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SEPTEMBER 3, 1955.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
SEVENTEEN
Gum-chewing is considered as
modernly American as big
league baseball, but many anci
ent peoples chewed sticky sub
stances, the National Geogra
phic Society informs us. Archeo
logists have found hardened gum
among cavemen’s relics in the
American Southwest. Herodotus
describes the use of betel cen
turies before the Christian era.
Cola chewing by African natives
was first reported in the 12th
century, Andean porters have
chewed the dried leaves of South
America’s coca shrub for cen
turies, and early explorers found
North American Indians chew
ing tobacco leaves.
Twenty-four nurses were gra
duated Aug. 23 at Mercy Hos
pital, Charlotte, N. C.
MORSE and
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Priest Who Was There Denies
1,580 Churches Open in Russia
Father Bissomlette served for
two years as Catholic chaplain to
the foreign colony in Moscow un
til his sudden expulsion by the
Kremlin earlier this year. During
his stay in Russia he traveled over
large areas of the Soviet Union.
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By Father Georges
Bissonnelle, A.A.
(Written for N.C.W.C.
News Service)
The statement of a U.S. Bap
tist clergyman that there aire
1,500 Catholic churches open for
worship in Soviet Russia is ut
terly unrealistic.
The assertion was made, ac
cording to widely circulated
newspaper reports by Dr. Theo
dore Adams of Richmond Va.,
president of the Baptist World
Alliance, after completing a 'two-
weeks visit to the Soviet Union.
The figures cited by Dr. Adams
are those repeatedly given to
foreigners by Intourist, the Sov
iet tourist agency. The Intourist
people have a stock answer
ready for all questions. However,
the answers do not necessarily
bear any relation to reality.
Outside of the Baltic states,
taken over by the Soviets dur
ing World War II, I know of on
ly four Catholic churches in the
Soviet Union open for worship
and served by a priest. They are
the Church of St. Louis of France
in Moscow, served by Father
Josef Butorovich Adamovich,
and churches in Leningrad,
Kishinev (the capital of Molda
via) and Tbilisi (Georgia).
There are no reliable figures
available on the number Of Cath
olic churches in the Baltic states
of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
I am not too familiar with the
Protestant situation in Russia.
But I aril inclined to disbelieve
the figure of “800 Lutheran
churches open to the people”
cited by Dr. Adams. It appears
as inflated as the figure of 1,500
Catholic churches open for wor
ship.
Dr. Adams seems to have ac
cepted at face value the figures
given him by the Russian In
tourist agency, without making
any ' special efforts to verify
them.
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SCHOOL FOR
EXCEPTIONAL
CHILDREN
HANOVER, Mass., (NC) — A
new dormitory will be built to
increase facilities for exception
al children at St. Coleta’s School,
Archbishop Richard J. Cushing
of Boston announced during
special ceremonies at the school.
The new building, which will
provide living quarters for 200
additional children, will be com
pleted within the next two years,
the Archbishop said. Its cost is
estimated at $500,000.
The school, which is pioneer
ing in modern methods of help
ing exceptional children, is one
of the Archbishop’s favorite
projects, and he indicated in a
speech last year that it is his
wish to be buried on the grounds
of the school.
The announcement was made
during ceremonies observing the
anniversary of the consecration
of the Basilica of St. Mary of
the Angels at Assisi, in which is
enshrined the small chapel of
the Portiuncula, where St. Fran
cis of Assisi and his followers be
gan their mission. The chapel
on the grounds of St., Coletta’s
school is a replica of this Fran
ciscan shrine, and the stones
were imported from Assisi.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29 —
(NC)—A slight, gray-haired pro
fessor from Nagoya, Japan, strode
down the liner President Wilson’s
gangplank with the unprofessorial
vigor of a man with a story to tell.
One of the strange tales of mod
ern Christendom—of Japan’s 20,-
000 “secret Christians” — came
from the man who has put half
a lifetime into studying these peo
ple who have clung to the tattered
remnants of a faith hidden for 400
years.
Prof. Paul Tagita, thanks to an
invitation from Maryknoll’s Bish
op Raymond A. Lane, will be tell
ing his story in U. S. lecture and
university halls for the next year
or so. He outlined some of the
highlights in an interview here.
“I’ve been doing research, gain
ing the confidence of these people,
off and on since I left college 30
years ago,” he said. “The more I
learn, the more remarkable I find
it.”
“These people” are the descend
ants of the Japanese to whom. St.
Francis Xavier and his compan
ions brought Catholicism in the
mid-16th century.
Inhabitants of Japan’s back
country, mainly illiterate, they
have kept only rudiments of the
teachings and prayers their an
cestors learned. Elements of
Christian doctrine have long since
been mixed with Buddhism, Shin
toism, ancestor worship. The
prayers they say are often a
strange syllabic conglomeration of
Latin, Portuguese from the origi
nal missioners, and local dialect.
They could not now be caJed ac-
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tual Catholics.
“This much is not surprising,*
the professor declared. "But con
sider that for 230 of these year:;
not one of these primitive Chris
tians saw a single priest, or
Brother, or nun. And it was worth
immedate death during most of
this period to be caught in any
Christian act.”
Once 40,000 strong, the “secret
Christians” have seen half their
number won back to full member
ship in the Faith. The remainder,
grown suspicious of missionaries
and difficult to divest of their
twisted beliefs, occupy two areas
■—the island of Ikitsuki, of tho
southwest end of Honshu, and
Kurusaki, some 15 miles from
Nagasaki.
A Japanese priest is working
among each group, but the work
is slow, Professor Tagita said.
“They cannot be pushed, and
resent it if a priest uses the ap
proach that their beliefs are ad
wrong, something to be thrown
away,” he explained.
“In some ways they are a more-
difficult case than pagans. Secrecy
is such an ingrained part of their
religion the y cannot quickly
grasp the idea of bringing their
faith into the open, of attending
Mass and other ceremonies in
public. It’s an apostolate that dc~
'mands a priest who understand .;
psychology,, and above all one who
has the confidence of the people.”
Mr. Tagita is one of the few
“outsiders” who enjoys the doni'-
dence of these remarkable 20,000.
Slowly, using utmost tact, he ha ;
earned a welcome in their farm
villages and even in their homes.
RECEPTION AT
SACRED HEART
BELMONT — Rev. Joseph A.
Tobin, Prior of Belmont Abbey
Nullius here, officiated in the
absence of Abbot Vincent Tay
lor, O.S.B. at the reception of
.six young ladies on Aug. 15 and
the profession of Vows on Tues
day, Aug 16.
Among the distinguished
guests present for the occasion
were His Excellency, Bishop
Vincent S. Waters, Bishop of
Raleigh; Rt. Rev. John ,P. Manley
of Saint Patrick’s Parish in
Charlotte; Rev. Arnold Francis
Brown, O.F.M. of Callicoon, N.
Y.; and Rev. Thomas Kieran of
Raleigh, N.C. Hosts of friends
and relatives filled and chapel at
Sacred Heart Convent for the
ceremonies.
In a magnificent sermon for
the newly professed Sisters
Monsignor Manley brought out
the fact that in the religious
life one pledges herself by the
threefold vows of poverty, chas
tity, and obedience to sacrifice
all in order to prove her love for
God. Besides these'vows the Sis
ter of Mercy also promises to
serve the poor, sick, and ignor
ant. The Belmont Community
has schools, a Junior College, an
Orphanage, and hospitals in this
State; and also has Sisters sta
tioned at Greenport, L. I., New
York as well as in Guam, an
Island in the Pacific.
Five young ladies received the
white veil of a novice, ten took
final vows, and seven made their
profession.
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