The church here and there

Media

Part of Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

Title: The church here and there
Language: English; Spanish
Year: 1968
Rights
Fulltext: URCIHhhne “PROPER OF THE SAINTS” IN ILONGO APPROVED Archbishop lose Ma. Cuenco of laro received last week the Vatican's official approval of the “Proper of the Saints,' volume in Ilongo of the Roman Missal. The approval by Rome was conveyed to the Jaro Archbishop by Papal Nuncio Carmine Rocco in a letter dated June 8, 1953. With the Nuncio’s letter was the sample volume of the said part of the Roman Missal, which was sent to Rome sometime ago for approval. On the first page of the said sample volume was written and stamped the approval of the Vatican's "Consilium Ad Exseauend.im Constitution de Sacra Liturgia" dated May 18. 1968. The "Proper of the Saints-' approved volume includes the feasts from lune to November. On this page could be seen the exact text of the approval by the Vati CONSILIUM AD EXSEQUENDAM CONSTITUT1ONEM DE SACRA LITURGIA Prot. n. A 178/68 INSULARUM PHILIPPINARUM instante Exc.mo Domino Rocho Carmine, Episcopo tit. Justinianopolitano in Galatia, Nuntio Apostolico, Nomine Ordinariorum regionis linguae “Ilongo” in Insulis Philippinis, litteris die 10 mail 1968 datis, facultatibus huic “Consilio” a Summo Pontifice PAULO PP. VI tributis, interpretationem ‘Ilongo” ‘Proprii’ Sanctorum Missalis Romani a mense iunio ad mensem novembrem perlibenter probamus seu confirmamus. Contrariis quibuslibet minime obstantibus E Civitate Vaticana, die 18 maii 1968. (Benno Card. Gut) Praeses (A. Bugnini, CM) a Secretis) 697 RP CATHOLIC BISHOPS TAKE LEAD IN SOLVING SOCIO-ECONOMIC ILLS The Catholic Bishops of the Philippines last June signified their intent to have the church take the leadership in rural development when 62 Bishops from all over the islands held a three-day conference at Villa San Miguel in Mandaluyong, Rizal to examine the Philippines’ socio-economic problems and to assess the role of the Catholic hierarchy in bringing about the solution to such problems. The conference, presided over by Bishop Mariano Gaviola, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, also evaluated the effects of the Rural Development Congress last year held in response to President Marcos’ call on religious leaders to take a more active part in the social action program he initiated when he declared the period from May 1. 1968 to April 30, 1969 as “Social Action Year”. At the urging of the Catholic bishops, the conference gave the Philippine bishops an opportunity to listen to lay and government experts talk on cooperative, land reform, rice productivity and other allied topics that would bring about rural development. Among the experts at the conference were Undersecretary of Agriculture Dioscoro Umali. rice consultant Carlos J. Valdez, Land Authority Commissioner Fernando Santiago, PNB Vice-President Nicolas Fernandez. The experts pointed out that the Catholic Church should strive to help the barrios more, to give the management of the temooralities of the Church to laymen, to exert its influence on the moneyed group in the country, and that only the Church can change the wrong attitude of people on things. On the Bishops' part, Bishop Gaviola said the Church is willing to take the lead in this move for rural development, pointing to the recent Seminar on Rural Development held at Loyola House of Studies and the Rural Congress recently. He added that the Church will try its b< * St to be of service to the people in the barrios through an integrated program planted by the bishops. At the same time, the bishops present at the conference were unanimous in pledging assistance and cooperation in the implementation of the land reform program of the administration. After the conference, a church-state meeting was held at Malacanang Palace, attended by church leaders and presided over by the President. The social and economic problems of the country were again discussed at this ecumenical gathering. Earlier, Bishop Gaviola was designated by the President to head a com• nittee to implement all programs for Social Action Year. 698 JOHN XXIII ECUMENICAL CENTER AT LOYOLA HOUSE OF STUDIES, Q.C. The JOHN XXIII ECUMENICAL CENTER was officially inaugurated this month at the Loyola House of Studies. After an introductory address by Professor Daniel Arichea, Jr., of Union Theological Seminary, a joint Bible Service was held and a homily delivered by the Most Rev. Mariano G. Gaviola, now a member of the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. On this occasion the following telegram was received from the Vatican: “On inauguration of John XXIII Ecumenical Centre during Second Annual Meeting of Philippine Episcopal Conference Holy Father as pledge of divine favors imparts special apostolic blessing with prayerful wishes for fruitful development and progress in ecumenical work according to conciliar directives. — Cardinal Cicognani.” Some twenty-seven members of the Catholic Hierarchy attended the inauguration; among them Archbishop M. Madriaga, Archbishop J. Sison, Archbishop Teopisto Alberto and others. There were about thirty representative! of various Christian Communions, among them Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr. Su. preme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church with two other PIC □ishops, Rev. David Schneider of the Lutheran Church, Rev. Paul Granadosin of the United Methodist Church, Rev. Charles Matlock of St. Andrew’: Theological Seminary, etc. Some of the benefactors of the project were also present. The JOHN XXIII ECUMENICAL CENTER (JEC), a project of the Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, was approved by the Bishops in their meeting of February 1968. It was made financially possible through the cooperation of the Bishops Conference; the Association of Major Superiors of Men, who have borne the heaviest financial burden; some individual donations; and the generous help of various benefactors. Rev. Fr. de la Costa, Provincial, approved the project from its very start, and Loyola House ol Studies, through Fr. Rector, Santiago Gaa, generously granted space necessary for the center (an office and a conference room). The JEC will function largely as a national Service Center, opened to interested groups and individuals, hoping to help in the promotion of ecumenical study and research. It will try to coordinate ecumenical activities of various types, and organize encounters and dialogues with authorized representatives of various Christian churches. On a private basis, the JEC has started the publication of an “Ecumenical News Bulletin”, containing news of ecumenical significance from all over the world. It will concentrate in a special way however on ecumenical activities in the Philippines. 699 The Bishops’ Commission for Promoting Christian Unity is composed of the following members and assistants: Bishop Cornelius de Wit, Chairman; Archbishop Teopisto V. Alberto and Archbishop Juan C. Sison, Members; Fr. Pedro S. de Achutegui, S.J. Secretary and Fr. Vicente San Juan, S.J. Assistant Secretary. Available at the JEC and in various stages of development are the following: in addition to a very modest but select ecumenical library, there is a card-catalogue of books and periodicals of ecumenical interest in the L.H.S. library, a special collection of the most important articles on Ecu. menism and Christian churches, together with a catalogue of such articles to be found in the periodicals received by the L.H.S. library; a descriptive listing of the various Christian churches in the Philippines; and a card catalogue containing the curriculum vitae of outstanding personalities in the Christian churces of the Philippines. A series of tapes containing complete course on Ecumenism and interesing speeches and articles of current ecumenical interest will soon be available. ROME PONTIFICAL COMMISSION “JUSTICE AND PEACE” STUDIES RIGHTS OF MAN To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Study Committee on the Issues ol Peace and International Community, an organ of the Pontifical Commission ‘Justice and Peace’, met from June 12 to 15 at the Commission’s headquarters in Rome, to study the best means of helping the various national ‘Justice and Peace’ group in their promotion of the rights of man, with special reference to the racial question. The participants at the seminar, which was presided over by Mr. Vittorino Veronese, President of the Committee, discussed the link between peace anc the recognition of the rights of man, with reference to concrete situations in Vietnam, the Sudan, Nigeria, South Africa, Rhodesia, etc. They observed with regret that the technological progress of the human race did not entail a corresponding ethical progress. With respect to the Second World Dav of Peace to be observed on January 1, 1969, the Committee decided to work for greater participation in it by all governments, organizations, and religious bodies. ROME JAPANESE ENCYCLOPEDIA ON VATICAN II BEING PUBLISHED A seven-volume encyclopedia of the Second Vatican Council, edited by Professors Henry Van Straelen, SVD, and Leo Elders. SVD. is being pub 700 lished in Japanese by the Nanzan Catholic University of Nagoya. The Bishop of Takamatsu has given the services of one of his priests for a year to help with the edition. Apart from the text of the Conciliar decrees, the encyclopedia contains commentaries by some thirty contributors, among whom are several Protestants and non-Christians. The first volume is already in the printer’s hands, and in the course ol the next year four more volumes will be printed. SWEDEN CATHOLIC POSITION ON UNITY UNCHANGED SAYS WCC LEADER Pope Paul Vi’s statement on Catholic doctrine was a “restatement of the well-known position of the Catholic Church” that “it is the Church of Jesus Christ,” the Rev. Eugene Carson Blake, general secretary of the World Council of Churches said here. Dr. Blake’s comment on Pope Paul’s proclamation of a “Credo of the People of God” was n.iyen on the eve of the WCC general assembly which opened on luly 4. Under the heading of Christian unity Pope Paul said: “Recognizing the existence outside the organism of the Church of Christ of numerous elements of truth and sanctification which belong to her as het own and tend to Catholic unity... we entertain the hope that Christians whe are not yet in full communion of the one and only Church will one day be returned in one flock with only one shepherd.” Dr. Blake commented: “I have been asked whether I interpret the Pope’s remark about one flock and one shepherd as a bid for all Christians to return to the Roman Catholic Church. “It does not say this specifically, but it is implied in the normal Roman Catholic ecclesiology which has never given up the position that it is the Church of Jesus Christ. This was modified by a number of Vatican II documents, but the dogmatic position has not been changed. “This is a conservative statement of the Roman Catholic faith. It does not seem to me to be other than a statement of the well-known position of the Catholic Church.” 701 “I have been asked why the Pope made this statement now,” be said. “I believe there are two possible reasons: “First, he might have wished to discourage romantic ecumenism which is to suppose that all that is required for the unity of the Church is to be more friendly and tolerant than we have been heretofore. “And second, it was not so much directed at ecumenism but at those progressives in the Roman Catholic Church who would go farther than was intended by the Vatican Constitution on the Church and the World, who, from his point of view, have accepted modern secular assumptions and therefore to radically modify the traditional teachings of the Church. “It is good for us to know the breadth and depth of the theological problems of Christian unity and I would refer to anyone who is interested in this subject to die address which Father Roberto Tucci will be delivering to the WCC assembly.” Father Tucci, S.J., is the editor of La Civilta Cattolica, Rome Jesuit review. Taipei CANON OF THE MASS IN CHINESE APPROVED A new Chinese translation of the Canon of the Mass, approved by the Regional Conference of Chinese Bishops, was put into use here from June 2, the feast of Pentecost. Other parts of the Mass have been said in Chinese since March 7, 1955, but this is the first time that the entire Mass has been in Chinese. Vatican City POPE RECEIVED THANKS FOR CREDO’ Messages of thanks and solidarity have been arriving for Pope Paul VI since he delivered his Credo of die People of God at ceremonies closing the Year of Faith. L'Osscrvatore KomatiQ. Vatican City daily, reported that bishops and archbishops have sent word of their adherence from such countries as Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Poland and Portugal. Cardinal Cody of Chicago sent the Pope a message full of adherence from Fiumicino airport, where he was preparing to fly black to the United States. He had been in Rome for the dedication of a residence for American Priests studying in Rome, the Cardinal Stritch House.