Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-10-13
EcumenicoI Council Begins Reshoping
Of Church to Needs of NucIeor Age

VATICAN CITY, Oct. IS
(AP) Roman Catholic prelates
from the far corners of the
earth gathered at st. Peters
Basilica in a heavy downpour
today to begin the task of re-
shaping the church to meet
the urgent new demands of the
nuclear age.
The first working session of
the Ecumenical Council was
Unexpectedly brief. The meet
ing broke up after only l hour
without taking up the first item
of characterization of 10 COM
missions to debate wide-rang-
ing issues that Pope John
XIII has asked the 2,7O0 prel-
ates to study.
European cardinals moved
swiftly to head off what one in
formant called automatic elec-
ton of 100 members of the
Councils commissions.
AdjOurns Until Tuesday
A communique issued after
the meeting said the Council
fathers agreed to a motion to
adjourn until Tuesday in order
to give Council participants a
chance to acquire "a better
knowledge of the candidates"
Achille Cardinal Lienart,
Bishop of Lille, France, made
the motion, the communique
said. Joseph Cardinal Frings,
Archbishop of Cologne, Sec
onded it. Cardinal Frings, an
informant reported, said he
also was seconding the motion
on behalf of Bernard jan AL
frink, Archbishop of Utrecht,
Holland; Julius Doepfner, Arch
bishop of Munich, and Francis
kus Koenig, Archbishop OF
Vienna.
The source said the Council
secretariat had distributed lists
of suggested candidates to the
Council fathers. This informant
added that Cardinal Lienart
declared not all the suggested
candidates were we'll known to
all bishops.
Many bishops were reported
planning to assemble tonight in
national groups to discuss cam
didates they would like to see
on the commissions.
Eugene Cardinal TisSerant,
French-born dean Of the Col
lege of Cardinals, presided at
the opening session, which the
Pope did not attend.
The voting was to have
ended October 20, but it now
appeared likely that it would
last longer and that actual
council debates would not get
under way until late this
month.
The Pope has said he cannot
estimate how long the council
will last, and many think 1t
will go on for a year or more.
The working session was
closed to the public. but nom
Catholic observers invited here
by the Vatican were allowed to
attend. Among them were two
bearded archmandrates sent by
the Moscow Patriarchate of the
Russian Orthodox Church.
The commissions. when
formed, win prepare the topics
to be discussed by the Council
fathers in full assembly.
Under scrutiny will be such
problems as the Improvement
of relations with the non-Cath-
olic churches and how to fight
communism more effectively as
well as such internal matters
as the boundaries of dioceSes
or the relations between bishops
and parish priests.
I'VE are going to modernize
many things but that doesn't
mean we will change them COM
pletely," said Bishop Gennaro
Prata of La Paz, Bolivia. He
added that the Pope wants
progress without forgetting
the history of the church."
The Pope himself will pick
eight members of each of the
24-member commissions, while
the council fathers will mark
punch card ballots for all the
other posts.
The commissions are titled
faith and morals, bishops and
diocesan government, Oriental
churches, sacramento disci-
pline, discipline of clergy and
Christian peoples, religious, mis-
sions, sacred liturgy, seminaries
and schools, and lay apoStolate-
mass communications.