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FOUR
THE BULLETIN CF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JULY 23. 1955.
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1954-1955
it'. P. MEYER, Columbus President
E M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. L. E. MOCK, Albany rr_ Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta V. P., Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus V. P., Activities
EAWSON HAVERTY, Atlanta V. P., Membership
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
J OHN "MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
.ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
The Religious Angle
THIS WORLD OF OURS
Vol. XXXVI
Saturday, July 23, 1955
No. 4
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, the Catholic Press As
sociation 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.
Crusade For God
(REV. JOHN D. TOOMEY)
In a lead article of its issue of July 17, Our Sunday
Visitor calls for a Crusade For God among the Catholic laity
pi the United States. The author, Father Richard Ginder,
cites figures which prove that only fifty percent of the popu
lation has any church affiliation and even less than that ever
attend church or synagogue. He states: “We know that a
nation cannot long continue half-pagan and half-Christian
•-rdivided, that is—by two diametrically opposed ideologies.
One of these must win out. And if paganism wins, Democracy
goes down the drain, for Democracy is based on the premise
that our rights come from God rather than" from the state.”
Father Ginder charges that “the average Catholic ... is
in r.4- nil 11 I l-i rf l~.fr-. TTrr,i n-U 4- 4 4-1, _ 1 * _C A .. ? l ,
(By Richard Pailee)
In these two preliminary ar
ticles I want to outline succinctly
the thoughts that come to me as I
prepare to leave for the Near and
Middle East. Obviously the major
interest is religious and to this
point, therefore,]
this release is]
devoted.
What interest!
does the Near!
East offer from!
the Catholic!
point of view?
Have we anyi
real stake there,
aside from the:
profound one of attachment to
those lands which knew the pres
ence on earth of our Saviour and
the paths of the apostles? My sa
lient purpose in this regard may
perhaps be defined as follows: to
ascertain as precisely and in as
much detail as I can the religious
situation in each of these coun
tries and very particularly the
status of our Catholic coreligion
ists.
CATHOLIC MINORITIES
For some years, now, I have
been immersed in the general
study of this matter. This interest
caused me to spend some months
in Scandinavia on a similar mis
sion. It seems to me of supreme
importance to have as realistic
and factual an understanding as
possible of how Catholics fare in
regions where our people are a
minority and part of a social and
spiritual order which is either not
of their own making, or is hostile
to them.
In Scandinavia it was the prob
lem of an emerging Catholic life
in an overwhelming Protestant
environment with everything in
the way of tradition, custom and
even spiritual instinct against us.
In the Near East there is a suc
cession of situations which merit
an equally attentive treatment.
In Greece, the predominant re
ligion is the Orthodox—the fruit
of the great schism of the fourth
century. Linked to nationalism it
has become part and parcel of
Hellenism. Catholics form a small
minority in this sea of separated
Christians. It will be uncommon
ly interesting to see what our peo
pie are doing, how the spread of
our faith is progressing, and some
of the specific obstacles that stand
in its way. I am aware already
from a great deal of reading and
abundant correspondence that the
situation for the observer from
abroad is going to be inordinate
ly difficult. One runs up against
the multiplicity of rites immedi
ately.
MORE THAN ONE RITE
It is an amusing note to observe
that in each Near Eastern capital,
there is not one Bishop to be visit
ed but several. In Athens I plan
to stay with the Catholic Exarch
of the Greek rite—that is to say,
with one of our Bishops who be
longs to the Byzantine rite and is
quite distinct in his jurisdiction
from the Latin rite Bishop, also
resident in the Greek capital.
In Turkey the problem is quite
different. Here we have a land
of Moslem tradition which since
the days of Ataturk has been
highly secularized. The position of
the Catholic Church in Turkey,
therefore, is far different from
that in Greece. It will be interest
ing to see to what extent under
the westernized and laicized poli
cy of modern Turkey the Catholic
Church has managed to carry out
its work.
BIBLICAL SHRINES
Lebanon is a land of divided re
ligion, with about half Christian,
of the various rites plus the Or
thodox. I imagine that in Beirut
it will be something of a source
of confusion to hear Mass in the
Maronite, iMelchite, Jacobite, Sy
rian and Byzantine rites. This
area is deeply anchored in the
Christian tradition and should
prove a contrast to the others.
Syria ’ contains, from what I
have been able to gather, im
portant nuclei of Catholics as well
as several villages where the Ara
maic language of Our Lord is still
spoken. Jordan provides the geo
graphical environment for so
many of the Holy places—Old
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho
and others—that it scarcely re
quires emphasis.
BRISTLING WITH
CHALLENGES
In Israel I hope to see as much
as possible of the working of the,
Jewish state, its problems and
how they are being solved. I shall
be interested, of course, in the re
ligious life of the Jewish nation,
the situation of the Christian
minorities, and especially of the
status of the Church and the out
look for its activity.
I want to look into the schools
and system of instruction and see
how Israel is solving the conflict
between non-religious Jews and
those who follow orthodox prac
tice. The country literally bristles
with challenges of all sorts and I
think it important that as Cath
olics we have as accurate an idea
as possible of what is goirfg on
there.
ISLAMIC CENTER
Cyprus will provide some
thought on the question of union
with Greece as well as the re
ligious situation. A visit to Egypt,
the center of the Islamic, Arab
world, will be eminently worth
while for getting some notion of
how under Moslem supremacy
the Church is progressing.
If the air mail does not betray
me, I hope that the third article
in this series will be datelined
Athens. With it I shall try to open,
up something in the way of ob
servations on this extraordinary
world of the Near East.
conscience in this regard.
Certainly all Catholics, clergy and laity alike, will en
dorse the Sunday Visitor Crusade For God campaign. The
purpose is admirable; the need is inescapable. However, it is
too easy to agree on purpose and need. The question is: What
means can the average Catholic take in accepting this chal
lenge? Some persons will have a ready answer for this, but
many will not—and it is for them that we ask this question
*md seek the implementation of tihs campaign with some
ef fective means.
We wish to put this matter up to the average Catholic
layman in Georgia, because we believe that the figures cited
(by the Sunday Visitor equally apply to our state in the matter
pc irreligion. We would like also to be in a position to present
some concrete suggestions at the impending meeting of the
Catholic Laymen’s Association and the Regional meeting of
ihe Confraternity of Christian Doctrine which will take place
|ri Savannah in October. Perhaps we hear too much about
Responsibilities and opportunities, and too little about actual
methods which can be applied effectively in bringing people
to know the Church as we do.
We invite the readers of The Bulletin to study this situ
ation and send us their recommendations on this matter.
What have you done; what is being done; and what can be
done to bring your fellow Georgians to a knowledge of the
Catholic Church? We are especially concerned with those
thousands of people in our midst who never attend any church
-—and to whom the word “religion” means no more personally
than it did to Karl Marx.
i Can we not have our own Crusade For God here in Geor
gia among our thirty-five thousand Catholics? What will you
do to make it a personal crusade? We await your replv
,Write to:
Catholic Laymen’s Association
416-8th St.
Augusta, Ga.
THE
BACKDROP
By CHARLES LUCEY
... ; :#v$lS
CHURCH FARES BETTER IN GUATEMALA
Guatemala—He came down the
cobblestones of the sunlit plaza in
the ancient Indian village of Chi
chicastenango in full stride—a
fine-looking young man in heavy
leather boots, khaki work trous
ers, zipper jacket and, underneath,
the Roman collar of a Catholic
priest.
This was Father Joseph Rickert,
New Yorker, today one of the
padres de Maryknoll serving in
the nearby. province of Huehue-
tenango, in the tropical and
mountainy Guatemalan back-
country where survive the purest
strains of the ancient Mayans.
Father Rickert was,at Chiehieas-
tenango to drop off three Indian
children at an orphanage, to push
on over the mountains to Guate
mala City, where he would get
his pickup truck repaired, and
then to head back to Huehuete-
nango.
A short time earlier he had said
his Mass. Outside, on the steps of
the old church that goes back to
the Spaniards, the Indians were
beginning the pagan rites that are
seen each market day, dozens of
them swinging crude little censers
in a smoke so thick it was diffi
cult to push through the kneeling
crowd to go inside. Fervently they
prayed, each oblivious of the other
and of all about him.
HUMILITY, DIGNITY,
FAITH
Inside the censers swung tdo,
offerings of flowers spread across
old stone floors, and Indians
crouched over hundreds of small
candles flickering down the cen
ter of the church to the altar rail.
Here Indian fathers presented
their families in deeply earnest
devotion before the altar where
rested the Blessed Sacrament.
First the mother, kneeling, then
the infant carried on her back,
then the children about her. In
cantations of a hundred murmur
ing voices welled up toward the
arched ceilings. Here was humili
ty and human dignity and suppli
cation and faith that scarcely
could be surpassed anywhere in
the world.
Many of these Indians retain
traces of a Christian culture im
planted three or four centuries
ago, yet unnurtured in many parts
of Central America for genera
tions. It shows up now, Father
Rickert observes, in an astonish
ing familiarity with the Gregorian
chant or the correct placing^ of a
feast of the ecclesiastical year by
a people who may have missed
religious teaching for several life
times.
NEW OPPORTUNITY
The anti-Communist revolution
of a year ago, and a new govern
ment under President Castillo
Armas, is bringing new opportuni
ty for religious education and ex
pansion here. A new Guatemalan
constitution provides vastly more
freedom for the Church than it
has had in nearly a century. It
has not been adopted finally, but
the anticipation is that most bar
riers against the Church will be
torn away.
This constitution recognizes the
Church as a “juridical personali
ty” able to own property and to
have convents and seminaries. It
has not been so in a long time;
the Church has been free to use
the beautiful old Cathedral in
Guatemala City and churches else
where, but title to such property
has rested with the state.
PRESSURE LESSENED
Now the way is open for the
Church to own these properties in
its own name. Priests and nuns
are free to go about as they have
not been in the past. There is no
official state church and, appar
ently, some limits still will be
placed on the political activity of
priests. But the steady pressure
against the Church seems certain
to be absent or much lessened.
There are still vestiges of the
anticlerical liberalism that came
(Continued on Page Five)