Historic Meeting Opens Way For Unity of All Christians
The
ANCHOR
fall River, Mass., Thursday, Jan. 9, 1964
Vol. 8, No. 2 ©
1964 The Anchor
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Council Statement on Jews Certain To Have Influence NEWARK (NC) - There is no danger that the pro posed Vatican Council statement on the Jews can "be pushed out of sight and so sink into oblivion," in the opinion of a priest who worked on the document. Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher, a council adjourned Dec. 4. The consultor to the Secretariat chapter deals with Christian for Pro mot i n g Christian . Jewish relationships. Msgr. Oesterreicher pointed Unity, said in an interview here that even if the statement as proposed does not return to the floor "it could not be for gotten." Msgr. Oesterreicher, a convert from Judaism, is director of Seton Hall University's Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies. He wa answering questions about chapter four in the schema on ecumenism. Council Fathers did Jl()t have an opportunity to vote on the acceptability of that chap ter for discussion before the
Cha rity of Sports Stalwart Ga'ins Great Reward CINCINNATI (NC)-An 8ther chapter has been writ ten in the Damon and Pyth iss story of Maury Stokes and Jack Twyman, two of the nation's great basketball stars. Stokes, stricken six years ago with a crippling disease, at tended his first Mass as a Cath olic recently and Twyman, who has remained his friend in need, served as acolyte. Stokes was baptized six years ago when he collapsed aboard a plane carrying the Cincinnatl Royals basketball squad from Detroit to Cincinnati. Stokes was wheeled from his bed at Christ Hospital, where he has' spent the past six years bat_ tling paralysis, to a nearby solarium. There Father Gerald Niklas of Holy Name church had· set up a temporary altar, and offered the Mass. Father Niklas' duties include visiting Catholic patients at the Methodist-affiliated hospital. He and Stokes have become close friends. The priest obtained spe cial permission from the archdi ocesan chancery to offer Mass for Stokes, whose struggle against encephalitis has won him as much fame as his AU. America basketball career. Turn to Page Twelve
out that the chapter has been in troduced in the council and therefore "the influence of its teaching will be felt far and wide." However, he did say it is P09 siblr that chapter four "may have to give way to others that in the minds of their promoters are as urgent, or even more urgent, than' this one. "To say that this 'is possible is not to say that I expect it," he said. "On the contrary, I continue to hope that the de cree will be brought again be fore the Fathers of the Council and overwhelmingly adopted. "But if by some accident it did not come up at the next session, there are other ways to publish it. The Pope could make it his own or a post-conciliar commis sion could issue it as • direc tive. "The major difficulty I see is this: If the majority felt that the decrees on the Jews and on religious liberty should not form part of the schema on ecumenism and wished that they be included in the forthcoming proposal on the Church and the modern Tum to Page Eleven
PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS AND HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL Church Leaders Embrace at Palestine
Eastern· Orthodox Patriarch Prays With Holy Fa'ther JERUSALEM, Jordan (NC) -The world leaders- of Catholic and Orthodox 'ChTfrches came together in brotherhood twice in this birthplace of Christianity, exchanging the. symbolic kiss of peace, and after walking arm in arm resolved to try to pave the road to unity..Pope Paul VI, the Patriarch of ~the West, and Ecumenical Patriarch Athena goras I of Constantinople ex such encounter in over way to greet him was a some changed separate visits ori second 1,250 yea!s. what tired Pope Paul who had Jan. 5 and6 on the Mount of Patriarch Athenagoras, accom just completed a 14-hour whirl Olives. It was the first time panied by several members of wind tour of the holy places in
a Pope and a Patriarch of Con stantinople had been together since the 15th century Council of Florence. And it was only the
his retinue, arrived at the Apos tolic Delegation headquarters on 'the Mount of Olives at 9:30 P.M. Sunday. Standing in the door-
Diocesan Shepherd of Souls R~flects Upon Vatican Council Activities By Rev~ ;lohn R. FoIster St. Anthony Parish. New Bedfor.
,"Catholic Viewpoint,H the Fall River Diocese's new venture on radio was inaugurated on New Bedford's WBSM with a discussion onthe Ecumenical Council by the Most Rev erend James L. Connolly, Bishop of ~he Diocese. Father Albert Shevelton, the program's moderator, explained that g e n e r ~ I the and "by the disposition to keep Catholic Viewpoint was "a press coverage matters under discussion secret." program' designed to present for the Second As a result some newsmen' at Catholic thoughts on sub S e s s ion had tempted to write speculative and jects of common interest: some controversial, some informative, all - we hope _ interesting. To discuss these ideas, we will interview guests who are well informed on these'subjects." The Bishop pointed out that .in
been "quite ac curate." Coverage of the First Ses sion had been hampered by the newness of t h. endeavor
slanted articles simply to get a reaction from the Fathers. "The writer knew that he wasn't exactly saying the truth but he just hoped that there would be an answer of some kind given and in the answer he'd get someTurn to Page Seventeen
Israel. Yet as he greeted the 77, year-old Patriarch, the POIi4!l seemed to have sloughed hi. fatigue: he showed great anima tion and emotion. The Pope and the Patriarch immediately embraced at the en trance to the delegation and twice exchanged the ritual kiss of peace. 'Observers present said both churchmen showed they were conscious of the historic import of the moment in which the ages-old isolation of the two great branches of the Christian religion was being dissolved, even if only on a level of cour tesy and affection. The Pope's first words were in Latin: "May Jesus Christ be p r a i sed!" The Patriarch re sponded with a similar saluta tion in Gre~k. Then the 66-year old Bishop of Rome took the arm of the towering, six-foot-four Bishop of Constantinople in his, and they walked arm in arm, with hands clasped, to a small audience room. They remained Turn to Pa/:e Eleven