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Soviet Medical Assistance PAGE'4—THE BULLETIN, April 4, 1959 JOSEPH BREIG When God What makes a man most perfectly a man? And a wo man most perfectly a woman? Where can a husband and wife find the source of “the highest spiritual fusion?” Whence comes harmony in families, and peace and co- o p e r a t i on among na tions? In one word, Pope John gave the an- s w e r. The word: Communion. The Holy Father spoke elo quently in a message to the first Central American Euchar istic Congress. Let us put into question-and- answer form what he said. WHAT DOES the Holy Eu charist do to us? It instills in our hearts “a new energy.” The name of the energy? Su pernatural love. Does this supernatural love push aside human affection? No; it strengthens human af fection, makes it truer, puri fies it, and channels it in the right direction. What is the effect upon us— upon you and me? Pope John replied: “Man is complete when he has God within his breast — God who remains united with him, strengthening his person ality. “The natural virtues them selves are elevated in quality. “They ripen into the ideal type of the perfect man, made in the image of God, conform ing to the example of His Son, in whom the Father is well pleased.” What is the effect upon our relations with others? “Human relations acquire a new tone from the person who possesses God through the Eu charist.” Why is this so? Because Communion brings forth and nourishes true love. It soothes souls; curbs desires; calms the troubled spirit; spurs us to good works and to justice and mercy. “Christ in the sacrament of the altar,” said Pope John, “is more truly and 'completely with us than in any other of His manifestations.” This sacrament is divine Love giving itself. In Christ, there- Enters Man fore, husband and wife achieve highest spiritual fusion. It is Love also sacrificing it self. Therefore it sanctifies and transforms the sacrifices proper to marriage, thus giving stability to family life. “And still more,” said Pope John at this point. The effects of Holy Com munion reach out through the individual not only to the mem bers of his family, but to all mankind. In this source of love, all agreements between men find their purest wellspring. The friendship between the soul and God, and between soul and soul, extend itself. As a result, community life and international life are brought more and more into harmony with human nature. Human nature has an essen tial unity. And the graces of Holy Communion make that unity more and more operative. Thus does Communion draw the world together. Its effects work for harmony among men; for peace not war; for love not hatred; for understanding not confusion, and for joy not sor row. And what about the Church? Pope John said: “On the religious level the Church has this seed of unity. Far from annuling or weaken ing natural ties among men, it consolidates and ennobles them.” As St. Paul said: “Because the bread is one we thought many are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread.” In the Mass for the feast of Corpus Christi, we pray the Lord to grant his Church “the gifts of unity and peace, mys tically signified” by the Bread of Life on the altar. To parents, Pope John said: “Look upon the Holy Host and ask the Lord to bless your homes with the most perfect harmony and fidelity, and with the fruit of many priestly vo cations among your sons. “Ask that He enlighten your leaders and give just balance to the social life of your peoples. “Ask that He keep you firm in the Faith. “Ask that He fill your homes With prosperity, and your na tions with true progress. “These are also our wishes, and our most ardent prayers to the Love of Loves.” Theology For The Layman (By F, J. Sheed) The moral laws being of that importance to man, how does he know what they are? In two ways principally—by the wit ness of his nature, and by the teachings of men entitled to speak in the name of God. Take nature first. God, making crea tures, built the laws of their being into them. The maker of an automobile does much the same: he builds his machine to run with water in the radiator, with gasoline in the tank, with a proper order in the gears; that way it will function. God makes our bodies, with lungs that need air and with a complex mechan ism to ensure that they get it, with a need for certain kinds of food, and so on. By powers, and by felt needs that will cause us to exercise the powers, God builds His laws into our body; in obedience to them, the body is in health. In the same way, God builds His laws into our souls, too. The laws of justice and purity and worship are as real for the soul as the laws of diet for the body. In obedience to them, the soul is in health. If we disobey the laws for the running of the automobile, the engine makes strange noises and at last comes to a stop. If we disobey the laws of the body, we have pain, and ultimately death. The stirring of conscience in the soul is like the strange noises in the engine and the pain in the body, it is a protest against misuse. It is the soul’s way of indicating that the laws according to which its Maker built it are being ignored, that it is not being run as its Maker built it to be run. This pain in the soul is unlike any other—it is an intense awareness that we ought not to be acting as we are, that a par ticular action is not merely damaging us but is wrong. Even if the action is apparently pleas urable and profitable—as when one takes another man’s money ( Continued on Page 5 ) Jottings ... 'V ' - (By BARBARA C. JENCKS) Question Box (By David Q. Liptak) Q. I realize that we should try to meditate on the mysteries while saying the rosary, but isn't it sufficient just to say the required prayers? A. Meditation is. one of the elements absolutely requisite for fulfilling the rosary devo tion. The rosary was defined by Pope Pius V as “the psalter of Mary, in which the Blessed Mo ther of God is greeted one hun dred and fifty times with the Angelic Salutation . . . together with the Our Father for every ten Hail Marys, and also cer tain meditations that represent the entire life of Jesus Christ.” From this definition it is evi dent that mental prayer is just as essential to the rosary devo tion as recitation of the pre scribed Aves and Paters. Q. What exactly is meant by "meditation" on the mysteries? A. The mental prayer requi site for fulfilling the rosary de votion can be summarized , as “loving thought of the divine plan of man’s redemption re vealed in the life and teaching of our Savior Jesus Christ.” Q. How can one possibly keep his mind on every word of the Our Fathers and Hail Marys in the rosary and still meditate? A. It is not necessary to be at tentive to the sense of each word of the vocal prayers of the rosary. As long as one says the prayers reverently, and at the same time keeps in mind thoughts of the mysteries of our redemption, he can recite the rosary correctly. Even outside of the rosary, Our Fathers and Hail Marys recited with devo tion are valid prayers even if one fails directly to avert to their verbal significance. Q. Are there any set rules for meditating upon the mysteries of the rosary? A. The requisite mental pray er of the rosary can be t made ( Continued on Page 5 ) • WHERE ARE THE AMER ICAN CATHOLIC intellectual leaders, the critics ask? Where are the American Catholic Ein steins and. Calks and Faulkners? The answer is painfully obvious. They are found in seminaries and monasteries and parish school and university class rooms. They are offering the holy Sacrifice of the Mass on foreign missions or hearing con fessions in big cities or editing journals of opinion or correcting English themes or teaching his tory or planning classroom buildings. Here is the Ameri can Catholic intellectual leader ship, the critics seek! Does the Church stifle leadership? The Church ever since its inception has been the custodian of the arts and sciences. At one time the monasteries were the only centers of learning, Several members of the clergy have been ferreted out of their rec tories or college laboratories for citations for their intellectual a c c o m plishments; Father Nieuwland of Notre Dame who discovered synthetic rubber; Fa ther Hubbard, the Glacier priest, and Father Linehan of Boston College. Here are our Salks, if ypu will! In the field of letters, we do not lag. The cloistered Thomas Merton is our answer to the bloomy Faulkner. We do not lack intellectual leadership. These American Catholic intel lectuals are too pre-occupied with work and prayer to stand around to have pictures taken and to send press releases an nouncing their day-by-day ac complishments. They do not live for the applause of men. • THE GREAT intellectual power of the American Church has gone into the clergy, the hidden life of the Church. Thus it becomes especially painful when the critics of American Catholic life are priests them selves. It was refreshing indeed to read the rebuttale of Bishop Gorman and Archbishop Meyer who have become impatient with the soul-searching and breast-beating of American Catholic educators. The es teemed Christopher Dawson, Catholic historian teaching at Harvard, said that “the Ameri can Catholic educational sys tem has no parallel in history.” The Church in America is com paratively young. Its tensions are obvious at the moment. It cannot b e compared with France, the eldest daughter of the Church and her great num ber of intellectuals. It cannot be compared either with Eng land, yet it would seem that we are somewhere near the point the English Catholic Church was at the time of Cardinal New man’s conversion. Our first spring is ahead, not our second spring. We are aware of our needs and have been challenged. Many of the Catholic collegians of today are first generation college students. Only in the post World War II world was college education as widespread as it is today. The Catholic Col lege educational system needs no apologist. While some of its educators are decrying their own systems, a distinguished Catholic historian from Britian applauds it and says that its uniqueness now needs harnes sing toward the producing of a genuine American Catholic cul ture. That unique educational system has been built on the vision and sacrifice of those Catholic men and women who might have gone after personal glory in their chosen fields of endeavor but relinquished per sonal laurels for eternal values. They gave their talents, little and great, to God and the things of God and the Monument is the ( Continued on Page 5 ) How Do You Rate on Facts of Faith By Brian Cronin 1. Castel Gandolfo is the name of: (a) A famous monastery? (b) The Pope’s birthplace? (c) A divine apparition? (d) The Pope’s summer residence? 2. Who is the apostle best remembered for doubting the Resurrection? (a) Peter (b) Thomas? (c) Judas? (d) Mat thew? 3. Where did Christ suffer His agony the night before He Died?: (a) The Cenaccle? (b) The desert? (c) The Mount of Olives? (d) Mount Thabor? 4. How many epistles are contained in the Bible? (a) 12? (b) 21? (c) 10? (d) 52? 5. By whom are cardinals appointed?: (a) The Pope? (b) The College of Cardinals? (c) The clergy of their own countries? (d) Papal Nuncios? 6. Catholic is a Greek word meaning: (a) One? (b) Holy? (c) Apostolic? (d) Universal? 7. One who has never heard of Christianity is called: (a) Heretic? (b) Apostate? (d) Agnostic? (d) Heathen? 8. This year, the centenary of Our Lady of Lourdes, is also the 25th Anniversary of another series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin at: (a) Banneux, Belgium? (b) La Salette, France? (c) Fatima, Portugal? Give yourself 10 marks for each correct answer below. Rating: 80—Excellent; 70—Very Good; 60—Good; 50— Fair. Answers: 1 (d); 2 (b); 3 (c); 4 (b); 5 (a); 6 (d); 7 (d); 8 (a) SHARING OUR TREASURE 'Don't Give Up Hope," Says Convert Sister By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D. (University of Notre Dame) THE BACKDROP The Soviet Union’s latest move in the field of foreign aid—medical assistance—is be ing watched by United States officials with grave concern. There is probably no more effective way of winning the friendship of people in the underde veloped parts of the world than aiding the diseased. And the So viet leaders apparently have come to understand this, for they recently have broken away from their isolationist policy in world health matters. They have rejoined the World Health Or ganization and embarked on programs to extend medical assistance to those underdevel oped countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa which they are seeking to draw into the communist fold. In Cambodia, "or example, 30 Russian technicians are super vising construction, according to Russian designs, of a 500-bed, 500-out-patient hospital. The government of Libya has ac cepted a Soviet offer to con struct, equip and staff two hos pitals. BATTLE FOR INFLUENCE In India, Russians are main taining and staffing several medical centers, where Indian By JOHN C. O’BRIEN medical specialists are trained and Indians receive free treat ment. India also has been offered a $20,000,000 credit for equipment to expand its phar maceutical industry to a point where it will no longer need to import drugs. Cobalt radiation machines have been sent to Thailand and vaccines and drugs to combat a cholera epidemic in Indonesia. Last month the Soviets sent men, equipment and supplies to combat smallpox in several Afro-Asian countries, and con struction of a 200-bed hospital in Burma is scheduled to start in 1963. If it was believed that the Soviet Union’s sudden interest in the combating of disease in other countries was motivated solely by a desire to raise world health standards, there would be no concern among United States officials. But there is a strong suspicion that the Soviet leaders see in this form of infil tration a golden opportunity to outdo the West in the battle for influence in uncommitted areas. To counter this Soviet move in the field of medical assis tance, Congress is being urged to authorize an appropriation of $50,000,000 for a world-wide program of co-operative medical research and exchange through an Institute of International Medical Research in the Na tional Institutes of Health. Under this program priority would be given health and med ical needs in newly developing countries where the decisive relationships in world affairs in the next few years will be determined. U. S. FAR AHEAD The appropriation would be used to provide expanded train ing of nurses, hospitals and clinical technicians to work with doctors and research specialists as health teams in underdevel oped countries, most of which lie in a “disease belt”. Hand in hand with this medi cal treatment program, it is proposed that the United States establish research teams to sur vey the health problems of siuch areas, country by country, and to establish priorities for the medical research and assistance that would be most fruitful in each country. Although the Russians are pushing their foreign medical assistance programs with char acteristic aggressiveness, Ameri can officials believe the United States can outdo them if Con gress can be persuaded to sup port a program. Soviet phy sicians and surgeons are com petent, but in the field of phar maceuticals and chemicals, the United States is far ahead. As yet the Russians have not con tributed a single important de velopment in pharmaceuticals. Scarcely less impressive than physical miracles are those of grace, which occur occasionally in conversions. How else can we explain the sudden conver sions of inveterate and bitter enemies of the Church. They teach us to pray with per- severence for the conversion 0 f non-Cath- olic relatives and friends and never give up hope. God powerful. This truth is illus trated by the experience of Sis ter St. Joseph, St. Mary’s Aca- remy, 3300 West Slauson Ave., Los Angeles. “My mother was an Irish-born Catholic,” related Sister, “who married out of the Church. My father had a fierce hatred of the Catholic religion and did his best to instill his bitterness into the five children. But apparent ly God had other plans. “One evening, when I was eight years old, mother and we children were sitting around the fireside. ‘If father dies be fore me,’ said mother, ‘the first thing I would do would be ! to have you all baptized Catholics.’ Mother died next year, but that remark always remained in my mind. I hoped and prayed for the day when I might realize mother’s wish. “Father had often remarked that no Catholic would ever live under his roof. So I waited im patiently till I became 15. Then 1 went to the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Duluth and rang the doorbell. Father Lemire an swered it, and I told him that my mother had been a Catholic and I also wanted to be one. Father gave me a good course of instruction, baptized me and gave me my first Holy Com munion. Great indeed was my joy. “The next year we moved to Los Angeles, and I confided to my sister Ellen what I had done and told her how much my religion meant to me. She took instructions and became a Cath olic. Then my youngest sister followed suit. “I was now 19 and wanted to become a Sister of St. Joseph, but father absolutely refused his consent. When I entered without it, father sent a lawyer to the novitiate to have me taken out. I wrote him a letter saying that I entered entirely of my own free will, and that nothing could pull me out. “Father was taken critically ill an rushed to a hospital. He sent word he wanted to see me. The Mistress of Novices went with me, and advised me to have him make an act of contrition. ‘You don’t know my father,’ I said. I was almost afraid to go in my garb, thinking that- it would upset him further. “Then a miracle of grace took place. When I approached his bed, father simply asked, ‘Betty, are you really happy?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied ‘more than ever before in my life.’ He was relieved, and talked calmly. ‘Wouldn’t you like to see a priest?’ I asked. ‘Some other day, perhaps,’ he replied. Later when I was about to leave, he said, ‘I think I better see a priest today.’ “It was almost unbelievable. I called Father Glass, who later became Bishop of Salt Lake, and he ministered to father. He found father well informed about the Faith and well dis posed. After some further in structions, Father Glass re ceived him into the Church and gave him the last sacraments. That night at eight o’clock he died, and was buried from St. Vincent’s Church here. “My brother was the next to enter. Then my oldest sister Marie told her Lutheran hus band that she wanted to become a Catholic. ‘Fine!’ he said. ‘The knot will be all the tighter.’ Two years after Marie con verted, he too became a Cath olic. Thus through God’s grace all of my family of six became Catholics.” “I do not see why men should be so proud • • • insects have the more ancient lineage.” This statement by a gentleman named Don Marquis is very in- teresting—apd distressing. Not that I have ' anything against bugs; it’s just that I think we should be loyal to our species. Insects may do us better in length of their family tree, but they can’t outclass us. My fam ily, anyway, can trace its ances tors back to—to—well, I don’t know exactly whom, but we’ve been descending for centuries. This squabble about ancestry is ridiculous, to begin with— THE STORY LADY Maureen Wenk Hanigan SUZZY'S FAVORITE FRIEND Once there was a pretty little girl named Suzzy, who lived near a beautiful park. It had big green trees, lovely flowers and even a neat blue pool. There was a playground in the park too, with swings and slides and see-saws, and there was a zoo. Almost every day Suzzy would ask her mother if she could visit the park, and almost every day her mother said she could if s h e remembered to come straight home at supper time and not to talk to any strang ers. When Suzzy skipped into the park she would look at the trees and the flowers, but she did not stop near the gardens. Sometimes she would toss a pebble into the neat blue pool, but she did not stop there ei ther. Sometimes she tried one of the swings to see how high she could go, but she never stayed in the playground very long. No, every day she would hurry as fast as she could to the Animal House. THE FUNNY MONKEYS Suzzy would watch the mon keys and laugh and laugh at the funny tricks they played. She especially liked to watch the mother monkey take care of her baby. There was a sign on the cage that said “PLEASE DO NOT FEED.” Sometimes the people tried to push peanuts and candy through to the baby monkey even though the sign asked them not to. When they did, the mother monkey would reach right out between the bars and try to slap their hands. Suzzy never tried to feed the monkeys. Suzzy would visit the bears and lions too. There were big signs on their cages that said, “PLEASE DO NOT FEED.” There were always some people who threw food into the cages anyway. Suzzy never tried to feed the bears or the lions. Suzzy saved the best visit till last. In the very end cage there was a baby fawn. Suzzy loved the little fawn. She thought it looked just like the pictures of Bambi in her story book, so she called him Bambi’s brother. There was a sign on Bambi’s brother’s cage that said “PLEASE DO NOT FEED.” But Suzzy did feed the little deer. She fed him because she loved him so much! Every day she brought some candy to him. “Hello, Bambi’s brother,” she would say to him. “I didn’t for get you. Here is a nice big piece of candy.” And when no one was looking she would push it into his cage. AN EMPTY CAGE One day when she arrived at Bambi’s brother’s cage it was empty! She looked hard in ev ery corner, but the little fawn was nowhere to be seen. When Mr. Brown, the zoo keeper saw her he said, “I’m afraid the little fawn can’t visit with you today. Someone has been feeding him candy, and he has a very bad tummy ache! He is quite sick. I knew they didn’t mean to hurt him, but they should have paid attention to what the sign said. We take very good care of the animals and we know just the right things to feed them. They have plenty of good food.” “Oh dear,” said Suzzy, “I am the one who fed candy to Bam bi’s brother. I didn’t mean to make him sick. Oh, I am so sorry!” Suzzy started to cry. “Is he going to die?” “No, no,” said Mr. Brown. “Sometimes our nice animals do die from all the peanuts and candy, but your little friend is going to be all right. The doctor is fixing him up, and he will be back here to see you tomor row.” “Oh, I am so glad,” said Suz zy. “I will never feed him can dy again.” And she never did! But she came to visit Bambi’s brother every day, and some times as a special treat Mr. |l I I R»th«r Wlmrlon'tt View from the Redory whether the bragging is done by bugs or people. It is said that the man who has nothing to boast of but his illustrious an cestors is like a potato—the only good belonging to him is under ground. There are lots of pota toes in our society. They seem to think that their family’s merits will put them ahead in life and plunk them in heaven as well. It’s true that heredity plays a part in our makeup. The fast est talker I’ve ever known achieved his success by heredi ty; his father was a tobacco auctioneer and his mother was a woman. And your ancestors can contribute very much to ward your material success if they leave you enough little green pictures of Jackson, Lincoln, and other well-known Americans. But, for the most part, high falutin’ ancestory contributes little toward a successful life and eternity. Most people end up claiming ancestors who were not really theirs—or trying to hide the ones that are theirs. One woman whose grandfather was electrocuted at Sing Sing tells everyone that “Grand-faw- thah occupied the chair of ap plied electricity at one of our public institutions.” So if your pillow is stained with tears each night because all your ancestors were hanged as horse thieves, don’t lose heart. There’s one renowned ancestor we can all clam: Adam. Brown would save a little dish of food, and he would help Suzzy to place it carefully in the cage. And you you know, in all the park, you could not find two finer friends than Suzzy and her little fawn. And Eve, too, if you want to make two sure bets in the fam ily album. It is an article of our faith that all men are descen dants of Adam and Eve. Aside from their craving for apples, they did all right, too; they are about as illustrious as you can get. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, tells us that all have come from one couple. Eve is called the “mother of the living” and Adam is referred to as the “fa ther of the world, who was created alone.” The Acts of the Apostles quotes St. Paul speak ing to the Athenians (at a Com munion Breakfast, probably): “God has made of one (man) all mankind to dwell upon the whole face of the earth.” Our doctrine of original sin, for that matter, is closely tied up with this truth. In his Epistle to the Romans, the great Paul stressed our need for a Redeem er because of the fall of our first parents: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.” The sciences agree with this testimony of Scripture. His torians say that Asia is the cradle of the human race. All languages, philology joins in to claim, can be traced back to a common tongue. And physiolo gy shows that the variations of the races are not essential—the anatomical structure of all men is the same. Religion and science, there fore, both join in to convince us that all human beings are descendants of common parents. It’s an important item to realize, too. Racism and extreme na tionalism and the Nazi myth of a super-race are all dealt a death-blow by this fundamental truth of the unity of the human race. People can seem terribly strange if they have a different color of skin, or speak a dif ferent language, or have cus toms far removed from ours. Many have tried to get away from this fact. Way back in 1655, ( Continued on Page 5 ) t Ittllrlin 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 MARK WALTER Managing Editor Vol. 39 Saturday, April 4, 1959 No. 22 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