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Edition of Our Sunday Visitor
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Volume LI September 16, 1963 Number 20
r. O. Box V503
KALElGU, N. C.
jCongo Crisis Calls Up
|New Mission Approach
LEOPOLDVILLE, The Congo —
INC) — The Church in the Congo
s “undergoing a profound renew
il,” but recruits for the priesthood
lave dropped 35 per cent in the
t three years, a Belgian priest
here.
Msgr. Jean Jadot, director of Bel
um’s Pontifical Missionary Soci
ety, gave his impressions of the
Church’s situation in the Congo
n an interview after traveling
iround the country to give retreats
or priests. His trip took him to
.leopoldville, Matadi, Boma, Lulua
lourg and 36 outposts.
**rhe work of the apostolate is
indergoing a profound renewal,”
le said. “In general, the moral
nd religious formation of the
Khristian is being strengthened.”
. A, While the number of practicing
Catholics has dropped, Msgr. Jadot
noted, there has been “for several
nonths, in the big cities as well as
a the brush, a return of many
Christians who have been away
Tom the sacraments for two or
three years.”
The most serious problem fac
ing the Church in the Congo is
the recruiting of candidates for
the priesthood, he said, noting that
K^number of major seminarians
s gone down from 369 in 1959 to
204 in 1962, a drop of 35 per cent.
The causes for the drop are
complex,” he explained, “and must
lie linked with the confusion of
ideas which reigns in educated cir
cles before the possibilities of rap
id and*brilliant promotion in many
lectors of lay life. The tempta
tion to an interesting lay career
has made its weight felt all the
more since often the family will
exercise strong pressure to influ
ence a young man to change his
mind.”
He noted that this situation will
probably change soon. The minor
seminaries have been getting larg
er classes, with a greater propor
tion choosing to go on to the ma
jor seminary.
“The crisis the Congo is suffer
ing now,” he noted, “brings diffi
culties that cause important set
backs for the Church.”
“Political rivalries and the disor
der of administrative services,” he
explained, “with the paralysis of
economic activities which follows,
have created in the regions most
affected a climate of psychological
tension which muffles the call of
religious duties and draws trou
bled spirits back to pagan super
stitions.”
Missionaries are trying to form
not just Christians, he said, but
“living Christians communities,
where each is called according to
his abilities to take an active part
in the life of the Church — in
worship and prayer, in the aposto
late and social action, or in the
exercise of charity and mutual
help.”
The recent Plenary Assembly of
Bishops vigorously promoted this
outlook, he noted, which “is seen
in the development of the commu
nity liturgy, simplified by the use
of local languages and African mu
sic in religious services.”
PAPAL AUDIENCE — Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, left, listens to Pope John XXIII,
early Sept. 7th, during an unofficial audience with the Pontiff. The Pope holds a miniature
replica of the U.S. Telstar satellite presented to him by the Vice President.
For self-help
International Body Planned
Among Catholic Farm Groups
ROME —(NC)— Catholic farm
ers and their organizations in some
50 countries are setting up a
hands-across-the-sea program for
mutual help in men, machines and
money.
This program was among their
first fruits of a weeklong conven
tion (Sept. 3-9) of Catholics who
devote themsevles to farm prob
lems. This second international
meeting of Catholics on rural life
drew to Rome some 300 delegates
from about 50 countries. They rep
resented more than 100 national
and international organizations.
THE DELEGATES decided at
their final session to set up an in
ternational secretariat, with head
quarters in Rome, to act as a clear
ing house for mutual help among
Catholic farm organizations of the
world. A provisional committee of
eight will lay the foundations for
the secretariat.
A Passionist missionary from
Ireland welcomed the secretariat
as “the answer to my needs,” and
his words were echoed by many
conciliar procedure ...
Two-Thirds Vote, With Assent
Of Christ's Vicar, To Carry
VATICAN CITY — His Holi
ness Pope John XXIII has put
the finishing touches on prep
arations for the Second Vat
ican Council by appointing the
council’s major officers and
spelling out its rules and pro
cedures.
He did so only five weeks before
the council’s opening by issuing a
motu proprio—the technical name
for a document drawn up and
sigifed by the Pope on his own
nitiative.
One of the Pope’s acts was to
aame a presiding council of 10
cardinals who will take turns in
presiding over plenary sessions of
the ecumenical council in the
Pope’s name when he is not pres
ent. The 10 are from nine nations,
and among them is Francis Car
dinal Spellman, Archbishop of
New York.
_J#ith the release (Sept. 5) of the
hour proprio, the Pope also:
—Named cardinals of the Roman
Curia to head 10 council commis
sions which in general parallel the
preparatory commissions he set up
for the council two years ago.
—-Appointed Amleto Cardinal
Cicognani, his Secretary of State
and former Apostolic Delegate to
the United States, president of a
Secretariat for Extraordinary Af
fairs which will deal with any un
foreseen problems. Among its
seven other members is Albert
Cardinal Meyer, Archbishop of
Chicago.
—Required a two-third majority
—plus his own approval—for en
actment of decrees of the council.
—Stated that non-Catholic dele
gate observers may attend not only
the solemn public sessions of the
council, but also the working ses
sions in which all the Catholic
bishops take part.
The motu proprio was released
September 5. It is known as “Ap
propinquante Concilio,” from its
opening words (With the advent of
the council. . .).
Pope John began the document
by declaring that “the coming
ecumenical council by virtue of the
number and variety of those who
will participate in its meetings
evidently will be the greatest of
the councils held by the Church
thus far.”
With an estimated 2,800 partici
pants expected, the Pope said that
the very number will present prob
lems, because of language and
time. But he added:
“What inspires confidence in
Our mind is the certainty that the
Fathers of the council, though they
differ by nation, rate and language
are all Our brothers in Christ and
all act in one single and similar
spirit, so that truly according to
the words of Jesus Christ they will
be able to shine as the light of the
world and will be able to produce
fruits ‘in all goodness, justice and
truth.’ ”
The commissions and their pres
idents are:
Doctrinal Commission for Faith
and Morals, Alfredo Cardinal Ot
taviani; Commission for Bishops
and Government of Dioceses, Paolo
Cardinal Marella; Commission for
the Oriental Churches, Amleto
See Council, page 3A
other delegates.
Father Carthage Power, C.P.,
said that the secretariat can help
overcome a major obstacle to ef
ficient farming in his region of
the Bechuanaland protectorate in
South Africa.
“We hope to lease water-div
ing equipment through this pro
gram,” he said. “ I learned that
a new American machine can find
water a mile beneath the earth.”
A PRIEST from Elkton, S. D.,
See Farm Groups, page 2A
BISHOP’S RESIDENCE
600 Bilyeu Street
Raleigh, North Carolina
September 4, 1962
My dear Brethren:
One of the greatest achievements in our country made
by the Catholic Church is the parochial school system. It
puts the Catholics far out in front of other Catholics
throughout the world.
After this, the next greatest achievement has been the
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine which is attempting to
educate, in their Christian Faith, Catholics in the public
school system. We, in North Carolina, have had the valued
help of Bishop Navagh, Father Koch, Father McSweeney,
and now Father Allen and the Sisters of the Mission Helpers
of the Sacred Heart, to put our Confraternity far out in front
in our region.
I hope the Pastors and Sisters of all Religious Orders,
as well as the Lay people, will cooperate in making our
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine one of the best in the
entire nation. This can be done only by Teacher Training
Courses, the Priests assisting with the Doctrine and the
Sisters with the Method. The Mission Helpers are unsur
passed with this Confraternity work. If we had entered into
the Confraternity program in a serious way 25 years ago,
we would be far ahead, religiously speaking.
Discussion Clubs, carried on systematically in every
parish, a regular graded School of Religion for every gram
mar school and high school child in every public or private
school, and a real Confraternity Parish Board with repre
sentation of all the departments, as indicated so well by the
Flying Squadron of lay Confraternity workers from Wor
cester last year, are a must in all our parishes.
Please help us to accomplish this aim and on Sunday,
September 16, put a contribution in the NCCLA-CCD Mem
bership Drive envelope to assist Father Allen, the Mission
Helpers, and all of us in this good work.
Wishing God’s blessings on one of the most important
fields of Religious work in the diocese, the Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine, I remain 4 t
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Bishop of Raleigh