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FOUR
THE BULLETIN CF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
AUGUST 6, 1955.
Fullrlut
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
J, P, MEYER, Columbus ~ President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. L. E, MOCK, Albany Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta V, P~ Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus _ V. P., Activities
RAWSON HAVERTY, Atlanta V. P., Membership
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah _/ _ Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta , Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta , Executive Secretary
MIS^> CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
.ALVIN M, McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor
Col. XXXVI Saturday, Aug. 6, 1955 No. 5.
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.
The Necessity Of Religion
- (REV, JOHN D, TOOMEY)
The practice of religion is universal. It extends over every
age and every land as far as history and archaeology can
determine. It is found in the most promitive of peoples and
in the sophistication of Fifth Avenue and Pdverside Drive.
Plutarch once wrote:
No one has ever seen or ever will see a city without
a sanctuary and a deity, without prayers, oaths, prophe
cies, and sacrifices offered to obtain what is good and
avert what is evil.
Religion is indispensable both to individuals and to so
ciety. It alone satisfies the noblest cravings of our nature—
our desire for truth, goodness, and happiness. Man wants to
know the truth about his purpose, his existence, his destiny.
The will of man seeks the good things of life and happiness is
.ois greatest concern, even in -death. Religion alone supplies
-this need.
In society, religion ennobles the relationship between man
and man; it elevates family life and secures it against natural
istic paganism; it secures respect for law and duty; it pro
motes the temporal welfare of nations. George Washington
said in his Farewell Address:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to politi
cal prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable
- supports. . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to
j expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or
morality is a necessary spring of popular government.
; When the practice of religion falls by the wayside, bar
barism takes its place. When men seek to rise to power as
dictators and tyrants, the first institution which they attack
•js the Church and its system of education. Witness Lenin,
i-talin, Hitler, Peron. And thus they educate the young ac
cording to their own godless system'and deprive them of the
spiritual training which would make for good Christian
citizenship.
These aie the natural reasons on which we base our
CRUSADE FOR GOD here^ in Georgia. We believe that re-
ligion is a necessity for every individual in his search for
truth, goodness, and happiness. We believe that religion is
a necessity for the welfare of our nation and that it cannot
prosper nor survive in its present form without the practice
of religion by the major portion of its citizens.
In another issue, we shall take up the practice of religion
^ divine command. But we ask again,
what can the average man do to stem the tide of irreligion
oHcl indifference that swirls about him? Surely there must
be a thousand and one different ways in which to meet this
challenge. But we want to know what you propose to do
about it.
Out Of Business
_ Latest report on the ‘‘Religious Gimmick” situation from
W ashington reveals that the Miami post office will return to
L ie sender and stamp ‘‘Out of Business” on all mail addressed
to Ex-GI Plastics. This Miami concern was a topic of an
earlier editorial and has received wide attention in both the
'Catholic and Secular press:
Effective August 12, the postal action will be taken in
compliance with an affidavit of Discontinuance” signed by
Benjamin Kram in the office of William C. O’Brien, Assistant
solicitor of the Post Office Department, in charge of the
ifraud and Mailability Division. By signing the “Affidavit of
Discontinuance,” and thereby agreeing that Ex-GI Plastics
would go out of business, the Krams were able to avoid the
August 12 hearing which might have led to,a fraud charge
Jgainst them.
i Prompt action has been taken against the Miami opera
tions. Ex-GI Plastics is only one of many similar “Gimmick
Houses” scattered throughout the country. Whether they
prosper or are forced to hang up the -“Out of Business” sign
is dependent upon our cooperation.
Introduction To Greece
THIS W0RU) OF OURS
(By Richard Pailee)
ATHENS—The first point on
the itinerary I am now following
in the Near East is Greece. I
am writing this from Athens,
lodged snugly in the combination
residence, school, dormitory,
printing establishment and gen
eral cultural center of the Cath
olics in this country who belong
to the Byzantine or Greek rite.
I was intro-
.duced to this
extraordi-
nary world of
the eastern rites
the Sunday
morning!
reached this
capital. The
plane from
Rome landed at
three in the morning, and the
strictly Mediterranean character
of - Athens, was revealed most
eloquently by the dozens of citi
zens still sitting at sidewalk
cafes as though it were nine
in the evening.
MORE FAMILIARITE
Mass here at the chapel of
Msgr. Georges Calavassy, Exar-
que of Greece and head of the
Greek rite Catholics, is said,
quite naturally, according to that
rite. One is introduced at once to
the curious world of long beards,
rounded high hats that distin
guish the eastern clergy, and the
fact that the faithful never kneel
even to receive Communion
which is taken standing.
Even in the short time I have
been here it is perfectly appar
ent that the strength and force
of the Catholic restoration is in
the Greek rite. It differs scarcely
at all from that of the official
Orthodox Church and is there
fore completely familiar to the
Greek people. The Latin rite, al
so with a Bishop here and nume
rous communities scattered about
is still called “French” — an
epithet dating from the time of
the Crusades and summarizing a
state of mind that has to be
taken into account.
I am told that the attitude of
the government and even the
Orthodox clergy and hierarchy,
towards Latin rite Catholics is
one of indifference and that their
“foreignness” is esteemed a suf
ficient barrier against penetra
tion. Since 1923 when thousands
of Greeks were forced out of
Turkey and back to the home
land, the Byzantine rite has re
turned. It is largely against this
sector of Catholics affiliated with
Rome that the hostility has been
concentrated.
ROMAN BOGY FADING ~
The priests here at 246 Achar-
non Street, tell me that time and
again individual faithful find
their .way to the Greek rite
church where they discover that
the Church of Rome, about
which so much prejudice and
hostility has been generated
since the schism, follows locally
a rite historically identical with
that of the earliest centuries, in
the Greek language, and in con
formity with customs formed ov
er generations.
The strangeness of a religious
transition therefore scarcely ex
ists. The only barrier, obviously,
is submission to the supremacy
of Rome and the acceptance of
the supreme authority of the
Roman Pontiff. Not many Greeks
have come over, to be sure, in
the thirty years since the Greek
rite has returned. But the main
job here now seems to be, as in
so many other lands where ani
mosity is strong, to create an
atmosphere and break down at
titudes.
At this center where I am a
guest, there are some hundred,
students from the provinces who
are studying in Athens. Most of
them are non-Catholic and be
long, nominally at least, to the
official Orthodox Church. ef
fort is made to “convert” them.
Complete reliance is placed on
the slow • process of contract and
the impression that will ultima
tely result from patience and.
tact, and from a surer knowledge
that the Roman Church is not
the frightful thing it has been
depicted for centuries by the
Orthodox.
'PRAISE FROM CAESAR ..
' The second day I visited the
Catholic hospital of Pammacaris-
tos, run by a congregation of
women religious of the Greek
rite, founded in 1932 by Bishop
Calavassy. So successful has this
venture been, the Sister who di
rects it told me, that the Minis
ter of Religious Affairs of
Greece had come there for treat
ment. This functionary, she said,
although charged by the state
with matters relating to the pro
tection of the Orthodox Church,
had expressed his admiratioh and
confidence in the work of the
Sisters.
In the next article on Greece
I shall say something about
Orthodox life as it is here, and
of the valiant and heroic effort
of our people who are fighting
to maintain a foothold in this
ancient, sun-baked and altogeth
er enchanting land.
THE BACKDROP
By CHARLES LUCEY
RED BESTIALITY
The ways of the communists.
are diabolical, as many, Popes
included, have observed. They
commit an offense so heinous or
unjust or dishonest that the
world is repelled and shocked—
the arrest of a Cardinal Minds-
zenty, the imprisonment of
American fliers. They visit bes
tial, inhuman treatment upon
men. A world comes to accept it
as a Soviet norm. Then, much
later, there is a move, serving a
Russian purpose, to lessen a
punishment or injustice which
never should have been pro
nounced in the first place. This
the world is supposed to accept
as a magnanimous gesture.
Memory is short, but it can
not be so short it forgets the
drugging and torturing of the
unbending, courageous Hugarian
priest, the Archbishop of Eszter-
gom. This Cardinal of the Church
who was deprived of food and
drink, who suffered gross phys
ical indignities, who was put un
der brutal communist third de
gree, must have been near death
in the time before the trial and
phoney confession.
The Cardinal had seen what
was happening in Hungary; he
would not be still and he in
sisted on speaking out. This lead
er of his people must be crushed,
said the Reds, and so charges
were laid against him:- plotting
against the government, treason,
spying, black market dealing. As
with Archbishop Stepinac in
Yugoslavia and scores of Cath
olic Bishops and priests in Red-
controlled countries, it was part
of the smothering of the church.
So years later, in 1955, when
the communists allow Cardinal
Mindszenty’s release from jail,
though not his freedom or return
to his former position, the world
is supposed to forget that this
brave man never should have
been imprisoned in the first
place. They are supposed to say:
“You see, the communists are
not so bad after all. Haven’t they
let Cardinal Mindszentry go free?
They must want peace!”
RED PLANS A MYSTERY
Now, in the first days after
the Geneva Big Four conference,
none can say certainly—and this
includes Messrs. Eisenhower and
Dulles — just what the Soviets
are up to in their professed de
votion to a peaceful coexistence
with the free world.
They have been balked in stop
ping NATO ratification. The U.S.
brand of capialism has been bra
zenly disrespeeful of perennial
Moscow forecasts of economic
collapse here. The Soviets have
been having trouble with agri
cultural production and even
greater trouble trying to carry
a heavy armaments load. So,
some informed speculation has
gone, they decided to wheel and
deal to get a few years breath
ing spell. Hence, Geneva and the.
dear-hearts 7 and-g e n 11 e people
motif from Moscow in reecnt
weeks.
In a world desperately eager
for peace Messrs. Eisenhower
and Dulles know they cannot af
ford to dismiss any possibility
that there might be some shred
of sincerity in the changed So
viet attitude. Yet surely it is im
portant that America not lose
sight of the fact thjit Moscow has
changed course before for tac
tical reasons. And it is vitally im
portant that, until there is abso
lute acceptance by our govern
ment that the communists mean
what they say about peace, there
be no letdown in maintaining the
armed strength that is. the only
condition that ever will impress
a ruthless imperialism bent on
world conquest.
PEACE OFFENSIVES
Peace offensives have been a
r’egular part of Soviet policy and
propaganda. Moscow made a
pretty fair pass at cooperating
with the west from the late 1920s
until 1939, the period when the
five-year plans were being-push
ed to build Russia into a modern
industrial state. The Hitler-Sta-
lin pact ended that. The U.S,
and Britain forgave and forgot
after Hitler attacked Russia in
1941, though Stalin never came
all the way in the partnership
of the war years.
Before Franklin Roosevelt died
he saw his hopes of postwar
co-operation with Moscow fad
ing. Harry Truman realized it
quickly. Still, in 1946 Stalin was
telling the" London Sunday Times
he believed “unconditionally” in
the possibility of friendly and
(Continued on Page Five)