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' S?AG3 4—THE rii ,L ETIN, July 23, 1S80
JOSEPH BREIG
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IH CUBA
Americans frequently ask the question why
communism has been allowed to gain control
in so-called Catholic countries such as Poland,
Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The question be
comes even more pertinent now that the Marx
ist-monster is showing its head more and more
prominently in Cuba. There is grave danger
that if communism gains a foothold, or is allow
ed to use Cuba as a base, the whole of Catholic
Latin America can become vulnerable to its
evil.
It must be remembered that in many coun
tries boasting strong Catholic affiliations, com
munism presents itself under strange guises.
The people in many respects are uneducated.
Local officials and even national officers are
not members of the faith. The hordes are sold
down the river.
One great appeal revolutionary govern
ments have is land reform. The communists stay
in the background but they dictate and direct
policy. This happened in Red China. It’s happen
ing right now in Cuba. When the time is ripe
they take off their masks and strike. .
Before taking a look at the Catholic Church
in Cuba let us examine briefly the status of the
Church in all of Latin America because the
Cuban problem is not a local situation. History
will record that it has international implications.
Maryknoll Father Albert Nevins, an au
thority on the Church in Latin America and now
the president of the Catholic Press Association,
says that of the 156 million people in Latin
America 136 million call themselves Catholic.
“But,” he says, “even by the most generous esti
mates,” only about ten per cent of them practice
their faith. He lists the Church in Cuba as “stand
ing still.”
The reasons for this weakening of the Church
are to be found in the complex history of the
Latins in America, a history too little known
north of the Rio Grande. The Spanish historian
Salvador de Madariaga, for instance, blames the
collapse of civilization in many areas on de
structive raids by the English. There were many
other forces which caused Spanish and Portu-
guese-American colonies to go down hill during
the nineteenth century. Religion, in particular,
suffered from a lack of priests.
We should not judge these so-called Catholic
nations in the same sense as we apply the term
Catholic to a situation in the United States.
There is no mass support of the Church. Catholic
ethical teaching has reached relatively few and
political leaders, most of whom are not Catholic,
can and do ignore the Church except for a few
ceremonial occasions.
The Church in Cuba is suffering from a lack
of native vocations. The priesthood is not attrac
tive to young men who themselves suffer from
a lack of good education. Schools conducted by
the Church are relatively few. Instruction in the
bare rudiments of faith is not extensive.
The Catholic Church in Cuba has stood up
to Fidel Castro. It will do so again. The strong
est statement to date came from the president
of Havana’s Villanova University, Auxiliary
Bishop Eduardo Boza Masvidal who said, “the
state has no right to control the means of ex
pression, to impose thought control, foment class
warfare or usurp private properties.”
But pastoral letters and speeches will not
overthrow a government like Castro’s. Witness
the years of events in Poland, Hungary and Yu
goslavia where the Church has consistently de
nounced the tyrannical regimes of Red bosses.
Yet the Church has been powerless and become
as Pius XII remarked “the Church of Silence.”
The situation has been decidedly different
in countries like Colombia, Argentina and Ven
ezuela where dictators fell after the Church de
nounced them. But these dictators were not
Comunist bosses jumping to the tune of an in
ternational conspiracy.
When Nikita Khrushchev visits Cuba and
when, or if, Chou En-Lai from Red China does,
they will receive enthusiastic receptions. Many
of the cheers will be coming from people who
call themselves Catholic. Of course this is unfor
tunate but the long weary history of the Church
in many of these countries has too often been
most unfortunate.
When Fidel Castro is overthrown, which he
will be before long, we can only hope the ter
rible experiences gained from his performance
will signal the beginning of a new era for the
Catholic Church in Cuba.—Reprinted from THE
WITNESS.
Question
Box
By David Q. Liptak
AUNT EFFIE'S
RESURRECTION
Viewl*
[ I [from the
|||| Rectory
By The Rev. Robert H. Wharton
There was the timid old Ver
mont lady who breathed her
last in Devonshire, and whose
body was sent back for burial—
according to her last wish—in
the churchyard of her home
town.
When her
nephew there
opened the
casket, how
ever, he be
held not the
placid features
of his Aunt
Effie, but an
English general in full regi
mentals who had died the same
day. Frantically, he cabled the
general’s heirs to ask for sug
gestions.
Back came this cable: “Bury
the general quietly. Aunt Effie
interred at Westminster Abbey
this morning with six brass
bands and full military honors.”
No harm done. Comes the rev
olution—the resurrection, that
is—both Aunt Effie and the gen
eral will be transplanted to a
new home. Makes no difference
where they sleep in the mean
time.
4 i : - ,j j ■■ : • . . % , . : . ■ »{ i
The resurrection of the body
is an ancient and consoling be
lief. The patriarchs of the Old
Testament believed it. Job, for
instance, said, “I know that my
Redeemer lives, and in the last
day I shall rise out of the
earth.”
Christ and His Apostles also
preached this doctrine. The sis
ter of Lazarus once said to the
Savior, “I know that he shall
rise again in the resurrection
at the last day.”
The Savior Himself was quite
explicit on this point: “For the
hour is coming in which all who
are in the tombs shall hear the
voice of the Son of God. And
they who have done good shall
come forth unto resurrection of
life; but they who have done
evil unto resurrection of judg
ment.”
The resurrection of Christ was
a pledge of our own rising on
the last day. And His bodily as
cension into heaven is a pre
view of what will some day be
our happy privilege.
Although this belief is an ar
ticle of our Faith, our reason
backs it up. We are men, not
angels. We’re supposed to have
bodies. We can get along for a
while with only our souls, but
we’re just not complete unless
' we have both body and soul.
Adam needed Eve, Punch need
ed Judy, George Burns needed
Gracie Allen, pickled herring
needs sour cream, cake needs
icing—and our soul needs our
body.
Each persons’ body, too, shares
in the good or evil he does. It
is fitting that the body also
share in the reward or punish
ment to come. More than fit
ting, in fact. Most sins are com
mitted with bodies. If we had
only souls, it would be hard
to get into all the trouble we do.
But back to Aunt Effie, sleep
ing so peacefully in Westmin
ster Abbey. On that last day, she
will rise again to glory. It will
not be a new creation at all;
rather, God will re-unite the
matter of her body unto a new
life. As St. Paul puts it, “Christ
will reform the body of our
lowliness, made like to the body
of his glory.”
Aunt Effie’s body, then, will
be something like Our Lord’s
glorified body after His resur
rection. No defects, no weak
nesses, no infirmity. Effie won’t
need her bifocals because her
eyes will be in perfect shape.
It will be as if she had drunk
deep from the fountain of youth.
How old will Effie be? If she
was a good girl, her reward
might be that she’ll be 39—the
age she claimed for so many
years during her life. Some
think that we will all be 33 be
cause this was the Savior’s age
at the time of His death. Wheth
er this pious belief is true or
not, it’s certain that we will be
in a perfect state of manhood or
womanhood.
This teaching that our bodies
will rise again on the last day
is the basis of the respect that
the Church shows toward the
bodies of the dead. We bless
graves, we sprinkle the casket
with holy water and incense it,
we surround the deceased with
flowers. All these things are
done because we know that the
body will rise to glory some
day.
This doctrine, then, is a strong
incentive to show respect for
bodies and never to misuse them
for sin. It’s a consoling belief,
too, because we know that our
loved ones who have died will
one day rise to join us in hap
piness.
So Aunt Effie could be in
Vermont or in Westminster Ab
bey or at the bottom of the sea.
It makes no difference, because
the Lord will reunite the parts
of her body at the resurrection.
This thought should be con
soling as well to the relatives
of the general, who was buried
quietly in Vermont without six
brass bands and without full
military honors.
Check up on yourself now
and then—see if you have the
qualifications you look for in
others.
Q. Can a plenary indulgence
be obtained several times on the
same day? I was once told that
it was not possible to do so. But
if it is permissible, then the ad
ditional indulgences could be
offered for the souls in purga
tory. Could you please give me
an answer to this?
A. Ordinarily speaking, more
than one plenary indulgence
can be gained on the same day,
provided that the indulgences
concerned are attached to dif
ferent works.
GENERAL CHURCH LAW
declares that unless it is other
wise stipulated, “a plenary in
dulgence can be gained only
once a day even though the pre
scribed work is performed sev
eral times.” In the case of some
indulgences, the contrary is ex
pressly stated (i.e., the toties
quoties indulgence granted for
All Souls’ Day).
BUT THE LAW here does not
rule out the possibility of gain
ing more than one plenary in
dulgence for different actions.
Thus, on the same day one may
gain more plenary indulgence
for reciting the rosary before
the Blessed Sacrament, a second
plenary indulgence for making
the Way of the Cross (which
can be offered for the suffering
souls), and still another plenary
indulgence for saying the spe
cial Prayer before a Crucifix
after Holy Communion.
WHERE PRAYERS for the
intentions of the Holy Father
are required for gaining a plen
ary indulgence, these prayers
must be said to each indulgence
gained. It is not allowable to
apply one set of prayers for
many such indulgences.
TO GAIN any indulgence, of
course, one must have at least a
general intention to do so. The
reason is obvious. An indul
gence is a favor, and a favor is
only given to one who wants it.
A habitual intention, however,
is sufficient; i.e., one which was
once actually made, and never
retracted.
IT IS NOT necessary, more
over, to wish to gain this or that
indulgence specifically. All that
is needed is that one simply in
tend to gain indulgences if and
so far as they can be gained. In
the words of Father Winfrid
Herbst in his work on indul
gences:
"ONE WHO MAKES the gen
eral intention of gaining all the
indulgences that are annexed to
the good works he performs
gains them, even if when he
places the good work he does
not think of the indulgence, in
deed even if he is ignorant that
an indulgence is annexed to
the good work that he performs.
Nevertheless, though it is not
at all necessary, it is much to
r Yes, Somebody Js'
SHARING OUR TREASURE
'Answer Questions About Faith/
Housewife Urges
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
r r r r , r f ,,,,,, ^University of Notre Dame) r . rr r r
There are some Catholics who
think they should avoid a 11
mention of religion in talking
with non-Catholic friends. “We
don’t want to start any argu
ment over religion,” they say.
“Such argu
ments don’t
make con
verts but of-
t e n mar
friend ships.
Better leave
well enough
alone.” Mrs.
Anna M.
Sloan of St. Francis Xavier’s
parish in New York doesn’t
agree with that line of thought.
Because she doesn’t, she has
helped to win four converts.
“I believe,” said Mrs. Sloan,
“that religion can be sensibly
discussed by normal, intelligent
people if they remember to re
spect the other person’s beliefs.
Catholics shouldn’t intrude the
subject or bore people with it,
much less try to shove their
views willy-nilly upon others.
But they can find occasion tact
fully to tell about the services
or sermons at church and bear
witness to the comfort, help and
peace of mind which our holy
religion brings.
“I’ve known Florence Bar-
banera for many years. We’ve
discussed virtually every sub
ject under the sun. Why should
we exclude religion? When di
vorce came up, I explained why
the Church opposes it. When
birth control came up, I ex-
pained the Church’s stand.
Many erroneously think Cath
olics are obliged to have the
maximum number of offspring
and are never allowed to regu-
be advised that each morning
one make the intention of gain
ing all the indulgences that one
can gain during the day for
good works performed.”
A FINAL point. A plenary
indulgence is to be understood
as granted in the sense that if
one is partially in accordance
with his dispositions of soul.
* * *
Q. Is there any fixed manner
in which the "Angelus" should
be rung?
A. The manner of ringing the
Angelus is laregly a matter of
local custom. In the beginning,
one authority notes, “the paus
es were meant to emphasize the
distinction between the three
Aves and to give sufficient time
for their devout recital.” Nor
does there seem to be any fixed
number of strokes required for
the final peal. “The purpose of
these extra strokes,” explains
the same writer, “simply was to
give time for the recial of the
prayer when it was necessary in
order to gain the indulgences
that the prayer be said at the
sound of the bell. This condi
tion is no longer binding.” Thus,
the Raccolta, which lists indul-
genced prayers and works, does
not indicate that the Angelus
must be recited while a bell is
being rung. It would seem that
the Angelus bell today serves
more as a reminder for prayer.
* * *
Q. From what period in
Church history have most saints
come?
A. The largest number of
saints to rise in any one period
of Church history belongs to the
Reformation era — the 16th and
17th centuries.
late their arrival.
“Florence was much impress
ed by the reasonableness of the
Church’s teachings on these
subjects. When she asked, Why
does the Church forbid the laity
to read the Bible?’ I pointed to
the open Bible on the table and
told her we try to read it often.
She didn’t understand how
priests could forgive sins. So
I showed her the words of
Christ to the Apostles: Whose
sins you shall forgive, they are
forgiven them, and whose sins
you shall retain, they are re
tained.’ (John 20:23)
“I passed on to her our ex
cellent diocesan weekly, The
Catholic News, and other Cath
olic literature. She was now
deeply interested, so I brought
her to St. Francis Xavier rec
tory, where Father Peter
Schmitt instructed and baptized
her. Enthusiastic over her new
ly found treasure, Florence has
brought her mother*'-a -fallen-
away Catholic for 40 years,
back to the sacraments.
“Another family I’ve known
for many years is the Mirabel-
las. Louis Mirabella, a baptized
Catholic, married Mildred, a
Jewess, out of the Church and
fell away from the practice of
the Faith. The parents were
minded to let their three chil
dren. pick their own religion
when they grew up. I explained
that they couldn’t grow up neu
tral, that they were either form
ing religious or non-religious
habits, which were likely to
stick with them.
“This made sense with Mil
dred. Jehovah’s Witnesses call
ed and soon were working on
the children. But as they had
nothing but a sterile man-made
creed to offer, Mildred told
them to stay away. I encourag
ed her to send the children to
a Catholic school where they
would be instructed in the re
ligion of Christ and trained in
its practice.
“Some months later Mildred
met me and said: ‘I’ve a plea
sant surprise for you! Michael,
Gail and Wayne were baptized
today at St. Clare’s Church by
Monsignor Cognina. They’ll be
raised good Catholics, and not
allowed to grow up as pagans—
thanks to you.’ How thrilled I
was. I stood as sponsor for Gail
when she was confirmed. Mich
ael is now in the navy, while
Gail and Wayne are living in
California. They all write me
that they love their religion and
receive Holy Communion of
ten.”
Asks Unity
DETROIT, (NC) — A Syrian
Orthodox prelate visiting here
has called for unity of all Chris
tian churches to face the grow
ing communist threat.
Patriarch Mar Ignatius Ya-
coub III, head of the Syrian Or
thodox Church which has its
seat in Antioch, Turkey, said
that union among Christian
churches will be a strong de
terrent to communism. Union,
however, should be based on
apostolic tradition, he added.
“There was a time when the
communists had power in the
Middle East,” the patriarch
said, “but today the govern
ments there are persecuting
them.”
Theology
For The
Layman
(By F. J. Sheed)
Column 61
More About the Life of Grace
Five of the Gifts of the Holy
Ghost were discussed in the last
article, two remain.
Fortitude is related to the Mo
ral Virtue of Fortitude. It may
be that it affects the Virtue
principally by
basing it firm
ly upon an
awareness o f
one’s own to
tal powerless
ness. To feel
that of oneself
one has no
power at all,
and to face reality with all the
more courage for that means
that we are seeing power where
it truly belongs, in God Himself.
It is the mood in which St.
Paul could make the supreme
boast—“I can do all things”—
without boasting—“I can do all
things in Him that strengthens
me.”
The Gift of Fear is normally
linked most closely with the
Moral Virtue of Temperance,
but it has its contribution to
make to the Virtue of Hope too,
for it helps us to see that what
we must fear most of all is pre
cisely ourself: our own sinful
ness can prevent our attaining
the salvation that God has made
possible for us. It helps Temp
erance in various ways to refuse
delights forbidden by God’s law
—most of all perhaps by an
awareness of the lovableness of
God which does something to
take the glow from the delight
which the forbidden action
seems to promise.
All the Gifts are given for
action. The Virtues give us new
powers to act above our nature;
the Gifts give us a kind of at-
homeness in the new world, and
an ease and directness in the ac
tions now made possible to us.
It may help to see the Gifts
better if we say and feel that
by them supernature becomes a
kind of second nature. To return
to our earlier quotation from
Isaias, the Gifts enable us to
judge but not according to the
sight of the eyes, to approve
but not according to the hearing
of the ears, yet just as certainly.
We may still wonder why the
Virtues do not give us the same
facility. Here again a figure
may help. Think of the Gifts as
sails to catch the winds of the
Spirit. A boat will still be moved
by the wind even if it has no
sails, but slowly, clumsily: the
sails give speed, directness, di
rection.
Most simply of all we can say
that the Gifts enable us, if we
respond as by them we can re
spond, to live the life of man
not simply as men but a little
as God would live it if He were
man: after all the Gifts were in
the God-man!
The relation between the
Gifts and those Virtues to which
each gives what I have called
edge, or impetus, or speed, or
clarity is a matter upon which
theologians have written pro
foundly and brilliantly, but it
is rather beyond our present
stage. One thing at least we
must add to this brief state
ment: just as in the giving of
actual graces the Spirit blows
where it pleases Him and we do
not know whence or whither or
even with any certainty when,
so the response within us of the
Gifts is something of which we
are not normally aware. The
Supernatural Life as a whole
has no direct access to our bodi
ly senses, or to the emotions
which lie in the frontier region
where soul and body meet, or
to our consciousness as it is
aware of things in the natural
order. Sensations and emotions
and self-awareness belong to na
ture, not to supernature.
In our analysis of the life of
sanctifying Grace we have talk
ed of the seven Virtues and the
seven Gifts. Over and above
these are the Beautitudes and
Fruits which need not concern
us now. All these are the State
of Grace; whoever is in it has
them all—there is no such thing
as being in grace and lacking
any of them, though the dullness
of reluctance of the response
our nature makes to one or oth
er of them may make us feel
that we do. With the first com
ing of Grace to the soul, we re
ceive it totally. We may very
well have increase of Grace, but
this will be a matter of growing
intensity, not of new elements.
The first coming is by Faith,
the root from which the whole
Life grows. It is worth dwelling
The Church -
If Catholics, Protestants and
Jews are not to be forever talk
ing at cross-purposes, one thing
that must be clarified is church-
state separation.
Specifically, Jews and Pro
testants must
realize that
Catholics do
not oppose
church - state
sepa ration,
but favor it.
Indeed the
history of the
Catholic
Church is in large part a recital
of the Church’s agonizing strug
gle to free religion from the
grip of political rulers—to give
to Caesar only what belongs to
Caesar, so that to God can be
given what belongs to God.
The idea that Catholics op
pose church-state separation has
been carefully cultivated in re
cent years in the propaganda of
POAU—Protestants and Other
Americans United for Separa
tion of Church and State.
But POAU is all wrong.
TWO THINGS about POAU
should be kept carefully in
mind. First, POAU does not rep
resent most American Protes
tants. Second, what POAU says
about Catholic attitudes is al
most invariably in error.
When the truth is known,
Catholics, Protestants and Jews
find themselves in general
agreement on separation of
church and state.
Nobody wants church-state
union.
Nobody, on the other hand,
wants hostility between govern
ment and region.
WHAT EVERY sensible per
son wants is mutually helpful
co-operation between the two,
each keeping to its proper
sphere.
Questions do arise about
spheres. But reasonable citizens
can hammer out the right an
swers on the anvil of calm dis
cussion.
The best single statement I
have seen of this whole problem
recently came from the Catholic
archbishop of Durban, South
Africa.
Archbishop Denis E. Hurley,
in a sermon in his cathedral,
said that the division of au
thority between church and
state is human liberty’s great
est safeguard. He put the matter
in these words:
"The spiritual ruler is denied
State Issue
political force, so he must rule
by moral persuasion.
"The political ruler is denied
spiritual sovereignty, so he must
bow his head to a law higher
than his own head.
"Political rulers have often
found this a frustrating busi
ness, and many an honest man
has gone to the gallows because
in the name of God he had dar
ed to say to his prince: 'Thou
shall not.'
"Spiritual leaders have some
times yielded to the tempta
tion to usurp and absorb the
political kingdom . . . (Then)
the spiritual leaders who had
hoped to run the political king
dom like a priest ended up by
running the Kingdom of God
like a politician.
"The (church-state) duality is,
without dbubt, the greatest
safeguard of human liberty, al
though God knows it is-not easy
to observe it faithfully in every
detail, to give the proper bal
ance of loyalty to the city of
God and the city of man . .
No, it is not easy; but certain
ly the Founding Fathers of
America created a marvellous
working arrangement under
which the proper balance can
be sought with confident hope
that it will, in each particular
case, be found.
In seeking that right balance,
Catholics, Protestants and Jews
must work together. Otherwise
they leave open the way for
secularism and irreligion to
reign.
Canada, too, has developed
some splendid insights in this
matter, and there is much that
Americans can learn from our
northern neighbor.
ARCHBISHOP HURLEY con
cluded by saying that justice
requires “that we give every
man his due; respect his life and
all its powers and expressions,
his right to worship, to eat, to
earn, to own, to marry and be
get and educate, to enjoy liber
ty of sojourn, movement and
association.”
But, Archbishop Hurley add
ed, justice alone is not enough.
Something else is necessary to
make happy harmony possible
in any nation — that something
being charity, love. And this
love is “the peculiar quality of
the City of God” and “must be
vividly reflected in the political
community.”
To show forth that love is a
prime duty of every religious
person.
DEPLORES PUBLIC APATHY
CONCERNING CIVIL DEFENSE
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
COVINGTON, Ky. — General
public apathy toward an ade
quate civil defense program was
deplored by the Bishop of Cov
ington, who took steps to stir a
greater interest in the cause.
“The Church is expected to
espouse every good and worthy
cause and to promote whenever
possible the commonweal of the
citizenry,” Bishop Richard H.
Ackerman, C.S.Sp., of Coving
ton asserted.
“One of these causes is that
of adequate civil defense. Many
men of sound judgment are se
riously concerned that so little
attention is given to the prob
lem of human survival in the
event of total war.”
In an effort to arouse greater
interest in the program, Bishop
on the simple fact that Faith
means a new contact of the
intellect with God, and that it
is in the direct contact of
this same intellect with God
that the Beatific Vision ulti
mately consists. Our end is in
our beginning.
Ackerman designated July 17 as
Civil Defense Sunday in the
Covington diocese. In a letter
to the pastors, he instructed
them to bring to the attention of
parishioners “the responsibility
of the Civil Defense program
of the community.” The Bishop
added: “If no such program ex
ists, advise them of the neces
sity of being prepared.”
The Bishop’s action came af
ter he conferred with Bailey S.
Root, executive director of the
Tri-County Civil Defense Au
thority, which covers Kenton,
Campbell and Boone counties in
northern Kentucky.
Mr. Root told the Bishop he
is working to rally greater pub
lic interest in civil defense plan
ning because the Civil Defense
Authority is faced, as a result
of public apathy, with the pos
sible loss of revenue from cit
ies and counties which have
supported the Authority.
Bishop Ackerman assured Mr.
Root that he would do every
thing possible to assist in the
future expansion of the civil
defense program.
(Continued on Page 5)
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; and the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta.
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. 41 Saturday, July 23, 1960 No. 4
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