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FOUR
THE BULLETIN Or THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NOVEMBER 27, 1954.
(Ebr lullrtui
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga.
/
Times Have Changed
THIS WORLD OF OURS
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1953-1954
J. P. MEYER, Columbus President
MARTIN J. CALLAGHAN, K. S. G., Macon — —
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-Presidents
MRS. L. E, MOCK, Albany Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta I- V. P., Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus V. P„ Activities
RAWSON HAVERTY, Atlanta V. P., Membership
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta 1— Treasurer
JOHN MARKW ALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECIBE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
Vol. XXXV
NOVEMBER 27, 1954.
No. 14
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
and accepted for« mailing at special rate of postage provided by para
graph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service, Religious News Service, the
Catholic Press Association of the United States, the Georgia Press
Association, and the National Editorial Association.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop-
Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta, and of the Right Reverend Abbot
Ordinary of Belmont.
The Queen Mother
As the Marian Year draws to a close and preparations
are made for liturgical celebrations in the Savannah Ca
thedral and in Atlanta’s historic Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception, we hail the recent encyclical of Pope Pius XU,
“Ad Caeli Reginam,” as most appropriate tribue to the im
mortal and beloved Queen Mother of Heaven and earth.
This pronouncement was a realistic application of the
age-old belief of the Church in the greatness of Mary to the
problems of the modern world. In it the Holy Father called
upon “all those who today have the responsibility of ensuring
the right and proper conducting of public affairs” to be in
spired by the Virgin’s “courageous and even audacious will.”
To imitate her courage, men must sometimes make urn
hesitatingly “necessary decisions and put them into effect
with unfailing energy.” Such a spirit, he continued, “will
sweep along in its wake the tired, the weak, the doubtful and
those who no longer believe in justice and nobility because
•they must be defended.”
Men cannot fail to appreciate the inspiration of the Moth
er of God when they look back in prayerful meditation on
■her decision to accept the mandate of the Almighty, her jobs
and sorrows, her unfailing fidelity to the designs of Divine
Providence.
And so this year especially dedicated to her closes, but
'not without a lasting and deeper appreciation of the virtue
and greatness of this humble handmaid of the Lord and now
the Queen of Heaven and earth, the Queen of all mankind.
In Thanksgiving
The cranberries and pumpkin pie are probably all gone
by now, but Friday being where it is, we venture to surmise
that the old gobbler will find a few more knives poking in
his ribs over the week end. For this reason, we believe the
spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday should still be with us.
In fact, it is a poor spirit indeed if it does not last until
another renewal of the Pilgrims’ festival rolls around.
And this brings us right to the point, namely, that grati
tude should be an enduring thing, a virtue, a habit, which
transcends the reversals and disappointments of life. In the
preface of the Mass, we pray: “It is truly meet and just, right
and availing unto salvation, that we should always and in all
places give thanks unto Thee, Holy Lord, Father Almighty,
Everlasting God.”
Because of the national character of the day, the Prayer
for Civil Authorities was recited after Mass on Thanksgiving
Day. In this petition for divine guidance, we find a deep and
sincere note of gratitude for the blessings which Almighty
God has showered on America. The reasons for such grati
tude are so obvious that they cannot escape the notice of
anyone.
But blessings carry with them duties and responsibilities,
which go far beyond the few words of thanks spoken at meal
time. True gratitude prompts a man to make proper use of
the gifts of nature hnd grace. And here the role of responsible
citizenship is demanded of every thankful American. Let us
give thanks for this, our country, and at the same time meas
ure up to our duties as loyal and true citizens.
(By Richard Paltee)
I have just been reading some
of the Madrid papers, particularly
the air-mail edition of ABC which
reaches one here in America with
in two or three
days of publica
tion, and Ya,
the M ad rid
daily that re-
fleets the
thought of the
Falange. The
item of the day,
so to speak, is
the recent visit
of Harold Stassen to Spain and
the statement issued by the Unit
ed States official charged with
responsibility for the distribution
of aid abroad.
Mr. Stassen was received .with
all the honors in Madrid and, at
a banquet given for him, was
saluted by the functionaries of
the Spanish government whose
concern is economic reconstruc
tion. In his response the Ameri
can official expressed the com
plete harmony of views between
Spain and the USA, and the con
viction that the American gov
ernment was fully cognizant of
the necessity of developing and
extending the agreements reach
ed in September 1953 which estab
lish, for all practical purposes, art
alliance between the two coun
tries.
Islands Of Hostile Opinion
I remember writing, in 1946—
and this is no claim to prescience
—that sooner or later the absolute
absurdity of the American posi
tion at that time toward Spain
would become evident, and for
two basic reasons: first, because
our government was wrong, sec-
course in diplomacy but to culti
vate as assiduously as possible the
closest ties with Spain. Both situ
ations have been demonstrated
true. To be sure, there are islands
of hostile opinion still very much
alive, and from time to time, we
get evidence that the enemies Of
this combination are still very
much on the scene.
I had this experience only a
few weeks ago. I wrote a piece for
this column on a new magazine
published in New York, Iberica,
the purpose of which is to keep
alive the hatreds and prejudices
of the civil war period. As with
many of these columns, the com
ment produced a spate of corres
pondence and for two or three
weeks I was bombarded with let
ters regarding the motives of the
people who run the magazine and
my own attitude toward it. Final
ly I got into an exchange of let
ters with Iberica itself and, among
other things, was assured that the
publication was very far from
anti-Catholic and, on the contrary,
desirous of contributing to the
best understanding possible.
Specious Reasoning
In one of the numbers sent to
me was an article by the Spanish
literary man, Ramon Sender. His
thesis is somewhat the following:
The western world will be doom
ed in the conflict with Sovietism
if we do not repudiate Franco,
and especially will we suffer in
our arrangements with Tito if
we cultivate the Spanish chief of
state. In other words, in order
to save Tito’s feelings and sensi
tivities, we must denounce and
berate Franco as we did in the
old days.
astonishing and in complete con
tradiction with everything we
know to be true. Yet, we find
this kind of specious reasoning
advanced seriously as a basis for
the foreign policy of this country.
Outmoded Anachronisms
I started out this piece by
pointing out how the climate has
changed in the past few years
and how Mr. Harold Stassen was
able to assure his Spanish listen
ers that the Madrid-Washington
axis is absolutely fundamental to
the peace of the world. In spite
of the outmoded and outdated an
achronisms which still pass for
history—such as the one I ..have
just quoted—the realities of in
ternational life are gradually mak
ing themselves felt. One of them
is that there is nothing more nat
ural than the closest collabora
tion between Madrid and Wash
ington, because nothing funda
mental separates the two coun
tries and both are engaged in
fighting exactly the same evil
force in the world today.
I am still amazed, however, that
15 years after the civil war we
are still the victims of an im
mense amount of anti-Spanish
sentiment. We fought the Ger
mans for four long years, yet 10
years after the end of the war we
welcome Chancellor Adenaeur—
and rightfully so—with open
arms. We fought the most vicious
war in history with Japan, but
Prime Minister Yoshida was re
ceived with every distinction ev
erywhere in this country. Will the
dav arrive when General Franco,
whose anti-communism is even
purer than that of Senator Mc
Carthy, will receive the honors of
Blair House?
SurAum. Chorda
WHATS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD?
By REV. JAMES M. GILLIS, C. S., P.
(Contributing Editor, The Catholic World)
THE PRIEST NO SECOND GRADE CITIZEN
From time to time in this col
umn I find it advisable to vindi
cate the right of the priest (or
for , that matter any clergyman)
to have his say about the con
duct of public affairs. Those who
deny that right play a trick on
their listeners or their readers
with the slogan “Let the priest
stay out of politics.” The trick
of course is in that ambiguous
word “politics.” As commonly
used it means “partisan poli
tics.”
But politics is not in itself and
of itself something bad. The dic
tionary defines it as “that branch
of ethics which deals with the
relations between nation and na
tion or of states within the na
tion.” Now, “ethics” is the sci
ence of morals. So when say
“morals” you open the door to
the moralist and therefore to the
priest.
But I have said all this be
fore. So today I propose to sur
render this space to a guest con
ductor, no less a dignitary than
the late Cardinal Suhard of
Paris. In his splendid pastoral
letter “Priests Among Men” he
says:
“Many Christians think they
are honoring and doing a favor
to their priests by confining
them to what they think is the
‘sacred’ area, that is to a secon
dary and contingent function.
They surround the priest and im
prison him in a network of pre
judices or Pharisaical deference,
and then a little later they blame
him for not taking an active
part in community life. ...
“Christ makes of his ministers
a burning fire in order to spread
fire on the earth. Like Christ,
the priest brings mankind a
priceless good, that of worrying
it. He must be the ‘minister of
restlessness’.
“Like the hero and the saint,
the priest in human society is
not a passive docile citizen. His
own way of being a good citi
zen is to be, in most sincere
obedience to legitimate authori
ty, eternally unsatisfied, not so
as to upset social peace but so
as to foster continually a higher
goal for mankind . . . . As pro
phet of the living God he re
jects the calm which means
death. He has to be the artisan
of the future, of the new order
that is developing within the
souls of individual men, as well
as in the stream of history. So
it can be said without contra
diction that his way of bring
ing about order is to start a
ferment. . . .
“The priest is a challenge to
other men. He is a sign of con
tradiction. As soon as he appears,
passions crystallize, coalitions
are formed. His presence sud
denly releases pent-up feelings
of aversion or of love
“The priest in relation to so
ciety must always be somehow
or other its adversary. He will
never be forgiven for recalling
and perpetuating, from genera
tion to generation, Him Whom
they thought they had suppress
ed forever .... Far from being
tured citizen,’ a priest is, like
fighting man. . . . Like Saint
Michael,-he challenges the Dra
gon, dragging him out of am
bush. . . so as to crush one by one
his ever-resurgent heads. That
is not a mere figure of speech.
Although it is too frequently
overlooked, a priest is an exor
cist by virtue of one of the Or
ders he has received; he has the
power and the duty of expelling
the Devil. . . .
“Men even hold it against the
priest for telling them the truth.
‘Truth begets hatred,’ says Saint
Augustine. ‘If the world hates
you, be sure that it hated me
before it learned to hate you.’ A
priest must not, therefore, be
astonished by lying accusations.
He will even see In them proof
that he is following in Christ’s
footsteps.”
Those are stirring words. If
they need further emphasis, it
was provided by the Holy Fath
er at a recent special audience.
He said
“The power of the Church is
not bound by limits of 'matters
strictly religious but by the
whole matter of natural law. Its
foundation, its interpretation,
so far as their moral aspects are
concerned, are within the
Church’s power. For keeping of
the natural law, by God’s ap
pointment, has reference to the
road by which man has to ap
proach his supernatural end.
But on this road the Church is
man’s guide and guardian in
(Continued on Page Five)