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MAY 17, 1952
FIVE
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA s
WITH OTHER EDITORS
WHILE WE SLEPT
Some few years ago, Americans
were assuring themselves, saying
. . . “It Can’t Happen Here.”
Right now, we believe, they have
reason to suspect they were wrong.
If they read the leading article
in the currant issue of the journal
of the American Bar Association,
as we did, they will see what we
mean.
In this article, the charge is made
that the United States Supreme
Court, in its rulings involving
religion, has:
Arbitrarily amended the Con
stitution.
“Sovietized” constitutio nal
guarantees of religious freedom
Mis-stated history.
Created “an authoritarian iron
curtain” separating public educa
tion from moral and spiritual
values.
Based dicisions on whim, per
sonal opinion and prepossessions.
Been guilty of gross inconsis
tency in it rulings.
The article—-a study of U. S.
Constitutional and educational his
tory—was written by T. Raber Tay
lor, a Denver attorney and gradu
ate of Harvard. What he says,
makes sense.
Citing the famous McCollum
case, in which the Court outlawed
“release time,” an arrangement un
der which public school children
attend instruction classes in their
own faiths, Mr. Taylor scored the
decision handed down in this in
stance saying that the Supreme
Court misunderstood American his
tory, misconstrued the first Amend
ment to the Constitution and in ef
fect amended the Constitution
without a vote of the people.
Then to show how inconsistent
the men of the Court has been, Mr.
Taylor cites three later decisions
wherein the Court completely
about-faced itself, and held that
citizens cannot be restrained by
the State from preaching religion
on tax-supported property.
These eases are . . . Nemotka
vs. Maryland and Kelly vs. Mary
land.
In these two cases, the Supreme
Court held that religious ministers
have a right under the First and
Fourteenth Amendments to preach
religion in a tax-supported recrea
tion park . . . nor is it necessary to
obtain a permit from the city to do
so.
Once again in the third case, the
case of Kunz vs. New York, the
Court decided the same thing, rul
ing that a religious minister can
preach on tax-supported property
without a city permit . . .using, if
he so chooses insulting and fight
ing words . . : such as . . . “The
Pope is the Anti-Christ" and “The
Jews are Christ-killers.”
In still another case, the case of
Saia vs. New York, the Court’s
memory of the McCollum case was
even shorter. In this case, the
Court held that a religious minis
ter. despite a city ordinance for
bidding it. can give lectures in a
public park using, if he chooses,
an amplifying system atop his au
tomobile.
In agreement wdth Mr, Taylor,
we believe that a great injustice
is being done the children of our
land. From the decisions cited
above, it is clear that it is perfect
ly legal for a minister to use tax-
supported property for religious
purposes as long as it is not “school
property.” What the basis for this
distinction may be. no one knows.
Certainly, as Mr. Taylor careful
ly points out, there is no justifica
tion for it in the light, of the First
Amendment of the Constitution.
We are pleased to w'itness the
complaint of this lav'yer. For a long
time, w'e have been bemoaning the
philosophy of law in this country.
Frankly, it is entirely too atheistic
and, w'e believe, no small reason
for it being so, is the fact that all
too much of it is built on the god
less concepts Of Oliver Wendeli
Holmes, the man whose philosophy
w'as as foreign to democracy as
Hitler’s or Stalin’s ever could be.
What America needs more than
anything, more than its armies and
navies, its armament and airships,
is a true concept of the Natural
Law. We can’t go on ignoring it.
To do so, would be to invite disas
ter. The Supreme Court of our
land must realize that all law' must
reflect the law of God,—(The Cath
olic Standard and Times).
LAW AND THE NUNS
In all the talk about public
morality there is a general realiza
tion that people do not respect the
law' as once they did. Where this
began is anyone’s guess and w'here
it will end is probably an equally
hidden mystery, but there is ample
evidence that they are plenty of
forces to keep it moving—and
downhill. One of these is the blun
dering action of our courts W'hich
interpret the law in the most fan
tastic fashion imaginable.
This week in Missouri a Circuit
Court ruled against nuns teaching
URGENT!
Will a Certain Blood Donor
Please Get in Touch With
Sgt. #12 754 680
They don’t tell us whose blood
it is—and you don’t know who
got it. So you don’t know me
and I don’t know you.
But I’ve had lots of time to
think here at the hospital (it’s
almost a year since I got mine
in Korea) and I keep wonder
ing who you are and where
you live and what you do and
all that. Sometimes I have you
figured for a wheat farmer in
South Dakota, like my Uncle
Herman. Or sometimes you’re
a big-league outfielder — the
position I dreamed of playing.
But mostly, I guess, you’re
jurt someone I’d like to meet
and chew the fat with.
Once I kicked this thing
around with a guy in the ward
here and he said, yeah but
suppose this certain person
turns out to be a beautiful
blonde, then what?
But all kidding aside, it’s a
funny feeling to owe your life
to someone you don’t know.
In some ways though it makes
it easier to say thanks, be
cause it’s not just me thank
ing you. It’s every wounded
guy thanking every American
who gave blood.
The toughest part of being
out in Korea isn’t the fight
ing. It’s the feeling you’re a
million miles from nowhere.
So a thing like giving blood
means a lot, because it gives
the guys a feeling you’re in
there pitching with them.
I know one thing. When I
get out of here I'm going to
give some blood myself.
What happened to that pint of Blood
You were going to Give?
CALL YOUR RED CROSS TODAY!
CONTRIBUTED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO THE
ARMED FORCES BLOOD DONOR PROGRAM BY
3Ujr SulUtin
For Press Bishop
A pair of open scissors, symbol
izing the Fourth Estate, the
newspaper world, referring to his
life work in the field of Catholic
journalism, is included in the
coat-of-arms of Bishop Thomas
K. Gorman, Titular Bishop of
Rhasus, who will be installed on
May 8 as Coadjutor with right of
succession to Bishop Lynch of
Dallas. Former editor of The
Tidings, of Los Angeles, the
Bishop is Episcopal Chairman of
the Press Department of the Na
tional Catholic Welfare Confer
ence. He was Bishop of Reno,
Nev.. since 1931. (NC Photos)
in public schools. In the case con
sidered, the nuns taught the pre
scribed subjects at the prescrib
ed times; no religion was taught
during the school week; there were
no religious insignia or emblems
in the schools. What then disquali
fied the nuns?—their vows and
their garb’.
The question of clothing oneself
in styles of one’s own choosing,
within the bounds of modesty, has
been a kind of personal freedom
which up to now has been pretty
generally recognized. Apparently
we are approaching the hour when
the state will design our clothes for
us and refuse employment to those
who prefer to exercise their free
dom in this matter. Those present
ly employed by the state of Mis-
siouri would be well advised to
watch their wardrobes or they will
be looking for new jobs.
On the matter of vows people
may be more easily impressed.
What are the vows taken by teach
ing religious? They are the dan
gerous vows of Poverty, Chasity
and Obedience. The poor it seems
are now without virtue and the
barefoot boy on his way to the
little red school house is a blot on
our educational history. So there is
now no room for the poor, and ap
parently the chaste must face a
similar fate. For the schools of to
morrow only roues need apply.
And what of obedience? Devotion
to authority is so far dead that it
might as well be buried with the
other two—who will even miss it?
Those who worry about the work
of the school in community life and
the values it should encourage for
democratic living may well take
warning from all this. The very
best things are being sacrificed and
by the very law which should pro
tect them.—(The Pilot).
FATHER KELLER SAYS
“YOU CAN CHANGE WORLD”
Father James Keller, founder of
the Christopher movement, will ad
dress Atlanta citizens Sunday night
in the auditorium of the Sacred
Heart Church. We hope he has a
big audience.
This distinguished clergyman is
welcome in Atlanta as are his Ideas
w'hich take form in the nonde-
nominational Christopher organiza
tion that is coming to fill an im
portant place in America’s intellec
tual and spiritual life.
Father Keller and the Christoph
ers say “You can change the
world.” Everything that has been
accomplished in the world, he says,
was started by one person from
Christianity to Einstein's formula
that uslied in the atomic age.
These, in a nutshell, are the ideas
behind the Christopher movement:
“Live your daily life according to
Christian principles. Put your faith
to work. Stop quaking at the threat
of communism and get out and
work as hard as the Communists.
You can increase tolerance and un
derstanding of one people for an
other by beginning with yourself.
You can help bring love and truth
into four great fields; education,
government, labor, and public
agencies such as newspapers, maga
zines, books, radio and movies.”
This philosophy is sound and
practical. A novel thing, too, about
.the Christophers is the fact there
WASHINGTON LETTER
By J. J. GILBERT
SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES CONTROL BOARD
HAS COLLECTED VOLUME OF TESTIMONY
WASHINGTON.— A staggering
volume of testimony regarding the
activities of the Communist Party
in the United States has piled up
here as a result of the investigation
conducted by the Subversive Ac
tivities Control Board, a study
which already has gone on for a
year.
Established under the Internal
Security (McCarran) Act of 1950,
the quasi-judicial board has since'
April, 1951, heard witness Ifter
witness, many of them admitted
former communists, and the record
of these hearings has mounted day
by day. Partly because much of the
testimony has been heard else
where and under other circum
stances, but chiefly because of the
competition these hearings have
had from other official investiga
tions during the year, they have not
received attention commensurate
with their importance.
There has been a re-birth of in
terest in the board’s hearings in
recent days, due in large measure
to the fact that attorneys for the
Communist Party have been trying
to “give the works” to Louis F.
Budenz, a Government witness.
Counsel for the Reds let it be
known in advance that they were
going to put Mr. Budenz on the
rack, as soon as they got a chance
to cross-examine him. With this
forewarning, reporters here have
been able to keep one eye on the
SACB hearings, and to turn to
them at this juncture from other
local pursuits.
Lawyers for the Communist
Party sought to question Mr.
Budenz about his personal life in
the 1930’s; his income from lec
tures, books and others sources
since he quit the Communist Party
seven years ago, and similar topics.
After a lot of legal maneuvering,
they succeeded in getting a num
ber of questions asked, and Chair
man Peter Campbell Brown final
ly permitted the evidence to be put
into the record, so that the courts
can decide finally whether or not
it is proper.
While the cross-examination of
Mr. Budenz got the headlines, this
phase of the hearings and his
earlier direct testimony constitute
only a small part of the vast rec
ord. SACB is directed to determine
whether communist action and
communjst-front organizations in
the United States participate in a
world-wide communist conspiracy
to establish a global dictatorship
“by treachery, deceit and infiltra
tion.”
Men have taken the stand, one
alter another, to admit former
membership in the Communist
Party, and to tell what they know
are no chapters, no committees,
and no dues. All you have to do to
be a Christopher is to start being
one.—(The Atlanta Journal).
about its organization and work A
few of the things these witnesses
told are these:
There are “secret” as we!! as or
dinary members of the CP. The
“secret” members do not carry
cards. When occasion demanded
they were instructed to deny con
nections with the CP, while in the
same instances well known CP
leaders and regular party members
were instructed to admit member
ship. This tended to draw suspicion
from the “secret” members.
“Secret” members are not just
ornaments; they help from lime to
time with special work, like the
preparation of important reports
and documents.
Party members from the U. S.
have gone to Moscow for schooling.
Some, while there, conferred with
“general staff officers of the Red
Army.” At such meeting, “decis
ions were made” to send small con
centrated forces of party members
into the U. S. army and navy, aftd
to make the Panama Canal “the
first concentration point.”
■That “J. Peters.” who was de
scribed as “a special kind ol com
munist representative to the CP”
here, told some of the witnesses
that, in the event the CP went un
derground here, underground units
were to be composed of not more
than five men, with one man in
charge.
That the MVD (communist sec
ret police) had members in the
United States, and only the top
leaders of the CP had information
regarding them, and even they
didn’t know too much.
That aliases are in common use,
with some members having several.
One witness told of traveling for a
protracted period on a passport is
sued to him under an alias.
That the Communist Party sent
“fractions” into various groups and
organizations in the United Stales,
including youth organizations,
churches and fraternal bodies, to
carry out Comintern and CP polic
ies.
There has been much more testi
mony along these lines. It has taken
a year to produce the record as it
now stands. The hearings will con
tinue for some time yet, for the
Communist Party is expected now
to attack the testimony that has
been given.
From any angle, these hearings
are among the most important ever
held in this country. They have
been overshadowed by more spec
tacular and more evanescent in
vestigations. It is perhaps further
evidence that, because of the speed
with w'hich w'e live, we sometimes
pass by and overlook matters of
the utmost importance to our in
dividual lives, and to the life of
the nation. — (N. C. W. C. News
Service).
CATHOLICS AND THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
As part of its answer to recent
attacks on non-public education,
the executive board ( f the National
Catholic Education Association
took occasion at NOEA’s recent
convention in Kansas City to clari
fy the question of Cathlic attitudes
towards the public schools. The
five-point statement, issued on
April 15, declares:
1. Catholics believe in the
public school.
2. Catholics believe that as
citizens, like all other citizens,
they have an obligation to pay
taxes tor the support of the
public schools in their com
munity.
3. Catholics have not in
terfered and will not interfere
with the justifiable expansion
of the public-school system.
4. Catholics have a civic
duty to take an active interest
in the welfare of the public
schools in their community.
5. Catholics have great ad
miration for the rank and file
of public-school teachers who
in a spirit of self-sacrifice and
dedication to American ideals
have stuck to their posts de
spite the relatively low salaries
paid to them in many locali
ties.
We might add that Catholics
have just as much right as any
other American citizen to measure
the public school against their
standards of what democratic pub
lic education ought to be, and
that they are not going to be
frightened into silence by the NEA
strategy of dubbing ail critics “the
enemy.” (America)
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