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THE ANCHOR-Diocese of FaA River-Thurs., NO¥. 15, 1962
14
THRIFT..PRICED
- Says Laity Still Resents Cr~tricB~m
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By Rev. A,wdrew :tW. Greeley Geoll'ge G. Eiggins hma been appointelll ~ assM mill of the Second Vatican <DoWlcn and has asked lFi'. A\ndi'ew M. Greeley to write this column whAle he is in Rome. !Fn'. Gi'eeley Ia well qualified. Be has mdocto",te in sociology fll'om the lITniversity of Chicago and is the author of thlOO books: "The Church and the Suburbs"; "Strangero in the l8IouS0"; lIInd "Religion' and the College Graduate." 18Ie has also writtellll wellll oveli' 50 magazine articles. At the present time, among many othel? duties, lFi'. Greelev is-editoll' ~ J.\.postolato (Catholie J.\.ctAolOi Journal). lWSgi'.
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To play the role of a critie is at best a dangerous game,; to be a self-critic is apparently even more dangerous; but to be a self":critic of the self-critics is to invite trouble. In an early column in the present pinch-hitting series, I raised some questions about ,gating educated laymem. fOli' the current outburst of, self- speaking their minds! ' criticism. In reply I received New Oi'thodoxy laB angry letter from an exOne ca? un?erstand the prob-
ADDRESSES
lLlUTlHlEJR-
ANS: Sister M. Emmanuel,. director of social service at, St. Philomena's T r a i n i n g School, Brooklyn, was a principle speaker at the Na.ti9nal Lutheran WeI far e Conference meetIng in New York yesterday. NC Photo. '
tremely respected and conipe- leffi: ~f thIS edItor, of c~urse. The! tent Catholic journalist who position of the self-critics is by accused me of, no means secure yet in the a) denying any American Church (though per[I u g ge s ti 0 n haps not, as in~ecure as they of mediocrity in would like to thmk). Catholic scholEvery time they open their m'ship b) view: "mouths someo~e on the.right at. ing ali lay crittempts to clobber them; so.they icism as negaare not prepared for SnIping U'(c)l®~ ~®UVilU [Ji)@ U'~ tive, c) denying from, the left. .' , ' . t2J _ laity the right Any~ne who dISagrees With tryr;;"\' rc;'r;;"\~\v,rr>n~";'@' n to constructivethem IS automatically lumped \8Iuu LSuu~y~UU~O U th those who ar~ denying their ly criticize,. d) ,'}," CINCINNATI (NC)-An edt. ,telling laymen: rights-and there IS no real need tor and author recommended that they have ev.e? to rea~ carefully what the that Catholics organize "rocking duties, but no rights, e) implycritiC has sal~. chair seminars" with their non- ing that laymen are not fun Such reactions are, I ~ppose, Catholic neighbors to discuss members of the Mystical Body, ~derstandabl~. But it is md~~d Pope John's Mater et Magistra f? suggesting that the writern u~ortunat~ that the New C~lti- ,encyclical. m. Commonweal Symposium Clsm can In such a short t~e Philip J. Scharper, editor for wish to usurp the teaching au~ecome a ~ew o,rt~odoxy which ,Sheed and Ward, publishers of thority of the bishops, and g) ~ every bit as rigid and inflexNew York, told ,a Xavier Uni-. castigating these writers simply Ible as the Old Orthodoxy and versity Forum session here the because they speak their minds. per?ll;ps even more sensitive 110 encyclical is "almost as impor, e'l'itlclSffi. tant as the ecumenical council iD Denies Charges Repeat OUches its intrinsic significance." Now, gentle reader, if you dig, :n is, even more unfortunate "It is a charter of Christian out your scrapbooks of old Yard- , that many of the critics are nat 'revolution that could change. stick columns, you will note that able to profit from criticism to our world"":""if taken seriously," I said none of these things,. broaden and deepen their analScharper said. He charged that. either explicitly or implicitly. yses. It seems much easier to American Catholics "by and And let it be noted for the record repeat ·the tired cliches of II large have not taken this docu-, Chat the reason I did not say. decade ago and not ask the quesment of human dignity with real. them is because I do not believe tiona which would be relevant seriousness." He said "the most. ~em. ' to the contemporary situation. practical thing that all of us can . What I did was that I. n might be interesting, for ex- do would be to read the encyfOund much of the current self-. aJP,ple, if the critics began to clical and, make every effort to, criticism unbalanced because It examine their allies in the litur_' understand it." ,does not take into account the gieal and Catholic Action move"By Mater-et Magistra,"'Schar_ rapid change which is going on ,ments and ask what failuroo per said, "Pope John made ~ in the American Church and have these ,movements experi-' quite clear that the Church untends to generalize from one enced'in the last decade and how derstands the grave problema' .local situation to the whole' they might improve their apposed not only by the Church church. proach. But to ask theSe quesbut to mankind in 'the present I also suggested that selftions, I suppose is dangerously world, in whicli one out of every eriticism is tending to tum Into close to heresy. ', four perS9ns, is Chinese; one of', a new conventional wisdom' There is still considerable every two ChrIstians is not a which permits purveyors of the' reaSon to debate' whether the" Catholic, two out of every three party line to see nothing but the American ChUrch is . mature' persons have not had the Gospel most gloomy trends in Ainerican enough to' accept friendly criti-' preached to them, and one out Catholidsm. cism of the clergy from eduCated - of every three persollD live and sincere laymen; but there 19 under communist rule." Statement Distorted not much question as to whether Now'it may be naive, clericai we have come far enough on the bias on my part, but it seems fA) ~<cIJu@@~ §@fI' SB$\fte~ road to maturity where the edu- . me that to say a given proposi- ,cated and sincere laity can acELIZABETH (NC) - A twotion is too gloomy or does not cept friendly criticism from tho year institute for teachers' traintake into account processes of clergy. We haven't. ing has been opened here in New change is rather different than Jersey by the BelJ.edictine Sisto say that' the one who writes ~a$!hl@~ MO~lm'r)g ters of Elizabeth. It will offer £1 the proposition has no right to re n . two-year' college program with express it or is trying to usurp 1t'«l)1l' ~1!B«lJ[],@mlG'DI1il~ accreditation to confer 65 credits the authority of the bishops fir MIAMI (NC) - The presito Sister-students. The Siste1"l3 is not a full-fledged member of dential proclamation, ordering a, - then may transfer to four-year the Mystical Body. colleges to earn bachelor's deIndeed I would have thought quarantine of Cuba was comgroos. The 'institute is affiliated before this irate letter that it mended by BishopColernan F. would be possible to agree with Carroll of Miami "as necessary with the Catholic University o:f much of what the self-critics had and wise and as representative .America. . been saying and still think that of the minds of the America'il they had not said enough for a people." The Bishop telephoned his balanced picture. But, alas, it does not seem message from Rome ""here he possible if you mutter a word is participatipg m the Ecumenfr- ' against the content of self-criti_ cal Council. His diocese is only cism, you are obviously cast!-, 90 mile from Cuba. "The mere presence of communist Russia on the doorstep of the United States has-been intolerable to Americans who Wyatt realize the extremely dangerous (\!DU$iIltIAL OilS STEUBENVILLE (NC)---Movie threat such penetration oHet\'l and television star Jane Wyatt to our own country and indeed H~ATING OILS .will receive the Poverello Medal, to the _ e ~ t ire hemisphere," highest non-academic awaid of Bishop Carroll said. TOMKIN "It is my fervent prayer the College of Steubenville, Dec. 2. during these days when both the OUI. BURNERS The medal will be presented news of the Ecumenical Counby Father Columba J. Devlin, cil's, activities and thiB new $ra!lvneO T.O.R:, at the college's annual world crisis occupy the minds of Founders Day dinner. men, that this strong and posi3@~ (()UN1Y $'f. Miss Wyatt's selection recog- tive American stand will aet ,as a means of deterring comnizes her support of many charNrnW ~~IOl~©~[i} ities, her work with "the Hour munist leaders from further of St. Francis" program, and her rash steps endangering the peace WV ~Q1U'~U contributions to the Rosary Cru- of the world." Bishop Carroll sade and Family Theater, declared.
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