• UNITED STATES Fr. John J. Sullivan, national :firector of the Extension Society' Volunteers, replied in Chicago last week to a criticism of the Catholic lay home missions group made recently by the director of the Peace Corps medical programme. Dr. Joseph T. English.
Addressing an audience at Marquette University, the doctor had been reported as saying that the ESV and other Catholic lay volunteer groups, such as the Papal Volunteers for Latin America, were "competing" with the Peace Corps, instead of complementing It.
Fr. Sullivan said Dr. English "reveals a lack of understanding
of what he criticises . . We would he most eager to hear that our volunteer nurses in mission hospitals, our social workers in diocesan agencies, our teachers in struggling mission schools, and so forth, can be succeeded by domestic Peace Corpsmen. But this is surely not likely to happen.
Christian responsibility in the face of the world population crisis will be the theme of an interdenominational conference to be held in New York this month at the Church Centre for the United Nations, sponsored by the Methodist Board of Christian Social Concerns: A special feature of the seminar will be a Catholics Protestant dialogue on responsible parenthood.
▪ BRAZIL Portuguese-speak ing Catholics in Brazil were generally enthusiastic over the introduction of the vernacular, said a Rio dc Janeiro priest. He added: "Of course there will always be a few holdouts in any major change." Cardinal de. Barros Camara, Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. said other changes, such as the priest facing the congregation, would be introduced only gradually.
• POLAND Polish Catholics have been told by Cardinal Wyszynski that use of the vernacular in the Mass and other liturgical changes would have to come gradually "because of the shortage of the means of printing and the necessity of printing the liturgy books abroad."
• AUSTRALIA The Anglican Primate of Australia, Archbishop Gough of
Sydney, said last week that
Christianity was -threatened with extinction" and called for "a mighty spirituel revival involving millions of our brothers". He quoted from a Moslem publication which said: -The task of shattering the Cross to pieces demands that Moslem missionaries should carry the fight into the home lands of Christians."
• AUS'I'RIA Cardinal Koenig, Archbishop of Vienna, said last week that the condition of the Catholic Church in Eastern Europe was being gradually improved through peo sonal contacts and treaties with Communist governments, He told reporters that his task was to con Untie personal contacts with East European churchmen and political leaders, not to negotiate Holy See
etre'ti". CANADA Dr. Russell Brown, the Anglican Bishop of Quebec City, and his dean. the Rev. A. E. Colerna . joined 36 Catholic bishops in thee welcome home to Canada's newest Prince of the Church, Cardinal Roy. The two Anglicans and the Catholic bishops sat in the chancel of the Quebec Basilica as the Cardinal spoke in EngEsh and in French at the reception in his honour.
Anglican Bishop Ernest Reed of Ottawa called last week on Canada's churches to work together to help the underprivileged abroad as well as the needy at home, Addressing some 150 Catholic and Protestant clergy at Kingston, Ontario, he said that too often major decisions in Canadian society were made "by public opinion polls" because the Christian Church had not continued to exert the influence of missionary explorers and builders.
"Herr Cardinal" enough
Cardinal Jaeger of Paderborn has asked his people to call him "Herr Cardinal" instead of "Your Eminence". He said imi a message on his return from being made a cardinal: "1 do not want titles and new responsibilities to create harriers between me and my faithful."