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JOSEPH BREIG
Will “Life” Please Copy?
“A Catholic seals in a Protes
tant.” So said the headline in
Life magazine.
I wish we could shrug this off
as a case of some callow assist
ant editor, recently promoted
from office
boy, trying
clumsily to be
funny and
very, very
bright while
filling in for a
v a c a ti oning
veteran old
enough
have learned something about
journalistic honesty and respon
sibility.
I wish we could. But is there
anybody as callow and clumsy
as all that? And wouldn’t I be
libelling Life if I suggested that
all the mature staff members
go on vacation at the same time,
leaving the magazine in the
hands of tryos?
I DO WISH I could think that
the man -— or the boy — was
merely trying to be humorous.
But the story under the headline
said that ‘“To Mrs. Gemma Ras-
ile, a devout Catholic of Fondi,
Italy, her neighbor was an
abomination.”
And why an “abomination”?
He was a Protestant minister
and had “converted 500 Catho
lics.”
To stop him, said Life maga
zine — and I am quoting with
complete accuracy—Mrs. Rasile
“hired masons to brick in his
apartment door and sealed him
up inside.”
The minister “refused to
budge for three days. Finally
he agreed to move and the wall
came tumbling down.”
So said Life magazine.
I HOPE THAT before this col
umn is published Life will have
had the good manners to apolo
gize to Catholics, to Protestants,
and to all the American people,
who would like to live together
in peace, tolerance, and under
standing.
If it be necessary to explain
why an apology ought to be
forthcoming, let me explain.
“A Catholic seals in a Protest
ant.” If you stopped there, what
picture would be left in your
imagination?
To “a devout Catholic” her
neighbor was “an abomination”
because he was a minister.
Is not this a magnificent con-
. tribution to good relations be
tween Protestants and Catho
lics?
MRS. RASILE “sealed him up
inside.” What impression is left
with readers by that kind of
language?—especially when the
story says she sealed him up to
“stop him”?
Now allow me to state some
facts which Life did not give to
its readers.
Mrs. Rasile lives in a 15th-
century baronial residence, rat
ed as a national keepsake and
therefore under control of the
superintendent of fine arts.
Mrs. Rasile has the first floor
apartment. Entrance to the sec
ond floor is through a doorway
which interferes with her pri
vacy.
The Rhubarb began seven
years ago—five years before the
minister, Righetti (who has a
congergation called the Assem
bly of Brothers) entered the pic
ture.
THE SECOND FLOOR apart
ment was occupied by Mrs. Ter
esa Gudati.
Under terms of Mrs. Rasile’s
lease, she had the right to close
the doorway and require an
other to be opened at another
point.
Mrs. Rasile decided to exer
cise her right. Mrs. Gudati took
her to court. The case dragged
on for five years.
During that five-year period,
Mrs. Gudati moved out, and
thereafter rented her apartment
to several successive tenants.
The last tenant—five years after
the rhubarb started—was Rig
hetti.
Righetti knew about the court
case, rented the apartment any
how.
THE COURTS finally decided
for Mrs. Rasile, and told her to
seal the doorway. Court officials
informed Righetti, and suggest
ed that he find another apart
ment.
Righetti stayed. After a long
wait, Mrs. Rasile ordered the
doorway sealed. Righetti re
mained in the apartment.
Mrs. Gudati ordered another
doorway opened. But the super
intendent of fine arts said no—
it would l’uin the building as a
national art treasure. So Mrs.
Rasile reopened the original
doorway.
Meanwhile, Righetti had been
well fed with food delivered
through a window, and had the
pleasure of emerging from his
apartment crying to reporters:
“The Brothers have triumphed!”
Life magazine, please copy.
Theology
For The
Layman
Sh
T R A N 6 6 BUT TRU
E
Russia's 'Aeroflot'
if tle-Kn own Facts (or Catholics
By M. J. MURRAY Cop7rf*iit. lew. b.ctc. n.w, s.rvic
By F. J. Sheed
THE DOCTRINE OF
THE TRINITY
The notion of one God who is
three Persons must be profound
ly mysterious. We could not
know it at all if God had not
drawn aside the veil that we
might see.
Even when He
has told us,
we might be
t e m p te d to
feel that it
was altogether
beyond us.
But it cannot
be wholly
dark. God would not mock us
by revealing something of
which we could make nothing
at all. Since He wants to be
beyond us, we must respond by
making the effort to know Him.
In its barest outline, the doc
trine contains four truths:
(1) In the one divine Nature,
there are three Persons, the Fa
ther, the Son and the Holy
Ghost.
(2) No one of the Persons is
either of the others, each is
wholly Himself.
(3) The Father is God, the Son
is God, the Holy Ghost is God.
(4) They are not three Gods
but one God.
I once heard a theologian (not
of our Faith) say, when some
one asked him about the Trini
ty: “I am not interested in the
arithmetical aspects of the dei
ty”; even Catholics sometimes
appear to think that we have
here a mathematical contradic
tion, as if we were saying
“Three equals one.” We are not,
of course. We are saying Three
Persons in one Nature. The
trouble is that, if we attach no
meaning to the words person
and nature, they tend to drop
out; so we are left with the two
numbers, as though they repre
sented the supreme truth about
God. We must see what person
means and what nature means;
then see what we can make of
the three and the one.
The first stages of our investi
gation into person and nature
are simple enough. We use the
phrase “my nature,” which
means that there is a person
who possesses a nature. The
(Continued on Page Five)
Jottings .
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
Q: Does a person applying for
a marriage license and visibly
40 or 50 years (of age), have to
put year of birth down, or can
he say "over 21 years" or "over
legal age" or "21 plus"? Does a
priest have to put down year of
birth when he makes return to
ordinary in Georgia.
A: When a person applies for
a marriage license in the State
of Georgia he takes an oath that
the information which he places
on the application form is the
truth. By an oath we call upon
God to bear witness to the truth
of what we say. By violating
that oath we seek to make God
the witness to a lie and we are
guilty of the very grave sin of
Perjury. Consequently, since it
is required that an applicant
enter, under oath, the date of
his birth, he is bound in con
science to enter the correct date.
We might also add that we are
informed by proper legal au
thorities that the laws of the
State of Georgia specifically re
quire that one give his or her
correct age when applying for a
marriage license.
We presume that the term
“ordinary” as used in the ques
tion refers to the Ordinary of
the Court and not to the Bishop
of the Diocese. When the Priest
“makes return” to the Ordinary
he merely returns the marriage
license with the notation that he
has officiated at the Marriage
of the persons whose names ap
pear on the license. As to the
records which are kept in the
Parish Church, the ages of the
contracting parties are often
noted by the entry of their Bap
tismal dates.
People always trace the good
traits in their ancestors and omit
the bad ones.
People get set in their ways
and form an obstacle course for
thjose who try to forge ahead.
• TEN YEARS AGO, a Cath
olic college graduate wrote a
classic meditation on the morn
ing of her commencement day.
I reprint it in this column today
as an inspiration to college
graduates of today and yester
day. Some may wonder whether
the author lived up to her high
ideals once she entered the com
mercial market place.
Did she succumb to secular
standards? Did she become dis
illusioned? It is easy, some say,
to be idealistic on the threshold
of the world. Idealism goes with
the mortar board and diploma.
I happen to know this Catholic
college alumna. She chose a
field where sacrifice is necessary
and service is the key. She be
came a social worker. She has
been tried by worldly standards
and emerged successful. Her
meditation would be the answer
we would hold up to “the Un-
silent Generation” as illustrated
in the eleven Princeton senior
essays. Her life would stand
against the attacks made upon
Catholic college graduates and
their lack of influence. “She
has not gone after gold or put
her trust in money nor in treas
ures.” She represents the name
less numbers of Catholic col
lege graduates who quietly go
about doing good. She in other
words has lived the ideal she
prayed for on her graduation
morning ten years ago —
“Our Commencement Mass
. . . the last Mass in this Chapel
. . . Oh, Lord, this is the end . . .
I want to go back to that first
Mass of the Holy Ghost four
years ago . . . when it was all
just beginning . . . Lord, thank
You for sending me here, when
I think of some of the places I
might have gone and what I
might have been ... I haven’t
been worth all of this . . . Lord
today I’m not offering You just
a day but a life ... I don’t want
to be successful . . . everyone’s
wishing us success . . . they
mean success like $10,000 a year
and being presidents and direc
tors and supervisors ... I don’t
care about that ... I just want
to be a successful Christian . . .
the kind I didn’t even know
about four years ago ... I hope
you have something big You
want me to do for You.
I don’t care if it’s hard, if I
have to suffer or sacrifice . . .
maybe You just want me to be
ordinary and do ordinary
things ... I really don’t expect
to be a Joan of Arc ... let me
seize every little thing . . . every
single moment ... as a chance
to reflect You . . . everything
I do let it be You in me, not I,
who is doing it . . . don’t ever
let me stop trying to have more
of You or less and less of me
... I could kneel here thinking
all morning . . . my mind and
heart are full of so many things.
. . and I hope my soul is full of
You Lord . . . before I go, Lord,
remember take everything I am
and ever will be, everything
you’ve given me, and use it all
however it can best help You,
however it’ll make “Your king
dom come” . . . I’m Yours now
. . . Your stamp is upon me . . .
I’m a Catholic college graduate
. ... make me live up to it every
minute that I live . . . and I
don’t even care how long I live
as long as while I do, it’s in
You, and with You and for
You.”
THE BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
A new source of worry for
American officials is the Russian
drive to take the lead in inter
national commercial air trans
portation and thus enhance the
Soviet Union’s national prestige
and political
SHARING OUR TREASURE
Winning A Lawyer
By REV, JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph, D.
(University of Notre Dame) J r _
Did you ever invite a non-
Catholic friend to Mass or any
of the other services? If not,
you have failed to use a fruitful
method of sharing your Faith.
God is present in the tabernacle
of every Cath-
influence.
It has been
the fashion to
view the Sov
iet airline —
Aero flot —
with disdain
as a hit-and-
miss operation
flying antiquated equipment
with little regard for the safety
or comfort of the passengers.
But the truth is, so our air ex
perts tell us, Aeroflot today is
an enormously effective airline
that has come a long way since
the Second World War and
shows every sign of going a lot
further.
The Soviet airline has now at
least six modern turbine trans
ports in various stages of devel
opment. Instead of progressing
step by step, as we have in the
United States, from DC-3s,
through four-engine transports
to turbo props and jets, the
Reds have leap-frogged almost
overnight from the DC-3 to jet
equipment.
In the space of a few short
years, the Soviets have built
new turbine-powered aircraft
that rival the best in the West.
REAL PURPOSE
The Soviet TU-104s (the type
that brought the Soviet-United
Nations delegation to the Unit
ed States) now fly daily in two
ed by the Church in the devel
opment of the system of natural
law — the ultimate basis for
the science of jurisprudence.
“Attending Episcopal church-
es.in Washington D C„ I found p rob | em Qf Mental Health
hours from Moscow to Prague, a
distance of about 1,100 miles.
Next November, for the fortieth
anniversary of the revolution,
the Soviets have promised to
have ready for service a super
giant turbo-prop transport, with
a capacity of 150 passengers, a
cruising speed of 560 miles an
hour and a range of over 4,000
miles.
Aeronautical engineers who
have inspected the fleet of the
Soviet airline report that Sovi
et aeronautical standards are of
the highest order. Ferdinand
Brandner, a German engineer,
recently told a society of aero
nautical engineers in Zurich,
Switzerland, that the test runs
of new Soviet aircraft were “of
a severity which our technicians
cannot imagine.”
If it was thought that the de
sire of the Russians was merely
to compete with western inter
national airlines, such as Pan
American and Trans World Air
line, American officials would
not be gravely concerned.
But the belief is that the Rus
sians are developing commercial
air transport as another weapon
in the arsenal with which they
are bidding for world domina
tion.
“For the United States,” says
Hans Heymann, Jr., an aeronau
tical expert, “I believe it is im
portant to recognize the Soviet
aviation offensive for what it
is, not a commercial challenge
aimed at undermining the air
transport leadership of the. West,
not a bid to slug it out with us
competitively in the open mar
ket, but a broad contest for na
tional prestige and political in
fluence.”
BRITAIN'S CLOSED SEA
Already the Russians have be
gun to extend their air routes to
all parts of the world. The
routes already have reached
Denmark and will reach London
this summer. The Russians are
seeking also permission to fly
to Tokyo and New York, in the
belief that, if they serve these
cities, their jets will look more
impressive when the time
comes to land them at Cairo,
Delhi and Rangoon.
The primary aim of the Sovi
ets, American experts believe, is
to put their turbo-jet and
turbo-prop airplanes into reg
ular service to the Middle East
and eventually to India, Indo
nesia and other Indian Ocean
countries. Already they have
negotiated the right to land at
Athens on their way to the Mid
dle East.
A superior air service on such
routes would give Russia access
to the Indian Ocean which for
more than a century was Brit
ain’s closed sea. One third of the
population of the world live
around these shores, and even
today the traffic load from that
sea is second only to that on the
North Atlantic.
In the opinion of Stuart G.
Tipon, president of the Air
Transport Association of Ameri
ca, Soviet commercial aviation
is progressing at a rate that
threatens to make the Soviet
airline the leading line in the
world.
olic church
and will help
every sincere
truth - seeker
find his way
into the true
fold. Such is:
the experience
of William M.
Lewer§, until recently assistant
professor of law at the Universi
ty of Illinois, now at Notre
Dame studying for the priest
hood.
“I was reared a Baptist,” be
gan Professor Lewers, “and my
step-grandfather was a Baptist
minister. After finishing high
school in Kansas City, Mo., I
went to Texas A. and M. Col
lege. But I found the Baptist
Church in the South quite dif
ferent, appealing almost en
tirely to the emotions. I lost in
terest and drifted away from it
and all religion.
“In my junior year I entered
Illinois University and for the
first time came in close contact
with Catholics. The first semes
ter I roomed at the Newman
Foundation, a Catholic institu
tion. Later on, my two room
mates, Martin Lawless and
Vince Wasilewski, were Catho
lics and so too was one of my
close friends, Donald Vonachen
of Peoria.
“They were outstanding men
who practiced their religion
faithfully. Rain or shine they
went off to Mass on Sunday,
and at times even on weekdays.
Although they didn’t ‘talk re
ligion’, they lived it, and I
could see what an influence it
was in their lives.
“Their example helped lift me
from the morass of agnosticism
and I became an Anglo-Catho
lic. After taking my B.S. and
Doctor of Law degrees at Illi
nois I spent two years as a grad
uate fellow doing research at
Yale University. My research
work in law led me to see and
admire the important role play-
such enormous differences m
doctrine and in worship that I
could no longer believe in that
faith. I saw a K. of C. ad in a
magazine, wrote, and got some
literature. But the pay-off came
one night when I was about to
settle down for a game of
bridge with two lawyer friends,
Donald Fortman, a Catholic,
and A1 Sarfan, a Jew.
“ ‘Before we start dealing the
cards,” said Donald Fortman,
‘let’s go over to the nearby Sac
red Heart Church and hear
Bishop Sheen who is starting a
Lenten series.’ We went. I was
deeply stirred by the bishop’s
sermon, so clear, logical and
deeply spiritual. I went to the
rest of the series too.
“Then I wrote to the pastor
of St. Stephen’s, near my apart
ment, asking if I might call and
inquire further about the Cath
olic. religion. Father Lawrence
P. Gatti, an assistant, replied,
inviting me to the Rectory. I
joined his Inquiry Class of six,
meeting twice a week, for three'
months. Often I would remain
after class and present objec
tions.
“Calmly, patiently and with
devastating logic Father Gatti
pulverized my objections and
made the divine, foundation of
the Church and her divine
teaching authority stand out so
clearly that a blind man could
see them. Trained as a lawyer,
I could not help but see the
validity of the Church’s title
deed to jurisdiction over the
truths of her divine founder.
“Father Gatti ‘dragged Bill
kicking and screaming,’ as one
of my friends laughingly re
marked because of my argu
mentative nature, ‘into the
Church.’ Vince Wasilewski was
the jubilant godfather at my
baptism.
The turning point came when
Don Fortman, now legal counsel
for the Creole Petroleum Cor
poration, said, ‘Let’s go over and
hear Bishop Sheen.’ ”
This We Believe
(By FATHER LEO TRESE)
REUNION AT MARYKNOLL
Digging up facts may be a hard
job, but it’s much better than
jumping at conclusions.
Unpopular is the man who
pushes ahead by going back on
his friends.
In several of the letters that
have come to me, the writers
express concern for the state
of their mental health. Here is
a letter from a professional wo
man who says, “I worry terribly
about remain
ing sane and
stable during
this atomic
age . . . The
prayers that
comfort me
today are al
most impossi
ble to utter to
morrow ... I find myself ques
tioning, anxious, impatient and
dissatisfied. I sincerely believe
in God, but why so many fears
and doubts?”
Another of the letters is from
a wife and mother. “I get so de
pressed,” she says, “and don’t
seem to want to do anything.
My housework, meals, etc. are
such an effort ... I can’t get
interested in anything, not even
in the children. Some days it
seems they’ll drive me mad. I
know it’s wrong and sometimes
I think I can’t go on.”
These extracts are representa
tive of several letters, the writ
ers of which have this in com
mon: their faith is sound, their
desire to love and serve God is
genuine; yet they find no men
tal peace. Life at best is a cheer
less struggle. At worst it is an
almost unbearable burden. For
persons faced with such a prob
lem it is important to recog
nize that theirs is a psychologi
cal unsoundness rather than a
religious or moral defect.
Mental health and religion are
complementary to each other.
There can be no sound and last
ing mental health without re
ligion. For mental and emotion
al balance a person needs to
understand his nature and des
tiny as a human being. A per
son who ignores or denies any
duty to God or responsibility to
health vs. mental ill-health, we
are not necessarily talking of
sanity vs. insanity. A person
with a slight case of anemia is
not by any means a corpse. He
may in fact live a very useful
and fairly active life, even
though his deficiency may make
it impossible for him to reach
peak performance. Similarly a
person may suffer from 'some
degree of psychological or emo
tional disturbance and still be
quite sane by all ordinary stan
dards.
On another point, also, many
of us need to revise our think
ing. Too many of us still feel an
unreasoning fear or shame in
the presence of mental illness,
whether the illness is in our
selves or in someone close to
us. We should feel only mildly
unhappy (mostly at the thought
of the expense) if our doctor
said that we must come every
week for treatment of a sinus in
fection. Yet many of us would
be highly indignant arid even
horrified if it were suggested
that we might be helped to bet
ter mental health by a series of
visits to a psychiatrist. One let
ter which came to me expressed
this very state of mind: “I’m not
bad enough to need a psychia
trist (I hope!)”
Even mental illness which is
severe enough to call for hospit
alization does not mean the end
of the road. If we were told that
we must spend six months in a
tuberculosis sanitarium it would
of course be a great cross, but
one that we would accept with
resignation if it seemed essen
tial to our recovery. However if
we were told that we. must
spend six months in a mental
hospital we probably would feel
that the world had crashed
down upon us. We would feel
perhaps ashamed and some
how disgraced, even though
mental ill-health is no more dis
graceful than cardiac ill-health
or pulmonary ill-health.
We must realize that the
brain and nervous system are
organs of the body just as truly
as stomach, liver or kidneys. If
there is a disorder of the organ,
whether the disorder be organic
(something wrong with the. or
gan itself) or functional (some
thing out of adjustment in the
organ’s operations) the rational
act is to seek a remedy for the
disorder. Not until we see men
tal illness as just another organ
in need of therapy shall we de
velop a common-sense attitude
to such illness — whether in
ourselves or in someone whom
we love.
There is more to be said on
this subject of mental health —
but the limitations of space de
mand that we wait until next
issue to say it.
Death Claims
David Goldstein
BOSTON, — David Goldstein,
87, Catholic newspaper column
ist and lecturer popularly known
as “the lay apostle to the man
in the street,” died (June 30) in
his apartment here.
Mr. Goldstein became an out
standing champion of the Cath
olic Church after his conversion.
A pioneer street preacher, he
was also a gifted writer who for
10 years promulgated the princi
ples of his Faith in a column in
The Pilot, newspaper of the
Boston archdiocese.
0% lulldtn
The hardest work in the world
to do is that which should have
been done yesterday.
At the Maryknoll Motherhouse, Maryknoll, N. Y., where he
gave a concert, Hubert Valentine, Irish singer and former
American soldier, renews friendship with two Maryknoll
Sisters he knew in the bombed-out Philippines, 13 years ago.
Sister Ramona Maria and Sister Maria del Rey conducted a
mission school near Manila and spent three years in intern
ment camps under the Japanese. (NO Photos)
neighbor hardly can achieve
that fullness of personality de
velopment which we call men
tal health.
But the obverse also is true.
Full spiritual maturity cannot
easily coexist with mental or
emotional ill-health. To be
prayerful without being pietis-
tic, zealous without self-right
eous, charitable without being
mawkish, hopeful without be
ing presumptuous and penitent
without being despairful — to
maintain this kind of spiritual
equilibrium calls for soundness
of judgment and stability of
emotion. The greatest artist in
the world can paint but imper
fectly if he must work with an
inadequate brush. Likewise the
soul, informed though it be by
grace, can operate in this life
only as well as its instruments,
the brain and nervous system,
will permit.
On one point, let us be clear.
When we speak here of mental
416 8TH ST., AUGUSTA, GA.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Arch
bishop-Bishop of Savannah, the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta,
and the Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
and accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided by
paragraph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
REV. FRANCIS J. DONOHUE REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition
JOHN MARKWALTER
Managing Editor
Vol. 39 Saturday, July 12, 1958 No. 3
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1957-1958
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus ... - President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta Vice-President
NICK CAMERIO, Macon Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary