Newspaper Page Text
JUNE 21, 1952
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMENS ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE
With tPther Editors
SCARCELY FIT TO PRINT
The New York “Times” is cer
tainly worried about Catholics. It
seemingly ascribes to us not only
in the United States blit all over
the world a degree of perfection
which few of us claim.
If a group of ruffians throw
stones at a Protestant church in
Spain, the “Times” correspondent
there cables a long and costly
story making an international
event of it would hardly seem
more important than the frequent
throwing of stones at Long Island
Railroad trains by hoodlum young
sters or the destruction of prop
erty in gang fights in various parts
of the city.
Or let there be some controver
sy in Guatemala, Colombia, or
some other country, and there
again a “Times” writer is on the
scene to make an issue out of an
incident, and. of course, a long
story of which some editor seems
to have said, “this ought to put
the Catholics on the spot.” The
latest from Colombia was a master
piece. There was a small brawl
and the “Times” went, not to Cath
olics for an account of it, but only
to the Evangelicals who penned
the expected, and probably hoped
for ,anti-Catholic tirade. The Cath
olics there were so wicked that
a priest actually refused burial to
a confessed Protestant. It was, of
course, a verbal lynching party for
several millions of Catholics.
On Monday of this week, how
ever, the “Times” outdid itself.
Some time ago a Spanish prelate
made some remarks about Protes
tants, which sounded, harsh to
American, Catholic and non-Catho-
lic ears, but which were mild com
pared to those being made by non-
Catholic clergymen daily in this
country about Catholics. A couple
of Catholic publications in the
United States censured the Span
ish prelate. Then, to “the seem
ing amazement of the “Times”,
several newspapers in Spain at
tacked the two American Catho
lic papers. This—a controversy
between Catholic publications 4,000
miles apart—got a two column
heading on page one of the
“Times” and two columns of space
on an inside page. We wonder if
in modern journalism any up-to-
date daily ever before featured
such a long-distanced dispute be
tween Catholic papers.
The “Times”, under its present
management—which has lost sight
of the journalistic heights scaled
by the “Times” under Adolph
Ochs—seems to want to give Cath
olics a hard time. It not only rat
tles skeletons and seeks to em
barrass Catholics, but it almost
seems dedicated to stirring up re
ligious and racial hatred and to
creating confusion and controversy
among Americans in an hour when
unity and good will are imperative
for the nation’s future welfare.
We can, of course, understand
its policy on Spain, for its long
vilification of Spaniards seems to
evidence brought forth recently
by two notable medical writers—
Drs. Willius and Dry, of the
famous Mayo Clinic. Their testi
mony gives the lie to canards about
a field which is generally regarded
to have been deploringly ineffi
cient in mediaeval times, the field
of medicine.
Many take great pride in the
evidence of the modern day medi
cal centers, as if they were char-
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have been unavailing, as the Amer-| ac t e ristically peculiar to our own
ican government is at present using i day Many, too, harbor the
the good offices of the Spanish ; thought that our modern schools
government and thousands of I 0 f medicine are without precedent
American tourists are buildring 1 and altogether due to our own in
bridges of friendship with the j genuity. Neither conviction is
Spanish people. The “Times” re- built on fact,
action is one of extreme bitter
ness.
Again, many are asking, why
does the “Times” feature the ex
aggerated and one-sided stories
from Colombia and elsewhere
when their only purpose can be to
bring cleavages and misunder
standings in this country? Certain
ly no individual editor of the
“Times”, if confronted personally,
would admit he considers such ar
ticles as contributing to the unity,
the brotherhood, or the liberalism
all of them
desire in their editorials. “All the
News That’s Fit to Print” has tak
en on another ^meaning.
—(The Tablet).
GOD LOVE YOU
Most Reverend
Fulton J. Sheen
And these two writers prove it
in showing that the first real med-
j ical center . . . the first worth-
! while medical school was organized
at Salerno in Italy as early as the
10th century. That institution
reached the height of its influence
and prestige in the 12th century
—in the middle of the so-called
Dark Ages.
This school of medicine was
notable for these facts; it was the
first school to prescribe specific
”L ‘ “'“V' i pre-medical training; it establish-
so often profess to, ^ a definjte med >j curriculum .
it was the first to require formal
classrooms c o u r c e s and definte
clinical application to partients
of the knowledge imparted in the
classroom, and it demanded a type
of training that is directly related
to our present-day internship.
Salerno grew steadily in breadth
and statue towards the summit of
its influence in the middle of the
13th century (still in the Dark
mind you) until its civil
ruler, Frederick II, issued what
is known now as the Mediaeval
law for the Regulation of the
Practice of Medicine.”
You can judge how mediaeval—
or how modern the regulations
were by some of the features.
Here are some of the highlights;
(1 >a physician must have a diploma
from a university and a license
from the government; (2) He must
have studied three years in "prep
aration before taking up the study
of medicine; ~ (3) He must have
studied three years in medical
school; (4) He must practice one
year with a licensed physician be
fore he be allowed to take up
practice on his own account; (5)
If the medical student desired to
take up surgery, he must have
made special intensive studies in
anatomy; (6) This 13th century law
for the protection of the health of
Frederick’s realm is especially in
teresting because it also regulated
the purity of drugs. In that re
spect it anticipated our own Fed
eral pure food and drug laws by
seven centuries.
In view of the above facts, It is
very clear that those so-called
Dark Ages weren’t so “dark” after
all. An analysis of the rules and
regulations set up for the prac
tice of medicine and the function
ing of the Salerno school of medi
cine show us that there’s very
little in our way of doing things
that is really peculiar to us.
Nor can anyone, as so often hap
pens, say that the Church evi
denced anything but a sympathetic
cooperation with the medicine at
that time. In Garrison’s “History
of Medicine,’ ’an accepted text, we
read . . . “the friendliest relations
existed between the clergy and the
physicians at Salerno.”
Let’s face the facts, and know
what we are talking about. It’s so
much better! The Catholic Stand
ard and Times).
HPHE Holy Father’s Society for the Propagation of the Faith main*
tains 614 areas in the missionary world, each of which averages
as large as the State of New York. It aids every missionary society
in the world to help maintain their 44.000 elementary schools, 174
leprosaria and 3,162 dispensaries. The sacrifices you make we send
directly to Rome to be distributed by the Holy Father Himself to
the missionaries . . . China is our greatest worry. There were 143
dioceses or prefectures apostolic in China a few years ago. After
4 years, 61 Bishops remain but they are not allowed to have any
contact with their faithful and are under house arrest. This is
equivalent to the destruction of all the Cathedrals, schools, orphan
ages, convents, hospitals and monasteries in 50% of the dioceses of
the United States with 43% of the Bishops under house arrest.
Picture 36 Archbishops and Bishops of the United States in prison,
7 of them dying in prison and you have some idea of the persecution
in China! The number of priests known to be in Chinese prisons
is at least 300.
DIVERSE REPRESENTATIVES
During World War II, our ser
vicemen found no place too remote
for the Catholic missionary. When
they went beyond the fringes of
civilization toward the North Pole,
they discovered the missioneries j ,
there before them; when they } rii
reached isolated islands in the
South Seas or little hamlets in the
Orient, they were welcomed by
them.
They not only found the mission
aries there, but they soon learned
that they had the respect, the con
fidence and the love of the natives.
The role of the priests, the Sisters
and the Brothers in these far-flung
regions was strictly religious, but
the servicemen soon realized that
the understanding ministrations of
the missionaries made not only
their religion but the countries of
their origin popular.
This was particularly true of
American missionaries; wherever
priest, Sisters and Brothers from
the United States labored, our ser
vicemen found themselves in
stantaneously popular. GI’s con-
stantantly referred to them as
among the best of American am
bassadors.
There are also many Protestants
missionaries in this category. But
many who have gone to Latin
America and to Latin countries in
Europe are definitely outside of it.
Our Colombian correspondent, for
instance, reports that ministers
from the United States who boast
that they are “bringing Christian
ity” to a people who were Christ
ian before there was any Protes
tant Church indulge in studied in
sults to the Catholic faith.
“The Pope is a beast,” a Seventh
Day Adventist said in a public
lecture at Bucaramanga, others
have called the confessional “a
sewer of moral filth.” The moral
character of the Blessed Virgin has
been assailed in indecent language.
Some ministers have consistently
allied themselves with radicals be
cause these radicals are anti-Cath
olic. Is it to be wondered at that
they run into trouble? Catholic
missionaries only have trouble
with enemies of all religion.
Protestant missionaries who
abide by the universal rules of
good conduct have no difficulity.
Those who do not are doing a
great disservice not merely to the
denominations sending them but to
the country from which they are
naturally regarded as representa
tive.—(The Catholic News)
Crowning with thorns has recently been revived by the young
Communists in China who demanded also that Sister Superior
of the Catholic hospital in Chaotung be crucified. The Devil
is the invisible head of the Mystical Body of the anti-Christ and
Stalin is its visible head . . . Years ago, Lonin said; “Remember,
the shortest route to Paris passes through Peiping, China.”
By this, he meant that Europe would be conquered after Asia
was conquered. 33% of the population of the world is today
under Communist control! What does this mean to you? Do
you depend on politicians to stop Communism ... It takes a
faith to meet a faith; a belief in Christ to overcome a bcli f in
anti-Christ. This faith in Christ becomes concrete only in prayer
and sacrifice ... If you had a World Mission Rosary and each
day the yellow beads reminded you of China, Korea and Vietnam,
you would pray for these people. At present your request and
a $2 offering, we will send you one blessed by me . . . When
the Irish Catholics were persecuted they brought the faith to
America. Today, the persecuted Chinese Catholics are bringing
the faith to Fomosa. Since 1945, the increase in the number
of Catholics is 40%. 1,500 converts are under instruction, 250
of whom are university students.
in
Sacrifice! Deny yourself something. Give up something
the name of Jesus and Mary. This is what others are doing! . . .
GOD LOVE YOU to J. C. P. for $10, the price of a pair of moccasins
he wanted to buy but instead sent the money to the Holy Father’s
Missions because he knew they needs it more . . . GOD LOVE YOU
to the pupils of a sixth grade in Pennsylvania who have been mak
ing “two cent sacrifices” for each item dropped during class time
and now sends the Holy Father’s Missions $7 with the hope that
it will help some needy mission. . . . GOD LOVE YOU to Mrs,
H. M. S. for the $5 she earned baking and selling home-made
cup cakes and donuts . . . GOD LOVE YOU to C. N. who instead of
buying herself a corsage sent the Holy Father’s Mission $5 . . . GOD
LOVE YOU to M. J. C. for $7.50 he would have paid for a tie but
instead sent it to the Holy Father’s Missions in exchange for a favor
from the Lord.
HOW DARK WERE THEY?
Some people will ilever learn.
They get an idea and it becomes so
firmly fixed in their minds that,
seemingly, nothing can ever efface
it even though it be a stranger to
the truth. “Intellectual stubborn
ness” is a good name for it.
An example is had in the way
some people speak of the so-called
Dark Ages. As they tend to see
those times, they were, at best,
nothing but an intellectual vacu
um, a hiatus in the pathway of
progress. And whenever such
people take inventory of things
they usually look back, with scorn,
on medieval times as if progress
had been deliberately halted in
those days. As if nothing worth
while had come down from them.
Nothing is farther from the truth.
And 5 to prove it let’s look 'at the
BUDAPEST AND BARCELONA
This week will see the glorious
climax of the Eucharistic Congress
at Barcelona. Some there are
whose first thoughts will turn to
ward the last Congress which was
held in Budapest in 1938. The
spectacular congress of that year
brought to central Europe, pre
lates, priests and lay folk from all
over the world to celebrate in his
toric context the mystery -of the
Eucharist.
During those days Spain was in
the midst of a civil war and the
Eucharist itself was being profaned
before a thousand altars while
priests and nuns were butchered
in numbers not yet totally com
puted.
How strange are the workings
of God that fifteen years should
see such a reversal of history! Bu
dapest is now the prison city of
Cardinal Mindszenty and priests
and people are butchered for their
faith in streets which were lined
so few years ago with crowds
kneeling before the Sacrament.
Spain in its ’ pwii ’ bdntrast, 1 Wel-
eiimes pilgrMs ftbrn all oVer the
You make an act of faith each time you allow Him to de
cide where your sacrifice should be sent. Pin your sacrifice to
this column, tear out and send to the Most Reverend Fulton
J. Sheen, National Director of The Society for the Propagation
of the Faith, 109 E. 38th St., New York 16x, New York or your
Diocesan Director.
WASHINGTON
By J. J. GILBERT
LETTER
New Problems in Field of Indecent Literature
Seen as Arising From Supreme Court Decision
WASHINGTON. — The Post Of-, possible in this election year.
fice and Justice Departments can
look forward to some new head
aches.
It is confidently expected here
that the Supreme Court decision in
“The Miracle” motion picture case
will bring them a flood of new
problems.
The Supreme Court lield uncon
stitutional a New York State law
which permitted authorities to ban
a motion picture on the ground
that it is sacrilegious. And it went
futrher. It knocked down the idea
that a motion picture is purely a
medium of entertainment and said
it is entitled to the Constitutional
guaranees of free speech and free
press. It also declared that a State
cannot vest in a censor “such un
limited restraining control over
motion pictures” as it said New
York State sought to do.
This comes at a time when there
is a noticeable rise in public inter
est in the mater of curbing the
circulation of obscene literature.
There are no fewer than four
measures with this primary pur
pose now before Congress, and
some leaders are striving to get
at least one of these enacted be
fore the 82nd Congress expires.
That they would succeed was not
at all certain even before the Su
preme Court’s decision, because
the Legislators are anxious to get
away from Washington as soon as
world to the sea city of Barcelona
where the very Bishop himself and
the 1215 priests and religious had
so lately died for their faith.
In the face of it ail let us re
joice that the splendor of the Con
gress Is now able to be celebrated
in Barcelona, and let us be sure
that one day it will return to Bu
dapest.— (The Pilot);. 1 ’ ; ;
And, also before the Supreme
Court decision, the Post office De
partment had told Congress that,
unless it were given the power to
impound mail in cases where it is
being used to defraud or to trans
mit obscene matter, the Depart
ment looked for a marked increase
in troubles of this sort. One weak
ness in the fight against mail of
these types has been that the of
fender can carry on while proceed
ings are being taken against him.
And in the case of the dissemina
tor of obscene matter, even after
the proceedings have gone against
him, he has been able to change
the name of his publication and
continue offering the same offen
sive material. The Post Office De
partment has then had to start all
over with a new case against the
newly-named publication, only to
have the same ending for all its
pains.
Because surveyors of obscene
matter and ‘ get-rich-quick” art
ists are venturesome and uninhi
bited individuals, it is believed
here that they will not wait to see
how broadly the ruling is going to
be interpreted, but will try “to get
away with” as much as they can
before any interpretive pattern
“jells”.
There is the old story about the
promoter who retained a lawyer,
not to tell him what he couldn’t
do, but to tell how much he could
get away with. That’s what the ob
scene literature peddlers are ex
pected to do, “get away” wtih
everything they can until things
quiet down.
That’s why the Post Office De
partment and the Justice Depart
ment can look forward to rhor<
work
; CN.'C. W. C. ; News'Setvifee) >*•