By Joseph Carroll PAR IS
AFRENCH bishop has announced that from next year the students for the priesthood in his diocese will not be ordained until one year after they have left the seminary.
When the students have finished their studies in the seminary they will be appointed to a "preparatory ministry" in the diocese which they will exercise as deacons.
During this period they will have real pastoral responsibilities and at the end of 12 months they will be ordained as priests.
This important decision has been taken by Mgr. I4uyghe, Bishop of Arras, but it in no way anticipates the decision of the Vatican Council on the eventual employment of permanent deacons in the ministry.
The criticism is frequently heard in France that the first years of young priests in the ministry arc far less effective than they might be because their training is almost exclusively theoretical. This experiment in the diocese of Arras will he followed closely by the other bishops.
Chinese-type plan for Sudan
The Sudanese government is reported to have started a new and more subtle form of persecution of Christians, and to be aiming now to establish a national independent church on the Chinese pattern.
The Sudanese clergy have been invited to make a trip to China and the government has offered to pay the travel expenses under condition that the priests accept the plans for a national church.
The Sudanese government allegedly has forbidden seminarians to continue their studies in foreign countries and has forced them to sign statements declaring that they disapprove the "requirement to go abroad".
God left out of Indian oath
Nine ministers in the new Indian central government left out the name of God while taking the oath of office from President Radhakrishnan.
Among the nine was Prime Minister Shastri.
Shastri's action was particularly puzzling because of his association with devout Hinduism. It was noted that his immediate concern seems to be to continue the policies of his predecessor, Mr. Nehru.