Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, April 2, 1960
JOSEPH BREIG
WHICH WAY
The success or the tragic fail
ure of the Cuban revolution
rests squarely upon the man
who led it — Premier Fidel Cas
tro.
Even bigger things depend
.li p on him,
also.
' ‘ 1 He can be
come known
11 as one of the
great men of
the Americas
' — or as a dis
astrous bung
ler, or worse.
He must make his choice. He
cannot escape responsibility.
J “History will absolve me,”
Castro said once.
History will not absolve him
if he wrecks his own revolution
—a revolution that sent a thrill
of hope through the western
hemisphere.
NEITHER WILL the Cuban
v people absolve him. Nor will
those in other lands who love
social justice, and labor for a
better world for all humanity.
Neither, I think, will Latin
America forgive Castro if he
does not measure up to his ti
tanic opportunity.
Great and difficult economic
-and social reforms are despe
rately needed in our sister con
tinent to the south.
The future of the western
world, and indeed of all man
kind, will be affected, for weal
or for woe, by the attainment or
hon-attainment of those objec
tives.
If Castro leads Cuba into the
doldrums, or worse, the needed
. reforms may be set back many
years.
THEY MAY, in fact, be de
layed so long as to generate ca
tastrophic consequences in the
vast regions south of the Rio
Grande.
The disillusionment of the Cu
ban people will be terrible if
- the Castro government hands
them a stone instead of bread.
Every Latin American de
fender of a better social order
will be put on the defensive.
Every reactionary will be en
couraged. The standpatters and
the greedy seekers of special
FOR CUBA?
privileges will be able to point
to Cuba, and answer would-be
reformers with the caustic que
ry:
"Is THAT what you want?"
Castro owes it to his people,
and to decent humanity every
where, to buckle down to the
work of giving Cuba a new deal
that will not be a delusion.
He has had more than a year
now to indulge in showmanship
and endless television ha
rangues.
That sort of thing has grown
tiresome. It is high time for
some competent and intelligent
governing.
Doubtless Castro has enjoyed
the fun of denouncing the U. S.
The Cuban throngs listening to
him have liked it, too.
ELEMENTARY common
sense, however, ought to tell
any one that Castro is playing
with deadly fire when he cud
dles up to Soviet Russia and Red
China.
Possibly it is difficult for Cas
tro and many other Cubans to
believe that the U. S. is anxious
to be the friend of Cuba and of
all other Latin American na
tions.
But Castor and Cuba won’t
find out the truth about Ameri
can intentions if they simply as
sume that the U. S. is the bad
guy of the western hemisphere.
The statesmanlike thing
would be to stop insulting the
U. S. and give cooperation a try.
THE MAN Castro put in
charge of Cuba’s national bank,
Maj. Ernesto (Che) Guevara,
seems to have found the U. S.
guilty without a trial. He makes
speeches alleging that America
wants Cuba in “economic slave
ry.”
The world knows who wants
nations enslaved. It isn’t the
U. S. It is the Kremlin, with
which Cuba has become peril
ously friendly under Castro.
Castro can be a great figure
in the history of the two Ameri
cas. Or he can be, in the long
run, a tragic hemispheric joke.
It’s up to him. I don’t think he’s
got a lot of time left in which
to make his choice.
Theology
For The
Layman
(By F. J. Sheed
Column 52
OUR LADY (2)
We have considered one re
sult of Our Lady’s being the
Mother of God—all sons want
to give their mother gifts, this
son could give without any
limit save her power to receive;
and what in
supreme meas
ure He gave
was sanctify
ing grace. But
there is one
special ele
ment in His
power to give
that we might
easily overlook. Because He was
God, He could give His mother
gifts not only before He was
born of her, but before she was
born herself! This is the mean
ing of the doctrine of the Im
maculate Conception.
It is surprising how this
phrase has caught the non-
Catholic imagination, but more
surprising how for the non-
Catholic who uses it, it has no
trace of its true meaning.
Ninety-nine times out of a hun
dred it is used as if it meant
the Virgin birth of Christ. But
it refers not to Christ’s concep
tion in Our Lady’s womb, but to
her conception in the womb of
her own mother. And it means
that her Son’s care for her and
gifts to her began from the first
moment of her existence.
For all of us conception comes
when God creates a soul and
unites it with the bodily ele
ment formed in the mother’s
womb. But from the very first
moment of her soul’s creation, it
had, by God’s gift, not natural
life only but supernatural life.
What this means quite simply
is that she whom God chose to
be His mother never existed for
an instant without sanctifying
grace in her soul.
(Continued on Page 5)
Question
Box
By David Q. Lipiak
G. All the publicity attending
Jhe_ execution sentence of Caryl
Chessman has been especially
revolting to me. For what he
did, he certainly deserves to die.
Would you please outline the
principles governing the morali
ty of capital punishment?
A. Except for an occasional
odd individual (like the person
who reportedly telephoned the
Wethersfield State Prison before
a scheduled execution a few
years ago to ask whether the
death-chair current would inter
fere with his TV reception), no
one is totally indifferent about
the recourse to capital punish-
rnent in a particular instance.
"jEertdinly none but the mental
ly deranged could experience
anything but a natural sense of
revulsion in having to give the
order for such a sentence.
BUT capital punishment is
not immoral in itself. To claim
that it is wrong would be to
manifest ignorance of the laws
of morality, which are founded
not on public opinion surveys,
TV panels, newspaper specula
tion or social convention, but
on Sacred Scripture the teach
ings of the Apostles and theo
logical reasoning.
NOWHERE in the Bible is
capital punishment declared il
licit. On the contrary, in the Old
Testament it is even legislated
for the commission of certain
crimes. And in the New Testa
ment, St. Paul warns some of
the first converts to Christianity
that the death penalty unques
tionably belongs to the state.
THE TEACHINGS of the
Apostles, relayed to us through
the writings of the Church Fa
thers and early ecclesiastical
chroniclers, confirm the testi
mony of the Bible; i.e., that a
criminal may be executed by or
der of the state if juridical proof
has established the moral cer
tainty that he has pertained a
serious crime for which the
state, in the interest of the
common welfare and security,
inflicts by law a sentence of
death.
THEOLOGICAL REASON
ING leads to the same conclus
ion. The state has the sacred
duty to maintain peace and or
der and to safeguard the rights
of its members. To meet this
duty, it must possess all the
means necessary — to postulate
anything less would be absurd.
(Continued on Page 5)
SHARING OUR TREASURE
Veteran Helps Win
Twelve Converts
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN. Ph. D.
r r r , r r r r r .(University of
Have you ever heard of one
conversion setting off, like an
exploding atom, a chain re
action that brought in a goodly
number of other converts? It
happens not infrequently. Hence
it should prompt every Catholic
to try to lead at least one per
son into the fold, with the hope
and prayer that it will bring
more in its wake. This is illus
trated by the experience of
Robert A. Cook of Potsdam,
New York.
“I was working,” related Rob
ert, “for Mr. P. J. Clohosey, and
became well acquainted with
his family. I was struck by the
Catholic Faith of these people
and the religious atmosphere
which permeated the entire
home. On the walls were reli
gious pictures of Christ and the
saints which kept the members
of God’s heavenly family before
their eyes.
“When I asked questions
about their Faith, they didn’t
hem or haw, or tell me to see a
priest. They answered them
with eagerness and joy. When
my interest persisted, they in
vited me to attend Mass with
them at St. Mary’s Church. This
I did and I was deeply touched
by the peity of the worshippers,
absorbed in prayer. This made
me eager to know the whole
story.
“So Mr. Clohosey arranged
for my instruction by Father
John B. Doonan, S. J., at St.
Mary’s. This opened my eyes to
the marvelous unity of the
Catholic Church, with more
than 500,000,000 members in all
the countries of the world pro
fessing the same Faith, receiv
ing the same sacraments and
acknowledging the same su
preme spiritual head, the Pope.
Here surely, I reflected, was
the ‘one fold and the one shep
herd’ of which Christ spoke.
“I was impressed too by the
fact that the Catholic Church
traces its foundation to Christ
Himself, from whoip it received
power and authority to teach
all nations. I had long wanted
not a man-made creed but a
God-made one, and I knew that
at last I had found it in the holy
Catholic, apostolic Faith. The
day of my first Holy Communion
was one of the happiest in my
Notre Dame) , . ., .
life. <fj
“Eager to share my wonder
ful discovery, I started with my
own family. The first to follow
in my footsteps was my oldest
sister Eleanor. When I was
serving with 38th infantry di
vision, known as the Avengers
of Bataan, in New Guinea in
1944, I interested a fellow sol
dier, Jim Snyder, in the Faith
and soon had him saying the
rosary with me.
“I explained that we do not
adore the Blessed Virgin but
vernate and honor her as the
Mother of Our Lord, and ask
her prayers and intercession.
That seemed reasonable to Jim.
When his interest persisted, I
arranged for his instruction by
the chaplain. Jim is now a de
vout and enthusiastic Catholic
and is rearing a growing Cath
olic family.
“When I was released from
the service, I helped lead my
mother, father, a half-sister and
a half-brother into our holy
Faith. My grandmother at 82
and by grandfather at 85 sub
sequently came in also. How
great was my joy in seeing all
all these become" members of
Christ’s Mystical Body and be
nourished with His divine life.
“God has privileged me to
help four other persons enter
the Church and to bring back
a fallen-away. Wanting to give
my whole life to winning souls
for Christ, I’ve become a Mis
sionary Brother of the Society
of the Divine Word.”
What a precious thanks offer
ing Robert Cook has already
made for the gift of faith!
Father O’Brien will be grate
ful to readers who know of any
one who has won two or more
converts if they will send the
names and addresses of such
persons to him at Notre Dame
University, Notre Dame, In
diana.
The fewer times your person
al history repeats itself, the less
chance you have of being short
changed.
Depressions may come and
depressions may go, but it never
bothers the fellow who feathers
his nest -— with cash down.
Jottings...
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
The Battle For Older Workers
THE BACKDROP
THE CROSS:
"I cannot escape it.. . nothing
can tear us from this gibbet on
which we were born, which has
grown side by side with our
bodies and strengthened itself
with the stretching of our
limbs. We are hardly conscious
of it in our youth but as the
body develops and grows the
flesh becomes heavy and drags
on the nails. What a time it
takes for us to realize that we
are born crucified." — Fran
cois Mauriac.
* * *
• SUFFERING repels most of
us. We flee it. But with Mauriac
we cry out: “The cross, I cannot
escape it.” It casts its shadow
across every path. Yet it is our
salvation ... “as long as your
miserable little weakness keeps
you close to the cross you will
make it.” It is there in youth
with its stings of the flesh, its
limitations, the first bitter dis
illusionment. It is there in old
age when “the. days are sotlong
and the years so short.” It is at
the right of us and the left of
us, it is in the body and in the
soul. There are certain members
of society we especially asso
ciate with suffering . . . the
sick, the imprisoned, the old, the
lonely, the bereaved, the maim
ed. Yet each of us suffers in our
own way. At different periods in
our lives, the cross falls harder
upon us than at others. We suf
fer in our bodies and in' our
souls and in our fellowmen fof
they are no more perfect than
we are. To live is truly to suffer.
Yet our attitude toward this suf
fering is what makes us. Suffer
ing can embitter or enoble. One
spiritual writer says that our
suffering gives us solidarity with’
suffering mankind and it also
is the most pleasing gift we
could offer to a Christ who suf
fered for us.
• RECENTLY I received a
letter from a friend who has
been bedridden for 10 years. In
valids, of course, suffer more
than physical pains. They suffer
loneliness, despair, frustrations.
She wrote of how she spent her
days saying: “You ask me about
my daily schedule? Well I give
each day of my suffering to a
soul in need. Monday, I give to
the souls for whom I am duty
bound to pray, my parents.
Tuesday, I offer for the most
forsaken soul. Wednesday, I of
fer for the soul suffering the
most. Thursday, for the soul suf
fering the longest; Friday for
the soul next to die; Saturday,
for the soul most pleasing to the
Blessed Mother; and Sunday,
the soul most pleasing to the
Blessed Trinity. I also offer a
day for a missionary whose
name was given me. I offer a
day for a missionary in Indo
nesia, another for one in Japan.
I also lie here and say the sta
tions of the Cross on a special
ly indulgenced crucifix. Each af
ternoon, I say two rosaries. I
offer up all my loneliness and
heartaches to Our Lord in union
with His in the garden of Eden
and the sufferings I bear in un
ion with His on the Cross for
me. My loneliness, I offer es
pecially in union with His in the
tabernacles all over the world
where He is alone. I chain my
little crosses to His great Cross
on Calvary, you see. This is
how I spend my day.”
• ONE OF THE most moving
articles I have read recently was
by a prisoner on Alcatraz about
his conversion. He wrote: “As a
convict, I like to think of myself
as a companion of Christ cru
cified. He alone gives meaning
to my suffering. When the go
ing gets rough, I hear Him say:
‘Behold, I have chosen you to
suffer with Me as a companion.
For you the hill slants more, the
cross is of a heavier weight.
Loneliness will be with you al
ways, but take heart. I walk
in its shadow. And when you
seem to suffer most, remember
that we are truly companions!
Thomas Merton says that tribu
lation detaches us from the
things that are really valueless,
because their attraction cannot
stand up under light and all sat
isfactions that are meaningless
appear as such when we are fill
ed with tribulation. Therefore,
we should be grateful for it.
• SUFFERING more than
anything else brings us to our
knees and'makes us -closer and
more at one with Christ as the
patient and the convict both so
eloquently attest. It is in our
sorrows, sickness, pain, heart
aches, loneliness that we see
with clearest vision. My mo
ments of greatest sufferings
have been the most important
moments of my life. As I cried
out at the pain, I soon learned
to bear it and know its value.
When one wants something
more than anything in the
world and it is denied him for
a time or forever, he learns
his greatest lesson when he can
say: “Fiat.” If he can learn to
live with suffering and use it as
both the patient and the con
vict have learned, his victory is
an eternal victory of far more
value than a cure or a parole.
Suffering borne goes beyond the
confine of a sickroom and cell.
Suffering is not held to the sick
or the imprisoned, each man has
his inheritance and own kind
of suffering which is disguised
in a hundred ways. The Cross
... I cannot escape it . . . and
I do not want to. It is my sal
vation!
During the seven years or
more that he has been Secre
tary of Labor, James- P. Mitchell
has been waging an up-hill bat
tle to break down the prejudice
among employers against the
hiring of the
so-called “old
er” worker.
Workers
past 40 years
of age, who
have had the
misfortune to
lose a job, of
ten find it
next to impossible to find an
other requiring their particular
skills. As they make the rounds
of the personnel departments of
industries employing craftsmen
and office workers, almost in
variably they are told that it is
against policy to hire workers in
middle life.
GOOD WORKERS LOST
As a result, many workers at
the peak of their usefulness age
are compelled to forsake the line
of work in which they are most
adept and accept any kind of
employment that turns up, often
at wages below those to which
they have been accustomed and
upon which their scale of living
has been established.
Reluctance to take workers in
their forties and fifties into re
tirement systems is one of the
obstacles to the re-hiring of the
middle-aged. But the belief also
YOUR HOROSCOPE
Next to me in the railway
car was a newspaper-reading
old man with a lighted candle
protruding from each ear. I
didn’t say anything, but after 15
minutes I
couldn’t stand
it any longer.
“I hate to
be so curi
ous,” I said,
“but could
you tell, me
why you have
those lighted
candles in your
The old fellow ignored me, so
I kept quiet. But curiosity won
again after another 15 minutes.
So I tapped the man on the knee
and said, “I’m terribly sorry to
be so curious, but why do you
weear those lighted candles in
your ears?”
The old fellow smiled help
lessly and said, “It’s no use talk
ing to me — with these lighted
candles in my ears I can’t hear
a thing.”
Ridiculous. I always heard
that it’s better to leave the can
dles unlighted.
It’s still a mystery to me why
the old man had the candles in
his ears anyway. The only thing
I can figure out is that he was
born under the sign of Taurus
the Bull (April 20 to May 14)
and thought he looked like a
bull that way. It would be better
if he didn’t light the candles.
It’s not so ridiculous to figure
that the gentleman was taking
his horoscope too seriously.
Many persons are afraid to make
a move without calling Taurus,
or Aries, or Cancer, or Aquarius
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
is prevalent among employers
that such workers are less pro
ductive than younger workers
and have a higher rate of ab
senteeism.
These assumptions, Mitchell
maintains, do not square with
the work records of workers 40
years of age and older. A re
cent study of the Department of
Labor dealing with office
workers showed conclusively,
Mitchell noted, that “older of
fice workers are as productive
as their younger counterparts.”
The study, moreover, “indi
cates as do other studies by the
Department, that employers are
passing up some excellent work
ers with valuable experience if
they place an arbitrary age lim
it on hiring.”
“Our studies,” Mitchell says,
“prove that older workers have
lower rates of absenteeism and
turnover, are more consistent in
their performances, and fre
quently produce at a faster rate
than younger workers.”
The new study compared the
work performance of about 6,000
workers in various age groups
on comparable office jobs. It
showed that workers 45 years
old and over produce, on the
average, about as much as those
aged 25 to 45, and slightly more
than workers under 25. Also the
study demonstrated that accu
racy of performance was almost
identical in each of the age
groups studied.
— or one of their representa
tives on this planet. These rep
resentatives make a good bit of
money by being on friendly
terms with the stars.
This k i n d of star-gazing is
known as astrology, the so-call
ed science which pretends to in
terpret the influence of heaven
ly bodies on human affairs. For
a small fee, its exponents will
explain your horoscope.
Your horoscope, or nativity,
(as every newspaper reader
should know) is a diagram of
the heavens at the time of your
birth. A skillful reader of horo
scopes can tell you what tem
perament you have, what diseas
es you’re likely to contact, and
what fortunes or calamties will
probably come your way.
Reading stars and interpreting
horoscopes is nothing new. The
Egyptians and Babylonians, the
Greeks and Romans — one and
all, they took these things se
riously. One reason for the an
cient interest in predicting
events from the stars was that
the astrologers were real scien
tists, too. Only after Copernicus
came along did astrology tread
a separate path from that of the
real science.
Astrology, a form of genuine
superstition, should not be con
fused with astronomy. The lat
ter is a scientific study of the
heavenly bodies. And in this
day, when Conrad Hilton is
making plans to build a hotel
on the moon, astronomy is a
very important science indeed.
Astrology, however, is un
scientific and contrary to our
faith. Saints and sinners are of
ten born in the same time and
in the same place. Maybe your
horoscope says you should be
sweet-tempered, but you’ll have
something to say about that, I’ll
wager.
When we think that the stars
influence human affairs and de-
EFFICIENCY AND OUTPUT
In output per man-hour be
tween office workers in dif
ferent age groups there was only
an insignificant difference. A
large portion of the workers in
the older groups exceeded the
performance of the average
workers in the younger groups.
Also the older workers had a
steadier rate, of output, with
considerably less variation from
week to week than’ workers in
the younger age groups.
In short, the study, which cov
ered office workers in 21 private
companies and five government
agencies, showed no major dif
ference in work performance
that could be attributed to age.
The handicapping of workers
forced to seek new jobs after
passing the age of 40 presents a
serious social problem. It is
when a worker is in the fifth
decade of his life that his re
sponsibilities are apt to be hea
viest. At that stage of life he
probably is buying a house, he
has committed himself to an in
surance program for the protec
tion of his family and his chil
dren are of the age when money
is required to complete their
education.
As Secretary of Labor, Mitch
ell has been fighting a vigorous
battle to break down the preju
dice against the middle-aged
worker. But he is getting only
sporadic support from employ
ers.
termine the course of events,
what happens to Divine Provi
dence? What happens to our fre&
wills? It is God who directs the
affairs of men, and we have a
hand in making things happen.
It’s a sad state of affairs if we
have to consult some star be
fore making a decision.
The ancient Book of Deute
ronomy announced our stand in
clear words: “Neither let there
be found among you anyone
that consults soothsayers, or ob
serves dreams or omens. Neither
let there be any wizard or
charmer, nor anyone that drinks
pythonic spirits, or fortune tel
lers, or that seeks the truth from
the dead. For the Lord abhors
all these things.”
It’s all right, of course, to con
sult a soothsayer or fortune tell
er at the charity bazaar just for
laughs. No one will blame ;you
for believing something so ob
viously true as the card which
tells you that “you are witty,
charming, handsome and
strong.” And as far as “pythonic
spirits” are concerned, a little
shot before dinner never harm
ed anyone.
But when we take these
things seriously, it’s time to
have a spiritual checkup. There
are millions who fail to see that
astrology is a superstition. Many
great persons, including Hitler,
depended upon astrologers to
guide them.
We can forgive the people of
the middle ages who counted on
the stars too much. They didn’t
have television and ice cream
cones to keep themselves amus
ed. But it’s downright tragic to
see enlightened moderns letting
the stars tell them what to do.
But if you honestly feel that
the stars have decreed that
wearing candles in your ears is
good for your rheumatism, then
go ahead and wear them. Just
don’t be silly enough to light
them, please.
NO OUTSIDE HELP
The ambitious young man
strikes out on his own — he
never depends on the services
of a pinch hitter.
New Vatican Postage Stamps
Two new series of postage stamps have been issued by the
Vatican City postoffice to commemorate two occasions. The
60 and 15-lire stamps at the left and right, upper row, com
memorate the First Diocesan Synod of Rome. They depict
the interior of the Lateran archbasilica in Rome, where the
synod was held. They show the papal altar with baldachin..
The center stamp, upper row, and all three stamps in the
lower row commemorate the fifth centenary of the death
of St. Antoninus, Bishop of Florence. They are in 15, 25, 60
and 110-lire denominations, and depict a bust statue of the
Saint in the act of preaching, as taken from a bas-relief
in the Chapel of St. Antoninus in the Church of St. Mark,
Florence. (NC Photos)
ittllitfttt
416 8TH ST., AUGUSTA, GA.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend
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, April 2, 1960 No. 22
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
View! 1
from the
Rectory
By The Rev. Robert H. Wharton