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Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

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Title

Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas

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Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas Official Interdiocesan Organ is published monthly by the University of Santo Tomas and is printed at U.S.T. Press, Manila, Philippines.

Issue Date

Volume XLII (Issue No. 473) August 1968

Publisher

University of Santo Tomas

Year

1968

Language

English

Spanish

Subject

Catholic Church--Philippines--Periodicals.

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OFFICIAL INTERDIOCESAN ORGAN • THE PHILIPPINE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW • THE PRIEST: DOUBTS AND CERTAIN­ TIES, RELEVANCE, IN THE CHANG­ ING CHURCH • SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY • NEW MARRIAGE RITUAL WITHOUT THE MASS • YOU AND YOUR TEAM REUNION • DOMINICAN SISTERS OF THE MOST HOLY RO­ SARY. Vol.JUdrC. No. 473 Boletin PCLESIASTICODE £■ piLIPINAS EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR LEONARDO Z. LEGASPI, O.P. ASSISTANT EDITOR EIDEL VILLAROEL, O.P. ASSOCIATE EDITORS ERANCISO DEL RIO, O.P. QUINTIN M. GARCIA. O.P. JESUS MERINO. O.P. EFREN RIVERA. O.P. PEDRO V. SALGADO, O.P. POMPEYO DE MESA. O.P. MIGUEL DINIO, O.P. BUSINESS MANAGER FLORENCIO TESTER A. O.P. BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Official Interdiocesan Organ is published monthly by the University of Santo Tomas and is printed at U.S.T. Press, Manila, Philippines. Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at the Manila Post Office on June 21, 1946. Subscription Rates: Yearly subscription in the Philippines, P10.00; Abroad, $4.00. Price per copy, P1.00. Subscriptions are paid in advance. Ccmmunications of an editorial nature concerning articles, cases and reviews should be addressed to the Editor. Advertising and subscription enquiries should be addressed to the Business Manager. Orders for renewals or changes of address should in­ clude both old and new address, and will go into effect fifteen days after notification. Address all communications to: BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS Fathers’ Residence University of Santo Tomas Manila, Philippines MOST REV. BIENVENIDO TUDTUD, D.D. Auxiliary Bishop of Dumagucte Vol. XLIII • No. 473 August 1968 TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL 524 THE POPE SPEAKS Concluding the “Year of Faith” 526 DOCUMENTATION Pontifical Bulls 531 New Marriage Ritual Without Mass 536 The Priest in Our Day 548 DOCTRINAL SECTION The Priest in the Changing Church by LEONARDO Z. LEGASPI. O.P. 553 Support of the Clery by FR. ANTONIO TOBIAS 567 A Day of Parish Renewal by EOWARD TENNANT, S.V.D. 573 PASTORAL SECTION Homiletics — 13th. 14th. 15th. 16th, 17th Sunday after Pentecost by DAVID TITHER, C. SS. R. 580 De Colores —You and Your Team Reunion by GUILLERMO TEJON, O.P. 589 CASES AND QUERIES Application of the Mass and Remittance of the Stipend to the Ordinary by BERNABE ALONSO, O.P. 596 Anticipation of Lauds. Elevation of Host and Chalice after Consecration by P. DE MESA, O.P. 598 CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary 600 THE CHURCH HERE AND THERE 603 BOOK REVIEWS 610 EDITORIAL PRIESTS’ DOUBTS AND CERTAINTIES Few practical aspects of the Church's renewal raise quite so many problems and occasion so much discussion as the considera­ tion of the hierarchical priesthood today. This is but natural for, in a very real sense, the priests are so intimately connected with the life of the Church “that when a priest falters, the whole Church trembles. When a priest is troubled in heart the tranquil­ ity of al) God’s People is threatened.’’ Priesthood today is undergoing a crisis. Only an ostrich would deny the existence of this crisis which is known and deeply felt by most priests today. But this crisis is not of infidelity—a myth created by certain elements within the priesthood and in the press, but rather a crisis of identity. The priest asks himself just what his role is in the context of today's world. His doubtff'may be traced to a sociological fact: times have changed. The priest is no longer likely to find himself the undis­ puted leader of his flock in all contexts; he is hardly likely to be the only member of the local Catholic community with a higher education. Above all, the community he is called upon to serve no longer feels that its very existence is threatened and thus becomes more open to the world instead of being shut in on itself as a ghetto. Vatican II, paradoxically, accentuated this crisis of identity. The priests are being caught today in the squeeze between the developing laity and episcopacy, the former moving upward to discharge advisory and supplementary tasks, while the latter expand the beachhead of powers abandoned to them by the Pope. This acute period of adjustment is made more complicated for the priest by the general climate of innovation and liberty let loose by the same Council. Priestly ministry today is beset with a wave of questions, of doubts, of denials, and of tree think­ ing novelties. As a result the priest is forced to reflect on the true concept, primary function, proper position and reality of his priesthood. The unfortunate thing is that these doubts and these questions might end up in his becoming fearful of having badly chosen how to use his life, in his believing that his celibacy is no 525 longer a free fullness of immolation and love, but an unnatural burden. From this it is only a question of time when he will look at the world no longer with a sense of apostolic love, but of profane nostalgia. This would be painfully unfortunate. For the very priesthood in question brings with it the very source of his strength and certainty. First of all, there is the certainty of the real meaning of being a priest, one that is independent of time and place. The priesthood is not a simple ecclesiastical office; it is a sacrament an inner sanctification, bestowing particular and prodigious faculties which will enable the "vessel of clay" to act in persona Christi. It gives the print a very special and indelible "character" which qualifies him before Christ as His living instrument, and which therefore, places him in a particular and inexhaustible relationship of love with Christ. The awareness of this relationship with Christ should be the primary source of his strength in this troubled world. Secondly, the priest today should be aware of the fact that he was called from among the People of God to give a service without reservations, without conditions, to the Mystical Body of Christ, to the Church, to the People of God, to mankind. This awareness of giving himself as a gift made forever to charity will give him unsuspected strength to resist the temptation of seeking, his own prestige and his own interest. Finally, conscious of being chosen by Christ as His minister, and convinced of being destined to transmit to others "the mysteries of God", he will find another strength in the certainty of a com­ pelling sanctity manifested through a vital effort to make an exam­ ple of oneself to be truly an "alter Christus". Freed from the ties of an eroding egotism, the priest will not fear. Inspired by the grace of his vocation and ordindtion, he will humbly but boldly march to the fulfillment of his sacrifice in the imitation of Christ's sacrifice, toward perfection and the fullness of charity. There is a profound mystery in the priesthood: the ineffable divine strength working through "vessels of clay." The priest can­ not expect everyone to understand this mystery, for he himself must wrestle with it in his own soul. Doubts, fears, and confusions are necessary burdens of his being a "vessel of clay". But there is no reason to feel despondent, for the priesthood brings with it the certainty of being another Christ, the awareness of his deacon­ ship in charity, and the inspiration of a persistent urge to sanctity in imitation of the Eternal Priest, Christ. CONCLUDING THE "YEAR OE FAITH’’ In the General Audience on Wednesday June 19th, the Holy Father Paul VI continued his ex­ hortations in view of the closing of the “Year of Faith’-, now emphasiz­ ing the meaning and urgent need of a live faith, whilst warning the im­ minent danger of faith becoming dead. Dear Sons and Daughters, As you know, with the end of this month the "Year of I aith" will be concluded, the year which We have dedicated to the remem­ brance of the 19th centenary of the martyrdom of Ss. Peter and Paul, not only to honour their memory, but to fortify the obligation we have towards the inheritance which they, with their word and their blood, have left to us, namely our faith. There might be many things remaining for us to sav on this theme, about which We have said a few fleeting words in these weekly audiences. We would add one more word now, the most obvious that could be said in this regard: Make sure youre faith is alive. Faith can be a dead thing This recommendation gives rise to a question: Can there be such a thing as a dead faith? Alas, yes; there can be a dead faith. It is clear that a denial of faith, whether objectively as when those truths 527 ■which we are obliged to hold by faith are denied or deliberately al­ tered. or subjectively as when our adhesion to our creed becomes know­ ingly and willingly diminished, extinguishes faith and with it the vital supernatural light of divine revelation in our souls. But there is another degree of denial regarding the vitality of faith, and it is that which deprives faith itself of its connatural development, namely of Charity, grace. Sin which takes away grace from the soul may leave faith alive, but ineffective as far as communion with God is concerned, leaves it in a state of torpidity. Remember the words of St. Paul: “Fides quae operator per caritatem”, faith operating by means of charity (Gal.5,6). The theologians tell us that charity is the fulfillment of faith, that is to sav. gives Faith that full quality which makes it firm and directs it efficaciously towards its purpose, which is God, sought, desired, loved, possessed through love. Thus “charity is called the form of faith, in­ sofar as through the medium of charity the act of faith is integrated and completed" (S. Th. II-II, 4. 3). And there is a third degree of denial which paralyzes and sterilizes faith, and that is the failure to express it bv one's wav of life, to profess it actively, to develop it in good works. It is the Apostle St. James who reminds us of this need, as though in tacit approval of the thesis that faith alone is sufficient for our salvation: “Faith without works is dead” (Jam. 2, 20). Points of weakness in faith Then there is a long series of deficiencies which can militate against faith and deprive it of that vitality which should be aware of and should see that it has. We will not give the whole list, but We will invite an examination of conscience on some characteristic weak points in this matter of faith. The first is ignorance. Baptism has infused in us the virtue of faith, that is to say the capacity to possess faith and to profess it in regard to our own salvation and with supernatural merit. But clearly a virtue becomes atrophied if it is not exercised to the ex­ tent possible: and the first exercise of faith is getting to know the truths which form its object. This knowledge can have different phases which can be classified thus: from the acceptance of the Christian message, •the so-called “kerigma", to its natural development in catechetics, and 528 thence to profound theclogicai investigation and contemplation. What is necessary to note for our practical purposes is the need for a serious and systematic knowledge of faith, and that is something which, alas, is wanting in to so very many, be they catholics or not. This is some­ thing intolerable in a society where culture has a pre-eminent place and where the facility for obtaining information is, one may say, within evervone’s reach, it is sad to note, on the other hand, that generally speaking our people lack a clear and coherent, even if modest, knowledge of faith. Parochial catechism is largely abandoned; the religious teaching in our schools does not, one regrets to say, always fulfill its full purpose, before all else that of instilling into the pupils a reasoned conviction that their religion is the science of life. The book of reli­ gious culture is often neglected, often not to be found there, so that the knowledge of our faith is imperfect, defective, weak, feeble and exposed to the current objections which find easy prey amongst the widespread ignorance. Our answer to this is: ne ignorata damnetur, let our faith be not rejected because it is not known (cf. C. Colombo, Theo. Culture of Clergy and Laity; speech to the C. E. I. 1967). The danger of human respect Another point of weakness is the well-known “human respect”, that is to say reticence or shame or fear about professing, one’s own faith. We are not talking about that discretion or reserve which, in a pluralistic and worldly society like ours, withholds from religious mani­ festations in front of others. We are talking about the weakness of disavowing one’s own religious ideas from fear of ridicule, criticism, or reaction on the part of others. That was the notorious sad failure of St. Peter on the night when Jesus was taken prisoner. It is a fre­ quent defect in boys, in youths, in opportunists, in peopel who lack character and courage. It is the reason, perhaps the principal one for abandonment of faith on the part of those who conform to any new environment in which they happen to find themselves. We must say something in this context, about the power of envi­ ronment into which one allows oneself to be integrated, a power which 52!) impels masses of people to think and act in accordance with fashion, in accordance with the current prevailing opinion, in accordance with, overwhelming forms of ideology which spread from time to time like irresistible epidemics. Environment, a most important factor in the formation of personality, often imposes itself as a need for conformity by which it is dominated. Social conformity is one of the forces which in certain cases sustains, in certain cases suffocates religious sense and practice, (cf. 1. Leclerca, Believing in Jesus Christ, Castennan, 1967, pp. 105 ff.) The Christian lives by faith Yet another point is worthy of special note, that namely of the union of faith with life, with the life of thought, with the life of action, with the life of feelings, with the spiritual and also temporal life. This is a point of highest importance. It is always being spoken of: itistus ex fide vivit (Gal. 3, 11); the Christian, we may so translate, lives bv faith, in accordance with his own faith. This is a principle, a standard, a force of Christian living. To live with the faith and not by the faith is not enough; indeed this living with the faith can involve itself in a grave responsibility and in an accusation which the world often hurls against the man who calls himself a Christian and dees not live as Christian. Let us think well on that. We will stop there and ask ourselves again: What must we do to have a live faith? We can answer that trust in the teaching office of the Church, love of being orthodox in ideas about the faith, method ical and wise practice of one’s religion, the example of good and coura gecus Christians, personal and collective exercise in some work of the apcstclate, these will help us to keep our faith alight and alive. Two observations we should keep in mind. The first of these makes us aware that faith must be for us a personal fact, a conscious act, willed and deep. This subjective element cf faith is most important today; it haalways been necessary, because it is part and parcel of the authentic act of faith, but often it has been and is still substituted for by tradition, by historic environment, by common custom. Today it is indispensable. Each one has to express in himself his personal faith with great aware530 ncjs and great energy. The second observation reminds us that faith lias its local point in Jesus Christ (cf. Eph. 3, 17, S. Th. II-II, 16, 1, 1: III 62, 6). It is, we may say, a personal encounter with Him. He is the Master. He is the supreme point of revelation. He is the centre in which are united and from which radiate all religious truths necessary for our salvation. From Him the Church gets Her authority, in Him our faith finds joy and security, finds life. May it be so for all of ycu, with Our Apostolic Blessing. MOST REV. JOSE SANCHEZ, D.D. Auxiliary Bishop of Nuevo Caceres PONTIFICAL BULLS MOST REV. BIEWEMDO TUDTUD PAL'I.LS kPlSCOPUS SkRVLS SliRXORl-M Dl l 532 Tibi gloriam. Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum, die quinto mensis februarii, anno Domini millesimo nongentesimo sexagesimo octavo, Pontificatus Nostri quinto.—F.T.—■ Aloisius Card. Traglia S.R.E. Cancellarius Franciscus Tinello, Regens Joannes Calleri, Proton. Apost. Eugenius Sevi, Proton. Apost. Eexpedita die XX Mar. anno Pontif. V In Cane. Ap. tab. Vol. CXXVI N. 97 MOST KEV. JOSE SANCHEZ PAULUS EPISCOPUS SERVUS SERVORUM DEI dilecto filio JOSEPHO T. SANCHEZ, in dioecesi Legazpiensi Generali Vicario, electo Episcopo titulo Lesvitano et Auxiliari Archiepiscopi Cacerensis, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Cum supretni universae Ecclesiae rectoris Nobis sint impsitae partes, omnia Nostra consilia et labores et industriam in eo collocari atque poni studetnus, ut sancto Christi gregi quam commode provideamus: at inter omnia inuncra officiaque quae hodie Nobis facienda proponuntur, illud praccipuum locum obtinet quo Sacris Pastoribus auxiliatores viros concedimus ad commoda populi aptius comparanda. Cum igitur venerabilis frater Theopistus Alberto et Valderrama, Archiepiscopus Cacerensis, in hoc sit statu, aptumque a Nobis socium laborum poposcerit, existimantes Te, dilecte fili. huic suscipiendo rnuneri idoneum, quern probata virtus et rerum pastoralium usus suinmopcre commendant. venerabilibus fratribus Nostris sententiam rogatis S.R.E. Cardinalibus, Sacrae Congregation! pro Episcopis praepositis, de suprema Nostra potestate Te simu! Auxiliarem nominnamus eiusdem Archiepiscopi Cace­ rensis, simulque Episcopum renuntiamus titulo LESVITANUM, datis iuribus cuctisque obligationibus impositis, quae munus tuum dignitatemque consequuntur. Tuo autem inaiori commcdo studentes, facultatem facimus ut extra Urbem consecritionem a quovis Episcopo accipias, cui assistant de acqualis auctoritatis viri. qui omnes sint cum hac Romana Ecclesia vinculis sincerae fidei coniuncti. Ante autem haec, oportet sive fidei professionem facias sive ius iurandum fidelitatis 533 erga Nos et Successores Nostros des, coram aliquo Praesule qui et ipse cum Petri Sede vinculo fidei coniungatur, iuxta suetas formulas quas de more signatas sigilloque impressas ad Sacram Congregationem pro Episcopis cito mittes. Fac, denique, dilecte fili, ut Nostrae expectation! et spei quam qui optime respondeas, nullisque umquam parcas curis atque laboribus, ita ut Sancti Pauli Apostoli verba ad te merito aptari sane queant: "abundantius laboravi: non ego autem, sed gratia Dei meciun’’ -- 1 Cor. 15, 10--. Datum Romae, apud S. Pctrum, die quinto mensis februarii, anno Domini millesimo nongentesimo sexagesimo octavo, Pontificatus Nostri quinto — F.T. — Aloisius Card. Traglia S.R.E. Cancellarius Franciscus Tinello, Regens Euoenius Sevi, Proton. Apost. Expedita die XX Mar. anno Pontif. V In Cane. Ap. tab. ol. CXXVI N. 96 MOST REV. GODOFREDO PEDERNAL PAULUS EP1SCOPUS SERVUS SERVORUM DEI dilecto filio GODEFRIDO PEDERNAL, e dioecesi Luccnensi Saccrdoti atque Antistiti Urbano, vicibus Secretarii Generalis Conferentiae Episcopalis Insularum Philippinarum adhuc functo, clccto Episcopo Insularum Philippinarum adliuc functo, electo Episcopo Boronganensi, salutern et apostolicam benedictionem. Oaristi verba gravissima, quae Apostolis facta sunt ut sc salein esse terrae reputarent atque lucem mundi, aeque Episcopis aptantur, quibus etiam id praccipue commissum est muneris, ut, divinae veritatis facetn praeferentes, singularis virtutis cxeinplo ceteris praeirent hominibus. Cum igitur dioecesi Boronganensi. vacanti ob translationem vcncrabilis fratris Vinccntii Reyes ad Ecclesiam Cabanatuanensem, sacer esset Praesul praeficiendus talisque profecto. qui Apostolorum successorum propriis dotibus abundaret. Nobis aptus visus cs. dilecte fili. ad tantum officium suscipiendum cumque fidelium bono baud parvo obeundum. Qua ropter, de sententia venerabilium fratrum Nostrorum S.R.E. Cardinalium, qui Sacrae Congregationi pro Episcopis praesunt, deque supreina Nostra potestatc Te nominamus Episcopum Sedis Boronganensis, datis iuribus impositisque obligationibus congruis. Maiori autem commoditati tuac consulentes Tibi permittinius potestatem, ubivis a quolibet Episcopo recipiendae consecrationis, cui duo alii assistant ciusdem ordinis viri, sintque omnes sinceris fidei vinculis Nobiscuni coniuncti. Antea tamen tuutn erit ritualem catholicae fidei professioncm facere iusque iurandum iuraxe fidelitatis erga Nos et Successores Nostros, teste aliquo sacro Praesule, et ipso Apostolicam Sedem sincere eolente, formulasque ad S. Congregationem pro Episcopis mittere, de more signatas. atque sigillo imprests. Mandamus praeterea ut hae Litterae Nostrae pubiice in cathedrali Boronganensi templo clero ac populo legantur, quos quidem hortamur ut non solum Te venientem libenti enim accipynt, verum etiam ut revereantur Tibiquc pareant. ut amantissimos filios decet. Quas denique, dilecte fili, gentium Apostolus discipulorum carissimo, easdem Tibi Tecum mente recogitandas adhortationes proponimus: - “depositum custodi, devitans profanas vocum novit.ates: 1 Tim., 6, 20 Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum, die sexto et vicesimo mensis februarii, anno Domini millesimo nongentesimo octavo, Pontificatij*- Nostri quinto. -- F.T. — Aloisius Card. Traglia S.R.E. Cancellarius Franciscus Tinello, Regens f Josephus Rossi, Epus. Palmyren. Proton. Apost. Euoenius Sevi, Proton. Apost. Expcaita die XX Mar. anno Pontif. V In Cane. Ap. tab. Vol. CXXVII N. 28 MOST REV. FRANCISCO CRUCES PAUI.US EP1SCOPUS SERVUS SERVORUM DEI dilecto filio FRANCISCO CRUCES e dioecesi Laoagensi Sacerdoti, electo Episcopo titulo Tambeaensi atque Auxiliari sacri Praesulis Lingayensis-Dagupanensis. salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Qui novos caelos exspectamus et terras novas - cf. Is., 65,17—, in quibus e tenebris in lucem emersi homines maerores omnes deponant, vitamque vivant interminatam, interim tamen sollemne habemus, et religiosum, et sanctum ea omnia turn Ipsi agere, turn facienda curare, quae christiano populo, maxime si antiquae fidei ac religionis fundamento insigni, commoda majora ac militates afferant. Quam ob rein, cum venerabilis Frater Marianus Madriaga, Arciepiscopus Lingayensis-Dagupanensis, negotiorum explicandorum gratia, viro adiutore egeret, bene arbitrati sutnus Te, dilecte fili, tanto oneri destinari, qui ingenio, pietate, usu rerum cum niteres, spem certain faceres Te esse quam diligentissime banc causam suscepturum. Consilio ergo petito a venerabilibus fratribus Nostris S.R.E. Cardinaiibus Sacrac Congregation!pro Episcopis praepositis, de Nostra apostolica auctoritate Te simul Episcopum titulo TAMBEAENSEM placet nominari, quae Sedes vacabat ex quo vencrabilis frater Petrus Aguilera Narbona supremum diem obiit. simul Auxiliarem creari venerabilis Praesulis, cuius mentionem fccimus, datis iuribus oneribus impositis quae similibus Episcopis fieri solent. Id etiam Tibi oneri erit. ut antequam Episcopus consecreris, turn fidei professionem facias, turn ius iurandum fidelitatis erga Nos et banc Apostolicam Sedcrn iurcs. teste quidcm aliquo Episcopo qui sit cum hac beatissima Petri Cathedra fidei vinculis coniunctus. De qua re documenta cxar«ri curabis, quae, sinceris cxemplis. ad Sacram Congregationem pro Episcopis cito mittcre. His actis, tunc consccrari Episcopus poteris, ut his gentium, a quo vis sacro Antistite, item Nobis vinculis caritatis obligato. Ceteruin, dilecte filli, si, ad beatissimi Augustini scntentiam, pascerc grcgem. est documentum amor is: cf. In Jo. 15-17 .iain, age populum tuum. pro tua parte, bene satis pasce: doctrina, amore, exemplo, ceterisque quibus fides vera gliscit, ceu alita flamma. Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum. die altero aprilis, anno Domini millesimo nongentesimo sexagesimo octavo. Pontificatus Nostri quinto. —FT.— Aloisius Card. Trh'nglt S.R.E. Cancellarius Franciscus Tinello, Ragens Eugenius Sevi, Proton. Apost. Josephus Massimi. Proton. Apo-:. Expedita die XVIII Maii anno Pontif. V In Cane. Ap. tab. Vol. CXXVII N. 61 PHILIPPINE MARRIAGE RITUAL CELEBRATION OF MATRIMONY WITHOUT MASS 1. Solemn Entrance of the Bridal Couple (optional) The marriage rile fittingly begins with the solemn entrance of the bride and the bridegroom. If circumstances allow, the priest vest­ ed in surplice or alb>, stole and cope (both white), preceded by the crossbearer, the candlebearers, and the server carrying holy water, meets the couple al the entrance door of the church. He greets them with a few kind words (for instance, the words of the allocution un­ der. n. 2 whigb may be placed here. In this case the Liturgy of the IV ord begins immediately after the procession), and sprinkles them with holy water. Then the priest with the acolytes leads the couple and their at­ tendants to the sanctuary where they take their respective places. All appearance of theatrical show must be avoided. Psalm 127, or 21 or IQ-.ZA or 44:1-4 and 11-14, or an Entrance Hymn is sung by the congregation or played on the organ. Bridal march music of profane character is prohibited. If there is no entrance procession, the priest comes from the sacristy, kneels in front of the altar for a moment of silent prayer and meets the couple at their kneelers. All stand including the bride and bridegroom. 2. Allocution The priest addresses the con- Dearly beloved, N. and N., you ple<s>: are here today to seal your love with an eternal bond before the 537 Church. I assure you of the prayers of our community that God mav pour His abundant blessings and help you to carry out the duties of the married state. The priest addresses the coni- And you, dear brethren, may I mtinity: ask you to help them with your prayers and accept them as a new couple in our Christian community. 3. Liturgy of the Word d) (OPTIONAL) Gen 1:26-28 or 2:21-24 or Is 61:10-11 and 62:3. b) Eph 5:22123 or 1 Cor 7:2-10 or 6:1510; 1 Pet 3:1-9 c) (OPTIONAL) Intermediary chant K.». one of the Psalms mentioned in n. 1. e) Homily (or exhortation). . Addressing the couple: May I now ask you to answer truthfully the following ques­ tions: 4. Scrutiny Priest (to the bride): N., Did you come here of your own free will to bind yourself for ever in the love and service of your husband? Pride: Yes, Father. Priest: (to the bridegroom) N., Did you come here of your own free will to bind yourself for ever in the love and service of your wife? 538 Groom: Yes, Father. Are you both ready to raise .good Christians the childt.f whom God will give vou? Both: Yes. Father. Note: 1. This last question is omitted if both are advanced in age. 2. If more than one cou­ ple, the questions are asked only once and all answer to­ gether. 5. Exchange of Consent Priest: (to the couple) They join their right hands: First, the priest asks the bride: Bride: N. and N. Since you wish t contract holy matrimony, plea-, join your right hands and e press your intention before Ge2 and His Church. N., do you take N. here pt. sent, for vour lawful husband cording to the rite of our he Mother, the Church? Yes, I do. Priest: Bride: Do vou give yourself to him a his wife? Yes. I do. 539 Priest : Do you accept him as your law­ ful husband? Bride: Yes, I do. Then the priest asks the bride- N., do you take N. here present, groom: for your lawul wife according to the rite of our holy Mother, the Church? Groom: Yes. I do. Priest : Do you give yourself to her as her husband? Groom: Yes, I do. Priest : Groom: Priest : (In ease of validation, the second and third questions are optional.1 The coupie (s) says together n ith the priest (or after him* Do you accept her as your law­ ful wife? Yes, I do. Now, please say together (or after) me: Grant us, O Lord / to be one heart and one soul / from this day forward / for better, for worse / for richer, for poorer / in sickness and in health / un­ til death do us part. (II more than one couple, this prayer is said together by allJ 540 6. Confirmation of the Marriage Bond (to be said only once if more And I, by the authority of the than one couple) Church, calling on all those pre­ sent here as witnesses, confirm and bless the bond of marriage which you have contracted. In the name of the Father, and of the Son r and of the Holy Spirit. All: Amen 7. Blessing of the Arrhae and Rings (to be said only once if more than one couple) A server brings the plate with the arrhae and the rings. Priest : (N. and N.), we shall now bless your arrhae and rings. Priest: The Lord be with you. All: And with your spirit. Priest : Let us pray: Bless + O Lord, Your servants (N. and N.) with sufficiency of material posses­ sions which these arrhae sym­ bolize so that they may use them to attain eternal life. Through Christ our Lord. All: Amen. 541 Priest : Let us pray: Bless + O Lord, these rings so that your servants (N. and N.) who wear them may ever live in mutual love and in unbroken loyalty. Through Christ our Lord. All: Amen. Then the priest sprinkles the arrhae and the rings with holy water. Even though the rings and ar­ rhae are used in other weddings and therefore have already been blessed, the blessings are not on that account to be omitted. They are intended for the contracting parties rather than for the ob­ jects blessed. 8. Giving of the Wedding Rings and the Arrhae The priest picks up the wedding rings from the tray and says: The groom takes the bride's ring from the priest and puts it on the bride's ring finger, saying after the priest: Now give these rings to one an­ other and say after me: N., wear this ring/ as a sign of my love and loyalty. / In the name of the Father/ and of the Son/ and of the Holy Spirit. 542 Then the bride takes the groom’s ring from the priest and puts it on the groom’s ring finger say­ ing after the priest: N., wear this ring/ as a sign of my love and loyalty./ In the name of the Father/ and of the Son/ and of the Holy Spirit. It is a very old custom in the Philippines to have the wedding rings of the groom and the bride on the ring finger of the right hand. The groom takes the arrhae in both hands; the bride places her cupped hands under those of the groom. The groom lets the pledges fall int<f~her hands, say­ ing after the priest: The bride, accepting the arrhae, says after the priest: The bride places the arrhae on the tray held by a server. I give you these arrhae/ as a pledge of my dedication/ to your welfare./ In the name of the Fa­ ther/ and of the Son/ and of the Holy Spirit. And I accept them. 9. Prayers of the Faithful Priest : Dearly beloved, let us now pray for the Church and for our new­ ly wedded couple whose mar­ riage reflects her union with Christ. 543 Leader: All: This answer may be replaced by any of the approved formulas (see Twenty Five Prayers of the Faithful.) Leader: All: Leader: (JI more than one couple) All: Leader: All: Leader: All: For the Holy Church spread over the world, for its leaders and for the rulers of our nation, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, graciously hear us. For the poor and the sick and all those in trial and affliction, let uj pray to the Lord. Lord, graciously hear us. For N. and N. that He may keep their hearts united forever let us pray to the Lord. (For our newly wedded couples that. . . ) Lord, graciously hear us. That He may protect them from evil, lighten their burdens and fortify them in their trials, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, graciously hear us. That He may stir up the grace of the sacrament in all the mar­ ried couples here present, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, graciously hear tis. 544 Priest: Almighty, eternal God, look down with favor upon your servants. Grant them to remain faithful to You and to one another. At the end of a long and well-spent life, reward them with eternal happi­ ness together with their children and with all those who love them, through Christ our Lord. All: Amen. 10. The Nuptial Blessing Non two candles are lit, one at the right and one at the left side of the couple. Then friends of the couple lay a-white veil on the shoulders of the husband and the head of the wife; if preferred, the veil of the bride may be laid across the husband’s shoulders. Besides, if desired, and where it is the custom, a cord, called yugal, is placed in the form of an 8 over the shoulders of both; this is a symbol of the burdens of ma­ trimony now to be carried by hus­ band and wife in common. The priest addressing the couple says : Priest: Let us pray: Look down from heaven, Lord, on this union, and enrich it with your f blessings. Once you sent 545 to Tobias and Sara, the daughter of Raguel. Now, Lord, send your blessing upon this husband and this wife, so that they may con­ tinue in yo.ur grace, be faithful r your will, and live in your love. Through Christ our Lord. All: Amen. With his hands elevated and ex­ tended above (the server hold­ ing the book), the priest says: Priest: May the Lord God almighty bless you abundantly, and may you see your children’s children to the third and fourth generations, and may you have the long life that will fulfill vour desires. Through Christ our Lord. All: Amen. 11. The Sevenfold Blessing Still holding his hands elevated extended over the spouses to bless them, the priest says, all r:~pond­ ing: Priest: May God bless you by the Word of His mouth. All: Amen. Priest: May He unite your hearts in en­ during bond of pure love. All: Amen. 546 The following bles<ing is omitted if the spouse* are too old to ex­ pect children. Priest: May you be blessed in your chil­ dren, and may the love that you lavish on them be returned, a hundredfold. All: Amen. Priest: May the peace of Chrisr dwell always in your hearts and in your home; may you have true friends to stand by you, both in joy and in sorrow. All: Amen. Priest : May you be readv with help and consolation for all those who come to you in need; and may the blessing promised to the compas­ sionate descend in abundance on your house. All: Amen. Priest : May you be blessed in your work and eniov its fru'ts. May cares never cause you distress, nor the desire for earrhiv possessions lead you as*ray; but may your hearts’ concern be Jwavs for the treasures laid up for you in the life of heaven. All: Amen. 547 Priest: And with his hands joined: All: \ow the long veil and the yugal are remined by friends of the couple. May the Lord grant you .ullness of years, so that you may reap the harvest of a good life and af­ ter you have served Him with lo­ yalty in His kingdom on earth, may He take you up into His eternal dominions in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, Who lives and reigns with Him in the unitv of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen. Conclusion The pr:c<t -prinkles the couple with holy water and adds: Priest: (N. and N.). Now that vou have received the blessing of our Mo­ ther, the Church, I admonish you to remain faithful to one another. Husband, love your wife as Christ loves His Church and live toge­ ther in the holy fear of the '.ord. The newlyweds and the witnesses sign the documents preferably be­ fore the recessional. THE PRIEST IN OUR DAY This is an excerpt from the joint Pastoral Letter of USA Bishops “The Church in our day” issued last November, 1967. The Relevance of the Priestly Life On the pastoral level, there are three especially grave problems which we see confronting priests. The first of these is sometimes said to be disturbing doubt con cerning the worth of their lives. It is painful when one, for what ever reason, is'laced with doubt concerning the meaning of the careet he has chosen. This is a present pain for countless parents, married couples, religious and persons following other special vocations; it must especially afflict, nowadays, many in the armed forces. In the case of the priest assailed bv such misgiving there are probably two reasons why his anxiety mav today be so acute. One is the sudden review of doc­ trine and discipline occasioned by the council. This may have left some priests, who are teachers and shepherds of their communities, somehow less secure in their message and with themselves. Here time and the patience to arrive at understanding through study and priestly experience will help. The priest who surmounts the problems and redeems the promises of aggiomamento will find that Church doctrine has been enriched thereby and the service of the Church made more meaningful. He discovers, moreover, that the priest is needed today more than ever before, more needed liturgically in the worship of the people he serves, more needed apostolically in the market place, more needed intellectually in the forum and on the campus, more needed prophetically in the Church and in the world. In every case (and here is the point) he is more, not less needed. . . 549 A second reason why misgiving among some priests may be acute in an age of automation is perhaps the prevailing norms by which people generally appear to measure the worth and meaning of modern lives. The priestly ministry cannot be made meaningful in terms of the technological categories we tend to prize here in the United States. Nor can the priesthood be made relevant in terms of any purely hu­ manistic categories such as are widely exalted in Western civilization. Christ’s acceptance of the crucifixion, for example, was hardly a “hu­ manistic” approach to the problem of the human condition. Moreover, the Church speaking for Christ, often makes demands which conflict with purely humanistic norms and contradict merely terrestrial human­ ism. Among these demands we might include religious poverty and chastity, celibacy and obedience, penance, and even worship itself. All these, viewed in the positive premises of the renunciations they require, serve not to diminish the person but to help accomplish in him free­ dom and resurrection into new life. . . Loneliness A second problem which confronts priests is loneliness. This pro­ blem is not peculiar to the priesthood. Any loneliness in the priest can hardly be seen as unique to his vocation. No one knows better than the priest the loneliness of the aged, the imprisoned, those un­ married despite their preference, the exiled, the abandoned, the dedi­ cated who have renounced consolation to pursue art. science or the service of neighbor. However, mindful precisely of priests, the Council speaks of the “bitter loneliness”, and even of the “seeming sterility of the past la­ bors” which priests may sometimes experience. Pope Paul also cautions that “loneliness will weigh heavily on the priest” (Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, 59). But it is well to keep certain realities in mind when there is consideration of the loneliness involved in the human condition; even more, it is bound up with the vocation of the Christian always a pil­ grim and stranger on the face of the earth. We are not yet, in the fullest sense of the word, “home”; we have not here a lasting dwelling­ place and ours is the unrest of those who seek a city. Nor do we yet so completely experience the effects of redemption that estrangement 550 from God, from one another, and even from our true selves is no longer to be feared. Married or single, religious or lay, priest or people, all must come to terms with loneliness. Often the sustaining of loneliness results in human and Christian maturity, making us aware of our limitations and of our need for one another. “Christ, too, in the most tragic hours of His life was alone—abandoned by the very one He had chosen as. .. witnesses. . .and companions. .. and whom He had loved unto the end” (Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, 59) . . . “And if hostility, lack of confidence and the indifference of his fellowmen make his solitude quite painful, (a priest) will thus be able to share, with dramatic charity the very experience of Christ, as an apostle who is not above him, by whom he has been sent...” (Sacer­ dotalis Caelibatus, 59). In an age perhaps overly given to introspection, personal problems are intensified by the disposition to concentrate on them. A priest who loses himself in his apostolate, serving God’s people, particularly the poor and tbe neglected, in imitation of his Master will find that much of his loneliness disappears. The loneliness which remains is a small price to pay for a vocation whose sacredness and consolations can hardly be exaggerated. In spite of any problems of the priesthood, there is no greater joy than that which accompanies the work of the dedicated priest, no calling more literally divine than his. In moments of isolation, priests, no matter how great their fears, will recall the words which sustained Christ in His greater loneliness: “I am not alone, fot the Father is with me” (John 16:32)... There is an essential difference between priest and people no mat­ ter how much the heart of the priest identifies with his people. In a dramatic and altogether decisive manner, the ordained priest is a man of rhe Church; he becomes the sign of the Church as no other Chris­ tian does, he gives expression in his priesthood to special ministries of Jesus Christ, the sole High Priest. His ultimate responsibility is not alone to his people, great though his duties to them, nor is it to him­ self nor to any priestly caste; his responsibility is to God, by whom he has been called, as Aaron was, to a mission apart from that of the 551 unordained and yet within the community of God’s people, a mission to which he is called and ordered by those appointed bv God to rule his Church. Truth itself as well as pastoral solicitude will require a priest, in encouraging the laity in an appreciation of their vocation, not to do so at the price of destroying confidence in his own priesthood. The historic development in the Council of the doctrine of the priesthood of the laity should prove a blessing to all the Church; the fruits of that blessing could be diminished, even lost, if the heightened aware­ ness of the general priesthood in the Church lowered, even momentarily, a true appreciation of the necessary roles of the particular vocation special to the priest called apart and ordained for men in the things that pertain to God. Many of us think we see an unfortunate eclipse of the clear and separate status of ordained priesthood; this is not good for priests nor for the laitv, nor for the Church nor for the world that the Church serves through its diversity of ministries. . . Whatever emphasizes the intimate brotherhood of priests, of which the Council speaks, and the tie to their Bishop, as a result of which “they make him present in a certain sense in the individual local con­ gregations and take upon themselves as far as thev arc able, his duties and the burden of his care" (Lumen Gentium, 28), gives firm founda­ tion to the needed theology of the priesthood and direction to a new priestly spirituality. We commend to priests in parishes, seminaries, and religious communities the recommendations of the recent “Ins­ truction on Eucharistic Worship” (May 25, 196"7) with respect to the concelebrated Mass and a fresh appreciation of the common life to be shared bv priests in rectories and religious houses: these should be made truly homelike by the fraternal spirit derived from Christ Him­ self who dwells with them. Pointedly and urgently, Pope Paul calls upon the laitv to “feel responsible for the virtue of those of their brothers who have under­ taken the mission of serving them in the priesthood for the salvation of their souls” (Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, 96). We understand something of the premises to this pointed admoni­ tion, for such it is, of the Holy Father. One consideration was suggested by Rosmini well over a century ago: The people of God produce their clergy and their clergy are therefore a reflection of the spiritual excel­ lence expected by the people from whom they come. Furthermore, a thing would better manifest the readiness of the laity to assume their mature place in the life of the Church and warrant the confidence that the Church will profit from consultation of their minds and hearts than the evidence that they recognize the special reasons for priestly virtue and their own responsibility toward the development of that virtue in word and deed. Special Witness of Religious Though we have spoken directly of the priesthood, many of the things we have said apply with equal validity to religious. Without the public witness to the counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience which religious vow, without their generous example of community life, the Church would be sorely impoverished. The religious life should serve constantly to remind us of what the Church is. Religious manifests to us the beauty and the discipline harmonized in the Christian Life, a beauty that does not neglect the sinful human condition nor the real­ ity of death, yet a discipline which is never so severe that it overlooks the redeemed status of the human condition or the inevitability of resurrection. Religious likewise give us a striking sign of the eschatolo­ gical dimension of the Church; they remind us of the pilgrim road we all travel and of the values by which we shall live in the Promised land. The verv presence of religious in the world is a consolation. It is also a salutary rebuke to any of us who may be tempted to make our Christian vocation an easy or a worldly endeavor. The presence among us of religious is a preaching of the Gospel to the laity and the priest­ hood alike: in our country this preaching has been notably confirmed by the titanic work of teaching, hospital service, care of other people’s children, mercv to the aged and pioneering in social work accomplished by Catholic Sisters and Brothers who, usually anonymous and too often unthanked, have borne a professional as well as religious witness of un­ paralleled heroism, holiness and achievement.. . DOCTRINAL SECTION THE PRIEST IN THE CHANGING CHURCH • L. Legaspi, op. Introduction At the period before the promulgation of the Decree on the Mi­ nistry and Life of the Priest — December 7, 1965—there were consi­ derably tense reactions against the Council from the part of the priests. It was pointed out that Vatican II had gone to great trouble to up­ grade" the episcopal office, giving it a chapter in the Constitution on the Church and then a whole decree to itself. The status of the lay­ man was enhanced by a new theological evaluation in the fourth chap­ ter of Lumen Gentium, in the decree on the Lav Apostolate and Pas­ toral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today. The Coun­ cil seemed to be losing sight of the priests, who begun to feel neg iccted or even superfluous in the new scheme of things. And so jokes went around about the bishops having qualms of conscience after so much pleading of their own cause. To show the priests of the world that they had not been forgotten, in spite of all the attention focused on themselves, the bishops worked on the project of a special message to be addressed to the priesthood. Whether this was what really prodded the Council fathers to add­ ress the priests in a more special way, is not at all very important. But that the Council—considering the present set-up of the Church and the world—should really address the priests of our days, this goes without saying. For in fact it would be difficult to go far in any task 554 of renewal of the Church or her relations with the world, without being brought face to face with the position and function of the priests in the Church’s life. This point precisely is the topic of this article. What is the chai lenging picture drawn to us by Vatican II of how priestly life should be lived today in the pastoral ministry, under the actual conditions of modern society? What is the image of the priest according to Vatican H’s documents? In a very profound sense, there is nothing ‘new' in this picture of the priest of today as drawn to us by the conciliar documents. The general lines of the Church’s teachings on the priesthood were already clearly formulated in her authoritative statements, especially in those of the Council of Trent. The Church’s ideal of the priestly life had al­ ways been in the forefront of her thoughts, and had been re-stated clearly and persistently in recent times in the great encyclicals on the priesthood by Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII and further spelled out in a continuous series of exhortations to the Catholic clergy.1 It would be a pity, however, if the priests failed to grasp that the Council is delineating to us the image of a priest very different from what was customarily offered to us. To some extent the difference may be one of emphasis, but emphasis is enormously important. In this attempt to capture the real image of the priest of today as envisioned by Vatican II, we shall make use of principally although net exclusively, five conciliar documents: the Constitution on the Li­ turgy", the Constitution on the Church, the Church in the World of Today, the decree on Bishops, the decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests. The Method we shall follow will be something like this: go through each of these five documents chronologically and point out the salient ’ One may consult the collection of papal documents on priests in Msgr. Veuillot’s The Catholic Priesthood, tr. by Fr. John O’Flyn. Gill. Dublin 1957, 1964. -We shall use this abbreviations: CC, the Constitution on the Church; CL, the Liturgy; CCWT, Constitution on the Church in the World of Today. DB, The Decree on Bishops; DMLP, the Degree on the Ministry and Life of Priests. 555 and new perspectives on the catholic priesthood. Then using the con­ clusions drawn from these documents, enumerate what special qualities in addition to his traditional character and outlook the post-conciliar priest is expected to have if he is to fulfill the expectations of the Vatican Council II. THE PRIEST IN THE CONSTITUTION ON THE LITURGY The priest is a member of a college surrounding the bishop: this is the first great statement about the priests in the first conciliar do­ cument. The bishop is the high priest of the flock. The pastor takes the place of the bishop in a parish. The most dramatic manifestation of this union takes place when the bishop celebrates the Eucharistic sacrifice in a single prayer, at one altar, at which the bishop presides surrounded by his college of priests and by his ministers.3 3 Arts, 41. 42. What is really new in this outlook? Certainly not the idea. For it is already found in the ceremony of ordination of a priest and was the favorite topic of the Apostolic Fathers. What is really new is the re-emphasis. For a long time since the rapid spread of Christianity this idea lost ground, and was slowly relegated into the background. It was only lately that it was once more presented in the foreground. The second new insight which can be gleaned from the liturgy constitution is that of the priest as president of the assembly of the faithful, charged, in the bishop’s name, with the task cf proclaiming the Word of God to them and leading in prayer. His duty is to lead the people to an ever fuller understanding of the rite in which they are taking part and a more active and intelligent participation in it. The priest’s preaching ministry receives,a new emphasis correspond­ ing to the new importance attached to the place of the Word of God in liturgical celebration. THE PRIESTS IN THE CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH To say that the Constitution on the Church is the central pro­ nouncement of the Council sounds nowadays almost like an old fa­ vorite tunc. With something like unanimity it has been hailed as the 556 most momentous achievement of the Council both because of the im­ portant contents and because of its central place among the Council documents. The other constitutions, decrees and declarations for the most part deal either with particular sections of the Church or with particular activities, or with the relationship of the Church to outside groups, or with the sources of the Church’s doctrine or with the rela­ tions of the Church and civil society. Something like that can be said with the Council’s treatment of the priesthood. The decree on priestly formation, which is an ex­ cellent summary of the ideals to be striven for in the preparation of seminarians for the threefold tasks of teaching, sanctifying and shep­ herding the People of God, can scarcely be said to add anything to the picture of the priest that has already taken shape in the Constitu­ tion on the Church. What does the Constitution say about the new priests? The Priest is treated in two distinct contexts in the Constitution: first in the chapter on the hierarchical structure of the Church and se­ condly in the chapter on the universal vocation to holiness. The former is in chapter III, while the latter is in chapter V of the Constitution. The Second Vatican Council will go down in history as the one which supplemented the ecclesiological teaching of the I Vatican Council on Episcopacy. In the course of chapter III, the Council lays down two particularly important doctrines: the episcopate is a sacrament, the fulness of the sacrament of Order; and the bishops of the Church with the Pope form a college in succession to the apostles, as shepherds of the universal Church. Both doctrines have some importance in the Constitution’s distinct approach to the position of the priests. Let us’ quote from the Constitution: “They (the bishops) have legitimately handed on to different individuals in the Church various degrees of participation in the ministry. . . Priests, although they do not possess the highest degree of the pontificate, and although they are dependent on the bishops in the exercise of their power, neverthe­ less are united with the bishops in sacerdotal dignity”'. Now, if the bishop’s priesthood is the fulness of Order, the priesthood of the pres' Art. 28. 557 byter or simple priest is a lesser, though real participation in Christ's sacerdotal ministry. In other words, the bishop and priest have a par­ ticipated priesthood in as much as their priesthood is a participation in that of Christ Who is the unique priest of the New Law. Christ’s priesthood then was given in its fullness to the bishop, and this was shared by him with his presbyters to the extent to which it is needed by them for the fulfillment of their particular function in the service of the Church. The second point is parallel to that of the idea of the priest being a member of the college whose head is the bishop, as laid down in the constitution liturgy. However, there is a marked distinction. While in the liturgy constitution the emphasis is liturgical, here it goes beyond merely liturgical context. The constitution on the Church teaches that the bond between the priests and the bishops and between the members of the presbyterium itself is one of mutual charity and of cooperation in the service of the community. What are the consequences of this special bond between the bishop and the priests? First, in relation to the bishop, the priests, ‘associated with their bishop in a spirit of trust and generosity make him present in a certain sense in the individual local congregations, and take upon themselves a part of his duties and burden.’1' ■Art. 28. 11 Ibidem. ' Ibidem. Second, the bishop, the father; the priestly body, the co-workers. Because bishop and priests share the same priesthood, the priests should look at their bishop as their father and reverently obey him. The bishop for his part is to look at the members of his priestly body ‘as his co­ workers and as sons and friends, just as Christ called his disciples not servants but friends’1. Because the basis of this union is charity and because of their common interest, the bishop is expected to listen to his priests more attentively, more than in fact to his other subjects. Thirdly, the priests among themselves should be bound together * 11 558 by ties of brotherhood which they must honor by helping each other in every possible way spiritually and even materially. Fourthly, the priests should be to the laity as fathers and shep­ herds, at once leading them and serving them, making of them a local community which will deserve to be called a Church of God. There must be a two-way dialogue between the laity and the priests? Chapter V of the Constitution on the Church establishes the point that there is only one holiness, but it expresses itself in the many ‘forms and walks of life.’ One’s particular calling in life enters also into one’s calling to holiness. The priests, like the bishop, whose priesthood they share, will achieve their response to God’s call to holiness in the exercise of their ministry. They ‘should grow daily in love of God and their neighbor by the exercise of their office.’" They can hope to grow in holiness by their mutual charity, the witness of their priestly lives, their prayer and sacrifice, their apostolic action nourished by contemp­ lation, their dedication to their own community and the universal Church and their bishop."’ THE PRIESTS AND THE DECREE ON BISHOPS The decrees on rhe Pastoral function of Bishops in the Church re-states and in some cases develops the teachings of the liturgy con­ stitution and of that on the Church. First of all it recognizes the place, presbyterium or body of priests in the pastoral task of the bishop: the diocese is a ‘portion of the People of God which is entrusted to a bishop to be shepherded with the co­ operation of the priestly body.’11 ”Art. 37. ’’Art. 41. 1,1 Ibidem. 11 An. 16. As regards the duties of the bishop to the priests, it says that the bishop should regard his priests as ‘sons and friends.’ This he should put into action by being always prepared to listen to their advice with confidence and admit them into an intimate part in promoting the en­ tire pastoral work of the whole diocese. There is even an explicit re- * 11 559 Terence to the bishop inviting his priests to discussion especially of pastoral problems not merely when occasion arises but if necessary at fixed times. Correlative to this, are the duties of the priests of his diocese. Obedience of the diocesan priests to their bishop, their mutual-coopera­ tion, care of the faithful, admission of the laity into their rightful share in the Church’s apostolate, pastoral visitation and care of the youth, of the poor, the sick, and the workers are among the points em­ phasized in this decree. THE PRIESTS IN THE DECREE ON MINISTRY AND LIFE OF PRIESTS The main interest of this decree and its real positive fruit lies in the strong emphasis laid on the priest’s duty of preaching in contrast to his function in the cult, in the more organic view of the priestly of­ fice in relation to the people of God, in the orientation of the priest­ hood to the pastoral needs of the faithful, and in view of priestly re­ lations. The description of the priest as minister of the Word' is particu­ larly impressive: "Toward all men, therefore priests have the duty of sharing the gospel truth in which they themselves rejoice in the Lord. .. the task of priests is not to teach their own wisdom but God’s Word, and to summon all men urgently to conversion and to holiness.”12 In the present set-up of today’s society, the priest will most certainly find it difficult to preach in terms which will move his hearers in the best way. And yet he must try not to confine; his exposition of the Word of God to the general and the abstract; he must apply the eternal truth of the Gospel to the circumstances of modern life.1. Another impressive element is the call to priests to lead the faith­ ful to true Christian maturity. ‘Since priests are educators in the faith, lhev and their helpers must encourage the faithful to follow out their vocation, to exercise a sincere and active love, and to attain the free­ dom with which Christ has made us free. Ceremonies no matter how '-’Art. 4. “Art. 5. 560 beautiful, and confraternities, no matter how flourishing, will be of little help, if they do not educate Christian men in gaining Christian ma­ turity.’13 '1 Art. 3. '•Art. 15. "'Art. 16. 17 Art. 17. But the most striking part of the decree is the inducement given to establish a strictly priestly spirituality stemming from the active exer­ cise of the ministry, that is, from pastoral work. Here the decree gives a new insight in this field. Here the decree modifies the monastic spirituality of withdrawal from the world. A start is made with res­ toring to the priest the full religious consciousness of his function, so that he can find the fulfillment of his vocation in the exercise of his mission. Another perspective of this priestly spirituality is found in the decree’s emphasis on this point: that the priest’s spirituality is found in the exercise of this ministry as the continuation in the world of today of Christ’s complete submission to the Father’s will." Thus it finds a basis for the priest’s obedience that is not inconsistent with the initiative demanded by his care of souls in the new and difficult situation of today.'" It makes the priest’s celibacy not a mere discipline suggested by the needs of the Church, but a sign to be joyfully accepted of the continued presence of Christ in the world and a pledge of the final redemption of all things in him.1" And it combines an appre­ ciation of the highest ideal of life in the twentieth century when it faces the practical difficulties of the exercise of Christian poverty on the part of priest, by its demands for adequate provision for the sup­ port of the clergy and their care in old age and infirmity.1' These are the contours of the image of the new priest as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council. Let us now, by way of summariza­ tion, enumerate the special qualities which the post-conciliar priest must have. Picture to yourselves the new priest reflecting on himself; first of all he will be conscious of his close relationship with the Church of * 17 561 Christ. He will realise that the real reason for his presence in the world is to build up the Body of Christ, to strive for that glory of God which will be achieved when ‘men consciously, freely, and grate­ fully accept God’s plans as complete in Christ and manifest it in theit whole life.’18 Therefore he will think of himself and of his mission not merely as a local function circumscribed by narrow juridical bounds but as a generous and mature responsibility which looks primarily in­ deed to the welfare of the flock entrusted to him but does not stop there. Not only the whole diocese but the world is his mission-field and he will try to become conscious himself and to make his local com­ munity conscious of the existence, the thinking and the needs of the universal Church. DMLP, Art. 2. Next he will reconsider his relations with his bishop. His special task in the building up of Christ’s Body in the world derives from his status as a co-worker of the bishop. Now this demands reverence and obedience to the bishop, but a reverence and obedience that will ac­ quire a new meaning and dimension from a new consciousness of the lead of the priest and bishop as co-workers. Priests today, somewhat exaggeratedly, but not without considerable truth, think of themselves as ‘second class clergymen,’ They play a de­ cisive and commanding role in very few areas of their life, but a de­ cided and commanded role in many of them. There is still in fact, if not de hire a division of the clergy into ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ category, giving the lower clergy the impression that their function in the Church is that of a subject whose only prerogative is to carry out the decisions that come from above. Typically, the ‘lower’ clergy is administered from a central authority, establishing a relation between bishop and priests that bears all the hallmarks of secular administrative officialdom schematic and impersonal, with a cheerless, mechanical handling of ‘cause and cases’ according to the prescribed regulations. One sign of it is the generally preferred written character of communications which alone marks off a wide zone of no-man’s-land between the bishop and priests, hence the emphasis on the idea of ‘co-workers’ is I think verv timely. If this is followed, we can hope that this will eventually lead 562 to more room for dialogue between the bishops and priests and for an initiative on the part of the priest that would be more concerned with the needs of the People of God than with the niceties of hierarchical precedence of the personal ambitions, pretensions, or sensitivities of the holders of ecclesiastical office. Then the reflecting priest will next turn to his other companions— the other priest with whom he forms what the Council terms as the presbyterium, and their relations as a body to the Bishop. It does seem to open up fresh possibilities in the attitude of diocesan clergy in their approach to pastoral problems. By giving opportunity for all voices ol the clergy to be heard in the sharing of diocesan policy and bridging the gap between generations, it could prevent the sort of stagnation of outlook and the digging in of clerical thinking in the so-called tradi­ tional positions and policies that were so much a characteristic of the past. The post-conciliar priest will not look anymore for perfection in some sort of attempt at an imitation of the monastic life or try to find the necessary unity and harmony of his pastoral life “merely by an outward arrangement of the works of the ministry or by the practice of spiritual exercise alone?’* The monastic spirituality of withdrawal from the world is hard enough to put in practice in the case of active reli­ gious orders. It is even more difficult for the secular priest for it estranges him from the world in which he is to work and serve. Of course this does not mean to say that spiritual exercises like mental prayer and spiritual reading, etc. will have no more place in the life of a new priest; this will be a disastrous thing. What I think is meant by the Council is that all these spiritual exercises must now be done by the new priest not as something like intervals snatched from the distractions of pastoral work. Rather they are enriched by this work of teaching, sanctifying and ruling the People of God: while these tasks in their turn will be the overflow of the spiritual power of the priest's soul which the Council calls ‘pastoral charity’, and which is drawn from close contact with the Christian mystery, especially in the Eucharist. In brief, the priests of the future will have learned from '"DMLP. Art. 14. 563 Vatican II a new insight into his spirituality: namely that his pastoral life is at once the source and the fruit of his life of prayer: ‘It is through the sacred actions they perform everyday as through their whole ministry which they exercise in union with the bishop and their fellow-priests that they are set on the right course to perfection of life; while on the other hand, ‘the very holiness of priests is of greatest benefit for the fruitful fulfillment of their ministry.’’" Within the context of this priestly spirituality, the priest who was the object of Vatican Il’s study must reflect on his celibacy with a deeper and new insight. For him, whatever doubts may have been cast on the wisdom of the law of celibacy, whatever suggestions made and from whatever motives, that it was outmoded, must disappear be­ fore the council's reiteration of the spiritual meaning of perfect con­ tinence in the life of the priest. The post-Vatican priest will draw new courage and enthusiasm from the assurance that it is not merely a personal sacrifice but has relevance for his particular state of life as being ‘at once a sign cf pastoral charity and an incentive to it, as well as being in a special way a source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world.’’1 Everywhere that the priest’s ministry is described the first duty to be mentioned is always that of preaching the Word of God, an­ nouncing the Gospel, teaching the People of God by various methods. Quite obviously this will demand of the priests a new outlook on the place of the Word of God in his own life, in the life of his people and in the whole mission of the Church to mankind. What exactly are the consequences of this new outlook in concrete practice, it would be just difficult to say at this stage, but j,t will certainly be a factor of considerable importance in the life and the mission of the future priests. As a corollary of the preceding consideration, the priests of to­ morrow will be much more aware of the role of study in his life. Now that he is much more aware of the intellectual ferment going on in the Church as she faces the new challenges of modern thought and modern scientific discovery and now more aware than before of his duty to keep in touch both with the Church's and the world’s thinking Ibidem, Art. 12. Jl Ibidem. Art. 16. 564 there will be no room for the distorted idea that the hours spent at the study of his religion are a waste of the pastoral priest’s time: “Since in our times human culture and the sacred sciences are making new advances priests are urged to develop their knowledge of divine and human affairs, aptly and uninterruptedly. In this way they will prepare themselves more appropriately to undertake discussion with their contemporaries.’■J First of all the clergy must never consider themselves as men apart in the sense of not having to live as brothers with other men, or constitute some kind of superior class. The difference between priests and other members of Christ’s Body is one of function, not of rank. The fourth chapter of the Constitution on the Church goes a long way towards dispelling any statement on the contrary. It reminds us of the constant teaching of the Church concerning the equality and bro­ therhood of all the People of God both laity and clergy, and of their universal vocation to holiness. And it says further that while ‘a certain number are appointed by Christ as teachers, stewards of the mysteries and pastors for.the sake of others, yet all are on a truly equal footing with regard to the building of Christ’s Body.’" And in the decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests: “Priests in common with all who have been reborn in the font of baptism are brothers among brothers as members of the same Body of Christ which all are commanded to build up.’JI What about the classical question about the relationship which should obtain between the laity and their pastors? The new priest from now on should be aware that the laity have to receive the spiritual goods of the Church from them, especially sound doctrine and the sacraments/ ’ Pastors must recognize and promote the dignity and res­ ponsibility of the laity. They should as advised, depend upon them, and encourage their initiative.'9 They should be attentive to their pro­ jects, suggestions, and desires, and manifest a genuine solicitude for --Ibidem, Art. 19. - • CC, Art. 32. DMLP, Art. 9. CC, Art. 37. -G Ibidem. 565 the value of human liberty. At the same time, the laity should confi­ dently make known their needs and desires to their pastors. Indeed, if in virtue of their special qualifications they have something to say con­ cerning the welfare of the Church they are obliged ‘in a spirit of sin­ cerity, courage and prudence combined with a respectful charity to­ wards the men who sustain the role of Christ by reason of their sacred office’/7 to express their opinion. There is a great deal of food for thought in this account of the right relationship between laity and pastors. In effect, it is an appeal for an adult responsible Christianity, and it illustrates that such Christianity is operative only where there is both a mature clergy and a mature laity. For in the ultimate analysis it is the priests who have the obligation of creating bv their ministry a mature Christian community, equipped to carry out its Christian vo­ cation and responsibilities implied in a serious acceptance of the Chris­ tian precept of charity in its two fold aspect of love of God and the neighbour.->s The new priest should be then more aware of the importance of this two-way dialogue which he should carry with the faithful. Since there is something quite holy about this process of communication, it should be carried out in spirit of reverence and charity, carefully avoid­ ing anv suggestion of sensationalism, exhibitionism, or supercilliousness. The dialogue must be carried on in a spirit of deep concern for the welfare of the Church. The main point which both the new priest .'’.nd the laity should bear in mind in this dialogue is: if clericalism and suspicion of the laity are occupational hazards of the clergy, which should be avoided at all times, it is also true that laicism and anti-cle­ ricalism arc equally insidious occupational hazards of the laity, and should be likewise avoided with equal determination. CONCLUSION It has been said that Vatican II will go down in history as the one which published the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and especially, as the council which declared (without defin-’ Ibidem. -'Ibid., Art. 6. 566 ing it) that the collegiality of the bishops is the authentic and solemn teaching of the Catholic Church. And to this we have no quarrel. Only we should like to make this observation. This is quite true in the doctrinal plane: but in the practical pastoral plane I think what ulti­ mately will determine the success or failure of the implementation of the Conciliar decrees will rest in a very large extent on this fact: whe­ ther the priests will live up to the expectation of the Vatican II as they are pictured in her documents. Because on the main, the real burden of the pastoral ministry is shouldered by the priests. To para­ phrase the remark of one of the Council Fathers in an early session, the ancient dictum of the Church may have been that ‘nothing ought to be done without bishops,’ but the fact of the matter is that nowadays nothing can be done in the Church without the priests! For this simple reason the success of the post-conciliar era largely depends on how the priests live up to the challenging image presented to them by the Council. All these things obviously imply a good deal of re-thinking of traditional attitudes. It will demand much courage combined with pru­ dence as well as a considerable amount of effort and hard work both from the part of the priests themselves, and most particularly from the part of the bishops. This is the great challenge that the Council has given to the post-conciliar priests. SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY • Antonio Tobias During an informal dialogue of assistants, the subject of priests’ salary—inevitably—comes into the spotlight: a matter I plan to discuss in this paper under the general title of Support of the Clergy. To talk on this is surely our right, provided our remarks and criticism, if any, be geared towards a constructive action: to find a common solution to a common problem. Some amount of empathy, however, and a certain cool-headedness is needed for a wise and intelligent discussion on the matter. Hence, let us from the outset remember that we did not be­ come priests for lucrative gains by profession but for a service tc others by consecration. This does not mean a refusal of temporal things but some use for a certain purpose. Up to what degree? That is pre­ cisely the question. I — What the Council Says' Vatican II does not specify the amount of recompense a priest should receive for the discharge of his duties. That’s up to the bishop or for the Episcopal Conference to decide. What the Council rather does is to give general principles that would serve as a guidance in setting up norms by which a decent upkeep can be truly provided for. The first norm actually is a reminder to the faithful of their obligation to support their priests, for it is in their behalf that priests labour. Then the Council squarely brings out the principle of income equality for priests working in the same circumstances considering their office. It 1 The Documents of Vatican II. Walter M. Abbot. S.J.. The America Press, New York. pp. 568-574. 568 seems this standardization of salaries would affect not only the clergy in the lowest rank but even the highest gamut of officialdom in a diocese. From what the Church asks us to do with our money we could more or less guess the minimum wage for clerics: “Without prejudice to parti­ cular laws, priests and bishops should devote primarily to their decent livelihood and to the fulfillment of the duties of their proper state and benefice which they receive when they exercise some church office. What remains beyond that, they should devote to the goods of the Church or to works of charity. . . It should also allow them to make suitable to those who dedicate themselves to the service of the priests. It should also enable them to make some kind of personal assistance to the needy. Moreover this recompense should be such as to allow priests a requisite and sufficient vacation each year.” This decent livelihood (the latin honestd sustentatio) refers to the means needed for a better discharge of our duties. It either enhances the personality as books do or enable us to do the maximum work as a car does. An honesta sustentalio, I believe, should include all these except when these technical aids to our ministry would be provided for from the funds of a parish or a diocese. In the latter case which would perhaps be a better policy to show that all these have a functional value, not just for luxury, the monthlv salary of an average priest would then obviously be smaller. It is further recommended by the Council that a common fund for the sustentation of priests be instituted in the diocese to be administered by the bishop with the help of priest-delegates and, when useful, of lay experts in finance. Also Episcopal Conferences are enjoined to see to it that under the vigilance of the hierarchy sufficient provision is made for an appropriate program of preventive medicine and so-called health benefits, and for the necessary support of priests burdened by infirmity, ill health or old age. But let us make an honest and sincere reappraisal of the actual situation. II — What the Actual Situation It I just wonder how many of our people realize their obligation to support the clergy. In most of the parishes though their income is 569 mainly due to the offerings of the faithful. Yet one wonders whether cur own parishioners who come for baptism or marriage in our parish ever think of support of the priest when they pay the bill. Instead of support, they think in terms of quid pro quo. Then there is the patent riches of the Church! It is said that 60% of the total investment in Italy is owned by the Vatican. People know what hacienda belongs to the Church, how much stocks and shares we have ar San Miguel. In such an enormity of wealth, how can they be convinced to help one who needs no help? It is amazing how great is the inequity in priests' finances. In a recent survey" made in Washington Archdiocese, it has been found that ever a two-month period a priest from a Suburban area gets a total of $245.00 givnig him a monthly average of $122.50, while a priest in an inner-city area gets a total of $39.00 giving him a monthly average of 19.50. The reason for this difference is simply because one benefice is better than the other. That is why the Council wishes that “henceforth the benefice system be abolished or at least it should be reformed in such a way that the beneficiary aspect, that is, the right to revenue accruing to an endowed office, will be treated as secondary and the main consideration in law will be accorded to the ecclesiastical office itself.” The benefice system is a remnant of medieval feudalism and it is precisely in this feudal setting that temptation to favoritism and poli­ ticking is so common in the Church. It is not so much the amount received as the method of paying priests that is quite dissatisfying. Under cur system, an assistant is too much at the mercy of his parish priest’s generosity as to his salary. A parish priest receives 2/3 of the monthly income that is fluctuating from month to month and from parish to parish. Aside from what they get as assistant or pastor, they still have other hidden income coming from other sources as stipends, stole fees, and tips. Not being a single flat sum, it is very difficult to compute what a priest earns monthly. This system creates a number of abuses such as the cafeteria high Masses - Priests' Equity Fund — An Experiment in Justice, George F. Spellman, H. P. R., March 1967, pp. 507-508. 570 just to get P25.00 stipend and other on-the-side clerical promotion schemes like Father’s Day Collection so that Father can take a vacation or fancy anniversary celebration so that Father can go abroad. (3) One of the things our Archdiocese can boast of is our Mutual del Clero. Founded by His Eminence in 1957, it is surely one of the first of its kind and, far all intent and purpose, a very laudable pro­ ject, no doubt in line with the thinking of the Council. However, I notice that more and more of the members are withdrawing from it or at least have ceased to pay their fees. One complaint I heard was that they don’t receive enough for what they give. Against the critics of the Mutual. I think the privilege is better than none. Besides its very purpose is to give mutual assistance charity to brother-priests in time of sickness and charity in that situation never asks for equality but rather gives till it hurts. The Mutual is not a Life or an Accident Insurance but a help to needy priests. Ill Conclusion by way of some suggestions We have reviewed the situation with the sincerity of a critic. Now let us build it up with the realism of a humble subject by the follow­ ing suggestions: 1) The obligation for the faithful to support the clergy would be manifested in a much more evangelical way by voluntary offering than by fixed prices in the Arancel. Of course, this system without a spirit­ ual orientation and a constant education of the faithful would no doubt lower the parish income especially at the beginning. But at least in this way the sacraments would cease to appear like merchandise and the Church would return to the pristine beauty of spiritual poverty. When the Apostles administered the sacraments, they asked for faith, not fianza. 2) Human nature, being what it is, comparative income does have a significant influence in creating unhealthy attitude towards the paro ■’The Priests’ Salary, C. Walter Weiss, H. P. R. (Nov. 1964, pp. 134135.) 571 chial ministry. Good, plum, rural, and inner-city are adjective which in­ dicate sizable income or just getting by, according to one’s assignment. Since the mission of Christ is one, similar remuneration should be pro­ vided for similar ministries. It frequently happens that a priest working in an indigent area has unusual charitable demands placed on him. He should not be unnecessarily burdened or financially penalized because of his assignment. On the other hand, neither should the affluence of one’s environment determine the extraordinary income some priests en­ joy. 3) To achieve equality the income of all priests should be deter­ mined by a graduated salary scale based upon the number of years a priest has served the diocese. A newly ordained priest would receive a salary of say ?3,600.00 a year regardless of his assignment. Annually he would receive an increase until a fixed maximum peak would be reached. This plan would negate the deceit now practiced by quoting as salary only P60.00 while saying nothing about fees and stipends. This would scuttle the question of our good people "‘How could Fa­ ther live on so little?” 4) Another solution towards equity would be to put all the in­ come of priests within a diocese in one common fund and divide it in some equitable wav. The income to be handed should include all fees derived from ministrations common to priests, exempting only the special income derived from professional skill like teaching, writing, retreat, and lectures. 5) The plea has never been for “more money”. In fact, equal dis­ tribution might sometimes amount to a lowering of what we used to receive. As a remedy we could perhaps accept the solution of a Sunday priest or a part-time minister, proposed by Msgr. Ivan Illicit in an ar­ ticle that appeared in The Critic. With the emergence of a St. Paul type of priests, the Church will finally free itself from the restrictive system of benefices. More importantly, the Church will have abandoned the complex series of services which have resulted in the minister be­ coming an artificial appendix to established social functions. Today, a man supports himself by working a job in the world, not by perform­ ing a role in the hierarchy. It is certainly not contrary to the purposes 572 of Canon Law to consider professional ability or earned social security as a sufficient sign of independence for ordination and the ministry.1 1 The Vanishing Clergyman, Msgr. Ivan Ilich, The Critic, June-July 1967, pp. 8-27. •’ Clerical Retirement, John McCarthy, H. P. R. Dec. 1966, pp. 197-206. 6) Also with regards to social security for advancing age, the pleas should not be for more. As a matter of fact, church personnel in general enjoy remarkable privileges. Ecclesiastical employees live in comfortable church-owned housing, are assured preferential treatment in church-operated health services, are mostly trained in ecclesiastical edu­ cational institutions and are buried in hallowed grounds—after which they are prayed for. Every teen-ager who seeks employment among the clergy is almost automatically guaranteed a status which confers a va­ riety of personal and social benefits. Yet it still remains true that re­ tirement should be encouraged at a definite age (say 75 according to the Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae of Oct. 11, 1966). But probably nothing will elicit a stronger reaction from a priest in his early seventies than the idea of being put away in an old folks’ home. A better solu­ tion might be to place them not in a diocesan institution but in a pri­ vate home (like a residential hotel catering to a specialized clientele) with a substantial pension, a certain freedom of movement and a status symbol as a small compensation to those who may feel pushed out or otherwise unwanted.'’ This is a plea for just a little bit more in behalf of those who stick it out till the very end—for some to the point of heroism. A DAY OF PARISH RENEWAL A PACKAGE-PLAN FOR THE BUSY PARISH PRIEST • FR. EDWARD TENNANT, S.V.D., S.T.L. Professor of Theology and Homiletics Vigan Major Seminary Pastors ever since Vatican II have been faced with the heavy burden of bringing their parishioners up to date with the countless changes in the Church. Since most parish priests in the Philippines are overworked even without this added burden, they have little time for planning or developing programs geared to the re-education of their people. For this reason I would like to share with you the results of a small but very successful experiment held in St. Peter’s Parish of Pamplona, Cagayan. THE EXPERIMENT The experiment consisted of “A Day of Parish Renewal”. It was made up of a four-hour program, carefully planned so that the short time could be used to maximum effect. The aims were three: (1) to provide an annual “retreat" for the people, (?) to heighten awareness of our Christian community and (3) to acquaint parishioners with the language and aims of Vatican II and thus interest them in a deeper self-study of the council documents. A Saturday afternoon was chosen as the most ideal time to stage the renewal, again for three reasons: (0 it was the time when the great­ 574 est number of people could attend, (2) it was a time the parish priest could manage and (3) those who attended could at the same time fulfill their Sunday obligation. The short “retreat” was suggested by the Knights of Columbus. They sponsored it and did much to assure its smooth operation. Weeks before the actual date announcements were made at Sunday Mass and invitations were extended to all parishioners. Teen-agers and students were also expressly invited. Many of them actually took part even though another day of renewal geared to their own level was alreadv in the planning stage. Elementary school children were expressly excluded to leave more room for adults and to avoid needless distractions. In any case the activities were beyond their comprehension. To make the afternoon more inviting, the actual program was posted at the entrance of the church weeks in advance. This announcing of a definite program helped make the day of renewal both realistic and pro­ mising. At the same time it aroused enough curiosity to keep the people interested until the program was over. Since the greatest amount of work and planning went into the pro­ gram, it is this which will save much time for the busy priest who might like to use or adapt it. Therefore, first I shall present the program as it appeared on the bulletin board. Then I shall offer some practical, behind-the-scene stage directions for the priest. These small but important hints were gathered from the experience of the day. They will help assure the smooth operation of the tightly packed, but well varied pro­ gram. POINTS TO REMEMBER Solemn Enthronement of the Bible. After the bells have called the faithful to church and thev have taken their places, the afternoon opens with a solemn procession and enthronement of the Bible on the main altar between two lighted candles. The procession is led by two servers with incense boat and thurible. Since it is unwieldly to have the whole congregation join the pro­ cession, a representative group, well prepared, will make a more solemn 575 and dignified impression. In our case, since the Knights of Columbus sponsored the afternoon, they marched in procession behind the lead servers. Two more servers with lighted candles flanked the priest carry­ ing an impressive edition of the Holy Bible. (The Jerusalem Bible is highly recommended for its clarity and readability as well as for its impressive format.) When the procession returns to the sanctuary, the non-servers take their places in reserved pews in the front. Meanwhile the Bible is enthroned on the main altar and solemnly incensed. During the proces­ sion a joyful hymn is sung, preferably one in which all can join. An opening prayer is then said before the Bible. This prayer will depend on the season and on the exact theme of the afternoon. For out purposes we found ideal a prayer from “The Spirit of Renewal,” in Scripture Services (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville), p. 112. After short invocations by the priest the people can be invited to respond, “Spirit of God, fill us with your life,” or something similarly short. In this way the faithful are actively and spontaneously engaged in the prayer without need for lengthy instruction or prayer books. At the end of the prayer the priest brings the Bible solemnly to the ambo and reads the chosen selection. The passage will depend on the theme of the homily chosen by the celebrant. In appendix we will give the readings selected as well as the homilies preached. When the homily is finished it is necessary to make a few announce­ ments to the congregation: 1. Remind them to drop any questions about Church renewal or any other topic in the box provided at the rear of the church. Slips of paper and a ball pen (preferably on a string!) should also be handy. In our day of renewal so many interesting questions were asked about even the simplest things that the Dialogue at 5:00 p.m. turned out to be highly interesting. But they should jot down their questions right away, espe­ cially those aroused by the homily just preached. The slips will allow people to ask questions that have been puzzling them without their identity becoming known. 576 2. Remind them that spiritual reading is available at the back of church. Though there will be little time for reading, it is hoped that the people will take some literature home and accustom themselves ro reading the Catholic press. Back issues of magazines like New City, Mission World, Home Life can usually be obtained free from publishers as means of promoting their magazines. This is also an excellent oppor­ tunity for the parish priest to clean out the convention! The ideas to provide this literature was parked by finding stacks of back issues of the Sodality Digest, old pamphlets, etc. cluttering office. The peoples were happy to get them and I was happy to get rid of them! 3. If confessions were not completed between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m., confession will again be available before Mass. It will be ideal if another priest will be available to help wich this task during the afternoon. 4. Finally, remind them to stretch their legs before the Community Eucharistic Sacrifice which begins in so-and-so many minutes. This helps to freshen their minds for the next event and provides a convivial com­ munity spirit. A bell will be rung to call them in for Mass. Community Eucharistic Sacrifice. If there is only one priest in a provincial parish, he can cancel the early morning Mass in the centro and avail of the morning opportunity to say Mass in a barrio. The peo­ ple should be informed at least a week before from the pulpit and by a notice on the bulletin board. After the homily, once again a few reminders: 1. The possibility of fulfilling the Sunday Mass obligation if the renewal is held Saturday afternoon . 2. Since the first homily dealt with “God’s People” and stressed that we are a people “on pilgrimage”, the people were requested to come down the main aisle for Communion, at random, and receive Holy Com­ munion, two by two, standing. Since the Philippine Bishops’ directive to receive Communion kneeling is followed faithfully throughout the year, this single instance can have the force of a powerful living parable of the “parish on pilgrimage” (like the Jews of old wandering in the desert and eating manna for their food). 577 Permission can easily be obtained for this exception, or if time does not pennit, it can easily be presumed since when Holy Communion is received from the chalice, it is even obligatory to stand.' 3. Since many will be wondering what “agape” means, the next event on the program, a two-minute explanation would be in order. Tell the people simply that in the early Church, as at the Last Suppier, Holy Communion was often received at a common “love-banquet.” A family is most closely knit at meal time. In order, therefore, to deepen the meaning of receiving Christ together, all present at the Mass should enjoy a light merienda together. In our case the snack consisted of pineapple punch and filled sand­ wiches. The Catholic women gladly took care of the preparation. Over 250 people were fed at a cost of roughly P55.00 It was explained that the offering at Mass (collecta) would go into a common fund to provide the merienda for all. In this way everyone present gave according to his means and everyone felt equallv welcome at the table. The brief word of explanation helped raise the collection to P25.00, four times the average amount given at Sunday Mass. A donation of P20.00 helped defray expenses and the balance of P10.00 was paid by the Knights of Columbus. After the Mass this joyful little gathering will be heartily received by the parishioners. It gives them a chance to rest, recuperate, com­ ment on the renewal, laugh, joke, express their brother and get their blood circulating for the next item on the program. Dialogue. During the renewal I reminded the listeners twice to jot down any questions about the church they might like answered. A good twenty questions turned up. Several weie similar, but most were questions of depth that opened my eves to some of the things that perplex my people, while I have been answering questions that perhaps did not bother them at all! The half-hour merienda break gives the priest a chance to get a bite himself and sift through the questions handed in. It will be helpful 1 Cf. Runs Cl sub utraque specie (Rome, March 7, 1965). 578 to arrange the questions according to topics, then put the more important topics on top of the pile. This preview of the questions lets the priest gather a few ideas together so that the answers will be orderly and satisfying. If the Agape goes a little overtime, it will make little difference. It is better to wait till it has run its course, then ring the bell for the Dialo­ gue. It will be a refreshing change of pace to keep the dialogue quite informal. Perhaps stand near the entrance to the sanctuary, clad in sottana only, in order to have closer contact with the people. Many of the questions can be answered in a vein of light humor. This is always possible when you can ride on the suspense provided by a batch of anonymous questions! The element of humor was absolutely necessary in our case. Just as we began, a group of politicians moved into the plaza outside the church and their amplifier was several watts stronger than mine! Never­ theless the people showed keen interest in the questions and answers. So much so that I decided to drop a third homily that had originally been scheduled and instead spend the full time with Dialogue. The third homily was planned in case there were no questions. There will be plenty. The Dialogue is a very important part of the program. It provides not only a mental relief after three hours of intense concentration, but it also gives the parish priest a chance to solve problems perplexing many of his parishioners. Watch carefully for signs of common restlessness. Then if you still have questions on hand, end the dialogue with the promise of answer­ ing them in talks at a future date. Then retire to the sacristy to prepare for the Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. During benediction a brief, appropriate closing prayer can be said to tie together the main thoughts of the afternoon. At this stage of the program, the emphasis is on brief! 579 SUMMING UP The people of Pamplona seemed to be genuinely moved by the renewal. In a small town like ours it had the added attraction of being the biggest social event of many months. This might account for some of the interest. But surely the Bible Service, the fresh approach to the Mass, the Agape and the Dialogue drew and held the people on merits of their own. Many parishioners went out of their way to show their gratitude for the experience. Some commented, “If only we had known it would be so nice, we would have convinced many others to come." Well, they can do that next year. In spite of the limitations involved in introducing something almost completely new, we managed to fill about three-fourths of cur church with roughly 300 people at the outset. After the Mass, we lost most of the teen-agers to the jazz music blaring in the plaza, as could be expected! Since from a human standpoint the day was so successful for a small poblacion of 1500 people, and since several fellow priests have asked for copies of the program, I would like to make it available to others. It is my hope that it will help lighten the load of their long working-day and help them to bring Christ ever deeper into the hearts of their people. PASTORAL SECTION HOMILETICS • D. Tither, C.SS.R. Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost (1 Sept.) “Fit as to obtain what you promise, by making us love “what you command” (collect) Good Catholic people come to Mass on Sundays and Holidays to wor­ ship God, their heavenly Father. They come to offer a gift to Him and the gift they offer is a most excellent one—the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Indeed, if they offer the Mass intelligently, they will offer to God not only the Body of Christ, but also themselves. Together with Christ they would offer to their heavenly Father their bodies and souls, their work, their trials, their- anxieties, their everyday lives. But is this the only reason why God our Father summons us to Mass on Sunday? Many seem to think it is. But the Church has told us quite clearly that it is not. We also come to Mass to listen to the Word of God. It is a tremendous privilege to join Christ in offering sacrifice to God our Father -so tremendous that we might think listening to God’s word is not very important. But the Second Vatican Council has told us clearly that it is important to listen to God’s word at Mass. It is just as important as offering sacrifice to God. At Mass God speaks to us in the Epistle, the Gospel, the Sermon. We come to Mass to listen to Him. The Church tells us that these two things—listening to God’s words and offering sacrifice to God form together one and the same act of worship. St. Augustine said: “The word of the Lord is no less important than the Body of Christ.” And St. John Vianney said that those who come too late to Mass miss some or even all of God’s word in the scripture readings and sermon. If they do this deliberately, this is much the same as missing Mass altogether on Sunday. For when they miss Mass altogether they despise the sacrifice of the Lord. But if they come late, they despise God’s word. 581 And God is present in His word, just as truly as He is present on the altar in the later part of the Mass. He is present in a different way in His word, but He is truly present. We read in the Old Testament how God’s people came together wor­ ship God at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read to them the Word of God. When he finished reading the peo­ ple said: “All that the Lord has said we will heed and do.” Then the people offered sacrifice to God and Moses took some of the blood of the victims. He sprinkled the blood on the Book containing God’s Word and on the people. While so doing lie said: “This is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of His.” We are the new People of God—God’s people in the new covenant. In the Mass we offer God in sacrifice not the blood of goats and calves but the Blood of Christ His Son. Before we offer this sacrifice, God speaks to us in the readings and sermon. This is His Word. Like the People of G°d in the Old Covenant we are supposed to listen intently to God’s Word and respond: “All that the Lord has said we will heed and do.” Then we offer to God the Body and Blood of Christ in sacrifice. Faith comes to us by hearing especially by hearing the Word of God. The Holy Scripture that is read to us at Mass is the Word of God. God says in the Scripture: “Just as from the Heavens the rain comes down watering the earth and making it fertile, giving seed to him that sows and bread to him that eats, so shall be My Word that comes forth from My mouth.” God’s Word to us is something alive, says St. Paul; it is full of energy. Through His Word God really speaks to me. God encourages us to read His word, but above all to listen to it when He speaks to us at Mass. The scripture readings and the sermon are really Ciod's Word. Through them God is really speaking to us. Therefore, we should reverence the Word' of God that is read to us at each Mass. We should show our reverence first of all by being at Mass on time—by being in good time to hear the scripture readings and sermon. To come late deliberately not only distracts others who are trying to listen to Clod’s Word, but shows that we don’t care about God’s Word. And this is irreverent. Secondly, when God speaks to you in the readings and the sermon, listen! Don’t fumble with rosary beads, don’t be saying your own private prayers—listen! God is really speaking to you. -He has something to say to you! Listen to Him attentively! God opened our ears at baptism to listen to His Word. We come to Mass not only to offer sacrifice to God—but equally to listen to His World. 582 Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Sept. 8) We’ve gathered here this morning to join Christ our Brother in of­ fering to His Father and ours, the sacrifice of the Mass. The instinct to offer sacrifice a gift that tells of our dependence on God, is as old as the human race. Men have always and everywhere felt the need to offer a victim to God, to adore Him because He made us and we belong to Him, to make up for sin, to ask for favours, and especially to thank Him. The word ‘palay’ means pa-alav, the thank-offering at harvest time, of pre-Chris­ tian Filipinos to Bathala. Until Christ came, there was no sacrifice worthy of God, not even the elaborate system of sacrifices He had revealed to His chosen people. The Prophet Malachias made that clear. He said, in God’s Name, to the Jewish priests: ’“I have no pleasure in you, and I will not receive a gift from your hand." Then he foretold the Mass, the sacrifice we are offering now. "For from the rising of the sun till the going down, My Name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice and there is offered to Mv Name a clean oblation.’’ Then Christ came, the one Priest really acceptable to His Father, the one Victim truly worthy of Him. His offering was His life-time of obe­ dience, summed up in His Passion, and God’s acceptance of it in His glori­ fication. Now, He’d come for. all men and all times. So, the night before He died, at His Last Supper, He left us the Mass to re-enact, re-present that sacrifice, recalling all He’d done, making it available here and now, and fore­ telling its final application when He returns to lead us Home to the Father. On Calvary. He was alone—in the Mass all of us, His brothers and sisters, are associated with Him. It is the whole Christ, Head and members, who offers the Mass. Nothing is more important for us than to realize this that we are co-offerers of the sacrifice. What do we do when we offer sacrifice. We say something by an ac­ tion, and what we say is that we recognize the majesty and supreme domi­ nion of God, our total dependence on Him. We say that we belong to God, not just now at the time of Mass, but throughout the whole week, till we gather again next Sunday, to renew our offering. The Mass is a sum­ ming up of our life, a reminder, week by week, that our whole life is meant to be a life dedicated with Christ to God—that all we do, all we suffer is to be offered to God with Christ. Our Lord compressed all He did and suffered into His final offering— with us, the process is reversed. We are meant to unfold in our lives, from 583 one Mass to the next, what we said to God by the action of offering Mass. “The Mass is ended, go in peace,” does not mean: “Hurry off, and for­ get all about sacrifice till next Sunday;” it means: “Go, and put into practice what you have said to God by offering Mass.” Let your every ac­ tion, till your next Mass, be such a dying to self and a living to God in Christ, as to be a fitting renewal of what you’ve just done." If we understood it rightly, our joining in the offering of Mass is more or less a mockery, more or less a deliberate lie, unless we are trying to live like Christ, to have His attitude to His Father, to love His approach to money, power and pleasure. This is why the Church wants us to join in the offering of Mass, at least every Sunday, and if possible, whenever we can, on weekdays. Because ever so many things conspire to try and force us to live, not like Christ, deny­ ing ourselves, but like Adam, giving in to our evil tendencies. The Mass is not just a reminder of how we should live, it gives us the strength to carry out the program. This is particularly true when we achieve communion with Christ, and with one another in Christ, at every Mass. It’s the food for the journey. A sailor had received Viaticum and said: “rm now ready for the journey. Nothing to be feared of now. The pilot is on board.” May Our Lady—it’s her birthday today, help us to put meaning into our Mass, and let the Mass put meaning unto our lives. Fifthteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Sept. 15) “Through Him, with Him, in Him, i» to You, 0 Almighty, Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory, for ever and ever.” Ajpen. — (Canon.) Today, instead of a formal sermon, let's start with a quiz. Here’s a question. Why are we here at Mass? Whom, among the three Divine Per­ sons, did we principally intend to honour when we came to the Church today? I know you won’t shout your answer in Church, so we’ll have a show of hands. Hands up those who think it is principally the Holy Spirit whom we honour at Mass... The Son, the Second Person?... None, eh? Wonderful, excel­ lent, you’re all correct. It is God the Father whom we principally honour and adore at Mass. We come to unite ourselves with Christ our Brother, who will come on the altar, in honouring our mutual Father, and that in a bond created by the Holy Spirit. 584 This should sound familiar. The conclusion of the prayers at Mass: “We ask this O Father through Jesus Christ, Your Son and Our Lord, Who is living and ruling with You in the bond of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. God’s plan for returning us to Himself is summed up here. We come from the Father—He made us and put us in the world—we’re on our way back to the Father, through the Son, in that unity, with one another and with the Holy Trinity Itself, brought about by the Holy Spirit. Listen to what St. Paul says of this Divine Plan: “The Father destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, as a plan to unite all things in Him. In Him we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, he is the guarantee of our inheritance until we take possession of it." The Trinity is not just an abstract truth we believe about God—it is a way of life—to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. You must have noticed that the prayers at Mass are directed to God the Father. The Offertory, the Canon, the Communion part of the Mass all begin by addressing God the Father. The Community prayer, prayer over the gifts and the thanksgiving prayer after the sacred Meal are almost all addressed to the Father. The Preface, even the very consecration, the remem­ brance of all Our Lord did, all are addressed to the Father. And at the cul­ mination of the Canon, when the Body and Blood of Christ are raised up, the accompanying prayer sums up the purpose of Mass. Through Him.... glory forever and ever.” Our Amen here should be the most enthusiastic of all our responses at Mass. St. Jerome tells us that the Christians of his time shouted it so energetically that their voices reverberated round the churches like thunder. If we say ‘Amen’ we say we approve. This is not to say that we should not adore Christ. He is God, just as much as the Father. But He took a Body by which we contact the God head. This is what is emphasized at Mass—we unite ourselves with Him, in His humanity, in adoring our mutual Father. “In the bond of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ. It was the Holy Spirit who acted in Christ. It was He who led Jesus into the desert, and filled Him with courage on the Cross. When the Church was born from the side of the Risen Lord, the Holy Spirit become its soul, its source of life. Not just to the living Church, but to each of us living in the Church, did the Holy Spirit come. It was in water and the Holy Spirit that we were reborn to the Divine Life. Our bodies became His living temples. He 585 gave us tile power to live God’s life in a human way. He is the ecstasy of love between the Father and the Son, so, for all that He is equal to the Father and the Son, we mention His Name last. But, in the sharing of God’s life with us, He was die First Person to be given. It is through Him that we come to know the Father and the Son more and more, it is He who makes us like Christ, if we place no obstacle. We’re reminded of all this at Mass. Don’t just believe it with your minds, feel it, realize it. Our offering of the Mass to the Father, with the Son, in the Holy Spirit, is a further stop in our pilgrimage. We’re not standing still, were on the march. It’s something vital, something dynamic, something we, God’s Family do together, as we proceed back to Our Father, along with the Son, in the bond created by the Holy Spirit. Today we recall the 7 sorrows of Mary. Ask her to obtain for us her faith in the Mass, the heart and soul of our religion. Sixteenth Sunday Aiter Pentecost (Sept. 22) “Then He took the man by the hand, and sent him awayhealed.” (Gospel) We see Our Lord here in a typical gesture—healing a sick man. All His life, Jesus had great sympathy for the sick and the dying—he worked many of His miracles for them. So much did He desire that this consolation should be available after His death, that He instituted a special Sacrament for the seriously ill. St. James tells us of this Sacrament. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him, up, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him,” (Jas. 5.14-15) This Sacrament is for all who, through sickness or a wound, or old age, are in danger of death. Its purpose is to give divine consolation when it’s needed most, in the stress and anxiety of death. For this last struggle, Our Lord has left us this special Sacrament—the Sacrament of the sick. Here the hand of Our Lord, just as we saw Him in today's Gospel, com­ forts the sick person, giving him what no human person can give—divine consolation. So, if any one you know has a dangerous illness—say altapresion, or T.B., or cancer, call a priest. Don’t postpone this till the person is actually 586 dying. Call the priest early, even if the danger is only remote. Then the sick person will profit in full from three sacraments, Confession, Viaticum and the Anointing of the sick, the limbering-up for the last journey. It is sad to see people delaying this Sacrament from a quite false idea that the patient will be scared or discouraged. There is great glee in Hell over such misguided notions—not only is the sick person deprived of the spiritual benefits of the Sacrament, maybe the last chance of recovery. How many sick, given up by the Doctors as hopeless, have got suddenly and completely well after this Sacrament, specially when the priest was called in good time. So far from discouraging the patient, Christ in this Sacra­ ment cases the burden of restlessness and distress, a new spirit of strength comes, and often a complete cure. What a horrible fallacy to think that the healing hand of Christ could cause dismay. The very opposite is true. How heartlessly cruel, how utterly failing in love to the sick person! You deprive him of the very thing he needs most—consolation. You keep Christ, die Divine Consoler the very best Healer, away from him. For the love of God, when you know anyone seriously ill, call the priest immediately. Even if a person appears already dead, call a priest anyway. So wonderful is this Sacrament that even if a man is unconscious, his sins will be forgiven it- he’d been sorry for them. So, specially in the case of an accident or sudden death, it’s still possible for the Sacrament to have this effect, since there’s no certainty as to the time of actual death. The Saviour gave us the Golden Rule; "Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” All of us want a happy and holy death. All of us would like to receive this Sacrament ourselves. We can take out in­ surance ' in the matter. Let’s have great charity for the :;k and the dying. Let’s not allow anyone near and dear to us to die without this divine con­ solation. And then we may confidently hope that we’ll have Christ’s com­ fort when we need it most, when not ail the doctors or all the medicines in the world will be able to help us. Recently a priest approached an old man, given up as helpless by the doctors. He asked would the old man like the Sacrament of the sick. The children and grandchildren were opposed—they had some fantastic idea that the Sacrament meant death. The old man, fortunately, disagreed with them, and placed his trust in the Holy Oils, as his best chance for recovery. Re­ cover he did, quickly and completely, to the amazement of doctors. H«rt of Jesus, once in agony, have pity on the dying. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. 587 Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (Sept. 29) MARRIAGE, A SHARE IN THE CREATIVE ACT “Conduct yourselves in a manner befitting the vocation you have received from God.” (Epistle.) The vocation mentioned in today's Epistle is the general call to all of us, baptized into one Body by the Holy Spirit to live as Christians, humble and kind. But, the word vocation also means the state of life in which God means us to live our Christian lives. When Our Saviour praised the sacrifice of those who renounced the good of marriage for the sake of something even better, He added that this was not for all, but only for those with a special vocation for it. Not all are called to be priests or nuns. The vocation of the majority He said, is marriage. Let us take a quick look at that vocation. It’s marriage that gives us families, it’s families that make a nation. A nation is as strong and as good as its individual families. If family life is healthy, a nation is healthy and vigorous. But, where home life de­ clines, a country is headed for disaster and ruin. Marriage is most sacred, because it is from God. The Bible tells us how, right from the beginning, God planned marriage. "It is not good that the man is alone, I will make him a helper like himself.” (Gen. 2.18) The climax of the account of creation tells how the first people were made male and female. “Male and female He created them." (Gen. 1.27) God created out of love. He graciously included men and women to continue His creative work, to share His creative powers. “Increase and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." Gen. 1.28. Here we see the dignity of marriage when a couple become God’s partners, co-creators as it were with God, in producing new life, that will become at Baptism a parti­ cipation in the very life of God. "Let marriage,” says God, “be held in honour by all.” (Heb. B.4) God could have chosen other ways of propagating the human race. We could all have been created simultaneously. But God, by His own decision depends on men and women coming together before new life begins. It is His plan that men and women should be drawn to one another in order to cooperate with Him in giving life to new citizens for Heaven. When Christ came. He raised marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament. It is unique among Sacraments in that the partners are themselves die ones who administer it to one another. The priest’s presence is essential, as the Church’s official witness. But the partners, by their consent, administer it 588 to one another. And everything they do throughout their lives together, as partners and as parents, is done in Christ and is holy. There is no question of married Christians making their*marriage holy. If they correspond with the grace of the Sacrament, every aspect of their life together make them holy, sanctifies tjiem. When we realize this, we see clearly what a monstrous crime sinful birth control is. When a. man and wife, loving one another deeply and unselfishly, realize that the purpose of their mutual love is to cooperate in the creative love of God, the very idea of thwarting this, standing in the way of God’s plan, is horrible. The salvation of a Christian man and woman, made one in Christ, comes from their living out every day and in every way their vocation, partners with God in begetting and bringing up children for God. “Take this child and bring it up for Me. And in the end, I will repay you.” It would be sad indeed if married Christians come to imagine that their love of God, their Christian lives, had nothing to do with their married love, their responsibility for their children, or the daily burdens and joys of family life. The exact opposite is the truth. Marriage is a Sacrament, it is the precise way to holiness for the married. Yes, marriage in all its aspects is a sacramental, a holy, a sanctifying way of life. Dear married Christians, it was God who first brought you together, it was He who implanted the attraction you felt for one another, it was He Who joined you in a union, a partnership with Himself, that makes you one till death. “Now they are not two, but one. What God has joined to­ gether, let no man. put asunder.-’ Yes, it was God who made you His partners, in bringing new lives into the world, and providing future citizens of Heaven. It is He who sanctifies you through this wonderful cooperation with Him in the act of creation. Ask the Blessed Mother, who was with Christ at the marriage in Cana, that your marriage also, in all its trials and problems, in all the self-sacrifice it calls for, be recorded in Heaven in those words: “There was a marriage. And the Mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited to the ma? riage.” DE COLORES YOU AND YOUR TEAM REUNION • Guillermo Tejon, O.P. In Yoh and Your Post-Cursillo we spoke briefly of the Team Re­ union. And we agreed that the Team Reunion is the most important means of perseverence in the Post-Cursillo. And that you need it... Unfortunately, the Team Reunion is something to which some cursillistas pay little attention. There are cursillistas who consider it useless. Some even dismiss it as an ostentatious show. These, I believe, are sufficient reasons to select the Team Reunion as our topic for today’s conversation. 1.—A Gathering of Friends. The Team Reunion is patterned after the reunions of the early Christians, who used to meet in private houses to pray together and help one another keep alive their fervour in the service of the Lord. The Team Reunion is a gathering of ■ friends. It is like a small club where friends meet. This is not only natural, but—what is more important!—superna­ tural frienship. The members of a team have one thing in common: a strong de­ termination to live up to the expectations of the Post-Cursillo! Thev are friends among themselves. And they are friends of and in Christ. . . Friendship..., love for one another..., and for God!... This is the basis of the Team Reunion... 590 The advantages that you, as a cursillista, can derive from this friendly gathering—the Team Reunion—are many. The Team Reunion provides you with an opportunity to give meaning to the motto of your life: Idealism, Surrender, Charity. . . The Team Reunion helps us realize that the salvation of many others depends on us, on our holiness, on our spiritual idealism. And, as a logical consequence, it invites us to surrender to the two guiding principles of the life of a cursillista: Personal Sanctification and Apos. tolate. It spurs us to improve ourselves and to work for the spiritual improvement of others. The Team Reunion increases our love for others. It makes us more understanding of their faults and less impatient with their shortcomings The Team Reunion teaches us in a practical way how to live out Christian Ideal.... It deepens our conviction that we are the Church, and that as such we are working together for the extension of the Church of Christ. In the Team Reunion the dogma of the Communion of Saints be­ comes a tangible reality. You work with other Christians, with other saints. .. They learn from your experience; and you learn from theirs. Working with others, we get rid of that human respect that so often makes us cowards in the service of God. How many times do we fail to do good simply because we are afraid of what others might think or say of us!.. . And there you are, in the Team Reunion, telling your brothers about your Christian life, about the good things you have done, about your failures!... With sincerity, with naturalness, without fear, without human respect... The example of the others is a powerful palanca for you. Can anybody who attends Team Reunions regularly and who is a witness to the wonders that the Grace of God works in the souls of others.. . fail to be impressed?...., continue to live in sin?..., to live without prayer?..., without idealism, surrender, charity?. . . The Team Reunion forces us to pay attention to the Service Sheet. 591 The fact that we have to report on it every week is a great incentive to keep it up...; if only out of shame!... Life in Grace explained to you the value of the daily examination of conscience. The Team Reunion is a most fruitful weekly examina­ tion of conscience!... The Team Reunion strengthens our determination to serve Christ. The “Thermometer of the Will” is perhaps low: I do not want to...; I cannot...— In the Team Reunion the example of the others, their prayers, their charity, their advice. . . will make us shake off our laziness, stand up and say: I can!...; 1 want to!...; will give us the courage we need to put our resolution into practice: / do!... If others can do it, why can’t I?. . . Am I not as much of a man as they are?. . . Very often all a man needs to become great, to become a hero, to become a saint... is the challenge thrown at him by the example of others. This challenge is thrown at you in the Teain Reunion!... The Team Reunion is a gathering of friends. Friends who are moved by the same spirit, who share the same ideals, who care for one another, who are ready to help one another... When one is low, the others try to raise him up. . . When one is up, he tries to bring the others to his level. .. This is not a contest. This is mutual help, a common effort.. . A mutual help that is given in all sincerity, in all humility... Without offending anybody, without hurting anybody, without making anybody feel that he is not as good as the others!. . . This is brotherly love!.. . This is Christianity in action!... Let us see how Bishop Hervas explains it. Quoting St. Francis of Sales, he writes on page 268 of the Leaders' Manual: The same Saint goes on to say that those who in this world embrace true virtue must join with each other in holy and sacred friendship through which they encourage, stimu­ late, and help each other to do good. And just as those who travel over rugged and slippery paths must grasp each other’s hand to make their wav safely, so also those who live in the 592 world need good friendship to reassure each other and to give mutual assistance along the many difficult paths that they must get over. Remember that you are a pilgrim on your way to your Father’s House; and that sometimes the way is rough and full of obstacle^. . You need the helping hand, the supporting shoulder, the encourage­ ment, the prayers.. . of friends.. . You will find all this in the Team Reunion.. . Finally, for us, cursillistas, the Team Reunion is a guarantee of perseverance in the Life in Grace and of success in the Apostolate. The Team Reunion, in the words of Bishop Hervas, is as important as the Cursillo itself, since it offers the key to the perseverance with which all are so concerned ( Questions and Problems, 330) It is a key that you cannot afford to throw away, because it is irreplaceable. It is said in the Leaders’ Manual, and is taught in the Cursillo, that the Group Reunion can replace many things in the maintenance of perseverance, but that “anything” is not able to replace the Group Reunion, since it is what nor­ mally actualizes and slimtdales the idealism, self-surrender and spirit of charity proper to the tone and style of the cursillistas (Questions and Problems, 329). In other words, the Team Reunion is a summary of the Cursillo. It helps you carry out your triple apostolate: with yourself, with the members of your team and with others. . . With yourself, because it increases your piety, your union with God, your sanctifying grace, your holiness... With the members of your team, because your spiritual life is a source of inspiration for your brothers, and your apostolic zeal an example for them to follow. . . With others, because the Team Reunion sustains you in your apos­ tolic vocation. It is the best way to make sure that your apostolic plan 593 of last week was carried out, and that you prepare another plan fot the next week... It is also the best way to make sure that the collective apostolate of the group is not forgotten... It is almost impossible to be faithful to our Team Reunion and un­ faithful to our Cursillo commitments!.. . The Team Reunion is a guarantee of perseverance and success, not only because of the Cursillo Method—with its many years of exper­ ience—, but also because of another—more reliable!—guarantor: God Himself!... For where I wo or three meet in my name, 1 shall be there with them (Mt.,18,20). You and your brothers meet in Christ's name. As your Service Sheet says: “We will have our Team Reunions in the name of Christ’’. If you pray and work together in Christ's name.. ., won’t Christ keep His promise?. . . / tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything al all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven (Mt.,18,19). 2.—Genuine Cursillo Team Reunion I hope that you agree with me that the Team Reunion brings about many spiritual benefits and blessings. But this is so only on condition that the Team Reunion is organized and conducted in accord­ ance with the spirit and rules of the Cursillo. In other words, on condition that it is a genuine Cursillo Team Reunion. In order to produce the wonderful results explained above, your Team Reunion must have the characteristics of an authentic Cursillo Team Reunion. Which are these characteristics?. . .—Let us mention the most important among them. a) Regularity.— Your Team Reunion must be held regularly once a week. Once a week is not too often; and not too far apart. . . A cursillista should be very slow in accepting reasons for sus­ 594 pending his Team Reunion. If, on account of some unavoidable and unexpected circumstances, the Team Reunion cannot be held at the appointed day, place or time, arrangements should be made to make up for the deficiency. If a member of the group is sick, the others can perhaps gather around his bed and have their Team Reunion there. This will bring a great spiritual consolation to your sick brother... And your elder brother, Christ, will be happy and grateful: / was. . . sick and you visited me... (Mt. 25,36). If you are far from home and the other members of your group, look around for an Ultreya, for brother cursillistas. You will be wel­ come. Meeting new brothers and holding a team reunion with them will be beneficial to you and to them... And if, by any chance, you cannot find anybody, still don’t give up the Team Reunion. You are not alone. Christ is with you. Pick up a Crucifix...; and make your Team Reunion with Him!... You will find the experience most rewarding!. . . b) Seriousness.—The Team Reunion has to be taken seriously. Without rigidity; but with seriousness... To start on time; to do it conscientiously; not to be in a hurry. . . c) Discretion.— The Team Reunion is a gathering of friends, of brothers. . . Whatever transpires in it should be kept secret among them. Lack of discretion in this respect will undermine the confidence that the members of the team must have in one another, and, therefore, their friendship. And it will pave the wav for the disintegration of the team and the death of the reunion. d) Sincerity.— Our reports have to be truthful.. The Team Re­ union is not a comedy, or a show. . . We are there, not to impress anybody, or to pretend to be what we are not.. .; but to improve ourselves and help ethers improve themselves. . . e) Life.— There must be life in your Team Reunion. It cannot afford to be dead or a matter of routine... You do not go to the Team Reunion to see what happens. You go there to see to it that something happens. .. 595 How will you and the other members of your Team make sure that your Team Reunion possesses these characteristics?...— Make sure that the Theory and Method of the Team Reunion are followed strictly!... You know the Theory, because you know the meaning and purpose of the Team Reunion. The Method was explained to you when you made the Cursillo. You even witnessed a demonstration of a Team Reunion. See to it that the Theory is not forgotten by you or your brothers. . And that the Method is followed, with regard to: the number of members of a group (not too few, not too many; as a general rule, from four to six); the day, place and time (always the same); the Cursillo rules on who should compose a team (of this we shall speak later); the Order of the Reunion (as you find it in your Service Sheet). We do not have to go into more details, because, as I have said, you know how a team reunion is conducted. However, I would like to add just one more thing. If the Cur­ sillo Method is followed strictly, your Team Reunion will, without any doubt, prove most useful to all the members of the team... If, on the contrary, changes are introduced, if everybody feels free to conduct the reunion in the wav he likes.. ., then we shall have a reunion, but not necessarily a Cursillo Reunion. . . And the result will be anybody’s guess. Of course, individual characteristics—depending on the particular circumstances of persons, places, time, etc.— will always be present. Eve­ rybody is different from everybody else. . . But the Theory and Method as such cannot be abandoned if we want our Team Reunion to be a guarantee of perseverance and success in the Post-Cursillo... (to be continued) AND •QUERIES^ APPLICATION OF THE MASS AND REMITTANCE OF THE STIPEND TO THE ORDINARY Indult Masses are celebrated “ad intentionem Ordinarii”. Now, if a wedding is celebrated in that Indult Mass, should the intention be applied for the Ordinary’s or for the couple’s inten­ tion which they had not explicitly expressed, being ignorant of the fact, although interpretatively supposed with the Mass stipend being included in the wedding fee? Now, the law says that in case the stipend were applied in the Mass, it must be sent to the Curia. But would it be right to celebrate another Mass on some other day of the week or on any other free day ad intentionem Episcopi in lieu of that indult Mass, retain the stipend and report this Mass to the Curia among the indult Masses without stipend? 1. The fees set down for the celebration of weddings are differ­ ent from the stipend established for the application of the Mass; and although it is advisable that when a wedding is solemnized the Mass be applied to the intention of the spouses, yet it is not necessary to do so. In determining the fees for weddings, the competent authority may decree that the amount fixed include the stipend for the application of the Mass or may provide that when the spouses ask for the application of the Mass they should add the amount set down as stipend. In the query propounded (whose place of origin we .do not know), if we have understood it well, there seems to be stated that the fee for the celebration of the wedding includes the stipend for the appli­ cation of the Mass “for the couple’s intention which they had not expli­ citly expressed, being ignorant of the fact, although interpretatively sup­ posed with the Mass stipend being included in the wedding fee.” 597 In such a case, the celebrant should apply the Mass to the inten­ tion of the spouses, even though they should not have expressly asked for it because they are ignorant of the fact that the stipend for the application of the Mass is included in the fee they have paid. Otherwise, the celebrant should apply the Mass for the intention of the Ordinary, unless he expressly is asked the application for the intention of the spouses giving him the corresponding stipend. 2. When the Mass was applied for the intention of the spouses be­ cause its stipend was included in the total fees paid for the celebration of the wedding (or because they expressly asked for it. adding the cor­ responding stipend), the stipend received should be remitted to the Ordinary, and the practice suggested in the query is not licit; that is to sav, retain it and inform the Curia of a Mass celebrated “ad inten­ tionem Episcopi”, which in fact is applied on a dav when the priest has no intention committed. Canon 824 decrees in Par. 2: “Whenever he celebrates more than one Mass on a given day, if he applies one Mass under title of Justice, the priest may not receive stipend for the others, save on the day of the Nativity of Our Lord”. The obligation that the Parish priest has to apply the Mass “pro populo” on fixed days is an obligation of justice, established by eccle­ siastical law, and the dispensation granted for some of those days, more than an exemption, is a commutation of the obligation, authorized by the Holy See, in order to be able to attend to the needs of the dio­ cese. This is also the end for which in cases of bination, although a stipend has been received for a Mass,1 it is authorized to apply the other Mass for the intention of the Bishop or for the intention of the person offering the stipend, which must be remitted to the Curia. It would not do to adduce the reason that the Curia would al­ ways receive the same aid, applying the Mass some other day, because the law, that prohibits the celebrant to receive a stipend when he should apply the Mass “pro populo” or has to binate and has already received a stipend for the other Mass, binds him always; the indult to apply “ad intentionem Episcopi”, or receiving a stipend that is to be re598 mined to the Bishop, is not meant to enable the celebrant to receive an alms, but so that it be received for the needs of any pious cause of the diocese. • Bi-rnabi-: Ai.onso, O.P. ANTICIPATION OF LAUDS Some years ago, there was a debate among priests whether Lauds could be advanced together with the Matins on the pre­ vious afternoon of the Office. At that time, many believed that Matins could be advanced but not Lauds. As the prohibition to advance Lauds appeared only in the L’Osservatore Romano, and not in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, some authors now opine that both Matins and Lauds be prayed in advance. What is your opinion on the matter? You arc actually referring to a declaration of the Sacred Congre­ gation of Rites dated 28 December 1960, which appeared in L’Os servatore Romano, 30 December 1960. According to this declaration : a) anticipation of matins in choir, in common and in private is “technically and exclusively” permitted by No. 144 of the new code of rubrics; b) No. 145 of the same new code “technically and exclusively sti­ pulates that the recitation of lauds in choir and in common can take place only in the early morning, that is, without any anticipation; reci­ tation in private, which also may not be anticipated, is fittingly per­ formed during the same time of the morning”. Though this appeared only in L’Osservatore Romano, and did not, therefore, carry the force of an “official” answer to a doubt, nonethe­ less it was an acclaration given by a competent office, with this end in view: “lest uncertainty remain in a matter directly pertaining to the public prayer of the Church”. Personally I have no knowledge of authors, who, as you say, opine that both Matins and Lauds may be prayed in advance. In which case they would certainly be going against the spirit of that law in 599 the new core of rubrics of I960, as we have just seen from the acclaration of the S.C.R., and also against the desires of Vatican II. The Constitution of the S. Liturgy declares: “because the purpose of the office is to sanctify the day, then traditional sequence of the hours is to be restored so that once again they may be genuinely related to the time of the day when they are prayed” (Art. 88). And by the venerable tradition of the universal Church, Lauds was originally the morning prayer and should be celebrated as such (Cf. Art. 89). • P. di: Misa, O.P. ELEVATION OF HOST AND CHALICE AFTER CONSECRATION In the past, when masses were said with the celebrant’s back to the people, during elevations the host and the chalice were raised above the head of the celebrant, so that the host and the chalice could be seen by the people. Now, that we celebrate mass facing the people, how high should the host and chalice be raised ? As the consultant had observed, the host and the chalice were raised above the head of the celebrant for the people to see them. With the Mass said facing the people, the host and the chalice can be easily seen even without raising them too high. • P. 1)1: Mi.sa, O.P. CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES DOMINICAN MISSIONARY SISTERS OF THE MOST HOLY ROSARY This new branch on the glorious and perennial tree of the Order of St. Dominic de Guzman is a most wonderful fulfillment of the Gos­ pel parable of the grain of the mustard seed. When sown upon the earth, it is the smallest of all the seeds; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than any herb, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the air can dwell beneath its shade,” (Mark IV, 31-32) The Congregation has grown in a short time. It extends over va­ rious continents and many birds of heaven, Virgins of Jesus, the Domi­ nican Missionary Sisters, can rest under its shade. It has for its Founders, the Most Rev. Mons. Ramon Zubieta O.P. and the Most Rev. Mother Ascension Nicol, O.P. In 1913 five Spanish Dominican Sisters from Huesca, Spain, in answer to the petitions cf Mons. Zulueta. volunteered for work among the Indios of the “sel­ vas” of Peru, South America. The Congregation was founded in 1918 and had its first house in Lima, Peru. On March 25, 1920 it was affi­ liated to the Order of St. Dominic by the Most Rev. Father General Louis Theissling. In this same year the Novitiate of Pamplona was founded. Here the Mother House was established. Its Constitution was temporarily approved on Dec. 22, 1931 and on May 21, 1940, His Holiness Pope Pius XII deigned in his benevolence to approve and confirm the Constitution of the Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary. In accord with the desire of the Holy Church and with that of its own Founders the Congregation aspires to extend its apostolate throughout the whole world. 601 The members have for their general end, the glory of God and their own sanctification, by the practise of the three simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Rule of St. Augustine and their Constitution. Their special end is the Christian education of the youth with preference for places of greater need. As a secondary aim the members can also dedicate themselves to the corporal works of mercy in mission fields such as: hospitals, orphanages, nurseries, leprosariums, etc. Since they are affiliated to the Order of St. Dominic, the mem­ bers may help and cooperate in the apostolic works of Dominican mis­ sionary priests wherever they are found. At present the members dedicate themselves to different occupa­ tions. The majority are found in educational institutions. Others are in hospitals, clinics, maternities, dispensaries, leprosariums and even do house to house calls. Still others exercise their apostolate by running dormitories, caring for seminarians, giving catechetical instructions. The General House is found in Madrid, Spain. By 1966, the Congregation had 8? houses with a total of 917 professed sisters scat­ tered all over the world. The statistics of 1966 show a total of 240,377 patients attended to in hospitals and dispensaries; 19,348 students in schools and institutions; and 57,273 persons were given spiritual, moral and material help. Novitiates of the Congregation are found in six countries; Spain, Portugal, Peru. Central America, Philippines and Formosa. It also has a school for aspirants in Pamplona, Spain with a total of 69 as­ pirants as of 1966 statistics. The Sisters came to the Philippines in 1953 at the petition of Rev. Father Faustino Fernandez, S.J. to work among the lepers of the Mindanao Central Sanitarium in Zamboanga City. At their ar­ rival here, since the construction of the convent was not yet through, they were kindly received and housed by the Religious of the Virgin Mary Sisters. Almost a year after more Sisters arrived and with this new help the La Purisima Dispensary was opened in 1954. Since then hundreds of patients from all walks of life have been attended to in this dispensary. Aside from the work with the lepers and the patients, the Sisters also conduct catechetical instructions in a nearby barrio. 602 Children who would otherwise be spiritually orphaned come and avidly partake of the spiritual food proportioned by these Sisters. The Stella Maris Nursery was built for the children of the inmates of the Sani­ tarium. At present there are children ranging from new born babies to the age of nine. In this same City the second house was founded in 1960 which is now the Novitiate. Here Filipino young women are formed so that afterwards they may bring the light of faith to their fellowmen in their own country or in other nations and thus fulfill Christ’s com­ mand to go out and preach the Gospel to all nations and to spread Christian charity throughout the world. In 1962 the Sta. Rosa de Lima Dormitory was founded in Manila. This is a dormitory for university students. But as usual, the Sisters’ work is not limited to the bodily care of these girls. It is only a means to a higher end. . . that is, to imbibe in the minds and hearts of these young ladies the knowledge and love of God. For this reason too thev take charge of the catechetical instructions of the elementary school children in one of the public schools in this City. The fourth house founded in 1964 is located in Suba-Nipa, Olutanga, Zamboanga del Sur. The apostolate here is mere in consonance with the secondary aim of the Congregation which is the Christian edu­ cation of the youth especially in places of greater need. The Sisters here work in collaboration with the Jesuit Fathers, and since this is the only high school in the whole island, the moral and spiritual formation of young boys and girls lay entirely in the hands of the Sisters. Much yet to be done if we want to bring the “GOOD NEWS” to all men. The Gospel tells us that the “harvest is indeed great but the laborers are few”. Let us therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into his vineyard. URCHtoekL Local BISHOP PEDERNAL IS INSTALLED The Most Rev. Godofredo P. Pedernal, D.D. was installed on June 18, 1968 as second Bishop of Borongan succeeding the Most Rev. Vicente P. Reyes, D.D. who was recently transferred to Cabanatuan. Officiating at the installation rites were Archbishop Julio R. Rosales of Cebu and Rt. Rev. Mario Perissin. secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature, re­ presenting the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, the Most Rev. Carmine Rocco. D.D. Other bishops present were Msgr. Cipriano Urgel of Calbayog, Msgr. Teotimo Pacis of Palo. Msgr. E sifanio Surban of Dumaguete and Msgr. Ma­ riano Gaviola, secretary general ol the Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. Scores of priests, nuns and laymen trom the diocese of Lucena and from the neighboring dioceses of the Visayas were on hand to congratulate the new Bishop of Borongan and wish him well in his first bishopric. Some close members of Bishop Pedernal's lamily witnessed the solemn event. In his primer address to the diocese Bishop Pedernal said that he has come not to be served but to serve, not to be on-a-p?destal administrator but on a plain level collaborator. Referring to his motto “To uplift the needy from their misery’’ he said that in every way possible he will also help amel­ iorate the conditions of the poor so that they would have more of the world’s goods and less of material anxiety. Earlier at the civic reception in Guiwan he accepted the symbolic key with the hope and prayer that the kev will open the great door of under­ standing, love and cooperation. I he same key should shut out rancour, selfishness and indifference. Prior to his episcopal appointment Mons. Pedernal was actively engaged in rural development in the diocese of Lucena. He was one of the moving executives during the last national congress for rural development held at Manila, Los Banos and Cagayan de Oro. He was at one time assistant secretary general of the Philippine Bishops' Conference and assistant national 604 director of Catholic Action. His longest assignment was as seminary rector which lasted 17 years. The diocese of Borongan regarded as an economically depressed area is expected to profit from the rural upliftment know-how of the new bishop. It was gathered that government agencies are more than eager to cooperate with him in arriving at some objectives of the social action year proclaimed by the president of the Philippines. POPE APPOINTS FIRST BISHOPS OF TWO NEW DIOCESES His Holiness, Pope Paul VI has deigned to create the two new dioceses of Maasin and Masbate, and to appoint the Very Rev. Vicente Ataviado as fitst bishop of Maasin, and the Very Rev. Msgr. Porfirio Iligan as first bishop of Masbate. Father Ataviado of the diocese of Sorsogon was born on October 27, 1929 and was ordained priest on April 3, 1954. He obtained the licentiate degrees in Philosophy and Theology at the UST Central Seminary. He had served in several parishes in Sorsogon and for seven years the diocesan chan­ cellor and oeconomus of the diocese. He is at the present the parish priest of Masbate. He has two sisters, a Carmelite nun and a Daughter of Charity. Monsignor Iligan was born on September 14, 1922 and was ordained priest in 1948. He obtained his licentiate degree in Theology at the UST Central Seminary. After several assignments in the parishes, he was ap­ pointed economus of the archdiocese of Caceres and holds other important offices. The diocese of Maasin comprises the entire civil province of Southern Leyte and will be a suffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of Cebu. The diocese of Masbate will be a suffragan of the ecclesiastical province of Caceres. It comprises the entire civil province of Masbate and will be the episcopal see of Monsignor Iligan. AID TO RELIGIOUS MEET OK’D Justice Secretary Claudio Teehankee ruled that government funds may be used for a conference convened by a Roman Catholic bishop aimed pro­ moting the educational, social and economic welfare of rural inhabitants. Teehankee’s legal opinion was in reply to a query from Auditor General Ismael Mathay whether or not a proposed financial assistance of P2,000 of Sorsogon province to the Diocesan Congress for Rural Development would violate Section 23 (3), Article VI of the Constitution. 605 The provision prohibits the use of public money for the benefit of any sect, church, denomination or sectarian institution. Teehankee noted that the rural development congress was convened by Most Rev. Arnulfo S. Arcilla, D.D., bishop of Sorsogon, June 14-18, in response to President Marcos’ appeal for a nationwide effort to uplift the socio-economic standards of the rural areas. The 500 delegates included national, provincial, municipal and barrio of­ ficials, Protestants, Masons, Catholics priests and sisters. Discussed were various economic problems like cooperatives, cottage in­ dustries and fanning methods. Upon instructions of the President, various government agencies, like the Presidential Arm on Community Development, Development Bank of the Phil­ ippines, Philippine National Cooperative Bank, bureau of animal industry, and bureau of agriculture, were mobilized to insure the success of the con­ ference. Teehankee averred that under these circumstances the Congress was indeed primarily intended to develop the educational, social and economic welfare of rural people. He noted it was not a project calculated to promote the ends of a parti­ cular sect or religious organization although called by a Roman Catholic bishop and participated in by some members of various religious groups. Therefore, the expenditure of public funds to finance the Congress did not violate the Constitution, Teehankee asserted. TOWARDS A COMMON BIBLE A month-long Bible Translators Institute held in Baguio, attended by Protestants and Catholics from Asian countries, has given a boost to the movement for Common Bibles that bring God’s Word to modern man in the living, current language of the people. The purpose of the Institute was to train translators who will produce Bibles that will be common in two ways. First, they must not be written in a highly literary or ecclesiastical language but in a language easily un­ derstood by non-college educated people. To understand a Tagalog common language Bible it should be enough to be an adult Tagalog. Yet the lan­ guage should be proper enough for liturgical services attended by all, including the college educated. It is presupposed that the text will not be a paraphrase but will faithfully convey, without addition or subtraction, the message origi­ nally written in Hebrew and Greek. 606 Secondly, Common Bibles must be acceptable to both Protestants and Catholics and produced by their joint efforts. It is now possible to work for such Common Bibles because the Executive Committee of the United Bible Societies (Protestant) and the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Chris­ tian Unity have reached agreement on a document entitled Guiding Princi­ ples for Intercburcb Cooperation in Translating tbe Bible. The Institute, lasting from May 6 to 31, was attended by more than ninety translators from Australia, Caroline Islands, Indonesia, Japan, Ma­ laysia, New Guinea, Taiwan, Thailand, Viet Nam and the Philippines. Be­ sides Tagalog, other Filipino dialects represented were Ilocano, Cebuano, Bicolano, Hiligaynon and about a dozen other minor ones. The Institute was organized by the United Bible Societies, a world-wide federation of national Bible Societies, which, until recent ecumenical develop­ ments, provided Bibles only for Protestant Churches. If the spirit of co-opera­ tion continues, the United Bible Societies will henceforth provide Bibles also for Catholics. A dozen Catholic priests, sent by their Bishops, took part in the Institute. Lectures were given by an international staff of experts headed by Dr. Eugene A. Nida, Translations Secretary of the American Bible Society. Dr. Nida is a well-known specialist in linguistics, anthropological studies, and the interpretation of the Christian faith. He has been working with missiona­ ries on translation problems for more than twenty years. Due to his work, he constantly travels throughout the world training and advising Bible trans­ lators. He is the audior of several highly acclaimed books. Other lecturers were: Dr. Noah S. Brannen. Dr. James Moorhead, Dr. Barclay M. Newman, Dr. John A. Thompson, Dr. William L. Wonderly. Fr. Efren Rivera, O.P., Bible Professor of the University of Santo Tomas, showed slides of the Holy Land. Workshops according to language groups were held in the afternoons, to put into practice what the participants learned in the lectures. As a result of the Institute, four Translation Committees composed of Protestants and Catholics are now working towards Common Bibles for Fili­ pinos. They are centered in Manila (Tagalog), Baguio (Ilocano), Dumaguete (Cebuano) and Iloilo (Hiligaynon). Similar Committees have been organized in other countries. India ABORTION HIT AS UNJUST TO UNBORN An American-educated priest-professor has condemned relaxed abortion law as discrimination against unborn children. 607 Speaking at a symposium on Moral Aspects of Legalized Abortion, Car­ melite Father Francis Sales, 63, also said liberalized abortion laws are “un­ constitutional denials of the equal protection of the law to a voiceless voteless minority.” Sponsored by “Fraternity”, an interreligious group that strives to bring about a greater harmony between the various communities of Kerala State, the symposium came against a background of moves by the central govern­ ment to legalize abortion of rape-induced and certain other types of pregnancy. Father Sales said that even in the case of rape-induced pregnancy the unborn child “is more helpless at the hand of abortionist than its mother was at the hands of the rapist. “The question is, therefore, always whether we should kill the child for a social end or seek a humane and moral path toward smoothing the way for the mother and child.” New York, U.S.A. CATHOLIC-ORTHODOX REUNION PREDICTED Dr. Charles Malik said here he believes the Orthodox Church is ready for reunion with the Roman Catholic Church. Lebanon’s former foreign minister, who is an Orthodox layman, said he bases his opinion on discussions he has had with Patriarch Athenagoras, Orthodox spiritual leader. A confidant of Patriarch Athenagoras, Dr. Malik talked at length about the reunion possibility in an interview during a visit here. “The Orthodox Church is prepared to take the steps to find the kind of relationship that existed with Catholicism in the first thousand years of Christianity,” he said. Dr. Malik, who has served as Lebanese Ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, cited a slowly growing friendship between the half-billion-member Catholic Church and the 145-million-member Orthodox Church. Rome and Constantinople (now Istanbul) split in 1045 in what Chris­ tianity knows historically as the great schism of the East, he recalled. Now, Dr. Malik said, all Christian churches—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant—are becoming increasingly involved in a unity movement. Dr. Malik now professor of philosophy at the American University of Beirut prefaced his comments by emphasizing he is “only a very humble Or­ thodox layman” who is a spokesman for no one, but simply voicing his opinion. However, he has in the past carried personal messages between 608 Patriarch Athenagoras in Istanbul and the late Pope John XXIII in Vatican City. Vatican City CANON LAW REVISION MAY TAKE FIVE MORE YEARS The new revision of the Code of Canon Law may yet be four to five years to complete, Cardinal Felici, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, told a press conference in the Vatican on May 17. The commission charged with the task of revision is anxious to issue the revised code as soon as possible, he aid; the delay is due to the amount of work involved. “We are anxious to produce the new code within a relatively brief period of time. The tempo of the world has greatly increased, as has the speed of communications. We do not want our code to be stillborn.” To give an idea of the amount of work involved in the revision of the Church’s fundamental body of law, the Cardinal said that between October, 1967, and May, J968, the 13 groups of consultors have met for a total of 21 sessions, each lasting about a week. This represents a doubling of time involved in the same period the year before, he said. The 13 study groups in seven months met in 209 sittings for a total of 627 hours. These statistics, he said, do not include the hours involved in preparation by each of the individual consultors for each of the meetings. On May 28, about 50 of the Cardinal members met in Rome for a week to study the systematic ordering and distribution of the various matters to be included in the new code. From May 20-25 the revision commission sponsored an international con­ gress of specialists in canon law, which had been expressly asked for by Pope Paul VI, to study and advise on the problems that were to be the working agenda of the plenary session of the commission during the following week. Upper-Volta and Niger RELIGIOUS, SISTERS AND CATECHISTS ALLOWED TO DISTRIBUTE THE EUCHARIST A decsion of the Bishops of Upper-Volta and Niger, which has been ratified by Rome for a period of three years, is as follows: 609 In general, in the absence of a priest, Holy Communion can be given to the faithful or the sick, even the Viaticum, by a deacon, subdeacon, a cleric in minor orders or who has received the tonsure, by a professed lay-brother, or by a catechist. The place for the distribution of Holy Communion is to be the Ciurch or supplementary chapels. The distribution of Holy Com­ munion will take place during the Sunday celebrations and on feast days in­ dicated by the Bishop. In partieular eases: The superior or superioress of a religious community, the religious headmaster or headmistress of a school, and religious directors of a hospital are allowed to distribute Holy Communion to their Brothers or Sisters, to the students, the boarders and other faithful present. The place for the distribution of Holy Communion is to be the chapel of the institute, and the time has to be determined by the local bishop. Germany CARDINAL FRINGS AND ARCHBISHOP SCHAEUFELE PROTEST AGAINST CATECHISM PUBLICATION In protest against the publication of a German translation of the Dutch Catechism without an imprimatur from the German bishops, Cardinal Frings of Cologne and Archbishop Hermann Schaeufele of Freiburg have withdrawn their sponsorship of a book on the Second Vatican Council that is to be issued by the German publishing house of Herder. In a joint statement, they said that, by facilitating publication of the translation by a Dutch publishing house, Herder had disregarded the “declara­ tions of the Council on the teaching authority of the pope and bishops.” They pointed out that the German bishops will give an imprimatur (per­ mission to print) only in agreement with the Dutch bishops. Cardinal Alfrink of Utrecht, the Netherlands, has refused to give an imprimatur for translations of the catechism, now undergoing revision. The Dutch publishing house of Dekker and van der Vegt of Utrecht published the translation provided by the German publishing firm of Herder, which had transferred the rights for the German translation until a German bishop gives the catechism an imprimatur. CHURCH AND MISSION IN MODERN AFRICA, by Adrian Hastings. London, Burns and Oates, 1967. Pp. 263. If the problems of individual nations are today difficult and complex, those of a continent taken as a whole look appalling. Africa, a fastly emerging continent in a changing world, is experiencing most of the human and social problems of modern times. Because of them, the Church is confronted there with a very critical present and an uncertain future. The Ecumenical Council has called for scientific research in missionary adaptation to the times and for a more intelligent missionary policy. A response to this call, and partly anticipation to it, is the hook of Fr. Adrian Hastings. Asian by birth, trained in England and Rome, and with eleven years of missionary experience in various countries of Africa, Fr. Hastings has an outstanding capacity to understand peoples, analyze human problems and offer solutions to them. His many articles and conferences on the African Church have been ably assembled in this book to form one of the most im­ portant contributions in recent years on the prospects of Christianity in Africa. The character of the Church in Africa must be viewed, of course, in reference to its past. Its youthful vitality, undeniably enormous, is the fruit of the spiritual vigor of heroic missionaries who left a deep imprint in the African soul by their self-sacrifice and devotion. But their age is gone. Africa has a new face today, the face of new nations, new social patterns, new leadership, new ideology. To be sure, the new situation has been moulded by forces outside the Church: nationalism with emphasis on African values: social transformation, from tribal societies to national fulfillment and inter­ national standing; a population explosion that may produce 800 million people by the end of the century; and conflicting ideologies between the old order and the new generations educated there or abroad. But far from keeping aloof, the Church must confront the situation with new methods of approach and new techniques in apostolic action. The problems of the Church are not of the same character or gravity in all the African countries. But Hastings, adding personal observation to informative materials of other experts on the African scene, has achieved 611 a realistic general view of the most pressing needs of the Church. And his book proves that old structures do not respond any longer to the present reality, and that unless drastic changes arc made, the Church will be unable to maintain its position, let alone convert the continent’s 170 million pagans. The changes will have to affect almost every aspect of ecclesiastical and religious life. Some of them can be mentioned here: Less authoritarianism and more freedom of action within the bounds of truth and authority; the treatment of Africans as adults; laicization of the institutions; africanization of the institutions; africanization of the liturgy, art music and leadership; the going out of the present watertight compartments to be more truly universal; a massive approach to other Christian denominations and to Islam; a revised approach to marriage in the context of African social and legal customs, poligamous unions not excluded; a more diversified ministry; over­ haul of the seminaries; university-trained priests as well as an adequate number of priests for the rural apostolate; and due to lack of priests, a greater cooperation of the laity, with more catechists, whether full-time catechists, unpaid ones from the professional classes or clerical deacons; restoration of the separate order of deacons. These are the needs of the African Church today, briefly and incom­ pletely enumerated. Hastings discusses them at length in their theological and sociological context. His knowledge of the field and of the current conciliar trends is only matched by his avowed sympathy for, and spirit or understanding of, the African peoples, their idiosyncracy, way of life and aspirations, and their continent’s gigantic struggle as it looks out through new windows to the modern world. The author’s devotion to the Church and to Africa are contagious, his judgements balanced, his frankness and sincerity beyond question. At times, however, his urge for reforms may sound iconoclastic in tone, as when he calls for the “declericalization” of of everything, Scripture, the parish organizations, the apostolate, marriage and, most difficult of all, the ministry (p. 186). Church and Mission in Modern Africa succeeds in its attempt to assess the reality of Africa and of the African Church today. We may add that many of die problems of that continent, as well as Fr. Hastings solutions are of universal application and particularly valid for the predominantly non­ Christian countries of Asia. • Fidel Villarroel, O.P. 612 JOY: by Louis Evely. 96 pages. Herder and Herder. {13.50 Why wear daily a good-friday face, when Christ had only one Good Friday, and an eternity of joy? Why beat ceaselessly and suffocate the breast with mea culpas, when one can breathe with ease the soothing, peaceful joy as filtered in from God’s love and forgiveness? Why shrink beneath the shroud of gloom, when one can bask under the invigorating sunbeams of a Christian joy? Fr. Evely, in his book, brings up another triumphant aspect of Christian life: Joy. Joy in God’s real presence in our soul. A joy born of strong faith, a faith that removes the film of unbelief from our inner eye. A joy born of love, a love for God who loves and forgives us. It is this Christian joy that gleams in the countenance of a bed-ridden, pain-racked cancer patient. This book is easy to read. Not jarring, much less jolting one’s conscience, it flows with tenderness and soothing persuasion, and unconsciously lifting up your soul to God’s love; a love that engenders peace and joy. Spiritual directors and confessors will find JOY a great help to draw the melancholic and the hopeless away from the slow centripetal motion of despair, suicide and death, to a life of faith, love and joy. Priests, religious and laymen should read this spiritual classic. • Jephte M. Lucena, O.P.