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--lxijij jdu20j xyoO IN PARADISUM Two deaths in two weeks have served to remind the world of the tyranny and evil of International Communism. It is said that the wish is father to the thought. And perhaps because we wish it were so, we are tempted to think, when we hear the quips and laughter of its emmisaries, that Communism is evolving from brutality to humanitarianism. The death of Cardinal Mindzenty’s mother two weeks ago and the death of Cardinal Stepinac last week should quickly dispel such illusions. Both Mrs. Pehm (Cardinal Mindzenty’s mother) and Cardinal Stepinac were victims of the cruelty and cynicism of Communism. The aged mother of the Primate of Hungary spent the last decade of her life in sorrow, going from jail to jail to visit a son unjustly condemned by Communist masters. As a witness at his “trial” she saw her son broken physically and mentally. As a Hungarian citizen she saw her country’s Communist invaders slaughter the men who sought to free a true pastor of souls, whose only crime was that he re fused to betray his sheep, and she spent the last days of her life begging, “Please, may I speak to my son?” Cardinal Stepinac, symbol of the refusal of the Church in Yuogoslavia to become a tool of Tito’s Communism breathed his last, imprisoned in the home where he was born, under arrest because he dared to say, with St. Peter, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Death is an eloquent preacher, and these deaths cry out to us the words of Our Lord, “Be not deceived, you cannot serve God and mammon.” For those who espouse the terrible cause of Communism we pray, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” For two who truly bore the cross with Christ we pray, “May the angels take them into Paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome them on their way and lead them into the holy city, Jerusalem, where tears and sorrows shall be no more.” v. ■ <u 'Father, Forgive Them... 5 '- v •'* . J ~ * ■- ; • 'At-- i i •--/ ■ gah.V : .v.iiCV CHRIST NEVER \ EXISTED! ' • - - ' ’ lIRSs ’■ ■ - v Gvtrt - , v > ■> v-', ' CIVICS LESSON A proposal to extend low interest loans to privte, non profit schools was defeated in the United States Senate, February 4th. The Senate vote was 49 to 37 against a pro posal of Sen. Wayne Morse (D. Ore.) to lend these schools up to $150 million over a two-year period for school con struction. Then, after defeating this measure for a loan, NOT A GRANT, the Senate adopted 54 to 35, a measure to GRANT $1.8 BILLION for Public School construction and Public School teachers’ salaries over a two-year period. This bill, of course, must be passed by the house and signed by the President before it can become law. Sole opposition on the floor to Sen. Morse’s proposed LENDING bill came from Sen. Everett M. Dirksen (R. 111.) who charged that the low interest rate would cost the Fed eral government too much money. The issue of Church and State relations was not raised, although the American Jew ish Congress and the Unitarian Fellowship for Social Jus tice had made known their opposition to the proposed Private School loans. Sen. Dirksen charged that the loans would be made at two and seven-eighth percent interest, and that the Govern ment would have to spend four and seven-eighth percent to get the money, thus losing two percent. But when one considers that, according to Sen. Morse, Private Schools save U. S. taxpayers more than ONE BIL LION dollars PER YEAR, it is difficult to believe that a LOAN of $150 MILLION, to be PAID BACK, with interest, was defeated for economic reasons. JOSEPH BREIG HAIL THE NEW ACE SHARING OUR TREASURE Mary's Intercession Leads To Conversion By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D. rrrrrrrrr ^(University of Notre Dame) r , , , , , , Sometimes, as I read or hear the contraception propaganda that is all around us nowadays, a strange feeling comes over me that the anti-birth advocates must have awakened just this minute from about a cen tury of Rip Van Winkle snoozing, and have not yet been told about the things that happened while they were sleeping. After all, the year I960, more than any other period in his tory, is precisely the time when it seems most dinosaurish and antediluvian for anybody to go into a great fret about whether there might come to be so many human beings that we won’t be able to feed them. I say this not merely because the American people are spend ing billions of dollars annually to pay farmers for not farming, and for storing the enormous food surpluses that pile up in warehouses anyhow — although surely this fact alone ought to make us suspect that there is something very foolish about the “population explosion” up roar. BUT I AM LOOKING at much wider horizons. What has been achieved in America through scientific agriculture and substitution of machinery for hand labor will certainly be accomplished soon in dozens of other lands. I should think it highly likely that in a decade or two most of mankind will have far more than enough to eat. Even when that has been said, only the surface of the future has been scratched. Man kind is emerging into a new age of breathtaking marvels in production, transportation, com munication, technology, re search and development. A sheer embarrassment of riches is what we probably will be facing before long; and our problem will be to persuade hu man beings not to become ma terialistic pleasure-seekers — rather than where to find food with which to keep them alive. UNLESS YOUR MEMORY is shorter than mine — and of that I would accuse nobody — you can recall that only a de cade or two ago one of the popular subjects of discussion was whether there were any new frontiers for coming gene rations to explore. Today, the question to be de cided by any young person is, which of a bewildering variety of frontiers should he or she select? Human knowledge has multi plied to the point where no body can hope to know much about many things. Everybody must specialize. . Projects must be carried out not by individu als but by teams and big orga nizations; and only electronic computers ’can wrestle success fully with the immensity and complexity of the data assembl ed. WE ARE SNOWED UNDER in frontiers — if I may use so scrambled a figure of speech. Merely by looking upward, one can see space filled with them. Even right here on earth, there are almost countless fron tiers — geographical, scientific, medical, technological, phsy- chological, philosophical and the like. This is not to deny that there are special problems in places like India. But the right solu tion is to hasten, by national and international effort, the de velopment of such nations — not to teach the people contra ception. FAR FROM HAVING too many of us on our planet, we are likely to find soon enough that there are not going to be enough of us to do the great things that are crying out to be done. The reality about the 1960’s, I think, is this: we are moving toward a breakthrough into a dizzingly magnificent era of progress and development through world cooperation. Slowing this breakthrough for the moment is musty, stone- age godless Marxist reaction- arism, and some other follies al most as anarchronistic. Once the iron curtain falls, as I am convinced it must, I think ev-- erybody will be laughing at this period of nervous nellie fears about “overpopulation.” Have you ever explained to non-Catholic friends why we honor the Blessed Virgin? Many think we adore Our Lady as a sort of goddess, and this miscon ception keeps them from look ing further into the Faith. A friendly ex planation will frequent ly convert this doctrine from an obstacle into a stepping stone to the Faith. This is inustrafecl by the experience of Matthew S. Holmes of Northport, Long Island. “I was blessed,” related Mr. Holmes, “with a devout and saintly mother, the daughter of a Methodist minister. My earli est recollection is saying my prayers at her knee. I attended Church and Sunday School reg ularly. We had a considerable amount of Bible study because the Bible was our sole rule of faith and conduct. We would testify at class meetings how God’s grace helped us in trials and temptations. “Gradually, however, I lost interest and when I went to New York I discontinued at tendance at religious services, except when I went as a pro fessional singer. Then one eve ning I met a lovely girl, Cath erine Nichols, and it was love at first sight. Then I discovered she was a Catholic who esteem ed her religion as her greatest treasure. We were married by a priest, but I was determined not to be hoodwinked into ador ing Mary. “Our children were reared as Catholics and I could not help but notice the powerful influ ence of the Faith upon them and my wife. They lived it daily, ardently and joyfully, and I be gan to get a deeper insight into the peace and happiness it af fords. I began to attend Mass with them occasionally but tried not to give the impression that I was going to become a Catholic. “Finally I learned that Cath olics adore God alone, but honor and venerate the Blessed Vir gin who as the mother of Our Lord, played such an important part in our redemption. Christ reverenced and loved her and at her intercession worked His first public miracle. Dying on the Cross He placed her in the loving care of His beloved disci ple John. Why had we Protes tants not followed Christ’s ex ample? Why had we neglected her almost completely rarely even mentioning her name? “The more I studied the mat ter, the more the Catholic posi tion appealed to me as the only normal, natural and reasonable one. Instead of a roadblock this doctrine became a stepping stone to the Faith. Early on the morning of the feast of the Im maculate Conception I stole out to six o’clock Mass. I guess Our Lady spied me and asked her divine Son to give me the grace of Faith. “When returning from Mass the following Sunday, I re marked about the large number of Catholics living in our neigh borhood. ‘Yes, dad,’ said our nine-year-old son John, ‘why don’t you make one more?’ His desore was reflected in his Theology For The Layman mother’s eyes as we exchanged glances, and his remark and her look reached deep into my heart , and stirred me to action. “I entered an Inquiry Class conducted by Father Devery, C.S.P., at Old St. Mary’s Church on Wabash Avenue in Chicago. In a friendly manner he ex plained the Church’s teachings and pointed out the four marks, unity, sanctity, Catholicity and apostolicity, which stamp her as the one true Church. “All doubt had vanished; my faith was complete. I was bap tized and, together with my family, received our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion. My joy was unbounded. Thanks to Our Lady’s intercession and the prayers and example of my wife and children I had come home at last!” Father O’Brien will be grate ful to readers who kno wof any one who has won two or more converts if they will send the names and addresses of such per sons to him at Notre Dame Uni versity, Notre Dame, Indiana. Weekly Calendar Of Feast Days (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) SUNDAY, February 21 — St. Severian, Bishop-Martyr. He was Bishop of Scythopolis (Bethsan) in Galilee and upon his return from the Council of Chalcedon, about 452, was murdered by Eutychian heretics with the connivance of the Em press Eudoxia. MONDAY, F ebruary 22- Feast of St. Peter’s Chair at Antioch, which commemorates the taking up of St. Peter of his Episcopal office in the city of Antioch. TUESDAY, February 23—St. Peter Damian, Bishop-Confessor- Doctor. He was born in 1007 at Ravenna, youngest in a large family and was left an orphan in charge of an older brother, who ill-treated him. Another brother, Damian, archpriest of Ravenna, took charge of the boy and paid for his schooling. He joined the Benedictines at Fon- tavellana and became a model monk. He was chosen Abbot and influenced several Saints at the school — SS. Dominic Loricatus, John of Lodi and Ralph of Gubbio, among them. In 1057 he was made Cardinal- Bishop of Ostia and served sev eral Popes in important posts, as legate to Germany, France and Lombardy, and as papal representative at several coun cils and synods. He wrote ex tensively, his theological works, . poetry and Latin verse being rated among the best of the Middle Ages. He died at Faenze in 1072 and was declared a Doc tor of the Church in 1828. WEDNESDAY, February 24 Vigil of St. Matthias, Apostole. Mass of the season. THURSDAY, February 25—St. Matthias, Apostle. He lived in the first century and is said to have been one of the first disci ples of Our Lord. He was chos en by lot by the other Apostles to take the place of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord. St. Matthias is said to have preached in Judea and Ethiopia, and to have been martyred in Colchis. FRIDAY, February 26—SS. By F. J. Sheed Column 49 MYSTICAL BODY (1) We have taken a first look at the Church Our Lord estab lished. We have seen that in it and through it we have access to the Truth and the Life and the Union with Himself in which our re demption con sists. What Truth and Life mean has been explained fair ly fully, al though the ways in which they reach us have still to be examiiied. But what of Union? . From what has been said thus far, we see it as a Union of love and obedience. And as such it is wonderful beyond man’s dreams. But that is only the fringe. The fullness - of the Union that Christ planned for us — union with Himself and through Him with God — is far closer and deeper. We must try to understand it, for it is the central reality of the Church and the central reality of our selves,. Take as a starting point the question Our Lord, from the right hand of His Father in heaven, put to Saul on. the road to Damascus. (Read Acts IX. 1-8.) Saul had been persecuting the Christians in Jerusalem fiercely (for he never did any thing by halves, either as Saul the Pharisee or Paul' the Apos tle). He was on his .way to Damascus to seize Christians there too when he was. stricken blind and heard a voice saying: “Saul, Saul, why are you perse cuting Me?” Not My Church you observe, but Me. Our Lord is asserting an identity between His Church and Himself. Is it a real identity — that is, does He mean the words to be taken at their full value., Or is it merely a rhetori cal device, a way of saying that the Church is His special prop erty, so that if anyone perse cutes it; it is as though he perse cuted Him? It would have been an ,odd,rqonient,.for„rhe.1 ) aric: ..for Saul it was the moment of truth. He knew the identity to (Continued on Page 5) By David Q. Lipiak Q. As it stands, is this state ment correct: "The Catholic Church is opposed to birth con trol in any shape or form?" A. It is not precise to state that the Church is opposed to birth control as such. What the Church condemns as immoral is birth prevention by recourse to means contrary to the natur- ' a! hr divine positive laws (i.e., contraception, direct steriliza tion, direct abortion, and the like.) Q. Then whai about the ac curacy of this statement: "The Church condemns planned par enthood?" A. Planned parenthood, in the usual modern sense, signi fies family limitation through recourse to immoral forms of birth prevention, especially con traception. In this sense, it is condemned by the Church. If, however, planned parent hood is taken to mean family limitation in full accordance with moral laws (through per iodic continence or the rhythm system, for instance), it is not condemned. Q. Doesn't the above answer contradict the Church's law that married couples are bound to (Continued on Page 5) Victorinus, Victor, Nicephorus, Claudianus, Dioscorus, Serapion and Papias, Martyrs. In the third century in Egypt under the Emperor Numerian, they were tortured. Victorinus and Victor were beheaded for con fessing the Faith. Nicephorus was laid on a heated gridiron, placed over the fire, then hack ed with a knife. Claudinus and Dioscorus were burned at the stake; Serapion and Papias were slain with the sword. They died in 283. SATURDAY, February 27— St. Nestor, Bishop-Martyr. He was Bishop of Magydos in Pamphylia and was crucified at Perge in the persecution under Decius, about 251. Equal Pay Supporters nopemi THE BACKDROP The fight to end discrimina tion against women in the field of business and industry will be resumed in this Congress, perhaps with more than ordi nary vigor, because this is a political year. Over the years women have won their battle for po litical equality with men but they still have a long way to go to attain equality in the economic sphere. EQUAL WORK BUT . . . Women now have, and have had for some time, the right to vote and hold public office. There is scarcely a political office, aside from the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, that wom en have not held. There have have been women Governors, Mayors, County' Treasurers and County Sheriffs. Women sit on the bench at all levels except the United States Suoreme Court. One woman now serves in the United States Senate, and nearly a score in the House of Representatives. In the fields of entertainment and sports, women have long held their own with men. But in business and industry women are still being discriminated against because of their sex. A few women have risen to top rank positions in Banks and business, but the majority working side by side with men in offices, stores and factories, receive a lower wage than men for the same kind of work. Even women whose tasks are identical with those performed by men, as a rule, receive less pay. At a recent conference of By JOHN C. O’BRIEN women employed in the elec trical industry, scores of in stances were cited where em ployees maintain one wage scale for women and another for men on the same assembly line. An employee in a tool- plant testified at the conference that women had been hired to ope rate an entire assembly line formerly manned by men be cause the employers found they could pay the women lower wages. Other women workers sighted instances of discrimination against women in the hiring of labor. One firm which recently introduced electric computers, highly comDlex machines, re fused to hire women to operate them although many of its wom en employees had had long ex perience operating other equal ly complicated business ma chines. The Department of Labor has noted that, despite the discrimi nation against women in ever increasing numbers, through choice or necessity, they are competing with men for jobs in business and industry. As the size of the work force of women has increased so has the amount of pressure brought to bear upon Congress and State legis latures to enact equal pay laws. UNION LAG In their battle for equal pay, the women have received little help from labor unions. The unions have been reluctant when negotiating wage agree ments with employers to de mand equal pay for women. Even in the few instances when the unions have gone to bat for equality of pay as between the sexes, they have encountered stubborn resistance on the part of the employers who seem to feel that women are not entitl ed to a man’s pay no matter how efficiently they perform their tasks. Other women workers and union officials recognize that it will take national legislation to wipe out the pay discrimination. Some 14 states have adopted equal pay laws, but in most in stances these statutes have no teeth. Either they provide no penality for violation, or the penalty is too mild to deter em ployers from disregarding the law. An assortment of equal pay bills have been introduced in this session of Congress. Differ ing in minor respects, they all would preclude discrimination on the basis of sex in payment for work requiring comparable skills. Some of the bills pro vide a stiff penalty if an em ployer discharges or discrimi nates against a worker for filing a complaint under the proposed law. In their efforts to end wage discrimination against their sex, women workers have the full support of the Eisenhower ad ministration. Secretary of Labor, James P. Mitchell, speaking with the approval of the Presi dent, has called for enactment of an equal pay bill. None of the equal pay bills introduced in the last session ever reached the floor of either House. But supporters of the anti-discrimination legislation are more hopeful this year, bearing in mind the fact that politicians are well aware of the power of women at the pol ling booth. In one archdiocese the Arch bishop used to stroll around for his afternoon constitutional. One day as he walked leisurely through the neighborhood, he saw a small boy run up the steps of a house and stretch to reach the doorbell. The Archbishop saw that the boy couldn’t quite reach the bell, so he stepped up onto the veranda and rang it himself. “Thanks,” the boy shouted. “Now run like heck.” This is one reason why arch bishops receive grace to carry out their duties. The ordinary burdens are enough to carry, but explaining who rang the doorbell requires extra strength. For that matter, the lady of the house will need grace to put up with all those kids ringing her doorbell and running. And Junior will need grace to sur^- vive the licking he’ll get when he’s caught. In fact, we need grace for every good action we perform. Can’t do without it. And since Americans habitually like to know what they’re getting, it would be wise to think about grace sometimes. I must admit that we Cath olics are experts in using con fusing terms. If someone says to you, “May God increase grace in your soul,’ ’he’s talking about sanctifying grace. If you say to Sister, “May God give you the grace to survive your 60 stu dents,” you mean actual grace. We’re more familiar with sanctifying grace because we talk about the “state of grace” so often. Someone in this state has sanctifying grace in his soul, and he’ll keep it until it is driven out by mortal sin. This grace is that little share of God’s own life which makes us His adopted children and heirs of heaven. Actual grace is another kind of grace. The name is confusing because we usually think of ac tual as meaning “real.” But to us it means act-by-act. Actual grace is a passing help God gives us to do good and over come temptation. After the ac tion is finished, the grace is gone. It comes to us act-by-act, in other words. We ought to change all our THIMK signs to “Thimk about actual grace.” We live in an age that causes us to overlook its importance. This is the era of the do-it-yourself gadgets, of self-made man and of the mas- ter-of-my destiny mentality. Even poor old Satan has a hard time getting credit for stirring up any trouble these days. We want all the credit for our- fl | Fitter WhurloB’* 1' View from die Heetorj ACT-BY-ACT GRACE selves. Twentieth-century Americans didn’t cook up this excessive de pendence on self. Many cen turies ago, a fellow named Pelagius started it. He decided that we’re perfect because Adam’s sin really didn’t harm us. We don’t need God’s grace. It’s up to us, said Mr. Pelag'ious, to roll up our toga-sleeves make something of ourselves. This idea was carried on through the ages to our pio neers. We’re used to the old American spirit of unlimited freedom, unbounded opportuni ty and “you too can be a suc cess.” These ideas are not all wrong, of course. It’s just that they ignore our weakened hu man nature and our need for God’s help. It’s possible to be a social or business success without much help from our Creator. But not a spiritual success. And isn’t that the only real success? With out actual grace, we can’t re sist temptation or do things which will get us to heaven. Not that we can lounge in our easy chair, light up a cigarette and call for a drink — and ex pect actual grace to take over the work of getting us to heav en. We do have free wills. We have to cooperate with the graces the Lord sends us. But just remember that it is really the grace which makes us capa ble of doing the good works. It might be mentioned that grace doesn’t work on our feel ings. The emotions, as you well know, are more indepen dent than five-year-olds. They feel just the way they want to feel. God can be pouring grace into our soul by the gallon and we still might not be aware of the heavenly influence. Grace works on our soul’s faculties: mind and will. Actual grace helps our minds to under stand what’s right and our will to do it. The fact that this has nothing to do with making us feel delighted is one reason virtue has never been too pop ular. We get actual grace by pray er and performing good deeds. But the chief sources of grace are the sacraments. Each sacra ment gives us an increase of sanctifying grace — God’s life— in our souls. Each one also con fers on us the right to actual graces when we need them. Penance, you might say, gives us a ticket to be presented for actual grace when temptations strike. On the day of marriage, husband and wife get their tic ket for the graces they’ll need to be holy and happy in that state of life. A priest presents his Holy Orders tickets for the actual graces he needs to be a good priest. Archbishops, too, receive the highest degree of Holy Orders by their consecration and with it the right to the actual graces for being good shepherds of souls. And even, I suppose, the right to the grace to “run like heck” before the door opens. GUIDEPOST Family tradition is a fine thing only when used to set a course in life — not as an an chor. » EASILY CONVINCED Money may not grow on trees, but the man who buys lumber today could easily be lieve in the myth. Hallrtitt 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, February 20, 1960 No. 19 ASSOCIATION OFFICERS 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