Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, December 8, 1962
WOULD A NATIONAL SERVICE CORPS WORK?
The Backdrop
For the Christ Child
President Kennedy is con
sidering an appeal to Congress
to authorize a, service program
for the United States patterned
after the Peace Corps.
He has directed a committee
of seven top
a d m i n i-
s tration
leaders to
study the
feasibility of
such a pro
ject and re
port to him
by January 1, of next year.
Presumably, if the report is
favorable, he will ask Congress
for legislation authorizing a
domestic service corps.
The President was induced to
initiate the study by an en
couraging preliminary study
compiled by Attorney Gen
eral Robert F. Kennedy. The
Attorney General reported
that many Americans would
like to accept the Presi
dent’s Inaugural Address chal
lenge to ask what they could
do for their country but lacked
“visible avenues for service.’’
The Attorney General sugges
ted that there is a wide field
for service by dedicated vol
unteers among the 32,000,000
Americans living at a very low
economic level.
Many of these persons
he noted, are handicapped by
poor health, diets and housing
as well as inadequate education.
The majority, he said, are
unable to remedy these condi
tions by themselves.
Among the specific areas in
which the Attorney General sug
gested a national service corps
could be useful were slum
schools, recreation centers,
mental hospitals, Indian reser
vations, migrant labor camps
and correctional institutions.
In all these fields, he noted,
there is a shortage of trained
workers. Volunteers, working
under professionals, he sug
gested could lighten the load.
JOHN C. O'BRIEN
As envisioned by the Attorney
General, the domestic service
corps would be modeled after
the Peach Corps. Enlistment
would be open to all ages from
high school to retired persons.
The term of enlistment might
be shorter, one-year instead of
two. Pay would be low, suffi
cient to cover living expenses
with a modest separation allow
ance.
The Peace Corps, directed by
the President’s brother-in-law
Sergeant Shriver, has con
founded all the skeptics by
turning out to be an unqual
ified success. Even those Con
gressmen who scoffed at the
program as a “massive’’ boon-
doogle have had to admit that
their fears have been proved
groundless.
Presumably the President
and his brother have concluded
that i< the Peace Corps works
so well abroad, a similar corps
would be a success in the United
States. But this may be an
unwise assumption.
Sergeant Shrives’a Peace
Corps, it is true, received more
applicants than it had the funds
to employ. But can it be assumed
that those who were denied en
listment in the Peace Corps
would rush to join a service
corps for work in the United
States?
Working among natives in
far-away lands has a glamorous
appeal, a suggestion of high ad
venture, that working in a
Harlem slum or a migrant
workers’ camp in Southern Cal
ifornia lacks. How many of
the peace corps volunteers
joined up to see the world?
The nearest precedent for a
corps such as the President
is considering was the Civilian
Conservation Corps formed in
the depression years by the
Roosevelt administration.
The state of the economy then
was quite different from that of
today. Thousands of youths were
unable to find any kind of job,
whereas today,although the pool
of unemployed is large, the work
force is the largest in the his
tory of the country. Jobs are
available for those with training
and skills.
The CCC force was put to
work planting trees in the nat
ional forests, a job requiring no
previous training and little
skill. It was “made work.’’
But the proposed national
service corps would be seeking
men and women trained as
teachers , welfare workers,
therapists, dieticians and the
like, for whom, it is admitted,
there is a short supply. With
out the lure of foreign travel,
how many Americans are so
dedicated to serving their own
country that they would choose
to work for living expenses in
stead of taking salaried po
sitions?
The question also arises,
would such volunteers be
welcomed by the established
agencies now working in slums,
recreation centers, Indian res
ervations, hospitals and cor
rectional institutions? Govern
ments of underdeveloped count
ries received the Peace Corps
volunteers with open arms be
cause they had no natives
capable of doing what the vol
unteers could do. But the
local authorities are prone to
resent the suggestion that they
need help from the Federal Gov
ernment.
Congress, too, may be ex
pected to show more hostility
to a domestic service corps
than it did to the Peace Corps.
Congress was induced to
authorize the Peace Corps by
the argument that it might help
win us friends in the cold war
among the underdeveloped
countries. But the argument
can hardly be made that a ser
vice corps is needed to keep
unde rprivileged Americans
from going communist.
THE RETICENT NON-CATHOLIC OBSERVERS
Sum and Substance
Here in Rome the journalists
are anxious to publicize the
reactions of the non-Catholic
observers but they find that
the observers themselves are
reluctant to voice their reac
tion.
This atti
tude
on the
part of the
observers is
unde rstand-
able. They
are not bound
in secrecy
to withhold
what they
hear in Council but they have
been asked by Vatical authori
ties to be discreet and they are
the soul of discretion.
They do not want to violate
the hospitality shown them nor
do they care to make statements
that might have unhappy rever
berations in their own denomi
nations. If they were to speak
too enthusiastically of the Coun
cil, some of their co-religion
ists might fear they were
contemplating conversion to
Rome.
I have talked to many of the
observers and in the course of
the conversation they unavoid
ably let slip remarks that indi
cate their reactions but they
generally follow up with the
request, “Please don’t quote
me?’’
Without violating any confi
dences, I can report some gen
eral reactions of observers
without mentioning names.
First, there is among them a
sense of surprise and admira
tion for the complete freedom
of expression
bishops.
Some observers came to
Rome expecting a “rubber-
stamp" Council. Instead they
found a rich diversity of opin
ions. As Cardinal Bea said in
a recent talk about his work
with observers, “Some of them
were surprised. . .seeing how
a cardinal can voice an opinion
which is contrary to the opin
ion of another cardinal."
In fact, I would say that at
this stage of the proceedings,
the observers are hoping for
some restrictions on freedom
of speech so as to get on with
the Council.
They have been impressed
also by the confidence reposed
in them. Not only are they in
the Council itself but as Car
dinal Bea remarked they are
“truly pleased” by “the trust
with which all the documents
have been placed at their dis
posal which the Council Fathers
have received."
The Secretariat for Promot
ing Christian Unity has issued
to the observers an invitation to
once-a-week conferences at
which they listen to theologians
or liturgists addressing them on
a Council topic. At these con
ferences they freely express
their criticisms, observations
and suggestions about the Coun
cil. (These meetings of course
are not open co journalists or
the general public.)
Dr. W. A. Viser ’t Hooft,
secretary general of the World
Council of Churches, speaking
at Geneva recently said that
the Protestant observers were
not “simple observers" since
WITNESSING FOR CHRIST WINS A CONVERT
Sharing Our Treasure
| #
a
•*; •?/ *5* led
iSWli
HITLER WOULD CHEER. TOO
It Seems to Me
I could seat you in my car,
start the engine, and an hour
later escort you into a big
suburban house where a hus
band and wife and their daughter
care tenderly for spastic
children and
REV. JOHN B. SHEERIN. C.S.P.
granted the they engage in “a veritable dia
logue" with the Council
Fathers. He said that these
discussions were “extremely
interesting and beneficial",
many of them having been ini
tiated by individual bishops who
wanted to find out the frank
opinions of the observers on
Council topics.
As you walk along Via Con-
ciliazone almost any day, you
can see observers engaged in
conversation with Council fig
ures as they sip that horrible
Roman coffee at sidewalk cafes.
The enthroning of the Book of
Gospels at the beginning of each
session has also impressed the
observers as have the high level
of theological content in the
bishops' speeches, the bishops'
solicitude for intimate and re
verent participation of the faith
ful in the liturgy and the ex
traordinary universality in
unity reflected in the Council.
The intense spiritual interest
of these non-Catholics in the
Council’s deliberations is mir
rored in the little community
of four monks of Taize, Cal
vinists who have set up on Via
del Plebiscito a humble chapel
where they will recite the divine
office for the cause of Chris
tian Unity for the duration of
the Council.
The observers undoubtedly
have reservations about the
Oriental and Renaissance pomp
and ceremony and the vesture
of the bishops but as of this
moment, the Council represents
to them a bright and glorious
hope for an eventual union of all
Christians in one fold and one
Faith.
Through the sacrament of
Confirmation a Catholic receiv
es the graces that enable him
to be an apostle and win souls
for Christ. This is the truth
which Bishop John C. Cody of
London, Can
ada, stressed
when he
launched a di
ocesan - wide
campaign for
souls. “Once
we have at
tained spirit
ual adulthood
in Confirma-
REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN
tion," said Bishop Cody, “ours
is the perpetual obligation of
giving birth to Christ in the
hearts of our fellow men."
How can you do this? By
bearing witness to the truth
and life-giving, soul-saving
power of your holy faith at
every suitable opportunity. Be
cause so many Catholics ob
serve a clam-like silence in
regard to their religion, they
pass up many opportunities of
giving birth to Christ in the
hearts of others. The fruitful
ness of witnessing for Christ
is illustrated in the conversion
of C. Patrick Patton of Kan
sas City, Missouri.
“I was reared a Campbel-
lite," he related, “and attend
ed church and Sunday school
regularly. Indeed I used to go
out and talk to people about
their spiritual life. Though I
married a Catholic and our six
children were raised Catholic,
I remained a Campbellite. As
Catholics rarely speak about
their religion, the misconcep
tions about their Church, which
I had from childhood, remained
(Continued on Page 5)
babies with
huge hydro-
cephalic heads.
If you rode
to work with
me we would
be likely, som-
where along
the way, to find
ourselves waiting at a traffic
light beside a little yellow bus
filled with small boys and girls
on their way to a school for
the mentally retarted.
Almost any morning, we could
cruise through the neighbornood
where I live and see crippled
youngsters being carried from
their homes to a limousine
that takes them to a place where
they recieve therapy and special
training from experts.
ON A WEEKEND, we could
visit an institution filled with
people who are bedridden or in
wheel chairs, their limbs twist
ed and motionless, or uncon-
trollably jerking because of
nervous afflictions.
After a three-hour drive on
a turnpike we could watch with
dedicated people, with the help
of ingenious scientific devices
penetrate the world of sound
lessness and teach deaf pupils
to talk, to read lips and books,
and to prepare for useful and
happy lives as adults.
FROM MY HOME in the sum
mertime, you can look down the
street and see a father and
mother coming to see grandma,
accompanied by a daughter who,
in childhood, was unable to
walk, to talk, or to use her
hands or arms.
I could show you (or you could
show me) men and women who
write or paint or do other dif
ficult things with pens or brush
es held in their teeth or toes,
or who, though blind, "see"
with their other senses.
A number of times, I have
had in my automobile a sight
less young man who, by listen
ing to sounds, could tell you
when you passed under a bridge,
when you crossed an intersec
tion, and when you reached the
house where he lived.
SPRINKLED PROFUSELY all
around the earth are people and
institutions who provide for the
special needs of the handicapped
of all kinds - the paralyzed, the
amputees, the parapleegics and
all the rest.
It is not the afflicted who need
us nearly as much as it is we
who need them, because if there
were no one whom we could
help, we would grow selfish and
purposeless and inhuman.
We would be in danger of be
coming like Hitler, who in hide
ous cruelty and pride showed
the world, with a vengeance,
what monsters men and women
can become when life and love
JOSEPH BREIG
are not valued.
HITLER HAD , a solution-or
so he thought - for the problem
of physical and mental afflic
tion. Kill the afflicted and make
the race perfect - that was
his idiot’s answer. Only he did
not make the race perfect; he
made people resemble devils,
and Europe resemble hell.
We can appreciate the force
ot the Diow that fell upon a^
family in Liege, Belgium
when a baby was born without
arms after the mother had taken
the drug thalidomide during
pregnancy.
We sympathize. But we do not
sympathize with the family’s
pitting the baby to death. And
emphatically, we do not sym
pathize with the empty-headed
crowds that made the jury’s
not-guilty verdict, which was a
traversty of law, an occasion
for merrymaking in the streets.
Only a few years have passed
since Belgium suffered under
Hitler’s hellishness. Belgians
of all people, ought to remem
ber. And even if that were not
so, nobody has any right to be
as brainless as the celebrators
of the acquittal. Nobody has a
right to forget for one moment
that everything human and de
cent on earth depends upon un
flinching defense of the right
of the innocent and helpless to
life and love.
THE JOYFUL MOMENTS
Jottings
By BARBARA C. JENCKS
“Glory be to God for dappled things—
F^r skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
r i
swim;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that
Fibsh-fire, coal chestnut-falls; finches; wings
Lancscape plotted and pierced-fold, fallow and plough;
all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. . . ”
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Ari
but awa
and mer
Ga speaks to us in many ways of His love for us. In
the gorious season of Fall, we stop especially and wonder
at th( beauties of His hand as seen in the skies and trees.
As vi grow older, we stop looking for the miracle, the
extralrdinary and our hearts begin to fill up and warm at
the litle trinkets He places within our days to cause joy.
Often! remember a sermon in which the preacher bes-
towedlthe wish that daily between our rising and our re
tiring ye could find one instance of God’s special care for
us. Tljt is not difficult. There are sometimes a dozen in
stance! which our finite minds could mark. Yet within
each eta, no matter how busy, hard, dark there also comes
the boris gift of song, word, deed which can make our heart
leap wh delight. The world holds so much that is good
and ofta we wish that we could immortalize a moment
of quiq content or satisfaction or inspiration. If we are
2 of these moments, our days will double with job
fng.
* * *
>s daily is in itself the very best gift of all times.
pass out of the darkness and hallowed chapel,
neet God and goodness and joy in many other
find it in good conversation with our fellow-
ids and strangers alike. Joy can be found in
in hearing the music of Mozart on record or
tovie like “Music Man” which makes you feel
alive andgood as does reading a book like “To Kill a
Mockingbn." You are alive and glad you are a member
of the hurln race. In my section of Providence— the pride
of the newesident — the city’s skyline is seen at an ideal
advantage.lt is as if a special mural had been painted
against thteky just for me. The sunsets are lovlier there
—purples,manges, reds, and the spire of St. Xavier’s
can be seejand the double-guard which is the tower of the
Cathedral; lere are the factory lights and hospital lights,
symbols of jan's world amid the near too-perfect beauty of
the skies aitrees. A concert, a new book, a chance meet
ing a lejr, all can lift the heart and make everyday a
kind of holic
All aroum
harbingers
delicately tuj
theme. A p<
balm, a lecti
itary walk, althese may open doors of the soul and^give
again and aa to man an immortal moment of sweet
ness and pea^. But ah, the Mass, there is no other way
(Continued on Page 5)
s if we would but stop and listen, there are
oy. Each day is an adventure if we are but
as a transistor to the mood and sound and
a record concert on the radio may hold
a sermon, a letter, a conversation, a sol-
DORIS REVERE PETERS
2)orid ^
n&werS
YOUTH
Girl Undecided
About Teaching Career
Dear Doris:
I just started college this fall.
I thought I would like to teach
but now I’m not sure and I'm
worried. And I’m not sure what
I would teach. Have you any
suggestions?
Anne S. (New York)
First stop worrying. The de
cision doesn’t have to be made
immediately. You have until
sophomore year to choose your
major.
When investigating any car
eer look into both the personal
and technical qualifications. It’s
also wise to examine both the
job functions and job require
ments. Then take a good look at
yourself to see if you measure
up. The list of qualifications
for teachers is long but I'll
mention a few.
A good teacher needs to be
a good student and like to study
for she will be studying all her
life. She must be tolerant of,
and interested in, people. She
should like people. A good
teacher needs patience andgood
feet.
Ask yourself these questions;
Do you think you would prefer
to work in the grades with the
younger children or in high
school with teenagers? Are you
particularly good in one
subject? If so then you might
be happier and more satisfied
teaching your favorite subject
in high school. Some high school
teachers after a few years de
cide to study further in order
to qualify as a college instruc
tor.
Or maybe you would get along
better with the younger child
ren. You might like the variety
of a grade school teaching pro
gram. To some the elementary
school offers a challenge
because of the influence they
have in shaping the mind of a
young child.
In the next two years you
will find the answers to these
question. You will receive
help from class advisors, in
structors, the guidance counse
lor and the dean. Don’t be
afraid to talk to them about your
indecision. It will not be new
to them. You will also get ideas
from the courses you take and
from fellow students.
Ask Our Lord, the greatest
of teachers for His guidance.
He who has given you the spark
for this most worthy vocation
will certainly help you come to
a decision.
LETTER UNANSWERED
Dear Doris:
This may seem strange com
ing from a boy, but I have a
small problem. A couple of
months ago I met this girl at a
party a friend of mine was giving
for her cousin. We got to talking
about where she lived and the
like. I thought she was a very
nice girl. I didn’t think about
her for the next few weeks until
I saw her at a dance on Satur
day night before school started.
From that time on I took a
sort of liking towards her. And
she gave me the impression that
she liked me also. So the follow
ing week I wrote her a letter.
I knew she got it for her friend
told me so. But she has never
answered it. In the letter I asked
her to ask her parents for
permission to write to me. I
was wondering if I should write
her again or just forget her.
She lives out of town. Did I
do wrong by writing her?
Troubled (Texas)
There was certainly nothing
wrong in writing to her. And you
displayed good judgment in sug
gesting she ask for her parents’
permission to write to you. But
if she doesn’t answer either
she or her parents aren’t in
favor of the idea. So I guess
you’ll have to forget about her.
CHECK HIM OFF
Dear Doris:
I have a problem. I was dating
this boy for about one month
but I haven’t seen him since
last July. I work for his aunt
and so sometimes he comes
here. One of my friends asked
him why he didn’t date me any
more and he said because I’m
going with someone else. I like
this boy and he couldn’t have
been nicer to me. Should I
phone or write-to him? I’m 17.
Marie S. (Canada)
Never phone a boy unless you
have a specific reason or you
will scare him away completely.
Boys don’t like to be pursued.
And they like agressive girls
even less.
Sounds as if you might have
to check him off your list.
It’s a long time since July.
| QUESTION BOX [
By David Q. Liptak
Q. Every now and then one
hears about pantheism? What’s
it all about?
A. Pantheism is a false philo
sophical theological theory
which confuses God with the
world almost to the point where
the two are identified. The term
comes from the Greek words
pan (i.e., “all") and theos
(“God").
IT GOES WITHOUT saying
that pantheism contradicts the
revealed truth that there is a
personal God who created the
universe out of absolute
nothingness. And from an ex
clusively metaphysical view
point, pantheism cannot be
squared with the principle that,
unlike the universe which was
caused and began to be in time,
the Maker of all things must of
essence be an uncaused, infinite
being.
TO UNDERSTAND how any
half-intelligent person could be
impressed by the pantheistic
premise, it is first necessary
to draw a sharp distinction
between crass pantheism and
so-called “scientific" or so
phisticated pantheism. The for
mer entails just about what its
description implies; i.e., crude
worship of the material world
and the elements of the cos
mos. Hence this is the kind of
pantheism that is usually asso
ciated with ignorant and de
generate savages; no half-in
telligent person would fall
for it.
“SCIENTIFIC" pantheism
does interest some otherwise
thinking individuals, however,
especially some “far-out" cha
racters who are always inquest
of esoteric interpretations in
any field, from art to athle
tics. Such was the pantheism
of Spinoza (d. 1677) which im
plied, among other things and
in one of the most mysterious
ly roundabout dialectics con
ceivable, that whatever is, is
in God, who is - the imminent
cause of all finite existence
and consequently that every man
is a God in miniature. The Ger
man Fichte’s panegoism a cen
tury later is another example of
(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 Archbishop of
Atlanta. Subscription price $3.00 per year. Subscription in
cluded in membership in Catholic Laymen’s Association.
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
Rev. Lawrence Lucree, Rev. John Fitzpatrick
Associate Editors, Savannah Edition
Vol. 43 Saturday, December 8, 1962 No. 14
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus President
MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon 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