Newspapers / North Carolina Catholic (Nazareth, … / July 24, 1966, edition 1 / Page 1
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Pope Upholds Traditional Approach to Original Sin Fundamental to Faith Evolution Not Worth Consideration VATICAN CITY —. (RNS) — Pope Paul VI warned theologians and scientists “who truly want to safeguard and throw light” on' the Catholic faith that there were limits “beyond which it is most im prudent to go.” “These limits,” he said, “are laid down by the living teaching of the Church, which is the proxi mate norm of truth for all the faithful, as we our selves recalled in the encyclical, Mysterium Fidei (The Mystery of the Faith).” Occasion for the Pope’s admonition was an au dience to 12 eminent theologians, headed by Father Edward Dhanis, S. J., rector of the Pontifical Gregori an University, who participated in a Rome symposi um on original sin. Stressing that “the mystery of original sin is one of those fundamental to the Catholic faith,” the Pope urged the theologians “ever to bear in mind during your discussions and conclusions the princi ples of sound Catholic exegesis and the close con nection between sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Church that can never be disregarded or done away with.” “It is evident,” the Pope continued, “that there will appear to you as irreconciliable with the gen uine Catholic doctrine those teachings on original ■ sin given out by certain modem authors who, start ing from the presupposition far from properly prov ed, this is, polygenism, deny more or less clearly that sin, whence comes the great number of man kind’s troubles, was, above all and actually, the disobedience of the first man, Adam, begetter of the whole human race at the beginning of history . . . Such explanations do not accord with the teachings of Holy Scripture, sacred tradition and the Church’s teaching, according to which the guilt of the first man has been transmitted to all those that came after him, not by way of imitation, but of propagation. “But also the evolutionism hypothesis which today enjoys favor with many men of science and not a few theologians for its probability, will not seem to you worth taking into serious consideration. This is because it does not clearly accord with Catholic doctrine, which decisively affirms the im mediate creation of all and every human soul by God, holding it of decisve importance for the lot of mankind that disobedience of the first man es tablished by God as head and beginner and, there fore, in a certain sense, as source of the whole hu man race. “This disobedience, it is worth noticing in re gard to the theory of evolution must not be thought of as occurring before Adam has been constituted in sanctity and justice, since that would be in clear contrast with the doctrine of the Council of Trent (on original sin). Pope Paul said the Second Vatican Council “did not aim to deepen or complete the Catholic doctrine of original sin, which had already been sufficiently declared and defined at the Council of Trent, but only wished to confirm and apply it according as its prevalent pastoral aims required.” Need Dynamic Experience of Liturgy RUTHERFORD, N.J. — (NC)— The priest-composer of the highly popular American Mass Program said here that people should have a dynamic experience of the new liturgy. “Most priests and most of the faithful have not had many, if any such experiences,” Father Clar ence J. Rivers stated. “Once they have had them, they are not going to want anything else. But if they haven’t had this experience, no amount of arguing in the ab stract is going to teach them.” “First,” he said, “we have to rid ourselves somehow of inhibi tions that prevent us from acting the way we feel. We see some thing wrong in laughing and cry ing, and we become inexpressive. We put emotional straitjackets on, and we can’t enter into our worship service. We have to real ize that it’s no sin to enjoy wor ship.” “Secondly, we must rediscover poetry in our sermons and homi lies,” the Cincinnati priest con tinued. “They should not be dry, prosaic instruction, but a re-crea tion, a poetic expression of some thing we already know. The only tradition of this we have in this country—and it’s dying out—is that of the oldtime Negro preach er; it was highly effective, based on the poetry of the King James Bible. “Third, we must have all-around artistically effective performance on the part of everybody — the celebrant, the cantors, the com mentators, tfie congregation. But this hardly exists at all.” This is the message Father Riv ers brings in his efforts to im prove American liturgical singing, a work which has engaged him for almost a decade. He composed the American Mass Program dur ing that time, and an Ordinary of the Mass which is to be released this fall. He is convinced that “we can’t wait to have good worship 20 years from now. We’ve got to find a way to have it next Sunday.” At the moment, he feels, “there is no spirit in our worship. It is formalistic. If our worship meant something to us—not just at the cerebral level—it would be an ef fective witness to salvation. Any body watching our worship ought to be able to see our joy in salva tion. “But the opposite is true ... no body looks at us and says, ‘Wow!’ Do these people really believe what they are saying and sing ing?’ Nobody is impressed.” In order to. get a tradition of Church music, he insists, “we have See Experience, page 8A Ten Nuns Freed of Vows To Form New Community By JAMES T. FLANNERY (N.C.W.C. News Service) CLEVELAND — Ten Sisters of Notre Dame serving in the Cleve land diocese announced they have been dispended from their vows and will form an experimental community to work in inner city areas in the Pueblo, Colo., diocese next month. Seven of the group are former faculty members of Notre Dame College in nearby South Euclid; two taught in high schools, and one in elementary school. Under present plans, the new group will not wear a religious habit but will dress as laywomen. They will not use religious names, keeping their baptismal and fam ily names. The ten were dispensed by the Congregation of Religious in Rome from the traditional reli gious vows and from their previous structured form of committment to the Church and the Sisters of Notre Dame community. They are now under private vows. In explaining the experiment, the joint statement issued by the 10 pointed to the Second Vatican Council decrees on the Church in the Modern World and on the Re ligious Life. The full statement issued by the 10 follows: “Ten Cleveland women today announce plans to form an ex perimental community for service to the Catholic Church in the dio cese of Pueblo, Colo., in late Au gust of this year. “Originally members of the Sis ters of Notre Dame of Chardon (near Cleveland), the new group has been dispensed by Rome from the traditional religious vows and from their previous structured form of commitment to the Church. “Now under private vows, they attempt to create a more flexible type of Religious Life which, they hope, will provide an added di mension to their service of the Church. “Seven of the members of the group were on the faculty of Notre Dame College, South Euclid. They have been joined by three other Sisters from two high schools and an elementary school in the diocese of Cleveland. “New concepts which the group intends to investigate include lo cating themselves in the inner city in small apartments or houses which will make them more acces Will Live As Laywomen in City sible to the laity; involvement in the Newman Apostolate on the secular campus, and work in the communications media. “The groups have come to be lieve that flexibility is a major need in contemporary Religious life. Therefore, the poverty which they have already vowed includes not only the traditional concept of communal holdings, but also avoids any ownership of lands or buildings since these could hamper the mobility of such a group. “In addition as wage earners, the members hope to contribute substantially to the needs of the poor. “In searching for a possible structure for the experiment, the members have looked particularly to the Vatican council decrees on the Church in the Modern World and on the Religious Life. “They have taken as a major guide for their future work the timely advice of the Council Fa thers: ‘The manner of living, pray ing and working should be suit ably adapted to the physical and psychological conditions of today’s Religious and also, to the extent required by the nature of each community, to the needs of the apostolate, the requirements of a given culture, the social and eco nomic circumstances anywhere, but especially in missionary terri tories’ (Decree on Religious Life). “Some of the people involved in this experiment have had ex perience in the social apostolate through a project which they in itiated last year in the Alhambra Village of the Hough Area of Cleveland (a poverty-stricken sec tion, mostly inhabited by Negroes). “Now during the summer months they will participate in various social service projects in different parts of the country or continue their professional train ing. Special emphasis has been placed i upon living fully the lay life that they may experience more adequately the pressures of the contemporary world. “According to Sallie Watkins (the former Sister Mary Howard) such a challenging but precarious experiment would never have been possible without the years of extensive training in the Re ligious life which we received as Sisters of Notre Dame. We are sincerely grateful to our former community for the priceless ex See Nuns Freed, page 8A Svr-WSK-Mfl-MiWMraBBWMWBWBPWW* THIS Ii5 NOT an advertisement for a Volkswagen bus. It is just Father Wellein, getting ready to drive a group of girls from the Jacksonville — Camp Lejeune area 280 miles to Project Mercy, recently held at Sacred Heart College, Belmont, N. C. Pictured from left to right are: Teresa Froncek, Patricia Bush, Marjorie May, Jeannette Planer, Helen Hillebrand, Anne and Margaret Bernier, Lori Overington, Christine Bilek, Marie Reiehstein, Letitia Moeller. Story on page 5A. (Jacksonville Daily News)
North Carolina Catholic (Nazareth, N.C.)
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July 24, 1966, edition 1
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