BISHOP MALONE, IN FAREWELL SPEECH, WARNS OF DIVISION BETWEEN U.S. & ROME

Washington (RNS) — In his farewell address, the leader of the nation's Catholic bishops warned here of a "developing estrangement" between American Catholics and Rome.

Bishop James Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, pointed to growing distress over recent attempts by the Vatican to exercise its authority in the United States. He spoke to approximately 300 bishops at the start of their annual meeting here on November 10th.

In his last address as president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Malone signaled the approach that the American hierarchy will take in dealing with heightened ecclesiastical tensions.

While avoiding direct criticism of the Vatican, he delivered a stirring defense of the American Church and its innovations. He let the Vatican know of widespread discontent but called for new efforts toward reconciliation. "No one who reads the newspapers of the last three years can be ignorant of a growing and dangerous disaffection of elements of the Church in the United States from the Holy See," said the 66-year-old prelate, who was completing his three-year terms as the bishops' elected leader.

Bishop Malone's appeal for cooperation between the American Church and Rome was immediately followed by what bishops later described as a highly conciliatory message to them by Pope John Paul II.

In a letter read to the bishops by Archbishop Pio Laghi, the pope's delegate to the U.S., John Paul said he places "my full trust in you" and expressed appreciation for their collaboration with the Vatican.

Before the Pope's message was read, Bishop Malone acknowledged that "tensions and controversies" will surround the Pope's planned September 1987 visit to this country and that some in the Church "question its timeliness and utility."

CARDINAL BERNARDIN GOES ON-STAGE WITH MONKEES FOR TEEN ROCK EVENT

New York (RNS) — "Admit it now, be honest. How many of you upon hearing that I was going to be on stage with the Monkees thought I had lost my mind?" Those words were addressed by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago, to some 15,000 teens at the first Catholic Youth Organization "Rock Event" held recently in Chicago. The Monkees are a revived, late '60s rock group currently on world tour.

The 15,000 youths, some of the 200,000 Catholic teens in the Archdiocese, stomped their feet, whistled and threw paper airplanes as the Cardinal conducted a para-liturgy service before the Monkees came on stage.

At times the Cardinal appeared bemused as he sat amid blue-jean-clad teens who danced to top rock songs during the service.

In his sermon, the Cardinal told the teens, "There isn't enough life in our faith, and not enough faith in our lives." Competing at times with calls for the Monkees, Cardinal Bernardin won his audience as he apologized for the fact that the Church had not always been sensitive to youth.

He told those who were 16 that "for better or worse in the year 2000" when they were 30-year-olds "the Church will be yours. We need you."

At the conclusion of his remarks the Cardinal brought the house to its feet with a quote from an old Monkee's hit song, "I'm a Believer."

At a press conference following the service, Father John Horan, 31-year-old director of the CYO in Chicago, said "Kids are noisy when they are reverent," a point with which the relaxed Cardinal agreed. Both Cardinal Bernardin and Father Horan noted they had taken a chance with the first-ever rock worship service but added that the event was an effort to prove to the youth of the Archdiocese that "religion, the Catholic Church, can be fun."

BISHOPS IGNORE HUNTHAUSEN PLEAS; BACK VATICAN DISCIPLINE

Washington (RNS) — The nationals Catholic bishops, apparently rejecting an emotional plea for help from Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen, approved a statement Nov. 12th supporting the Vatican's recent disciplinary action against the prelate.

More than 300 bishops emerged from a closed session in which Archbishop Hunthausen gave an account in which he described acts of Vatican deception and secrecy which led to the decision to strip him of authority over five key areas of ministry in the Archdiocese of Seattle.

But the bishops' conference, declining a role in the dispute, said in a statement released immediately after the Nov. 12th session that the Vatican's action against Archbishop Hunthausen "deserves respect and confidence."

The statement acknowledged "the pain" felt by Archbishop Hunthausen and his auxiliary, Bishop Donald Wuerl, and added that the bishops were prepared to give unspecified "assistance judged helpful and appropriate by the parties involved." But the bishops also said they "wished to affirm unreservedly their loyalty to and unity with the Holy Father."

But the prelates defended the process used by the Vatican in disciplining Archbishop Hunthausen, implicitly rejecting his description of the procedure as unjust.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS TAKE MODERATE PATH; TURN ASIDE LAW AND WEAKLAND

Washington (RNS) — The two new elected leaders of the nation's Catholic bishops are regarded as "moderate," pragmatic and likely to stand by the U.S. hierarchy's recent initiatives while avoiding any dramatically new directions.

The bishops followed tradition by elevating the current vice-president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop John L. May of St. Louis, to the presidency during their Nov. 10-14 meeting here. The vice-presidency went to Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati who, if tradition holds, will become president of the Conference in three years.

The pair rose to leadership at a meeting marked by noticeable tension and uncertainty following recent Vatican steps against liberal Church practices in the United States. By elevating these middle-of-the-road prelates, the hierarchy signaled a desire by the approximately 300 bishops to avoid further polarization within their ranks.

In what some regard as startling, an auxiliary bishop from Brooklyn was chosen over Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles as chairman of the bishops' Committee on Social Development and World Peace. Bishop Joseph Sullivan easily won over Archbishop Mahony in what some bishops viewed as an expression of discomfort with the Archbishop's increasingly close identification with Pope John Paul II's theological orthodoxy.

Underscoring their intent to avoid the extremes, the bishops turned aside leadership bids of two high-profile prelates who have lined up on opposite sides of a dispute over the Vatican's actions. Losing out were conservative Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, an unquestioning supporter of the Vatican, and Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, a liberal who recently spoke out against Rome's initiatives and urged the Church to avoid "fanaticism and small-mindedness."

Archbishops May and Pilarczyk set the tone of their upcoming three years of leadership at a news conference immediately after the elections on Nov. 11. The new president pledged to continue carrying out the bishops' initiatives in a wide range of areas, including social action and liturgical reforms. He also echoed Bishop Malone's strong defense of an active role by national organizations of bishops, which have come under criticism by some Vatican officials.

Archbishop May, a native of Evanston, Illinois, who has served as head of the St. Louis Archdiocese since 1980, is considered to hold views on internal Church and social issues similar to that of Bishop Malone. At the same time, he is expected to bring to the bishops' conference a different style of leadership, more cautious and low-key and considerably less charismatic.

For instance, he immediately amended remarks made by Bishop Malone in a forthright opening address to the assembly. Bishop Malone warned of a "developing estrangement" between the American Church and the Vatican as well as "growing and dangerous disaffection" with Rome.

But when asked about these remarks, Bishop May said the Youngstown prelate was referring only to a "perception" held by others of estrangement with the Vatican, not an actual one. He also disagreed that there was tension with the Vatican and termed current conflicts a "misunderstanding" on the part of both sides.

In other voting, Bishop Joseph Imesch, who has upset Church conservatives by forging dialogue with women's leaders on such issues as priestly ordination, won a vote of confidence by the bishops, who retained him as head of their committee on women's concerns.

MORE ABOUT MAY AND PILARCZYK

Washington (RNS) — Archbishops May and Pilarczyk have each taken an active role in implementing the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Archbishop May, for instance, has insisted that priests in his diocese give women leadership roles in Church services and eucharistic celebrations. He also is a strong supporter of Catholics receiving Communion not only with Eucharistic Bread but with wine as well. And his interest in liturgy has led him to encourage the greater use of music during confirmation ceremonies. These three liturgical points have led St. Louis priests to quip that they could find favor with the bishop by thinking in terms of "wine, women and song."

Archbishop May has publicly disapproved of illegal sit-ins at abortion clinics by right-to-life activists. On the other hand, earlier this year he instructed priests to stay away from a conference sponsored in his diocese by New Ways Ministry, a lay Catholic outreach to homosexuals.

Archbishop Pilarczyk has served as head of the bishops' committee on liturgy. During the annual meeting he successfully argued for new guidelines to strengthen and expand the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.

Recently, the Cincinnati archbishop led an ad hoc committee which concluded that there were no reasons why the bishops should block a priest who had criticized a papal document reasserting the Church's ban on the ordination of women from assuming an appointment as their chief doctrinal adviser.

CATHOLICS, EPISCOPALIANS TO SIGN "COVENANT" URGING COOPERATION

Chicago (RNS) — Calling the division between Christian churches a "scandal," the heads of the Roman Catholic and Episcopal communions in Chicago will bring their church bodies together for ecumenical worship and further cooperation.

Archbishop Joseph Cardinal Bernardin and the Rev. James W. Montgomery plan to sign a joint covenant on Nov. 16 during a ceremony which will begin at St. James Episcopal Church and conclude at Holy Name Roman Catholic Cathedral.

The document the two leaders will sign urges members of both churches "to strive for the removal of any existing obstacle to union while supporting and preserving the traditions of each other—Anglican and Roman Catholic—according to the mandate of the Gospel."

The covenant calls for prayer, sharing of resources, common work for social justice and further discussion.

LAW'S DEFEAT SIGNALs CATHOLIC BISHOPS' WISH FOR INDEPENDENCE

Washington (RNS) — "In particular, the elections," Cardinal Bernard Law replied jokingly when asked what pleased him most about the bishops' annual meeting in Washington.

It was certainly a joke because Cardinal Law, the head of the powerful Archdiocese of Boston, had lost bids for the presidency and vice-presidency of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Even more interestingly, he was turned down by his fellow prelates four times for slots as a U.S. delegate to an upcoming Vatican synod. Then he failed to be named as an alternate, losing to two bishops from rural areas of New Mexico and Minnesota.

It is likely that Pope John Paul II, who has discretion in such matters, will give a special delegate slot to Cardinal Law, who is closely identified with the Pope's theological orthodoxy.

The multiple defeats of Cardinal Law, who seemed to take it all in good stride, and the bishops' separate decision to hand over an important committee chairmanship to an auxiliary prelate from Brooklyn in a rejection of the powerful Archbishop of Los Angeles, were only side events at the bishops' conference, which ended on Nov. 13th.

But the choices spoke volumes about the way the American Catholic hierarchy has developed in the past twenty years, and gave dramatic illustration to what the bishops like to refer to as "collegiality," or shared power and authority.

This shift gives the national structure [bishops' conference] an independent identity which the bishops jealously guard. A prelate who seems to bypass his fellow bishops and align himself too closely with Vatican initiatives that make life hard for the conference is unlikely to get very far with them.

"It says that Cardinal Law is just another member of the conference," said Bishop Francis Hurley of Anchorage, Alaska, when asked what message the bishops were sending. He declined to comment on whether the elections were a repudiation of Cardinal Law's strong defense of the Vatican's recent disciplining of Archbishop Hunthausen.

Bishop Mathew Clark of Rochester, New York, also declined to comment directly on Cardinal Law but added, "People vote for those who they believe best represent their way of looking at things."

Elected delegates to the November 1987 Synod in Rome were Archbishop May, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and Bishop Stanley Ott of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who heads the bishops' committee on the laity. Alternates are Bishop Ricardo Ramirex of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Raymond Lucker of New Ulm, Minnesota.

COMMISSION COMMENDS BISHOPS' OPENNESS, CRITICIZES PASTORAL

New York (RNS) — The 38-member Lay Commission on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy has commended the U.S. Bishops for "their openness to criticism and their willingness to entertain suggestions" for revisions of their pastoral letter on the U.S. economy.

At the same time, however, the lay group says that "some passages are both excessively concrete and excessively opinionated" in the final draft of the bishops' document and that it places top much faith in government intervention as a means of helping the poor.

The lay commission is co-chaired by former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon and Michael Novak. Just before the release of the first draft of the bishops' pastoral in November 1984, the group issued a 106-page statement entitled "Toward the Future," which defended the American economy and the capitalist system against anticipated criticism by the bishops.

When the bishops issued the second draft of their pastoral in October 1985 Mr. Simon criticized its emphasis on "economic rights," calling it antithetical to free enterprise and American capitalism. The new document by the lay commission, titled "Liberty and Justice for All," is a 23-page response to the final draft of the bishops' pastoral, which was issued in June and will get a final vote by the prelates at their Nov. 10-13 meeting in Washington.

The lay commission says, "again and again the final draft turns to the state to 'direct' economic activism, to create jobs, to play a determining role in foreign aid assistance and the like." The lay commission says it is "not opposed to an activist state" but cautions that "wise activism means counting costs as well as benefits. A wise citizenry properly hunts out government programs and activities that erect barriers to and introduce biases against productive activity."

According to the lay commission, "the bishops underestimate the role of liberty. Even the title of their letter, 'Economic Justice for All,' leaves out the crucial element of social justice, liberty. Liberty is the ground of responsibility and hence of human dignity. 'Liberty'—in its distinctive American meaning of 'liberty under law' and 'under God'—is the distinctive American gift to the social teaching of the Church."

According to the lay commission, the bishops misinterpreted the teachings of Pope John XXIII in quoting his Pacem in Terris encyclical. While the bishops said that Pope John declared that "all people have a right to life, food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, education and employment," the lay commission says that "Pope John XXIII does not assert this of all people. He asserts it only of those who are unable through no fault of their own to meet their responsibilities to provide for themselves and their dependents. Able persons have the duty to be self-reliant."

Noting that the final draft of the bishops' pastoral "finds the distribution of income in the United States unacceptable," the lay commission comments that "this means that the distributions of income in all but a handful of small, more culturally homogeneous nations (such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark) are also unacceptable. Since hardly a score of nations in all of human history have done better in this respect, the final draft would appear to find most life on earth unacceptable."

Mr. Novak said he hoped the report of the lay commission would promote further discussion of the bishops' pastoral. "We are glad the bishops asked for disagreement," he said. "Many passages in their statement beg for it. It is the duty of lay persons to express our disagreement on such matters with as much civility and charity as we can."

Among the members of the lay commission are James Finn, editor of "Freedom at Issue"; J. Peter Grace, chairman of W.R. Grace & Co.; former Secretary of State Alexander Haig; Clare Boothe Luce; and Frank Shakespeare, former head of the U.S. Information Agency and new United States Ambassador to the Vatican.

CURRAN SAYS HIS REMOVAL VIOLATES PROCEDURES

Washington (RNS) — In his latest clash with Church authorities, the Rev. Charles Curran has criticized the Vatican-chartered Catholic University of America for removing his name from class schedules for next semester.

Father Curran was informed by the Vatican in August that he is neither "suitable nor eligible to teach Catholic theology" any longer. But under university procedures, he is allowed to appeal the decision before a special faculty committee.

Father Curran, a tenured professor who has been on sabbatical leave, said university officials "unilaterally" removed his name from the schedule in violation of their own procedures.

In response, a university spokesman said the school took the action in order not to "mislead students."

Father Curran was disciplined for his dissent from official Church teachings. The action removed his canonical mission, or authorization to teach at the institution.

CHICAGO CATHOLIC, EPISCOPAL LEADERS ACKNOWLEDGE "COMMON BAPTISM"

Chicago (RNS) — Chicago Roman Catholic and Episcopal Church leaders have signed a 12-point covenant that acknowledges their churches' "common baptism in the name of the Trinity."

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Bishop James W. Montgomery of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago signed the agreement as part of ceremonies held Nov.16 to celebrate their churches' common heritage.

In remarks made at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James, Cardinal Bernardin noted that although progress has been made in healing the 400-year-old rift between Catholic and Anglican bodies, "it would be naive to say there were no tensions or differences between the two churches."

Bishop Montgomery, preaching at the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Name, likened the schism to a family quarrel. He said the sometimes bitter hostility between the two groups resulted not because they "were so different in their beliefs but because they are so similar. Such divisions make the deepest wounds and hurt so keenly for so long."

To demonstrate the denominations' shared heritage, Cardinal Bernardin led a penitential rite at St. James and Bishop Montgomery joined the Cardinal in a renewal of baptismal vows at Holy Name.

Although such covenants have been signed between Catholic and Episcopal communities in other U.S. cities, Chicago represents the largest community to reach such agreement so far. Similar covenants are planned for 1987 between the Chicago Archdiocese and local Lutheran and Methodist bodies.