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PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, May 27, 1961 1 ’ ~~~ Survey Explodes Traffic Accident Myths * jfa. 'Your Prayers, Please 9 An exhaustive study by a nationally known insurance company of street and high way accidents, which took the lives of some 47,200 and in jured 3,425,000 persons in 1960, refutes some popular as- sumpfi ons abou t why and when such acci dents occur and confirms others. It is n o t true, for ex ample, that more young than mature drivers are involved in automobile accidents. In I960, the number of drivers under 18 years of age killed in such accidents was 2,270; the num ber of drivers between 18 and 24, 10,760; the number of driv ers between 25 and 64, 31,100; and the number of drivers 65 and over, 3,070. MIDDLE-AGED MENACE In other words, 65.9 per cent of the drivers killed in auto mobile accidents were in the mature ages when caution and good judgment are supposed to be ripest. These same ma ture drivers also were involv ed in 73.9 per cent of the acci dents in which no fatalities occurred. Not the reckless hot- rodder but the sober middle- aged driver is the greatest menace on the streets and the highways. A second popular assump tion is that the inexperienced driver causes more accidents than the experienced. But this, too, is not borne out by the statistics. Last year it, was the JOHN C. O'BRIEN drivers with one year or more of driving experience who ac counted for 97.4 per cent of the fatal and 96 per cent of the non-fatal accidents. Fog, rain and snow contrib ute to accidents, but most traf fic accidents do not, as many suppose, occur when weather conditions are unfavorable. In 1960, most of the accidents that resulted in deaths or in juries happened when the sun was shining and the streets and roads were dry. More than 87 per cent of the persons killed in automobile accidents met their death in clear weather and 79.2 per cent when the streets were dry. Although drivers involved in accidents, when brought be fore trial magistrates, often of fer such excuses as, “my brakes went bad,” “my steer ing went out of control,” “my windshield wiper conked out,” actually most of the cars in volved in accidents last year were found to be in good con dition hiechanically. Only about 5 per cent were defec tive. Most people, if asked, prob ably would say that most au tomobile accidents occur at in tersections. But they would be wrong. Nearly 77 per cent of the fatal accidents and 62 per cent of the non-fatal accidents in 1960 occurred when tffe cars were proceeding straight on a street or open highway. Other assumptions about au tomobile accidents were fully borne out by the insurance company’s study. It is true, for example, that exceeding the speed limit is the number one cause of accidents, both fatal and non-fatal. Speeding caused 38.5 per cent of last year’s road acci dents. Proceeding when the driver did not have the right- of-way was found to be the cause of 22.5 per cent; reckless driving the cause of 13.5 per cent. Driving off the road caused the death of 5,050 driv ers and the injuring of 215,- 800 persons. It is true, as traffic safety authorities repeated warn be fore holidays, that traffic deaths and injuries are heavi est on week ends — Fridays* Saturdays and Sundays. It is then that traffic is densest and intoxicated celebrators are most likely to be at the wheel. More than 20 per cent of the persons in automobiles in 1960 lost their lives on Saturdays, 17.7 per cent on Sundays, 16 per cent on Fridays. Traffic accidents also are heaviest in the so-called rush hours, from four to seven p.m., although the so-called “wee hours,” one to six a.m., also take a heavy toll. Of the per sons killed in automobile acci dents last year, 6,990 lost their lives in the “rush hours,” 6,500 in the hours between one a.m. and sunup. Males may continue to sneer at women drivers, but the in surance company survey defi nitely showed that they are involved as drivers in only a small percentage of the fatal and non-fatal accidents. In 1960, 87.6 per cent of the cars involved in fatal accidents and 81.3 per cent of those involved in non-fatal accidents were driven by males. your horoscope tiro Rectory 9y tit* R«v. H. WSiartoa <* Next to me in the railway ronomy announced our stand car was a newspaper-reading in clear words: “Neither let old man with a lighted candle there be found among you protruding from each ear. I anyone that consults sooth- didn’t say any thing, but after sayers, or observes dreams or 15 minutes I couldn’t stand it omens. Neither let there be any longer. “I hate to be so curi ous,” I said, “but could you tell me why you have those lighted can dles in your ears?” any wizard or charmer, nor anyone that drinks pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeks the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhors all these things.” It’s all right, of course, to consult a soothsayer of fortune teller at the charity bazaar just for laughs. No one will blame you for believing some- THE CATHOLIC ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT IN THE U. S. WORD TO THE WHITE HOUSE It Seems to Me The Catholic ecumenical movement in the United States has now turned off the side road into the main highway. The Graymoor Conference on Christian Unity from May 3rd to 5th got the m o v e- ment off to a good start and from now on it will gather m o mentum. The Gray- moor meet ing was a great success and the Society of the Atonement deserves commendation for this trium phant step forward on the way to Christian Unity. COMPLEMENTARY WORKS One of the most notable talks at the Conference was the address delivered by Mon signor J. G. M. Willebrands, secretary of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome, Italy. He spoke on ecu menism as an experience and theological attitude and in the course of the talk he came to grips with a proglem that has haunted many followers of the ecumenical movement in America: must we abandon convert work in the United States as a work that will con flict with ecumenical work? Msgr. Willebrands showed that there is absolutely no rea son to give up convert work, that in fact, each work is con genial and complimentary to the other. For instance, a con vert worker may instruct a person who will eventually prove to be a leader in the ecumenical movement. Like wise, the ecumenical worker will find that almost inevitably his efforts will bring about an individual conversion. Thus in REV. JOHN B. SHEERIN, C.S.P. many ways the two lines of apostolic activity are mutually helpful. Many of the talks made it very obvious that ecumenical work is radically altering the whole tenor of the Catholic approach to Protestants in America. Formerly our‘apolo getic approach relied heavily on polemics. It was thought that we could bring about the conversion of non-Catholics simply by argument, by the sheer force of logic and his torical facts. Today that polemical ap proach is fast disappearing. Fa ther Weigel, for instance, showed how the old rational proofs for a “juridical” Church are being replaced by positive studies of the Church as it ac tually appears in the Bible and in tradition. The liturgical movement, bound up so closely with the aims of the ecumenical move ment, is also changing the im age of the Church that we of fer to Protestants. Father Shawn Sheehan of St. John’s Seminary, Boston spoke on Liturgy and Reunion and pointed out that today we em phasize not the historical in stitution of the sacraments and their efficacy “ex opere opera- to” but that the sacrament is an act of Christ living here and now in His Church. “The liturgical apostolate originated and developed,” said Father Sheehan “without ex plicit reference to the needs of the ecumenical effort. As it grew it became evident that in many of its phases it had a real value in the formation of Catholic ecumenists, in actual participation in the dialogue, and in the creation of a more favorable atmosphere among the clergy and laity generally for the advance of Christian reunion.” RADICAL MEMBERSHIP In a recent Civilia Caltolica article, Cardinal Bea said that Myslici Corporis denies to he retics and schismatics mem bership in the Church only in the full sense in which it is attributed to Catholics, Father Weigel discussed the question as to what kind of membership baptized Protestants do have in the Church. He termed it a radical membership (from radix, root) and showed that Baptism makes one a member ber of the Mystical Body. This membership is quite different from that of a virtual or potential member such as a pagan who desires to do God’s will and yet an adult Protes tant does not share in a formal membership such as a Cath olic enjoys. Several other speakers also treated this question. At the very least we can say that a baptized Protes tant is not a formal heretic in the New Testament sense. Father Leeming of Heythrop College, Oxford, England, pre sented a superb paper on the present direction of the non- Catholic ecumenical move ment. Taking issue with Fa ther Weigel, he asserted that Protestant religion is veering away from the concept of “pri vate exeprience” to that of the need of a Church as a commu nity of salvation. Monsignor Lally spoke very perceptively on the effect of the Presidential election on the religious climate of America today, and Father Charles Boyer, S.J. delineated the trends in Catholic ecumenism. All in all, it was a great meet ing full of new ecumenical in sights and bright hopes for the future. GOOD EXAMPLE WINS RADIO ANNOUNCER Sharing Our Treasure REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN Do you know how you can pie, and explaining the marks best thank God for the gift which Christ stamped upon of the true Faith? It’s by shar- His Church to show that it is ing that gift with others' “The the true Church. This is illus- most precious gift we have re- trated in the conversion of ceived,” said Pope Pius XI, “is Charles F. LeSieur, radio an nouncer at station KCLA, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. “I attended various churche s,” related Charles, “including the Metho dist and Church of Christ and sang in the choir at St. An drew’s Episcopal Church at Jackson, Mississippi, for sev- | eral years. “They all differed from one I another as to what doctrines the only proportionate means Jesus taught and wanted us to of gratitude in our power is to believe and practice. Founded pass the faith we have receiv- on the principle of the private ed to others. Then our thanks interpretation of the Bible, offering is adequate: faith fox'there was no possibility of faith, divine gift for divine'these denominations agreeing, gift.” or nor even of the members You can share the Faith within the same denomination, through prayers, good exam-It was clear to me, however, the gift of faith. But every gift in proportion to its value de mands grati tude towards the donor. Now the gift of faith is so priceless that that Christ could not sanction the teaching of conflicting doc_ trines, much less teach them Himself, so I quit going to church. “In 1949 I married a lovely Catholic girl, Billie Ann Dun can. She never asked me to change religions, but I could see how much her religion meant to her and what a pow erful influence for good it was in her life. She went off to Sunday Mass, rain or shine. She said her daily prayers, kept close to God and set an example that was more power ful than any words. Like the sun breaking through the clouds, her love of God shone through her actions. “I started attending Sunday Mass and was impressed by the deep earnestness and rev erence of the worshippers: no (Continued on Page 6) The Kennedy administration is trying my temper in the matter of federal school aid. To see my children ignored, as if the government cared noth ing about them, and only about public school chil dren, is an- n o y i n g enough. But I am tempt ed to see red when Con gress pro poses, as did the last Con gress, to count my youngsters in determining how much money to hand out to my state, and then to count them out when the money is disbursed. Let no one misunderstand me. I cannot think of the pub lic schools with anything but gratitude; they educated me for the most part, and if they hadn’t been there where I grew up, I would have had very little education at all. I was proud, a few years ago, to be the speaker at one of the reunions of my public high school class. SOME PEOPLE SEEM to leap to the conclusion that if you defend the right of inde pendent schools, you must be antagonistic to the public schools. That is nonsense. All American schools are impor tant parts of the educational picture. If somebody proposed starving out the public schools, I would raise up in wrath; and I think I can be excused for speaking out against the starving of indepdent schools. Nothing less than that, in my opinion, is involved in fed eral aid. If federal aid becomes national policy, it will mount into countless billions, eating up colossal chunks of the peo ple’s money in withheld in come taxes; and if independent schools are frozen out, they will find the financial com petition crushing. I HAVE EDUCATED, and am educating, five children at my own expense, not because I have anything against public schools (after all, I want all children educated) but because I have a conviction that the best-educated person is one who, along with his' math and science and literature and whatnot, has been given reli gious knowledge and insight. Spiritual and moral literacy, I hold, is of paraimount im portance, and is best gained in a school which includes it in the curriculum. With the help of such schools, I am giving to America five fine young peo ple; the kind of citizens most needed by the nation and the world. I don’t think J ought to be unduly penalized, finan cially, for doing so.. MY YOUNGSTERS have taken, or are taking (depend ing on age), all the courses re quired by state authorities. The schools they attend more than meet every standard. The state helps other parents to do this for their children; it does not help me. I am annoyed over that; but only, annoyed. I have accepted with good nature what I consider in- JOSEPH BREIG equitable treatment in the use of my school tax dollars. But federal aid is another ques tion; as I said, once started, it will mount astronomically, and people will find that they have little or no control over it. Therefore I am opposed to federal aid; but if it is going to be adopted, then I insist that my children, and other independent - school children, not be left out. Otherwise the independent schools will die, and a federal monopoly of ed ucation will be the eventual result, administered by a gi gantic bureaucracy in Wash ington. PRESIDENT KENNEDY ar gues for federal aid on the ground that it. is necessary in order to insure the fullest ed ucation for American young people. If that is so, why does he, and why do his advisors, behave as if the 6,800,000 youngsters in independent schools did not exist, or at least are not worth bothering about? What is worse, why does the presidentjl ai 1 ow his congress- continued on Page 6) Daughter of the womb of her, Loved till the doom of her, Thought of the brain of her, Heart of her side, She joyed and grieved in me Hoped, believed in me God grew fain of her, and she died. —(Francis Thompson with certain qualifications) * * * • LAST MAY I addressed a letter in these columns to the Blessed Mother, and my own dear mother on earth. This May they are together in heaven. Only a few days ago, as I write this, the wonderful lady whom God in His great mercy gave me to be my mother has gone to join the company of the angels and the saints. All her days have been a prelude to this moment and I know she is at Home as she never was in this vale of tears. The lovely lady who gave me a body possessed of a soul and taught me to know and love and serve God had her share of sorrows. Today, she knows joy that will have no end. While I mourn her passing, I can still rejoice at the peace that is hers and the beauty that will have no ending. I eagerly await the day when I can be with her forever and there will be no more separations, no more pain and suffering. * * * • ALL CHILDREN, I suppose, look upon their mother as a kind of Queen. Yet in these days when womanhood is more often despoiled and mothers are not always what their beautiful title denotes, I was blessed in the mother whom God chose from all eternity to be mine. There are hundreds who can bear testimony to this fact, although I could be for given for being prejudiced. A holy Jesuit who had known my mother since childhood told me that she resembled the Blessed Mother more than any woman he had ever known in her pilgrimage through life. At her funeral, she was extolled for the beautiful virtues of purity, humility and charity. What more Marylike virtues? She was born on the feast of the Guardian Angels and she died on the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel. - - ■ , * *, * ’ - ■ • THE DEATH of one’s mother is the greatest sorrow this side of the grave. I have always counted having such a mother as mine next to the gift of Faith itself. She was a woman among women and many have called her blessed al ready. Francis Thompson wrote of another and I borrow now: “. . . her spirit was lineal to that which sang the Magnificat.” This is an age of ecumenicalism. As a non- Catholic, her daughter embraced a faith alien to hers but which she always held in utmost reverence. She had close childhood and professional friends who were Catholics. As one Catholic friend told me at her wake: “Ah, if I as a Catholic could only begin to practice the goodness and cha rity which was innate to your mother. As in life, so in death, her funeral brought those of all faiths: Christian Scientists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Jews together in a common mourning with Catholic laymen, priests and nuns. It was a tribute to the holy life she lived. * * * • AND NOW AGAIN it is May and in my humanness I shed tears for the loss of one who loved me with such ten derness and generosity, who was ever the valiant woman of the Gospel. Yet I knew that my mother and the Blessed Mother whom she imitated so beautifully and graciously all her life are together at long last talking about their chil dren and the little daily things of Nazareth and even Paw tucket. My mother loved me with an abiding love. What can separate me from her love that is bound eternally in the love of the Sacred Heart? Nothing can separate me from the love of God nor can anything separate me from the love of this mother of mothers! May her soul and the souls of all such valiant mothers rest in peace. The old fellow ignored me, thing so obviously true as the so I kept quiet. But curiosity card which tells you that “you won again after another 15 are witty, charming, handsome minutes. So I tapped the man a nd strong.” And as far as on the knee and said, “I’m “pythonic spirits” are con- terribly sorry to be so curious, earned, a little shot before din- but why do you wear those ner never harmed anyone, lighted candles in your ears?” But when we take these The old fellow smiled help- things seriously, it’s time to lessly and said, “It’s no use have a spiritual checkup, talking to me — with these There are millions who fail to lighted candles in my ears I see that astrology is a super- can’t hear a thing.” stition. Many great persons, Ridiculous. I always heard including Hitler, depended that it’s better to leave the upon astrologers to guide candles unlighted. them. It’s still a mystery to me We can forgive the people of why the old man had the can_ the middle ages who counted ales in his ears anyway. The on the stars too much. They only thing I can figure out is didn’t have television and ice that he was born under the cream cones to keep them- sign of Taurus the Bull (April selves amused. But it’s down- 20 to May 14) and thought he right tragic to see enlightened looked like a bull that way. It moderns letting the stars tell would be better if he didn’t them what to do. light the candles. But if you honestly feel that It’s not so ridiculous to fig- the stars ha y e decreed that ure that the gentleman was y /earm S candj.es m your ears taking his horoscope too seri- £ £ ood f ° r your rheumatism, ously. Many persons are afraid So adea d and wear them, to make a move without call- du f ^ d ° n ^ , Sldy enough to ing Taurus, or Aries, or Can- Bght them, please, cer, or Aquarius — or one of their representatives on this planet. These representatives make a good bit of money by being on friendly terms with the stars. This kind of star-gazing is known as. astrology, the so- called science which pretends to interpret the influence of heavenly bodies on human af fairs. For a small fee, its ex ponents 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 horoscopes can tell you what temperament you have, what diseases you’re likely to con tact, and what fortunes or ca lamities will probably come your way. Reading stars and interpret ing horoscopes is nothing new. The Egyptians and Babylon ians, the Greek and Romans — one and all, they took these things seriously. One reason for the ancient interest in pre dicting events from the stars was that the astrologers were real scientists, too. Only after Copernicus came along did as trology tread a separate path from that of the real science. Astrology, a form of gen uine superstition, should not be confused with astronomy. The later 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 in deed. Astrology, however, is un scientific and contrary to our faith. Saints and sinners are often 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 determine the course of events, what happens to Di vine Providence? What hap pens to our free 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 before making a decision. The ancient Book of Deute- By David Q. Liptak Q. How do we answer ihe objeciion that the Blessed Virgin Mary cannot be the Mother of God since God existed from all eternity, whereas Mary is only a crea ture? A. The objection that Mary is not the Mother of God be cause she is a creature can easily proceed from an erron eous conception of how and in what respect the notion of person is distinct from the no tion of nature. OBVIOUSLY Our Blessed Lady could| not have given birth to Christ’s divinity, for in his divine nature he existed from all ages. But it should also be clear after a moment’s reflection that Mary could not have given birth to Christ’s humanity either, for a mother cannot bring a humanity into the world. Human natures have no mothers; only persons are born. And in this case, the person to whom Mary gave birth was not a human per son, but a divine person, the Son of God, who assumed a human nature in addition to his divine nature. THE SOLUTION to the ob jection lies in the fact that Christ possesses not one, but two natures, divine and hu man. Yet he is still one per son, a divine person. As God he was generated by the Fa ther before time began; as man, he was born of Mary at a specific time in history. WHEN CHRIST said “I,” then, he meant “I, God.” But when Christ was asked what he was, divine or human, he could answer that he was both. Because Christ Our Lord, uniquely, had two natures,” writes Frank Sheed in an at tempt to put forward an ele mentary solution for begin ners in theology, “he could give two answers to the ques- (Continued on Page 6) ®hr HullrtUt 416 8TH ST., AUGUSTA, GA. Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, Inc., with the Approbation of tne 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, Ga. Send notice of change of address to P. O. Box 320, Monroe, Ga. REV. FRANCIS J. DONOHUE REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition JOHN MARK WALTER Managing Editor Vol- 41 Saturday, May 27, 1961 No. 26 ASSOCIATION OFFICERS GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus President MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon Vice-President 1OA4 GRIS I) IN, Atlanta _ Vice-President NICK CAMERIO, Macon . (Secretary JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasure! ALVIN M. McAULlFFE, Augusta Auditor JOHN MARKW ALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
