Newspaper Page Text
JUNE 25, 1949
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THREE
News Review of the Catholic World
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TRUCK TO REPLACE DONKEY CART—Charlestonians are send
ing a brand new Chevrolet truck to Flers de l’Ome, France, the
town which was adopted by Charleston last year, to replace a don
key cart used by the Little Sisters of the Poor to collect food and
other articles for the several hundred guests of their home in the
French city. Laurence A. Michel, chairman of the Charleston Flers
adoption committee, made appeals personally and through news
paper's for contributions after receiving the request for the truck
from Montgomery Bennett, director of the Medway plan. He was
able to get only two-thirds of the amount necessary but the Fort
Sumter Chevrolet Company, through C. F. Johnson, owner, and
Alderman George W. Stout, manager, gave the truck at cost. Con
tributions were received from a few citizens of Charleston, one
from Benncttsville, and $500 from the Societie Francaise. Thad-
deus Street, of- Street Brothers, arranged for transportation of
the truck to France. Harry J. O’Neill has furnished the insurance
and Laurence Terry painted the wording on the side of the truck.
Shown at the presentation are, left to right, Theodore H. Albe-
nesius, treasurer, and H. G. Heriot, president, of the Societie
Francaise, and Mr. Stout, who is presenting the keys to Mr. Michel.
Arrangements are being made for shipping the truck duty free
to France through American Aid to France, Inc. It will be con
signed to Croix Rouge Francaise in Paris, and will be turned over
to the Little Sisters of the Poor by that organization. The truck
goes to France on the S. S. Southland, which carried the bounty
shipment from Charleston to France last year.—(Staff Photo by
Reilly—Courtesy The Charleston News and Courier).
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS EARN PLACE IN
FEDERAL AID BILLS BY BUILDING
CITIZENS, CONGRESSMAN DECLARES
WASHINGTON, (NC)—Congress
has been told by one of its mem
bers that if a parochial school of
fers a secular educational program
which is recognized as equal to
that given in the public schools
the government has a clear obliga
tion to contribute to the support of
the parochial school.
Rep. Eugene J. McCarthy of
Minnesota made this declaration as
he testified on Federal school aid
legislation before a house subcom
mittee here. His reasoning was
this: The Supreme Court has de
cided that parents fully discharge
their duty under compulsory state
educational laws when they send
their children to accredited non
public schools. Thus, if a public
purpose is served, and if that pub
lic purpose—education—4s one for
which the state has accepted finan
cial responsibility, it follows that
the state is obligated in justice to
contribute to the operation which
fulfills that public purpose.
In one of the few instances in
which a Federal aid witness has
emphasized the prior rights of
parents in education, Rep. Fred
Marshall, another Minnesota Con
gressman, said: “It is our work as
lawmakers to assist and encourage
parents in fulfilling their respon
sibility. It is not our function, nor
must it be our intention, to relieve
parents of that obligation entirely
—to make education solely a func
tion of government.”
“If we admit that our system of
government is dedicated to the
principle of assisting and encour
aging parents in providing an edu
cation for their children, then we
must hold that all parents should
be assisted and encouraged," Mr.
Marshall said further. “If we hold
that the religion to which parents
adhere must be left to their free
choice, then parents must be free
to choose the schools which their
children attend.”
“If the child may fulfill his duty
to the government, that is, his duty
as an educated and Informed citi
zen, by attending any school of
his choice, it would seem illogical
to say that the government can
not or should not assist his par
ents in providing that education.
To say that a child may attend
the school of his parents’ choice
and then to insist that his parents
should not be assisted because that
school is not a public school would
seem to discourage the freedom of
religion which our Constitution
guarantees to every America. To
attach a penalty to that freedom
would seem to limit that freedom
in fact, if not in theory,” he stated.
Congressman McCarthy, in addi
tion to asking a guarantee that
parochial and other private school
children will be benefited in any
Federal aid to education appropria
tion. hit hard at what he called
the "pork barrel” provision in both
the Thomas and Barden Bills be
ing considered by the House unit.
He said that only from 10 to 15
million dollars in those 250 to 314
million-dollar bills would actually
go toward raising the lowest stand
ard of education to $55 per pupil
per year outlay throughout the
states.
The rest, he pointed out, would
go into the hands of state educa
tional authorities to expend as
they see fit. This would strength
en the direction of education at
the state level and weaken it cor
respondingly at the local level, he
declared. It would amount to a
general aid program rather than
an equalization program, was his
contention.
“If our intention is to equalize
educational opportunity across 'the
country, let's write a law that will
insure it within reasonable limits
to children and young people in
our possessions, to the children
and young people of the Negro and
Oriental races, and to the children
and young people who, for reli
gious or other special reasons, at
tend nonpublic schools,” he said.
Mr. Marshall criticized the ex
pressed intention of the Thomas
Bill to equalize education opportu
nity across the nation while at the
same time ignoring the interests of
those children who are not in pub
lic schools.
“To even attempt to ‘equalize’
opportunity we must admit that it
is in our interest to guarantee that
opportunity to all children, and
it is a denial of that principle to
limit it to a chosen group of chil
dren,” he declared. “How can we
explain the limitation when the
validity of the entire bill is based
on the general principle of equal
opportunity?”
Mr. McCarthy is serving his first
term in the House of Representa
tives. He was employed in the
public school system in Minnesota
for five years, and served on the
staff of St. Thomas College, St.
Paul, before coming to Washing
ton. His remarks on aid to nonpub
lic schools drew verbal challenge
only from Rep. Graham A. Bear
den of North Carolina, who said
he objected because such aid would
snarl up the bill and lead to legis
lative and constitutional contro
versy.
When Mr. McCarthy said that aid
to nonpublic school pupils might
be handled in the manner of the
School Lunch Act. Mr. Barden,
whose bill rigidly limits Federal aid
to public school students only, an
swered: “I don’t want any monkey
business like the School Lunch
program..”
The Minnesota Congressman pre
faced his testimony on inclusion of
help for nonpublic pupils with the
remark • that “we recognize that
Myron Taylor Granted
Audiences at Vatican
VATICAN CITY. — (NC) x- On
June 7, His Holiness Pope Pius
XII again received in private audi
ence Myron C. Taylor, personal
representative of President Tru
man. It was Mr. Taylor’s third au
dience with the Holy Father since
his arrival here on May 25. The
other audiences took place on May
28 and 31.
parents have certain rights and re
sponsibilities in relation to their
children. One of these rights and
responsibilities relatdfe to the reli
gious training and education of
children. This point has been clear
ly defined in the Supreme Court
decision in the Oregon school case
. . . that parents have a right to
send their children to a religious
rather than to a public school, if
that school meets the secular edu
cational requirements which the
State had the power to impose.”
“If this school meets the legiti
mate demands of the state, if its
secular educational program is the
equivalent of that given in public
schools, the obligation of govern
ment to support this minimum ac
credited program is clear,” he con
tinued. “I do not hold that the
state should support the religious
program, but rather that it should
contribute only to the support of
that part of the educational pro
gram which meets the accredita
tion standards of the state.”
“In the Everson, or New Jersey
School Bus, case in 1947 the su
preme court ruled that the state
of New Jersey could pay transpor
tation costs of children attendiiJ
nonpublic schools because, the
court declared, a public purpose is
served by such schools. If a public
purpose is served, and if that pub
lic purpose is one for which the
state has accepted financial respon
sibility, it follows that the state is
obligated in justice to contribute
to the operation which fulfills that
public purpose.”
“In other words,” he summa
rized, “the demands of the govern
ment are properly and fully met
by an accredited nonpublic school,
private or parochial. The govern
ment has no right to attempt to
prevent or hinder any religious
education which may be given in
addition to the secular education
required for accreditation.”
Mr. McCarthy said that encour
agement to religious schools would
help to bulwark American democ
racy. In this connection he quoted
recent Congressional testimony by
Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, gen
eral secretary of the Federal Coun
cil of the Church of Christ in
America to the effec. that “at a
time when our American democ
racy is under constant attack by a
materialistic, totalitarian philo.io-
phy, it is a matter of high strat
egy to encourage all the forces in
our country which make for the
strengthening of the cultural,
moral and spiritual life of the peo
ple.”
The Congressman criticized the
Seeking Removal of
"Catholic Idol" Atop
Hospital in New Jersey
NEW YORK.— (NC) — Removal
of a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes
atop a new Catholic hospital in
Camden, N. J., was demanded in a
resolution adopted by the New
Jersey Council of Christian
Churches. The resolution described
the statue as an “image which to
many constitutes an idol,” declared
the emphasizing of what it de
scribes “this particular adoration
of Mary” is "an affront to many re
sponsible citizens,” and asked the
removal of the statue as “offen
sive to Protestant bodies and con
science.”
The resolution was adopted at a
council session in the First Baptist
Church, Caldwell, N. J., and was
made public in New York through
the American Council of Christian
Churches, an evangelical group
claiming a membership of 1,500,-
000. The resolution, which mispell-
ed the title of “the Lady of
Lourds,” added as reasons for re
moval the fact that the statue is in
a spot that commands a view of the
entire city and that the appeal for
funds to erect the hospital was
made to all citizens with Camden’s
mayor as general chairman.
recent Senate Education and La
bor Committee report which flat
ly stated that direct payment of
public funds to private sectarian
schools is unconstitutional. He
said that there is no clear evidence
to support this position, and that
there is substantial evidence to
the contrary.
“I would like to point out the
implications of a full application
of this interpretation of the First
Amendment ■ which would outlaw
any support for any or all reli
gions,” he said. He mentioned that
postal subsidies to religious publi
cations would have to be discon
tinued, chaplains in the Armed
services and Congress would have
to be cut off without pay, expendi
tures for army and navy chapels
would be illegal, and payments to
veterans attending church-related
or divinity schools would be uncon
stitutional.
“Logically,” he said, “the only
religious position which could be
taken in the public school would
be that of the atheist, in that any
recognition of a God involves reli
gion and this has been outlawed in
the McCollum decision.”
In winding up his testimony,
Representative McCarthy said: “A
democratic government has fulfill
ed its function when it promotes
add encourages good schools to
turn out good citizens. It is not
contrary to democracy or to the
American Constitution to grant
funds to schools which fulfill this
function, even though they are
controlled by churches and even
though they teach, in addition to
the state-required subjects, reli
gious and moral truths and encour
age and facilitate the practice of
these truths.” >
Soap Wrapper Drive
Will Aid Catholic
Overseas Relief
NEW YORK.— (NO —War Re
lief Services - National Catholic
Welfare Conference will receive
millions of bars of soap for distri
bution to needy children overseas
as a result of a unique nation-wide
campaign currently being conduct
ed by Catholic women's organiza
tions, Catholic youth organizations
and children in parochial schools
throughout the country in coopera
tion with CARE, the non-profit,
government approved relief
agency.
Pointing out the “many Euro
pean children have literally never
seen a cake of soap,” Monsignor
Edward E. Swanstrom, executive
director of War Relief Services—
N. C. W. C., declared that the drive
would help alleviate the extreme
scarcity, and that the need for soap
causes “a most pressing health
problem to children, new mothers
and their babies.”
The campaign provides that in
return for every two Swan Soap
wrappers collected by Catholic or
ganizations or schools and sent to
Catholic CARE Soap Campaign,
Boston, Mass., CARE will deliver a
bar of Swan Soap to War Relief
Service-N. C. W. C., the official
Catholic relief agency. The manu
facturers of Swan Soap have
agreed to donate the soap to CARE
for this purpose.
ARCHBISHOP-ELECT Frances
co G. Lardone, of the Catholic
University of America, will be con
secrated as Titular Archbishop of-
Rhizaeum and Apostolic Nuncio to
Haiti and Santo Domingo, in the
national Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception on June 30. His Ex
cellency Archbishop Amleto Gio
vanni Cocognani, Apostolic Dele
gate to the United States will be
the consecrator, with Archbishop
Patrick O'Boyle of Washington and
Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, Titu-
tar of Mira and recently named
Apostolic Delegate to the Philip
pines, co-consecrators.
IIIS HOLINESS Pope Pius XIT
has named Monsignor J. McMahon,
presently National Secretary of
the Catholic Near East Welfare
Association in the United States,
to be the president of the new
ly-constituted Papal Mission for
Palestine. The new mission will
combine all Catholic efforts
throughout the world in behalf of
the hundreds of thousands made
homeless by the Palestinian war
fare.
A PROPOSAL that legislation
be enacted requiring all children
to spend one-half the required
compulsory school time in a public
school was made by Dr. John L.
Childs, professor of education at
Teachers College, Columbia Uni
versity, in an address before the
annual meeting of the American
Association for Jewish Education
held in Atlantic City.
FILMING of “The Divine Trag
edy,” a motion picture on the
Passion of Christ, will get under
way in July on the French Riviera,
■according to the producer, Georges
de la Grandiere, who won a Holly
wood “Oscar" for his "Monsieur
Vincent,” based on the life of St.
Vincent de Paul.
HIS HOLINESS Pope Pius XIT
expressed the hope that the Con
gregation of the Oratory of St.
Philip Neri might grow in prestige
and numbers and carry on in the
fullness of charity to work for the
restoration of the “edifice of reli
gious unity” in England. His senti
ments were expressed in a latter te
Father William Munster. Superioi
of the congregation, on the occas
ion of its first centenary cele
bralion, on the Feast of the Ascen
sion.
THE SUPREME COURT of the
State of Washington has declared
unconstitutional a State statute
which provided public school bus
transportation for children in non
public as well as tax-supported
schools. It took this action despite
the fact that the law involved is
similar to the New Jersey school
bus law which was upheld by the
U. S. Supreme Court in 1947.
REV. JAMES S TOKUSIKA of
Los Angeles, who was ordained at
Maryknoll, N. Y., on June 11, is
the first American-born Japanese
to be ordained to the priesthood.
A convert, the thirty-four-year-old
Nisei will be assigned as a Mary-
knoll Missioner in the land of his
ancestors.