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Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia V
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed”
Vol. XXV. No. 4 TWENTY-FOUR PAGES AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, APRIL 22, 1944 ISSUED MONTHLY—$2.00 a YEAR
N. C. W. C. RELIEF SERVICES AID WAR PRISONERS
Prisoners of war. and civilian internees, throughout the world, are the beneficiaries of a vast program
of relief conducted by the War Relief Services-N. C. W. C. More than a quarter million religious, edu
cational, occupational and recreational articles have been sent by this agency to prisoner of war camps.
Pictured are some of the articles included In a religious kit (lower right), a recreational kit (lower
left), an yccupational kit (upper right), and a sample of the crafts work (upper left). In addition to
the kits, many volumes of school and technical books have been sent. (N.C.W.C.x
Dispute of Pope’s Claim to Be
Vicar of Christ Is Ill-Timed,
Declares Father Wilfred Parsons
Bulletins
A MOVING DRAMATIZATION
around the late Commander John
Joseph Shea’s letter to his five-
year-old son was presented on
“The Catholic Hour” on April 10
as the first episode in a new
dramatic scries which is based on
heroic war incidents in which
Catholics have figured prom
inently, and marks a departure
from the long custom of presenting
an outstanding speaker on each
program. The series is presented
by the National Council of Catho
lic Men, and may be heard aver
NBC at 6 p. m„ EWT, each Sun
day.
THE FIRST British Army chap
lain to be awarded his “wings” as
a parachutist, the Rev. Bernard
M. Egan, S. J., has been awarded
the Military Cross for bringing
back witout loss a small party of
parachutists who dropped behind
enemy positions in Sicily many
miles from the remainder of the
battalion. Father Egan assembled
the men and led them over diffi
cult and dangerous country
through the enemy tines.
SQUADRON LEADER Albert
Houle, of Massey, Ontario, exas
been awarded a Bar to his Distin
guished Flying Cross, equivalent
to a second DFC, which gives him
the distinction of being the first
French-Canadian to win this dou
ble honor for valor in the present
war. He is a member of the
Rights of Columbus and former
president of his parish Catholic
Youth Council.
PLANS FOR NATION-WIDE
observance of National Family
Week, May 7-14, arc going forward
rapidly. From all parts of the
country conies word to the F'amily
Life Bureau of the National Cath
olic Welfare Conference of plans
being laid and of steps already
taken. The Rev. John J. McCar
thy, assistant rector of the Cath
edral of St. John the - Baptist,
Charleston, S. C., will begin a se
ries of radio addresses on the fam
ily, the series to continue for thiee
months.
SISTER ANN JOACHIM, of
Adrian, Mich., the only nun who
was admitted to practice before
the United States Supreme Court,
recently paid an informal visit to
Associate Justice F’rank Murphey,
of the Supreme Court, her former
teacher at Detroit College. Sister
Joachim entered the Dominican
Order after eleven years’ practice
before Detroit courts.
The DECORATION of the Sil
ver Star was recently bestowed on
Col. Gerald W. Kelley, comman
der of the New York’s famous 69th
Regiment, for gallantry in the
Southwest Pacific.
POLISH BISHOPS IGNORE
NAZI ORDER TO ISSUE
ANTI-SOVIET PASTORALS
NEW YORK.—Two Polish Bish
ops and one Apostolic Administra
tor have refused the order of Nazi
Governor Kundt of the district of
Kadom to issue an anti-Russian
pastoral letter, it was reported to
the Office of War Information by
the Polish Telegraphic Agency.
Kundt, who summoned the
churchmen, quoted from a state
ment issued on February 7, by
Hans Frank, Nazi Governor Gen
eral, which said that "great im
portance is attached to coopera
tion with the Catholic Church in
Poland,” the report said.
The clergymen who refused to
issue the letter, according to the
dispatch, were Bishop Czeslaw
Kacznarek of Kielce, Bishop Theo
dor Kubina of Czestochowa, and
the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Jan Lorek,
Apostolic administrator of the
Diocese of Sandomierz.
POPE CELEBRATES EASTER
MASS IN CONSISTORY HALL
VATICAN CITY.—His Holiness
Pope Pius XII celebrated his Eas
ter Mass in Consistory Hall in the
v atican. The Mass, broadcast by
Vatican radio, was attended by
members of the Diplomatic Corps
and a group of university profes
sors.
Protestant and Jewish
Leaders Join in Appeals.
That Rome Will Be Spared
(By N. C. W- C. News Service)
SAN FRANCISCO.—Leaders of
Protestant and Jewish faiths have
added their pleas to the appeals of
Catholic leaders that Rome be
spared from the ravages of war.
The Rt. Rev. Karl Morgan Block,
Episcopalian Bishop of California,
issued the following appeal:
“While I do not feel that even an
historic monument can justify the
loss of the lives of our boys, I earn
estly hope that Rome can be spar,
ed.
“Failure of the Germans to de
clare Rome an open city would be
just another indication of Nazi de
pravity. They cannot fail to know
that the Eternal City is a legacy
of all humanity, that we all have a
tremendous stake in that ancient
city.”
Rabbi Irving F. Reichert, of Tem
ple Emanu-el, joined in the ap
peal with the following statement:
“Rome is a symbol of western civ
ilization, signifying the finest ele
ments of the Jewish and Christian
faiths. ’The city occupies a high
place in the affections of hundreds
of millions of people throughout
the world. It would be an irrepa
rable loss to civilization if the
magnificent buildings were damag
ed and the integrity of the city
menaced.”
Protestant Minister Says
Secular Education Brings
“Harvest of Godliness”
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK. — Preaching on
“The State Without Religion,” a
Protestant minister, the Rev. Wal
ter T. Taylor, of the Central Bap
tist Church here, observed that in
our care to maintain separation of
church and state we have allowed
our secular education to “become
pagan and we reap the tragic har
vest of godlessness.”
“Our beloved land,” he said,
“needs God and more of Him than
we can inscribe on our currency.
When we give Him freedom in our
halls and homes and hearts we
shall be in a position to give en
during freedom to this imprisoned
world.”
(By N- C. W. C. News Service)
NEW YORK—The raising of the
question of the Pope's right to
claim to be the Vicar' of Christ
by Metropolitan Sergei of Moscow,
Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox
Church, has served only to muddy
the waters at a time when Chris
tian groups are striving to achieve
world peace based upon the
natural and moral law, the Rev.
Wilfrid Parsons, S. J., professor
of political science at the Catho
lic University of America, de
clares in an article published jn
the New York Times.
Expressing regret also that the
Anglican Archbishop of York, now
visiting in this country, had seen
fit to echo the words of the Ortho
dox leader, Father Parsons called
attention to the fact that there is
nothing new in the statement that
the Orthodox and Anglican
churches challenge these “Papal
claims”, since they have done so
for many centuries.
“It seems to me unfortunate, at
this time, that the Russian Pa
triarch, echoed later in this coun
try by the Anglican Archbishop of
York, should have raised the ques
tion of what they call the ‘Papal
claims’,” Father Parsons said.
“As a purely theological ques
tion, that has been a matter of
dispute between the Catholic
Church in communion with the
Pope on one side, and on the other,
the Russian Greek Church and
the Anglican Church for many
centuries. It does not come under
the head of news that these two
high dignitaries reject the Pope.
“It might have been well, how
ever, if the Patriarch, in rejecting
‘Papal claims’ to be the Vicar
of Christ, had put them on the
scriptural basis which the Catholic
Church actually adduces. The
Pope claims to be the Vicar of
Christ on the historical ground,
admitted by the Russian Orthdox
Church, that St. Peter the Apostle
was the first Bishop of Rome, and
that the Pope is his successor in
that See, and on the Scriptural
ground that St. Peter was given a
special commission as Head of
the Church.
“These two grounds were admit
ted for many centuries both by the
Eastern Churches and the Church
of England and were freely ac
cepted by both the eastern and
western Fathers of the Church.
“It does not seem to me, how
ever, that the ‘Papal claims’ to be
the Vicar of Christ forms the real
issue raised originally by the Rus
sian patriarch.
“The present Pope has been
'especially active in presenting
what he conceives to be the base
of a just peace. In proof of his
position he, * and Catholics who
have interpreted him, have not ap
pealed to the Pope’s infallibility
or to other theological sources,
but to the natural and moral law
which can be, and is, accepted by
all who believe in God.
“The heart of the Papal plan
for peace is the necessity of an
international organization which
shall enforce the principles of the
moral law and of juridical Institu
tions which shall interpret them
This plan was accepted by the pres
ent Archbishop of Canterbury in
England, in a joint statement with
the late Cardinal Hinsley, and the
President of the English Free
Churches; and also in the seven-
point Pattex-n for Peace signed in
this counti-y by many Protestants
and Jews, as w^ll as Catholics.
‘It is ‘conceivable that the Rus
sian Goveinment does ont like
the idea of such an internaitonal
organization and that the Russian
Patriarch shax'es this dislike. But
it is muddying the waters to con
fuse these moral principles with
a theological question concerning
the Vicar of Christ.
“One can accept the foi’mer
without admitting the latter, as
many who are not Catholics have
done. I, for one, regi-et that the
esteemed Archbishop of York, ap
parently unwittingly, lent himself
to what looks like a maneuver.”
FATHER L. CURTIS TIERNAN,
now a Colonel with the U- S. Army
forces stationed in England, has
been elevated by His Holiness Pope
Pius XII to the rank of Domestic
Prelate with the title of Right Rev
erend Monsignor.
Bombing of Rome
Denies Reason, Truth
Says Secular Columnist
(By N. C. W- C. News Service)
ST. .PAUL, Minn.—Decrying the
bombing of Rome, Gcoi’ge E. So-
kolsky, well-known columnist,
whose articles appear in The Chai - -
leston News and Courier and other
newspapers, observes that of all
the cities of God, those that can
never be forgotten and the men
tion of whose names light the
fires of reverent memory, are
Home, Athens, and Jerusalem.
“What are we, of this Western
world, but the fruits of the culture
and civilization that emanated from
these cities like the rays of the
sun in a dark and barbarous
world?” he asks. “Our religion, our
art, our law, our languages, our
family system, our education, our
way of life, are the products of
these three cities.”
Terming Rome the Mistress of
the West he cites its turbulent his
tory from “Remus and Romulus to
Pacelli, who now sits as Pope to
remind all of mankind that kings
and princes seek refuge from the
hates and intrigues of man, but the
pure of heart remain with their
people and trust their destiny to
God.”
“Into Rome,” continues Mr. So-
liolsky, “hgs been poured the beau
ty and art of a grateful world, but
from it has come the form and
structure of our particular civiliza
tion. From Rome went the law, the
religious and civil law that tamed
the savage peoples of Eui'ope, Asia
and Africa . . . It is this law, the
Roman law that still dominates the
civil side of our lives, and the reli
gious law that influences even
those who may not be Catholics
nor even Christians.”
“And this same Rome,” the arti
cle concludes, “has become a bat
tlefield. Before it pagan warriors
paused, but civilized warrioi’s ride
over it and drop bombs, passion
less, scientific bombs that know
neither right nor wrong but only
that men must die and things must
be destroyed. So this is what 20
centuries of civilization have
wrought—and we speak of justice
and x-ighteousness and love! We
have become an age of those who
know neither reason nor truth.”
Plan to Save Rome
Offered to Senate
(By N. C- W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON. — Urging that
Rome be demilitarized, Senator
Styles Bridges, Republican, of New
Hampshire, in a letter to President
Roosevelt, suggested that a spe
cial commission toward this end
be created, consisting of United
Nations and Axis representatives
under the chairmanship of His
Holiness Pope Pius XII.
Senator Bridges’ letter, to the
President, dated April 7, reads:
“The Press repoi'ts several
bombing attacks on military ob
jectives in Rome. I know that you
are as sensible as I of the cultural,
historic, and religious claims Rome
has had on our civilization, and
that you share the heartfelt wish
of millions of people that every
possible effort be made to spare
Rome the ravages of wax'.
“I, therefore, respectfully sug
gest that you propose a special
commission composed of two or
moi-e militai'y representatives of
the United Nations and an equal
number of military representatives
of the enemy, with the Pope as
impartial chaii-man, to arrange the
demilitarization of Rome. I believe
that this is worthy of your most
sei-ious consideration and early ac
tion.
“Even in the midst of this terri
ble struggle we must not forget
that we ai’e Christians and that
we must continue to be in the
right if we are to prevail.”
Senator Bridges said he put for-
ward the plan after “consultation
with many thoughtful citizens of
our country, including laymen and
clergy of various religious denom
inations.”
“Thousands, and perhaps tens
of thousands of American lives
would be saved if Rome were de
militarized and made an open city,"
Senator Bridges added.