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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
AUGUST 3, 3957.
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The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARK WALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street. Augusta, Ga.
Vol. 38 Saturday, August 3, 1957 No. 5
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1955-1956
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Way cross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. L. E. MOCK, Albany Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta V. P., Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus V. P., Activities
NICK CAMERIO, Macon Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE. Augusta Auditor
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
tnd accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided by para
graph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
Member of N.C.W.C. News Service, the Catholic Press Association
of the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National
Editorial Association.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop-
.Bishop of Savannah, the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta, and the
Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.
Portuguese Guinea
THIS WORLD OF OURS
IsUcij/iington ^IJewsfeltcr . . .
Stir Caused By Observation
On Zhukov May Have Stalled
New Move To Bring Tito Here
(By J. J. Gilbert)
WASHINGTON, — An off the
cuff remark by President Eisen
hower concerning Marshal Zhu-
■kov of Soviet Russia may have
some influence on Marshal Tito
of Yugoslavia.
' As of now, Marshal Georgi
•Zhukov, Soviet Minister of De
fense, will not get an invitation
To visit the United States. That
is the best information available
’from official sources, following
jthe unfavorable reaction kicked
; up by President Eisenhower’s
remark, in response to a question,
that talks between Marshal Zhu
kov and U. S. Secretary of De
fense Charles E. Wilson might
serve some useful purpose.
This may head off, or further
delay, a visit to the country by
Marshal Tito, the communist dic
tator of Yugoslavia.
It was being rumored in this
(Continued on Page Five)
(By Richard Paiiee)
Perhaps not many of my read
ers are aware that there is such a
place as Portuguese Guinea in
Africa. This first article from
Portuguese territory is an intro
duction to one of the least known
African areas.
I came into
Portuguese terri
tory from Zigu-
inchor i n the
Senegal. The
first evidence of
the remarkable
job being done
i n this small
Portuguese terri
tory was the fact that the admin
istrator is a Goan from India who
has been in the service of the
national government for fourteen
years.
NO TURKISH BATH
I have already met other Goan
functionaries in this part of
Africa—one of the interesting
facets of the way Portugal man
ages its overseas affairs.
If anyone thinks that Africa is
one sweltering Turkish bath with
all the modern inconveniences, I
suggest a visit to a beach in this
area called Varela. The excell
ence of the accommodations, first
rate quality of the food and the
collection of some twenty guest
houses would be a credit to any
place in the United States. It has
the additional asset of wine, that
automatically goes with the meal.
The first evening we got
acquainted with one of the most
primitive of all Guinea peoples.
These are the Felupes—naked
savages who pop up on the roads
at regular intervals jangling arm
rings and greeting' you with a
deference that seems quite un
twentieth century.
WRESTLING—AFRICAN
STYLE
The Felupes happen to go in
for wrestling on a large scale and
I went to a small post called
Suzana not far from Varela to
watch the sport. There seemed to
be basic advantages in the Felupe
style:
I.) that there is no referee and
therefore no pretended rules and
2.) that any number of matches
go on simultaneously according
as the spirit moves. The spirit
moved about twenty Africans to
dash out and try their luck with
whatever adversary had laid
down a challenge. I left at mid
night although the commander
told me that the boys would carry
on until dawn.
From there I came down to
Bissau, the capital of this prov
ince. I expected to find this little
place of a few thousand people
a drowsy 1 and probably forgotten
backwash. If memory serves me
this is what John Gunther calls
the whole of Portuguese Guinea
in his Inside Africa.
The comment is almost fantas
tically inappropriate as regards
Bissau. The city is small and spot
lessly immaculate with that,
peculiar kind of meticulousness
which the Portuguese have deve
loped. It is obvious that the Port
uguese have organized a clean
and well constructed community
hei'e on the coast on Africa.
NO COLOR LINE
Bissau has the sidewalk cafes
of Lisbon. There is one cinema
and there is a pastry shop that
looks like something straight out
of Switzerland. There are any
number of shops that sell colon
ial helmets to the Africans but
not to Europeans who have long’
since given them up. Africans
carrying umbrellas circulate
through its prim little streets on
bicycles. The coast and particu
larly this town contains a goodly
number of mixed bloods of all
sorts.
The hinterland . is straight
African with almost nothing to
indicate intermixture. The ab
sence of amr sense of color was
well illustrated at a dinner at the
Governor’s palace where among
the guests were a mulatto from
Cape Verde, a second one from
Guinea itself and a Goan as well
as the usual Portuguese.
I rode out to the Bijagos islands
in a little single motor plane that
is one of the many that crisscross
the province. They transport
everything from passengers to
merchandise and especially the
critically ill who otherwise might
have to organize ’a safari to get
to a hospital.
PAST AND PRESENT MERGE
I spent a few hours at Bolama
the old capital of Guinea. It is
strictly out of the colonial age.
Then I flew on to Bubaque on the
island of the same name. I have
never seen a landing field quite
like it. It was a rolling - field with
a huge hump in the middle, with
rocks and knots of grass all over
the place. Somehow or other we
got down and I spent a fascinat
ing afternoon visiting the Bajago
communities. I was received in a
tribal dance with the usual tom
toms in which the three leading-
performers wore used electric
light bulbs on their . backs as
adornments.
At Bubaque was the local
administrator’s place, a hospital,
a chapel manned by two Italian
missionaries and within a short
distance several Bijago villages,
the inhabitants of which are still
completely primitive. The closing
experience at this extraordinary
place was the take off from the
field in a pouring rain with a
Portuguese pilot who was a
delightful companion for the half
hour flight back. Just before we
zoomed off into the air I watched
one of the local chaps in a loin
cloth and on a bicycle chasing the
cattle off the field to make it
possible for the plane to get off
the ground.
The Mass !n English?
('Apostolate Of The Home'
The first Inter-American Con
gress of the Catholic Family
Movement, held recently in Ur
uguay, called upon parents and
the community to take a more
active part in the apostolate of
the home.
The apostolate of the home
means . the inculcation of truly
Christian principles in children
through their religious, moral
and social upbringing, a spokes
man pointed out.
The congress enacted a series of
detailed resolutions which ex
plain how parents and children
may cooperate to achieve a bet
ter community life through a bet
ter home life.
The problem of fostering re
ligious vocations was taken up
by the members of the congress
in reference to the apostolate of
the home.
Religious vocations are to a
large extent the responsibility of
the home, according to the con
gress’ report. The attitude of
parents toward vocations has a
great influence on the attitude
of the child, it said. But religious
vocations are not the only voca
tions. Parents should study their
children’s inclinations and natu
ral talents in order to help them
phoose a suitable life work, the
report coptiqued.
The mosf important resolutions
adopted by the congress which
affect this goal are:
1.) Through family prayer and
family devotions, parents must
impress upon their children a
profound sense of God in the
home and elsewhere. The family
should worship together.
2. ) Both parents, both through
teaching and example, should
impart to their children a moral
training in keeping with their
understanding and age. They
must teach them for themselves
and for their fellowmen and the
natural and theological virtues.
3. ) The home must , be a school
of social conscience,, fighting
egotism and cultivating genero
sity toward others in the -true
spirit of charity and cooperation,
and teaching respect for authori
ty in the home and in the ..com
munity.
4. ) Parents should create a
consciousness of the need for re
ligious vocations. Prayers for an
increase in vocations and defi
nite encouragement of vocations
within the family are urged.
’’Parents must recognize that
the future of their children be
longs to God land not to them.
Therefore, they must be ready to
step out of the way at the proper
moment so as not to interfere
with God’s choice,” the resolu
tion said.
The congress also urged a bet
ter preparation for marriage and
a closer cooperation with the
Church to solve marital and fam
ily problems as they arise.
In school matters,, the congress
rejected' governmental interfer
ence and urged that all steps be
taken to make the school and ex
tension of the Christian home.
More than 100 married couples
from nine American countries, in
cluding the United. States, took
part in the congress.
BACKDROP
THE
Recent issues of several Cath
olic magazines have been con
ducting a debate among their
reader?. on the proposal to have
the Mass said in English instead
of Latin in English-speaking
countries.
As one would
expect the
writers were
divided on the
question. But, ;
curiously, few.
of those who
disclosed that
they were con-’
verts to the Church favored the
change.
To me this is significant, for
it seems to challenge one of the
main arguments advanced by
proponents of the Mass in Eng
lish, namely that it would make
the Mass more understandable to
non-Catholics and facilitate con
versions. T,he assumption seems
to be that it is difficulty in fol- 1
lowing the Mass in Latin that
keeps many people out of the
Church.
NO OBSTACLE TO CONVERTS
But in a'rather'wide reading of
conversion stories, 1 cannot re
call one in which it was suggest
ed that the use of Latin was a
serious obstacle to submission to
the Church.
No, it is not the official lang
uage of the Church that baffles
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
those from outside. Rather it is
the dogmas and the disciplines
that are the stumbling blocks.
Many converts, in fact, shudder
at the thought of losing the beau
ty of the Latin mass.
One contributor to the recent
symposia relates that the first
phrase that comes to her mind
on awakening are the opening
words of the mass, “Introibo ad
altaro Dei. Ad Deum qui laetifi-
cat juventutem meam.” For her,
“the liturgical beat of the words,
moving backward and forward
over time barriers, brings all to
gether in one triumphant unity.”
It may be. objected that the au
thor of this tribute to the liturgy
is an educated woman and that
the “Latin beat” would evoke no
such emotion in the hearts of
millions of the faithful.
But does it follow that the ma
jestic prayers of the Mass re
cited in English would command
greater attention and deeper un
derstanding from those to whom
Latin is an alien tongue?
To answer that question, it
seems to me. all we have- to -do
is note how few follow the Eng
lish translation in a missal' at the
Sunday masses.
SCANT USE OF MISSALS
Missals with English transla
tions and copious explanatory
notes are available for the price
of a couple of packs of cigarettes
and have been for a long time.
But if so many Catholics will
not follow the English version of
the prayers in these, what reason
is there to believe they would
listen with greater attention and
devotion to the same prayers
said in English?
The announcements at parish
masses have always been said in
English. Does that mean they are
listened, to with more attention
than to the Mass in Latin? Any
parish priest will tell' you how
many phone calls he gets during
the week about matters fully
covered the Sunday before from
the pulpit.
A contributor to one of the
opinion samples -- a former
Episcopalian — tells us that
Catholics who argue that Mass in
English would make the congre
gation more devout cannot be
as familiar as she is with High
Episcopal churches where the
prayers of the missal are read in
English. Woolgathering, she as
sures us, is not unknown there.
Then too, we should not forget
that- for a large number of
American (Catholics recently
come from foreign shores, Eng
lish is still an alien tongue. Hav
ing been accustomed to hearing
mass in Latin in their own lands,
they would feel far more at home
hearing it in the same language
(Continued on Page Five)