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FOUR
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
OCTOBER 12, 1957,
Stye lulbtin
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga,
Louvaniam University
THIS WORLD OF OURS
Voi. 33
Saturday, October 12, 1957
No. 10
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS
JOHN M. BRENNAN, Savannah
E. M. HE AG ARTY, Way cross
MRS. L. E. MOCK, Albany
lOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus
NICK CAMERIO, Macon __ ..
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta ___
FOR 1955-1956
President
— Honorary Vice-President
1— Vice-President
Vice-President
V. F,, Publicity
V. P., Activities
Secretary
—— Treasurer
Executive Secretary
Financial Secretary
Auditor
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
and 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
bf 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.
Diocese Is Symbol Of Catholic Unity
The Diocese as the example of Catholic unity in a given
area is represented by the Cathedral. The Cathedral is the
Bishop’s Parish. Only through the maintenance of the Bishop,
the Cathedral and the Bishop’s Office as the center and head
of the Diocese is the Church in a given area able to maintain
for the Church Universal the unity which is*so vital.
Too many people take the central authority of the Bishop
and the Diocese for granted. Too many people forget that
without the Diocese the parish is a very weak structure.
Without the ability of the Diocese to help a parish, the
parish would not progress as it should.
This is dramatically displajmd in our Georgia Dioceses
where only through the strength of the Diocese is a fledgling
parish able to borrow and build. Without this Diocesan help,
the parish facilities would be small and ineffective. Instead,
the Bishop has been able to help individual parishes. If he
had adequate funds, he could and would help every parish
which needed it.
The point of these remarks being that the Diocese must
be strong financially, or the parishes will not be strong. The
development program instituted last year and continuing
now must be a success. One parish or one group cannot feel
that if left alone, they would be stronger financially. Such is
not the case. Such has not been the history of Dioceses which
today have adequate funds with which to operate.
The Diocese deserves and must expect and must receive
a contribution yearly from each Catholic wage earner. If the
Diocese does not receive the contribution, the individual is
denying the central authority of the Church the ability to
operate properly and help other parishes and to maintain
the original unity which is the hallmark of the Church.
(By Richard Partee)
I have just spent the best part
of a day visiting the Universite
Louvanium, located about a dozen
miles outside Leopoldville. It is
the first university established in
the Congo. Aside from Roma Uni
versity College
in Basutoland
it is the only
Catholic insti
tution of higher
learning in all
Africa.
It has been
an extraordina
ry experience
and a most exhilarating one. As
an old Louvain student in Belgi
um ■with an abiding affection for
one of my alma maters I was
naturally attracted to this uni
versity in the Congo established
in collaboration with Louvain
and staffed by professors drawn
from the distinguished Belgian
center of learning.
ORIGINS OF UNIVERSITY
The origins of this university
go back to 1925 when a group of
professors from the Faculty of
Medicine of Louvain set up a
center for medical study at Kis-
antu in the lower Congo. In 1932
another center for agronomy was
opened at Kisantu for the purpose
of preparing experts in various
branches of agriculture.
In 1947 at Kisantu a school; for.
administrative and commercial
sciences was established. None of
these efforts were more than ex
periments in the technical train
ing of the Congolese and could
| not be considered as a university.
| From 1947 on, thanks to the en
couragement and initiative of
Louvain University, the various
schools were grouped in such a
way as to prepare for the setting
up of a formal university. In 1950,
the Congo government granted
the land near Leopoldville and
the basis for the present universi
ty was established. By royal de
cree in 1956 the new foundation
was elevated to the rank of a full
university.
At present it consists of most
of the faculties with a physical
plant which is sensational. The
new hospital which I have visited
ranks with the best anywhere.
The other units including resi
dent halls for students and homes
for the staff are astonishingly
modern.
The number of students is near
ly two hundred. The majority are
Africans with a goodly number
of Belgians, most of whom are the
sons and daughters of Belgians
resident in the Congo. In the
residence halls Africans and Eu
ropeans live together and share
the common rooms and dining
halls. There is no racial distinc
tion of any kind. The African
assistants and instructors are ac
commodated precisely as are the
European.
Canon Gillon. the distinguished
physicist, who is the Rector of
the institution, explained to me
the mechanism of the university
and the idea behind it. The basic
concept seems to be. that the best
form of .aid to the Congo and its ■
people is to provide higher edu
cation for nearly a million Congo
lese children across the country.
It is natural that this effort
should be crowned by a universi
ty in the Congo for the Congo
lese, giving specific attention to
the problems that this country
poses.
The Belgians are convinced that
there is no sense in training the
African elite in Belgium, in an
environment that is not natural
and in which the student is very
likely to find himself uprooted
and out of contact with his home
land. The African here will study
in French in a Congolese setting
and learn his profession or follow
studies leading to a career within
the framework of specific Con
golese conditions.
This is quite different from the
theory of the British and French
who have been preparing Afri
cans at Paris and Oxford for gen
erations. It has the merit of a
jhigh degree of realism, and an
appraisal of some of the keenest
psychological problems that beset
I the incorporation of the African
! into the European scheme o£
I things.
Thanks to the initiative of Lou-
.vanium the state has founded a
second university at Elizabeth-
ville. All this would: seem to be,
the forerunner of a policy of
providing with increased rapidity
the indispensable opportunities
for an African population that is
producing and increasing the
number of talented and capable
leaders. >
Report Of CIA Head
THE BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
[The Sacrificial Gift
Our Bishop has launched a great new program of Cath
olic Action for all of us.
He has launched it because we need certain things to
protect and strengthen our faith.
In this program of Parochial and Diocesan Development,
\ve are planting dollars so we can reap a harvest of souls.
Exposed to godless influences, we and our youth need the
; crong Catholic guidance of our priests and our schools. Be-
< ause this guidance has not been readily available to all,
great numbers of Catholics in our own area have fallen away
from the practice of their faith.
The dollars you give to the Bishop’s program actually
constitute an investment in the Church. They will help the
Church save souls and the sacrifices we make to give these
dollars will help save our own souls. With terms such as
these, no investment can be considered too large.
We must remember that our Bishop has a long-range
J rogram and that the program is carefully planned and
budgeted. Many important contributions to the diocese have
already been made because of the money that became avail
able from these persons paying their pledges into the dio
cesan campaign. This supplementary effort is designed to
Live the new parishioners an opportunity to participate in
t his important work of the Church.
The spirit of sacrifice is not new to Catholics. From our
(arliest childhood we have learned of the noble sacrifices
Ktade in the name of Christ and the Church. As members of
1 ae Church, we have enjoyed the blessings which have come
t j us through the sacrifices of the saints and martyrs.
So tremendous is the importance of this supplementary
(ampaign that it has first call on our energy in prayer, work
<■ ad giving. It has first call on the sacrifices we must make to
L .ve our ‘Fair Share.’
A recent speech by Allen W.
Dulles, head of the top-secret
Central Intelligence Agency, de
serves more attention than it has
received.
With access to the secret in
telligence
the United
re
ports which
pour into
Washington
from behind
the Iron Curtain |f
and other parts I
of the world,
Dulles is prob- t;
ably the best ®
informed man in
States on developments abroad
affecting the security of the coun
try. While his evaluations are
subject to the infirmities of hu
man judgement, they influence
the policies of the government
and are certainly worthy of con
sideration.
From a deep study of recent
reports, Dulles informs us that
he has come to the conclusion that
Communist Party Boss Nikita
Khrushchev is sitting on a pow
der keg of unrest and may be
driven to dangerous military ven
tures in order to keep in power.
NO CRYSTAL BALL
The nation’s chief intelligence
expert does not, of course, profess
to possess a crystal ball, but he
suggests that the Soviet Union
may be heading toward a mili
tary dictatorship.
The communist dialectic, Dul
les maintains, does not provide
the answer to the main prob
lems confronting the Soviet lead
ership — advancement of Russia’s
industrial growth and the main
tenance of control over the Rus
sian people. If the so-called “col
lective leadership,” which Khru
shchev dominates more and
more, is to survive, a new ap- j
proach to its pressing problems
must be evolved.
What that approach may turn
out to be Dulles does not profess
to know, but he suggests three
possibilities.
Khrushchev may resume the
policy of relaxing controls over
the Russian people and the Red
satellites, initiated after the re
pudiation of Stalin but reversed
after the Hungarian freedom re
volt. Such a policy, Dulles be
lieves, would allay unrest within
the Soviet Union and the Com
munist orbit and speed industrial
development. But for Khrushchev
it would involve the risk of loss
of the satellite countries.
A second possible policy — and
this is the one which, judging
from the uncompromising lang
uage and actions of Moscow in
recent weeks, seems to be the
one favored by the Kremlin at
the moment, would be a complete
return to the Stalinist policy of
stern repression at home and a
posture of threat to _ the non
communist world.
Or, it may turn out, Dulles
suggests, that the present Soviet
leadership may be driven in a
desperate effort to keep itself in
power to risking war in order to
unite the Russian people and
their energies to meet alleged
enemies which the Kremlin claims
are now encircling them.
MAY FOLLOW PATTERN
Dulles reminds us that com
munism is a revolutionary move-
jment that may undergo evolution.
I in the same pattern as that of
other revolutionary movements
in the past. He suggests that there
may be food for thought in com
paring the evolution of commu
nism with that of the French
Revolution, which he thinks the
communist movement closely
parallels.
Communism, he reminds us,
has gone through most of the
stages of the French revolution
except the final one, which was
the accession to power of the mil
itary man on horseback.
As in France, communism in
Russia was conceived by intel
lectuals as a reform program.
Then revolutionary elements took
over from the intellectuals and
seized power, beginning with
moderates of the Danton type.
These, in turn, were pushed aside
by extremists like Robespierre,
and there followed a reign of in
human zeal and terror. Successive
groups of leaders destroyed each
other with each change in the
tempo of the revolution. Eventu
ally the practical and military
leaders—in the case of Russia,
Khrushchev and Zhukov—depos
ed the extremists.
By the time this phase has been
reached in a revolutionary move
ment, Dulles points out, the oeo-
ple have lost their ideological
fervor. He sees signs that this
happened in the Soviet Union.
MILITARY DICTATORSHIP?
When the people grow- restive,
there is always the temptation for
the man on horseback to come to
the fore and divert the nation
into military ventures. In the case
of France it was Napoleon Bona
parte to put the country on the
road to military conquest.
Will the last phase of the
French Revolution be repeated in
j the case of Soviet communism?
! “I have no crystal ball answer,"
Dulles says, “but certainly mili
tary dictatorship is one of the
possible lines of evolution in the
Soviet Union.”
If such a possibility exists, sure
ly this is not time for the West to
relax its guard and reduce its
national defense expenditures.