By Father James Maciejewski

Cardinal John Krol of Philadelphia, presiding bishop at last week’s Atlanta meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the statement on population and the American future was the most important development to come out of the meeting.

The bishops’ statement was a response to the recently-issued report of the President’s Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. Cardinal Krol termed that report “frightening,” inasmuch as it espoused “the same principle used in totalitarian states…subordination of human life to expediency and other considerations.”

Before their responsive statement was passed, the bishops heard a plea from Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit to include in the statement some mention of the stepped-up American bombing in Vietnam.

He said: “I feel that the statement is considerably weakened because it refers only to respect for human life before birth. I would suggest that the bombing in Southeast Asia manifests a profound disregard and a callous disrespect for human life that must be deplored and condemned as strenuously as we deplore and condemn efforts to promote abortion. There is a certain lack of consistency in expressing our concern about the destruction of human life in the womb and failing to advert to the horrendous destruction of human life that is presently taking place in Southeast Asia because of the American bombing.”

Bishop Gumbleton was supported by Bishop Charles Buswell of Pueblo who also alluded to the bombing in his remarks: “It struck me as very strange in spite of the fact that we made a very strong statement against the war last November that the beautiful Christmas present our president gave to Vietnam had no response at all from this conference.”

Although no bishop challenged the remarks made by Bishops Gumbleton and Buswell, the statement passed as presented, without explicit mention of the Vietnam bombing. Cardinal Terence Cooke, chairman of the committee which drafted the statement, pointed out before the vote that the October Week of Prayer and Study called for by the statement would include consideration of war as one of “the many threats to human life in our world.”

The meeting of the bishops was the first in the 53-year history of the conference to which reporters and observers were admitted. Cardinal Krol, asked what effect their presence may have had on the meeting, said he noted “signs of inhibitions…but not to the extent where it impeded discussion.”

Few votes were taken and little debate was heard during the three-day conclave. Much of the business of the conference took the form of committee reports.

One report, presented by Bishop John Quinn of Oklahoma, concerned the matter of charismatic renewal. Bishop Quinn stated: “The bishops are aware of some negative factors such as emotionalism, anti-intellectualism, religious indifferentism and the danger of little agnostic sects developing. But a survey revealed a very positive outlook on the part of the bishops. Most expressed a general satisfaction with the growth and conduct of charismatic groups. They noted the emphasis on prayer, personal holiness, the demand for ongoing conversion, increase of devotion to the Church and sacramental life that often attends involvement in these groups. As a conclusion most of the bishops suggested that we not encourage this too enthusiastically nor that we discourage it in any way, but let it develop keeping a watchful eye on its progress.

“Also the bishops noted that there is need for direction, and that priests should be encouraged, therefore, to take an interest in this so that there is assured theological content and sound spiritual guidance in these groups.”

Another report, by Bishop James Malone of the Liturgy Committee, was favorable to the practice of holy communion-in-the-hand. But Bishop Malone expressed doubt that the necessary two-thirds approval of the bishops could be gained, so he declined to call for a vote until a future meeting, after the bishops have had time for further study. He cautioned in the meantime against the unauthorized practice of communion-in-the-hand, calling it “disruptive and hurtful to Church law and discipline.”

He also announced that a determination of the proper age for the sacrament of confirmation would be left to the individual bishop.

The bishops then heard a somewhat pessimistic report from Chicago’s Bishop Thomas Grady on the state of seminaries today. In them, he said, is too often found “loss of sense of community, loss of integration, and possible neglect of spiritual formation.”

Bishop Grady then recommended a balanced, integrated seminary program of the academic, the pastoral and the spiritual. He called for closer contact between seminary personnel and bishops and he urged consideration of an “extended diaconate,” wherein a deacon would spend one full year in a parish before ordination to the priesthood.

The highpoint of Wednesday’s session was Archbishop Leo Byrne’s report on Women in the Church and Society, in which he said it was “a matter of increasing urgency” that the Church come to recognize the just demands of American women. He said that his committee would issue a statement on the Equal Rights Amendment in the near future.

At a press conference he said that “the emergence of women in the Church and society” had greatly changed his thinking within the past three years. He announced that his committee was beginning a full theological study on the role of women in the Church –a study which would include consideration of the possible ordination of women to the priesthood and diaconate. Heretofore Church practice, said the archbishop, has been guided more by tradition than by theology.

In response to a question, Archbishop Byrne affirmed that Church regulations continue to necessitate special clothing to identify women under religious vows. Bishop John May of Mobile, sitting next to the archbishop, added: “There must be some sign distinguishable as the garb of a religious person.”