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PAGE 6—THE BULLETIN, June 9, 1962 Interest In Religion Widespread RUSSIAN HOTELS REFLECT LOW REGARD FOR MAN Each New Day In Russia Proves An Adventure For Westerner (The author of the following article, now a teacher at St. John’s Home Missions Semi nary, Little Rock, Ark., wound up three years of studies in Europe with a four-week tour of the Soviet Union. Because he traveled with a leftist po litical group, he had freedoms not ordinarily granted Western visitors.) By Father James F. Drane (NCWC News Service) Every day in Russia was an adventure. Every new day brought new experiences, strange acquaintances, and at least a little suspense and in trigue. The very first day in the country was undoubtedly the most exciting, because every thing was new and adventurous. We arrived at our hotel about 2 p.m. It was an old tene ment-type red brick building, with a store front. On one side there was a rather large bar ber shop (all women barbers) and on the other a dilapidated movie house. Two worn marble steps led from the pavement into the small lobby. On the left there was a booth, big enough for two people, which served as the registration desk. There were two or three terrible por traits hanging on the wall. A patriarchally bearded man was occupying the only lounge chair. We filled out questionnaries in duplicate and triplicate, giv ing all the usual information. The problem of assigning rooms seemed to be a very compli cated one. We all waited three- quarters of an hour while the woman in charge and the In tourist representative figured and refigured, and juggled and rejuggled, names and room numbers. Finally they came FORDS And MERCURYS Randall & Blakely, Inc. GRIFFIN, GA. Phone 8-1333 BROWN ELECTRIC COMPANY ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS 131 SOUTH EIGHTH STREET GRIFFIN, GA. PHONE 6111 W. B. WARNELL, PRESIDENT Established 1904 THE SOUTHERN STATES PRINTING CO. Office And School Supplies - Art Supplies Office Furnishings Bookkeeping Equipment Over 33 Years at 120 E. Taylor St. Griffin, Ga. up with a solution. Right beyond the lobby there was an old elevator with a ca pacity of two persons. Two of our group piled in with their luggage, only to find that it was out of order. There were no porters; everyone grabbed his bag and started sturggling up the narrow stairway. My room was on the third floor. We had been handed little slips of paper with our names and room numbers, and these were presented to a girl await ing us at the top of the steps. She seemed very friendly and each time she smiled she show ed a mouth full of gold teeth. (Many of the women have bad teeth and the most common coverings are not gold but stain less steel.) Upon presentation of the paper I was handed a big iron key attached by a cord to a heavy wooden ball with the room number crudely printed on the outside. I final ly worked the lock and in I went. The room looked old but very clean. Two iron beds, a round wooden table, and a little wood en closet made up the furnish ings. It looked fine to me after having spent about three days on a Russian train. I was wear ing light khaki pants, a white teeshirt, and a white nylon sport shirt. The engine had been a coal- burner all the way ( I saw only one electric engine) and all I wanted to do was to get out of these girmy clothes that had all acquired the same veneer of good old black railroad dirt. I desperately needed a bath to wash off the soot of three days. I had just started taking some clean clothes out of the bag when I heard quite a commotion out in the hall. A large group of young East Germans had ar rived just ahead of us. Now there were four or five of them out side my door trying to get some information from the floor girl about toilet facilities. First there were a few at tempts made at communication by language, and finally after many signs and gestures all were made to understand that there was only one bathroom on the whole top floor (about 20 rooms). These conveniences were for the use of both men and women. This caused an even bigger commotion. No one was angry, just surprised, and the specta cle of ladies and gentlemen standing in the same line to use the same facilities occasioned many comments and a good deal of laughter. Everytimeone of their group came out there was a burst of laughter and animated conversation. Finally things settled down. I looked out into the hall. No line, so I grabbed my towel and headed in. The first impression I received was through the sense of smell. There were none of the capitalistic bourgeois odor- killings sprays here. The door had nothing at all in common with fresh pine or apple blossom. Man in the communist phil osophy has no spiritual princi ple. He is an animal, highly developed but none - the - less just an animal. This little room and other similar ones I had oc casion to visit may have been specially designed to keep man aware of his bond with the ani mals. At least there was never any attempt to humanize animal functions or make them less offensive. HAISTEN BROTHERS, INC. Zj~unerat Ac orvice Members Of The Order Of The Golden RULE Griffin Jackson The whole idea of a bathroom in this hotel had very obviously been an afterthought. The room was small and what plumbing there was all in full view. The facilities were not impressive. There were two very old- fashioned toilets with long chains hanging from an elevated water box. Both were very dirty. Neither toilet was equipped with a seat. On the floor was a small stack of newspapers that had been torn up into disposal sizes. Off the the side of the room was a bath tub. It was not the latest model. The enamel was about all gone; the underlying composition was anything but white and shining.If it was clean it didn't appear so. But it was too late to become particular. The water was cold, but there was no temptation to forego a bath for that reason. It had to be done and so Jt was with all possible expedition. I was hurried along not only by the temperature of the water, but by the fear that any minute a new assault on that popular little room would take place, and I wanted to get out before that happened. Back in my room, I dressed quickly and tried to finish un packing my bag. We were slated to meet the Intourist guide shortly in the lobby to start a conducted tour through the city. Suddenly the door opened without even a previous knock or tap or, “May I . . .," and in walked the girl with the golden teeth. She was obviously in charge of the corridor, but I never suspected that her rights were so absolute. Without a word she walked up to me and with her finger pulled from beneath my tee shirt the religious medal and chain around my neck. Evidently it had slipped over my shirt while I was dragging the bags up the steps and she had noticed it while giving out the keys. Now that almost everyone had gone, she had come back to make an inquiry. She blessed herself and pointed inquiringly to me, ask ing, “Are you a Christian?” I nodded yes, and blessed my self for proof. This brought a big smile and a look that meant * You don’t sayl ” She made the sign of the cross again and pointed proudly to herself in dicating that she too was still a Christian and that we had something in common. She looked over the little gold medal again with great care, then with an outstretched hand and a pleading look she made known quite clearly what whe wanted. With a couple of words and many signs I tried to explain that it was gold and OBITUARIES Charles C. Brotherton, Jr. AUGUSTA - Funeral services for Charles C. Brotherton, Jr., of Denver, Colorado, who died suddenly while on a visit to his mother, Mrs. Charles C. Bro therton, Sr., were held at St. Mary's on-the-Hill Church May 30th, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Bourke, officiating. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Frances Ann L. Brotherton; a daughter, Miss Monica Ann Brotherton, both of Denver, Colorado; a sister, Sister Ann Richard, Augusta; two brothers, William J. Brotherton, Atlanta, and Richard C. Brotherton, Au gusta, and a number of nieces and nephews. Mrs. M. S. Najjar ATLANTA - Funeral ser vices for Mrs. M. S. (Mary) Najjar were held May 31st at St. Joseph's Maronite Church, Father Joseph Abi-Nader of ficiating. Survivors include her hus band, Mr. M- S. Najjar, Sr., M. S. Najjar, Jr., Eddie Na jjar, Covington, Ga.; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Najjar, Mrs. Jo seph Joseph, LaGrange, Ga.; Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Man- sour, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Mansour, Mrs. Rose Maloof, Mrs. Sadie Mansour, Mrs. Su sie John, Mr. and Mrs. George Aseff and four grandchildren. Miss Blanche Heffernan AUGUSTA - Funeral services for Miss Blanche Elizabeth Hef fernan were held May 30th at St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Church, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Bour ke officiating. Surviving are five sisters, Miss Marie Heffernan, Augusta; Mrs. Jerome McCarthy, Mrs. W. C. Lee, Mrs. George Dead- wyler, and Miss Catherine Hef fernan, all of Atlanta; step mother, Mrs. John J. Heffernan; three brothers, William J. Hef fernan, Sr., and Timothy R. Hef fernan, both of Augusta, and John D. Heffernan, Seattle, Washington and a number of nieces and nephews. Mrs. Daniel D. Dominey ATLANTA - Funeral ser vices for Mrs. Daniel D. Do miney, Sr., were held May 25th at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Father Allen Dillmann officiating. Survivors are her husband; a son, Daniel D. Dominey, Jr., Atlanta; a daughter, Mrs. Frances Oyler, Louisville, Ky.; her mother, Mrs. James J. Shannon, Birmingham, Ala.; four sisters, Mrs. B. E. Sig- mier, Mrs. Ed Ernst, and Miss Juliette Shannon, all of Bir mingham, Ala.; and Mrs. Rob ert Fay, Fredonia, N.Y. Mrs. J. A. McDevitt ATLANTA - Funeral ser vices for Mrs. J. A. (Ethlene Marble) McDevitt were held May 30th at Sacred Heart Church. Reverend Clarence IN ATLANTA WYATT ” LM “ WONZE GKANTTI MAMIE J. Biggers, S.M., officiating. Survivors include daughters, Mrs. J. H. Hofmann, Louis ville, Ky.; Mrs. Agatha Rich ardson, Mrs. Ethlene Girroir, Mrs. Edward A. Atkinson and Mrs. Eva Krautter, all of At lanta; Sister Mary Dorothea, R.S.M., Augusta; Miss Martha Mary McDevitt, Decatur; Sons, John C. McDevitt, Atlanta; A.E. McDevitt, Yonkers, N.Y.; P.W. McDevitt, California; Richard M. McDevitt, Atlanta; Sisters, Miss Ruth Ann Marble, Mrs. Irene Smith, Mrs. Lucy Ruff, all of Mableton; Mrs. Jessie Mitchell, Atlanta, and Mrs. Ad- die Blair, Chattanooga, Tenn.; 25 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Mrs. Lillian Bettencourt SAVANNAH - Funeral ser vices for Mrs. Lillian Wolters Bettencourt were held at the Sacred Heart Church, May 18th. Survivors are a son, Jerome Bettencourt, Savannah; a daugh ter, Mrs. John H. Wolters, Philadelphia, Pa.; and nine grandchildren. The average tourist hotel in Russia, a far cry from the Waldorf-Astoria, reflect in many' ways the regard the communist regime has for man, man the animal—devoid of spiritual^ principle. Rundown and tawdry, the buildings (above) are ill-kept and the sanitary fa-* cilities look as though they had been installd as afterthoughts. Although man in the ^ communist philosophy is only a highly-developed animal, the Soviet regime has to stamps out the idea of religion. The interest in religion, whether out of curiosity or not, still* exists among the majority of people in Russia. (NC Photos) was a gift and that I couldn't give it away. I looked through my bag for some other religious article that I could give her, but found none. She stood by and fingered admiringly at all the little articles of clothing while I made the search. The whole transaction was a little tense. She had made it quite clear that she was doing something wrong, something she could be punished for. Twice she tiptoed to the open door and peeped down the corri dor to make sure no one was coming. Finally I settled on giving her a few little articles of clothing. She was tickled to death. She thanked me pro fusely, tucked her gifts care fully in an apron pocket, look ed down the corridor once more in each direction, then left. I hadn’t been off of the train a good hour and I had my first of many surprises. This was one of the first Russians I had met outside the tourist officials and what, of all things, was the in terest expressed--religion! This was hardly what I had expected, but as it turned out it was not a rarity. I met a German woman who had visited Russia, wearing a plain gold cross around her neck and she told me that never a day pass ed without being approached by someone who wanted her cross. There are no religious articles available in Russia. There have been none for years. Whether the interest is prompted by curiosity or by a real spirit of religion, I couldn’t say, but the fact of the interest is undeniable. To get an idea about the in dividual Russian’s attitude to ARTHUR J. COPELAND PRESIDENT ARTHUR J. COPELAND, JR. VICE PRESIDENT RUTH S. COPELAND SEC RET ARY-TREASURER COPELAND COMPANY MECHANICAL CONTRACTORS 342 WEST SOLOMON STREET PHONES 9441-9442 GRIFFIN, GEORGIA wards religion, I always made a point of pulling out my rosary beads everytime I went into my pocket for change. Almost with out fail, the person I was pay ing would go immediately for the rosary. It always occasioned a reaction. Many would examine the rosary reverently. Others would go through the sign of the cross routine to tell me that they too were believers. Many, many people wanted me to give them the rosary. I was sorry I hadn’t brought in a hundred or so cheap rosaries to pass out, but how could I ever have guessed such in terest existed? Besides, that might have been too obvious and resulted in a more pro tracted stay in the USSR than I had anticipated. I certainly do not think this interest in religion is any cause for optimism. It was, however, unexpected, surprising, and certainly quite widespread. I feel, however, that the forces of communism and atheism are winning in Russia. They control education. They have a well-organized, effective indoctrination program. Evjery new technological advance, every new space conquests is offered as a proof that God does not exist. Even if He does exist, as Khrushchev said, 'c'He must be on our side.” Religion, however, is prov ing more difficult to eradicate than was expected. There are still many signs of its presence and importance in the lives of the people, but despite all this, the leaders are confident that it is loosing and will disappear. So far, nothing has happened to destroy their confidence. 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