REUNION PROSPECTS

By EVE McADAM
"ITis the unity you Catholics
have that makes so many of us jealous," said Anthony Greenwood, M.P., interviewing Archbishop Heenan of Liverpool on Sunday on the Catholic attitude towards unity of the Churches with special reference to the recent assembly of the World Council of Churches which just ended in New Delhi (ATV's "About Religion").
Mr. Greenwood's remark followed the Archbishop's recollection of his wartime parish in Manor Park where he was asked to celebrate Mass for a number of German P.O.Ws. This he did and was thanked by the Commandant, who told him, "You Catholics are lucky to have a universal language. I can't get anyone to hold a service in German for the German Protestant P.O.W.s."
In Sunday's interview Archbishop Heenan revealed that the prospects of closer association between the Churches is more favourable now than at any time; the withdrawal some years ago of Catholics from the Council of Christians and Jews was "a great pity", and ''many of us are doing a great deal to reverse this".
INFORMING
THEgreat value of the convocation at New Delhi, said Archbishop Heenan, was that when Christians meet, debate, seek together, they reach better under
standing of one another. "All Christians desire union. Though I doubt if there will be mass re-union. Re-union will come through individual conversion.
"In the past people have been shy of Catholics, but nowadays they are better .educated and less willing to credit obvious nonsense
that with Catholics the Blessed Virgin has taken the place of Our Lord."
Mr. Greenwood accepted most comments without further questioning, but one which worried him arose over the infallibility of the Pope. To this he returned again and again. In the circumstances the Archbishop's answers were just what was needed; they were serene, tirm and touched with humour. At one point several misconceptions arrived together, like a skein of tangled knitting. He unpicked the knots patiently, one by one.
CHANGES
mR. GREENWOOD'S question went something like this: "In view of the Papal Bull involving re-ordination of Anglican priests, does this mean that if there was re-union Anglicans would have to be re-baptised, and Anglican priests re-ordained? And would all Anglicans have to accept the infallibility of the Pope?"
Archbishop Heenan's rejoinder was, "If there was re-union they would be glad to accept the infallibility of the Pope". As for baptism, he explained about "conditional baptism" for converts, and also that priests were "ordained" and not "re-ordained", as Catholics did not believe they had been ordained.
As for the question of infallibility, smiling, the Archbishop offered the same explanation, in much the same words on two different occasions during the course of the interview. "You know the Pope does not get up one morning and announce, 'To-day I'm going to define a doctrine'."
OVERHAUL
HE pointed out that it is a very, very rare thing to do, and is done once in a hundred years. "The Pope is the voice of the Church. The Vatican Council, which will probably meet at the end of 1962, gives the Church a chance to hear that voice. Just as a cathedral's fabric must be kept sound, so it is with the Church. It has to have an overhaul, and the Vatican Council does this, keeping the Church alert and sound, providing also an opportunity for everyone to hear what is happening in other parts of the world like Angola or East Germany." He concluded by saying that the Vatican Council would last for months. or for years, as long as there was work for it to do.
STUNNING
EVERYONE who enjoyed last Baster's Passion Play, "A Man ries", by Ernest Marvin and Ewan kfooper and performed by the grot p of Bristol teenagers made a note s s I did, to watch "Man in Time" •3n ABC's "The Sunday Break" Itst week.
They were not disappointed. This maern nativity play by the same authors and performed by the same enterprising Youth Club members of St. James, Lockleaze. Bristol, was as stunning as the original one. If anything, it was more successful because the team seemed to have gained in confidence.
Once more biblical history was re-created in the contemporary scene and had the effect on the audience of a smack in the face.