Newspaper Page Text
DECEMBER 22, 1956.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE
Jottings ..
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
'
Christmas is a time for wishing.
Tonight I wish I were many
things other than a writer with a
Christmas column to produce.
Every year it is the same prob
lem. I yearn to write the stars
out of the sky and to bring read
ers to their knees before the won
der of the season. I never can.
I wish that I were a little girl
again so that I might recapture
the innocent wonder of Christ
mas. It .would be worth a king
dom to view the world as a five-
year-old again at Christmas. The
Christmas world appears as a true
fairyland filled with good and
shining things and people. ,The in
nocence of childhood fails to see
the world of the grownup with its
complexities and distractions.
Perhaps that is why all men love
Christmas, it takes them back to
the innoncence and safety of
childhood.
I would like to be the mother
of a little boy at Christmas, too. I
would like to take him on my lap
and read the story of another
Little Boy's Christmas many hun
dreds of years ago in the city of
Bethlehem.
At Christmas I wish, too, that
I were a cloistered nun far from
the distractions of the holiday
world. I yearn to escape from the
frenzied crowds which attempt to
take all the magic and music from
the season. I could contemplate
then away from all distractions
the meaning and promise of
Christmas. And if I were a clois
tered nun this night, I would
never for a moment forget those
out in the world imprisoned by the
tangibles of Christmas. Nuns, no
matter how old they are, hold
some of the starry-eyed Christ
mas wonder of children.
Alas I am a writer. 1 am not a
little girl again or a cloistered nun
or the mother of a little boy. I
have only words at my disposal
to translate the feelings which
set my heart aflame. Words never
appear as inadequate as they do
at Christmas.
Christmas is something sacred.
It is silence and reverence and
peace and joy. These things can
not escape at the snap of a
writer’s fingers or at the com
mand of an editor for a Christ
mas story.
I never can write the stars out
of the sky at Christmas, as much
as I desire. It matters little. For
everyone holds his own private
thoughts about Christmas. In
spiration is in the air and is not
dependent on the words of a col
umn in a diocesan newspaper.
One does not have to be a moth
er, a nun, a little girl or a writer
to know the wonder of Christmas
and to hold it close. All we must
do is contemplate again the birth
of a Baby Who is God.
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BACKDROP-
(Continued from Page 4)
were the trio who came here as
guests of the State Department to
see how we run a political cam
paign and an election in a de
mocracy. They traveled from
coast to coast, attended political
rallies and watched the voting on
election day.
What this quadrennial contest
was like, as screened through the
eves of the Russian observers,
bears no resemblance to an elec
tion as we know it. We are our
selves highly critical of our own
campaigns and elections, but most
of us have completely missed the
faults noted by the Russians in
their reports to the Russian press.
They would have their readers
believe that we were afraid to
vote according to the dictates of
our conscience. We were, so Ivan
was told, so fearful of losing
our jobs that we voted precisely
as our capitalist employers told
us to vote. All of us who followed
the campaign at all closely know
that a number of minority parties
offered slates of candidates, but,
according to the Soviet observers,
“'the Democrats and Republicans
had an absolute monopoly of the
candidates.”
Those of us who went to the
polls last November voted not
only for candidates for the Presi
dency, but for candidates for Con
gress, for governors, for candi
dates for numerous other state
and local offices. But it will sur
prise us to learn—and this was
what the Russians were told—
that this multiplicity of candi
dates was “just a device to con
fuse the voter and make it easier
for the capitalists to dictate the
outcome of the election.”
ISVESTIA 'EYE-WITNESS'
TELLS ALL!
One of the observers of the re
cent election, V.L. Kudryavtsev,
an editor of Isvestia, gave his
readers the benefit of his ob
servations on phases of American
life other than the election itself.
He noted that American capital
ists were encouraging a wide dis
tribution of stock in big corpora
tions “to veil the predatory nature
of the all-powerful monopolies,”
and to make citizens “obedient to
the corporations.”
Another ingenious comment
| was that Americans are encour
aged to live in single houses, in
stead of in apartments as in, Rus
sian cities, so that they can be
forced into debt and thus “be
come securely chained to their
jobs.”
An equally odious practice of
“poisonous people’s capitalism,”
the Russian editor told his peo
ple, is the forcing of automobiles
on helpless workers, a capitalis
tic device for keeping their noses
to the grindstone to meet the in
stallment payments.
As we read these eye-witness
reports', on the American scene,
we can only wonder at our naive
te in hoping that they would be
any different. We should have
foreseen that only hand-picked
communists would be allowed to
come to, this country and that
their .sole purpose In coming
would be to feed more grist into
the never-idle Soviet propaganda
mill. In the future, we may hope,
we shall not be so open-handed
with our hospitality.
YOU CAN WIN CONVERTS
The Block Rosary
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
-(University of Notre Darnel.
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Augusta Services
For Miss Kelly
AUGUSTA, GA.—Funeral serv
ices for Miss Mary M. Kelly, were
held December 9th at the Sacred
Heart Church, Rev. Peter F.
O’Donnell officiating.
Survivors are one sister, Mrs.
William Z. White of North Adams;
aunt, Mrs. Fred Thomas of Augus
ta and a number of cousins.
as best I could. He was received
into the fold on September 29,
1955, and two days later Father
Reger officiated at the marriage
of Joe and myself. Joe received
his First Holy Communion at the
Nuptial Mass.”
“That’s two converts and a re
claimed fallen-away to your
credit. Were there any others?”
I asked.
“To God belongs the credit,” re
plied Mary, “I was but His in
strument.
“Mrs. Helen Sauber was also a
tenant in our court. Her husband
is a good Catholic but Helen was
raised in the South where there
were few Catholics, and she had
many misconceptions to remove.
She was deeply impressed with
out block Rosary and with the
fidelity with which her husband
practiced his faith.
“That God would give her the
grace of faith became the chief
intention of all saying the court
Rosary. God heard our prayers
and Father Reger instructed
Helen and received her into the
Church. Now we have four ad
ditional persons who join with us
each Wednesday in reciting the
Rosary.”
“Mary,” I said, “you’ve opened
our eyes to the power of the block
Rosary in helping to lead souls
into the fold. I hope all our read
ers will try to follow your in
spiring example. God bless you!”
ST. LEO COLLEGE
PREP SCHOOL
Accredited High School
Conducted by the
Benedictine Fathers
Ideal Location
St. Leo, Pasco County, Florida
You’ve heard of the “block
Rosary,” haven’t you? That’s the
name given to the practice of all
Catholics in a block assembling
in one of the homes, either night
ly or weekly, to recite the Rosa
ry. It’s a beau-
t i f u 1 practice
and it can help
you win con
verts and re-
claim fallen-
aways. Mary
Donaghy, a ste-
nogra pher. -in
Seattle, used it
to achieve both results.
“Tell us, Mary,” I said, “how
you did this?”
“In November, 1953,” related
Mary, “along with two girl
friends, I moved into a court com
prising eight units. Upon dis
covering that about half the oth
er people were Catholics, we de
cided to start a block Rosary for
the court. Each Wednesday eve
ning we met at one of the units,
rotating each week. Each decade
would be led by a different per
son, each offering his or her par
ticular decade for some special
intention. Our petitions started
out quite generally, and then be
came more specific and more per
sonal.
“About a year after the block
Rosary started, a situation that
was always present in the court
became more acute. One of the
women, Ruth Burton, was mar
ried out of the Church to a fellen-
away Catholic. Karl had been
drinking excessively and had
finally ended up in a hospital.
Ruth was greatly worried and
distressed, and she confided to
me that she could scarcely sleep
a wink at night. Impressed with
our practice of saying the block
Rosary, she felt the need of some
spiritual help and strength to bear
her trouble without letting it un
dermine her own health and peace
of mind.
“I told Ruth of the many sources
of spiritual succor which our holy
religion provides and explained
some of its teachings to her. I
had just finished reading St. The
resa’s autobiography, The Story of
a Soul, and lent it to her. That
deepened her interest.
“Providentially St. Joseph’s was
just starting a mission, so I
brought Ruth along. The first
night the missioner gave an in
spiring talk on worldly trials and
crosses and how we can, not only
hear them, but turn them to our
spiritual profit. Ruth remarked
that it was just the counsel she
needed desperately.
“I told one of Karl’s sisters
about his condition and she got
Father Charles Reger of St. Jos
eph’s parish to call on Karl in the
hospital. Through Father’s many
visits and the continued prayers of
the court Rosary group, Karl went
to confession and Holy Communi
on, making his long-neglected
Easter duty in the hospital.
A week later, Father married
Karl and Ruth in the Church.
Ruth began her course of instruc
tion and was baptized on June 6,
1955. I was proud to serve as her
godmother.
“Meanwhile their son, Joseph,
became interested in the faith,
and I nursed that interest along
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