synod of bishops most of the
actual development of general
terms into specific
recommendations took place
not in the general synod
gathering, but in the smaller
language groups, according to
the source.
“These insights, gained at
close view and couched in a
common language produced,
the most significant
statements. When presented
to the plenary sessions of the
synod, fathers from diverse
parts of the world saw they
agreed in the most part with
these specific points. The
synod of 1971 should be no
different.”
The upcoming synod will
be governed by the same
principles laid down by Pope
Paul VI for previous synods,
so the fathers will be given a
position paper on each of the
main topics, will have a
chance to offer their spoken
opinions and will then break
up into language groups,
including Latin, for in-depth
discussion.
Many of the members of
the International Theological
Commission appointed by
Pope Paul will have presented
studies on the priesthood to
the synod fathers before
Sept. 30, .according to one
Vatican source.
Some of the specific
questions to be discussed, the
source said, will be:
What is the ultimate goal
of the priest i - to “get a
parish” or “get a diocese?”
Is it fair to make a man
wait until he is long over the
age of retirement to get that
parish and then ask a young
priest to come in as his
assistant?
What are the various
possibilities within the
priesthood, that is, what new
life styles are available, if
any? What is the precise
position of the priest in the
world?
What makes a priest a
priest as distinct from a
bishop or a layman or, in
other words, what is the
theology of the priesthood?
Is he to be defined as
something lower than a
bishop?
If a priest can be a
“hyphenated priest,” that is,
part educator, part social
worker or part military
officer, > perhaps living alone
in an apartment, can he also
be a part-time priest? If so,
can he be a priest-politican?
Is the priesthood as we
know it founded in Scripture
or is it a later development
somehow connected with, the
earlier Church?
What is the value of
celibacy today, its necessity,
or its usefulness?
What is the permanency of
the priesthood? Is it just a
temporary function and is it
delegated from the people or
from some higher source?,
Because so many priests .
have asked for laicization,:
should there be, as some have
suggested, a “cutoff date” for
granting such, permissions
after a man’s ordination?
Especially since the
Second Vatican Council, why
have so many priests become
fed up and Heft the active
ministry? Why are so many
who have left angry, while so
many of their own
contemporaries who have
stayed seem mainly to be
concerned with, next year’s
vacation or an independent
salary?
Should a priest ignore the
poor and those discriminated
against or should he help
organize with them against
injustices? And if he does
protest, does he do so with
the approval of his fellow
priests and his bishop?
How is priestly spirituality
obtained? Is it necessary for
the survival of the
priesthood? Is a priest
encouraged to form a
philosophy of life?
Does the bishop or the
pastor really listen to his
priests, or do authority and
structures of the
establishment interfere?
Indeed, could not priests
serve as bishops for, a few
years rind then return to
being priests?