Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, August 23, 1958
JOSEPH BREIG
With Oak Leaf Cluster
The first winner of the covet
ed Joe and Mary Breig Marriage
Wisdom Citation (which we
have just this moment thought
up) goes to Father John Fahey
of Winnetka, 111.
Father Fahey gets the honor
for his talk on
marriage at
the Buffalo
convention of
the National
Catholic Fam
ily Life Con
ference. H e
uttered the
following neg
lected truths:
Although the father holds
final authority in the family, he
does so “under the unwritten
Constitution of love.”
(Speak softly and carry a big
heart, Dad.)
THE SPIRIT of obedience
works both ways, because it
prefers the good of another and
the will of another to one’s own.
“Husbands and wives must train
themselves to seek the good of
the other person.”
(Prescription for a joyous mar
riage.)
The spirit of obedience is des
troyed if the husband either ab
dicates his duty or becomes ty
rannical, or if the wife is “a
rebel and a pretender to the
throne.”
(A home that’s the theater for
a cold war is no fun.)
A husband must learn to see
in himself God's chosen instru
ment for the salvation of his
wife and children, because mar
riage is a vocation and he is giv
en sacramental powers.
(Think about that after the
kids are in bed.)
A WIFE MUST REALIZE that
her role is a life-giving one—
not just in bringing children
into the world, hut in preparing
them for the life of Heaven.
(Large or small, a family
ought to be holy.)
Husbands must be chaste in
deed, thought and desire. They
have a duty to shun entertain
ments, reading and jokes which
degrade sex and thus destroy
the meaning of their own mar
riages.
(How you doin’ at the club,
the tavern, the golf course,
chum?)
WIVES ARE equally under
the duty of chastity, which gives
deepest meaning to the role of
wife, and is nourished by loyal
ty to husband in thought as well
as in action.
(What kind of magazines and
books do you read, Ma’am?)
Chastity is not weak, but
strong, courageous, noble; it is
“the virtue which enables us to
subject our sexual powers to
God’s will. It provides the con
text in which these strong and
precious capabilities find their
true value.”
(Love’s not love unless it in
cludes God.)
It is wrong for a wife to com
pare her husband critically with
other men. Why? Because it’s
disloyal.
(He’s your husband, remem
ber?)
A HUSBAND and wife should
love the real each other, not
some “fictional picture of what
each could be if they really
tried.”
(Dreamers are sleepers. Wake
up and live.)
A family should have the spi
rit of poverty. This does not
mean seeking destitution, but
realizing that the pleasure of
one should yield to the need of
another. Wife and children
share husband’s ownership. Both
husband and wife must gear
their desires to the family’s
needs.
(Including the family’s need
of the blessings that gifts to
charity can bring.)
IT IS PART of a wife’s job to
help her husband to recognize
the human factors involved in
family life.
(The husband’s head of the
house, but the wife’s the heart.)
Husband and wife should
strive for the unity expressed in
the marriage ritual — “one in
mind, one in heart and one in
affections.”
Yep, the Joe and Mary Breig
Marriage Wisdom Citation goes
to Father Fahey — with oak
leaf cluster, yet.
Theology
For The
Layman
si
b a n g e b in m u
Htle-Known Fqct* for Catholic*
E
(By F. J. Sheed)
The production of a Second
Person does not exhaust the
infinite richness of the divine
nature. Our Lord tells us of a
Third Person. There is a Spirit,
to whom Our Lord will entrust
H i s followers
when He Him
self shall as
cended to the
Father. “I will
ask the Father
and He will
give you an-
other Parac
lete, that He
may abide with you” (John xiv.
16). The Spirit, like the Word,
is a person, He, not It. “But the
Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will send in my
name, He will teach you all
things” (John xiv.26).
As we have already seen there
is one huge and instant differ
ence between God’s Idea and
any idea we may form. His is
Someone, ours is only something.
With an idea which is only
something, there can be no
mutuality: the thinker can
know it, it cannot know him;
he can admire its beauty, it
cannot admire his; he can love
it, it , cannot return his love.
But God’s Idea is Someone, and
an infinite Someone; between
Thinker and Idea there is an
infinite dialogue, an infinite
interflow. Father and Son love
each, with infinite intensity.
What we could not know, if it
were not revealed to us, is that
they-unite to express their love
and that the expression is a
third divine Person. In the Son,
the Father utters His self-know
ledge; in the Holy Spirit, Father
and Son utter their mutual love.
Their love is infinite; its
expression cannot be less.
Infinite love does not express
its very self finitely: it can no
more produce inadequate
expression than infinite know-
(Continued on Page Five)
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q: I just saw a reference to
the "four principal truths of
Christianity, belief in which is
necessary for salvation," Would
you explain this phrase further?
A: The four principal truths of
our Faith are:
1) God exists, 2) God rewards
the just and punishes the evil,
3) the Mystery of the Holy Trin
ity (i.e., in one God there are
three divine Persons: the Fa
ther, the Son and the Holy
Ghost, and 4) the Mystery of the
Incarnation (i.e., God the Son,
the Second Person of the Bless
ed Trinity, became Man and re
deemed us for love of us by suf
fering and dying on the cross).
In order to be certain of say
ing one’s soul, one must believe
in these four truths.
(“To believe,” as used here in
its proper theological sense,
means to accept a certain truth
precisely because God has re
vealed it — taking God’s word
for certain truths, in other
words “Believe” does not signi
fy an emotional assent, there
fore, nor mere confidence.)
ACQUAINTANCE WITH the
four principle truths of Christi
anity is certainly but the mini
mum knowledge requisite of the
convert. Ordinarily no one may
be received into the Church un
til he understands these truths
according to his own intellectual
capasity and the circumstances
of his case Even then, his en
trance should be deferred until
he has sufficiently learned other
major doctrines basic to Catholi
cism. Thus, the prospective con
vert should have knowledge of:
the Apostles’ Creed, at least as
regards its substance, the Com
mandments of God and the Pre
cepts of the Church, the nature
and effects of the seven sacra
ments, the essential duties of his
own state in life, the Our Fa
ther, the sacred liturgy, etc.
Also, after the above, the com
mon prayers, the sacraments,
Catholic practices and customs,
etc.
IN AN EXTRAORDINARY
INSTANCE, nonetheless, expli
cit belief in the four principal
truths alone would suffice for
reception in the Church. Thus a
(Continued on Page Five)
SHARING OUR TREASURE
"Winning Converts Not Hard"
By REV, JOHN A. O’BRIEN, Ph. D.
(University of Notre Dame)
“Helping a person to find his
way into the Catholic Church is
not a particularly difficult job.
• It doesn’t require great learning.
All that is needed is a little un
derstanding, kindness and a
willingness to
to tell people
in a friendly
and tactful
manner of the
sense of secu
rity, peace of
mind and hap
piness which
the practice of
our holy religion gives. Follow
this by telling them about some
of its beautiful teachings, bring
them to Mass and soon God will
give them the wonderful gift
of faith.”
Such was the answer given
by Mrs. Margaret Doxey at St.
Patrick’s parish, Glen Cove,
Long Island, when I asked her
the secret of her remarkable
success in winning converts. She
has been instrumental in leading
nine converts into the fold and
in having an infant baptized.
One of her converts became a
priest, Father Howard Bowne,
a member of the Oblates of
Mary Immaculate, now teaching
at St. Anthony’s Junior Sem
inary, San Antonio, Texas.
“My first coriverts,” began-
Mrs. Doxey, “were Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Williams. “After be
coming acquainted with this
couple, I noticed that they
weren’t attending any church,
so I invited them to the services
at St. Patrick’s. They came,
their interest deepened, and I
brought them to our pastor, Fa
ther Edward J. Kelle, who in
structed them and baptized
them on October 30, 1935.
“My next convert was Mrs.
Howard Bowne. While visiting
me one evening, she mentioned
the narrow escape she had when
a kettle of boiling water was
accidentally tipped over. She
was grateful to God for escap
ing unharmed and wanted to
express her gratitude in the best
By M. J. MURRAY
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way possible.
“I explained that she could
do this by offering Holy Com
munion in thanksgiving. I then
explained some of the beautiful
teachings of our holy religion.
She was much interested. Then
I brought her to the Novena
devotions at St. Patrick’s. She
was greatly impressed by the
piety and faith of the worship
pers and wanted to learn more
about Catholic Faith.
“I decided then that it was
time to bring her to an expert.
So I brought her to Father Kelle.
He gave her a good course of
instruction and received her into
the Church on April 14, 1938.
As so often happens, this started
a spiritual chain reaction and
her son Howard was received in
May and her husband three
years later.
“Charles Hill, a World War I
veteran, was accustomed to drop
in on us whenever he visited
his mother who lived nearby.
While at the Veteran’s Hospital,
he was given a badge of the
Sacred Heart by a patient. He
showed it to us, and this gave
me a £?ood opportunity to
explain our devotion to the
Sacred Heart. When he wanted
to learn the whole story, I
brought him to Father Kelle
who instructed and received
him. .
• “l noticed Mrs. Lindsay, a
neighbor, at the Novena devo
tions in honor of Our Lady of
the Miraculous Medal. I in
quired if she was a Catholic.
‘N^,’ she replied, ‘but I would
like to become one in time, if,
possible, to' receive Holy Com
munion at Christmas.’ I assured
her it was entirely possible.
Soon Father Kelle had another
customer.
“I went with Mrs. Lindsay to
the instructions, and learned a
lot. Indeed it would be good
for every Catholic to attend
such a course. Father baptized
her in November 1957 and she
is now a devout Catholic and
frequent communicant. My little
experience shows that God will
give the grace of faith, if we but
do our part.”
• BY THE TIME this column
appears in print, I’ll be far from
the feverish pitch of the pub
licity world. In all probability,
I’ll be in a boat in some coastal
cove with hand line overboard
awaiting a catch which I can
talk about all winter long.
Theres’ something about the sea,
fishing and boats which has a
spiritual motif to it. These loves
of mine have been given sort of
a celestial imprimatur, it seems.
Numberless are the scriptural
references and they add extra
appeal to my favorite vacation
pursuits. We remember how the
first apostles left their fishing
nets to become “Fishers of
men.” We remember their fear
in the sudden storm and Christ’s
walking upon the waters and
calming the seas. We remember,
too, how in faith they were di
rected to cast their nets on the
other side of the boat for a
worthwhile catch. We would
wish St. Peter were along many
a tims to give pointers. In Helen
Walker Homan’s “By Post to the
oft sea — a rose or a rose coral,
ter on St. Peter, “Take Me Fish
ing Please, St. Peter.” What oth
er form of recreation boasts such
lofty patrons as the first apos
tles? And a fish used to be the
very symbol of Christianity.
• MANY are the meditations,
hymns and spiritual poetry con
centrated on the sea. Mary, Star
of the Sea, is patroness for sail
or and fishermen alike. Those
who sail the seas or earn their
livelihood from the sea are nev
er apt to be atheists. The ever-
beating, ever-flowing, depthless
immense, mighty sea is a source
of great wonder and meditation.
Clare Boothe Luce wrote beau
tifully of her experience of won
der in regard to her deep sea
diving in Bermuda last summer.
She says: “I am grateful to the
sea depths for reminding me
that there is nothing on land or
on sea — a rose or a rosecoral,
a star or starfish, a cat orcrab,
a flight of birds, a school of
fish, a pebble or a pearl—which
is not a miraculous mirror of
the whole universe.” She found
an almost “holy stillness” in the
watery depths untouched by the
hands of man. In her sea-diving
account, Mrs. Luce remembered
not only the apostle fishermen
but the shipwrecked Saint Paul
and the early biblical sufferer
Jonah. We thrill with her when
she says: “No power of strength
on earth gives you the sense of
nobility and freedom you feel
beneath the sea.”
• IN REGARD TO SHIPS,
this sense of sacredness contin
ues. We are reminded that each
ship is solemnly christened and
given a name. Few vehicles to
day carry this tradition consist
ently. Each year the fishing
fleets at coastal centers are sol
emnly blessed. (In holy Ireland
we pause and remind that not
only the ships but the planes in
her fleet are solemnly blessed
and named for an Irish saint.)
Archbishop Cushing also fol
lows the custom of blessing the
pleasure crafts of the Boston
area at the beginning of the
season. There’s something ad
venturesome and awesome
about a ship. Perhaps this is
why the ship is always referred
to in deference as a “she.”
• INVOCATIONS to Mary,
star of the sea; lines of poetry
such as Joseph Plunkett’s “His
Great Heart stirs the ever-beat
ing sea” and the simple Irish
prayer: “May the luck of John
and Peter be upon the nets”
will be with me on the adven
ture, the pursuit and the rest.
It is comforting indeed to know
that I will be following one of
the most ancient of Christian
pursuits as I embark to the deep
waters with hook and line and
hope for a good catch.
U. S. BYZANTINE RITE LEADERS
Pope Pius XII has erected an ecclesiastical province for
Ruthenian Catholics of the Byzantin rite who have their origin
from Galicia and now reside in the United States. The Apostolic
Exarchy of Philadelphia has been elevated to the rank of Metro
politan See, and has assigned to it as its Suffragan See the
Apostolic Exarchy of Stamford. Archbishop Constantine Boha-
chevsky, (left) Apostolic Exarch of Philadelphia, becomes the
Metropolitan of the new province. Bishop Ambrose Senyshyn,
OSBM (right) is Exarch of the Suffragan Exarchy of Stamford.
Territorially, Archbishop Bohachevsky’s jurisdiction extends to
all the lands under the sovereignty of the United States, except
New York and New England, which are subject to Bishop
Senyshyn.—(NC Photos).
"The Flying Saloon"
THE BACKDROP
The nation’s air line pilots
seem to be getting nowhere with
their efforts to induce Congress
to prohibit the sale or consump
tion of alcoholic beverages on
airplanes during flight.
A bill providing for such a ban
was passed by
the House in
1956, but it
struck a snag
in the Senate.
Extensive
hearings were
held in the
Senate trans
portation sub
committee last Spring but the
bill has not been reported and
there is little chance that it will
be at this session.
In their fight to prohibit the
“flying'saloon,” the pilots have
had the backing of organized
dries and of many patrons of
airlines, drinkers as well as non
drinkers. Senator Strom Thur
mond of South Carolina, one of
the backers of the proposed leg
islation, reports that his mail on
the subject exceeds that which
he has received on the integra
tion issue. Most of his corre
spondents, he says, favored a
prohibition against drinking in
the air.
From neither the airlines nor
the Civil Aeronautics Board,
however, have the pilots receiv
ed much support. While the rev
enue derived from the sale of al
coholic beverages in flight is
small, the airlines argue that
many passengers want a cock-
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
tail or two before dinner and
they must serve them in order
to meet competition.
The CAB, which is charged
with investigation of all hazards
to aviation, has maintained that
the evidence that drinking aloft
has imperiled the safety of pas
sengers is too slight to warrant
a finding that drinking is a
navigation hazard.
To the contention of the CAB
the answer of the pilots has
been, in effect, “Just how much
evidence must you have?”
At hearings on the bill, C. N.
Sayen, , of the Air Line Pilots
Association, produced a fully-
documented list of 23 drinking
incidents aboard airlines, which,
in the pilots opinion, had seri
ously endangered the safety of
passengers and crew.
Among these was the case of
one intoxicated passenger who
pointed a gun at the stewardess
as he demanded coffee. On an
other flight a man under the in
fluence of liquor started toward
the cockpit yelling that he was
going to kill the captain. Crew
members, with the help of a
male passenger stopped him at
the cockpit door. He put up
such a struggle that the crew
members had to take off his belt
and tie him down with it.
The bill of particulars submit
ted by the Pilots Association
listed four instances of drunken
passengers forcing their way
into the cockpit and distracting
the crew. In eight other inci
dents flight crew members were
forced to leave the cockpit to
quell inebriated passengers, cre
ating disturbances in the cabin.
On three occasions pilots were
forced to make unscheduled
emergency landings in order to
remove a drunken passenger
whose behavior was threatening
the plane’s safety. In three in
cidents intoxicated passengers
damaged windows, doors or
pressurization devices in flight.
In five other cases drunken pas
sengers created fire hazards
while the plane was in the air.
The pilots readily concede
that the airlines, as a rule, al
though not always, limit each
passenger to two drinks and that
most of the trouble is given by
passengers who carry bottles of
liquor aboard and drink from
them during • flight. That, the
pilots contend, is the reason
why they are asking for a ban
on consumption, as well as sale,
of alcoholic beverages on planes
in transit.
Those who have never flown
with a drunken passenger
aboard may not feel the urgency
about banning the sale of liquor
that the pilots experience. But
it is difficult for even a drinking
man to disagree with Senator
Thurmond’s dictum, “There is a
time and a place for everything,
but the time and place for con
suming alcoholic beverages is
certainly not while an aircraft
is in flight several thousand feet
above the ground.”
The Mystery Of Suffering
This We Believe
(By FATHER LEO TRESE)
From a speculative point of
view the doctrine of the Blessed
Trinity is the greatest mystery
of our faith. Yet from a practi
cal point of view suffering, pro
bably is a greater mystery,.
because it :
touches us
more person-
ally. Even
though far be
yond our un-
ders tanding,
“three Persons
in one God”
puts no real
strain upon our faith because
it doesn’t cost us anything to
believe. Suffering is a different
matter. Suffering can unleash a
whole chain of, “Why? Why?
Why?” to test the very roots of
our faith.
Oddly enough it seldom is
the person who suffers who
finds his faith being subjected
to strain. The sufferer seems
to possess hidden sources of
courage which the non-sufferer
cannot fathom. There would
appear to be something almost
sacramental about suffering. It
is as though an inner grace were
attached to the outward sign
of pain, much as an inner grace
is attached to the water of bap
tism. He who finds himself
tempted to question the good
ness of God usually is the per
son of compassionate heart who
is moved at the sight of suffer
ing in others. This is likely to
be especially true when the suf
ferer is an innocent child.
Most of us know human
nature well enough to realize
that there are few of us adults
who would dare to say of any
suffering, however intense or
prolonged, “I don’t deserve it.”
Those of us who for some un
known reason have been spared
a heavy burden of suffering just
feel that we have been for
tunate; perhaps in purgatory we-
shall be wishing that we might
have paid our debt during life.
But when it is a sinless child
or a saintly mother in pain, then
we ask, “Why must the innocent
suffer so?”
First of all we have to re
mind ourselves that God has
made us for eternal happiness
with Himself. He has bound
Himself by promise to give us
that happiness, if we will let
Him. But not by any title does
God owe us freedom from suf
fering in this world. Indeed, if
we lived to be a hundred and
spent every second of the time
wracked with pairi, it still would
be a small price to pay for the
ecstasy that will be ours in eter
nity.
Nevertheless suffering was
never a part of God’s own plan.
It was not God’s idea. It was
Adam’s sin which deprived
humanity of that special gift of
impassibility, or freedom from
suffering, which God in the be
ginning conferred upon un
spoiled human nature. Suffering
is the heritage of Adam’s sin,
and of the sins of all of us who
have followed in his footsteps.
We know that the worst suf
ferings are not those caused by
natural disasters and unavoid
able illnesses and accidents. The
sufferings that wring our hearts
the most as those caused by
man’s own inhumanity to man.
We may ask, “Why does God
let evil and perverted people
cause suffering to others?” Yet
even as we ask it, we know the
answer. If God struck dead ev
eryone who caused unnecessary
suffering to another, you and I
would not be alive today. (Or
dare we say that no one ever
has known pain because of us?)
If God was going to allow the
human race to continue to ex
ist at all, He had to permit
the suffering that man would
inflict upon man in his passage
towards eternity. For us it was
either that, or not to be at all.
God however turns even hu
man evil to His own purposes.
And so He has made human suf
fering the very instrument of
man’s salvation. On the cross,
as He let Himself be made to
suffer and to die through the
malice of men, Jesus gave
meaning and infinite value to
suffering. All of mankind’s suf
fering, before and after Calvary,
never would have been suf
ficient of themselves to pay the
infinite price of sin. So Jesus
“wrapped up into one package”
the sum of human pain and
united it with His own agony.
He gave to human suffering the
redemptive value that only a
tortured God could give.
Now when we suffer, unless
we positively refuse to God the
value of our sufferings, our tor
ment is not wasted. It plays a
part in mankind’s salvation. The
anguish of heart or the pain of
limb that is in me today, is gain
ing the grace of repentance and
the assurance of redemption for
souls that rnay not even be
known to me.
Most powerful of all suffering
is that of the saint, and precious
in its own right is the suffering
of the innocent child. True, the
child is too young to under
stand and to make conscious
offering of his suffering, even as
he was too -young to make an
act of faith at his Baptism. Yet
in spite of his voicelessness, he
became in Baptism a member of
Christ’s Body, and so too does
his inarticulate pain become a
part, of the great sum of Christ-
consecrated suffering. In Mary’s
arms at the foot of the cross the
suffering infant is pushing back
the tide of human sin with
strength that is greater than
yours or mine.
There must always remain in
this life an element of mystery
in the phenomenon of suffering.
Explain as we may, there al
ways will be a “Why?” left over.
Yet Good Friday has given us
the answer: “It shall not be
wasted!” It is the answer we
need most to know.
Abstinence Union
Re-elects President
NEWARK, N. J. (NC) — The
86th annual convention of the
Catholic Total Abstinence Union
of America reelected Father
John W. Keogh of Philadelphia
as president for the coming
year.
3% lullrtttt
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. Subscription
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Second class mail privileges authorized at Monroe, Georgia. Send
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REV. FRANCIS J. DONOHUE REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition
JOHN MARKWALTER
Managing Editor
Vol. 39 Saturday, August 23, 1958 No. 6
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 Treasure,.
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary