Text transcribed from caption: P-30361 PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS OF 1963 For Release: Thursday, Dec. 26, or later LEFT PANEL Top Left: President Kennedy’s body is carried to funeral services and burial in Arlington Cemetery. In his short term, the young Chief Executive stemmed fears of a Roman Catholic in the White House and was widely hailed for moving the nation toward solution of its racial problem and, by personal example, for furthering under-standing among all religions. His assassination called attention to what numerous religious leaders described as a dangerous degree of hate, arrogance and prejudice and nationwide complacency. Top Right: Death of Pope John XXIII. Large crowds kept a death watch in front of St. Peter’s Basilica at Vatican City. For his concern for all men, for his “opening the window” to renewal of the Roman Catholic Church, the pontiff was eulogized by leaders of virtually all religions. Middle Left: Devotional prayer and Bible reading in public schools was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Most of the nation complied, though there was scattered objection in eastern states and outright refusal to stop school devotions in some Southern areas. Middle Right: A first National Conference on Religion and Race solidified the Protestant, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Jewish thrust against discrimination and segregation. Leaders at the historic January meeting in Chicago included (from left) Archbishop William E. Cousins of Milwaukee, Wis., chairman of the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference; J. Irwin Miller, then president of the National Council of Churches; Albert Cardinal Meyer, Archbishop of Chicago; Dr. Julius Mark, then president of the Synagogue Council of America; Dr. Fred S. Buschmeyer, secretary of the United Church of Christ, and Bishop Stephen G. Spottswood of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. Bottom Left: A 16-member delegation from Russian Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Armenian and Georgian Orthodox Churches visited the U.S. in March under auspices of the National Council of Churches. Bottom Right: Religion’s deepening role in the fight for racial justice was exemplified in the dramatic 210,000-strong “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” on Aug. 28. Participation by Protestants, Orthodox, Catholics and Jews exceeded all advance expectations. RIGHT PANEL Top Left: As at the first session, the 1963 second session of the Second Vatican Council featured attendance by Protestant and Orthodox delegate-observers. Pope Paul VI is shown here with (far right) Bishop Fred Pierce Corson of Philadelphia, president of the World Methodist Council; to the Pope’s immediate right is Augustin Cardinal Bea, president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, and next to Cardinal Bea, Dr. Oscar Cullman of Basel, Switzer-land, theologian of the Swiss Reformed Church. Top Right: Ecumenicity was advanced at the World Council of Churches’ Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order at Montreal, Quebec -- a study session on Christian unity attended by Catholic observers. Together here at an ecumenical rally (from left) are Metropolitan Athenagoras of the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada; Paul-Emile Cardinal Leger, Catholic Archbishop of Montreal; Dr. W.A. Visser ’t Hooft, WCC general secretary, and Dr. George Johnston, principal of United Theological College, Montreal. 2nd Row, Left: Dr. Franklin Clark Fry (left) of New York and Lutheran Bishop Bo Giertz of Gothenburg, Sweden, lead a procession of nearly 800 marchers during the Lutheran World Federation’s Fourth Assembly at Helsinki, Finland, in August. Dr. Fry, president of the Lutheran Church in America and World Council of Churches leader, was succeeded as LWF president by Dr. Frederik A. Schiotz, head of the American Lutheran Church. In addition to discussions of Lutheran theology and the LWF’s worldwide program, the Assembly established a permanent foundation to further ecumenism through study of Catholicism and other confessions. 2nd Row, Right: An historic moment -- representatives of Eastern Orthodox Churches, at Rhodes, Greece, agreed unanimously to enter a “dialogue” with the Roman Catholic Church. Efforts to close the Orthodox-Catholic breach, dating back to 1054, also were highlighted late in the year with Pope Paul’s announced plan to travel to the Holy Land and prospects for a meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Istanbul, supreme leader of Eastern Orthodoxy. 3rd Row, Left: Noted Evangelist Billy Graham continued to draw large crowds at his rallies. Here, at Los Angeles Coliseum, he spoke to 47,655 during a three-week Southern California Crusade. 3rd Row, Center: Alleged persecution of Buddhists by the later-overthrown Ngo Dinh Diem regime in South Vietnam was dramatically underscored by an aged monk, the Rev. Quang Duc, one of seven who burned themselves to death in protest. 3rd Row, Right: Greater Protestant unity was discussed by representatives of six denominations at a March meeting of the Consultation on Church Union at Oberlin, Ohio. Seated, from left, are Charles Parlin, Methodist layman and Consultation secretary; Dr. James I. McCord, president of Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary and Consultation chairman; and the Rev. George G. Beazley Jr., of the International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ). Standing, from left, are Protestant Episcopal Bishop Robert F. Gibson Jr., of Richmond, Va.; Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, chief executive officer of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.; the Rev. David G. Colwell, United Church of Christ; Senior Bishop Reuben H. Mueller of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, and Methodist Bishop Glenn Randall Phillips of Denver, Colo. Bottom Left: The gavel of the presidency of the National Council of Churches was turned over, in December, by J. Irwin Miller, at left, Disciples of Christ layman from Columbus, Ind., to Senior Bishop Reuben H. Mueller of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The bishop, a well-known ecumenist, was elected to a three-year term during the NCC’s triennial General Assembly at Philadelphia, Pa. Bottom Center: Key participants in the December meeting of the World Council of Churches’ Commission on World Mission and Evangelism at Mexico City were, at left, Church of South India Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, who directs the WCC’s mission and evangelism division, and Dr. W.A. Visser ‘t Hooft, WCC general secretary, both from Geneva, Switzerland. Mission policies were examined by some 200 leading churchmen from 48 nations. Bottom Right: A brief, informal meeting between Dr. Arthur Michael Ramsey, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, at left, and James Cardinal McGuigan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, highlighted a general theme of the Third World Anglican Congress at Toronto in August -- greater Christian unity. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO