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Mikoyar/s Tiresome Answers ± xi-fcJ tj U x*.S , J? cLrx y j, JOSEPH BREIG SOME FACTS ABOUT CUBA I am not impressed by the shocked reaction of . editorial writers to the executions in Cuba following upon the over throw of the murderous Batista government. For one thing, these journal ists wrote in haste,. without wait ing for the fuller infor mation t h at c e r t a inly would have given them second thoughts. For another, they dp not seem to grasp firmly the truth that peace is the work of justice, and that sentimentalism is not re ligion. Further, they have not yet re alized that it is high time to call a stern halt to the plunder ing of Latin American nations by successive dictatorships. Finally, they do not see that national and international thugs will continue to fill the world with torture and terror until they learn that they cannot do so without facing an accounting. ONE NEWSPAPER denounc ed revolutionary leader Fidel Castro for violating the Latin American “tradition” that to the victor belongs the spoils, but the vanquished must always be al lowed to find asylum in some other country. This is simply attacking Cas tro for not being immoral. He was eminently right, not wrong, for refusing spoils while insist ing that malefactors in places of power be brought to justice. Dale Francis, editor of the Lone Star Catholic and corre spondent for Our Sunday Vis itor, is one newsman who went to Cuba to get the facts about the revolution and the execu tions. Francis knows Cuba. He spent a couple of years there with his wife, Barbara, assisting mission aries in the work among the Cuban poor. I HAVE KNOWN Dale Fran cis for years. I have yet to meet a man more patient, more de liberate, more kindly, or slower to jump to conclusions. Francis cabled from Cuba the story of what had happened to five young men of Catholic Ac tion, whom he had met when they gave religious instructions in a Cuban village. They were arrested by Batista agents after Christmas. Follow ing the overthrow of the Batista regime, their bodies were found by a priest searching through a pile of 60 bodies. “They had been shot first in the arms,” Francis wrote, “not once but many times, rising up from their wrists. Bullets tore through their bodies in non-vital places — the ears, the chin, the cheeks. They had been slashed with knives in a manner too horrible to detail.” ARCHBISHOP Enrique Perez Serantes of Santiago told Fran cis that in his province alone,- Batista agents murdered more than 5,000 persons. Throughout Cuba, the victims numbered at very least 20,000. These were people who died horribly because they spoke or acted in defense of elementary human rights — while Batista and his followers lived in lux ury, and piled up huge fortunes out of payoffs from gambling casinos — some of the operators of which, to America’s shame, were Americans. Auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Muler of Havana told American newsmen that although he does not usually favor capital pun ishment, and the Church is al ways inclined to forgive, in this case the death penalty was jus tified. BISHOP ALBERTO MARTIN of Matanzas Province said, “The position of my Church in Matan zas Province is that the trials and executions are fully justi fied. In some cases, the people would have been justified if they had taken justice into their own hands and had killed known criminals without wait ing for a trial.” Three ministers in charge of the Protestant seminary in Ma tanzas sent telegrams to Pres ident Eisenhower and Congress, upholding the Castro revolution and calling for a halt to Ameri can criticism of the executions. Dr. Francisco Muller, director of the Havana morgue, said that Batista agents, during Batista’s reign, dumped the beaten or bullet - ridden bodies of 600 youths at the morgue’s door. Ivory-tower protests against swift punishment for such crimes, it seems to me, come with ill grace from newspapers which went into paroxysms of moral indignation over a gift of a vicuna coat, and received po litely a man like Anastas Mik- oyan only two years after the Soviet butchery of the Hungari an people. F - y: Theology For The Layman By F. J. Sheed The universe God created has two vast divisions — spirit and matter. We had a long look at these two before proceeding to the study of God and I strongly urge readers new to Theology to re-read Sections 3-6. From the piont of view of creation, the one difference between them is paramount. For while ev erything made by God bears the mark of its Maker, so that to the ob servant eye it points straight to Him and tells much of Him, spi ritual beings alone are made in His image and likeness. We have here something like the difference between an art ist painting a picture — of a landscape, say, or a friend — and painting a self-portrait. The material universe is God’s work of art, but spiritual beings are His self-portraiture. Our own soul is a spirit, so that every man bears a portrait of God, painted by God, within him. It is painted by God, for every soul is a new creation, made by God in His own image; but in most of us the likeness of God is sadly defaced by sin. Man’s soul, of course, as we have already seen, is not the highest of created spirits, it is the lowest. Over it tower the angels. They are pure spirits— that is, they have no bodily ele ments at all — simply minds and wills, minds knowing, wills loving, both at an intensity of power beyond our conception. That angels exist we know by God’s revelation. Science, which has developed marvelous skill in the examination of matter, can make no pronouncement at all as to these beings in whom there is no faintest element of matter. We call them angels — the word means messengers — be- . cause of so many instances in Scripture where God uses them to convey His will to men; but of course they do not exist for us, any more than we for them: we and they alike exist for God. Yet they are our mightier bro thers and their love and their (Continued on Page 5) Question Box By David Q. Liptak Q. Do we know anything for certain about Our Lady's death? A. The constitution defining the dogma of the Assumption, promulgated by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, passes oyer any dear reference to the faftjOf the Blessed Virgin’s ifibath. So much is evident from the central formula of the docu ment, which alludes specifically not to the death of Our Lady, but rather to the completion of her life on earth; “. . . the Im maculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having com pleted the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” However, the same constitu tion cites the words of many Church Fathers who took for granted that death visited the Blessed Virgin as a prelude to her assumption. And this is the majority opinion of theologians on the matter. Those who have questioned the fact of Our Lady’s death commonly base their main argu mentation upon her Immaculate Conception. Since she was free from original sin, they maintain, she must have been free from death, which is a penalty of original sin. Their argument is answered, first, by pointing to the fact that Christ Himself died. Being God, He did not have to die, yet none theless freely accepted death for our sins. Mary as the new Eve (a concept stressed by the Holy Father in his definition of the Assumption) shared the lot of her Son, step by step. Thus she also died. Liturgical observances of the feast of the Assumption as far back as 1300 years ago have generally assumed that Our Lady died prior to her glorifica- (Continued on Page 5) Jottings. (By BARBARA C. JENCKS) • THIS PLACE where I sleep and work is a kind of world within a world. It is in a way a miniature city of God. This does not mean that it is like heaven. It is not like heaven because it. is peopled with mortals like myself ; who. are yet far from perfection. Human beings el bowing each other in the jour ney to heaven vetoes an idyllic situation. Although we travel the same route on the same train, we get tired, lonely, dis couraged and irritated. It would be that way in Dublin or Bos ton or Rome, of course! It was ever meant to be this way less we settle for a stop this side of our final destination. Anyway I live in a Catholic world. I live with people who are bound by the same faith. There is no attack on the Church. There is no need to defend the Pope, the saints or the liturgy. Sure there is the occasional theological ar gument and the sophomoric stu dent who will say boldly: “I wish I had gone to a state uni versity.” The end is the same for all of us nonetheless be we Republicans or Democrats, beau tiful or ugly, chemistry majors or English teachers, German or Irish. • IT IS a world apart from the world I move in during va cations and off campus visits. It is here I best can see what the realization of the Church Unity octave would mean. The unity of faith! When I go home on vacations, I hear all kinds of conversations on trains and buses; in restaurants and de partment stores. So much of this is based on the lack of a hope and faith and trust in God. I am rudely awakened. It is like coming from another planet. The world is not all Catholic. The world does not have this precious gift of faith as I have. Some appear not even to think about it or wonder about it, so concerned are they with the du ties of their little cities of men whifcb last but for a little while. I also often talk with other peo ple who challenge me concern ing my Church. They know not the sacredness of the holy sac rifice of the Mass, they do not know and love the Blessed Mo ther. They cannot understand why we must go without meat or attend Mass each Sunday—- and wonder of wonders to the person who goes every day! Out there, you meet them everyday. Many judge our Church by you. I know that outside of prayer, there is nothing as powerful as charity. “What you are shouts so that I can hardly hear what you are saying.” Sometimes we Catholics fail in our example. We have the keys to the king dom but they are misplaced among our human effects. I know that no memorized doc trine or easily quoted scriptur al passage or sharp retort is go ing to convert anyone to my Church. It is hard to remain silent when someone attacks it. Yet I must learn to murmur “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” • BACK in my little world, I pondered all these things dur ing the Church Unity Octave. I am overcome with humility that the gift of faith had been given to me, I would wish that others might see and thus believe as I have. I pray for those who be lieve and those who do not believe. There are many sincere non-Catholics who put us to shame in their practice of chari ty and whom we would do well to model in this area. Would that they could hear the music By Brian Cronin 1. Which of these Catholic statesmen signed the Declaration of Independence?: (a) Roger Brooke Taney? (b) Charles Carroll? (c) James Shields? (d) John E. Kenna? 2. Oberammergau, Germany is the scene of: (a) The Nativity Play? (b) An apparition? (c) Luther’s birthplace? (d) The Passion Play? 3. What is the name of the well-known religious order whose name, when translated, literally reads “The Hounds of God?: (a) The Dominicans? (b) The Jesuits? (c) The Fran ciscans? (d) The Paulists? 4. The most solemn part of the Mass—that is, from the Sanctus to the Pater Noster—is called: (a) The Mass of the Faith ful (b) The Mass of the Cathecumens? (c) The Canon? (d) The Proper? 5. The Church on earth is commonly called: (a) The Church Suffering? (b) The Church Militant? (c) The Church Tri umphant? 6. Every priest is entitled to say three Masses on: (a) Good Friday? (b) Christmas Day? (c) Easter Sunday? (d) Ash Wednesday? 7. Because he did not consider himself worthy of dying like his master, one of the apostles was ..crucified head down ward. He was: (a) Simon? (b) Philip? (c) Paul? (d) Simon Peter? 8. The initial letters “I. H. S.” represent: (a) Jesus, in Greek? (b) The Trinity? (c) Catholic, in latin? Give yourself 10 marks for each correct answer below. Rating: 80-Excellent; 70-Very Good; 60-Good; 50-Fair. ANSWERS: 1 (b); - 2 (d); 3(a); 4(c); 5(b); 6 (b); 7 (d); 8 (a) SHARING OUR TREASURE Wins Converts At County Fair By REV. JOHN A, O'BRIEN, Pb. D. —-—(University of Notre Dame) —■ South of the Mason Dixon line there is a vast area, in which the percentage of Cath olics is smaller than in parts of China and Ja pan. It em braces, among other states, Georgia, North and South Ca rolina, Missis sippi, and Ar kansas. Blaz ing a mission ary trail through that territory for 17 years has been Father Patrick Walsh, O.P., whose whole priestly life has been a magnificent demonstration of the truth that the Catholic Faith is not to be hoarded but to be shared. In the ten summers in which I did street preaching in the South, I ran across the foot prints of Father Pat, as he is affectionately called by Cath olics and non-Catholics, more frequently than those of any other missionary. He has shown that we do not have to go to foreign lands to do missionary work and that the greatest mis sionary field in the world is in our own back yard. In 1949 Father Pat designed and built the first complete church on wheels. The aim was to put on the roads what the original Extension railroad cars put on rails—a complete church —and bring it into towns, vil lages and rural areas. Thousands of people were thus enabled for the first time to see the interior of a Catholic church and to meet and talk to a priest. “Our job,” said Father Pat, “was to plant the seeds of faith bv street preaching, spreading literature, going from house to house and inviting families to visit our trailer mission chapel and attend our outdoor services.. For the past five years we went to state and country fairs, where we established religious exhib its: the miniature church Christmas crib, a 16-foot cruci fix. charts showing the origin of the Church and of the Bible. “At the South Carolina State Fair and the County Fairs at Charleston and Sumter we pass ed opt 20.nno pieces of litera ture. including pamphlets in which were enclosed postal cards inviting them to take a free correspondence course in the Catholic religion. Some 60 persons are now taking that which would be fulfillment to the words in their hearts. I pray for those who stray that they might know the particular joy of the returning exile to the house of his Father. And for those who are continually seek ing. restless, changing, unsatis fied, thirsting may they come to rest in “the home of the lonely” as Cardinal Newman often re ferred to the Church. What a dream come true it would be if all men could dwell in the unity of faith as we do here in this miniature city of God. course. We met couples that had been married out of the Church for many years and got a num ber of them to straighten out their marriages. “At the close of the Chales- ton Fair I was rather tired after three solid weeks of standing at the midway ten hours a day, talking at the microphone, invit ing people to visit our exhibit and answering questions. I was beginning to wonder what it has accomplished, when the super visor approached me. “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘you will never know all the good your exhibit has done. Three years ago when you were here, you gave some pamphlets and a lit tle crucifix to a family. As a result they took instructions, all were received into the Church and the children are now at tending the Catholic school at Georgetown.’ “It proves that if we 'do our part to scatter the seeds far and wide, God will see that some of it falls on good ground and brings forth a precious harvest. We need more Catholics to call at homes, distribute pamphlets, invite families to parish Infor mation Classes and go with them. When families can’t at tend, Catholics should offer to instruct them in their own homes.” Now stationed at St. Stephen’s Priory, Dover, Massachusetts, Father Pat Walsh has given an eloquent demonstration of what Catholics — priests and laity ■— can accomplish when they “preach the Gospel to every creature.” Reinterred In a closing ceremony of the Paulists’ Fathers centennial year, the remains of their founder, Father Isaac Thomas Hecker, C.S.P. (above), were reinterred in a newly-erected sarcophagus at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, New York City. Father Hecker died Dec. 22, 1888 and was originally buried in the vault of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Mott Street, where he was received into the Catholic church in 1844, The body was later trans ferred to the Mortuary Chapel of St. Paul’s church. (NC Photos) THE If the visit of Anastas Miko- yan, the first deputy premier of the Soviet Union, has taught us anything, it is the futility of at tempting to bring about a better understanding between the United States and the Soviet Union by an exchange of visitors. Mikoyan came here with a pre conceived im age of the United States, and, apparent ly, nothing that he saw or heard caused him to change it in the slightest degree. From what he said in meet ings with government officials, American business men and the press, no man can be sure what his mission was. He spent most of his time telling us that we are responsible for most of the world’s ills and that the posi tions of the Soviet government are unimpeachably correct. MOSCOW'S TERMS He reiterated with tiresome frequency the official Soviet line that Russia wants peace and coexistence with, the free world and that the United States is stubbornly obstructing the achievement of this goal. When efforts were made to pin him down as to the terms upon which the communists and the free world could live together in peace, he made it clear that the terms were those laid down in Moscow. The cold war could be ended, he suggested, if the United States would give up its mili tary bases in Europe, withdraw its troops from Europe, renounce BACKDROP By JOHN C. O’BRIEN the mutual security pact with Generalissimo Ghaing-kai-shek and turn over Formosa to the Chinese Reds. He held out the hope that the Berlin issue could be negotiated. Yet he made it clear the Soviet Union was standing pat on its proposal that the Allied troops withdraw from. West Berlin and that the western powers and Russia guarantee the existence of that now free oasis in com munist East Germany as a so- called free city. If the Allies undertook to use force to maintain their positions in West Berlin, the Kremlin’s Number Two man said ominous ly, “Force will be met with force.” Particularly in his meetings with the American press did Mikoyan reveal the width of the abyss that divides the commun ist from the free world mind. These meetings showed clearly the impossibility of and under standing between those living on either side of the Iron Cur tain. For the communists and the western world do not use words in the same sense. It was intervention, Mikoyan insisted, when the United States sent troops into Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese gov ernment and then in a few months withdrew them without spilling a drop of blood. It was not intervention when Soviet troops poured into Hungary and put down with much bloodshed a government established by a revolution of the Hungarian people. DIFFERENT WORLDS The American press, the vis itor maintained, is not a free press because it prints “distor tions and untruths” about the Soviet Union. The Soviet press, however, is a free press, when it prints the wierdest and most malicious distortions, to say no thing of downright canards, about the United States, because it is telling what every Russian knows to be the truth. If no one in the Soviet Union, including the press, criticizes the government that does not mean that the Soviet people are not permitted the freedom of speech that Americans have; it simply means that the gov ernment is doing a good job and there is no occasion for criti cism. Mikoyan had two hour-long sessions with the press in Wash ington, to say nothing of briefer exchanges with interviewers in other parts of the country. Near ly every newsman who partici pated in these interviews came away with a sense of hopless frustration. They came to the only con clusion open to them: commun ists and non-communists live in different worlds, they see things through different eyes, they judge things from different standards and live by a different set of values. There is still, however, much talk in official quarters of en couraging a freer exchange of visitors between the United States and the Soviet Union. Such visits may do no particu lar harm. But it seems obvious, as Mikoyan departs, that bring ing communists to this country by the boatload would not alter the image of the United States fostered by all the Kremlin’s propaganda agencies. PLANNING NEW CHURCH COUNCIL WILL REQUIRE A COMPLEX MACHINERY By James C. O'Neill (N.C.W.C. News Service) VATICAN CITY, — The ac tual machinery which will transform the Church’s forth coming general council from a desire expressed by His Holiness Pope John XXIII into a highly organized reality has yet to be set up. But in this as in many other matters in the history of the Church the past will serve as a guide and tradition most likely will be consulted. Pope Pius IX expressed the desire to hold the last ecumeni cal council in 1864 — five years before it actually opened. In these times of air travel and rapid communicatioin it can be safely assumed that the time interval will be much shorter. However, no date has yet been set. The date, according to past tradition, will be published in a papal bull of convocation. Yet even before this comes to light much organizational work has to be accomplished. It has been a papal custom to call upon the cardinals resident in Rome to express in writing the subjects which they think should be discussed during 1 the council. Again modern means of communications will enable all the world’s cardinals, except those behind the Iron Curtain, to share in this task. However, it must be remembered that the questions which will be put before the council will be only those submitted by the Pope. In the last council a certain number of bishops from the Lat in and Oriental rites also were consulted in drawing up the agenda, which set a precedent for the same thing occurring this time. In fact much of the prelimi nary work on these suggestions will be done in the congrega tions of the Roman Curia, ad ministrative center of the Church. It is in these 11 congre gations that the world view of the Church is most clear and from these through their various cardinal prefects and secretaries will flow suggestions and pro posed topics. Certain it is that the Pope himself and those who share with him the task of gov erning the Church will shape the ultimate outcome. The organizational task facing those who will have to prepare the program of the council will be immense. But there exist in Rome the administrative per sonnel and facilities. The opin ion of the Roman Curia is that there will be set up by the Pope a special commission of cardi nals and various experts in the many fields of Church life to shape the agenda which the Pope will ultimately place be fore the bishops of the world. As the time nears for the council the cardinalitial com mission will subdivide into committees drawing up the or der of the subjects and to pre pare the plan of the council. Since such a meeting involves so many bishops and so many possible topics, it is necessary to lay out an exact and precise ly detailed order of discussion. Among those things which must be decided is whether tit ular bishops will take part, al though it is widely assumed that such will be the case. However, only bishops resident in Sees have an inherent right to sit in such a council. Even cardinals who have not been consecrated bishops are included in the council by means of an ecclesi astical ruling rather than by a natural right inherent in their office. Once convened the council has ordinary and supreme au thority in the universal Church, subject to the approval of its decisions by the Supreme Pon tiff. The meeting will be in pri vate, except those at which de crees of the council are promul gated by the Pope in public. While the exact outlines of the council are now of neces sity very dim, there is in the organization of the Church all the necessary means to set up the Church’s 21st council on a scale never before seen by Christendom. EXPECT 1500 AT COUNCIL (N.C.W.C. News Service) VATICAN CITY — About 1,500 or more high Church of ficials may take part in the ec umenical council which His Hol iness Pope John XXIII has an nounced he will call. An official document will be published before the council is convened, detailing who is to attend, but in the meantime, speculation at the total number in attendance may be made on the basis of canon law. Church legislation says these persons have decisive votes in such councils: Cardinals, patri archs, primates, archbishops and residential bishops, abbots or prelates nullius and superior of certain monastic congregations. Titular bishops, if they are in vited, may also vote. The 1958 “Annuario Pontifi- cio,” the official yearbook of the Church, contains statistics indi cating these persons may total about 1,500, exclusive of the titular bishops who would raise the total to more than 2,000 if invited. In addition, the Pope or the commission that organizes the council may very well invite ex perts in theology and canon law to attend the meeting, though they will function only as con sultants. No reasonably accurate estimate of the total number of these experts can be made in advance. FALSE FRONT Character is what a man real ly is — reputation is what he’d like other people to think he is. Uneasy lies the head that tries to make a living without work ing for it. ©If* lallrtUt 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. REV. FRANCIS J. DONOHUE REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition JOHN MARKWALTER Managing Editor Vol. 39 Saturday, February 7, 1959 No. 18 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