Newspaper Page Text
Official
Newspaper For
The Diocese Of
Savannah - Atlanta
Vol. XXXVI, No. 13
PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
MONROE, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1955
ulltlin
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Georgians Irre
spective of Creed”
10c Per Copy — $3 a Year
AT BISHOPS MEETING
Shown at the Bishops Annual Meeting are left to right: Bishop Vincent S. Waters, Raleigh, N.
C.; Bishop Thomas J. McDonough, Auxiliary of St. Augustine, Fla.; Bishop Francis E. Hyland,
Auxiliary of Savannah-Atlanta, Georgia; Bishop J. Carroll McCormick, Auxiliary of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
U. S. Bishops Remind Nation—
Private, Church Related
Schools Exist By Right
And Not By Sufferance
Report Pope Had
Vision Of Christ
(Radio. N.C.W.C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY, Nov. 21 —
The Vatican has confirmed a re
port Baying that His Holiness
Pope Pius XII revealed to in
timate friends that he had an
apparition of Christ during his
grave illness in December last
year.
The confirmation came in a
statement issued by the Vatican
Press Office. It said it had been
“authorized” to confirm a story
in the Italian illustrated weekly,
Oggi (Today).
The magazine reported that
Christ appeared at the Pope’s
bedside on the night of Decem
ber 2, 1954, at the peak of the
Pontiff’s illness when he was
alone in his room. The appari
tion came, it said, while the Holy
Father was reciting the prayer
“Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me.”
The following is Oggi’s ac
count of the vision:
“Regarding the illness from
which the Holy Father recover
ed in December of last year, we
are in a position to reveal to the
world a hitherto unknown and
miraculous fact that happened
during those critical days.
“When his sufferings became
ever more painful, the Pope of
ten repeated to himself the pray
er ‘Soul of Christ, Sanctify Me.’
During the night when the crisis
reached its highest point, the pa
tient, who for a time remained
alone in his room, recited that
prayer again.
“When he came to the invoca
tion, ‘In the hour of my death,
call me,’ saw beside his bed
the sweet figure of Jesus. At
that moment the Holy Father
thought that the Master had
come to call him to Himself and,
serenely answering the call, con-
ARCHBISHOP
PAYS VISIT
TO SCOTLAND
ENDINBURGH, Nov. 21 (NC)
—Crowds unable to get into
Edinburgh cathedral lined the
streets outside to welcome Arch
bishop Gerald O’Hara. Apostolic
Delegate to Great Britain, on his
first official visit to Scotland.
Civic authorities held a recep
tion here for him and floodlit the
royal castle, one of the city’s
principal showpieces, in the
evening to mark the occasion..
Five Scot Bishops attended
the morning’s Pontifical High
Mass sung in St. Mary’s Ca
thedral, premier Catholic church
in Scotland.
United States servicemen sta
tioned in Britain provided a
guard of honor when Archbishop
O’Hara began his engagements
in Glasgow.
Die-hard Scottish Free Church
men staged an expected protest.
In a declaration to the press
they denounced the Edinburgh
town council for giving a civic
reception and other public recog
nition “to the Apostolic Delegate
of the Church of Rome visiting
this city in the purely ecclesias
tical capacity of the representa
tive of the Vatican.”
tinued the prayer, ‘And bid me
come unto Thee.’ 1
“But Jesus had not come to
take him, but rather to comfort
him and, we think, to assure him
that his hour had not yet come.
“The Holy Father is absolute
ly sure that he saw Jesus. It was
not a dream. He was fully awake
and lucid at the time.
The following day, when it
seemed that there was no more
hope and when newspapers all
over the world had already come
out with predictions of an im
minent catastrophe, the patient
began to improve in such an un
expected fashion that it seemed
miraculous to many.
“This event was confided by
(Continued on Page Five)
Msgr. Cassidy
To Speak At
Children’s Mass
The second annual Children’s
Mass to be celebrated on the
Feast of the Immaculate Concep
tion, December 8th., will have as
it’s guest speaker the Rt. Rev.
Msgr. Joseph G. Cassidy V. F.,
rector of the Co-Cathedral in At
lanta. The music for this Mass
will be rendered by the School
Children of the greater Atlanta
area under the direction of Sis
ter Mary Barbara R.S.M., with
Mrs. Frances Edwards, M. A.,
Shrine Organist, at the organ.
The Mass at 9:30 will be cele
brated by the Rt. Rev. Msgr.
John C. Kirk, Rector of the
Shrine, Deacon of the Mass will
be the Rev. Vincent P. Brennan
S. M., Principal of Marist Col
lege: and Sub-Deacon of the
Mass will be the Rev. Michael
McKeever S.M.A., Pastor of Our
Lady of Lourdes Church. Cere
monies will be supplied by the
Shrine Altar Boys under the di
rection of the Rev. R. Donald
Kiernan.
Seated in the Sanctuary' will
be the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward J.
Dodwell Ph.D., J.C.D., Officials
of the Diocese and the Very Rev.
Msgr. Cornelius L. Maloney
Ph.D., Supt. of Schools for the
Diocese.
Junior Altar
Boys Pay Visit
To Trappists
MACON, Ga.—The Junor Al
tar Boys of St. Joseph’s parish,
Macon, enjoyed a trip to the
Monastery at Conyers, Ga. on
Nov. 14th. A picnic lunch was
eaten enroute at Indian Sp. ings.
The boys were accompanied
by t h e Rev. Eugene Bannin,
S.J., Mrs. Reid, Mrs. Dennis, Mr.
Cassidy and Mr. Genone.
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
WASHINGTON — Private and
church-related schools in the
United States have “full right
to be considered and dealt with
as components of the American
educational system.”
“The students of these schools
have the right to benefit from
those measures, grants, or aids,
which are manifestly designed
for the health, safety and .wel
fare of American youth, irrespec
tive of the school attended.”
These facts were brought to
the attention of the American
people in a statement issued by
the Cardinals, Archbishops and
Bishops of the United States, as
sembled here for their Annual
General Meeting.
The members of the American
Hierarchy said they spoke “in
quiet confidence that the na
tional sense of justice will stand
firm, and that a cordial apprecia
tion of private and church-relat
ed schools, both for what they
are and for what they have done
for America, will see to it that
they are preserved and up
held so long as this is a nation
of free men.”
In a statement entitled “The
Place of the Private and
Church-Related Schools in Ame
rican Education,” the Bishops
said:
“Let this be fully understood:
Private and church-related
schools in America exist not by
sufferance but by right. The
right is implicit in the whole
concept of American freedom
and immunity from totalitarian
oppression and in the constitu
tional framework of our Federal
Government and of the several
States. Under attack it has been
rendered explicit by the several
States. Under attack it has been
rendered explicit by the decision
of the Supreme Court of the
United States in the celebrated
Oregon School Case. Thus far,
happily, the right of the parent
to educate the child has not been
successfully challenged in any
American court. The country
agrees that this right is basic
to the definition of freedom.”
The Bishops called it “d pure
ly incidental factor” that these
private and church-related
schools serve a minority in
America. They said “it is plain
ly unrealistic thinking to dis
count their importance on that
score.” “Indeed,” the statement
added, “it is unrealistic to be
little in any way the schools in
which more than five million
young Americans are currently
receiving their education.”
It is not without significance,
the Bishops also pointed out,
“that the private and church-
related schools were the first in
the field of American educa
tion.” For nearly two centuries,
“during our Colonial and early
national periods,” they recalled,
these schools “occupied that field
alone.”
“As Catholics,” the statement
asserted, “our memory is stirred
by the recollection of the valiant
efforts of our religious founders
in this country to provide, out
of their slender resources, for
the educational needs of their
people.”
The rise and vigorous expan
sion of the American education
al system is cited, correctly, the
Bishops said “as one of the ma
jor achievements of Western ci
vilization.” During the past hun
dred years, in particular, they
added,. general education, spon
sored by states and communi
ties, religious groups and private
bodies, has come very near to
the goal of providing adequate
educational opportunities for ev
ery American.
“Whatever uneasiness may or
must be felt on the score of edu
cational theory and philosophy
as illustrated in large areas of
American teaching,” the state
ment continued, “t h e plain
physical fact of the school sys
tem is a matter for unanimous
congratulations. This, at least, in
part, is what freedom has achiev
ed.”
But if the unparalleled growth
of the schools supported by pub
lic funds is a mighty tribute to
America’s zeal for learning and
her ambition to build an intel
ligent democratic society,” the
Bishops* reminded, “no less as
tonishing has been the growth
and accomplishment of the pri
vate and church-related schools
during the same relative period.
In candor, it deserves to be said
that their record affords an even
more impressive example of the
American spirit at work, for it
has been brought about not by
the advantage of public funds
nor by the spur of legislative
(Continued on Page 11)
Verona Superior
Visits Georgia
WASHINGTON, Ga. — The
•Very Rev. Anthony Todesco,
F.S.C.J., Superior General of the
Verona Fathers visited |the Wash
ington parish and its Missions
early this month.
The Very Rev. Todesco was
pleased with the work being
done at Washington, Sharon,
Thomson, Elberton and Hart
well. The Fathers stationed at
Washington are attached to the
American Province’s Headquart
ers located at Cincinnatti, O.
On Nov. 13th, the Superior
General was received by His Ex
cellency the Most Rev. Francis
E. Hyland, D.D., J.C.D.
The Superior General came to
this country from Europe and
plans a visit to Mexico, Equador
and the Brazil Missions before
returning home.