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ST. JOHN VIANNEY SEMINARY—Above photo shows part of new addition at St. John
Vianney Minor Seminary, Savannah. Building houses two dormitories with adjoining
showers, library, librarian’s office, recreation room, audio-visual classroom, oratory
and two other classrooms. Dedication ceremonies will take place at 3:00 p.m. March 24th,
in conjunction with the annual St. John Vianney Altar Boy Awards. Contractor for the
new wing was Willard J. Teston of Savannah.
K.
Of
C. Asks
New
Kennedy Aid Bill Defeat
MONTCLAIR, N. J., (NC)~
The New Jersey Knights of Col
umbus have asked the state’s
U.S. Congressional delegation
to oppose Federal aid to educa
tion formulas which ignore
needs of the nation’s private
schools.
The legislators were asked in
letters from the K. of C. not
to vote for a bill that “does
not provide equal treatment for
students at private schools as
well as public schools.’’ The
letters were signed by James J.
McMahon of Montclair, chair
man of the state K. of C.
Council’s committee on civil
and religious rights.
“We are concerned,’’ McMa
hon wrote, “by the reluctance
of the administration in its
recommendations to the Con
gress for Federal aid to provide
equal treatment for students at
tending public and private
schools not operated for pro
fit.’’
“We do not accept the idea,’’
he said on behalf of the 50,-
000 member organization,
“that making a grant to citi
zens attending private schools
would violate the constitutional
prohibition against establish
ment of religion. There are too
many contrary precedents in
our history to give validity to
this interpretation.”
If Congress really wanted to
pass an educational aid bill,
the letters said, “a method or
formula could be devised’’ to
“recognize the rights of all
students.”
Pointing out that 300,000 chil
dren attend private schools in
New Jersey by choice of their
parents, the letters said a pro
gram of Federal aid to public
schools only would increase the
“economic burden” on the par
ents of those children. It cer
tainly would not “promote the
general welfare on an equitable
basis,” the letters said.
Vol. 43, No. 25
10c Per Copy — $3 A Year
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1963
Sudan Expells Missioners
In Sudan
Moslems Use Courts
To Fight Christians
NAIROBI, Kenya, (NC)--The
Sudan’s Moslem—dominated
government is misusing the
courts in its crackdown on mis
sioners in that neighboring
country’s predominantly Chris
tian and pagan southern region,
it is contended in reports reach
ing here.
Accounts charge th at Moslem
judges from the north presid
ing over courts in the south
ignore testimony favorable to
missionary defendants, help the
prosecution and show prejudice
against all Christians brought
before them. The reports also
allege that officials have tried
to bribe witnesses to testify
against missioners.
Meanwhile, observers here
have noted that the Sudanese
government has issued conflict
ing reasons for the expulsion
from southern Sudan of more
than 120 missionaries—includ
ing 93 Catholics—in recent
months.
Reports received here say
that Father Mario Piotte,
F.S.C.J.—since expelled from
the Sudan—and a catechist were
tried in a court in Wau on Feb
ruary 5. They were charged with
teaching catechism to children
in violation of the 1962 Mission
ary Societies Act which for
bids missioners to give re
ligious instruction to children
under 18 without the written
consent of their parents given in
the presence of a govern-
policeman.
Father Piotti’s attorney re
minded the court that the priest
had not given any instruction to
children himself and that it had
been given only by the cate
chist, who is not legally bound
by the 1962 law.
But the judge said the priest
was guilty because he gave a
catechism book to the chate-
chist and was therefore him
self giving religious instruc
tion to children. He said the
catechist was also guilty be
cause he had helped a mission
ary violate Sudanese law. The
Verona Fathers, to which Fa
ther Piotti belongs, were fin
ed $30, the priest was fined
$15 and the catechist $5.
Father Piotti was brought
to court on a similar charge
last October. At that time, re
ports say, eyewitnesses de
clared that police tried to re
cruit witnesses to testify
against him. People were asked
if they knew whether Father
Piotti had baptized any chil
dren. When they answered no,
the police asked : “Why do you
say no? If you say yes, we will
give you money.”
Another case reported here
involves Father Angelo Con-
falonieri, F.S.C.J., vice rec
tor of the minor seminary in
October police
on a charge of
Wau. Last
arrested him
trespassing because, they
claimed, he had visited at night
(Oct. 7) a technician school
which had been a mission school
prior to its nationalization in
1957. The following day students
from a number of mission and
other schools in southern Sudan
went out on strike.
Father Confalonieri wa£ de
tained for about two weeks and
then released without trial. The
case was dropped for lack of
evidence when Father Confal
onieri proved he had been 15
miles away from the school on
the date in question, spending
the night with another priest.
Late in January, the case was
reopened and Father Con
falonieri was confronted with
four witnesses—all Moslem
Arabs—who said they had seen
him leave the school while they
were returning from a wedding
feast.
The judge accepted their tes
timony without question, but
closely examined the evidence
given by the priest with whom
Father Confalonieri had spent
the night. He is said to have
admitted that the case against
the priest could not be proved,
but said a suspicion still re
mained and jailed the mission-
er for seven days.
In February a Christian cycl
ing from Yei to Juba hurt a
drunken man, reports say. The
injured person brought the man
to court.
“What is your religion?” was
the first question the judge ask
ed.
“What has religion to do with
my case?” the defendant re
plied.
The judge then repeated his
question and received the same
answer. Then he said: “Well
you are guilty.” The man was
fined $3.
Observers here note that the
Sudanese government has
issued two different explana
tions for the ouster of mis
sioners.
A statement issued on Feb
ruary 11 by Minister of Inter
ior Mohamed Ahmed Irwa de
clared that since the Sudan won
independance in 1956 it has
sought to bring the schools un
der state control and “put an
end to the missionary societies’
control over education.”
This policy, he said, entail
ed the appointment of Sudanese
teachers to replace missionar-
(Continued on Page 6)
A group of white-robed nuns and priests walk toward a Sudan airways plane for the
flight out of that country after being expelled by the Moslem-dominated government.
So far, 93 Catholic and 27 Protestant missionaries have been expelled to reduce Chris
tian activity in Southern Sudan.—(NC Photos)
Rabbi, Two Layman
Ask Congress For Direct
Education Aid To Parents
WASHINGTON, (NC)- A rab
bi and two laymen—a Catho
lic and a Protestant—have ap
pealed to Congress to include
On Religion And Public Life Cases
Says High Court Leading
Americans Into Darkness
Salt Lake City, Utah,—The
dean of the influential Harvard
Law School has sharply attacked
the U. S. Supreme Court for
leading Americans into dark
ness on matters of religion
and public life.
Erwin N. Griswold also sta
ted flatly that the court was
wrong in ruling as unconsti
tutional the voluntary recita
tion in New York public
schools of a| 22-word, non
sectarian prayer recommended
by the State Board of Regents,
He told a University of Utah
audience (Feb. 27) that it would
be “sheer invention” i f the
court reasons that the consti
tution requires that all traces
of religion must be kept out
of public activities.
The high court is guilty of
narrow “constitutional absolu
tism” and this reasoning is
“more likely to lead us into
darkness than to light,” he
said.
He cited Justice Hugo Black’s
decision for the majority
against public school prayer
as an example of the “abso
lutist” or “fundamental theo
logical” approach.
i “If one thinks of the Con
stitution as a God-given text
stating fixed law for all time,
and then focuses on a single
passage, or indeed on two
words—‘no law’ —without re
cognizing all the other words
in the document and its rela
tion to the society outside the
document, one can find the ans
wers very simply,” Griswold
said.
This apparently was a re
ference to Black’s comment as
he read the opinion. Black noted
that the First Amendment says
Congress shall “make no law
respecting the establishment of
religion...”
Black commented that “when
it says 'no law’,” that is what
it means—‘no law’.
Griswold said the First A-
mendment does not mean that
religion must be taken out of
public life. America, he said,
is historically a Christian na
tion with a spiritual and cul
tural tradition related toChris-
tainity.
“We ought not to be deprived
of this tradition by judges
carrying into effect the local
implications of absolutist no
tions not expressed in the
Constitution itself and surely
never contemplated by those
who put the constitutional pro
visions into effect,” he said.
Defending traces of religion
found in public life, he said:
“Our history is full of these
traces: chaplains in Congress
and in the armed forces; cha
pels in prisons; 'In God We
Trust’ on our money; to men
tion only a few.
"God is referred to in our
National Anthem, and in ‘Am
erica’ and many others of what
may be called our national
songs.
“Must all of these things
order to satisfy a constitutional
absolutism?”
On the New York prayer case,
decided by the court in June,
1962, Griswold said the prayer
practice did not conflict with
the First Amendment’s re
quirements.
“Those who wrote the ‘es
tablishment of religion’ clause
might be perplexed by the use
which is made of it in 1962,”
he said.
“I venture the thought that
it was unfortunate the question
was ever thought of as a matter
of judicial decision, that it was
unfortunate the court decided
the case, one way or the other,
and that this unhappy situation
resulted solely from the abso
lutist position which the court
has taken and intimated in such
matters, this inviting such liti
gation in its extreme form,”
he said.
He said that the absolutist
approach of the court amounts
to “a failure to exercise the
responsibilities—and indeed
the pains—of judging.
‘ 'By ignoring factors relevant
to sound decisions, it inevitable
leads to wrong results,” he
said.
grams jto parents or to pupils
in Federal aid to education
proposals.
The three testified (Feb. 27)
before the House Education
Committee on behalf of Citi
zens for Educational Freedom,
a non-sectarian organization of
some 20,000 members in 165
chapters across the nation.
The witnesses were Rabbi
Alexander Mittleman of Ro
chester, N.Y., vice president of
the CEF chapter there; Glenn
Andreas of Pella, Iowa, who is
associated with schools operat
ed by the Christian Reformed
church; and Vincent P. Corley
of St. Louis, a Catholic who is
president of CEF.
CEF is theprinicpal support
er of the so-called “G. I. Bill
for Junior.” This proposal
would give a flat grant to par
ents or to pupils which could
be spent at any school.
Bills calling for this approach
to Federal aid on the elementary
and secondary level have been
introduced by Reps. Hugh L.
Carey and James Delaney, both
of New York.
The three CEF spokesmen
said in a statement submitted
to the committee that such a
system of grants has a pre
cedent in the G.I. Bill under
which veterans were allowed
to attend the school of their
choice with government assis
tance.
AUGUSTA GIRL
WRITES POPE
AUGUSTA—“Gee, Pope John
must be a mighty nice man”,
so said Pamela Douglas, a sixth
grade student at John Miledge
school. This story began when
Pamela was studying about
religions and discovered th^t
the Catholic Church was the
first Church. She wrote to Pope
John personally, wanting to
know something about the Ca
tholic Church.
Her letter was forwarded to
the Chancery Office in Savan
nah. Thus it came about that
Father Kearns, Pastor of Sac
red Heart Church, visited this
little girl, and brought her a
little of the knowledge she was
seeking. A fine example of pre
sent day Ecumenism.
The annual Novena of Grace
is now in progress at Sacred
Heart. This Novena in honor
of St. Francis Xavier, is being
conducted by Rev. A. B. Kearns,
whose general theme is the Ecu
menical Council.
They said such grants would
be constitutional and also would
avoid discrimination against
education in parochial and other
private schools.
President Kennedy’s propos
al (H.R. 3000), they said, ex
cludes seven million children
“whose only crime is that their
parents have exercised their
inalienable and constitutional
rights to freedom of choice in
education.”
The 24-point Kennedy pro
posal, although recommending
Federal aid to all types of col
leges, would confine U.S. as
sistance on the elementary and
secondary level to public
schools.
The CEF spokesmen also
argued that assistance can be
given private education by
“special purpose” grants to
the school itself. But they add
ed that CEF prefers aid to the
student because “it places the
exercise of choice more truly
in the parent— where it
belongs.”
Rabbi Mittelman stressed in
his remarks the' ‘public service
nature” of the education
children receive in parochial
and other private schools. He
also called it necessary for na
tional well being that there be
a variety of educational sys
tems.
“I know that because I came
from Czechoslovakia, occupied
now by the communists,” he
said, explaining that one polit
ical party and one school sys
tem helped destroy freedom and
(Continued on Page 6)
PRAY FOR OUR
PRIESTLY DEAD
REV. ROBERT F. KENNEDY
March 12, 1930
REV. JOSEPH HENNESSY
March 15, 1911
Oh Cod, Who didst give to
thy servants by iheir sacredotat
office, a share in the priest
hood of the Apostles, grant,
we implore, that they may-
also be one of their company
forever in heaven. Through
Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Dutch Bishop Speaks
Nazi War Crimes Case
Draws Church Warning
’S-HERTOGENBOSCH, The
Netherlands, Feb. 28 (NC)—
A bishop referred to a recent
controversy over the fate of the
last four German war criminals
held prisoner in Holland and
said that ‘ ‘hate and revenge
must not determine our atti
tude.”
Bishop Willem M. Bekkersof
’ s-Hertogenbosch, speaking
(Feb. 21) on a television pro
gram here, said: “These peo
ple caused an unimaginable sea
of misery, but we have made
them living dead men. We must
be just, but human, too.”
The prisoners’ case came
into the news on January7 when
two Dutch professors of crimi
nal law, Willem P. Pompe of
Utrecht University and J. M.
van Bemmelen of Leyden Uni
versity, published an article in
the Dutch Law Journal urging
pardon for the four Germans,
in prison for nearly 18 years.
The question was discussed af
ter this in the Dutch Senate
and in the Dutch press.
The four German prisoners,
imprisoned at Breda, are: Josef
Johann Kotaella, 54, a guard
at a concentration camp in
Amersfoort, The Netherlands;
Franz Fischer, 61, who organi
zed the deportation of 13,000
Dutch Jews; Ferdinand Hugo
Aus der Fuenten, 52, who also
had a leading role in the perse
cution of Dutch Jews; and Willy
Lages, 61, who was head of
the nazi security police. All had
been sentenced to death and had
their sentence changed to life
imprisonment.
‘ ‘The recent suggestion to
free these people caused violent
reactions,” the Bishop noted. “I
can understand that there are
arguments for keeping these
war criminals in prison, but
hate and revenge must not de
termine our attitude.”
Miss Pfeiffer
Leaves Staff Of
Southern Cross
SAVANNAH—Last Thursday,
after seventeen years of serv
ice, Miss Anita Pfeiffer retired
as a staff member of this paper.
At the time of retirement,
Miss Pfeiffer was the oldest
employee, in time of service,
with Savannah’s Diocesan
Newspaper. She joined the staff
of THE BULLETIN in 1946 when
it was a monthly. She saw it
become a bi-weekly then the
establishment of two editions
with the split of the Diocese of
Savannah-Atlanta in 1956. With
the establishment of two Catho
lic Papers in Georgia Miss
Pfeiffer joined the staff of THE
SOUTHERN CROSS.
It will not be an easy task to
replace Miss Pfeiffer. We wish
her happiness in her retirement
and assure her of our deep
gratitude for her years of faith
ful service.
NEW EAGLE SCOUTS IN TROOP 16—Pictured are
George Barry and John Ware. - (Photo Savannah Even
ing Press).
Receive
Eagle
Awards
SAVANNAH—John Ware and
George Barry, both members
of Blessed Sacrament Parish
were awarded Eagle badges at
the quarterly Court of Honor
held at Blessed Sacrament
School. Both are members of
Troop 16.
Barry is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. Frank I. Barry of 2 Chip
pewa Circle. A student at Wild
er Junior High School, he has
been active in Troop 16 for
more than three years and is
presently a patrol leader. He
is 14 years old.
15 year old John Ware is the
son of Dr. and Mrs. John D.
Ware, Sr. They reside at 5411
Reynolds Street. He is an honor
student at Benedictine Military
School and, for the past two
years has served as a junior
councilor at Camp Strachan.
He is a member of the Order
of the Arrow and scribe for
Troop 16.
Says Church Most
Formidable W eapon
NEW BRITAIN, Conn., (NC)—
Rep. William L. St. * Onge of
Connecticut said here that the
Catholic Church is “the most
formidable spiritual weapon”
against communism.
“Spiritual coexistence be
tween religion and communism
is impossible,” St. Ohge told a
Knights of Columbus Commun
ion breakfast (March 3).
“The Church and communi
sm must remain forever
mutually antagonistic,” he said.
“Communism is the embodi
ment of the total state which
represents a definite danger to
civilization itself.”
Contrasting communism with
democracy, St. Onge said: “In
our form of government there is
no conflict between God and
loyalty to country.
INDEX
LEGION OF DECENCY 2
EDITORIALS 4
JOTTINGS ..5
YOUTHSCOPE ..6
MARRIAGES .2
OBITUARIES 2
MAILING ADDRESS
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