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EIGHTEEN
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC L AY MEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JULY 31, 1954
Refugees From Some of Vietnam's
Most Catholic Areas Ted How They
Fled Reds After French Evacuation
By FATHER
PATRICK O’CONNOR
(Correspondent, N. C. W. C.
News Service!
HAIPHONG. North Vietnam,—
Refugees huddled in a public
school building here told how they
lied from the southern part of the
Red River delta when the French
evacuated the region.
‘‘We got word early in the morn
ing and had only a few hours to
get ready ” said a man from Bui-
ebu. “Some had less than that.”
The refugees boarded French
landing craft and other boats in
the river or along the coast and
sailed north to this port city.
“The Vietminh had begun to
attack when we were entering the
boats,” said a man from Pbat-
diem.
Most of the 900 refugees in this
improvised shelter are Catholics.
Six Too Late
To Develop Good
Reading Habits
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
LOVELAND. O. — Parents of
even tiny children should “sched
ule trips to the public library as
regularly as trips to the grocery-
store.”
If they don't, according to a nun
who is an authority on children's
books, there’s not much hope for
developing good reading habits. “It
is much too late when the child
reaches the age of six to hope to
correct his taste in reading or to
expect the teacher to do anything
about it.”
Speaking at the first open house
event of Grailville Community Col
lege’s summer session. Sister
Bernice of Marycliff High School
declared:
“If we should begin the develop
ment of the child's taste for good
reading before he leaves the crib.
there would toe no comic book j Hanoi. 55 mile£ inland; nobody can
problem. The ch,ld would undergo ; estimate how many thousands of
an attach, J«st as he may suLer re f ugees have arrived in the past
an attack of measles, but there week . Thc 9(K) or so in this school
d ^t. n ° astlrl , g hlt i are only a small fraction. Others
ta-tes were properly guided. have crowded into the little homes
Among the children s books she 0 f relatives. Others, aeain, have
recommended were such classics I
* a MiWc fount * shelter in nearby villages.
as A. A. Milne's “Winnie the
Pooh,” Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in
Wonderland,” and Beatrix Potter's
“Peter Rabbit.”
Deploring the common practice
of “writing down” to children, Sis-
Local Vietnamese authorities
seem to be doing their best for the
refuges. The director of social
services for North Vietnam, Doc
Nguyen Phu, a Catholic, is
ter Bernice asserted: “We must put j charge. The refugees get three
into the hands of children only the j meals a day and a small money al-
books worthy of them, the books of ! lowance.
honesty, integrity and vision —the
books on which they can grow . . .
Reading which does not, stir their
imaginations, which does not
stretch their minds, not only
wastes their time but will nol hold
their interest.”
Stressing the cihld's natural in
terest in poetry, the Religious
said, “Unthinking people believe
that poetry is purely imaginary
stuff which has little to do with
reality. But it is the poet’s intuition
of the truth that lies at the heart
of all life and which he recreates
in his imagination.” She cited the
works of A. A. Milne and the
children’s verses of Edward; Lear
and Hilaire Belloc as among th«
best poetry children may read or
be read to “for fun.”
The “weakest area” in children's
hooks is in the religious field, ac
cording to Sister Bernice.
PRIEST-ADMIRAL
CALLED TO DUTY
WASHINGTON. (NC) — Msgr.
Maurice S. Sheehy, head of the de
partment of religious education at,
the Catholic University of America
and Rear Admiral in the Navy-
Chaplain Corps, has been recalled
to active duty for one month. He |
“We will keep them here for a
week or 10 days,” said Mr. Doc,
"and after that we will try to place
them in surrounding villages.”
Vietnamese boy scouts and girl
guides help to run the camp.
The French army has placed the
“military refugees”-—wives and
children of Vietnamese soldiers—
in special camps. When two other
correspondents and I asked to see
them, a French adjutant told us
that our business was “unimpor
tant” ; and our visit “inopportune.”
The Vietnamese mayor of Hai
phong, Dong Trinh Ky, and bis
social service officials made it
easy for us to visit Civilian refu
gees.
The mayor said that Haiphong’s
population today has swollen to
250,000, compared with 80,000 be
fore the war. r
“If the French had enough ships,
the people would have left many
other villages in the south,” one
official said, quoting a Phatdiem
refugee.
Tonight these poor people will
chant their prayers far from the
churches and thatched roofs of
home. They are grateful for to
day’s shelter and freedom, even if
their future seems heavily cloud
ed. They know that thousands of
. , , ,, , , , their relatives and friends are al-
was assigned to the staff of Ad-, rea< j y un( j er the red flag and yel-
miral John H. Cassady, U. S. N.. low star the Communist Viet-
Commander in Chief of the Eastern i minh „ bare M ^
and Mediterranean forces, | '
Monsignor Sheehy will have his
headquarters in London. After a
trip to Italy, he will accompany
Admiral Cassady when the fleet
visits the Scandinavian capitals, Be
side looking after Navy personnel
in London, the Monsignor has been
scheduled to give several talks
while in England.
Arthur J. Manning
Services Are Held
ATLANTA, Ga. — Funeral ser
vices for Arthur J. Manning were
held July 1st at the Cathedral of
Christ the King. Rev. Frances
Kelly officiated.
Instruction School
For Fleming Heights
Through the initiative of the
Rev. Arthur Weltzer, pastor of St.
Patrick’s Church, Augusta, Ga., a
two weeks religious instruction
school was conducted for the chil
dren of the Fleming Heights Com
munity at the beautiful country
home of Dr. and Mrs. John O’Brien.
The elasses were taught by the
Sisters of St. Joseph and transpor
tation for both teachers and chil
dren was furnished by members of
the Augusta Deanery Council of
Catholic Women.
Some wear rosaries around their
necks; many wear medals. They
come from some of the most Cath
olic areas in the country.
Twentv-four weary - looking wo
men in black, with rosaries, form
a group among the refugees sit
ting on the floor in one classroom.
These women, some quite young,
come from Buichu, where they
dedicate themselves to full-time j
religious work.
They are some of Indo-China’s j
“Lovers of the Cross,” founded |
more than 300 years ago by early ,
missionaries and now taking vari- !
ous forms, including organized !
communities.
Most of the refugees wear the
dull brown garb of the Vietnamese
peasant. None seem wealthy.
They present the now familiar
picture of the plain, poor people of
Far Eastern lands fleeing before
a Communist occupation takes
over.
They sit and sleep on mats in
the bare classrooms. Many are
in family groups, some with in
fants in arms. They brought with
them only what belongings they
could carry. Usually that was lit
tle.
Some walked for five hours
through the darkness from their
homes to the river bank, where
they waited all day, without food,
for the evacuation boat.
One man, sitting on the floor
against a wall, was winding a ban
dage around the stump of his leg.
He had lost the lower part of his
leg in a Vietminh attack earlier
this year.
Three AHetnamesC Sisters of the
Rosary stayed behind with the sick
in the little Catholic hospital of
Buichu. Father Robert Willichs,
of the Belgian Society of Mission
Auxiliaries, remained in Phatdiem.
He runs a hospital and dispensary,
poorly equipped in everything ex
cept his own ability and enthus-’
iasm.
Here in Haiphong, port city for
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