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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