Newspaper Page Text
> ,
L
PAGE TWO—THE BULLETIN, February 8, 1958.
‘failure Of Communication”
Cause Of Hostility To Legion
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
NEW YORK — “Tragic fail
ures of communication” between
Catholics and other religious
groups since the founding of the
National Legion of Decency in
1934 have caused today’s “smol
dering hostility” to the agency.
“We must repair our differenc
es,” declared Jesuit Father
Thurston N. Davis, editor of
America, national Catholic week
ly. “The public issues before us
are grave, and they will not brook
our partisan delays and hesita
tions. The entire structure of the
public morality of our society is
the dominant problem before us.”
Father Davis spoke at the
eighth annual Communion break
fast for Catholics irl the motion
picture industry in the New York
area. The breakfast was held in
the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, fol
lowing a Mass in St. Patrick’s
Cathedral.
Father Davis said that he was
investigating “the question of the
support that the Legion of De
cency deserves but has not got-
, ten.’ - Ro*erring- to the Legion as
“that much-discussed and often
mis-represented agency,” he con
tended that both Catholics and
non-Catholics had withheld
merited support for the organiza
tion.
Many Catholics, he asserted,
“have never bothered to learn
(the Legion’s) clearly stated pur
poses, and some . . . have allow
ed their nominal support of its
objectives to be rountinized al
most to the point of meaningless
ness.”
However, more serious than
this “backsliding” on the part of
some Catholics, declared Father
Davis, is the attitude of many
non-Catholics toward the Legion.
He said it was his impression
that “within the past few years
there has grown up a certain
rigid and frigid relationship be
tween a relatively large and vo
cal group of non-Catholics and
the Catholic Legion of Decency.”
He pointed to the controversy
over the motion picture “Baby
Doll,” condemned by the Legion
as “morally repellent . both in
theme and treatment,” as the
most notable recent incident il
lustrating the “smoldering hos
tility” that characterizes the at
titude of* many non-Catholics
toward the agency.
JOHN MARSHALL
LAV/ SCHOOL
115 Forrest Ave.,
N. E.
JA. 3-8550
Day and Evening Classes
CONE STREET
GARAGE
Roy Livingston Co.
38 CONE, N. W.. ATLANTA
Available At
18 LOCATIONS
Parking Spaces Always
TRAIN REPAIR
Fast Service Guaranteed
Lionel and Marx Factory
Approved Service Station
Crossman and Benjamin
AIR RIFLE REPAIR
ROD & REEL REPAIR
BOUTELLE'S
SERVICE
P. O. Box 2006. So. Dec. Sta.
Decatur, Ga.
Father Davis recalled that “the
Cardinal - Archbishop of New
York had scarcely stepped out of
his pulpit before the Protestant
dean of one of our other local ca
thedrals was on his way to Times
Square to pose before a picture
of ‘Baby Doll’ in her crib, and to
tell the press he considered the
film a responsible judgment on
the facts of human life.”
Father Davis contended that
“we might have been spared this
confusing and scandalizing dif
ference of opinion among church
men” if the spirit of inter-faith
cooperation which surrounded the
Legion’s founding in 1934 still
existed.
“It appears to me,” Father
Davis said, “that a good many
non-Catholics, out of some sort
of spite against the Legion of
Decency, felt it was their obliga
tion to patronize ‘Baby Doll,’ just
because the Legion of Decency
was against it.”
The Jesuit editor declared that
“things were different in the per
iod immediately following the
Legion’s birth.” There was in
1934, he said, “a totally different
attitude on the part of non-
Catholics toward the Legion.”
He cited editorials and stories
which then appeared in such
publications as the New York
Times, the Springfield, Mass.
Union and the non-denominatiori-
al Protestant weekly, The Chris
tian Century, praising the Le
gion’s goals and reporting Pro
testant and Jewish support for its
objectives and methods.
Reports from these and other
sources, he said, reveal “the as
tounding total of 54 organiza
tions of Protestant and Jewish
churches, ministers or rabbis who
cooperated in securing pledges,
or who publicly announced their
support of the Legion campaign.”
“The climate of intercredal co
operation that in 1934 made pos
sible so unanimous, unequivocal
and spontaneous a response to the
cause of the Legion of Decency,”
Father Davis contended, “had by
1957 been almost entirely dissi
pated.”
“What shiftings of opinion and
sentiment have there been?” Fa
ther Davis asked. “What weaken
ings of moral commitments? What
erosive processes of secularism?
What breakdowns of good rela
tions? What deep-seated group
tensions? What tragic failures of
communication have little by lit
tle resulted in what can only be
called the scandal of this present
disarray of our collective moral
forces before an important moral
issue of our society?”
Admitting that he did not have
the answers to these questions,
Father Davis nevertheless as
serted that “answer them we
must if the the present dispersal
of American moral energies is to
be rallied against the attrition of
a progressive debasement of pub
lic morals in the entertainment
and the advertising world.”
He said that both Catholics and
non-Catholics should examine
themselves to find “the occasions
and causes of this failure, and
(should) resolve to avoid them
in the future.”
“We must repair our differenc
es,” Father Davis'declared. “The
public issures before us are
grave, and they will not brook
our partisan delays and hesita
tions. The entire structure of the
public morality of our society is
the dominant problem before us.”
He concluded that “if the Le
gion of Decency is to blossom in
a second spring of vilality and ef
fectiveness, all of us—all decent
people everywhere—must come
again to understand its purpose
and work together for their
achievement. For what is at stake
here is not some merely partisan
and parochial or sectarian goal.
It is the civic and public and
common goal of every American.”
, Children
Admire Wrong
Kind Of Heroe
..
NO HEARTBEAT FOR 165 MINUTES—Fourteen candles on a cake mark a small boy’s two-
week struggle to live. He is David Fleming, Jr. of Queens Village, N. Y., who underwent heart
surgery at St. Francis Hospital and Sanatorium, Roslyn, N. Y. During a five-hour operation, Da
vid’s heart stopped beating for two and three-quarter hours; being kept alive by a 15-member
Surgical team who tnassaged his heart by hand as they performed a delicate operation. 15 pints of
blood were given to him from donors who responded to newspaper, radio and TV appeals for help.
St. Francis Hospital is operated by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary-—(NC Photos).
As Testimony To Vitalii
Of The Nations, Trust In God
Think of the Future —
BEAT INFLATION
Only $250.00 down and the balance monthly for 5 years
buys a beautiful lot in Oglethorpe Estate near Our Lady
of the Assumption Church and School.
Call Us For Particulars .... GE. 7-7527
ETHERIBGE & VANREMAN
REALTORS
7201 PEACHTREE ROAD
ATLANTA. GA.
ROME, (Radio, NC) — Large
families are living proofs of the
physical and moral health of a
Christian people, of vital trust in
God and His providence and of
the fruitful and joyful holiness
of Catholic marriage, according
to His Holiness Pope Pius XII.
The Pontiff underlined these
three “testimonies” of the large
family in an address during an
audience granted to members of
the Association of Large Families
of Rome and Italy.
The Pope declared that he
wanted to make the subject of the
family a main point of his pas
toral teachings. He hailed large
families as “those most blessed
by God, beloved by the Church
and considered by it as one of its
most precious treasures.”
He also deplored “the most
harmful errors of a modern pa
ganizing society” which promote
limiting the size of the family.
He criticized the stand of people
who “dare, to define the fruitful
ness Of marriage as ‘a social ill
ness’ from which nations should
strive with every means to re
cover.”
The Holy Father pointed out
that there are persons, organiza
tions and newspapers which, al
though regarded as responsible
sources of opinion, are often pro
moters of so-called “reasonable
birth control.” He warned that
historians are correct in attribut
ing the first cause of a nation’s
decadence to violations of the
laws of marriage.
“On the Catholic s i d e,” • the
Pope continued, “it is necessary
to insist on the truth that the
physical and moral health of the
family and of society can be pro
tected only through full obedi
ence to the laws of nature, or
rather of the Creator, and above
all by a sacred and deep respect
for them.
“‘Everything in this matter de
pends upon intention. Laws can
be multiplied and punishments
increased, the folly of theories of
limitation and the damage deriv
ing from their practice can be
established with irrefutable
proofs. But if the sincere inten
tion to let the Maker accomplish
His work is wanting, human ego
ism will always be able to find
new sophisms and expedients for
silencing consciences, if possible,
and perpetuating abuses.”
The Pontiff declared that vital
faith in God and trust in the pro-
SURETY BONDED
COMPLETE PEST
CONTROL SERVICE
Insured — Terms Up To
3 Years
For Free Estimate ...
PLaza 5-6618
F. N. ROBERTS
CO.
Established 1941
Office — 1148 Gordon S. W.
Serving Atlanta
and 50 Mile Radius
vidence is the “testimony” which
the large family gives in the mod
ern world, where egoism ob
structs the expansion of the fam
ily.
“Only the divine and eternal
light of Christianity,” the Pope
declared, “illuminates and vivi
fies the family, in such a way
that, either at its origin or in its
development, the large family is
often considered the synonym of
the Christian family.”
Respect for divine laws has giv
en it the exuberance of life; faith
in God supplies parents with the
strength to face the sacrifices
and renunciations required for
the rearing of children; Christian
principles guide and. lighten the
difficult task of education; the
Christian spirit of love watches
over the family’s order and tran
quility w? lie it dispenses, almost
drawing upon nature itself, the
intimate family joys common to
parents, children and brothers . . .
“But God also visits large fam
ilies with His providence, to
which the parents, especially poor
ones, give an open testimony by
placing in it their entire trust
when human efforts are not suf
ficient, It is a trust well founded,
and not in vain . . . God does not
deny the means to live to those
He calls to life. Providence is a
reality, a necessity of , God the
Creator . . .”
The Pope went on to speculate
on what scientific discoveries
might bring in the future, includ
ing even possible habitation of
other planets. He said these dis
coveries might tap “new resourc
es.” But hd questioned whether
an improvement could be made
upon the “natural rhythm of pro
creation.”
Adding that “providence has
reserved to itself the future des
tiny of the world,” he declared
that “overpopulation is not there
fore a valid reason to spread il
licit practices of birth control, but
the pretext for legitimizing the
avarice and selfishness either of
those nations that fear a danger
to their own political power and
the lowering of their standards
of living because of the expan
sion of other nations, or of indi
viduals, especially the more weal
thy, who prefer the fuller enjoy
ment of earthly goods to the pride
and merit of creating new lives.
“God will not require men to
give an account of the general
destiny of humanity that falls
within His care,' but for the single
acts willed by them in compliance
with or in violation of the dic
tates of conscience.”
The Pope spoke of the large
family as the “garden of the
Church,” where happiness and
REX
EMPLOYMENT
Superior Domestic Help—
References Thoroughly
Checked
MU 8-8875,208 Auburn Ave.
ATLANTA, GA.
holiness flourish. He said that the
efforts, sacrifices and renuncia
tions of desire are all compensat
ed for in this life by the love and
hopes with which members of
large families are rewarded.
He also said that God shows
His special favor to large fami
lies by often making them the
source of vocations and “the cra
dles of saints.” He cited the ex
amples of St. Louis of France, one
of ten children, St. Catherine of
Siena, one of 25 children, St.
Robert Bellarmine, one of 12, and
St. Pius X, who came from a
family of 10.
Offer Memorial
Mass For Pope
Benedict XV
VATICAN CITY, (NC) — A
special Mass was offered at the
tomb of Pope Benedict XV in St.
Peter’s basilica commemorating
the 36th anniversary of his death.
His Eminence Federico Cardi
nal Tedeschini, Archpriest of the
Vatican basilica, was the cele
brant.
In an article commemorating
the death, L’Osservatore Romano,
Vatican City daily, recalled that
he had been elected pope in 1914,
just after the outbreak of World
War I. His pontificate, the news
paper said, was an “apostolate
of peace as marked by a gigantic
effort for peace as he was him
self physically feeble.”
The article recalled Pope Ben
edict’s words; “Woe if the Vicar
of the Prince of Peace should
remain silent during a stormy
hour. The spiritual and univers
al fatherhood with which he is
invested makes it a precise duty
for him to call to peace. No one
can prevent the Father from cry
ing to his children, ‘Peace! Peace!
Peace!”
L’Osservatore said that the
calls to peace of Pope Benedict
XV, Pope Pius XI and His Holi
ness Pope Pius XII “are never
silent.”
It continued:
“The conscience of the world
bears witness to the fact that
Pope Pius XII speaks for peace
. . . They listen to him attentive
ly, more so than any other leader;
his words are the most sincere
and the only ones which can
never be suspected of being
tainted with calcuation, oppor
tunism, deceit . . . The Pope has
spoken, and he will always speak,
highly and clearly, to the ears
and hearts of men. His voice un
mistakably carries the accent of
the words and voice of Christ:
the only One who does not err,
who does not deceive, does not
fade through time, and who has
never been overpowered or con
tradicted by human events.”
CAN'T COLLECT
A countless number of people
could retire comfortably on what
their experience has cost them.
Don’t condemn yourself by re
vealing the faults of others.
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
CINCINNATI — Children’s
minds are “filled with the wrong
kind of heroes,” a Catholic edu
cator warned here. He observed:
“Ted Kluszewski is honored much
more than Jonas Salk.”
Dr. Donald B. King, author and
proefssor of classics at Mount
St. Joseph College, declared that
“you cannot persuade youngsters
to treat school. work seriously if
all their heroes are athletes, en
tertainers and businessmen.”
Many of these “heroes,” Dr.
King admitted, “are very fine
people.” But he added that “when
very little attention is paid to
the intellectual heroes of our
society, children naturally get
the idea that academic work is
relatively unimportant.”
Calling parents’ attitudes tow
ard intellectual achievement the
most important factor in their
children’s attitudes, Dr. King de
plored the practice of “talking
more about a child’s^ success on
the school teams than his success
in school studies.”
Addressing the St. Claire Holy
Name Society, Dr. King, who is
the author of a recent booklet,
“The Challenge of Our Schools,”
pointed out that crowded class
rooms and teacher shortages
make it necessary for parents, to
“give their children the atten
tion many teachers are no longer
able to give them.”
He offered these “suggestions”
for parents concerned about their
children’s education:
1. Recognize that children in
the family may be quite different
from each other, and that the
“correct treatment for one may
be wrong for another.”
2. Create in the home an atti-
FIRST MASS ON ATOMIC SUB—First Mass to be celebrated
on a nuclear-powered vessel submerged, is offered by Captain
Donald F. Kelly, CHC, USN, Force Chaplain, Submarine Atlantic
Fleet. The Mass was celebrated on the USS Seawolk, and was at
tended by members of the “over and under” Navy. In all, approxi
mately 50 officers and enlisted men attended, coming from the
Naval Air Force, Quonset Point, R. I.; and including members of
the U. S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, Conn., and the crew
of the USS Seawolf. Father Kelly is of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
—(NC Photos).
tude of. respect for 1 scholarship.
3. Don’t neglect “the bright
children, but, give them special
reading and encouragement.
4. Take into account personali
ty differences. “A sensitive child,
for example,” the speaker said,
“may need extra encouragement
— something a teacher in a
crowded classroom is unable to
offer.”
5. Give boys, as a rule, more
attention than gii-ls in the learn
ing process. Boys encounter more
distractions from school work. Dr.
King said. Moreover, because
teachers are apt to be more stern
With boys, they are more likely
than girls to have an unfavorable
attitude toward school. “Besides,”
Dr. King added, “the future com
munity leaders are more likely
to be men than women, and un
less boys receive extra attention
in the first 12 years of school,
there will not be enough of them
fit. to be trained for leadership.”
Mrs. Patrick Boyle
Services In Augusta
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Funeral
services for Mrs. Patrick F. Boyle
were held January 27th at St.
Patrick’s Church, Rev. Arthur
Weltzer officiating.
Survivors are her husband and
two sisters, Mrs. T. D. Rogers oL
Augusta and Sp-2 Glady Weath
ers with the Women’s Army Corps
in Japan.
This high-power, long-range radar is typical of the complex de
vices which engineering knowledge and skill have produced.
Electronic instruments such as this are being used by scientists
to expand our intellectual horizons during the International
Geophysical Year.
National Engineers’ Woek
IGY Scientists Get Instruments From
Engineering Advances In Many Fields
By John T. Kane
Progress in engineering has
given scientists new “eyes and
ears” to study everything from
particles from outer space to
the molten metal in the core
of the earth.
And during this International
Geophysical Year, scientists are
carrying their new devices all
over the worjd in an all-out as-
sult on the storehouse of secrets
still locked lip in nature.
As the nation’s approximately
400,000 engineers observe Na
tional Engineers’ Week,, Febru
ary 16-22, a goodly share of
them will be able to say that
their achievements have given
scientists the new tools and in
struments which are expanding
man’s intellectual horizons in
all directions. Indeed, it might
be said that advances in engi
neering knowledge and skill are
the real basis for the current
world-wide cooperative effort in
science known as the Interna
tional Geophysical Year.
Take, for example, the scien
tific activities now being con
ducted in the polar regions.
When the first heroic explorers
traveled into the arctic and ant
arctic regions, they had nothing
but dog sleds and the crudest
of scientific instruments. Today,
•engineering achievements in
electronics and instrumentation
in general make it possible for
scientists to utilize the polar
areas as vast “laboratories”
from which we can learn about
weather, cosmic radiation, gla
ciers, gravity, geology, the
earth’s electromagnetic field,
and a long list of other subjects.
Weather
The IGY—as the period of
July 1, 1957 to December 31,
1958, is known—is seeing great
activity in weather studies. The
meteorologist wants to know
about weather phenomena on a
global scale. He wants to get at
the roots of the causal factors
behind such things as climate,
hurricanes, droughts, and the
problem of whether the earth’s
atmosphere is warming up or
cooling off.
To get this kind of informa
tion, the meteorologist needs
large amounts of data from as
many locations as possible. He
wants continuous records of
temperature, barometric pres
sure, dew point, wind condi
tions, and the like. Modern
“slave" stations gather and re-
ord these things, then send the
results by teletype to a central
collection point—all without any
human operator.
The “weather man” also
makes use of a variety of instru
ments ranging from a tiny
transmitter which can be sent
aloft in ballons and rockets, to
electronic computer units weigh
ing several tons. Looming large
in the meteorologist’s plans for
the very near future are photo
graphs of cloud formation and
wind patterns televised down
from space satellites orbiting
several hundred miles from the
surface of the earth.
Instruments involving radio
transmitters and receivers are
playing a big part in IGY re
search. Out in Colorado, Na
tional Bureau of Standards
scientists have stretched a 3,400-
foot-long cable across a canyon.
With this king-size antenna they
are listening to the static caused
by some of the 50,000 thunder
storms that occur every day all
over the world. At this and
other IGY stations, scientists
are tracking the paths taken by
radio signals generated by light-
fling. These paths will tell us
much about the chemical and
electrical composition of the
upper atmosphere.
Radio equipment is also pick
ing up weak lightning signals
that keep bouncing back and
forth between the Northern and
Southern hemispheres. These
signals have been, out in space,,
as far as 25,000 miles and are
being used to probe the mys
terious regions of the upper
atmosphere.
Astronomers are tuning in on
radio signals reaching the earth
from trillions of miles out in
space. Radio telescopes—repre
senting thousands of engineer
ing man-hours in design and
testing—are giving us a new
picture of the structure of our
Milky Way galaxy, and of the
dark clouds of matter that float
between the stars.
Our Sun
Analyzing the various “mess
ages” from outer space is a big
part of the IGY program. Our
own sun sends us, every day of
the year, coded information
about itself in the form of radia
tion. The sun is some 93 million
miles away, but we can break
its secret code if we can only
devise the instruments to help
us gather and interpret the in
formation. IGY researchers have
a whole arsenal of technical
devices with which to attack
the secrets of solar radiation.
Other space messengers that
come right to our doorstep here
on earth are meteorites and
cosmic rays. The earth is con
stantly being bombarded with
meteoric debris from our solar
system. Most of this burns up
in the atmosphere, but a shower
of metal particles smaller than
grains of sand is steadily falling
to the earth. Engineering ad
vances in metallurgy makes
possible a comprehensive study
of these metallic space travel
ers.
When we consider the rocket
and satellite projects of the IGY
we get into an area that is com
pletely dominated by engineer
ing factors. The whole rocket
building and launching effort is
based on engineering develop
ments in many industries. Engi
neers are involved all along the
way, from the first planning and
designing stages of a rocket to
the final firing.
Outer'Space
Actually, man is taking an
engineering step to outer space.
The rockets and satellites we
have now will soon be as primi
tive as the airplanes of half a
century ago. Rockets and satel
lites have already been fired
into space. Engineering devel
opments will put human ex
plorers inside these vehicles
within a very few years.
But developments in the tools
and instruments of science are
not only important for outer
space studies. The scientists
who are probing deep into the
ocean currents and on down
into the core of the earth are
also heavily dependent on com
plex technical devices to gather
and record data.
Many IGY projects are cen
tered around ocean problems.
The oceans cover some 70 per
cent of the surface of our planet.
We know hardly anything about
the deep currents of cold water
that run through the oceans.
Weather is believed to be
strongly influenced by the trans
fer of heat from the water areas
to the atmosphere. There are
many unsolved problems regard
ing ocean tides.
Without instruments and a
broad technology behind us,
about all we could do is relax on
the seashore or in a deck chair
aboard ship and admire the
view.
The “innards” of our planet
make up another fascinating
subject for a number of IGY
projects. Again, precise and
highly engineered instruments
are necessary if we are to come
away with any adequate knowl
edge of the events that are
taking place several thousand
miles below the surface of the
earth.