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-'AGE 4—i riHi BULL. . liN , *j ct » u.c* y b’ij.. OSEPH BREIG No One Can Plead “Henceforth in this commun ity no one can plead ignorance that such publications are inde cent and immodest and cannot be possessed without violating the law.” speaking was The person Judge John W. Keefe of Cincinnati. He had just sen- t e n c e d the city’s major magazine dis- tributor to three months in t h e work- house, plus $400 fine, plus costs. Judge Keefe suspended the workhouse sentence on condi tion that the defendant not vio late Cincinnati’s decency law within three years. It seemed a safe guess that he wouldn’t. Since his conviction, he had cooperated completely with police in eliminating inde cent publications from circula tion. Only 14 magazines had been used as evidence against him in his trial; but he struck 25 from his list and served notice that he would not distribute them in future. THIS UNUSUAL SITUATION can be understood only in the light of the activities of Charles H. Keating, a young Cincinnati attorney. You will remember — or per haps you won’t, that a few years ago the U. S’. Supreme Court handed down a definition of ob scenity for the guidance of courts and lawmakers through out the nation. The problem which the court attacked can be simply stated; but it was not a simple problem. A law, in order to be constitu tional, must be clear and defi nite. Judges, juries and defend ants must be able to determine what is forbidden. The Supreme Court had over thrown a number of obscenity convictions because of vague ness in laws and in the general understanding of what consti tuted illegal indecency. The court, therefore, issued a definition. “Obscene material is material which deals with sex in a man ner appealing to prurient inter est.” The test of illegal obsceni ty is: “Whether to the average per- son, applying contemporary community standards, the domi nant theme of the material, tak en as a whole, appeals to pru rient interest.” Not long after the definition was handed down, Keating or ganized Citizens for Decent Lit- trature. He emphasized that pornogra phy is a problem for all citizens, not merely for those of one group, or of this or that religious denomination. Obscenity, he said, menaces the whole of society; and all who care about the survival of the nation — and indeed of civ ilization — should be concerned about it. Therefore, Citizens for Decent Literature is an organization embracing a broad representa tion of civic, business, religious, educational, labor and other leadership. Keating and his associates in the founders’ group, the Cincin nati CDL, came up with a three- point basic program. 1. Through qualified speakers and publicity, the people must be awakened to the menace of pornography. 2. The public is asked to urge public officials, in respectful and kind letters, to stamp out obscene publications. 3. Judges must be informed, by letters, reports and resolu tions, that “contemporary com munity standards” are outraged by indecency. Because of the work of Keat ing and his CDL — which has now become a national organiza tion — the public understood what Judge Keefe meant when he said in the case of the Cin cinnati magazine distributor; “Henceforth in this communi ty no one can plead ignorance that such publications are in decent and immodest and can not be possessed without violat ing the law.” As Keating explained, “It is our purpose — and I hope it be comes yours — to patiently and thoroughly build up in the courts of this nation their recog nition of pornography as a ma jor crime.” This is good citizenship. This is admirable use of freedom and civic rights. In no sense is it censorship; it is democracy act ing through representative gov ernment; it is the people pro tecting themselves and their children against a grave danger. The national headquarters ad dress of Citizens for Decent Lit erature is 3901 Carew Tower, Cincinnati 2, Ohio. Jottings .. (By BARBARA C. JENCKS) • THE OLD passeth giving place to the new. A little of us dies with the passing of each year. Today I would be a poet not a journalist. We sift and sort the events, places and people of the past yea£ Nietzsche believ ed^ that no one knew what was hews until a hundred years lat er. There may be something to it. We are sons and daughters of an era of climax, anxiety and terror. The lead to the story is written but not the ending. Heaven and hell are locked in literal combat. It is the age of shining saints and loathsome sinners. The headlines record the good and the evil for history. Yet is the real history of an era found in elections and robberies and frauds? Has a saint of our times been born? Has a compos er or artist come into his own? A hundred years ago in Eng land, Cardinal Newman was working on his classic “Apolo gia.” No headlines! Wagner completed his “Tristan and Isolde”; Tennyson “Idyls of the Kings” and Dicken’s “A Tale of Two Cities.” What did the papers list of lasting import for that year? • AND SO another year dawns and yawns and stretches before us. Are you afraid? Do you tremble before it as the newspaper screams about the launching of new rockets and new teen-age attacks and atro cities? “Let nothing trouble thee, let nothing affright thee.” Each day we make our heaven. The important thing, the desire of the heart is not survival here but gaining an eternity hereaf ter. We know not the role we are chosen to play. We know not the role chosen by those closest to us in home and factory and classroom. We have not the gift of revelation but remember nei ther have the newspapers. We begin a year of days doled out one by one. We do inventory on our lives not in the way the newspapers do of events. We look: into our hearts and honest- f ly analyze ourselves and our goals. Are we. riding with the frenzied rocket - propelled crowds or are we men and wo men of peace and faith and trust . . . men and women who walk apart from the crowd? • THERE IS a simple remedy if you would have a truly hap py New Year. In it^ simplicity it holds All. As we walk with smart step through the un touched snows of January, we know not whether we will be among the living as the last days of December lengthen. We know not when we arise in the morning whether nighttime will see us again by our family al bum. There is nothing we can really be sure of except God. What does reality consist of? The things you see or the things you cannot see? Is it heaven or the streets of Georgia? A day begun at Holy Mass makes each and every day a headline day. Each morning you pick up the pieces and threads of your life which may have been shat tered in the brashness of the marketplace the day before. I would be helpless with fear be fore 1959 if it were not for the promise of daily Mass. Each morning you may look forward to God. I personally would not have the courage to venture forth each day if it were not for this. It is in deep humility that I reveal what a friend recently wrote me. I only write in the hope that it might help some one else. My friend wrote; “How fortunate you are to have such a keen awareness of God’s love (Continued On Page 5) Theology For The Layman F. J. SHEED God made us and all things of nothing. We may look, and feel, pretty substantial, so much flesh and blood and bone: but the matter of our body God made of nothing: and it has nothing but what God has given it. God holds us and all things in being. If He withdrew His will for our existence, we should be no thing: I do not mean that we should die, I mean that we should be nothing at all. Not to know these two truths is to be wrong about everything. If we omit God, we see nothing as it is but everything as it is not — which is the very defini tion of insanity. God is the explanation of ev erything. Leave out God, then, and you leave out the explana tion of everything, you have ev erything unexplainable. Science studies the constitution of mat ter — what things are made of. But no science can study the two far more vital questions — by whom were they made, for what were they made. I have called these more vit al, and so they are. Consider one thing only. You cannot use any thing intelligently till you know what it is made for. Science cannot tell you what the uni verse was made for: only its maker can do that—because He knows what He had in mind when He made it. And it is not only the whole universe that we see wrong if we leave out God. We do not see any single thing right. God is at the centre of the being of each individual thing, giving it the existence it has, keeping it in existence. To see anything— yourself, for instance—-without in the same act. seeing God hold ing it in existence is to be living in a world of fantasy, not the real world. You see a coat hanging on a wall: with the eyes of your body you do not see the hook, because the hook is under the coat; but with the eyes of your mind you see the hook all right. Supposing you did not: it would mean that you thought the coat was hang ing on the wall by its own power: you would be wrong about the nature of coats, the nature of walls, the law of grav ity. You would be living in won derland: If the failure to see so small a thing as a hook means a deranged universe, how much more the failure to see God — on whom everything de pends, including the hook. God is not just a sublime ex tra. It is not that we see the same things as other people, plus God. Even the things we and they both see do not look the same, and in fact are not the same. Think of physical landscape at sunrise; it is not that you see the same hills and trees and houses as before, and now you see the sun as well. The sun is not just one more item, you see everything sun-bathed. God is not just one more item, we must see everything God- bathed. Only then are we seeing it as it is. Of course it is not only a question of seeing; this truth af fects our actions too. Sin, for instance, is an effort to gain something against the will of God; but the will of God is all that holds us in existence; when we sin, we are hacking away at our only support! What could be more idiotic? The realisation may not prevent us sinning; but it ensures that we shall feel fools while doing it. God’s will is the only law for sane people. Yet this concentration upon the nothing God made us of must not lead us to think that we are nothing. That would be an insult to our Maker. For if He made us of nothing, He made us into something. We are not just thoughts in his mind. We really exist. And that we are kept in existence only by the will of God does not mean that we have no secure hold on ex istence: we hold it so securely— or rather God holds us so se curely in it — that it is the one thing we cannot be rid of; even death does no more than change the condition of our existence: we cannot cease. How Do You Rate on Facts of Faith ' /S'/\ ] £ By Brian Cronin 1. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded by: (a) Pope Pius IX? (b) St. Vincent de Paul? (c) Frederick Ozanam? (d) Cardinal Newman? 2. What were the intials meaning “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” which Pontius Pilate inscribed over the Cross?: (a) A.M.D.G.? (b) I.H.S.? (c) I.N.R.I.? (d) R.I.P.? 3. The Patroness of the United States is: (a) Mary Immaculate? (b) St. Frances Cabrini? (c) St. Elizabeth? (d) St. Rose of Lima? 4. Whose ear was cut off by Peter in the Garden of Gethse- mene?: (a) Barabbas? (b) Judas? (c) Malehus? (d) Melchoir? 5. “Pope” is a Greek word meaning: (a) Father? (b) Holy? (c) Prince? (d) Envoy? 6. How many years did Christ spend on earth in public life? • (a) 3? (b) 33? (c) 21? 7. A majority of two thirds plus one is required in the elec tion of a Pope. Who votes?: (a) The Roman Rota? (b) Vati can Citizens? (c) The College of Cardinals? (d) The Italian Hierarchy? 8. The largest cathedral in the world is: (a) St. Peter’s, Vati can City? (b) Notre Dame, Paris? (c) Westminster Abbey, London? Give yourself 10 marks for each correct answer below. Rating: 80-Excellent; 70-Very Good; 60-Good; 50-Fair. ANSWERS: 1 (c); 2 (c); . 3 (a); 4 (c); 5 (a); 6 (a); 7 (c); 8 (a). SHARING OUR TREASURE Truth Is Church's Drawing Power': Says Convert By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D. (University of Notre Dame) - Do you know what keeps most people out of the Church found ed by Jesus Christ for the sal vation of all mankind? It is ig norance of her divine origin, her great historic credentials, her teachings and practices. When you replace ignorance with knowledge, lies, with truth, you win converts. That this is so is illustrated by the e x p e r i- ence of Mrs. Otto Schopp, 34 W. Cool- idge St., Phoe nix. “My maiden name,” said Mrs. Schopp, “was Fay Owelne Rietz. Though my parents were Protestants, they admired the splendid edu cation provided by Sisters and sent me to St. Mary of the Pines, a boarding school con ducted by the School Sisters of Notre Dame at Chatawa, Missis sippi. I was chuck-full of the usual Protestant misconceptions of the Catholic religion. “I believed that Catholics were forbidden to read the Bible, that priests charged mon ey for forgiving sins, that Cath olics owed political allegiance to a foreign potentate and many other similar charges. Little by little I discovered that these things were not true. The Sisters made no effort to pressure me but simply gave me the oppor tunity to learn what the Cath olic Church really teaches. “They backed up those teach ings with holy lives. Living among them, I could not help but admire their gentleness, kindness, charity, unselfishness and Christlike holiness. I took instructions from Father L. Voyer, and was received into the Church April 4, 1920. The day of my first Holy Communion was one of the happiest, in my life. “I married Fred Stone, a non- Catholic widower with a daugh ter. I explained to him many of the beautiful teachings of the Church and tried to set him the proper example by living my religion. The more Fred learn ed, the more interested he be came. “We were then living in East St. Louis, and when our pastor announced an Inquiry Class was to be conducted, I told Fred about it. We attended it togeth er, and Fred liked it and felt at ease from the .start. Three months later he was baptized, and when he received his first Holy Communion I was kneeling at his side. “God blessed us with five children, and they as well as Fred’s daughter are all devout Catholics. Most of them now have children of their own. Our youngest daughter is a Sister of Charity. Two years after Fred’s death in 1939, I married Otto Schopp, a Catholic. We were very happy, receiving the sacraments together until his death in 1954.” “Mrs. Schopp,” I asked, “did you help lead any others into the Church?” “Yes,” she replied. “About seven years ago a new neighbor moved next door to us. Her name was Mrs. Mable O’Brien. Thinking she was a Catholic I invited her to a mission just starting at St. Francis Xavier, our parish church. She surpris ed me by saying she was not a Catholic but would like to at tend. “She was so deeply impressed by the devotion of the worship ers, the services and the sermons that after the mission was over she took a complete course of instructions from one of the Jesuit Fathers at St. Francis. When she learned the truth about the Catholic religion, she too became a Catholic. “It was a happy mistake I made in thinking she was a Catholic, for it prompted me to invite her. I can see now that We ought to invite more sincere people to attend our services. There they will learn the truth about the Church, and that is all that is needed to lead them into Christ’s true fold.” Rather than bring forth her child in the slave state of Red China, this expectant mother fled to Hong Kong where she and her husband now live in this abandoned automobile. She is one of more than 300,000 refugee “street squatters” in Hong Kong. The American Maryknoll Fathers operate four resettlement villages there but thousands remain to be /settled and many need urgent medical attention. (NC ... Photos) . Alumni Support Of Catholic Colleges THE The alumni of Holy Cross Col lege, conducted by the Jesuits in Worcester, Mass., have set an example for the alumni of other Catholic colleges throughout the country. The Worcester college was among 34 uni versities, col- leges and schools re cently honor ed by the A m e r i c a n Alumni Coun cil for “distin guished ach ievement in the alumni support.” The Holy Cross Alumni, in fact, received an award in the colleges for men division in a contest which drew entries from 300 universi ties, colleges and independent secondary schools. CASH AWARDS The American Alumni Coun cil’s Alumni Giving Incentive Awards program was instituted to encourage alumni support of their alma maters. This year, with funds provided by the United States Steel Foundation, the Council made cash awards to educational institutions in nine categories which received outstanding support from their alumni during the past twelve months. A grand award of $10,000 was made to the institution with the rest record of alumni support and awards of $1,000 each went to the winners in the other eight categories. In addition, 24 institutions within the nine categories were cited for honor- development of BACKDROP By JOHN C. O’BRIEN able mention. The National Catholic Alma nac lists 32 Catholic universi ties, 44 Catholic colleges for men; 15 Catholic co-educational colleges and 109 Catholic col leges for women—a total of 200. Obviously, since only 300 of all the universities, colleges and private secondary schools in the country submitted entries in the Alumni Council’s contest, not all the Catholic colleges participat ed. But of those which did sub mit entries, Holy Cross was the only winner of a cash award. Honorable mentions were giv en to St. Bonaventure Universi ty, conducted by the Francis can Fathers in St. Bonaventure, N. Y., and to St. Benedict Col lege, a woman’s college conduct ed by the Benedictine Sisters in Minnesota. Curiously, the grand award for the best record of alumni support went to a tax-supported institution, not to a privately endowed institution wholly de pendent upon alumni and friends fo.r funds for plant ex pansion and operation. THE GREAT NEED The grand prize was awarded to the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, which sub mitted an impressive achieve ment in alumni support. Called upon to contribute for a campus chapel, scholarships and faculty achievement awards, 15,284 alumni of the colleges’ 31,200 graduates and former students responded. This participation figure of 48.9 per cent, the Alumni Council reported, was the highest ever compiled for the alumni effort of a tax- supported institution. Graduates of Catholic colleg es may not lag far behind those of non-Catholic institutions in loyalty to their alma maters, but an even greater effort is needed. For never in their history have Catholic universities and colleg es needed support from the alumni as acutely as they do now. Most of them have found it necessary, as more and more ap plicants knock at their doors, to undertake costly building programs and to increase the salaries of their faculties. An endowment of $5,000,00 at the present low rate of yield on investmests is wholly inade quate to sustain even a small college, notwithstanding the re cent increase in tuition fees. Yet, only five of the 200 Catholic in stitutions of higher learning, have endowments of that amount or more. While Yale University, with an enrollment of slightly more than 7,000 students, has an en dowment of $250,000,000, the University of Notre Dame, with an enrollment of nearly 6,000, has an endowment of only a lit tle more than $16,000,000. Alumni of Catholic Colleges seldom amass the weath which graduates of the older Ivy League colleges accumulate or inherit. But a broader participa tion in fund drives by alumni of Catholic institutions would make up in part for the modest size of their contributions and. ease the task of college admin istrators, often hard up to make both ends meet. Question Box By David Q. Liplak Q. In our parish church I usu ally remain after the first sched uled daily Mass in order to hear another Mass at one of the side altars, whenever such Masses are said. It often happens that the people for whom the second scheduled Mass is being offered enter the church just when the Consecration is faking place at the side altar. Despite the fact that the warning bell is ringing at the side altar, these people frequently keep right on going until they reach their seats be fore the main altar, all the while making considerable noise with iheir heels, and in getting info their pews. Doesn't such behav ior constitute a serious breach of church etiquette? A. There should be no motion in a church during the Conse cration and Elevation at Mass; everyone should maintain an at titude of exterior reverence and prayerful silence. Unless physic ally unable, everybody present should also kneel down and look up at the elevated Host and chalice. Upon entering a church dur ing Mass. hours, it is well im mediately to ascertain whether or not the Holy Sacrifice is be ing offered on one of the altars, then act accordingly. If the Con secration is being signalled by the bell, one should kneel in the nearest possible place until the two Elevations are. concluded. Then it is all right to continue to one’s pew. Outside of the Consecration, whenever an unscheduled Mass is being offered, as for example at a side altar, one should move as quietly as possible, so as not to disturb those who are already assisting at the Holy Sacrifice. When passing directly before a side altar between the time of the Consecration and the Com munion at that altar, one should also genuflect, if possible. During a scheduled Mass cel ebrated at the main altar, all unnecessary motion is out of place, save, of course, the usual goings and comings of momen tary visitors to church (i.e., per sons on their way to work, teen agers on their way to school, etc.). Certainly it is improper to make a practice of leaving one’s place during the principal Mass in order to approach a votive light stand, or to pray before a shrine of private devotion. Q. I heard of a young mother recently who did not go to her infant s baptism because of some apparent custom against it. She could have gone, but said that her own mother told her it was not proper to go. When I men tioned this to some of the wo men I work with, they said that (Continued On Page 5) THE STORY LADY Maureen Wenk Hanigan THE FUNNY STORY Jets!” Can you guess what happen ed in Sister Helen Agnes’s room today? I’m sure you cannot, for it was the strangest thing that I have ever heard! Even Sister Helen Agnes couldn’t believe her own ears! I shall tell you all about it. It was time to start the read ing class and Sister had chosen a very special story. She was most anxious to have it read aloud by the best reader in the room. She looked carefully at all the lovely faces before her and she asked: “Who would like to read this story? It is a very interesting story all about the circus, and whoever offers to 'read it must be sure that they can do it well.” MANY HANDS So many hands went up that Sister had a difficult time try ing to make a choice. Finally, she called on Jimmy. Jimmy stood up straight and tall, and he smiled a little be cause he was so proud that he had been selected. Then he started to read. The strangest sounds came out of Jimmy. He was going so fast it sounded like he was saying Oh-hi-lee-do-see- see-boom! Everyone looked at Sister, and Sister looked at ev eryone in the class, and then they all looked at Jimmy. No one could understand one word he had said. “My goodness, my goodness,” said Sister, “What ever has hap pened to Jimmy? I think he has turned into a Jet plane he is going so fast! We had better stop him before he makes a crash landing. I think this young man’s name must be Master Everyone giggled—even Mas ter Jets. He thought if he read very fast everyone would know that he was a good reader, but instead, no one could under stand him at all. All the other children begar |» waving their hands for Sister to call on them. “Let me see,” said .Sister. “Perhaps a little girl would not sound like a jet plane.” Then she asked Betty to read. Betty stood up and held her book nicely in front of her. It looked like she was reading, but she was talking so softly and quietly that no one could hear a single word she said. Everyone listened very hard. “Goodness,” said Sister again. “This is indeed a dreadful thing! Betty is trying to read, but she has lost her voice. Everyone, please, look in your desks and see if you can find it for her!” Everyone giggled again. Then Betty said, IT'S FOUND “Sister, I have not lost my voice. It is right here. I was just trying so hard I forgot to speak up.” “Well, well,” said Sister, “I’m glad to hear that your voice is not lost. I think you have just turned into a Little Miss Mum bles! Now we have found a Miss Mumbles and a Master Jets, but we still have not found anyone that can read us the story about the circus. Perhaps I had better read it to you myself.” All the children were delight ed! They loved to hear Sister read to them. She always read in a nice clear voice, and she used (Continued On Page 5) v HuUrtttt 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 price $3.00 per year. Second class mail privileges authorized at Monroe, Georgia. Send notice of change of address to P. O. Box 320, Monroe, Georgia. RFV. FRANCIS J. DONOHUE REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition JOHN MARKWALTER Managing Editor Saturday, January 24, 1959 No. 17 ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1958-1959 GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus 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