Newspaper Page Text
FEBRUARY 16, 1957.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVE
Jottings
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
WHAT IS THIS thing called |
love? This could well be the J
theme of our times. What is love?
Everyone talks about it, reads
about it, sings about it. How few
know what it really is. It is ap
propriate then in this season of
St. Valentine, patron saint of lov
ers, to think about love. Romance
and sentimentality, .hearts and
flowers surround the month—how
much real love? We all would be
in agreement with St. Francis de
Sales, I am sure; he said that love
holds first place among the pas
sions of the soul. Everyone —
young or old — craves and needs
love. So with the songwriter we
would affirm that love is surely
hei-e to stay. But how our craving
for love is satisfied will have
much to do with our salvation or
damnation. Some know only a
kind of self-love; others know the
thrill-chill variety which passes
today as “love.” But for a cor
rect definition of love in its
original concept, we must look to
the Imitation of Christ: “Love is
swift, sincere, pious, pleasant and
delightful; strong, patient, faith
ful, prudent, long-suffering, cour
ageous and NEVER SEEKS IT-
S E L F. Love is circumspect,
humble, upright, not soft, not
light, not intent on vain things; it
is sober, chaste, steadfast, quiet
and keeps a guard over the
senses.” Is it recognizable here as
love of the moderhs variety?
moment’s pleasure, a lifetime of
fortune or fame or his very life
for love. “Greater love has no
man than this . . You see, love
in the real sense raises a man
from himself, lifts him up. Love
as we so often see it today weights
man down. We would see love be
ing mocked and cheapened and
distorted. Definitions would be
no deeper than the words of a pop
tune, no more lasting. This kind
of love holds no sacrifice or no
bility or temperance. It is built
around a set of externals a flash
ing smile, a wavy hair-do and
causes loss of appetite and, rising
temperatures. It is empty and
sensuous. Because man has a spi
ritual soul, this kind of love will
never completely satisfy him. “I
am He Whom thou seekest.”
ST. AUGUSTINE said that we
are weighted toward that which
we love. Therefore, if is necessary
that, we love the right people and
right things. Man gets into all
sorts of trouble when he deviates
from the divine pattern of love.
Each edition of the newspaper
attests to this. Man will cheat, lie,
steal, murder for the object of
what he thinks is love, be it an
other person, money or power.
But by the same token man can
rise to undreamed of heights of
nobility and valor and manliness
and strength through love of the
. right things. He can sacrifice a
IT WOULD BE hard to con
vince a starry-eyed teen-ager of
today who was surrounded by
concept of love which came to
him from the stage, screen and
microphone that this was eternal
love, the kind which he must
seek above all else. Hollywood ac
tors, on screen and off present
them a phoney-type of love which
pops like a balloon and crumples
like crepe paper. Everyone —
handsome or homely, rich or poor,
young or old, married or single,
famous or unknown—has a right
to love in its fullest sense. It
would be hard to convince the
world today that a little Carmeli
te, nun named Teresa knew more
about love than they could ever
possibly know. The world would
think of the saints as a kind of
bloodless legion who shut out love
or fled from love. This is an er
roneous belief. The saints . were
the great lovers. No one person
or thing was enough to fill their
heart to the full. They embraced
the world with their love. They
gave their lives to the love of
God and their neighbor. At this
season, it would be good to think
this idea of love over. The Sacred
Heart is thei ideal symbol of love
at this time and anytime.
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BACKDROP—
(Continued from Page 4)
successfully treated, in more than
70 per cent of the cases.
New and improved drugs have
been developed to lower blood
pressure. Significant gains have
been made in, diagnosis, care and
and treatment of patients' suffer
ing from heart attacks. And dra
matic progress has been made
through surgery to correct de
fects of the heart and its great ves
sels. But much remains to be
done. The medical profession still
does not know why the arte
ries harden, why so many people
suffer from high blood pressure,
what relation, if any, exists be
tween the stress and strains of
modern living and heart disease,
or whether there is a relation be
tween the disease and the fat-
rich diet of the American people.
ADEQUATE SUPPORT
ESSENTIAL
Some studies indicate that there
may be a relation between diet
and heart ailments. Dr. White
relates that a study of a group of
Japanese living in southern Japan,
and of a group from the same
region who emigrated to Hawaii,
suggests that a diet with a high
fat content goes hand in hand
with a high incidence of heart at
tacks. It was discovered, for ex
ample, that among the Japanese
in the south of Japan, whose diet
was low in fat content, heart dis
ease was rare; while among those
who had emigrated to Hawaii and
adopted the fat-rich diet of that
territory, the incidence of heart
attacks was high. But high blood
pressure was about equally pre
valent in both groups.
Dr. White has been sufficiently
impressed by the apparent core
lation between overweight and
heart disease to insist that his
heart patients eliminate excess
weight by going on a fat-free diet.
But, while he is perhaps the coun
try’s foremost expert on heart dis
eases, he is not a doctrinaire. It
remains to be proved beyond
doubt, he maintains, that
fats cause heart disease.
Because* there is so much to be
learned about the disease, Dr.
White and other heart specialists
who are supporting the work of
the American Heart Association
are asking us to contribute what
we can spare, no matter how
small our contribution may be,
to accelerate and intensify re
search on the causes and treat
ment of heart disease. If the sup
port is adequate, the medical
scientist predict that in the next
10 years a notable decline in the
heart diseases among the young
and middle-aged can be brought
about.
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“Give us liberty, O God, or
give us death,” was the cry
of Hungarian youth, during
the recent Hungarian uprising
against Communist brutality,
says Frank Hatari, in speaking
to 600 young people in the Pal-
las-Ft. Worth Diocesan Catho
lic Youth Convention in Ft.
Worth. “This revolution,” Ha
tari said, was "done by Hun
garian youth — honor goes too
to the girls.” Hatari fled from
Budapest a few weeks ago.
YOU CAN WIN CONVERTS
St. Louis Shows The Way
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
.mi. (University of Notre Dame)———.. ...
Did you ever see an army of
30,000 Catholic - men set out in
pairs to call at every home in a
great archdiocese, to look up
fallen-aways and to share their
faith
with
chu
“No,’
most
of
you
would
re-
ply,
Yet
t.hat
was
the inspir-
ing
scene
that
was
enacted
or
Sunday, Octob-j
er 31, 1954, the:
Feast of Christ®
the King, in all
the rural districts, towns and ci
ties throughout the St. Louis arch
diocese.
On that historic date Arch
bishop Joseph E. Ritter launched
a trail - blazing, epoch - making
Catholic Census and information
Program—also called Crusade for
Souls and Operation Doorbell —
which brought the laity into the
missionary work of the Church
on a scale unprecedented in that
great archdiocese. So fruitful was
it that it has been repeated with
appropriate modifications each
succeeding year.
As I was privileged to lend a
little band in the launching of the
campaign. I would like to bring
to our readers a few highlights
of a movement that is fast spread
ing to all dioceses and has done
much to stimulate the convert
movement in America.
On Sunday, August 22. 1954 -the
Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop
announcing the program was read
in all the parish churches. “As
Catholics,” said His Excellency,
“each and every one of us has a
clear obligation to further the
Kingdom of God and to make
known the true faith to all who
will listen. Catholicism must be
apostolic and that duty lies on
the individual as well as on the
Church.
“By apostolic we mean that the
true Catholic does not hide his
Faith within him but shows that
he is anxious to share his great
gift of Faith with his fellowmen.
He does this by his example, by
his charitable concern for the
spiritual welfare of his neighbor
and by his sincere expression of
generosity.”
This inspiring Pastoral was
published in the St. Louis Regis
ter and copies were, given out to
all the Sunday Masses. It should
be framed and hung in every
Catholic home, for it is a magnifi
cent statement of the role of the
laity in the missionary apostolate,
as well as a moving appeal to
them to join with their spiritual
leaders in extending Christ’s
Kingdom on earth.
In response to that eloquent ap
peal, 30,000 laymen offered their
services. An organization was
formed in every parish. A 14-
member committee of clergy and
laity, headed by Alfred F. Mc
Kenzie, was set up.
The canvassers were carefully
trained in methods of calling at
homes, presenting Catholic litera
ture, getting a census of all Cath
olics, inviting churchless families
to the parish forums and reclaim
ing fallen-aways. Working in
pairs, the canvassers called at
approximately 600,000 homes!
The results? Only God knows
the full fruitfulness of their shoe-
leather and doorbell apostolate.
But some of the manifest fruits
were these: more than 2,500* non-
Catholics attended parish In
formation Forums and more than
1,000 were received into the
Church. In addition, more than
1,000 non-Catholics received free
instruction by mail from the Con
fraternity Home Study Services,
4422 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis 8,
Missouri.
Not less consoling was the vali
dation of 145 bad marriages and
the return of 382 fallen-aways.
Another important result was the
quickening of the missionary zeal
of the laity, thousands of whom
reported that “it was, better than
a mission.” Inquiry Classes
throughout virtually the whole
year are now conducted in every
parish.
‘‘The Religious Information
Program,” said Archbishop Rit
ter, “has become an annual ;f-
fair and is integrated into the
work of every parish. The 1954
and 1955 Programs brought 5.000
persons to Parish Information.
Forums and resulted in the re
ception of at least 2,100 into the
Church. The 1956 Program will,
we hope, be equally fruitful.”
Winning converts and reclaim
ing fallen-aways means working
around the clock throughout the
year, day in and day out, with
out a let-up. The priests and faith
ful of the St. Louis archdiocese,
under the leadership of Arch
bishop Ritter, have given the
Catholics of America an inspiring
demonstration of that truth. May
God speed the day when the laity
of every diocese are thus enlisted
in the extension of Christ’s King
dom among the churchless mil
lions of America!
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