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t l f I 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 Jersey