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My dear brothers in Christ:
Today is the first day of the new pontificate of Pope Paul VI. We
are united in spirit with that vast assembly of some 300,000 who are watching
the new pontiff accept the crown and the cross that will be his to bear until
the day he dies. As we kneel to share his blessing, are we prepared to share
his burden? It is of this burden that I write you today, a day heavy with
historical meaning as important in our century as the days that marked the
beginning and end of the reign of our beloved Pope John, and the momentous days
of the second Vatican Council. Our task as Catholics is clear and urgent. It
demands of us a reexamination of our role, and it calls for the high courage of
men and women who are strong enough to take risks.
Pope John said when he convened the Council: “The Church
today is witnessing a society in crisis. While mankind is at the threshold of a
new era, grave and immense tasks await the Church. (1) In his first address to
the cardinals June 22, Pope Paul enumerated these tasks--“peace among the
nations,as a reflection of God’s order,” improvements of living
standards everywhere; and the fulfillment of the goal for which Pope John
offered his life, ut omnes unum sint, “that all may be one.” (2) That
we in the Archdiocese of Atlanta may be fully prepared to work with our new
Pontiff, I address this pastoral letter on Christian Unity to our priest,
religious, and especially to our laity. We will examine the source of unity,
its responsibilities, and its goal.
On the night before he died, Our Lord devoted His last long
discourses to this theme. From the depths of His soul came a tender plea for
the unity of those who love God. To all Christians, he said: “I am the
Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much
fruit, for without Me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he
shall be cast outside as the branch, and wither.”
Then He prayed to His Father, first for His own; “Keep in thy
name those whom Thou has given me, that they may be one, even as we are.”
Finally, for all those who some day would believe in Him, He prayed: “That
all my be one, even as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee that they also may be
one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” (3)
These words are strong yet tender; words that are unyielding in
their substance, yet pleading in their expression. There must always exist in
the Church that unity which He placed there, a unity of doctrine, of moral
principles, of sacraments, and of government. This unity cannot be compromised
because it is the core of the diving guarantee, the rock upon which the Church
is built. In all the talk of change in the Church today, there can be no change
in the essentials. It is rather in the expression of them, their application,
the separation of them from their accidental setting-here is where change is
called for. And beyond this unity of essentials, there is still another unity
to be achieved- the unity of all persons. This is our concern; it is the
concern too of all separated Christians, both Protestant and Orthodox.
Never has this longing for Christian unity been more intense. The
high and prayerful hopes with which the Second Vatican Council was opened are
even higher now as our Pope Paul VI pledges to continue it with all the
energies the Lord has given him. And we join with Protestants in the prayer
that their own World Conference on Faith and Order, to be held in Montreal this
coming month, will be blessed with every grace. We are all growing more
conscious that the Holy Spirit of God, brooding over our troubled world and our
divided Christendom, is stirring now the souls of men in many places, providing
the light and strength without which reunion would remain an empty dream. What
is our specific task as Catholics in these historic times?
Surely it is not simple task. Humanity has crossed the threshold
of space, yet only last October we stood close to the possibility of total
nuclear destruction. By speedy transport and by instant communication, we are
close to every inhabitant on earth, but never has there been such gross
misunderstanding of each other’s motives. In this summer of 1963, American
communities seem on the surface, models of harmony and good will. But the
poisons of discord and hate, poverty and frustration are daily more evident,
simply because too many refuse to give their brethren and their fellow citizens
the basic human rights to which they are entitled. The image of the Christian
society, which should be the radiant reflection of Christ Himself, has not been
achieved. “Love for our neighbor” our new pope has declared, “is
the acid test of our love for God.” (4)
The un-churched American, the emerging non-Christian from Africa
and Asia, even the communist, look at Christians today, and are scandalized by
our divisions. They see the coherent unity of the Catholic Church, but they do
not understand it. What they are looking for is this unity of Christ in the
lives of Catholic, and indeed of all Christian people. Do we understand their
search and their disappointment in us? Do we really understand the plea of
Christ? Christian unity is our burden and our responsibility, not because it is
the only way we can blunt the brutal advance of communism, not because we want
to win friends and made converts, but because it is the will of God, “that
all may be one…that the world may believe.” Instead, today’s
Christianity is a sad echo of St. Paul’s painful question: “Has
Christ been divided up?”
As it was in St. Paul’s times, Christians today do not pray
enough for the grace of a reunion. Although the crust of our complacency is
cracking, this is only a beginning. Pope Pius XII’s grave words are
tragically true:
“The fact that many people remain far from the Catholic
truth, and do not bend the mind to the inspiration of divine grace, happens
because neither they nor the Christian faithful raise their most fervent
prayers to God for that purpose”. (5)
Prayer, then, is the first need; fresh prayer, arising from the
urgent need of unity today; daily prayer, because we can only take one step at
a time; community prayer, because we have prayed too long as individuals,
instead of praying as children of our common Father. Our Catholic parishes
throughout the Archdiocese of Atlanta therefore, should become mighty voices of
gratitude and petition-gratitude for the unity of faith that is ours; petition
for the reunion of all the faithful in Christ. Especially powerful are the
prayers of children, voices of innocence today, destined to be the voices of
experience tomorrow,-and the prayers of the sick and suffering, voices sure to
reach God because they are rooted in pain and sacrifice.
It is encouraging that the prayers of our separated brethren are
being raised with ours, especially in the “Lord’s Prayer” that
Jesus taught us all. Pope John (and now Pope Paul) called them
“brothers”. And the united prayers of those not Catholic, on the
occasion of the Vatican Council, at the death of Pope John, and now on the
election of our new pontiff, are a precious blessing of our times. Not for 400
years have so many Christians offered their hopes to God that His kingdom might
come, that His will might be done.
Our second need is a deeper understanding of our own Catholic
faith as a unique gift of God. The more we study and live it, the better grasp
that it is a gift from God, to be treasured at all costs, but also to be shared
with all men. We must indeed know how it differs from all other religions, but
we must not be blind to the common roots we share with all baptized Christians.
If the “Our Father” is our common prayer, the Bible is our common
book. As Catholics, we rejoice that other churches love the Scriptures, that
they are coming more and more to honor the liturgy. Let us pray that out of
their good will, they will come to appreciate the principle of divine authority
in the Church, and the rich blessings of the Mass and all seven Christian
sacraments. May God hasten the day of their return to their Father’s home.
In Pope John’s words, “They will find no strange house, but their
own.” (6)
And finally, besides prayer and understanding, we must show those
not of our faith that courtesy and civility are the hallmarks of true Christian
charity. The Catholic world, thank God, is growing warm with welcome. We
realize more fully that all who are baptized belong in some manner to the true
Church of Christ, that most of them are in good faith, and that divine grace is
working in them too. We are more alert to the sanctity of many lives outside
the Church, more appreciative of the boundless mercy of God. The day of the
“Ecumenical Catholic” has arrived. Certain of his own belief, yet
humble lest he betray it by his conduct, he faces the religious challenge of
today not with scorn nor indifference, but with authentic charity. His whole
life is dedicated to the full integrity of Catholic doctrine. He cuts no
corners in his creed; he brooks no compromise with truth. But the Ecumenical
Catholic, like St. Paul, practices the truth in love.
To pray, to understand, to love, these are the three parts of the
task of unity which our Catholic men and women share with our new pope. To
signalize our readiness in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
1) Our parish organizations, working with the Commission on
Christian Unity, can become more “unity-conscious” by meetings and
programs planned around that theme.
2) The entire parish should participate in the new project to be
announced soon by our Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Men-“Operation
Understand.”
3) Prayer is to be offered for the success of the Montreal
Conference of the World Council of Churches, July 12-26. Starting today, the
enclosed prayer is to be said at all Masses, in all of our churches, from the
pulpit, and is to be continued for three Sundays, July 7, 14 and 21.
In humility and confidence, let us pray for unity, understand our
faith, and love those who do not profess it. I close this pastoral letter on
Christian Unity with my blessing to you all, invoking the words of the Church
in her daily Mass:
“Lord, regard not my sins, but the faith of Thy Church, deign
to give her peace, and unite her according to Thy will. Amen.” (7)
Sincerely yours in Christ
Paul J. Hallinan
Archbishop of Atlanta
FOOTNOTES:
- John XXIII, Full Convoking Second Vatican Council, December
25, 1961.
- Paul VI, Inaugural Address to Cardinals, June 22, 1963
- John 15, 5-6; 17, 11-21.
- Paul VI, ibid.
- Pope Pius, Mystici Corporis.
- John XXIII, Broadcast, Oct. 29, 1958.
- Roman Missal, First of Three Prayers Before Communion.
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