Newspaper Page Text
NOVEMBER 27, 1948
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LA YMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THREE
News Review of the Catholic World
Confraternity of Christian u * s - Secretar y of state and Pope Pius xii
Doctrine Concludes Regional
Conference in Jacksonville
j (N. C. W. C. News Service)
I Jacksonville, Fla.—The fourth
j regional congress of the Con
fraternity of Christian Doctrine
which has concluded a three-day
meeting here, was born, in the
words of Bishop Matthew F. Brady
of Manchester, of tile realisation
that too many Catholics “do not
sufficiently known their faith” and
that the laity “must take an active
part in the wider diffusion of the
faith.”
The Bishop spoke at the in
augural ceremony, a Solemn Pon
tifical Mass which was offered in
Immaculate Conception Church by
Archbishop Francis P. Keough of
Baltimore. The congress was held
under the patronage of the Arch
bishops and Bishops of the Pro
vince of Baltimore. Eight mem
bers of the Hireraeliy, hundreds of
priests and Religious and more
than 1,000 members of the laity
from eight States attended the
congress, the theme of which was:
“Toward A Better Informed and
More Articulate Laity.”
Bishop Brady, who is a member
of the Episcopal committee of the
national Confraternity, described
the aim of the congress as “Ca
tholic Action at its best.” lie de
clared that the laity “is ready and
willing to take up the challenge”
facing Catholic Christendom,
which he said after almost 2,000
years, showed but one-fifth of the
world population enrolled under
the banner of the Church.
More than fifty speakers took
the platform to explain the six
major sections during the Congress
of the Confraternity work in this
country to the more than 1,500
persons from many parishes in the
Province of Baltimore. Nine pre
lates and many monsignori and
priests from the eight Dioceses of
the Province joined the throngs of
lay-persons in attendance at the
Florida meeting.
At the last session of the three-
day Congress, held in the huge
ball room of the Headquarters
Hotel Roosevelt. Bishop Mc
Donough summed up the Congress
in a final message in whihe he re
minded the audience, “We have
gathered here not as a nebulous
group, not to see how strong we
are. not to count last year’s con
verts, but to pray and meditate and
reflect on the words of Our Divine
Saviour.” The harvest indeed is
great, but the laborers are few.’ ”
The Right Reverend Monsignor
Maurice S. Shechy. Ph. D., head
of the Religious Education De
partment of Catholic University
was one of the speakers at the
closing session of the Congress.
In an address entitled “Our New
Battlefronts,” Monsignor Sheehy
sketched three concerns of the
members of the Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine: “The first
bnttlefront is the heart of the
child,” he said, “when today, the
right of parents to bring children
to God is challenged as never be
fore.”
The second baftlefront is de
scribed as “Man Against Dark
ness*’ and the third battlefronl is
“Pseudo-science.”
Among the lay speakers was
Mrs. A1 Lucas of Birmingham,
national president of the National
Council of Catholic Women, who
spoke at the evening general as
sembly. Tying in the objectives
of the organized Catholic women
with the aims of the Confraternity.
Another W'as Miss Gretta Palm
er, prominent journalist, recent
convert, and co-author of a forth
coming book on catacomb religion
inside Russia, spoke on the Aposlo-
late of Good Will, both at the gen
eral session and at the youth ses
sion.
Sister Mary Evangelina, G. N.
S. IT., of Atlanta, Ga., who spoke
on preparing the religious teacher
for public scliool education: “Prep
aration requires knowledge of con
tent and methods, the application
of sound educational principles,
with definite aims in view, all of
which pedagogical principles, must
be embodied in a teacher who has
put on Christ, that through her,
others may find Him who is the
Way, tiie Truth and the Life.”
In summarizing of the sessions,
Right Reverend Abbot-Ordinary
Vincent Taylor, O. S. B., of Bel
mont Abbey, N. C., said in part:
"I am sure everyone of you has
at one time or another, had put
to him some leading question on
religion. Now is the time to ask
yourself what kind of answer you
would give to those questions.
One way you can further the cause
of Christ’s kingdom on earth is by
informing yourself in such a way
that you can answer questions.
Dom F. X. Clougherty, O. S. B.,
Litt. D., director of the Newman
Club in the University of Georgia,
addressed the session at which the
subject of College Leadership was
discussed. Father Clougherty told
of the catachetical and social ser
vice work done by a Chinese
gentleman in Shanghai, a Mr. Lo,
now dead. Mr. Lo’s work came to
Father Clougherty’s knowledge
during the priest’s work in the
various cities of China where he
served for many years. Father
Clougherty is a former Chancel
lor of the Catholic University of
Peiping, and in 1946 was dec
orated with the Chinese medal of
the Order of the Glorious Star
in the presence of Chinese Car
dinal Tien and Archbishop A. G.
Cicognani, A postlie Delegate to
the United States.
Olliers who participated m the
(Continued on Page Seven)
A United States Secretary of State and a former Papal Secretary
of State met when His Holiness Pope Pius XII received in audience
General George C. Marshall, U. S. Secretary of State. The two
conferred at the Papal summer residence, Castelgandolfo, near
Rome. Informants said the audience was a “long and cordial one,
touching on matters of interest to the peace of the world.” As
Papal Secretary of State, Pope Pius XII visited the United States
in 1936.—(AP Wireplioto—NC Photos)
American Hierarchy’s Statement Invites
All Believers in God and Freedon to
Join in Effort to Combat Secularism
(N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHING TO N—Secularism
“has banned religion from tax-
supported education and is now
bent on destroying all cooperation
between government and organ
ized religion in the training of our
future citizens,” it is declared in
a statement issued through the
Administrative Board of the Na
tional Catholic Welfare Confer
ence here.
Made public following the an
nual General Meeting attended by
more than a hundred members of
t' American Hierarchy at the
Catholic University of America in
this city, the statement—entitled
“The Christian in Action”—calls
for constructive effort to counter
act the “corrosive influence" of
secularism, an evil against which
the Bishops warned a year ago.
It is signed in the name of all
the Bishops of the United States
by the four American Cardinals
and the members of the N. C. W.
C. Administrative Board.
“We stand ready,” the Bishops
declare, “to cooperate in fairness
and charity with all who believe in
God and are devoted to freedom
under God to avert the impending
danger of a judicial ‘establishment
of secularism’ that would ban God
from public life. For secularism is
threalenening the religious founda
tions of our national life and pre
paring the way for the advent of
the omnipotent state.”
The statement says constructive
effort is needed to counteract
secularism “in every phase of
life where individual attitudes arc
determining factor—in the
home, in the school, at work and
in civil polity.”
In urging that “Christian prin
ciples should be put into action
in economic life,” the Bishops out
line a Catholic program for the
organic development of economic
life. They advocate “freely organ
ized cooperation between accredit
ed representatives of capital and
labor in each industry and in the
economy as a whole under the
supervision but not control ol
government.”
Secularism, the Bishops charge,
“has cleverly exploited to the
detriment of religion and good
citizenship, the delicate problem ot
cooperation between Church and
State in a country of divided reli
gious allegiance.”
“That concrete problem,” the
statement adds, “delicate as it is,
can, without sacrifice of principle,
be solved in a practical way when
good will and a spirit of fairness
prevail.”
Asserting that “in two recent
cases, the Supreme Court of the
United States has adopted an en
tirely novel and ominously ex
tensive interpretation of the
‘establishment of religion’ clause
of the First Amendment,” the
statement says “lawyers trained
in the American tradition of law
will be amazed to find that in the
McCollum case the majority opin
ions pay scant attention to logic,
history or accepted norms of legal
interpretation.”
“We, therefore, hope and pray,”
the Bishops’ statement says, "that
the novel interpretation of the
First Amendment recently adopted
by the Supreme Court will in due
process bp revised. To that end
we shall peacefully, patiently and
perservingly work.”
The statement says there should
be “a reaffirmation of our original
American tradition of free co
operation between government and
religious bodies—cooperation in
volving no special privilege to any
group and no restriction on the
religious liberty of any citizen.”
Catholics are called upon “to
seek in their faith an inspiration
and a guide in making an informed
contribution to good citizenship,”
and “members of the legal pro
fession in particular” are urged
“to develop and apply their spe
cial competence in this field.”
“We shall not successfully com
bat this evil (secularism) merely by
defining and condemning it,” the*
Bishops’ statement asserts adding
that “much of the confusion and
chaos about us is attributable more
directly to the inaction of Chris
tians than to the effectiveness of
the destroyers.” This is a flat warn
ing that “the crisis is at hand.”
“The Christian home must real
ize the Christian ideal,” the state
ment declares^, adding that “the
whole atmosphere of the home
must be impregnated with genuine
Christian living.” It is slated that
the domestic virtues must be prac
ticed, and family prayer made a
daily exercise. “We strongly com
mend organized effort to make
the homo more truly Christian,”
the Bishops says. “Our Catholic
Family Life Bureau plans and
offers programs which make for
a veritable apostolate of the
Catholic home.”
Speaking of “Religion in Educa
tion,” die Bishops say “we know
the sacrifices made by our people
to educate their children in schools
in which the ‘superabundant wis
dom’ is the Gospel of Christ.” “At
a time when secularism has cap-
turned the minds of very many
leaders in education, it is hearten
ing that Catholic parents are be
coming more insistent in their de
mand for schools in which the
best standards of instruction and
training are integrated in the
teaching of religion.”
Declaring, too, that “our institu
tions of higher learning are the
natural training grounds for Chris
tian leadership,” the Bishops “ask
a deeper appreciation of the con
tribution our institutions of higher
learning are making to a Christian
reconstruction of society,” and
“urge a more generous support of
their work.” “For if we as Chris
tians are to do our part in re
storing order to a chaotic world,”
the Bishops point out, “Christ
must be the Master in our class
rooms and lecture halls and the
Director of our research projects.”
Discussing “Religion and Ec
onomic Life,” the Bishops direct
attention to the fact that "Chris
tian social principles, rooled in the
moral law, call consistently for co
operation not conflict, for free
dom not repression in the develop
ment of economic activity.”
“Cooperation must be organized
—organized for the common good;
freedom must be ordered—ordered
for the common good,” the state
ment says. “Today we have labor
partly organized, but chiefly for its
own interests. We have caiptal or
management organized, possibly
on a larger scale, but again chiefly
for its own interests. What we
urgently need in the Christian
view of social order, is the free
organization of capital and labor
in permanent agencies of coopera
tion for the common good. To in
sure that this organization does
ont lose sight of the common
good, government as the respon
sible custodian of the public in
terest should have a part in it.
But its part should be to stim
ulate, to guide, to restrain, not to
dominate.”
The Bishops warn that “the in
roads of secularism in civil life
are a challenge to the Christian
citizen—and indeed to every citi
zen with definite religious con
victions.” “The essential connec
tion between religion and good
citizenship is deep in our Ameri
can tradition,” they point out.
THE NCCS program for military
personnel and patients in Veterans
Administration hospitals is in ex
cellent position for whatever ex
pansion of services may '■’e requir
ed as a result of the draft or any
other contingency, according to
the annual report on the National
Catholic Community Service made
to the Board of Trustees at the
Bishops’ Meeting by Monsignor
Howard J. Carroll, Secretary of the
Board.
HOLY FATHER SENDS
CONGRATULATIONS TO
ELIZABETH AND PHILIP
VATICAN CITY.— (NC) —The
message of His • Holiness Pope
Pius XII to Her Royal Ilighneess
Pincess Elizabeth of England, con
gratulating her and her husband,
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,
on the birth of their son and
their reply have been made pub
lic.
Addressed to Buckingham Pal
ace, London, the Pontiff’s message
said: “We send Your Royal High
ness Our cordial felicitations on
the happy occasion of the birth
of a son, assuring you of Our pray
ers for your continued welfare
and happiness, and we invoke upon
you, upon the Duke of Edinburgh
and upon the newly-born heir spe
cial blessings from Almighty God.
(Signed PIUS pp XII.”
The reply was addressed to His
Holiness the Pope, Vatican City,
and said: "We are most grateful
for your kind message of good
wisnes. (Signed) Elizabeth and
Philip.”
MORE THAN 5,000,000 copies
of the New Testament have been
distributed among German Cath
olics by the Catholic Bible Cen
ter at Stuttgart, Germany.
THE “REGINA POLARIS.” the
Oblate mission supply ship in the
Far North, has just completed a
| three-months, 12,000-mile voyage
which carried it well within the
Arctic Circle. The vessel carried
more than 1.200 tons of foodstuffs
and other supplies as well as 60
passengers, most of whom will
spend at least a year in the Far
North. Bishop Marc Lacroix, O. M.
I.. Vicar Apostolic of Hudson Bay,
was one of the passengers.
DUE TO THE LARGE NUMBER
of students receiving degrees dur
ing the 1948-49 school year, spe
cial commencement exercises will
be held at the University of Notre
Dame on January 30, after the
conclusion of the Fall semester.
More than 400 students are ex
pected to be eligible for degrees
at the end of the Fall semester
and will be graduated at the mid
year commencement exercises. An
estimated 600 students, will re
ceive degrees in June.
A WELCOME has been prepar
ed in San Antonio. Texas, for five
young Irish priests who were or
dained in Ireland this June for
the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
They will help staff the Archdio
cese which now has about three
huhdred Diocesan and regular
priests serving the needs of ap
proximately 250,000 Catholics.
A PETITION asking promotion
of the cause of Mother Elizabeth
Ann Seton, foundress of the Amer
ican branch of the Sisters of Char
ity of St. Vincent de Paul, was
presented to His Holiness Pope
granted a group of pilgrims from
the United States, representing
the International Federation of
Catholic Alumnae sponsoring
Mother Seton’s cause.
U. S. SECRETARY OF STATE
George C. Marshall and Mis.
Marshall, American Ambassador
Jefferson Caffery and General
Henri Giraud attended a Solemn
Mass celebrated at Notre Dame
des Victories in Paris on Armistice
Day for American and French
troops who died in World Wars 1
and II.
PRESIDE AT BISHOPS’ MEETING
Pictured at the Catholic University, Washington, as they presided at
the opening of the annual general meeting of the United States
Hierarchy are, left to right: Their Eminences Francis Cardinal Spell
man, Archbishop of New York; Sumuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop
of Chicago and Edward Cardinal Mooney, Archbishop of Detroit.
--- (NCTJwUw)