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PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, July 25, 1959 JOSEPH BRE1G THE COURT SLIPS AGAIN I believe it was George Ber nard Shaw who once described the U. S. Constitution as a char ter of anarchy. The Constitution is nothing of the' kind. But I can understand how it might give that im pression to an observer in another country, look ing at it out of its historic al context, and possess ing no broad background of in formation about its real mean ings. The First Amendment, for ex ample, says simply that “Con gress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.” Taking the words baldly as they stand, without reference to the intention of the Founding Fathers who wrote them, it would seem that under the Con stitution “anything goes”—that anybody may say anything, or publish anything without hind rance. THAT WE KNOW, is em phatically not true. The laws of libel, for one thing, abridge freedom (in the sense of license) of both speech and press. Further, there is an enormous area in which freedom (license) of expression is sternly circum scribed, either specifically by law, or generally by tradition and precedent. That area was broadly de scribed by the late Justice Oli ver Wendell Holmes (who was certainly about as liberal as they come) when he said that freedom of speech does not in clude the right to shout “fire” in a crowded theater when there is no fire. There is not a newspaper or magazine in America that would publish an article in fa vor of kidnapping, or murder, or torturing animals, or arson, or holding up banks, or blow ing up buildings, or assassinat ing public officials, or debauch ing children. ADVOCACY of such behavior does not come-under the consti tutional guarantee of freedom of speech and the press — not unless I am gravely mistaken about the meaning of the Con stitution. Therefore I find myself un able to follow the thinking of the U. S. Supreme Court in the decision upsetting the New York State ban on the movie, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” Let us make one thing clear. I have not seen the movie, and have no opinion about it. I am not talking about the movie, but about the Supreme Court’s ruling. Justice Potter Stewart wrote the majority opinion. He was joined in it by Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justices Hugo L. Black, William O. Douglas and William J. Brennan, Jr. THE OPINION ASSERTS that New York State banned the movie because it “advocates an idea •— that adultery under certain circumstances may be proper behavior.” In banning the film for that reason, wrote Justice Stewart, New York State “struck at the very heart of constitutionally protected liberty.” The Constitution — so this opinion argued — “protects ad vocacy of the opinion that adul tery may sometimes be proper, no less than advocacy of social ism or the single tax.” The Supreme Court has been tending in this direction for some years. The reason, in my opinion, is that the justices are making a literalistic interpreta tion of the Constitution apart from its historical context, from the American tradition, from the Founding Fathers, and from common sense. IF I UNDERSTAND the rul ing correctly, anybody is now constitutionally free to advocate such ideas as human sacrifice, or spitting on the American Flag, or contempt for law, or abduction of children for im moral purposes, or shooting down of policemen, or massacre (a la Hitler) of Jews, or any other conceivable abomination. In sharp contrast, the Penn sylvania Senate has passed, 47-3, a bill to ban movies which “represent as acceptable con duct . . . the commission of any crime or the manifestation of contempt for law.” The Pennsylvania Senate un derstands the Constitution bet ter than the present Supreme Court does, or than Bernard Shaw did. The Senate has not forgotten that a word can be more lethal than a sword. Theology For The Layman (By F. J. Sheed) BETWEEN ADAM AND ADVENT There has been an immense amount of theological thinking on atonement, at-one-ment, as a problem; more particularly as a problem the human race had set God. The sin of the race stood, and must remain forever an ob stacle between men and their true destiny, unless either hu manity could find some way of expiating it, making compensa tion for it,, or God simply for gave it. Even with the sin ex piated or written off, the breach remained and must remain un less God chose to remake the broken contact—not simply be tween individuals and Himself but between their race and Him self. Fathers and Doctors of the Church have thought magnifi cently on what God could and could not do, on why the way He chose the best way and whether it was the only way. But both the space at our dis posal and our status as begin ners in Theology means that this discussion is for us—not here, not yet. We shall concern ourselves with Atonement not as a problem but as a reality, not what God might have done but what He did. We know that He meant to redeem mandkind and heal the breach, and make heaven once more open to men: because that was God’s intention, He went on giving sanctifying grace to those who loved Him, a gift carrying with it the power to live in heaven and meaningless if heaven were never to be open to them. We know that He meant to redeem. We may hope that our first parents knew it too. But the first statement of what He would do was strange; it did not carry its meaning on the (Continued on Page 5) Question Box * By David Q. Liptak Q. A recent discussion led to this question: just what special powers, if any, do pastors pos sess as distinct from priests who are not pastors? Or, is it correct io say that pastors occupy posi tions of seniority rather than poorer? A. A pastor (the word is taken directly from the Latin for “shepherd”) is a priest to whom has been entrusted the care of souls in a parish (i. e., a particular ecclesiastical neigh borhood). The office of the care of souls, which embraces those rights and powers necessary for the spiritual welfare of a parish, must be exercised in accordance with Church law and under the authority and direction of the bishop, who is really the pastor of his entire diocese. WHEREAS ALL PASTORS must be priests, not all priests £tre pastors. No one can become a pastor except by appointment or investiture by the bishop (or, as in the case of parishes re served to the Holy See, by high er ecclesiastical prelates). Once one becomes a pastor, however, he possesses the office of the care of souls in his own right, and not merely as a delegate. This is precisely wherein pastors differ from other priests as re guards parochial powers. WHAT FUNCTIONS belong exclusively to pastors? There are several. Among them, for in stance, is the right to baptize solemnly. Although any person can baptize privately in the case of necessity, the administration of solemn baptism (i. e., with the accompanying ceremonies and the anointings) is reserved to the proper pastor of the per son to be baptized. BESIDES HAVING special powers, pastors are charged with certain serious duties that usual ly are not binding upon other priests. Thus, pastors are bound to offer Mass over eighty times a year (including all Sundays and Holy days) for their people. Too, they are responsible for the management of parish tem poralities,' and for the keeping (Continued on Page 5) Jottings • m (By BARBARA C. JENCK3) • BEFORE the world was made with its oceans and skies and mountains, it entered the mind of man that you and I would be born on a certain day in history in a powerful new young nation. God blessed us when we were born Americans and he blessed us even further when he gave us a greater brightlight as Catholics. Some how Almighty God wanted you and me to be living at this time working out our salvation as Catholic Americans. We find ourselves in a world wading into the expanse of space. This is even more adventuresome than the days of Columbus. We find ourselves in a great nation which has not yet been forced to its knees to beg for mercy. May it ever be thus! Would, however, America go to its knees to give thanksgiving to the God who created this nation and upon whom the Founding Fathers of the nation trusted. There are some Americans today who have confused their great tal ents in creating things with that of the power of the Creator. They see no reason to implore the help of Almighty God and would not have His holy name mentioned in public hearings. In the past two years, America has been badly criticized. Her for eign critics have called her ma terialistic. She is symbolized by the pink bathtub, the filthy film, the obscene best seller, the manipulating advertiser, the martini, the modern ranch house and the politician with cigar. Our educational system which was once our great boast has been shown lagging as com pared with Russia in its scien tific and mathematical training. One the cultural side, speakers at a recent symposium on American culture gave us a low rating. The American artist, musician and writer are not given the same status as the doctor, lawyer, banker or bus inessman. Their talents are too often consumed by advertisers and - contributions to American culture are lost. During this month of the birthday of our nation, we should think se riously of what we who were marked apart as both Catholics and Americans-can do. America is not yet 200 years old. God is eternal and so are His laws. What can you and I do to bring America to its knees to beg di rection as it asks thanksgiving? * * * • WE CAN PRAY as never before that our nation be spar ed and that we be given men with vision to lead us. We can wish for younger men with ded ication and purpose like Presi dent Eisenhower and the late Secretary of State Dulles who both have been examples of Christian gentlemen. We can take part ourselves in com munity, civic programs instead of shrugging off or abdicating influence to others. One can never discount the far-reaching effects of secularism for the lit tle thing is sometimes the big thing. Two American college students spending their junior year abroad in Vienna wrote to their history professor that they ■ were appointing themselves a two-member-committee to pro mote the study of American his tory in American colleges. How little our students know of our heritage, traditions compared to those abroad! The students were impressed with the Vienna schoolboys abilities to list with pride their nation’s historical highlights and give long dis courses on their nation’s he roes. A lecturer on Russian edu cation cited that same lack in America as contrasted to the concentrated study on Russian culture and history given in So viet schools. Most of all, we as Catholic Americans can live as those who are living a story that is glorious and true. We are citizens of the best nation un der the sun and we are heirs to the kingdom of God. We should live as one nobly proud of both birthrights. Our ex ample in our lives shout a na tional anthem to those whom we are in daily. ', contact. The Catholic record in Ameri- How Do You Rate on Facts of Faith 1. To whom was the body of Jesus given for burial?: (a) Nico- demus? (b) St. John the Beloved? (c) Joseph of Arima- thea? (d) St. James the Greater? 2. A Holy Year is customarily held every: (a) 50 years? (b) 25 years? (c) 100 years? 3. The Last Gospel said at the end of Mass is that of: (a) St. Luke? (b) St. Matthew? (c) St. Mark? (d) St. John? 4. Who was the eminent Dominican known as the Angelic Doctor?: (a) St. Thomas Aquinas? (b) St. Dominic? (c) The Venerable Bede? (d) St. Luke? 5. What is a canticle?: (a) A sacred candle? (b) A hymn? (c) A church building? (d) A choir? 6. Ou November 2nd the church ordinarily commemorates: (a) All Souls? (b) All Saints? (c) Holy Innocents? 7. Who were the early missioners to California?: (a) The Jesuits? (b) The Christian Brothers (c) The Franciscans? (d) The Dominicans? 8. Who was struck dumb for disbelieving the Angel Gabriel’s message?: (a) St. Peter? (b) St. Joseph? (c) Zachery? (d) St. Thomas? Give yourself 10 marks for each correct answer below. Rating: 80-Excellent; 70-Very Good; 60-Good; 50-Fair. Answers: 1 (c); 2 (b); 3 (d); 4 (a); 5 (b); ■ 6 (a); 7 (c); 8 (c) SHARING OUR TREASURE Man Embraces Faith At 86 By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN. Ph. D. ~— (University of Notre Dame) --------- A person is never too old to embrace the Catholic Faith. God’s grace is all powerful, and it is given to the aged as well as to the young. While there is life, there is hope. This is illus trated by the conversion of August F. Wolff of Cum berland, Wis consin, after he had long passed the t r a d) i t i onal three score r . _ years and ten. His son, Julius F. Wolff, a member of the Ad visory Board of the College of Engineering at Notre Dame, tells the story. “When but nine years old, Fa ther came with his parents to this country, settling near Watertown, Wisconsin in 1866. The family were strict Luth erans and father attended re ligious classes and was con firmed. For many years the framed certificate of his con firmation hung In our home. Life for the pioneering family was hard; food and money were alike scarce. “At 14, he was apprenticed to a harness maker for three years, receiving merely his board and $100. He later oper ated three harness shops and prospered. He married Lucy Arntz, one of a family of 13 children whose parents had migrated from Germany in 1847. Lucy had been a country school teacher and was a vigorous and devout Catholic. “She prayed constantly for her husband’s conversion and set him an edifying example. Father became a warm friend of the numerous priests who visited our home, supported the Church and was glad to see us three children learn our re ligion and practice it. My sister, Mary Evaline, attended St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, and joined the Holy Cross com munity, taking the name of Sis ter Madeleva. “She later became President of St. Mary’s, in which office she is still serving. Father was proud of her. All the family had long been praying for Father’s conversion, and finally in their mid-eighties Mother got him to join her in saying the rosary each night. “That summer Sister Madele va and a companion visited them and the first evening found mother, after the rosary, adding some ‘trimmins,’ in which was a vigorous plea to enlighten this ‘hardened and obstinate sinner.’ ‘Now, Mother,’ asked Sister Madeleva, ‘do you really think Father is such a hardened and obstinate old sin ner?’ ‘No, I guess not,’ replied Mother, ‘but this is the way the prayer reads.’ “One evening a year later, when Father was 86, he said to Mother after they had just fin ished the rosary, ‘Lucy, to be sure that we’ll all be together in the next world, I’m going to become a Catholic.’ Those were the words for which Mother had been praying for 60 years, and can history is a proud one which should be carefully pre served in dignity. Again the words of Commander Shea come back: “Be a good Catholic and you cannot help _but be a good American.” for which we three children had been praying all our lives. “Mother’s eyes were dimmed with tears of joy, and her heart was throbbing with rapture. ‘Thank God!’ she said, falling on her knees. ‘Our prayers are answered.’ No greater gift could God have given us. It took a lot of praying and of living, but it was worth it—and more. “After receiving instructions from Father Gordon Shaney, Fa ther went to St. Mary’s, the lit tle frame church in Cumberland, where his children had been baptized. Here he received con ditional baptism and made his First Holy Communion. Kneel ing by him at the rail were his wife and three children—Sister Madeleva, Werner and I. It was the happiest day in our lives. Our prayer had been heard, our dream had come true.” Weekly Calendar Of Feast Days (N.C.W.C. News Service) SUNDAY, July 26—St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Vir gin Mary. She was far advanc ed in age when Mary was bom. She was the spouse of St. Joachim. MONDAY, July 27—St. Pan- taleon, Martyr. He was a phy sician and with St. Luke is pa tron of medical men. It is said that early in his life he was led into apostasy, but later re embraced the Faith. It is cer tain that he suffered martyrdom at the imperial residence of Nicodemia between 303 and 305. TUESDAY, July 28 — SS. Nazarius, Celsus and Victor, Martyrs. St. Nazarius, who lived in the first century, was the son of a pagan Roman army offi cer and embraced the Christian faith of his mother, Perpetua. With St. Celsus, his youthful companion, he was beheaded under Nero at Milan, St. Vic tor, an African, succeeded St. Eleutherius as Pope in 189 and ruled until 199. WEDNESDAY, July 29 — St. Martha of Bethany, Virgin. She was the sister of St. Mary Mag dalene and St. Lazarus. They entertained Our Lord in their home. She is said to have at tended Christ in His Passion and rejoiced with Him after the Resurrection. It is said that with her brother and sister, she went to Marseilles and aided in the introduction of Christianity in France. THURSDAY, July 30 — SS. Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs. They were Persian nobles who lived in the third century, and were brought to Rome as cap tives of Decius. They devoted themselves to the service of Christians and to reverent bu rial of martyrs. When Decius became emperor, they were scourged with lead-tipped whips, subjected to other tor tures, and finally thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheater. FRIDAY, July 31 — St. Ig natius of Loyola, Confessor. He was a native of Spain and serv ed as courtier and soldier until his 30th year, when he renounc ed the world and founded the Society of Jesus. He won many others to the service of God. He died in 1556. SATURDAY, August 1 — St. Peter in Chains. This feast com memorates the miraculous de- Why Dq Senators Bum The Midnight Oil? THE BACKDROP The slight stroke suffered by Senator Joseph C. O’Mahoney, of Wyoming, at the end of a re cent grueling, after-midnight session of the Senate served to call attention to a practice which tends to jeopardize the health of a s u b s t a ntial percentage of the Senate’s membership. Thirty - six S e nators, more than one third of the member ship, are 60 years of age or over. Eleven of these are in the 65 to 70 age bracket, seven are over 70. Senator Theodore F. Green, of Rhode Island, is 92 and Senator Carl Hayden, of Arizona, is 82. Yet, time after time, these men of advanced age are forced to remain in the Senate until long after midnight, occasional ly until three or four o’clock in the morning, because the Sen ate leadership insists upon a vote in a piece of pending leg islation. WARNING FROM PHYSICIAN It was such a session that put Senator O’Mahoney in the hos pital. The Senate leadership had decreed that there must be a vote on the question of con firming the appointment of Ad miral Lewis L. Strauss to the post of Secretary of Commerce, even if it took all night to get one. Two days before, O’Mahoney, By JOHN C. O’BRIEN who is 74 years old, had tired himself by making a long speech in opposition to confir mation of the appointment. Three days later, after mid night, he cast his vote. A few hours later he was on his way to a hospital on a stretcher, his left side paralized. Long sittings lasting from ten to 14 hours are not infrequent in the latter weeks of a session of the Congress. In the first few months both the Senate and the House move at a snail’s pace most of the time being de voted to committee considera tion of bills. Then in the last weeks pressure is applied to rush through legislation before the adjournment date. Many of the votes on contro versial legislation are taken in the wee hours of the morning when nerves are frayed, temp ers short and aging bodies drained of energy. The late President Roosevelt’s so-called “court-packing” bill was defeated around 4 o’clock in the morning at the end of a sitting that had lasted 16 hours. Many of the older Senators be came so weary waiting for the roll call that they had to retire for a nap on a cloakroom sofa. Time after time, Dr. George W. Calver, the physician who looks after the health of the Senate, himself 72 years old, has warned that such prolonged sessions are hazardous for Sen ators in the upper age brackets. Aging bodies and tired hearts, he has pointed out, cannot take such grueling punishment with out the risk of a physical set back of one sort or another. NO GOOD ANSWER An outsider has difficulty un derstanding why so much of the business of the Senate, where the average age is high, must be conducted at night. Seldom does the House hold sessions that run past 6 o’clock in the evening. When the Senate leadership insisted on prolonging the sit ting past midnight in order to get a vote on the confirmation if the appointment of Admiral Strauss, many of the Senators objected. Why, they asked, could not the vote be put off until the next day? To this question the Senate leadership was unable to offer a reasonable answer. Traditionally both houses convene at noon and normally conclude their sittings between 5 and 6 o’clock. For the noon convening, there is a plausible explanation. A major part of the time of a Senator or Repre sentative is spent at meetings of committees and these meet ings usually are held in the morning hours. But, except in a time of emer gency, there seems to be no good reason for putting the health of elderly men in jeop ardy by forcing them to stay up long past their normal bed time hour to conduct business that could just as effectively be transacted the next day. Father Whartaa’a ^ View from the Rectory QUEEN PRUDENCE Exasperated by an argument with a woman passenger as to whether she should pay five or ten cents fare, the conductor picked up her shopping bag as the bus crossed a bridge, and threw it in the river. “You monster,” cried the woman. “First you try to rob me, and now you drown my boy.” Here’s a good example of a man lacking in prudence. The bus driver should have looked in the bag before he threw it into the river. There might have been something valuable in it. Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues—the others be ing justice, temperance and for titude. We call them cardinal not because they’re red-hot, but because they are the hinges upon which the other natural virtues hang (cardinal comes from the Latin word for hinge). What’s more, prudence is quite important. We can say it’s the queen of the moral virtues because it’s the director or ad ministrator of the others. So, if you get a chance to choose one virtue for Christmas, take Queen Prudence. (We’re not talking about the theological virtues— faith, hope and charity—which are more important.) St. Thomas (Aquinas, not the doubting one) says that pru dence is “right reason applied to human conduct.’ ’In plain old language, it tells you what’s the best thing to do to get to heaven. We can be bubbling over with justice, temperance and forti tude—but unless they are direc ted by a holy common-sense, Reds Campaign Against 'Religious Superstition' BERLIN, (NC) — Reports reaching here from Moscow’s recent Union Conference on Questions of Scientific Atheism state that a campaign against “religious superstition” was de manded. Speakers were reported to have said that the majority of people in the Soviet Union had freed themselves from what was described as “religious preju dices.” However, the speakers admitted that a number of be lievers in God still exist in the country. It was stated that during 1958 there were 335,000 lecturers in the Soviet Union on “atheist and scientific” subjects, in con trast to the previous year, when there were 206,000 such lec tures. However, it was reported that during the first quarter of 1959 Soviet citizens listened to 90,000 lectures dealing with atheism and science. livery of St. Peter from a pris on in which he had been placed by the order of Herod. they get out of control. Take zeal, for instance. A per son might be so zealous he’s known as Herman the Zealot. Great. But suppose he gets so fired up with the desire to save souls that he buttonholes every passerby and shouts, “Are you saved?” Instead of saving souls, he‘d be nursing bruises. And poor old Teresa Tem perate “Everything in modera tion—except that confounded liquor.” is her motto. She boasts that no firewater touches her ruby lips. Splendid. We can use more teetotalers in our high (and low) society. But if Terry goes to parties and pours all the firewater down the drain—her imprudence will not help the cause of total abstinence. Piety towards our Creator is something everyone should cul tivate. Yet even this must be guided by prudence. Mama is a devout daily mass-goer. Fine. But what price piety if her spouse is missing breakfast while his better half is praying? And if the kids are home playing “Lynch the Horse-thief” (Fido being the horse-thief in this game)? Prudence says first things first. St. Thomas (known as the Doctoral Angel or Angelic Doc tor or something like that) again helps with an explanation of the elements of prudence. If we have the eight things he men tions, we’ve got it. We’re pretty prudent. Memory of the past is one tool which should be used in build ing prudence. If you fell off the top of the Washington Monu ment last year, it’s silly to stand on your head up there again. Remember the Monument. In the spiritual realm, the remem brance of past sins and the things that led us to commit them is a big step in avoiding the sins. We should have an under standing of the present to be prudent. Docility, too, is essen tial. That means willingness to learn from others. A person is imprudent, as well as dangerous, if he thinks there are only two classes of people: those who agree with him—and a lot of ignorant, projudiced fools. An ability to reason well helps us to be prudent. Reasoning is, after all, almost a lost art. We do things and buy things be cause of our feelings, not be cause of hard, cold reason. It a brick conks you on the head, you should be able to judge that it fell or someone threw it. Pru dence tells you to avoid that locale in the future—or carry a brick to heave back. Sagacity, says the great philo sopher, is one fine part of pru dence. He means a keen practic al sense. Some people, like the movie stars, never carry more than $3,000 in cash on their per son; they use credit cards. That’s practical prudence. The other elements of the queenly virtue are foresight of future contingencies (like real izing you will die some day and therefore taking out life insur ance, and balancing the spirit ual ledgers as well); circumspec tion (literally, looking around— shopping around before you buy); and caution as not using a match to see if your gas tank is full, and well as being care ful of the world, the flesh and the devil). All these things are what you’ll have if you’re prudent. It’s not easy, of course, to attain the perfection of this virtue. But you must admit that one who has all these elements in some measure would be voted the most likely to secede from sin. The old ditty claims “you can’t get to heaven on roller skates, ‘cause you’ll roll right past them pearly gates.” Pru dence keeps us from wearing roller skates in our old age. And from doing lots of other things that could make us roll right pass “them pearly gates.” t Sttlklitt 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. 40 Saturday, July 25, 1959 No. 4 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