THEOLOGIAN VIEW
U.S. church merger 'accelerating'
By Joyce Grist
Merger of Protestant churches is "an accelerating movement in American church life," said Carl Bangs, a member of the faculty of the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City.
In a speech before a general session of the Centennial Ecumenical Institute last night, Bangs said that from the 16th century to the late 19th century, the Protestant church went through a period of disunity.
However, Bangs said, unity among the churches was begun in the late 19th century among missionaries, with the greatest number of church mergers occurring in mission lands.
In a statistical summary, Bangs showed church mergers are a fact of church life in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Near East, Latin
America, Canada and the United States. Fifty-four mergers have resulted in 18 unified churches and 118 mergers are now in negotiation which could result in 37 more churches.
Giving the historical background of the Consultation on Church Union, which is now in session in Dallas, Bangs said that the idea for the seven member group came in 1960. Discussion between churches actually began in 1961 and the first full consultation met in 1962.
Members of the COCU are the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Evangelical United Brethren, Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ and the African Methodist Episcopal Churches.
They are experiencing some difficulty in reaching a consensus, Bangs said. "There are differing commitments to COCU by its members, some groups have reservations and there is resistance from the ecumenical center. However, the group has made some impressive contributions."
The only COCU member which has not completed a merger in the recent past or is not considering one is the Episcopal church.
Besides denominational mergers, the COCU has attempted a union among its members on various structural theological aspects, Bangs said.
Two of these are being negotiated at the present time. These are between the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in the United States and between the Methodist Church and the Church of England.
A plan of union between Methodists and members of the EUB church is to be presented to conventions of both churches in November. If agreed upon at that time, the merger will be finalized
in 1963. Bangs said that the two churches have a "marked similarity in both doctrine and structure."
Both Methodism and the Church of England have been on the decline in England, Bangs explained. "A merger of the two strongest Christian bodies is both a creative and a saving attempt," he said.
"Denominational mergers have been the most striking, but there have been other forms of merger."
Other criteria are full communion, confessional alliances, councils of churches, lay theology, a crisis on unbelief and an uncomfortableableness in the social order, professional theology and "a spiritual unity of all Christians."
Making some "cautious" predictions, Bangs said that some mergers in progress will be consumated but that many churches will continue doing business as usual. The business of mergers is risky but that churches remaining entirely uninvolved may remain static, he said. However,
Catholic priest tells of Vatican Council
A transformation of attitudes in the Roman Catholic Church, the establishment of new structures, and an authoritative and definitive setting down of positive policy—these things were accomplished by Vatican Council II.
This is the view expressed by Father Daniel J. O'Hanlon, Catholic priest, as he began the second day of the KU-Kansas School of Religion Ecumenical Institute yesterday in the Kansas Union Ballroom. The institute continued yesterday with group study sessions on eight major ecumenical themes.
Father O'Hanlon talked on the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the second Vatican Council. It was not only an examination of the problem of unity in Christ's churches, but also a manner of dealing with the internal problems of Catholicism.
"THE VATICAN COUNCIL had to find a way for the Roman Catholic Church to reexamine
itself and to reform itself to meet a contemporary world," said Father O'Hanlon.
"For four centuries," he said, "one had never heard officials at this level in the Roman Catholic Church acknowledge guilt. There is a movement from the mood of the church triumphant to the church as a servant."
In speaking of the change of attitudes during the Council, Father O'Hanlon said, "The changes which the Council represented were not totally new ones. They were attitudes tacitly present that were raised to the level of group awareness.
Father O'Hanlon told too of the bishops in Rome at the time of the council who wore buttons on the underside of their lapels. The buttons pictured Martin Luther and bore the caption "In your heart you know he's right."
With a wide smile Father O'Hanlon commented, "Perhaps this is indicative of the Church's changing mood!"
the future of Protestant church mergers "may be in the hands of non-ecumenical movements"
Graduation instructions slated for senior coffee
The winner of this year's HOPE award will be announced at the Senior Coffee at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Kansas Union.
Distribution of commencement information and selection of a
Dies of injuries
class gift will also be handled at the meeting. Seniors will be dismissed from their 10:30 classes to attend.
Mike Robe, Arkansas City senior and class publicity chairman, said that it was important for all seniors to attend if possible, as a reminder giving commencement information would be distributed.
Funeral services were held Monday morning for Chae K. Un, 27, a Korean graduate student. He died Saturday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital as the result of injuries he suffered in a one-car accident Wednesday night west of Lecompton.
look right SPRING FORMAL NIGHT!
Tuesday, May 3, 1966
6 Daily Kansan
VI 3-9594
Information of the next senior party will also be given.
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