Newspaper Page Text
AUGUST 6, 1955.
FIVE
r
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
Jottings .
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
v:
liftl;
YOU CAN WIN CONVERTS
Winning A Family
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN
■ i .(University of Noire Dame)- 1
When Mr. and Mrs. Chester
Ovorfield visited the home of the
IN MEMORIAM
The spectacular holds a mono
poly on the headline in both life
and death. The newspaper realm
is no democracy for all names
are not created equal in the
news eye. When a public figure
dies, an -extra edition is the re
sult. The death notices of the
ordinary citizens'" are relegated to
the obituary page ■ in a sea of
dull, grey type of small measure
ment. When a public figure dies,
he is not mourned by his family
alone but by an entire nation.
Yet those ordinary citizens
whose names appear in that
daily death column are “Very
Important Persons’ to those they
have ioved and now leave. The
world for a moment stops revolv
ing for their families.
Martin J. O’Toole’s obituary
was one of those lost in a page
full of similar accounts. His life
in the eyes of the news world
.had nothing to distinguish it
from the hundreds of others who
had died that day. It mattered
little to the sensational-seeking
news world that the life of Mr.
O'Toole and many others in the
long list of dead were extra
ordinary when measured against
most men’s today.
He was uncomplex in an age
of complexity. His wants were
simple in a time when most
men’s were extravagant. He pre
ferred home to any country club
and the companionship of his
wife and children to any swank
social set. His idea of earthy
bliss was to stretch out at home
With a pipeful of tobacco and
turn television on to a Red Sox
doubleheader. These facts are
certainly extraordinary enough
in 1955 when family life is the
country’s greatest single casual
ty-
Even at the end of life, he
awaited death like a hero. He
walked toward the sunset with
out fanfare or acclaim. Near the
end. he passed his days with
rosary beads in hand, his belov
ed baseball game on television
and talk of his native Ireland on
his tongue. He died as he lived,
in quiet dignity.
It is strange how a tiny stick
of type can squeeze the very
heart out the matter. His
obituary, saluted by the press
by only a slug of type with a
name in capital letters, is typic
al of hundreds. The accepted
obituaries of today are necessari
ly no more than a column of
statistics. He was a Mr. John Q.
Citizen, a man of the street, the
voter who elects men of quality.
His family, neighbors and
friends alone mourn him. His
.obituary made no attempt to
mould a personality for readers
to glimpse. It was routine, like
so many others. It told that he
had emigrated to America as a
young man and most of his life
in this country was spent in
Boston. He is survived by his
wife, a son and a daughter. That
was it. That was the record of
the death of one of the countless
ordinary men and women who
die every day and are destined
to take a place in a hall of fame
in the hearts, of,their loved ones
only.
His bequests like those of oth
ers who surrounded him in that
long column of dead will never
make headlines either. Yet his
will is one of which to be proud.
His family is heir to a name
that is untarnished by scandal.
In their father, they are- given
a model of family living. A pri
macy of family values is a rare
bequeathal today. They are also
heirs to his quick Irish wit and
humor, his sense of family loyal
ty and family love.
What richer bequests could
anyone desire?
One cannot help but woftder
about the welcome that awaits
the Martin O’Tooles of this world
when they enter into that land
of no headlines. We wonder if
the Irish bands were playing and
if a doubleheader were the fea
ture attraction. We wonder too
if he were able to once again
walk those shores of Galway
Bay. These were the things he
loved in life; would they be his
again in death?
Since he had fought the good
fight and lived the good life, it
would seem that somewhere at
BACKDROP—
(Continued from Page Four)
lasting collaboration with the
west. In 1947, Stalin granted Har
old Stassen an interview and
gave him some soft soap about
cooperation with the U.S. There
were other statements and inter
views like this. There was a
Stockholm peace petition and
“peace congresses” in many ci
ties.
But somehow a war got start
ed in Korea—and America did
not start it. Soon the communists
were probing first, then attack
ing, in Southeast Asia. Armed
threats against Iran and Turkey
were turned back only by U.S.
resoluteness. But , nearly always
there was, talk from Moscow
about peace.
George Marshall, when Secre
tary of State, saw the danger of
let-down in the U.S. attitude
toward staying strong military.
Similarly the. danger is conceded
by Administration officials now.
Maybe the Russians have chang
ed their spots. Maybe they mean
all they say. Maybe the proof
will come. the day Cardinal
Mindszenty is really Cardinal of
Hungary again and men and
women are free to worship God
as they haven’t been in Eastern
Europe in many years. But it
needs a lot' of proving yet.
Way Of The Cross
(Continued from Page One)
Pontifical Mass in the Byzantine
Rite was concelebrated by Mel-
kite Patriarch Maximos IV
Saigh of Antioch and by Arch
bishop Peter Chami of Bostra,
Syria, and Bishop Joseph Kallas
of Tripoli, Lebanon—all of the
Melkite Catholic Rite.
- Attending the long and bril
liant ritual, rich in its symbolism,
were hundreds of Eastern-Rite
Catholics from various parts of
Brazil, from the Near East, and
from Poland, Russia, and the
Balkan countries.
The Way of the Cross for the
Church of Silence was an occa
sion also to pay honor to the
Cardinals and prelates who have
fallen victims of the communists
among them Josef Cardinal
Mindszenty of Hungary, Aloysi-
us Cardinal Stepinac of Yugos
lavia, Thomas Cardinal Tien of
China, Stefan Cardinal Wyszyns-
ki of Poland and Arqhbishop
Josef Beran of Czechoslovakia.
The Hungarian delegation dis
played a huge portrait of Car
dinal Mindszenty, now said to
have been conditionally releas
ed from prison by the Budapest
government.
Each of the crosses was sur
mounted by the flag of the coun
try it represented. A slow pro
cession moved from one to the
other, the priest praying before
each Station in Portuguese, and
then the delegation repeating his
words in their native language.
Both before and after the cere
mony, choral groups sang popu
lar , hymns. Many wept openly
during the solemn rites, which
concluded with Benediction of
the Blessed Sacrament given by
Bishop Brizgys.
At midnight, His Eminence
Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archbishop of New York, cele
brated a Pontifical Mass at
which close to 400,000 men and
boys received Communion at the
hands of about a thousand
priests. Before the Mass began,
a men’s choir chanted the hymn
of the Congress and various
Eucharistic motets, to the ac
companiment of organ music
that resounded majestically
throughout the vast flood-lit
square.
the moment, Martin O’Toole is
receiving the “Cead Mile Failte”
of the angels and saints who
were once ordinary men and
women in the news eye too.
Paul Mitchell family in Omaha
in March 1954, they were .both
surprised and pleased to see reli
gion forming such an integral
part of their
domestic 1 i f e.
That visit was a
red-letter day in
the Overfield
calendar, for it
marked the
turning point
in their lives.
“Paul Mitch
ell,” said Mrs.
Overfield, “is a Catholic who be
lieves in his faith with all his
mind and loves it with all his
heart. His fine example led to
the conversion of the lovely girl
he married, June Overfield, my
husband’s sister, and the prac
tice of their religion has added
much to the beauty, joy and hap
piness of their home.
“Religion was never much of
an influence in our family and
we rarely spoke about it. Imagine
then how surprised and fascinat
ed we were to see the evidence
of a deep religious faith every
where in the Mitchell home.
There were beautiful holy pic
tures on the walls, Catholic
magazines, books and pamphlets
on the table in the living room,
and each meal began with a
blessing and ended with a
thanksgiving The children and
their parents spoke about re
ceiving Holy Communion, about
praying for this intention and
for that. They spoke openly un
abashed in the conviction that
God has a place in their daily
lives and is not simply a name
to be invoked in a formal prayer
on Sunday and then forgotten
the rest of the week.”
“Did this prompt you to look
deeper into the faith?” I asked.
“Yes, it whetted our appetites
to know more about it. Then an
other friend of ours, Miss Kay
Webster, gave us a book, *What
Catholics Believe and Why.’
When my husband and I finish
ed reading it, we knew there was
a logical basis for Catholic belief
and we wanted to learn even
more but didn’t know just how to
go about it. That’s when June
Mitchell stepped in to help us.
She told us about the wonderful
course of instruction she had re
ceived from Father Paul K. Ken
nedy, S.J., at Creighton Universi
ty-
“I was somewhat dubious if
such a busy priest would be able
to spare the time to take us all
through the lengthy course. We
understood it would mean about
twenty hours of his time. Kay
Webster spoke up and said, ‘I’ll
phone Father Kennedy and I’m
sure he will arrange to instruct
you and Chester.’
“So, she called him and Father
said that no priest is ever too
busy to give instructions, that
it’s one of the most important
and pleasant duties of any priest
—whether he’s a parish priest or
a university professor. So we
went out to Creighton University
two evenings a week for about
three months and Father ex
plained everything in a kind and
friendly manner. He was always
willing to answer any question
and clear up any difficulty.”
“What was it that especially
helped to convince you of the
truth of the Catholic religion?”
“I would say that is was the
clear evidence of the foundation
of the Catholic Church by Jesus
Christ. Unlike the various sects
started by men, the Catholic
Church was founded directly
and immediately by Christ and :
was authorized by Him to teach
all nations until the end of time.
Peter, the chief of the Apostles,
became the Bishop of Rome and
the first Pope, with authority to
govern the universal Church. His
successors exercise the same au
thority, since the authority was
vested in the office which they
occupy. Thus Christ safeguarded,
the unity of His Church and pre
vents it from ever officially
teaching error in matters 01
faith and morals.
“Last October, Chester and I.
and our two children were bap
tized by Father Joseph P. Meyer,
pastor of St. Therese of the Child
Jesus parish, in which we live..
I can’t ever tell you how wonder
ful it is to receive our Lord in
Holy Communion and to - bo
members of the true Church of
Jesus Christ. It has added im
measurably to our joy and hap
piness.”
“The links in the golden chain
leading you and your family to
Christ are Paul and June Mitch
ell, Kay Webster and Father
Kennedy. The good example of
the Mitchells, Kay’s thoughtful
ness in lending you that book
and in making the all-important
contact did the trick. See if you
and your good husband can’t
show your gratitude by following
their example- and leading each
year some soul to Christ.”
Readers who know of any lay
person who has helped to win
two or more converts are kindly
requested to send the name and
address of such a person to Fath
er John A. O’Brien, Notre Dame,
Ind.
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GREETINGS
From
A Friend
I