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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JANUARY 31, 1986
PAGE 7
Europe that Christianity was first divided.
His letter
contains the unusual admission that the Roman Catholic Church
is •in a way, imperfect• as are the Orthodox churches of the
East, because the two traditions are meant to be
complementary. By the meeting and harmonization of the two
they can be •reciprocally completed.••••
Cardinal Hume, in a brief response to the Pope•••, said it
[the papal appeal] is evidence of his •commitment to the
collegiality of bishops.• The bishops of Europe are sure to
respond generously to the Pope's appeal, the cardinal added.
The spread of atheism, and efforts over recent centuries to
eradicate religious belief, was •a phenomenon of such vast
proportions• that it can only be faced in a co-ordinated
•common plan of action• across Europe, the Pope said.
•what is in question here is a new evangelization of
cultures, in which there must be sown again those seeds of
Christianity which in the past produced such a wonderful
blossoming.• The •ageless message of salvation• must be set
before modern man in convincing terms, for •contemporary
Europe needs to be given � soul and � filll! self-awareness.•
The difficulties now being experienced •must lead Christians
to gather their strength, rediscover their origins, and give
fresh life to those genuine values which sealed the spiritual
unity of the continent and fed the bright flame of
civilization from which so many other nations of the earth
have drawn.•
The Pope's letter is seen as
Hume's efforts over the past
church leaders throughout
dimension� their policies,
to a national basis••••
strong encouragement to Cardinal
eight years to persuade Catholic
Europe to add � continental
rather than confining themselves
A meeting of top Catholic churchmen is to take place in Spain
next month to prepare a more detailed programme in answer to
the Pope's appeal.
Deuteronomy 28:43 Being Fulfilled
The United States is being confronted
with a massive and potentially explosive phenomenon--the steady influx
of Third world immigrants, legal as well as illegal, into the country,
threat�ning to change the very character of the nation itself. This
development should come as no real surprise. For as prophecy relates:
•The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and
you shall come down lower and lower• (Deuteronomy 28:43). This looming
crisis was addressed in a recent speech delivered in San Francisco by
noted economist Walter E. Hoadley who said relative to this issue:
Do you know that•••Only 11 percent of the world's people are
white and speak English? � thirds of all global migration
is now into the
o-.
S.? 42 U.S. states have a smaller total
population than California's present Hispanic population?•••
The most delicate, yet vitally important and potentially
disruptive issue facing America over the coming generation