' 4.---THE PROGRESS
Friday, Feb. 21, 1964
May I Help?
God's World: Even The
Unimpeachable Justice ......................................................... ' ..........
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Humble Can Be Hurt
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The report that Princess Caroline Lee :i:.:.;;G/.:::i;i.':;:.,':,::..:.";":. ..... " " ". " ........ ." .'".::;%;:'.:;!:':::'."'.":,::;:;.:::;?-:;i
:,'.. :::,.::':";....'., ......:...'. .... • ...,.::;; By REV. LEO J. TRESE
Radziwill, sister of Mrs. John F. to be married must sign sworn statements ..... .
or wrong intention, especially when those
concerning freedom and intention before
marriage.
Furthermore, even if one has a
possible case of invalidity, evidence
must be established in a court of ec-
clesiastical law. This process is long
and difficult, sioce the Church is
bound to defend the bond of marriage
to .the very end. On this point, Prin-
cess Radziwill's lawyer, Fernado Della
Rocca, had this to say:
"It was a hard and difficult strug-
gle in which canonical legislation regard-
ing matrimonial cases was applied with
unimpeachable justice after an inquiry so
strict that it made one think of a mathe-
matical table.
"It took four years, several hundred
pages written in Latin and many wit-
nesses before the matter was concluded."
Whenever one reads about annul-
ments and remarriages on the part of
Catholics, it is well to keep the above
in mind. Also, it must be pointed out
that the exact reasons for the annulment
will rarely, if ever, be disclosed. This is
as it should be. After all, marriage is a.
very personal and intimate relationship.
The testimony given at such trials is
confidential.
But one thing is certain, if the
Church should in some rare instance,
as in the case of Princess Radziwill, de-
clare a marriage null, you can be cer-
tain that the marriage was never really
valid in the first place.
Some may say that such privileges
apply only to the rich and influential.
This is not the case. It just so happens
that prominent Catholics hit the head-
lines. The Church defends the rights of
every party, regardless of social back-
ground if they are sincere, and if they
have solid grounds for investigation.
"he Catholic Church has not and never
.Jk will change her teaching on the per-
manence of marriage. She never has and
never will dissolve a sacramental union
freely and knowingly entered into. She
cannot, because it is an affective partici-
pation in the mystery of the indefectable
union between Christ and His Church.
One need never fear that the Church
will show favoritism in this regard. If
Rome refused a King when the faith of
England was at stake, she would hardly
concede to a Princess unless the evidence
was overwhelming.
Kennedy, had been granted an annul-
ment by the Catholic Church of a pre-
vious marriage has caused eyebrows to
raise and rectory telephones to jingle.
The confusion in the minds of some
is most understandable. Had the former
Miss Bouvier been married'to her first
husband outside the Catholic Church, the
ceremony would have obviously been in-
valid since CatholiCs are bound to ob-
serve the Catholic form of marriage.
But the former Lee Bouvier was
married to Michael T. Canfield before
a priest and two witnesses. How can
the Catholic Church, whose uncompro-
mising doctrine on divorce and emar.
riage is well known to all, ever annul
so sacred a contract?
The answer lies in the fact that mar-
riage is essentially a contract which in-
volves specific commitments and must
be freely entered into by both parties.
The Church, realizing the importance.
and sacredness of marriage, makes every
effort to be certain that both parties are
free to marry and are aware of their re-
sponsibilities long before the ceremony
takes place.
Furthermore, when a young couple
walks down the aisle, stands before the
priest, hears the terms of the marriage
contract, and says "I will," the Church
presumes they meant what they said.
And every marriage before a priest and
proper witnesses is always held as valid.
However, in certain extremely
rare cases, it is possible, even after
careful investigation and admonition,
for a marriage to be proven invalid
through deceit on the part of one or
other of the parties.
In other words, it is conceivable
that two people could go through a
nuptial ceremony, yet secretly have no
intention of living as husband and wife
or of fulfilling the marriage contract.
This deception could be entertained by
only one of the parties and be unknown
to the other. If this is discovered and
can be absolutely proven, the marriage
would be invalid.
e cannot insist enough, however,
on the rarity of such cases. It is
only natural for couples whose mar-
riages are not successful to look for
loopholes in the law. But 99 times out
of 100, there are no loopholes. It is next
to impossible to prove lack of freedom
'Roman' Ecumenical Movement
By REV. JOHN B. SHEERIN, C.S.P.
RE Roman Catholics
taking over the ecu-
menical movement? Dr.
Lukas-Viseher, a World
Council observer at the
determined to develop an ecu-
menical method which corre-
sponds to its own concept
of unity and
union, and
thus to seize
the leadership
in the ecu-
menical move-
ment."
In anoth-
er talk on the
same subject,
at Fribourg,
S w i tzerland,
Dr. Viscber
went so far FR. SHEERIN
as to say that the Pope himself
is trying to give a Roman style
to the ecumenical movement.
"Does not the dynamic initia-
tive of the Pope indicate that
Rome wants to force upon the
ecumenical movement the ori-
entation which is to its own
liking?"
One Concept of Unity
Dr. Vischer, like most of the
other Protestant observers, was
happy about the general tone of
the Ecumenism schema at the
Council but unhappy about the
concept of unity contained in
the schema.
That concept is that the
Roman Catholic Church is
not seeking for a non-existent
unity but possesses it here
and now. It is the one, true
Catholic Church and it aims
to enable other Christians to
share in its fulness of unity.
The schema makes no men-
tion of the Protestant church-
us. It admits that validly
b a p t i z e d Protestants are
members of the Roman
Catholic Church at least in
some degree and it expresses
the hope that they will come
to enjoy the plenitude of
graces in the Catholic
Church.
This concept of unity, ac-
cording to Vischer, givesRome
a position of leadership on the
ecumenical movement and any
claim to leadership is out of
line with the equalitarian fel-
lowship of the ecumenical
movement, especially of the
World 'Council of Churches.
A Different Concept
The right concept of unity,
says Vischer, is to regard
Christ as the center of ecu-
menical striving. He is the
head of he Church and where
He is, there is the Church. The
individual Christian churches,
by reason of sin and ignor-
ance, are all off center but
Christ is the center.
The ecumenical t a s k, as
theologians like Viseher see
it, is not for one great Church
to absorb the other Christian
churches but for each church
to strive to be the Church of
Christ in all possible fulness.
Does this mean that the
Roman Catholic Church will
have to give up its concept of
unity in order to stay in ecu-
menical wok? Will it have to
stay out of membership in the
World Council of Churches for-
ever because it is suspected of
being a proselytizing super-
church?
I don't t h i n k sot The
World Council does not ask
any Christian Church to sur-
render any of its teachings.
It provides opportunity for
the various Christian groups
to engage in dialogue about
their doctrines but makes no
demands that they renounce
doctrines.
HoWever, there is one thing
that the Roman Catholic
Church can do in order to make
dialogue more fruitful. It can
recognize Protestant commu-
nities as churches. The World
Council of Churches is after all
a Council of Churches and each
church recognizes the other as
a member of the fellowship.
There would be no dialogue at
all in the World Council if the
churches refused to recognize
each other as churches in some
• shape or form.
Means of Grace
I see no valid reason why the
Catholic Church cannot recog-
nize the Protestant bodies as
churches. Many bishops at the
second session of the Second
Vatican Council asserted that
God uses these religious so-
cieties as means of grace and
that they are far more than
mere natural associations.
Men of the stature of Car-
dinals Koenig and Ritter,
Archbishop Baudoux, Bishop
Helmsing and Abbot Butler
contended that the Roman
Catholic Church at this Coun-
cil should acknowledge the
supernatural and ecclesiasti-
cal character of these Chris-
tian bodies'.
If the Council does grant
this recognition at the next ses-
sion, Protestants will welcome
the new surge of Catholic ecu-
menical activity as a help and
not as a threat.
CIC Needs Your Support
a recognized force for equal rights for
all minority people.
The Seattle council is the product
of almost a year of hard work which
began at the instigation of the Catho-
lic Northwest Progress.
The purpose of the council will be
to foster an educational program to fa-
miliarize the clergy, religious and laity
with the enormous issue which faces both
our nation and our city. We trust it will
have the enthusiastic support of all the
Catholics in the Greater Seattle area.
nce again, the Church has taken an
effective role of leadership in the
struggle for Civil Rights for all Ameri-
cans.
Under the direction of His Excel-
lency, the Most Reverend Archbishop,
the Catholic Interracial Council of Se-
attle came into being this week. This
Council will be affiliated with the Na-
ational Catholic Conference for Interraci-
al Justice with headquarters in Chicago.
The founder of this Council was Father
La Fargo, S.J. The NCCIJ has long been
/
First Things First
By REV. G. JOSEPH GUSTAFSON, S.S., Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy, St. Thomas Seminary, Kenmore
HERE is a unique relationship which is of
paramount importance but which, possibly,
may be relegated to a second place today. It
is the relation of oneself to God. Upon it de-
pends eternal life or death--heaven or hell.
There is so much, in itself healthy, emphasis
upon social life today, upon one's duty to others
at all levels, upon conformity, even upon prayer
in common, that it is not at all unthinkeble that
neighbor may come before God. This must never
be.
One can understand easily how thls phe-
nomenon has become a prime source of
fallacies in our times. In an earlier century
we were extremely "individualistie"--whieh
meant in practice that the wehk went under
and that raw power and ruthlessness built
economic empires in politics, labor, the press
er anywhere else. Then the world, or the
more sensitive part of it, suffered from an
overdue burden of guilt.
But guilt is not necessarily healthy. It must,
always come under the scrutiny of judgment.
"First things first" is still a good solid rule for
conduct. Guilt must be rigorously examined by
conscience. And conscience means merely right
judgment in practical moral matters. "Can I do
it? .... Did I do it rightly?"--here are samples
of what conscience asks.
A well informed conscience will soon tell us
that our salvation under God is entrusted in
God's order to us. This is the possibly terrify-
ing obligation of being human, of having free-
dom and an intellect. No neighbor can save
your soul. You cannot sav e your neighbor's
SOUl.
Christ Himself has stated the right order: one
must love God first; next, his neighbor as him-
self. Self love follows next to love of God; both
are expressed necessarily in love of neighbor.
Billfold Research
"kAY friends tell me that I must be very proud be
IVI
cause I am so sensitive to criticism. It is true that
my feelings are easily hurt, but is it true that this in-
dicates great pride on my part?" So reads an inquiry
from a reader of this column.
The answer is, "No, hurt
feelings are not necessarily an
indication of pride." A person
may be strong in virtue and
still suffer from hurt feelings.
Grace is not an anesthetic. A
saint still can suffer from men-
tal pain as well as from physi-
cal pain. :
Extreme sensitiveness usual-
ly is an indication of an in-
feriority complex rather than
of pride. A person whose
feelings are bruised at the
slightest touch is a person
who already has a low opin-
ion of h i m s e 1 f. Criticism
and slights intensify his pain-
ful feelings of inferiority and
wound him more deeply than
they would wound a person
of normal susceptibility.
It is true that a proud per-
son will be resentful of crit-
icism, resentful that anyone
should question his wisdom or
ability. However, the proud
person will be ang.ry rather
than inwardly hurt. He is more
likely to strike out at his critic
than to weep on his pillow.
Not Same Thing
It s h ould be remembered
that a feeling of inferiority is
not the same thin'g as the vir-
tue of humility. Psyclogical
feelings of inferiority imply a
dissatisfaction with oneself, a
rejection of oneself. The ave-
rage person, with a normally
balanced personality, accepts
himself as he is. He knows that
he is not perfect, that he can
goof and probably will, but he
also feels a wholesome confi-
dence that he can deal with
any reasonable demands that
may be made upon him. He
is grateful to God for having
made him who he is and not
someone else.
This feeling of satisfaetlon
with self in not at odds with
the virture of humility. In-
deed, it is a basic ingredient
of humility. It is pretty hard
to be grateful to God for
having made us what we are,
if we are dissatisfied d un-
happy with the self which
God has given us. Except
that it is not voluntary and
therefore not culpable, an
inferiority complex really
would dishonor God.
The essence of humility lies
in the acknowledgement that
whatever gifts we may possess,
we owe to God. We cannot
take personal credit for our as-
sets, be they physical, mental
or spiritual. We are grateful
for whatever talents God has
given us. We try to use them
wisely and in accordance with
His will. We do not resent the
fact that others have different
or even greater gifts than we.
We do not chide God for not
having emptied His entire trea-
sure chest upon us.
Our Status
We know that God has en-
dowed us with all the talents
we need for fulfilling our part
in His plan of creation. These
are the only gifts for which
we shall have to answer. We
shall not be held responsible
for the gifts which we lack.
Our part in God's plan may
seemingly be a very modest
one, but to God it is a very
important part. Realizing that,
we are not overly concerned
with the world's estimate of
our status.
We have wandered a bit
from the subject of hurt feel-
ings. Coming back to it, we
would emphasize again that
FATHER TRESE
while humility does free us
from excessive dependence-
upon the judgement of
humans, it does not
guish in us the very normal
desire for the liking and the
approval of our fellow-men.
When dislike or disapproval
is shown towards us by
others, it still hurts, no mat-
ter what our degree of vir-
tue.
The humble man, however,
does not panic in the face of
such hurt. If the criticism or-
rejection has been brought
by his own foolishness or -
ror, he moves to make the
necessary, correction in him-
self. If the criticism or rejec-
tion has been unjust, he sees
it as an opportunity to share
in Christ's suffering, an op-
portunity to gain merit and to
atone for sin. He does not w
low in self-pity. He does n
burden others with his unhap-
piness. He does not seek for a
shoulder (unless it be Christ's)
to cry on,
Calendar
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT,
MASS: Reminiscere -- Remem-
ber (Violet). No GI., Cr., Prof.
of Lent. Mass for Parish.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24,
MONDAY OF THE SECOND
WEEK OF LENT, MASS: I
dime me--Redeem me (VioleflJl
No GI., Prof. of Lent, Pr. over
People. Fast.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25,
ST. MATTHIAS, A P O S T L E,
MASS: Mihi autem--But to me,
O Lord (Red.) Gl., 2nd Pr. of
Feria, Cr., Pref. of Apostl I
Mass for Parish. Fast.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY
28, WEDNESDAY OF THE
SECOND WEEK OF LENT,
MASS: Ne derelinquas -- For-
sake me not (Violet). No GI.,
Prof. of Lent, Pr. over Peopl
II
Fast.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27,
THURSDAY OF THE SECOND
WEEK OF LENT, MASS: Deus
--0 God (Violet). No GI., Prof.
of Lent, Pr. over People. Fast.
F R I D A Y, FEBRUARY 28,
FRIDAY OF SECOND WEEII
OF LENT, MASS: Ego, autem--l
As for me (Violet). NO G1., 2nd
Pr. of St. Gabriel of the Sor-
rowful Virgin, Prof. of Lent,
Pr. over People. Fast and Ah-
stinence.
SATURDAY OF S E C O N D
LENT, MASS: Le
WEEK
OF
domini--The law of the Lord
(Violet). No GI., Prof. of Lent,
Pr. over People. Fast.
!
907 Terry Avenue, Seattle 98104 Telephone MAin 2-8880
Second.Class Mail Privileges Authorized at Seattle, Wash. AI
11
Published every Friday by the Catholic Northwest Progress Co.
President, Most Reverend Thomas A. Connolly, D.D., J.C.D.
REV. JAMES H. GANDRAU--Eiitor
MARY BRESNAHAN--Associate Editor
a grant from the organization.
During the past year, the organiza-
tion's Blood Donor Service provided
whole fresh blood for 170 open heart
patients in Seattle. This included many
patients at Providence.
More than 3,000 rheumatic fever
patients throughout the state receive
free penicillin under the organization's
Rheumatic Fever Control Program.
This is to prevent recurrence of the
disease and possible heart damage.
n the 14 years of the Association's
existence in this state, $1,066,355 has
been given to research. During this same
period the deaths from cardiovascular
diseases among middle-aged men has
dropped six per cent. This is the time
of life when the man is most needed
by his family and his community. That
progress is being made in this area is
proof of the effectiveness of better medi-
cal care.
The Heart Association hopes to
raise $500,460 this year to continue its
much needed program of research A
little research into your billfold is the
one thing that can make it possible•
ashington State Heart Association
is conducting a statewide appeal
for support this month. The climax will
come Sunday, Feb. 23, when residents
will be asked to make their annual Heart
Sun.day donation.
In King County, where Heart par-
ticipates in the United Good Neighbor
Campaign, residents will have the op-
portunity of becoming Associate Research
Members of the Heart Association. In
view of the Association's magnificent ac-
complishments, this is a privilege not to
be taken lightly.
The organization devotes 37,2
per cent of its budget to research, The
Heart Center at Providence Hospital
in Seattle has often been the bene-
ficiary of research grams from the
Heart Association.
Presently Dr. S. A. Allen Carson
is studying anesthesia and care of the
heart surgery patient at Providence un-
der a grant from the Heart Association.
Dr. Luster R. Sauvage of the Provi-
dence staff, was able to perfect heart
surgery techniques while working under
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