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Schism!
Archbishop Lefebvre - Catholic Schism?
BY FR. JEREMY MILLER, O.P.
I think many of us have personally experienced schism. Do you know of a family,
perhaps even your own, when a breach between grown brothers and sisters, or between
elderly parents and a grown son or daughter has become so wide and embittered that
no one talks to each other? Perhaps it is even more than cold silence. Perhaps there are
hostile accusations.
There are few things more painful than a wedding situation drawing relatives
together, but blood relatives sit on opposite sides of the banquet room, refusing to
break years of silence and suspicion. This is the simple meaning of this strange word
from theology - schism! The bond of family communion is split and distorted and
turned upside down. It hurts, and many of us have been hurt by it.
My first instinct to the editor’s invitation to write something on Church schism was
to draft something theological. But that does not really get at the pain of schism.
Something more personal is required even when we are thinking about schism in the
Church.
I suppose we first met the word “schism” in a Church History book describing the
breakdown in family unity of Eastern and Western Christians. 1054 A.D. is the usual
date people use but the break was coming for some time before that. The Protestant
Reformation in the 16th Century was a splitting off from the one “Western Christian
family” but Roman Catholics always called that a “heresy” and not a schism. The
difference was supposed to be that a group in schism broke from the unity of the
Church but still retained orthodox beliefs while a group in heresy denied articles of the
faith. I have never been able to appreciate that difference because when divisions occur
in the Church there is always some point of doctrine at issue, a!'mg with political
considerations.
The pain of these things is that both sides think the other is wrong and is being
unfaithful to Christ. The Eastern Orthodox think Roman Catholics are in schism and
are “unorthodox.” Protestants thought Catholics had slipped into heresy and hence
they “protested.” Family feuds are the most bitter. Arguments go back and forth,
suspicions increase, and often there is violence. It is not my purpose here to analyze
the doctrinal differences, the arguments as it were. The one family of Christ is split,
and there is pain in that.
Schism is happening today. The Episcopal Church in the United States has felt it
within the last year, as laity and clergy has split from the larger family over issues like
(Continued on page 3)
Women Priests -- Episcopal Schism?
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Rocky
His town was Philadelphia. He owned
it. The ruinous inner city was his
paradise. But all it offered was the
hopeless future it possessed. He
wouldn’t accept it. Its warmth, its
cheers, its companionable pride, these
he took. But not its empty hope.
Prize-fighting was his addiction. With
a gambler’s dream of the big pay-off, he
wallowed in that addiction. One day,
some day, he would make it. With
surging background symphonic bursts of
harmony, the movie music sweeps us
along, as we beg for the fulfillment of
his ambition.
The streets become Rocky’s personal
training camp. Beating the asphalt into
submission, he
sweats his beat
along the way of
his cross. Ever
upward, daily, he
pounds. The steps
of the Philadelphia
Art Museum
become his
ascending throne.
From its peak, the
training session
ends in dizzy
exhaustion as
Rocky concludes the ballet and
becomes the center piece of panoramic
iights-fiiied glory.
Rocky got his chance. Realistically
the movie makers gave him a goal. Not
to win, but go the distance of 15
rounds. Sitting in his comer, you plead
his cause. The unending battering breaks
your heart. His goal never leaves him -
the distance. Not the crown - the
distance. Faltering, clinching, hanging
on with fearless gut, he wins his loser’s
dream. The distance - and in everyone’s
heart - the crown too. Rocky, no
doubt, the unforgettable Italian
Stallion.
But it’s all the stuff of movies, right?
No real life drama here, right? Wrong.
His town was St. Louis. His
companions were all Dead End Kids. He
scrapped with them, against them and
for them. He became just that, a lean,
mean scrapper. No distance, no crown
was on his mind. Just survival. The
Marine Corps was an easy academy for
this rock-hard kid. But it still had a
lesson to teach. Harness the fury. Make
graceful with timing the natural roar of
his street found talent.
Leon Spinks waltzed through the
Olympics on the attack. Dreams were
disturbing his sleep. Not the distance,
no - the crown. Ali, his idol, held it,
owned it and as the most furiously
graceful combination of his time,
protected it. The dream was to take it
away.
He steps into the ring and it’s the
music again. Not the Rocky concerto,
but like it. It’s the hit-the-beaches
Marine March. Something’s amiss with
the prognostications. You feel it.
It’s the old St. Louis days. Scrapping
is his business and business-like he
works. Like an outraged fly he punishes
the sleepy spider. Relentless, ever
stronger, unexpected and decisive, he
makes the dream come through. The
crown, yes and ironically, the distance
too.
The belt clings to Leon Spinks, just as
it did to Louis, Marciano and Ali. For
this allotted time, he is the World
Champion.
Welcome, Rocky, welcome!
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 16 No. 8
Thursday, February 23,1978
$5 Per Year
SADAT VISITS POPE -- Pope Paul VI greets Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat at the Vatican. The two leaders discussed the Palestinian problem,
the status of Jerusalem and other Mideast issues in their hour long
meeting. It was the last stop on an eight-nation tour for the Egyptian
president.
Arcktisliop’s Office
756 West Peachtree Street, N. W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
During the past few weeks, you have been given a number of
announcements regarding the 1978 Archdiocesan Charities Drive. They were
intended to emphasize its importance and explain the services it helps to
fund.
May I take this occasion to thank you for your consistent support of this
appeal in the past. .. and, now, a week before Drive Sunday, urge that you
again demonstrate your spirit of generosity and sacrifice.
Many of our archdiocesan projects of charity and evangelization depend on
this Drive. Please be assured of my prayers for God’s blessing for your
generous participation.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan
Archbishop of Atlanta
VATICAN SUMMIT
Sadat Visits Pope Paul
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Pope Paul VI and Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat discussed the Palestinian problem, the status f of
Jerusalem and other Mideast issues for about one hour at the
Vatican.
In a formal speech to Sadat, Pope Paul laid down several key
ingredients for an effective solution for the Middle East.
“We are aware of the difficulty of attaining such a solution,
which must necessarily comprise different elements,” said Pope
Paul.
He said that:
A prospect of justice and security must be reconstituted
for all the peoples of the Middle East (and we are thinking here
also of Lebanon which has already paid such a high price by
reason of the unresolved situation);
“-- The legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people must
be satisfied;
There must be ensured for Jerusalem such juridical and
factual conditions that the city should not continue to be a
motive of strife between the parties, but that it become in
accordance with its vocation a religious center of peace where
the local communities of the three great monotheistic religions
can live together in peaceful equality of rights and where Jews,
Christians and Moslems of the region and of the entire world
can meet and engage in fraternal dialogue.”
A Vatican communique released after the meeting said that
the talks were marked by “warm cordiality and reciprocal
understanding.”
Pope Paul has high respect for Sadat. At Christmastime, when
the Egyptian president embarked on his peace mission to
Jerusalem, the Pope publicly encouraged and praised him.
The Pope and the president met privately for 25 minutes in
the Pope’s private study. They were then joined by Archbishop
Agostino Casaroli, secretary of the Vatican Secretariat for the
Public Affairs of the Church, and three Egyptian officials for 25
more minutes of talks.
The Egyptian officials were Sayd al Marei, president of the
Egyptian People’s Assembly; Hassan Amed Kamel, chief of staff
for Sadat; and Egyptian Ambassador to the Holy See Ihab
Abdel Aziz Taher.
Exchange of formal speeches followed for another 20
minutes. Sadat left the Vatican by helicopter at about 6:25 p.m.
TWELVE KILLED
IRA Bombing ‘Inhuman Deed’
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (NC) -
Pope Paul has deplored the bombing of
the La Mon House restaurant in
Comber, County Down, Northern
Ireland, as an “inhuman deed.”
Twelve people died and 30 were
injured by the bomb blast Feb. 17,
which was attributed by police to the
Provisional Wing of the Irish Republican
Army.
About 400 persons were in the
restaurant, in the Protestant Castlereagh
district just south of Belfast, when the
bomb exploded. Witnesses said the
restaurant was turned into an inferno
within seconds, and then a second bomb
exploded in the parking lot.
Police described it as one of the worst
atrocities in the history of the eight-year
civil war.
The Pope’s message, sent by Cardinal
Jean Villot, papal secretary of state, to
Bishop William Philbin of Down and
Connor, said:
“The latest in the tragic series of
destructive acts that have brought
affliction on the people of your uiocese
and of neighboring dioceses has caused
renewed sorrow and grief to the Holy
Father.
“Deploring the inhuman deed, he has
directed me to give assurance of his
prayers for the victims and their
relatives while he asks God to move
hearts so that peace and harmony may
Catholic church in Down and Connor
last Sunday - ‘The floodgates to every
kind of evil are opened when people
assume an authority that is above all
moral restrictions.’
Editorial Comment-Page 4
be established in your troubled land.”
Bishop Philbin issued a statement in
Belfast, saying:
“I can only recall the words from my
lenten pastoral which were read in every
“How can those responsible for the
divine judgment of so many unprepared
victims of their devilishness live the rest
of their lives in expectation of how they
will be received by the supreme judge
we must all one day meet?” he asked.
Monsignor Kiernan Investiture
On Sunday, February 26, Monsignor R. Donald Kiernan, pastor of St. Jude’s
Church, will be invested as a Prelate of the Melkite Rite. The ceremony will take
place in St. Jude's and will be performed by the Most Reverend Joseph Tawil,
Melkite Archbishop of Newton.
The honor conferred on Monsignor Kiernan will carry the title Right
Reverend Archimandrite. The Atlanta Monsignor is being honored for his long
standing services to the Melkite Community in Atlanta.
Present for the ceremony will be the Melkite Pastor of Atlanta’s St. John’s
Church, Monsignor William Haddad.
St. Jude’s Choir will sing the Mass scheduled for 6 p.m. and many of the local
priests will concelebrate. A reception for Monsignor Kiernan will follow.
Charities Drive Deadline — March 5