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PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, December 22, 1962 \ The Illinois Decision WASHINGTON, (NC) - The Illinois decision to have tax payers support a determined program to cut down the num ber of births among the state's poor people raises grave ques tions of public policy. Other states and communi ties probably will be forced to face the same questions Illi nois is debating because birth control organizations undoubt edly will argue that the state offers a precedent for others to follow. Furthermore, the impact may be felt on the national level. The six to four vote of the Illi nois Public Aid Commission contrasts sharply with present and past stands of national ad ministrations. The Federal government has steadfastedly refused to permit birth control to become endor sed and supported as public policy. Birth control groups can be expected to try to upset this position in view of Illinois’ action. Behind the Illinois decision lies the belief that by prevent ing the birth of children to public welfare recipients, tax money due to support these youngsters will be saved. Thus, any welfare recipient with a spouse or a child can get at (By J- J. Gilbert) public expense medical service and contraceptives, including the medically controversial “birth control pill.” Originally, the commission planned to vote on the proposal without public hear ings. But, as controversy mounted, two days of hearings were held, with Catholic spokesmen—clerical and lay— presenting the negative point of view. Catholics stressed that they did not want to impose their moral stand regarding artifi cial birth control on others. They suggested compromises, such as a plan for referral of public aid recipients to private sources for family planning in formation. The questions they raised in the debate ranged from al legations that such a program can lead to state interference with individual rights to char ges that the proposal was being acted upon without definite proof that it would save money—a dubious basis for a policy that offends the convictions of a great segment of society. If poor people are encouraged and given the means to avoid bringing children into the world, in the belief this will save tax dollars, why not, then, for the same reason, finance steriliza tions, or abortions? Why main tain tax-supported institutions for the hopelessly ill? Euthan asia might save money. Furthermore, it is admitted by proponents of the campaign that there is no solid evidence it will save money. Critics say it may even cost more because of the continued medical atten tion necessary to make it ef fective. Some Catholics noted that the Criminal Cole of Illinois makes adultery, fornication and pros titution crimes, yet contracep tives can be given under the new policy to unmarried mothers, some of them teenagers, and to mothers separated from the father of their children, thus encouraging immoral and criminal behavior. Finally, uncertainty exists about whether the state- financed efforts won't be used to tranquilize the social con science, to replace efforts which would extend equal op portunity and brotherhood to minority groups, especially economically and culturally disadvantaged Negroes who are the main target of the Illinois scheme. VATICAN TACT OR TACTICS? Sum and Substance REV. JOHN B. SHEERIN. C.S.P. A few weeks ago L’Osserva- tore Romano carried the fol lowing notice: “The Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity wishes to make clear that it has been most happy with the delegated ob- servers whom it has invited. All, without ex ception, have shown a sin cerely reli gious and and ecumeni- spirit. The Secretariat thus deplores cer tain public comments which have been contrary to the spirit animating the loyal contacts with the delegated observers. The Secretariat dissociates it self from such public com ments.” This communique apparently referred to the sinister rumors circulating in Rome in regard to the Russian Orthodox observ ers. This statement by the Sec retariat deplored Roman gossip about the “questionable mo tives” of the Russians. But there was another rumor that- originated in New York that cast suspicion on the Secretar iat as well as the Russian ob servers. ACCUSES VATICAN According to a New York Times account, Archbishop Iak- ovos, Greek Orthodox primate in America, charged that the Vatican was the villain of the piece. In issuing the invitation to the Russians, he alleged, the Vatican had resorted to tactics "apparently aimed at disrupting and undermining the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch.” According to Iakovos, the Or thodox churches had agreed among themselves that Ecu menical Patriarch Athenagoras of Istanbul, should negotiate with the Vatican regarding in vitations and he was to re ceive and transmit the invita tions to the individual churches since he enjoyed a primacy of honor among them. The Vatican, by sending in vitations to the individual churches- had tried to under mine Orthodox unity and the trick worked with the Russian Orthodox only because they had ulterior motives of their own. So said the Archbishop. The Secretariat was too busy with Council affairs to give due attention to this item in a New York newspaper. But grave harm had been done to the good name of the Secretariat which has been so scrupulously care ful to treat the Ecumenical Patriarch and all the Orthodox leaders with great respect and brotherly benevolence. The fact is that last summer the Secretariat sent invitations not only to Patriarch Atheno- goras but also to the heads of other Orthodox churches be cause several had requested that the invitations be sent di rectly to them. The Secretariat complied with these requests, notifying the Orthodox leaders that Secretary Willebrands had already been in contact with Patriarch Athenagoras and that it was for them to decide whe ther they should respond to the invitations on their own or through Patriarch Athenagoras. RUSSIAN REQUEST In late August, Archbishop Nikodim of the Russian Ortho dox church met Monsignor Wil lebrands in Paris and told him that the Russians would like to receive a visit from him so that they might receive an invitation in the same way in which it was communicated to other churches. Monsignor Willebrands then flew to Mos cow and shortly thereafter the invitation was in the hands of the Russian Orthodox. They ac cepted, not knowing that Pat riarch Athenagoras had decli ned in the meantime. It may well have been the truth that there was a mutual minunderstanding, Patriarch Athenagoras assuming that the Russians were hostile to the idea of sending observers and the Russians assuming that the Ecumenical Patriarch would not reply to the invitation. One point is crystal clear. The Secretariat’s conduct was beyond reproach. It tried to honor the wishes of Patriarch Athenagoras and respect at the same time the sensibilities of the other Orthodox leaders. The failure of so many venerable Oriental churches to send ob servers was a painful disap pointment to Pope John and Cardinal Bea but there are' good reasons for hoping that these churches will send observers to the second ses sion of the Council. CONVERT URGES COMPLETE INSTRUCTION Sharing Our Treasure If you want expert help in sharing your Faith, get two new 15-cent pamphlets. Seven Ways to Win Converts, Queen’s Work Press, St. Louis 18, and Share Your Faith, American Press, New York They set forth not only the du ty of Catholics to bring Christ's life- giving truths to others but also the me thods of doing this. One of the most effective is to bring a churchless friend to a priest for systematic in struction. This is illustrated in the con version of Louis Edward O’ Donnell of East Syracuse, New York. “My parents,” he re lated, “were members of no Church and, though I went oc- assionally to various churches, I wasn't baptized. My interest in the Catholic Church began when I was keeping company with Mary Ellen Gleason. A devout Catholic, Mary explain ed to me that a Catholic can be married validly only by a Catholic priest. “Furthermore, the non- By Rev. John A. O’Brien, Ph.D. Catholic must take a brief course of pre-marital instruc tions. This 1 took from Father Norbert Sheed, O.F.M., pastor of St. Mary;s Minoa, New York, who married us while I was home on a furlough. Ten years later we had several of our children in the parochial school and they began to ask questions about their lessons in the ca techism . I had promised that they would be raised Catholic. “But how could I keep that promise if I couldn’t answer their questions? Hence I call ed on Father John Costello at St. Matthew’s Church, East Syracuse and asked for in structions. He gave me a copy of Catechism for beginners and had me come once a week for six months. I'll never forget the line of evidence he pre sented to show that the Catho lic Church is Christ’s true Church. “First he proved from Scrip ture that Christ is God. Then he showed from the Bible how Christ founded a Church, say ing to the Apsotles: 'Go, there fore, and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the consumma tion of the world’ (Mt. 28:19). “The list of popes stretching in unbroken succession from Peter to the present pontiff is the Church’s title deed to the truths of Christ and to its au thority to teach all nations. With grateful heart I was received into Christ’s true Church and received our Eucharistic Lord. Now we are a truly united fami ly, saying our prayers toge ther. “At first I dreaded con fession, but now I look forward to it. After leaving the confes sional, I feel as close to heaven as anyone can get in this life. The Latin in the Mass had me stumped, and I still wish it were in English, but a missal helps somewhat. My advice to all marrying a Catholic is: ‘Get a complete course of instruc tion. It will lead you into Christ’s true Church and unify your whole married life.’ (Father O'Brien will be glad to have converts send their names and addresses to him at Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana, so he may write up their conversion stories.) LOOK WHAT’S NEWS NOW! It Seems to Me So you’re beginning to talk about religion. It's a conver sation piece. No longer do you avoid the subject because it’s too controversial and leads to people getting red in the face and yelling at one another. Religion is b ecoming fas hionable. It’s getting into living rooms and cocktail bars. It’s - bobbing up on planes and buses, and in the pages of popular magazines and “think” publications. Folks who can talk intelli gently about religion are eager ly listened to, questioned and cross-questioned. Conversations are turning from sports to theology; from autos to Church history; from fashions to Christian unity; from community doings to the Judeo-Christian inheritance. The names of churchmen are becoming almost as well known as those of ball players. RELIGION IS NEWS; excit ing news. Religion has broken out of the cocoon in which we wrapped it because it was a matter of personal loyalty and hardly at all of intellectual com prehension, and therefore a touchy subject. We are learning to talk calm ly and humbly about it, and to realize how fascinating it is, how mysterious, how complex and yet how indispensable for solving the perplexities of life, whether personal or interna tional. Religion is on the move. The planet, you might say, is thaw ing; and the great glaciers of God, no longer frozen in place, are going irresistibly across the world. And the world is going to be changed for the better. The ecumenical movement, at which dedicated Protestants have labored so patiently, along with the Orthodox Churches, are largely responsible for all this. And the ecumenical coun cil in Rome is giving it new impetus. AFTER ALL, if cardinals, archbishops and bishops from everywhere can get together to debate theology, vigorously and outspokenly, are the rest of us just going to sit there? No we too are becoming interested. This is one of the great goods of the ecumenical move ment and the council. Another is the new atmosphere of friend liness in matters religious. A third is the shattering of the notion that the Catholic Church is as monolithic and rigid as a Byzantine court. The fluidity and flexibility of the Church are being realized. It is not like a huge frozen statue; it i s a living thing, vigorously at work, criticizing itself, searching for greater perfection. JOSEPH BREIG A COMMISSION headed by a famous cardinal presents a draft of a proposed statement on the sources of Revelation, and the arguments begin flying. This won’t do, it is said; this is not the best way to express our belief. The Secretariat for Promo ting Christian Unity speaks up. Its spokesman says that the statement in this form will be a new obstacle to Christian union at the very time when the ecumenical movement is mak ing such great progress. The secretariat calls for a redraft. Others judge that the best thing to do would be to drop the subject for now. After all, theologians are still studying and debating the problem. Fur ther clarification can be ex pected. Why not wait? THE SUGGESTION that the matter be left for some future council is put to a vote. It fails, barely, to get a two- thirds majority. Apparently the decision is that a statement should be made but not in this form. Delegate-observers repre senting other Christians watch in amazement, and voice their astonishment. They had thought that in the Catholic Church the pope decides everything and the bishops and the people just go along. They are happily astounded. A missionary bishop calls a press conference and tells newsmen that he has proposed a “world Mass” composed chiefly of the words of Christ in the languages of the various peoples. He has put his idea before the council. He smiles and says it is “a mustard seed”—it will grow. So it goes. In a world that some had thought was going to secularism and atheism and materialism, religion suddenly stands up, gigantic. CHRISTMAS WISHES Jottings By BARBARA C. JENCKS Christmas is a time for wishing. Tonight I wish I were many things other than a 0 \£riter with a Christmas column to produce. Every year i|ais the same problem. I yearn to write the stars out of the sky and to bring readers to their knees before the wonder of the season. I never can. I wish that I were a little girl again so that I might capture the innocent wonder of Christmas. It would be worth a kingdom to view the world as a 'five-year-old again at Christmas. The innocence of childhood fails to seethe world of the grownup with its complexities and distractions. Per haps that is why all men love Christmas, it takes them back to the innocence and safety of childhood. I would like to be the mother of a little boy at Christmas, too. I would like to take him on my lap and read the story of another little Boy’s Christmas many hundreds of years ago in the city of Bethlehem. At Christmas, I wish, too, that I were a cloistered nun far from the distractions of the holiday world. I yearn to escape from the frenzied crowds which attempt to take all the magic and music from the season. I could contemplate then away from all distractions the meaning and promise of Christmas. And if I were a cloistered nun this night, I would never for a moment forget those out in the world imprisoned by the tangibles of Christmas. Nuns, no matter how old they are, hold some of the starry-eyed Christmas wonder of children. Alas, I am a writer. I am not a little girl again or a cloistered nun or the mother of a little boy. I have words at my disposal to translate the feelings which set my heart aflame. Words never appear as inadequate as they do at Christmas. Christmas is something sacred. It is silence and rever ence and peace and joy. These things cannot escape at the snap of a writer’s fingers or at the command of an editor for a Christmas story. I can never write the stars out of the sky at Christmas as much as I desire. It matters little. For everyone holds his own private thoughts about Christmas. Inspiration is in the air and is not dependent on the words of a column. One does not have to be a mother, a nun, a little girl or a writer to know the wonder of Christmas and to hold it close. All we must do is contemplate again the birth of a Baby Who is God. DORIS REVERE PETERS &&orid ndwerd YOUTH ELOPING IS IMMATURE APPROACH TO MARRIAGE Dear Doris: ' I realize my problem may be presented to you everyday but I have not found an an swer for it yet. I am in love with a wonderful boy. (At least I think I am). But how can I know for sure? We want to get married after I finish high school but my parents will not consent to it. I will be 18 then. Is it possible for us to marry in the Church in a simple cer emony without my parents con sent? He wants to elope but that would mean excommuni cation. He is not yet a Cath olic but is becoming one. Can you please help us? Advice seekers (Texas) Boys are wonderful—love is wonderful—marriage is won derful. But all have their prop er time. I don’t think mar riage is for you at this time. In the first place you are a minor and are obliged to com ply with your parents wishes. I am sure all their wishes are based on sound judgment and wisdom — and on their love for you. Eloping would be an imma ture approach to marriage. Many, many broken marriages are the result of hasty decis ions by teenagers. My advise is to comply with the wishes of your parents and the teach ings of the Church. One day (not too far away) you will re alize that a delay now will bring about a wonderful mar riage later. HEAVY MAKE-UP Dear Doris: I have read your answers in the paper and I was very in terested with the one "Would Enter Convent” for the answer you give is true. It has hap pened to me also. I was inter ested in entering the convent with just a grade nine educa tion but I found out that it would be better.,with more education. Also if you cannot get along with your parents very well then it would be hard in the con vent. Now I also have a question for myself. Why do girls need this heavy make-up? Does it help for" health? I think not, for powder would close the por es of the skin. Why is it nec essary to color the hair? Please excuse writing for I am a Dutch girl. Anna Maria (Ontario) I’m happy you enjoy the col umn, Anna Maria, I agree too that girls have to learn how to get along with people no mat ter which vocation they choose. And they learn this at home first with their parents. Hair coloring is a fad. And teenagers are always happy to try something new. Constant use of dye may eventually dam age the hair even when done by an expert. But many have to learn the hard way. Girls wear make-up because they think it makes them look glamorous. And some who use a heavy hand with it make them selves look ridiculous. A little make-up goes a long way. And even a little has to be remov ed thoroughly everyday. Other wise pores will become en larged and your complexion suf fers. Many girls with skin prob lems could clear them in no time by using a little less make up and a little more soap. JOB OR SUMMER SCHOOL Dear Doris: I’m in my third year of high school. At the end of this year I would like to go to summer school for advanced work and I would also like to get a part time job. My Dad says it would be too much for me to handle but I would like to have some money for senior year expen ses. Should I listen to my Dad and either work or go to summer school or should I try to do both and take my chances on passing in summer school? Tom (New York) Your Dad makes sense. I would listen to him. Unless you fail a subject and have to make it up in summer school I’m in favor of the part time job. It not only provides a change of pace from the rou tine of school it’s a good ex perience. However the job situation next summer may make your decis ion for you. Jobs were hard to find last year and may be again this summer. Start looking early and you may be one of the lucky ones. If you can’t get a job go to summer school — but don’t try both. QUESTION BOX (By David Q. Liptak) Q. Does chewing gum break the Communion Fast? A. The problem in trying to determine whether or not chew ing gum breaks the Communion Fast stems from the fact that gum of itself--excluding the candy-coated variety and the medicinal kind—is neither food nor drink nor true medicine. Hence it cannot be neatly as signed to one of the three prin cipal categories in terms of which the Eucharistic Fast legislation is formulated. TO BE DIRECT, the question is not settled with certainty. The opinion that ordinary gum does not violate the Communion Fast is probably enough insofar as the letter of the law is concerned, though it definitely would be more reverent not to chew gum before Communion. FATHER E.J. Regatillo, S.J., who wrote on this subject in 1958, was of the opinion that ordinary chewing gum does not break the fast at all. Com menting on Father Regatillo’s judgment in the December 1960, Theological Studies, Father John J. Farraher, S. J., takes the same view, though he adds that it might be good to advise against the use of gum just before Communion. A PRACTICAL NORM in this area has been offered by Bishop Thomas Riley, who edits the “Questions and Answers” col umn for the Boston Pilot, "Regardless of the dispute on this point,” he wrote last year, "it would seem more reverent to abstain from chewing gum during the three-hour period prior to the receiving of Holy Communion.” NOTE THAT this entire dis cussion revolves around ordi nary gum. Candy-coated gum must be assessed according to the rules pertaining to solids in general; i.e., they are not to be taken for three hours before Communion time. Medicinal gums, i.e., those containing true medicine such as aspirin, should normally be assessed, it seems, according to the rules pertaining to the use of true medicine before Communion. 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 Kieman Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition John Markwalter, Managing Editor Rev. Lawrence Lucree, Rev. John Fitzpatrick Associate Editors, Savannah Edition Vol. 43 Saturday, December 22, 1962 No. 15 ASSOCIATION OFFICERS GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus President MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon Vice-President NICK CAMERIO, Macon Secretary JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta 1 Treasurer ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary