Newspaper Page Text
AUGUST 3, 1957.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FIVB
j ►
i Jottings .
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
I :
• "LIFE" found a . new type of
woman to feature in its pages
several weeks back. Regular
readers of this slick ad journal
must have squinted hard on com
ing across, smack in the middle
of the magazine, a feature about
a nun. This seemed strange fare
indeed for the pages of the most
materialistic journal of them all.
‘’Life” however., is known for its
Dr. ,1- • . .! 1 and Mr. Hyde person
ality. It was surely a turn about
face, in any case, finding a nun
singled out for the feature treat
ment. Sister M. Madeleva, C.S.C.,
poet-president of St. Mary’s Col
lege, Notre Dame, Indiana, did
not leak too comfortable there
amid the advertisements and
other features. Not that secular
journals are rarities to this nun.
Not a’ all. Her poetry has been
published in “New York Times,”
and Saturday Review of Litera
ture” and “American Mercury.”
The Life” article about the nun
followed the traditional jargon
of the slick journal. It did no
more than gloss ’ the surface in
its attempt to present a close-up
of this nun’s story. This column
is for those who have asked to
know more about the nun whom
they met on “Life’s” pages.
• CONSIDER and incisive exec
utive — a brilliant scholar — a
sincere altogether human woman
— a sensitive poet and an un
assuming nun. This is a word
sketch of Sister Madeleva. (In
cidentally even the famous “Life”
photography failed to portray the
nun to best advantage. “Visitor”
photographer Joseph Marcello did
a much more professional job in
his superb portrait of her when
she visited Providence College in
1952). The article in “Life” failed
to impress the fact that besides
being a rather remarkable wo
man, one who does an exception
ally fine job of running the oldest
and largest Catholic college for
women in the United States and
besides being a religious poet
who has found secular success
that Sister Madeleva is first and
foremost a nun, a dedicated re
ligious bound to the vows of pov
erty and chastity and obedience.
A long time ago she decided that
the things of the world, some of
the very materialistic things for I
which “Life” carries the flag, j
were not enough to fill her heart j
and mind and soul. Somehow in j
an effort to present the secular j
abilities and talents of this re- 1
markable nun, “Life” overlooked
the most essential fact. It seem
ed to me that someone should
undertake t h e task of under
scoring the fact that more than an
administrator, poet, scholar, ed
ucator, philosopher. Sister Made-
leva is a nun.
• BORN MARY E VALINE
WOLFF, her quest for beauty and
truth began early. On. her fath
er’s knee at the Wolff home in
Cumberland, Wisconsin, she first
heard the world’s great poetry to
which she was to add her own
chapter. She later was an un
dergraduate at the college to
which she was to bring honor
and fame. The quest for beauty
did not encl at any writing desk
or in any classroom; It ended in
a chapel when Sister Madeleva
first pronounced her vows as a
Holy Cross Sister. All her other
successes have been built on this
cornerstone, “Sister” is her most
revered title. It means more than
president and artist ana- execu
tive. Someone once said that Sis
ter Madeleva had the poet’s abil
ity to see things as a whole and
the administrator’s talent for
turning visions into a reality.
Was it not the religious core
which gave her those very vis
ions? There’s a quotation which
is closely associated with Sister
Madeleva, one which serves her
own plea and one which is sure
ly the unvoiced plea of the stu
dents she has guided in her 23
years as president of St. Mary’s
College. It is: “Give us Your
vision to uplift lis, Your strength
in which to rest.” And this is my
version of a close-up of Sister
Madeleva, poet, president and
NUN!
BACKDROP—
(Continued from Page Four)
in an American church than if
it were said in English .
Also, it must not be forgotten
that many foreign priests labor
in American dioceses, often in
churches whose congregations
are made up of more than one
nationality. For them, too, saying
Mass in English would be in
finitely more difficult than in
the language they learned in the
seminary.
BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE
It may be true, as a priest re
marked to a parishioner who ask
ed why the Church permitted the
Russian Catholics to recite the
liturgy in Old Slavonic, that!
there is “nothing holy about
Latin.”
But Latin is the liturgical
language of the great majority of
Catholics and has been for many
hundreds of years. It is a lang
uage of majestic beauty, and we
should have compelling reasons
for jesttisoning it in favor of the
vernacular. But have we?
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(Continued from Page Four)
city that the proposal to bring
Marshal Tito here as an official
visitor was being revised. It was
said that he would come in Oc
tober.
It was impossible to confirm or
dispel this rumor. It did seem
to have some substance, how
ever. An attempt was made to
bring Tito here on an official
visit last spring, but it fizzled in
the face of opposition, notably in
in Congress, where an impressive
number of lawmakers signed a
document in protest.
But, it was not said at that time
that the project had been aban
doned: merely that the time for
it was not right. The Congress
men withheld sending their pro
test to the White House, but
warned that they would keep it
handy, and dispatch it if the mat
ter came up again.
Last spring, when Congress
men threatened to boycott any
appearance Tito might make on
Capitol Hill, it was suggested
that he might be brought here
while Congress was in Easter re
cess. Tito indicated he would not
come under the circumstances. It
is thought that he might accept
an invitation to come in October,
even though he could not address
a joint session of Congress, be
cause Congress would be on va
cation and there would be no
question of Senators and Con
gressmen boycotting his appear
ance. Besides, it is argued, he
could use an invitation to this
country in the game he is now
playing with Khrushchev.
The White House professed
amazement that some newspapers
interpreted President Eisenhow
er’s press conference remark to
mean that he “favored” or “sug
gested” a visit by Marshal Zhu
kov. Nothing of the sort was in
tended, it was indicated.
But it did stir immediate and
widespread opposition. This de
velopment should give pause, to
any officials who might have
been entertaining the idea of hav
ing Marshal Tito come over for
a visit in the fall.
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► Conversion Of A Pope
l By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
£ (University of Notre Dame)
What keeps so many people
outside the Catholic Church?
Ignorance of her divine credent
ials and doctrines, prejudice
based upon misrepresentation
and slander, the apathy of most
Catholics and
the bad example
of some. When
one is brought
into c o,n tact
with the truth!
about the Cath
olic religion, he|
soon finds a de-l
sire welling up :
within him to embrace it.
Such was the experience of
Floyd Pope of Nazareth, North
Carolina. I met Floyd at the
Catholic orphanage there in 1953
when I went down to lend a hand
to Bishop Waters in launching the
second diocesan-wide Crusade
for Souls in America.
I-asked Floyd what led him to
enter the Catholic Church in a
state where Catholics constitute
less than one per cent of the
population.
“As a native Carolinian,” began
Floyd, “I heard the usual charges
against Catholics: they owe polit
ical allegiance to a foreign ruler,
they are priest-ridden, forbidden
to read the Bible, and they pay
money to a priest to get their
sins forgiven. Then too, there
were rumors about the evil lives
of priests and nuns and a lot of
goings on in convents and monas
teries that couldn't stand the
light of day.
“As a boy I lived across the
street from the Catholic orphan
age here. Later on, I got a job
there. Hence I had an excellent
opportunity to get a close-up of
the lives of Sisters and priests.
“After working here fourteen
years and seeing each day their
unfailing kindness to the orphans,
their deep human sympathy for
all in need or trouble and the
daily sacrifices they make so
cheerfully, I decided it was time
to learn more about the religion
which inspired such devotion,
holiness and love.
“I felt that they must possess
something I lacked. I had attend
ed the services of most of the
non-Catholic denominations in
this area, but I was unable to find
satisfaction in any of them. They
differed from one another in doc
trine and even the members of
the same sect held divergent
views on many important points.
“So I started attending the
Catholic Church. I was impressed
with the reverence, sincerity arid,
devotion of the worshippers,
many of whom had to travel
miles to attend Mass. There are
unity of worship and of faith;
they all knew what they believed
and why.”
“Yes,” he replied. “After atten
ding Mass and other devotions
for two years, I went to St. Mon
ica’s Rectory in Raleigh, where
Dominican Fathers, Walter J.
Tierney and John S. Dillon, gave
me a complete course of instruct
ion and received me into the
Church. The day on which I made
my First Holy Communion was
one of the happiest in my life,
“Bishop Waters confirmed me.
That day I shall never forget. It
was a very hot day in June. I had
to work part of the day and sorrie-
! how I was delayed in getting to
church. When I did arrive the
j Bishop and Father Tierney were
: waiting outside the church for
me.
“I apologized to Bishop Waters
for delaying the ceremony. He
just smiled and said, “I’ll wait
any day for a Pope!”
“I can’t tell you how much
satisfaction, joy and happiness
I’ve derived from the practice of
the faith. I wish I could share
this treasure with everyone. May
our Blessed Lord give me the
; grace to lead a good life so that
i others might see in it a shining
'light that will lead them to the
i true and living faith.”
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