Newspaper Page Text
JULY 30, 1949
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THREE
World
Reaction of Catholics on Federal Aid
To Education Question Seen As More
Than Opposition to the Barden Bill
INDIA DIPLOMAT FOR HOLY SEE
WASHINGTON. _(NC)— While
responding dramatically to the re
strictive Barden Bill, Catholics
have also made this point clear
in regard to Federal aid to educa
tion: what they favor is a bill
which assures some aid to children
in all schools, and they will fight
any measure, be it the Barden Bill
or the Senate-approved Thomas
Bill, which fails to contain this
guarantee.
This assessment of the reaction
of Catholic parents across the
country was made here by the Rev.
William A. McManus, of the Edu
cation Department, National Catho
lic Welfare Conference, as reports
from Capital Hill said that the
Truman administration will work
for the enactment of some kind of
Federal school aid, even though
the opening'of the public-parochial
school controversy has dimmed the
chances of the Barden Bill.
Asked whether he thought the
Catholic people who have been
writing to Congress would accept
the Thomas Bill in place of Repre
sentative Graham Barden’s meas
ure, Father McManus said: ’De
finitely not. The Thomas Bill is
basically as objectionable as the
Barden Bill.”
‘‘In terms of aid to nonpublic
school children, the Thomas Bill
differs only in technicalities from
the Barden measure. The Thomas
Bill would allow the States to use
Federal funds for nonpublic school
children only when they may use
local and State funds for the same
purpose. Nothing in the bill would
assure one dime of Federal help
'for nonpublic school pupils.
“Experts predict that under the
Thomas Bill States would use little
or no Federal funds for nonpublic
school children. The Barden Bill
simply forbids all Federal school
aid to these children. The end ef
fect would be about the same: no
Federal help to nonpublic school
children. This is a situation which
Catholic taxpayers will not tole
rate.”
“Rumors to the effect that
Catholics officially or unofficially
are ‘settling for the Senate Thomas
Bill’ are a trick to call off Catho
lic opposition against any and
every unfair Federal aid measure,'
Father McManus said.
One measure which many Catho
lics have supported is H. R. 1750,
sponsored by Representative John
E. Fogarty of Rhode Island, which
would earmark 10 per cent of each
State’s Federal allotment to pro
vide non-religious textbooks, bus
rides and health services for chil
dren in both public and nonpublic
schools.
Referring to this bill, Father
McManus concluded: ‘A fair solu
tion of the Federal aid controversy
would be Congressional approval
of a measure like this, which
would give most of the money to
the public schools and at least
token recognition to non-public
school pupils.”
tional system of this country, and
any method of Federal aid which
unjustly discriminates against' pu
pils attending non-public schools in
not only unfair to these schools
but will adversely affect the en
tire structure of American educa
tion.”
“We publicly express our opposi
tion to the Federal Aid to Educa
tion Bill in its present form,” the
Illinois State senators declare
"and urge the 81st Congress to
amend the bill to gurantee at least
non-religious textbooks, bus trans
portation and health service will
be provided to all school children,
whether they attend public or non
public schools, and that we urge
that the bill • be further amended
to assure that there will be no Fed
eral control of schools as a result
of Federal aid.”
India's First Envoy to
Holy See Received by
His Holiness the Pope
INCLUDE NON-PUBLIC SCHOOL
PUPILS IN SERVICE BENEFITS,
STATE SENATE ASKS
CONGRESS
WASHINGTON. — (NC) — The
Congress of the United States has
been asked by the State Senate
of Illinois to amend the Federal
aid to education legislation pend
ing befor_ it, “to guarantee that
at least non-religious textbooks,
bus transportation and health ser
vice will be provided to all school
children, whether they attend pub
lic or non-public schools.”
The Congress is also asked to
further amend the measure “to
assure that there will be no Fed
eral control of schools as a result
of Federal aid.”
(The resolution of the Senate
of the 67th General Assembly of
the State of Illinois, which has
been received here, doer not men
tion the Barden bill by name, but
that measure has been criticized
for showing the discrimination con
cerning which the Illinois resolu
tion expresses anxiety. Copies of
the resolution have been sent to
each Senator and Representative
from Illinois in the 81st Congress'.
“This bill, in its present form,”
says the Illinois State*Senate reso
lution, ‘is patently unfair and
discriminatory in that it preyents
non-public schools from participat
ing, directly or indirectly, in Fed
eral funds and even prohibits the
use of Federal money to provide
pupils of non-public schools with
textbooks, transportation and es
sential health services.”
‘Non-public schools form an Im
portant part of the total educa-
(Radio, N. C. W. C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY. — In a cere
mony which, in the words of His
Holiness Pope Pius XII, takes on
the solemn and impressive features
of a truly historic event,” the first
Minister of India to the Holy See,
Dhiraplal Bhulabhai Desai, pre
sented his credentials.
In his address to the new envoy,
the Holy Father stressed the im
portant role which the Far East,
and India in particular, is called
upon to play “in stemming the tide
of materialism” and referred to
India’s “position of grave respon
sibility” in that respect.
The Pope spoke of India’s “im
posing spiritual heritage,” and.
though without naming him, he ob
viously referred to the late Mahat
ma Ghandi as having bequeathed
to his people “a legacy of great
price: a staunch faith in the right
ful supremacy of the spiritual over
the material.”
Speaking of- the new dispensa
tions and developments now en
compassing vast areas of the world,
the Pope declared the "the new
India ... is endowed with im
mense potentialities, in view of the
transformations looming on the
horizon of the near and distant
future.” He extolled India’s ‘ re
spect of religious sentiments,” and
“the profound awareness in the
soul of the Indian people of their
dependence on the divine.”
The Indian minister referred in
his address to the informal con
nections that have existed for
many years between the Holy See
and India. .He spoke of the many
students from his country that
have gone to Rome to study and
returned to their native land giving
it the benefit of their knowledge.
The minister also referred to the
great numbers of Catholic mis
sionaries, whose unselfish labors
gave so much to India in the form
of school, hospitals and other in
stitutions.
In conclusion, the Holy Father
prayed that India, through the help
of God, may measure up to the
high hopes and expectations of the
world, and reciprocated the good
wishes brought by the new envoy
on behalf of his government and
people. “We assure you at the out
set of your exalted mission,” the
Pontiff said, “that you may count
upon Our constant understanding
and support in all matters designed
to develop and strengthen the of
ficial relations that have begun
under such happy circumstances.”
'Saga of Saga"
Still Unfolding
KYOTO, Japan.—-(C)—“The saga
of Saga is still unfolding,” reports
Brother Clement Hansen Mary-
knoll Missioner stationed here.
“Two months after the first Mass
was said in Saga, 100 had receiv
ed baptism,” he said. “Now, every
Sunday, groups of 100 are being
baptized. Saga, it will be remem
bered, is the town which asked for
en masse enrollment in the Cath
olic Church.
Brother Clement attended
Saga’s first Mass m March 13. He
estimates that 1,000 persons have
| been baptized since then. Saga has
a population if 3,000
“In addition,” Brother Clement
said, "Saga’s example has made
the pagans in other rural villages
clamor for catechisms. We have
distributed thousands to people in
rural areas recently ”
Saga’s mass conversions Started
when the populace petitioned
Bishop Paul Taguchi of Osaka for
Catholic instruction, August 15,
Feast of the Assumption, has been
set as the date when Saga will be
entirely Catholic.
The first diplomatic representative from India to the Holy See
arrives at the Vatican to present his credentials. Dhirajlol Bhulabhai
Desai, is shown accompanied by Papal Chief of Ceremonies, Msgr.
Nardone, and Papal Guards. A Hindu and native of Bombay, he
will have the title of Minister and will keep his present post of
Indian Minister to Switzerland, where he will reside, visiting his
Vatican office at intervals. (NC Photos)
RECALLING THE CRUSADE
which marked the visit 100 years
ago of Father Theobald Mathew,
Ireland's Apostle of Temperance,
to this country, His Eminence
Dennis Cardinal Dougherty, Arch
bishop of Philadelphia, has assert
ed the time has come for a nation-
a. temperance crusade revival and
the need for it is greater than in
the day of. the famous Irish crusa
der. The Cardinal’s call for action
-was contained in a letter given to
Father John W. Keogh, president
of the Catholic Total Abstinence
Union in connection with the un
ion’s 77th annual convention to be
held in Philadelphia August 8-10
and which will commemorate Fath
er Mathew’s historic visit.
Representative From Rhode Island
Scores Injustices of Barden Bill
WASHINGTON. — (NC) — An
swering the claim by the author of
the Barden Federal Aid to Edu
cation Bill that bis bill does not
discriminate against anyone be
cause it sidesteps such fields as
transportation and health services
where aid might be given to both
public and nonpublic school chil
dren, Rep. John E. Fogarty of
Rhode Island declared here:
“Following Mr. Barden's line of
reasoning to its logical conclusion,
we would have to eliminate any
type of service which might give
rise to controversy of discrimina
tion. So, the way to solve the dis
crimination problem in Washing
ton’s playgrounds is to close all the
playgrounds.”
Mr. Fogarty made this observa
tion in an interview prepared for
radio delivery on the program “Is
Congress Doing Its Job?” conduct
ed over station WWDC by Ed Hart.
Rep. Graham A. Barden’s remarks
some of them. These services have
no reference to religion.”
Congressman Fogarty said furth
er: "I believe in the reparation of
Church and State. I have taken an
oath to uphold the First Amend
ment. The Supreme Court of the
United States has decided that
public funds rrfay be used to
furnish non-religious textbooks and
bus rides for children in both pub
lic and nonpublic schools. There
fore, in my bill there is no viola
tion of the official American
principle of separation of Church
and State.”
Mr. Fogarty also touched up
on Mr. Barden’s position that the
Barden Bill does not discriminate
against any religious group, since
it provides money to be distributed
solely among the public schools of
the country.
His comment was: “I- just can’t
see how a Congressman may close
his eyes to the fact that a large
on the same program the previous number of American children at
week received nationwide atten- tend religious schools. I think that
t' on - I we admit this fact when we count
Mr. Fogarty described his own | in these children for the purpose
Federal school aid bill, II. R. 1570, of computing the amount of Fed-
PRESIDENT TRUMAN
DENIES REPORT THAT
HE MIGHT VISIT ROME
WASHINGTON. — (NC)—- Ques
tioned at a press conference con
cerning the report that he might
visit Rome in 1950, President Tru
man made it clear that he has no
intention of visiting Europe this
year or next.
The question of the White House
reporter was prompted by a re
port from secular sources out of
Home that President Truman might
visit the Vatican. The President
said he had no such intention.
HIS HOLINESS Pope Pius XII
received Archbishop Paul Yu Pin
of Nanking, China, in audience on
July 12, and on the same day re
ceived in special audience Bishop
Eugene J. McGuinness of Okla
homa City and Tulsa.
which he explained was introduced
in Congress some time before the
Barden measure. He said that it
had two purposes, to improve the
American public school system,
and to make a smell amount of
Federal money available for bus,
textbook and health services for
children in both public and non
public schools.
Mr. Hart brought up the reli
gious controversy surrounding the
Barden Bill. He said that Mr.
Barden had commented that the
criticism of his bill came from
“those sources who would whip
their flock into a fanaticism which
could destroy a first principle of
American democracy—the separa
tion of Church and State.”
To this Mr. Fogarty replied: “1
am not a fanatic, but I am opposed
to the Barden Bill. Actually, what
touched off the explosive religious
controversy which is disturbing Mr.
Barden was his own Bill with its
rigid prohibitions against any kind
of Federal help for nonpublic
school children. His bill would not
even allow those States which are
furnishing a few incidental ser
vices for nonpublic school pupils
to use Federal funds for the same
purpose.”
The Congressman said that he
had drafted his bill to avoid con
troversy. He said: “It seems to me
that one way to avoid controversy
— particularly religious contro
versy—in the school question is to
help all school children, not just keeping.
eral aid to be given to each State.
The discrimination sets in when we
forbid the States to use any of this
money even to furnish school ser
vices for these boys and girls. For
example is it not. discrimination to
allocate to the State of New York
$5 for every one of its 400,000 and
more nonpublic school pupils and
then to forbid the State of New
York to use one dime of this money
for these children? Is it not dis
crimination to force a child to
transfer from a nonpublic school
to a public school as a condition
for receiving the benefits of Fed-
erel aid funds allocated on his be
half?”
Rep. Thomas J. Lane of Massa
chusetts also hit hard at the Bar
den Bill. In an address on the floor
of the House he said he was against
it “because it draws the line be
tween public school children and
parochial school children and is
thereby a violation of those Ameri
can ideals in whi?h all of us share.”
“The Barden Bill starts out with
an ideal and then contradicts it,”
he commented. “This is supposed
to be ‘federal aid to education.'
Not to some schools, but to all. For
instance, the present bill adds up
all the children in a particular
State to determine the money to
be appropriated to that State. Then
it substraets all children attend
ing parochial or private schools in
apportioning the benefits. This, I
maintain, is discriminatory book-
APPOINTMENT of Father
Thomas John McCarthy, editor of
The Los Angeles Tidings, as di
rector of the newly reorganized
Bureau of Information of the Na
tional Catholic Welfare Conference
has been announced by Archbishop
John T. McNicholas of Cincinnati,
Chariman of the Administrative
Board of N. C. W. C. The function
of the newly reorganized Bureau
of Information will be to present
the position of the Catholic Church
on social, economic and political
questions in which moral principles
are involved.
A CONVERT GENERAL and a
brother of the Emperor of Japan
were among the notable who fig
ured in graduation exercises at St.
Joseph's International College,
conducted by the Brothers of Mary
in Yokohama, Japan. Prince
Mikasa, brother of Emperor Iliro-
hito presented diplomas to the col
lege graduates and tht high school
graduates were addressed bv
Brigadier General W. P. Sheppard,
who joined the Church recently.
Present also were the Consuls Gen
eral of Great Britain, France and
the United States.
THE DEATH of Associate Jus
tice Frank Murphy in Detroit this
month has taken from the Su
preme Court of the Uited States
the fifth Catholic to occupy a po
sition there. There has been at
least one Catholic on the court
since 1894. Mr. Murphy was ap
pointed to the nation’s highest tri-
bpnal in 1940 by President Roose
velt to succeed Associate Justice
Pierce Butler, who was a Catholic.
Other Catholics who served on the
high court were Chief Justice Rog
er Taney, who sat from 1636 to
1864; Chief Justice Edward B.
While, 1894 to 1921; Associate Jus
tice Joseph McKenna, 1898 to
1925.
FOR THE FIRST TIME in its
long history, the Custody of the
Holy Land gave liturgical recogni
tion to American Independence
Day when on July 4 a Solemn
Masg was celebrated at St.
Saviour’s parish church in Jeru
salem in the presence of American
Consul Burdett and a distinguished
congregation. The Mass was cele
brated by Father Bonaventure
Simon, O. F. M., formerly of
Brooklyn and Washington, the
English-language consultant of the
Holy Land Custody.
ARCHBISHOP JOHN McQUAID
of Dublin, Ireland, bas been au-
throized by the Holy See to con
duct the apostolic process concern
ing the virtues and miracles attrib
uted to Matt Talbot, who died in
1925, following forty-one years of
voluntary poverty and penanee af
ter a sudden conversing Imi alco
holism