Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

' 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