Full-Time Lay Apostles
Set 100-Converts Goal
PORTLAND, Ore. — (NC) —
Three men who left their homes
and livelihood to join a new apos
tolate are working in Portland
parishes to bring as many as 100
conversions a year to each parish.
The rilen are Dave Killen of
Seattle; Robert Greger, Edwards
ville, 111., and Roy Wolff of Mil
waukee. They are working re
spectively in St. Thomas, St. Ce
cilia, and St. Clare parishes here.
They explained their work as
parish advisors specializing in con
versions and described the year
long training course offered by the
Institute of Lay Theology at the
University of San Francisco to pre
pare men for what is becoming a
Irew profession.
Said Killen: “Everything we do
is directed toward one goal —
conversions.” This, he explained
in an interview, includes bringing
fallen away Catholics back to the
■Jiiurch, encouraging others to at
tend church more regularly, and
initiating marriage validations and
baptisims.
“We are not primarily concerned
with members of other denomina
tions,” Killen stated. “But there
are 80 million uncommitted in the
•United States. Among Catholics
statistics show that only 20 to 30
per cent attend church regularly,
while one-third never come and
mie-third attend irregularly. So we
{«/> have two-thirds of the total
Catholic population to work with.”
Leaving the Institute of Lay
Theology with the title of Inquiry
Forum Director, the men who re
ceive the training course are some
thing more than this might signify
and something less than “theolo
gians.” /
“A high academic standing, par
ticularly in theology and philos
cfmy, is a major requirement in
selecting candidates for the pro
gram,” Greger observed. “About
80 per cent of the ten-month
-p-Hirse 1,075 hours — is devoted to
th& study of theology.”
There are other strict reguire
ments for selection. To qualify,
applicants must have a Catholic
college education, be at least 28
years of age, preferably married
and with a history of success in
their previous careers. Greger said
that of more than 600 applicants
for last year’s session, only 15 men
were chosen.
Once selected, candidates attend
*> course that was set up at the
OFFICIAL
The following appointment is
announced by the Most Rev
erend Bishop through the Dioc
esan Chancery:
Effective August 26, Father
Joseph Becker, C.M., is appoint
ed pastor of Our Lady of the
Miraculous Medal parish in
"wefensboro.
Rev. James E. McSweeney
Chancellor
university two years ago by Father
Eugene Zimmers, S.J., assistant
professor of philosophy and now
director of the institute.
Students spend from five to
eight hours a day for a full aca
demic year under the instruction
of some 27 professors, all experts
in theology. In evening meetings
they hear lectures from represent
atives of other churches and of the
business, professional and labor
worlds.
Economic hardships make the
intensive institute training even
more difficult to complete. “There
is no time to ‘work yourself
through school,’ ” observed Greger,
an engineer before entering the
institute.
“You have to draw upon your
savings or borrow to pay tuition
and living expenses — generally
high, since 13 of the 15 men in this
See Lay Apostles, page 8A
New Pamphlet
On Enoyid Pills
WASHINGTON—(NC)—A leaf
let published under Catholic aus
pices sets forth the moral ground
rules governing the use of the
“contraceptive pill.”
The leaflet states that the drug
“may never be used as a contra
ceptive. It may, however, be used
as a medicine under certain cir
cumstances to correct malfunction
or disease.”
The leaflet was published by the
Cana Conference of Chicago and
was prepared in consultation with
moral theologians and doctors.
Copies are available from the pub
lishers and from the Family Life
Bureau, National Catholic Welfare
Conference, at 1312 Massachusetts
Avenue, N.W., Washington 5, D.C.
The leaflet notes that the tech
nical name of the new pills is “pro
gestational steroids.” The brand
names of the two most commonly
used are “Enovid” and “Norlutin.”
It says the pills have several
uses. They can prevent conception
by suppressing ovulation, but also
can aid in correcting a number of
gynecological disorders.
The leaflet stresses that the use
of the pills for directly contra
ceptive purposes is never moral.
It says use of the pills in this
way amounts to “direct steriliza
tion . . . the deliberate intentional
suppression of the reproductive
function.”
After quoting the late Pope Pius
XII on this point, the leaflet states:
“In summary, if these drugs are
used for the precise purpose of
suppressing ovulation in order to
prevent conception, we have a case
of direct sterilization and this is
morally wrong.”
Oh the other hand, the leaflet
notes, the pills may be used in
some circumstances to correct mal
function or disease, and a woman
using them for such a purpose may
continue to have marital relations
with her husband.
Asks New Terms
In Explaining v
Church Belief
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — (NC) —
Catholics interested in promoting
Christian unity should strive to
clarify Church teaching so that it
can be understood by other de
nominations, a theologian declar
ed here.
Father Robert Pelton, C.S.C.,
head of the theology department
at Notre Dame University, made
the statement at the closing exer
cise (Aug. 9) of a week-long Insti
tute for Local Superiors. More
than 1,500 nuns representing 84
congregations and 168 provinces
in the U.S. and religious commu
nities in nine foreign countries at
tended the sessions.
Discussing movements toward
mutual understanding, he said:
“Growing toward each other
means that we need in a certain
sense to retranslate our teaching,
without betraying it, into a scrip
tural and patristic language which
is more communicative to the
Reformation Christians.”
“Contemporary scientific re
search in theology is particularly
adaptable to this effort,” he ob
served.
EXCHANGE GREETINGS—On his arrival at Lambeth Palace,
the Anglican Primate’s residence in London, Augustin Cardinal
Bea, S.J., president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian
Unity, is greeted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Arthur
Ramsey. Cardinal Bea was in Britain to attend a conference
on Christian unity at the Jesuit College, Heythrop. (NC Photos)
Shared-Time Experiment
Begins In Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON — (NC) — The
Pittsburgh diocese is asking par
ents for their reaction to a major
shared-time proposal in Monroe
ville, a Pittsburgh suburb.
Msgr. John B. McDowell, super
intendent of schools, discussed the
project in an interview here.
Shared-time education consists of
dividing a student’s school day, or
a portion of it between church-re
lated and public schools.
He said parents are being asked
if they agree with plans to allow
some students from Catholic high
schools to attend some classes in
the brand-new Forbes Trail Area
Technical School in Monroeville.
The technical school is for gifted
children and will offer courses in
electronics and other sophisticated
scientific fields demanding expen
sive facilities and highly qualified
instructors.
Msgr. McDowell said area Catho
lic schools were invited to send
students by Dr. Alfred Beattie,
county school superintendent. “We
were delighted to accept and have
sent a letter to parents to see if
they share our enthusiasm,” he
said.
He added that the proposal in
cludes transporting the Catholic
school students from the public
school nearest their own institution
to the Forbes Trail school.
Msgr. McDowell said Pittsburgh
Catholic schools, which enroll
about 130,000 children in 284
schools, have had a superb re
lationship with public schools. “It
has been extraordinary, a wonder
ful working relationship,” he said.
The Monsignor, a principal back
er in Catholic school circles of
shared-time schooling, believes
that statistics make it necessary to
discuss proposals to divide class
time.
“Our goal of having every Catho
lic child in a Catholic school is no
longer within reach,” he said.
“Despite the tremendous growth of
our schools in the past 10 years,
only 50 per cent of our children are
able to attend Catholic schools. As
the nation continues to grow and
as the Catholic community grows
with it, the situation will obvious
ly worsen.”
Msgr. McDowell thinks it is
better to have as many students as
possible receive Catholic school in
struction in value subjects, such as
social studies, than to have this
education given only to full-time
Catholic school students, while
other Catholics in public schools
would get none.
He said the Forbes Trail experi
ment this fall is the only major
shared-time project in his diocese.
“There is nothing else under active
discussion at the moment,” he said.
Reformed Group
Backs Fed. Aid To
Church Schools
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — (NC) —
The National Union of Christian
Schools went on record here as
favoring tax aid to “private Chris
tian schools” which are independ
ent of churches or government.
The union represents 246
schools, most of them operated by
members of the Christian Reform
ed Church. The schools are not
supported by parishes, as are
Catholic schools, but by parents
banded together in corporations.
The Union acted on the question
in a resolution at its 42nd annual
conference attended by some 300
delegates. A spokesman said that
many years ago the union had op
posed aid to private schools, but
in recent years have taken no
stand at all.
Cornelius Jaarsma, speaking for
the five-member subcommittee
which prepared the resolution for
the conference at Purdue Univer
sity, said education of youth as a
parental duty is made clear in the
Bible.
He said this right of parents is
protected by law, and by establish
ing private schools parents exer
cise this right.
“The Christian school as free
and independent from church and
government is entitled to its right
ful share of taxes levied on all
citizens for educational purposes,”
Jaarsma said.
TWELVE LAY APOSTLES who will give one year to catechetical work in the Diocese of Raleigh
received their official welcome from Bishop Vincent S. Waters on the Feast of Assumption
at Asheville services. They received the Mary Missioners’ Handbook and will go into training
until September 2 when this second group of Mary Missioners will receive their commission, or
mandate, from Bishop Waters. Some will be assigned to Farmville and others to Statesville,
the two mission centers of the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart. Pictured (1. to r., 1st row)
Karen McIntyre, Ohio; Sheila Kahl, Ohio; Justina Freedman, Ohio; Margaret Kavanaugh,
Delaware; second row: Mary Lou Majeski, Ohio; Diane Breslin, Delaware; Sonyia Kennedy
Hughes, Delaware; Sister Madonna, Mission Helper, Statesville; third row: Christine Ham
mond, Ohio; Patricia Hannum, Silver Springs, Md.; Rosemary Kearns, Penna.; Deanna San
ders, Delaware; Patricia Mader, New Jersey; and Fr. Allan Foran, O.F.M.