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PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, June 10, 1961
'A MATTER OF ARITHMETIC
The Backdrop
Of all the arguments ad
vanced in support of Federal
aid to education, perhaps the
most ingenuous is the claim
that every dollar spent for the
schooling of young Americans
comes back
to the Unit
ed St at es
Treasury in
the form of
increased tax
payments.
In other
words, edu-
cation is
good busi
ness, it meets the standard by
which sound Americans judge
the utility of any enterprise.
Some may attempt to justify
the cost of education on the
ground that it nourishes the
mind and enlarges the vision
of those who obtain it.
But, if we listen to Senator
Wayne Morse, of Oregon, who
headed the battle for the
president’s aid - to - education
bill in the Senate, the clinch
er in the argument for Federal
aid is that education is good
business.
“If Senators believe,” he
said the other day, “in a
strong economy in America,
then they should provide for
the expenditures of money to
carry on the education of boys
and girls beyond the point it
would reach if the Federal
funds were not provided,
which would eventually pay
back into the Treasury of the
United States more than the
cost of the Federal aid.
“This is a matter of arith
metic with me, so I make my
plea for Federal aid not only
on the basis of the security and
JOHN C. O'BRIEN
defense of our country. I make
it on the basis of sound econo
my, because I believe this bill
is economically sound.”
Morse rests his argument
that education makes an
American a richer target for
the Federal tax collectors on
a computation of lifetime
earnings in relation to the
amount of education received.
In 1958, the last year for
which figures were compiled,
it was estimated that a per
son with less than eight years
of schooling earned from the
age 18 until death an average
total of $129,764; a person with
eight years a total of $181,695.
High school students earned
somewhat more during their
life span. Those with from one
to three years of high school
earned a total of $211,193;
those with four years of high
school a total of $257,557.
The highest lifetime earn
ings, as might be expected, are
amassed by persons with one
or more years of college. The
total earnings of those with
from one to three years in an
institution of higher learning
were $315,504; the earnings of
those with four years of college
$435,242.
In other words, as Morse
pointed out, a price tag can
be put on an education. A
college graduate, for example,
can earn in a lifetime nearly
two and one-half times as
much as the graduate of an
elementary school and more
than one and one-half times
as much as the high school
graduate.
No one before Morse has
tried to justify Federal aid
to education as a good busi
ness proposition. No other
supporter of the bill has, sug
gested that, a dollar spent on
education will come back with
interest to the Treasury in the
form of tax payments.
The National Defense Edu
cation Act was justified on the
alleged grounds that our na
tional security was being jeop
ardized because we were not
turning out as many engineers
and scientists as the Soviet
Union. In fact, the current
agonized reappraisal of Ameri
can education grew out of the
fear that the Soviet Union’s
educational methods were su
perior to those of the United
States.
No one, of course, will quar
rel with the proposition that
education increases earning
power, particularly in the pro.
fessions. A person with little
formal schooling may make a
great real of money in busi
ness and thus become a dar
ling of the tax collector, but
no one can succeed as an engi
neer, a doctor or a lawyer
without extensive training.
But, if the expenditure of
Federal funds for education is
to be justified on the ground
that it is good business, that
it brings back dollars to the
Treasury, then the denial of
Federal aid to non-public-
schools becomes even more
illogical than it would appear
on other grounds. If the aim
of education is to produce tax
dollars, it would seem to fol
low that students, in non-pub
lic schools should be given the
same opportunity to become
high-income taxpayers as stu
dents attending the public
schools.
MARY, MIKE, JEANNE, KATHY
Sfe#* 7
The Wishful Thinking Of Nuclear Pacifists
Sum and Substance
It Seems to Me
Rev. Michael Scott, a British
clergyman, played a leading
role in a recent anti-nuclear
demonstration in London. ITe
was fined one pound for his
part in the affair. An unfriend
ly benefac
tor paid the
fine and
Rev. Scott
was up in
arms. He ap-
p arently
wanted to
be fined
a 1 a r g e r
amount, then
dramatically refuse to pay the
fine whereupon he would be
jailed and become a martyr.
This, of course, is emotion
run riot. The noted pacifist
not only hoped to influence his
government’s nuclear policty
but also to dictate to the gov
ernment how it should penal
ize him for his offense.
We can share the pacifist’s
emotional revulsion to war,
especially on nuclear war. The
butchery and blood-shedding
of war are a far cry from the
spirit of Our Lord and Sav
iour. Moreover, war is in al
most every case futile. It dis
poses of one menace only to
give rise to a greater peril. It
rids the world of nazism only
to make way for communism.
However, we have to hold
on to the principle that there
can be in certain extraordi
nary circumstances a just war
and a wise government must
in time of peace prepare for
war. This is regrettable but it
is sensible.
The nuclear pacifist, how
ever, tends to allow his emo
tions to cloud his, reason. He
subconsciously distrusts the
Soviets and yet somehow he
wants to believe they are sin-
REV. JOHN B. SHEERIN, C.S.P.
cere when they talk about test
.bans and disarmament. He
knows the facts. He has read
the record of Soviet duplicity
and trickery at Geneva.
At the present time, the So
viets are welching 1 on their
promise to agree to a single
administrator for inspection of
weapon production. They
claim they will stall until the
U. S. and Britain force France
to stop tests in the Sahara.
This is ridiculous since France
has already announced the end
of its test series in Africa.
The nuclear pacifist knows
these facts but it does, not
change his mood. Moreover,
the pacifists knows that the
Soviets are keeping the nu
clear pot boiling by stirring
up troubles in Laos. Yet they
prefer to believe that the Rus
sians are nice people who real
ly mean what they say when
they talk about brotherly love
and the dove of peace.
The London Economist (May
6th) assailed certain Ameri
cans for advocating a tough
policy toward communists.
The editor claimed that we
should not bluntly stop fur
ther negotiations with the Rus
sians in Geneva but that we
should try to get to the bottom
of the reasons why Khrush
chev reneges and double talks
and fails to compromise. He
felt that Americans have a
tendency to become hopelessly
self-righteous and moral about
the cold war, that we take it
for granted that all commu
nists are evil and that we are
the “good guys.”
According to the editor: “It
is hard for a nation brought
up on the code of the frontier
to accept the idea that the
sheriff must try to come to
terms with the gunman so that
they can both drink in the
same saloon.”
BIG DIFFERENCE
It is true that Uncle Safn,
as sheriff, should try to live,,
in peace with the international
gangster syndicate of Moscow
if for no other reason than that
the Kremlin could unleash a
nuclear war that could blow
the whole world to bits. But
there is one big difference be
tween the old-time gun-totin’
varlet and the new-style com
munist dictator. You could
negotiate with the gunman
and he would make compro
mises. Not so with the com
munists. For they have an
ideology — which the gunman
didn’t have — and they are
irrevocably dedicated to it.
Father Calvez, S.J., says that
the Russian communists are
gradually losing their ideology
but even he admits that Khru
shchev is still an inflexible
party man. The wily dictator
is absolutely convinced that
capitalist democracy is doom
ed and that he has the solemn
obligation to hasten its demise.
I do not presume to suggest
details of a foreign policy to
ward Soviet communism. That
is a job for political scientists
and other experts and I think
they should call in the aid of
theologians. Their task is to
build a policy on the funda
mental premise that commu
nism, at least in the person of
Khrushchev, does not change.
Their aim must be to stave off
a nuclear flare-up. They must
play a cautious game with
ideological gangsters, who
know what they are doing and
where they are going. Re
quests of “negotiations” roll
off Khrushchev like water off
a duck’s back.
RECITING ROSARY WAS TURNING POINT
Sharing Our Treasure
The honor which Catholics
pay to the Blessed Virgin irri
tates many non-Catholics and
tends to keep them from in
vestigating the Faith. They
usually construe veneration to
be adoration
and hence ■
an infringe- u
ment up on I; ** ■
the worship <
due only to
God. B u t
when they
c o m e to
learn that
Catholics
only venerate Our Lady and
adore God alone, their antago
nism begins to ebb. When they
begin to pray to her, and es
pecially say the rosary devout
ly, they often find that they
are drawn powerfully toward
the Faith.
This illustrated in the con-
REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN
version of Marybelle Beve
ridge of Oakland, California.
“I attended Protestant church
es occasionally,” related Mary
belle, “but was a member of
none, as I had never been bap
tized. My parents were divorc
ed when I was ten, and I saw
my father but a few times af
terwards. I knew practically
nothing about the Catholic re
ligion and the black somber
garb of priests and nuns
frightened me.
“I couldn’t understand why
they would vow never to mar
ry. My interest in the Catholic
religion was kindled when I
met a young marine, Robert H.
Thompson, stationed at San
Francisco — just across the
bay from Oakland. We began
to date and I soon discovered
that Bob was a recent grad
uate of Notre Dame Univer
sity and a devout Catholic.
“He loves his religion, and
I could see the great influence
it exercised in his life. Monsi
gnor Robert Brennan of Sun
Valley is his uncle, and two of
his aunts are nuns — Sister
Mary Rose Emmanuella at
Oakland and Mother Mary
Margaret at the Dominican
Convent in San Rafael. After
I became acquainted with
those Sisters, my fears and
prejudices against Religious in
general speedily vanished.
“They radiated kindness and
love, and one felt better for
having been in their presence.
My brother Harold married a
Catholic and he and his wife
kept having babies one after
another. I raged against the
Catholic Church’s stand on
birth control. Bob remained
calm and quietly explained
that parents may regulate
(Continued on Page 5)
I have suddenly realized,
with a sharp sad pang of
guilt, that my grandchildren
are growing up unsung in
journalism and literature.
There was a time when I
filled news
paper col-
u m n s and
pages of
books, with
t h e exploits
of my sons
and daugh-
t er s. You
might say
that they
earned their keep by provid
ing laughter, pathos and senti
ment which I struggled to
capture in words.
All at once they were grown
up, and I was left with nothing
to talk about but ideas, philos
ophies, and the affairs of hu
manity. This is unsatisfactory,
because the thoughts of men
and the doing of nations come
and go and are gone, whereas
youngsters are immortal. They
will be gay in eternity a tril
lion trillion aeons after the last
empire and the last thinker
have been forgotten as if they
had never been.
CHILDREN, like life and
death, vice and virtue, love
and hatred — like courage,
cowardice, loyalty, disloyalty,
constancy, inconstancy — are
the stuff from which timeless
poetry and prose can be made.
I am continually astonished
that more writers do not turn
to them rather than to gutter
wallowings or to pieces of so
cial significance wnich are sig
nificant only long enough for
the crowds to leave the thea
ters and find taxicabs.
But here I am, philosophi
zing again while the children
of my eldest daughter wait to
be rescued from aponymity.
They have a remarkable
mother. She was born com
petent, Mary was.
AT THE AGE of 4, she sat
on my knee asking how I
knew she had a soul. I told
her to close her eyes. She clos
ed them. I asked her to think
of her mother.
“You can’t see your mother
with your eyes now?”
She couldn’t. “Blit you see
her in your heart?” Yes, she
did. “You are seeirig her with
your soul.”
Then she volunteered that
the mother she saw with her
soul was all shining and
sprinkled with starlight.
Another time I sat for end
less hours in a hospital, pray
ing and persuading her to
drink liquids, because the doc
tors, did not think * she had a
chance for life.
SHE HAD BARELY begun
to recover when I came into
her room a few days later to
find her twisting and turning
her head, which was swathed
in a turban of bandages, and
lifting it from the pillow and
letting it fall.
I asked in alarm what was
wrong.
“Nothing,” she replied. “But
if I’ve got to wear all this stuff
on my head as long as I live,
I’ve got to make my neck
stronger.” mod'
That’s the kind of courage
she has; and that’s the courage
JOSEPH BREIG
with which she has brought
three daughters and a son to
the world, and in due time
into immortality.
MARY JO 6, is named for
my wife and me — the su
preme compliment from our
daughter and son-in-law. She
is as inflexibly independent as
her mother; as brave, and as
tenderharted. Neither can be
pushed an inch; either will go
the extra mile — or hundred
miles — with those who ap
peal to their generosity.
Mike is 4. He keeps his own
counsel. He is sensitive. He
trusts his grandmother; he has
his healthy suspicions of me.
Still, he can be made friends
with; he is not immune to the
(Continued on Page 5)
• WHAT IS AMERICA'S image of the Catholic college
student? Is the Trinity student discernible from her Welles
ley contemporary? Will the graduates of Catholic colleges
all over the nation be lost in the race for security, success
and status symbols tomorrow? The insider, the Catholic
college student or faculty member, knows that there is a
lot more to today’s student than appears in the sophisticated
pose of black sheaths and the camel’s hair coats. There is a
metamorphesis going on all over the nation on Catholic col
lege campuses. I can speak best for one college which per
haps is the pulse for others. For four years as a member of
the faculty at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana,
I have taught junior and senior students and as adviser to
the campus magazine, I am in a better position than most
to know of their opinions, ideals, goals and hopes for the
tomorrows. I have not found my students nor their friends
at other Catholic colleges indifferent, beat, silent or eligible
for membership in the “generation of the shrug.”
* * *
• RECENTLY ONE of the popular haute couture mag
azines had a story about one of the women’s “ivy league”
colleges. A sociologist on the faculty there had made a sur
vey and found to his amazement that not one of these
women “wanted to go to the moon” or “even be a million
aire.” They were content with the ARG (all ’round girl)
pattern set for them. Neither do my students yearn for
moons or millions. Much better, they want to go to Africa,
Pakistan, Brazil as missionaries. Their classmates have done
these things. Last summer, three students went to Lourdes,
worked in the baths and hospital there. What they brought
back in spirit and description they communicated to the
student body to create apostolic atmosphere. Three gradu
ates of last June without doing any talking about it be
forehand went to serve as lay missionaries at Holy Cross
Sisters’ missions in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the order’s col
lege in East Pakistan, because, as one says: “This is the
most right in all the world.”
* * Hs
• TODAY'S COLLEGE YOUTH as I see them are far
from silent. They are especially articulate — more effective
than their predecessors. Some may be fearful of the future
or desirous of security. Five seniors were asked what was
the greatest problem facing today’s youth. Two felt the
lowering of personal morality; one, selfishness with an
“I-Centered” happiness; others, lack of an “ideal” and “lack
of guts.” In my journalism class recently, discussions rang
ed from an insidious article on contraceptives in “Time”
magazine, to the sit-in demonstrations in the South to the
all-time low in movies being made in Hollywood. Where
as things might have ended at the discussion point several
years ago, events went beyond the classroom theory. For
example, one of the students came across an article and
short story in a woman’s magazine in which the absence
of contraceptive use was referred to as a “sexual slip.” She
wrote a coolly rational letter to the editor pointing out the
error in the reasoning as well as the questionable morality
of the article. She also cancelled her subscription.
* * *
• TOO SOON these students will be flung against the
world. It will be their turn to answer as they now ask.
They will be expected as Catholic college graduates to have
solutions and the answers. This concern of the present
generation, as I have seen it, is not peculiar to Saint Mary’s
College, I am sure. It is multiplied again and again at
Trinity, Manhattanville, Salve Regina, Mundelein and the
other Catholic colleges across the nation. This is but one
of the hundreds of Catholic colleges and the youth here are
interested not only in themselves but their brothers in
Christ in Africa, Laos and Cuba. If the younger generation
•here in this section of God’s vineyard need a letter of recom
mendation against a skeptical world which would brand
them selfish, security-conscious, indifferent, silent, I would
gladly bear witness for them, having lived, worked, prayed
and studied among them for four years. I have great hope
for our future with the investment deposited here.
Maryknoll Anniversary
MARYKNOLL, N. Y. —
Maryknoll magazine has
published a special anniver
sary issue marking the 50th
anniversary of the founding of
the Maryknoll Fathers. The
community, dedicated to for
eign mission work, was found
ed in the United States in 1911
by Father — later Bishop —
James A. Walsh, M.M., and Fa
ther Thomas F. Price, M.M.
CRS Top Aid Group
WASHINGTON—More than
one-third of the total spent in
foreign aid by U. S. voluntary
relief groups during the last
half of 1960 was spent by the
U. S. Catholic relief agency.
Catholic Relief Services
spent $55,511,997 for foreign
relief between July 1 and De
cember 31, 1960.
Following CRS in the
amount spent was CARE with
a total of $25,971,352.
Equality of Treatment
MONTREAL—A Protestant
school official said here that
Protestants are so well treated
in Quebec they almost feel as
if they are a part of the ma
jority.
Malcolm Campbell, Montre
al Protestant School Commis
sion President, said, “As Pro
testants we are a minority
(Quebec Archdiocese is 95%
Catholic), but we really feel
as if we were part of the ma
jority ... We have everything
we want ... In the 35 years I
have been on the Protestant
School Commission, never
have I had reason to protest
against any intervention.
Rejects Coercion Charge
SAN JUAN, P. R. — Arch
bishop James P. Davis of San
Juan has rejected charges that
the Bishops coerced voters in
the elections held last fall in
Puerto Rico.
His statement was made in
a laudatory letter sent to two
Christian Action party mem
bers recently ousted by the
Legislature.
Catholic Paper Deplores
Race Violence
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Al
abama Catholic spokesmen
have deplored recent out
breaks of racial violence in
connection with anti-segrega
tion efforts by “Freedom Rid
ers.”
The Catholic Week, newspa
per of the Mobile-Birmingham
diocese, said Alabama was
“disgraced” by the “public in-
humantiy” of the riots here, in
Montgomery and in Anniston.
The Catholic Week charged
that the state and local law
enforcement officials, “by cul
pable default,” had allowed
“unauthorized persons blinded
by fury to take the law into
their own hands.”
“Whatever these professed
‘Freedom Riders’ deserved,
and indeed they too must ex
amine their own consciences
before God and the welfare of
their country, it certainly was
not the public inhumanity that
has disgraced our State,” the
newspaper said.
St. Paul Model
For Apostolate
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St.
Paul was proposed here as a
model for those who seek to
combine inner spiritual growth
with apostolic activity.
Father Barnabas M. Ahern,
C.P., said St. Paul exhibited
“perfect unity” between the
inner life and the apostolate.
St. Paul’s treatment of even
the most commonplace prob
lems is characterized by its su
pernatural approach,” he said.
He also noted, “In his own spi
ritual life, we note a tenacious
adherence to the grace which
was given him in the moment
of his conversion.”
Holy See Gives $480,000
GENEVA — The Holy See
is donating $460,000 to United
Nations refugee aid programs.
All the proceeds from its
World Refugee Year stamps
are being devoted to refugee
work, the U. N. High Com
missioner for refugees an
nounced here.
The $460,000 donation is the
largest contribution made by
any of the 76 countries and
territories participating in the
World Refugee Year stamp
plan.
Pope Sees Doctors
And Teachers
VATICAN CITY—The phy
sical and spiritual improve
ment of his fellow man is the
doctor’s inspiration, Pope John
XXIII told a group of physi
cians and teachers hero.
A special audience was held
for the congress of the Inter
national Association for the
Study of Bronchial Diseases
and to the national (Italian)
congress of doctors and teach
ers of the Pontifical Relief
Organization.
Reds Allow
Bishop to Write
HAMILTON, Bermuda—
Bishop James E. Walsh, M.M.,
now serving a jail sentence in
Red China, has been permitted
to correspond monthly with
members of his family in the
U. S. since last August, it was
disclosed by his brother, for
mer Judge William C. Walsh
of Cumberland, Maryland.
“He is now permitted to
write either my oldest sister,
Mary, or me once a month, and
between us we have now re
ceived six letters from him,
the last having been dated in
January, 1961,” Judge Walsh
said.
Laos Reds Kill Priest
BANKOK, Thailand — Fa
ther Vincent L’Henoret, O.M.I.,
was killed by the communist
Pathet Lao on Ascension Day
according to reports reaching
here. The 41-year-old French
Oblate of Mary Immaculate
was slain while on his way
back to his central mission of
Our Lady of the Rosary at
Ban Ban in Red-held Xieng
Khouang province after cele
brating Mass in a Christian
village in the province.
Farm Co-ops Aid Spain
MURCIA, Spain — Of the
100 leaders at a recent nation
al cooperatives’ congress in
Murcia, Spain, half were
priests, according to an
N.C.W.C. article by Jaime
Fonseca, editor of Noticial
Catholicas.
Farm co-ops are doing won
ders in Spain to save rural
communities and keep their
people from flocking to the
cities, he said.
According to Mr. Fonseca,
some 6,000 farm co-ops with a
membership of about 1,200,000
families are increasing pro
duction in vital exports, like
wine, olives and fruits.
Of their yearly output, valu
ed at $16,500,000, they sell a
third in foreign markets.
Depress Religion
BERLIN — Communist of
ficials of East Germany have
barred Ca. olics in the city of
Magdeburg, from holding pro
cessions outside of their
church buildings to mai’k the
Feast of Corpus Christi.
Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger of
Padefborn has received no an
swer from Red authorities to
his request for permission to
visit the East German city of
Halle. He had planned to say
Mass there during ceremonies
commemorating the 1,000th
anniversary of the city’s
founding.
% ^Bulletin
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, 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 MARKWALTER
Managing Editor
Vol. 42 Saturday, June 10, 1961 No. 1
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 Treasure]'
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
’VSISS CECILF FERRY, Augusta — Financial Secretary