Friday, April 20, 1962 University Daily Kansan Page 25
The Church's Fight Against Segregation
THEY SAID the archbishop had made it very clear, both in warning letters to the three Catholics and in announcing the excommunication, that their real offense was taking overt action to "provoke obedience or rebellion" among Catholics against an order affecting the church's own schools and issued by duly constituted ecclesiastical authority.
Catholic authorities here emphasized today that this was not the case.
Excommunication does not deprive a Catholic of membership in the church, nor even of the right to attend mass as a silent spectator. It does mean that he is no longer "in communion" with the church, and may not actively participate in its
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — In 1958, the Roman Catholic bishops of the United States expressed in a joint pastoral letter their unanimous judgment that racial segregation "cannot be reconciled" with the Christian teaching that all men are brothers.
Council To Study Social Problems
NEW YORK — (UPI) — The National Conference of Christians and Jews has formed a nine-member Council on Public Affairs and Religious Freedom to advise on political and social problems involving religious differences.
Many U.S. Catholic laymen have publicly disputed the bishops' assertion that segregation is un-Christian. None has even been excommunicated for voicing a contrary view.
This week Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of New Orleans excommunicated three Catholics — Mrs. B. J. Gaillot Jr., Leander H. Perez, and Jackson G. Ricau — who have actively opposed his recent order for the desegregation of parochial schools in his archdiocese.
Inquiries to news media indicate there was a widespread public impression that the three New Orleans Catholics were excommunicated because they differed with the archbishop about segregation.
This was not a new stand for the Catholic Church. It simply made official, for American Catholics, a viewpoint that had often been voiced by modern popes and by individual bishops.
Dr. Lewis Webster Jones, president of the National Conference, said the group of theologians, sociologists and educators would identify key issues of immediate or long-range concern that tend to divide people. They will be asked to suggest remedies.
Fluoride Measured In Tiny Amounts
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WASHINGTON — (UPI) — The fluoride in teeth now can be measured in amounts less than one tenth billionth of an ounce, it was reported at the 141st meeting of the American Chemical Society.
The new method of analysis already is being applied to precise measurement of fluoride before and after treatment of teeth with antidecay agent.
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Since Catholics regard the sacraments as a chief means by which divine grace is imparted and mortal sins are purged, an excommunicated person is considered in grave spiritual jeopardy unless the penalty is lifted before he dies.
THE PENALTY may be lifted if the excommunicate displays sincere penitence for the "wilful act" which led to the sentence. It is up to the bishop who imposed the penalty to determine when the condition of sincere penitence has been met. Formal confession and public submission to the church's authority are usually minimum requirements.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of American Catholics are excommunicated annually. The vast majority incur the penalty automatically, without any public announcement, by getting married before a Protestant or Jewish clergyman. This is considered self-excommunication if the Catholic concerned is aware of the church's marital laws.
nally a Catholic, Fidel Castro of Cuba, automatically excommunicated himself long ago by persecution of the church.
Catholic authorities here saw no evidence that these minimum requirements were met by Mrs. Gaillot yesterday when she fell on her knees before the archbishop with pleas that he admit he was wrong about segregation.
excommunicated a group of white women who violently assaulted a Catholic teacher because they objected to integration of catechism classes.
The penalty has been invoked once before in Louisiana in a dispute related to segregation. In 1955, Bishop Jules B. Jeannard of Lafayette, La.
A modern dictator who is nomi-
The last emperor to be excommunicated was Napoleon, who incurred the wrath of Pius VII in 1809 by hauling down the papal flag from Castel San Angelo in Rome.
In 1947, a group of Catholic parents threatened to file a civil court suit to block an order by Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter for desegregation of parochial schools in St. Louis.
The archbishop (now a cardinal) warned that he would excommunicate any Catholic who took part in such a lawsuit. The parents group was soon disbanded.
Medieval popes often used excommunication as a political and diplomatic weapon in Europe's power struggles. History records that the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, was forced to stand barefoot in the snow in the year 1080 to convince Pope Gregory VII of his penitence.
ONE OF THE most widely publicized excommunications of recent years was directed against a Boston Jesuit priest, Fr. Leonard J. Feeney. Despite repeated warnings from Archbishop (now cardinal) Richard J. Cushing, Fr. Feeney persisted in teaching that there is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church. He was excommunicated by the Vatican.
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