Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

I /ivjril* H 1 Lilli i5ULi iJl(iliNj July ±£ 9 j.i)Du 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