Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-12-28

y cial Justice.)
T. In November the Roman
l. Catholic hierarchy spoke out
e powerfully for the use Of spirit.
n ual resources to solve the "a
x cial dilemma. Reformed, Con-
Y sentative and Orthodox branch
es Of Judaism similarly let their
r desire for human equality be
: known.
s In October, the Roman Catho-
+ lie Third Order Secular of St.
0 Francis showed its support of
i Negro demands by awarding its
! 1868 Peace Medal to Negro Bap-
3 fist Indignation leader DR.. Mar
\ tin Luther King, jr. In jackson,
Miss, and other Southern cities
, many white clergymen and lay
men riSked arrest and imprison-
ment at the hands of local au-
thorities to back integration
demands.
, High Court Ruling
The Supreme Courts Bible
: reading and prayer decision
met with general Protestant
, and Jewish approval, but opin-
! ion among Catholics was divid-
= ed. There was nothing like the
Juror created by the courts rul-
: ing in 1862 against the State
: authorized Regents Prayer in
, New York schools.
: Since only about half the
States had either required or al
lowed devotional practices, the
new decision became an issue
primarily in the Southern and
Northeastern States, where, in a
number of instances, ways we're
improviSed to circumvent it.
Many religious leaders saw
the ruling as a stimulus to
more, rather than less, religion
in the school system. They
called attention to the courts
statement that it was not out
J having academic use of the BIZ
} BILE or information about rei-
; gion in such courses as itera-
ture, history and social studies.
} Meanwhile, on the national
level, proponents of a ConStitu-
tional amendment to overturn
the courts ruling attempted to
obtain signatures on a dis
charge petition that would force
proposed legislation out Of COM
mittee and onto the House floor
for debate.
POpe's Encyclical
In the meantime, Pope John
had left what was to prove his
last great legacy. Supplement-
ing his other historic social en-
cyclical, Mater ct Magistra, is
sued in 1861, Pacem in ferris
was even more epochal in its
scope. In it the Pope stressed
that the universal common good
must be the norm and goal of
all temporal affairs.
Clearly intended for people Of
both the Communist and the
free world, the encyclical,
among other things, called for
an end to the ornaments race
and a ban on nuclear weapons
testing. It denounced racism
and colonialism, and urged
Strengthening the United Ma
tons as a peace-preserving in
stitution.
To Protestant and other nom
Catholic leaders who Joined
everywhere in praising the ency-I
chcal, one Of its most signifi-
cant features was a defense of
religious liberty. This was con-
spicuously ignored by Commun-
iSt propagandists, although they
joined free world leaders in all
walks Of life in otherwise &C.
claiming the papal document.
Russian Views Soften
Genial, compassionate Pope
John was given credit for a
marked Softening of Communist
hostility toward the Vatican and
the Church. When he was pre-
scented in May with the Peace
Prize Of the International Eu-
genio Balkan Foundation for his
work "for peace and fraternity
among men and peoples" a
Soviet representative was among
the many notables attending the
ceremony in the Vatican.
The previous March the Pope
bad aStonished the world by
granting a private audience to
Alexei l. AdhZhubei, atheist SON.
in-law of Soviet Premier Khru-
Shchev. This was only some
weeks after Ukrainian Rite
Archbishop Josef Slipyi of Lwow
had been greeted by the Pope
after having been freed from
10 years Of Imprisonment in
Siberia.
Other releases came in octo-
Der: Those of Archbishop Josef
Beran Of Prague and four other
CzechOSlovak prelates in the
wake of a government Shakeup
seen as a discrimination move;
and of Father Walter Ciszek, an
American Jesuit missionary,
after % years of detention in
the Soviet Union as an alleged
spy. News of Archbishop Ber-
ans release evoked loud ap-
plause at the Vatican Council,
since he had been regarded as
one of the most heroic Catholic
victims of Communist perSecu-
ton.
One Of the first decisions of
l Independent, BibIe-centeFed
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