Aust. Laymen Protest About Encyclical

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31768, 27 August 1968, Page 15

Aust. Laymen Protest About Encyclical

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) MELBOURNE, Aug. 25. A group of Australian Roman Catholic laymen have sent a statement to the Pope from Melbourne criticising his encyclical on birth concontrol.

The group also criticised the action of Archbishop Knoe, of Melbourne, in barring Father Nicolas Crotty from practicising as a priest in the archdiocese of Melbourne because he wrote newspaper articles attacking the Pope's stand on birth control.

The group—prominent academics and professional people —said in the statement' that Father Crotty and other critics had performed an important Christian duty by speaking out against the encyclical. The statement said there was a large body of opinion in the church “which does not ' accept the Pope’s letter as i an adequate expression of the I mind of the church and hence

cannot accept the claim that the views expressed bind Catholics." Professor G. J. Nossal, director of the Walter and Eliza Institute of Medical Research, Doctor Martin Davey, director of the Western Australian blood transfusion service, Professor Vincent Buckley, professor of English at Melbourne University, and Mr

W. J. Ginnane, a reader in philosophy at the Australian National University, were among the people who signed the statement.

“We ask all those priests, laity, nuns and brothers, who cannot agree with the Pope’s claim, to express their opinions and make them widely known,” the statement said. “We object to all attempts

on the part of ecclesiastical authorities to stifle free discussion on this issue. “We believe that the letter of Pope Paul VI displays neither an adequate conception of the nature ■ of the Church and the place of authority in it, nor of the nature of marriage itself. “Let us hope that one good result of the present dispute will be a clarifying within the Church of these matters.” Mr C. A. J. Coady, a lecturer in philosophy at Melbourne University, said that more than 100 signatures had been gathered from all over Australia “and more signatures are arriving hourly.”