PAGE 7 — The Georgia Bulletin, April 23, 1987
Cathedral Fills For Chrism Mass Celebration Holy Thursday
THE RENEWING of the life of the Church is
at the heart of the Chrism Mass celebrated at
the Cathedral of Christ the King on Holy Thurs
day. Several hundred priests came to the
Cathedral to renew their commitment and to
celebrate “the birthday of the priesthood.”
Above, priests enter in procession and at right,
renew their service. Above right, Deacon
Winston Leverett presents to the archbishop
one of the urns containing oil and chrism to be
used in the sacramental life of the Church dur
ing the coming year. reiser
Father Curran To Teach
At Cornell In 1987-88
BY JERRY FILTEAU
WASHINGTON (NC) - Father Charles E. Cur
ran, the moral theologian suspended from
teaching at The Catholic University of America
because of his dissent from certain church
teachings, has accepted a visiting professorship
for 1987-88 at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
At a press conference in Washington April 15,
Father Curran said he received academic leave
from Catholic University to take the one-year ap
pointment “without prejudice to my tenured con
tract with the (Catholic) University as a professor
of theology and without prejudice to the process
already under way to take away my canonical
mission to teach.”
At Cornell he is the university’s first visiting
professor of Catholic studies. He is to teach fall
courses on the Catholic Church since the Second
Vatican Council and on fundamental moral
theology, and a spring course on Catholic social
teaching. He is also to deliver a separate series of
lectures on religious and theological issues in the
spring.
He said he looked forward “to the challenge of
teaching undergraduates for the first time.” In
more than 20 years at Catholic University, Father
Curran taught only graduate-level theology
courses.
One of the Cornell courses is to be open to
sophomores and up, the other two to juniors,
seniors and graduate students.
Father Curran said that at Catholic University
some conclusion is expected by June in the inter
nal academic review of efforts by Archbishop
James Hickey of Washington, university
chancellor, to remove his ecclesiastical teaching
mandate.
The faculty committee assigned to review the
case was scheduled to hold a “jurisdictional hear
ing" April 20 and “hearings on the substantive
aspects of the case” the week of May 4, he said.
He said “all sides have agreed” to try to “have
the matter before the board of trustees of the
Catholic University at their June meeting.” The
parties hope for a final decision from the trustees
when they meet again in October, he said.
To help move that process forward, he has
agreed for the present not to press his civil lawsuit
against his suspension from teaching students in
civil-degree programs. “However, I will press the
suit if there is no solution to my case by the fall
meeting of the board of trustees.”
Barry Adams, academic vice provost at Cornell,
said Father Curran was first asked to inaugurate
the professorship in Catholic studies more than a
year ago, when the case of his dispute with
Vatican authorities over church teachings was not
yet in the news.
The university did not choose Father Curran
because he is controversial, Adams said, but
because of his solid academic credentials and
“scholarly substance.”
Oblate Father David Power, chairman of the
theology department at Catholic University, said
Father Curran was being granted “a regular
leave of absence” of the kind typically taken by
university professors when they accept a visiting
professorship at another institution.
—
Easter
(Continued from page 1)
people in St. Peter’s watched as the pope removed his shoes
and knelt for the adoration of the cross.
The same day, the pope led a nighttime Way of the Cross
at Rome’s Colosseum, carrying a large crucifix and stop
ping at each of the 14 stations to pray. Hundreds of torches
lit the marble ruins of the ancient stadium in the back
ground, which is respected by the church as the site where
early Christians were martyred.
The meditations for the stations were written this year by
Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo of Managua, Nicaragua, ac
cording to Vatican Radio. The meditations recalled that
human beings condemned Christ to death and urged that
neither modern politics nor state powers “deceive our cons
ciences" and condemn the Lord again.
Cardinal Obando Bravo has been a strong critic of
Nicaragua’s Sandinista government for its policy toward
the church, and particularly for the government’s expul
sion of two church leaders and the closing of a Catholic
radio station.
The outdoor Way of the Cross, begun at the Colosseum by
Pope Paul VI in 1964, was televised this year to more than
30 countries in five continents, the Vatican said.
On Easter Saturday, the pope led a lengthy vigil service
in St. Peter’s, during which 35 adults were baptized.
“You have been brought together by the faith, which
gives life with the power of the spirit,” the pope told the
newly baptized. They came from 17 different countries, in
cluding the Soviet Union, Hungary and Syria. As in past
years, the most people — 10 — were from South Korea.
Later the pope marked and lit the paschal candle, sym
bolizing the light of the risen Christ, and the flame was
transferred to the thousands of smaller candles held in the
darkened basilica.
The pope also sent a message to Rome’s Rabbi Elio Toaff,
recalling his historic visit to a Rome synagogue a year
earlier. The pope said he hoped the Jewish Passover,
celebrated in the same period as Easter this year, would
“fill your hearts with joy and support you on the way of
freedom and hope.”
