Newspaper Page Text
JANUARY 30. 1943
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOL T C L AYTvIEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINE
L
r
Christmas Message of Pius XII
Pleads for International Harmony
Heads Georgetown
(Radio, X. C. W. C. News Serviced
VATICAN CITY.—To his pre
vious laying-down of the essen
tials for a lasting peace and a just
world order, His Holiness Pope
Pius XII added “Five Fundament
al Points for the Order and Pa
cification of Human Society.”
It was the Sovereign Pontiff’s
Christmas Message, and it was
broadcast in various languages to
all parts of the world.
The Holy Father emphasized
the fact that international har
mony is intimately. dependent up
on "the equilibrium and develop
ment of the individual states in
the material, social and intellect
ual spheres”, and he called for
"good and farseeing men” to make
the sacrifice necessary to bring
"correct notions about society.”
The Pope urged that “a vast le
gion” be formed from among “all
peoples and all nations,” made
up of “those handfuls of men who,
bent on bringing back society to
its center of gravity, which is the
law of God, aspire to the service
of the human person and of his
common life ennobled in God.”
VOW OWED TO MANKIND
Mankind, His Holiness declared,
“owes that vow” to “the countless
dead who lie buried on the field
of battle”; to “the innumerable
cost of soldiers, widows and or
phans who have seen the light, the
solace and the support of their
lives wrenched from them”; to
“those innumerable exiles whom
the hurricane of war has torn from
their native land and scattered in
the land of the stranger”; to “the
hundreds of thousands of persons
who, without any fault on their
part, sometimes only because of
their nationality or race, have been
consigned to death or to a slow
decline”; to “many thousands of
non-combatants, women, children,
sick and aged, from whom aerial
warfare—whose horrors from the
beginning we have frequently de
nounced—has, without discrimin
ation or through inadequate pre
cautions, taken life”; to “the flood
of tears and bitterness, to the ac
cumulation of sorrow and suffer
ing, emanating from the murder
ous ruin of the dreadful conflict.”
The Holy Father said “tranquil
ity and feverish activity, are not
opposed to each other, “but rather
form a well-balanced pair for him
who is inspired by the beauty and
urgency of the spiritual founda
tion of society, and of the nobility
of its ideals.” He appealed to
young people, “who are wont to
turn jour backs on the past, and
to relj’ on the future for your as
pirations and j our hopes,” to fight
for the eternal laws of God and
for the dignity of the human per
son.
DIGNITY OF HUMAN PERSON
First among the points for the
order and pacification of human
society. His Holiness listed “The
Dignity and Rights of the Human
Person.” He said one who wishes
to See the “Star of Peace shine
and stand over society” should
oppose “the excessive herding of
men, as if they were a mass with
out a soul,” and should “uphold
respect for and the practical real
ization” of the fundamental per
sonal rights “to develop and main
tain one’s corporal, intellectual
and moral life.” The Holy Fath
er mentioned especially the right
to religious formation and educa
tion"; to worship God in private
and public; to carry on religious
works of charity; to marry and to
achieve the aim of married life; to
conjugal and domestic society; to
work; to the free choice of a state
of life, and hence to the priest
hood or religious life; to the use
of material goods in keeping with
one’s duties and social limita
tions.
Listing as the second point “The
Defense of Social Unity and,
Especially of the Family in Prin
ciple,” the Holy Father denounc
ed every form of materialism
which sees in the people “only a
herd of individuals” to be “lorded
over and treated arbitrarily.” He
said one should strive to under
stand the unity of society which,
with the collaboration of the vari-
out classes and professions, tends
towards the eternal and ever new
aims of culture and religion. One
should, His Holiness continued,
-defend the indissolubility of
matrimony” and make available to
the family the things necessary
for the accomplishment of its
mission.
“The Dignity and Prerogative
of Labor” was the third point
stressed by Pope Pius. He said
that “as an indispensable means
towards gaining over the world
that mastery which God wishes,
for His glory, all work has an in
herent dignity and at the same
time a close ’connection with the
perfection of the person.” *“11113,”
His Holiness added, “is the noble
dignity and privilege of work
which is not in any way cheap
ened by the fatigue and the bur
den, which have to be borne as
the effect of original sin, in obedi
ence and wubmissionn to the will
of God.” He recalled the Encycli
cals of his own and previous Pon
tificates dealing with labor.
Pointing next to the necessity
of “The Rehabilitation of the Ju-
ridic Order,” the Holy Father said
“the juridic sense of today is of
ten altered and overturned by the
profession 3nd practice of a posi
tivism and a utilitarianism which
are subjected and bound to the
service of determined groups”. He
said that from the juridic order
as willed by God “flows man’s in
alienable rights to juridical secur
ity, and by this very fact to, a
definite sphere of rights, immune
from all arbitrary attack. He out
lined the needs for a “firm juridic
footing.”
CONCEPTION OF STATE
Listing as the final point “The
Conception of the State According
to the Christian Spirit,” the Holy
Father said that one who wants
real and lasting peace “should help
to restore the state and its power
to the service of human society,
to the full recognition of the
respect due to the human person
and his efforts to attain his eter
nal destiny.” His Holiness said
such a one "should work for the
recognition and diffusion of the
truth which teaches, even in mat
ters of this world, that the deepest
meaning, the ultimate moral basis
and the universal validity of
With Other Editors
Rev. Lawrence'C. Gorman, S. J.,
Vice-President and Dean of Stud
ies at Loyola College, Baltimore,
who has been named President of
Georgetown University, oldest
Jesuit educational institution in
the United States. Father Gor
man, a nativfe of New York, suc
ceeds the Very Rev. Arthur A-
O’Leary, S. J. (N.C.W.C.)
ST. VINCENT ALUMNAE
CLASS HOLDS REUNION
SAVANNAH, Ga—The 1937
Class of St. Vincent Academy held
a reunion at the home of Mrs. Hal
McAfee in honor of Mrs. Arthur
Saunders and Mrs. John Sullivan.
Those present included Miss
Mary Sullivan, Miss Mary Frances
Saunders, Miss Jule Rossiter, Miss
Ruth Holm, Miss Johana Daly,
Miss Mary Kenny, Mrs. Allen
Willis.
‘Reigning’ lies in ‘Serving’.”
“Always moved by religious mo
tives,” Pope Pius said, “the Church
has condemned the various forms
of Marxist Socialism; and she
condemns them today, because it
is her permanent right and duty
to safeguard man from currents
of thought and influence that jeop
ardize their eternal salvation. But
the Church cannot ignore or over
look the fact that the worker, in
his efforts to better his lot, is op
posed by a machinery which is not
only not in accordance with na
ture, but is at variance with God’s
plan and with the purpose He
has in creating the goods of the
earth. In spite of the fact that
the ways they followed were and
are false and to be condemned,
what man. and especially what
priest or Christian could remain
deaf to the cries that rise from
the depths and call for justice and
a spirit of brotherly collaboration
in a world ruled by a just God?
Such silence would be culpable
and unjustifiable before God, and
and contrary to the inspired teach
ing of the Apostle, .who, while he
inculcates the need of resolu
tion in the fight against error, also
knows that we must be full of sym
pathy for those who err, and open-
minded in our understanding of
their aspirations, hopes and mo
tives.”
ROTTEN. LOGIC
The fear that some of our lead
ers express when anyone suggests
that communism isn’t one hundred
per cent or even Ivory Soap pure
and noble is just a little absurd.
"We can be glad that the Russians
are beating or at least holding
our common enemy, but that does
n't mean we have to throw our
hats in the air for the Communist
Farty. Since when did allies have
to adopt each other’s political con
victions or religions?
At the risk of being repetitious,
let’s recall the Canadian bishop
who wisely remarked that once on
a time England was fhe ally of
Turkey without her feeling any
obligation to grow ecstatic about
Mohammedanism.
We could push that still further:
We are all cheering for China; that
places upon our consciences no
obligation to turn Buddhist or en
shrine in highest honor Confucius.
No American publicists seem to
expect us Americans, just be
cause we are allies of the Catholic
Belgians, to hold a brief for the
Catholic Church.
Only in the case of Russia ore we
expected to mix up Russia’s fight
ing courage with the totalitarian
ism of Stalin and to prove our
loyalty to our Slavic allies by giv
ing three cheers for Karl Marx.
Lennin, and the Third Internation
al.
Doesn't make sense. And it's
certainly rotten logic. (The Queens
Work).
TO THE CATHOLICS OF GEORGIA
With the approval of His Excellency the Most Reverend Gerald P. O’Hara. Bishop of Sa-
vannah-Atlanta. the annual membership campaign of the Catholic Laymen's Association of
Georgia will be inaugurated on February 7 in all of the parishes of this Diocese.
In order to maintain and expand the work of the Laymen’s Association, the support I
the Catholics of Georgia is needed and solicited.
At the annual convention of the Laymen's Association, held in Macon last October, those who
assembled there declared that it was unthinkable that the work which the Association had
carried on for more than twenty-five years, and was now continuing, should be allowed to stop
©r to be curtailed because of lack of financia I support.
Operation under war-time conditions have reduced the income of the Association from other
sources, and it will have to depend to a greater extent upon contributions from the Catholics
of Georgia ' ;
Consider how much you can afford to give, if you.have not already enrolled as a contributing
member, and fill out one of the pledge cards which will be distributed at services held in the
churches of the Diocese on Sunday, February 7. Your generous support will enable the Catho
lic Laymen's Association of Georgia to go forward, and through its progress in the future, evi
dence appreciation of the labor and sacrifices of those who laid its foundations in the past.
. Every Catholic in Georgia .should know what has been accomplished by the Laymen's As
sociation in combating anti-Catholic prejudice and promoting a better feeling among'Georgians,
irrespective of creed. All should know that its work must go on, which gives assurance that
this appeal will be met with the whole-hearted response that will insure the continuance of
lhat work which has brought renown to the Catholics of Georgia.
BERNARD J. KANE. President,
Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia.
SAVING THE “HEATHEN”
SOUTH AMERICANS
The Catholic Bishops of the
United States in their “Statement
on Victory and Peace” following
their annual meeting last month
sent greetings to the Catholics
of Central and South America,
and asserted: “Every effort made
to rob them of their Catholic reli
gion or to ridicule it or offer them
a substitute for it is deeply re
sented by the peoples of these
countries and by American Catho
lics. These efforts prove to be a
disturbing factor in our inter
national relations . . . We ex
press hope that the mistakes of
the past which were offensive to
the dignity of our Southern broth
ers. their culture and their reli
gion, will not continue”.
The Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ, meeting in
Cleveland last week, terms this an
effort “by the hierarchy of a
Sister Christian communion which
constitutes a religious minority in
this country to set the relation of
Protestant Christianity to Hispanic
America in a perspective which
does violence both to historical
truth and contemporary fact.
“We deplore the pretensions of
the Roman Catholic hierarchy to
circumscribe the religious free
doms of Protestant Christians in
the proclamation of their faith,
while by implication reserving for
themselves the right to the univer
sal proclamation of their own”.
For generations certain Pro
testant groups in the United States
have been spending hundreds of
thousands and even millions of dol
lars to “bring the gospel” to peo
ples whose ancestors had the
gospel centuries before there was
a Protestant Church. According
to innumerable non-Catholic citi
zens of the United States—the
author. John Erskine and the
journalist, John W. White, among
the most recent . . . the net result
has been deep hatred of the United
States. “And we are going to con
tinue to be disliked”, Mr. White
writes, “until we cease treating
the South Americans as inferiors
and heathen, and sending mis
sionaries to save them.”
There is no question of “circum
scribing ‘the religious freedom of
Protestant Christians in the proc
lamation of their faith”. There
is only a question of too many
ministers from the United States
in South America conducting
themselves in a manner United
States Protestants as well as South
American Catholics find offensive.
—(The Catholic News, New York).
New York Times
Commends Pontiff’s
Christmas Message
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK—His Holiness Pope
Pius XII, in his Christmas Message,
gave a judgement that was “like
a verdict in a high court of justice,”
the New York Times says in an
editorial.
“No Christmas sermon reaches
a larger congregation than the mes
sage of Pope Pius XII addresses
to a war-torn world at this season,”
the Times says. “This Christmas
more than ever he is a lonely voice
crying out of the silence of a con
tinent. The pulpit whence he
speaks is more than ever like the
Rock on which the Church vva^
founded, a tiny island lashed and
surrounded by a sea of war. In
these circumstances, in any cir
cumstances, no one would expect
the Pope to speak as a political
leader, or a war leader, or in any
other role than that of a preacher
ordained to stand above the battle,
‘tied impartially,’ as he says, ‘to all
people' willing to collaborate in
any new order which will bring a
just peace.’ ”
The editorial adds that “just be
cause the Pope speaks to and in
some sense -For all the peoples at
war, the,clear stand he takes on
the fundamental issues of the con
flict has greater weight and au
thority.” The judgment in his ut
terances, the paper adds, "is like
a verdict in a high court of justice ”
DAILY PAPER LAUDS POPE
r OR INSISTENCE ON FIXED
CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES
WASHINGTON—The utterances
of His Holiness Pope Pius XII in
his Christmas Message represent
the fixed Christian principles “no
less valid because they have been
so repeatedly violated,” say an edi
torial in the Washington Post.
“To many persons the effect of
the Pope’s words must have seem
ed as of a voice coming out of
a dimly remembered past,” the
Post says. “So far has the whole
world departed from the principles
he has expressed. And yet these
are mostly principles which, not
very long ago, most civilized men,
Christian or otherwise, would have
accepted without demur. The dif
ference perhaps is that for the
Pope, these principles are fixed
and enduring, part of the divine or
dinances aiid no less valid because
they have been so repeatedly vio
lated.”
MOTHER EULALIA, of the Sis
ters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
has been appointed principal of
the Sacred Heart school in Savan
nah.
PAPER SAYS POPE SHOWS
HOW MORAL VIEW OF WORLD
IS CHALLENGED IN WAR
NEW YORK—Although the Pope
takes no sides in the temporal
strife throughout the world today,
his statements, in his Christmas
Message, of the only sort of human
organization 'to which the Church
can assent, shows how that moral
view has been challenged by the
Axis, says the Herald Tribune here
editorirlfy.
“Tiie Pope's emphasis upon the
dignity of the individual, upon the
individual's right to the preserva
tion of a spiritual, intellectual and
moral life,” the editorial declares,
“upon the necessity of a juridical
order and the concepts of an inter
national law. upon rejecting ‘the
excessive regimentation of men as
if they were soulless massesses,’
is at almost every point the direct
antithesis, of course, of the gross
philosophy of materialist power
politics to which the pagan sym
bols of the Axis have been dedi
cated.
“It couldvret be otherwise, ob
viously, since the entire Calholie
view is founded upon the concept
ol a moral order, while the whole
theory of the ‘mo mlithic’ Axis
states was founded explicity upon
the rejection of Christian as well
as democratic morality and its
trampling under the gun wheels of
naked power.”
“The Pope does not take sides,”
the editorial adds. “Yet no one
who thinks of our world society in
moral terms can avoid declaring
by that fact alone, upon which side
he must stand in the basic problems
of the age. The Catholic Church
necessarily remains beyond the
temporal battle; yet in insisting
upon its ageless principles it shows
how great are the issues for those
who must struggle in its dust and
blood if they are to achieve a
viable world.” , __