PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, March 16, 1963
An Irish Blessing
May the blessing of Light be on you,
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows like a
great peat Fire, so that the stranger may
come and warm himself at it, and also a
Friend.
And may the light shine out of the two
eyes of you, like a candle set in two win
dows of a house, bidding the wanderer to
come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the Rain be on you
—the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your
spirit so that all the little flowers may
spring up, and shed their sweetness on the
air. And may the blessing of the Great Rains
be on you, may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean, and leave there
many a shining pool where the blue of heav
en shines, and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the Earth be
on you—the great round earth; may you ever
have a kindly greeting for them you pass
as you’re going along the roads. May the
earth be soft under you when you rest out
upon it, tired at the end of a day, and may
it rest easy over you when, at the last,
you lay out under it; may it rest so lightly
over you, that your soul may be off from
under it quickly and up, and off, and on its
way to God.
And now, may the Lord bless you all*
And bless you kindly.
Meeting Points To Cuba’s
Threat As Red Base
(By J. J. Gilbert)
WASHINGTON, — President Kennedy’s
meeting in Costa Rica with Central Ameri
can leaders dramatically highlights the se
riousness of communist subversion in this
hemisphere.
It is the hope of the government that
the sessions will produce some agreement
to control more effectively the flow in and
out of Cuba of communist guerrillas and
agitators.
President Kennedy said that, while this
is something each country must do indi
vidually as an element of sovereignty, the
United States is bringing it “to the atten
tion of Latin America countries as perhaps
one of the most important things we can
do this winter.”
At nearly the same time, a Senate com
mittee has made public the report of the
Special Consultative Committee on Security
of the Organization of lAmericanI States.
It is a chilling document which calls for
better control on travel to and from Cuba.
Communism, the report says, pursues its
goal of world domination through various
techniques, including: recruitment and train
ing of communist activists of all kinds;
infiltration of previously chosen organiza
tions and institutions with a view to gain
ing control of them; “psychological impreg
nation,” or converting "indifferent people”
through the exploitation of “contradictions
present in every organized society and the
justified longings to resolve them;” “dis
location,” or the weakening of the social
structure to create disorder, and guerrilla
warfare, followed by the control of the
people through a trained militia.
“There can be no doubt that the creation
and maintenance of a communist govern
ment in Cuba facilitates to an extraordi
nary degree the subversive action of inter
national communism in America,” the re
port asserts. “This is true not only with
respect to the spread of communist ideo
logy, but also what is more dangerous be
cause it constitutes a center quite nearby
for training agents of every kind whose
function it is to develop subversion in the
countries of the hemisphere.”
There are “many” Communist training
centers in Cuba for guerrillas and agita
tors, the report says, naming a half-score
offhand.
It is noted that countries maintaining nor
mal and friendly relations have progressively
facilitated travel by their nationals across
their borders. But communist abuse of this
simplification of travel has compelled some
countries, for their own protection, to impose
restrictions on travel by their nationals to
countries with which they do not have dip
lomatic relations.
The majority of communist agents who
enter a non-communist country now use false
passports and documents, and nationals of
another country wanting to go to Cuba have
their travel documents sent to a third coun
try, where they contact Cuban agents, the
reports say.
The committee urges that each country
tighten its own restrictions on travel to
Cuba, and that nations cooperated to help
each other to better enforce its tightened
restrictions.
BISHOP CAUTIONS AGAINST CONFUSING
LEGAL-MORAL ISSUES WITH CHURCH-STATE
PITTSBURGH, PA., (NC)—
Bishop John J. Wright of Pitts
burgh has cautioned against
complicating moral-legal ques
tions by confusing them with
Church-State conflicts.
“It is frequently a gross over
simplification to set up cries
over the Catholic hierarchy or
the National Council of Church
es as the causes of the over
lapping area of morality and le
gality, especially on points
where legal and moral con
siderations have been long and
inevitably interrelated,” the
Bishop said in a lenten lecture.
Bishop Wright said history
shows that “moral feeling and
moral conviction have neces
sarily colored whole chapters
of legislation of a strictly civ
il kind.”
He declared this coloring lin
gers in numerous fields, includ
ing legislation on kidnapping,
bestiality, seduction and sod
omy.
The Bishop’s lecture, deliv
ered to an audience of physi
cians and lawyers, dwelled par
ticularly on the problem of the
relationship between morality
and legality on the birth con
trol issue.
Bishop Wright said the issue
“does not boil down to Massa
chusetts and Connecticut
against the enlightened pack.”
He declared that 17 states
prohibit traffic in contra
ceptives except through doc
tors’ offices and pharmacies,
while 16 states regulate the con
traceptive trade by requiring
that information on contracep
tion conform to accurately de
fined standards.
“In fact,” said the Bishop,
“there are only eight states
which have no law on contra
ception. But in all eight of
these states there is control
on the advertising of contra
ceptives. That is, advertising
must be limited to medical jour
nals and like media.”
“And,” Bishop Wright added,
“the letter of the Federal law
is even more strict than the
states’ laws, including those
in Connecticut and Massachu
setts—though, to be sure, these
Federal laws have been modi
fied by judicial interpretation.”
The origin of these laws, and
others where morality and le
gality are related, is more
the result of the * 'relationship
of the general moral consensus
to the Western tradition of law
than of ecclesiastical pres
sures, Catholic or Protestant,”
the Bishop argued.
He continued: '' Law in the
Western tradition is essentially
limited and concerned with the
public good. Morality goes bey
ond this to consider the indi
vidual good. Though these are
clearly distinct, the distinctions
are never absolute because
of the close connection between
legality and morality in terms
of philosophical concepts and
common social motives.”
Bishop Wright emphasized
this latter point as explan
ation of the frequent relation
ship between what the state
must require and enforce and
what the moralists must teach.
Private Schools “Must Be In
First Aid Bill”
fie uji.tR me,
Christ uiitkin me,
Cfvrist fSetund me,
Christ oefore me,
CRrist Reside me,
Cfuistto turn me,
Cfuistto comfort
ana restore me,
CHrist feneatk. vne,
Cfvrist QDove me,
er.
CRrist ivi quiet, Cfirist in
Cfvrist in Rearts of alltnat love me,
CRrist in moutR of friend and stranger
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FROM SAINT PATRICKS BREASTPLATE
Dependence
On God
Help Cured Lepers
ST. LOUIS, (NC)—People
throughout the world are begin
ning to realize more their de-
pendance upon God, Joseph Car
dinal Ritter said here.
“I think in spite of all the
cloudiness and discouragement
that we hear about, that people
and nations are coming closer
all the time to recognizing their
dependence upon Almighty
God,” he told the annual meet
ing of the St. Louis Catholic
Charities’ board of governors.
This is particularly true when
it comes to recognizing social
problems, the Cardinal said.
HONG KONG, (NC)—Govern
ment officials joined the Catho
lic Church in a campaign here
to end segregation of cured
lepers.
Both Bishop Lawrence Bian-
chi, P.I.M.E., of Hong Kong and
Dr. D.H.N. MacKenzie, director
of Hong Kong’s public health
department, issued messages
on the 10th annual World Lepro
sy Day (March 3). They urged
Hong Kong society to take lep
rosy patients certified as cured
back into its homes and offices.
The Catholic Church was the
sole sponsor of a similar cam
paign last year.
Council Project
VATICAN CITY, (Radio, NC)
—The mixed council commis
sion comprising the Theology
Comission and the Secretariat
Sunday Selling
DES MOINES. Iowa, (NC)—A
bill to prohibit Sunday selling of
general merchandise has been
filed in the Iowa Legislature by
Sen. Joseph Flatt f of Winterset
and three other senators.
Back Talk To JFK
It Seems to Me
The bill is sponsored by the
Iowa Retail Federation and is
aimed principally at large su
permarkets, appliance stores,
and discount houses operating
in cities. Sen. Flatt is a men’s
clothier.
for Promoting Christian Unity
finished (March 4) its revision
of the council project on the
“Sources of Revelation” save
for a few details. The project
in its original form failed to
receive the votes of the majori
ty of the council Fathers on
November 21. The following
day His Holiness Pope John
XXIII ordered the project to
be rewritten.
Pluralistic
Society
JOSEPH BREIG
As a “bad back” old pro,
I have three words for Presi
dent John F. Kennedy. Don’t
try it. Don’t try it if it has
anything to do with lifting, twist
ing, bending, pushing or pull
ing. Don’t try
it if it’s bowl
ing. Don’t try
it if it’s gar
dening.
Don’t try it,
Mr. President
even if it’s only
sitting in a
chair and
bending to tie
your shoe laces. Stand and put
your foot on the chair, and reach
the laces that way.
What you've got to do is learn
to live the “trick back” way of
life. At first it’s a nuisance,
but you’ll get used to it, and
it has its compensations.
You must acquire the habits
pf helplessness, sir. You must
be brave enough to be a cow
ard; strong enough to be weak;
manly enough to be unmanly.
IF YOU DROP something on
the floor, let it lie until some
body hands it to you. If you
want a window opened, let a
friend do it. When a desk draw
er sticks, have the humility to
leave it to the victory. When
your wife wants a chair moved,
just say, “I’m sorry dear,” and
send for somebody.
All these things are going to
go against the grain of your male
nature, Mr. President. You will
find it frustrating to refrain
from making things obey your
muscles, and insded to use
feminine wiles. But comfort
yourself with the philosophy a
comedian once uttered, “After
all, at least half my ancestors
were women.”
I shuddered the other day
upon reading that one of your
sisters-in-law had remarked of
you, “His back is a problem. He
can barely pick up his own son.”
GREAT GODFREY, sir. Your
son is two years old and weighs
35 pounds. No doubt he is full
of vitamins, and has been feed
ing on meat and vegetables and
minerals from the age of a few
weeks. Pick him up? I abjure
you sir, don’t try it. He is just
the right bulk and height to pull
you off balance, and off balance
is precisely what you must for
ever avoid being.
The child-picking-up habit
is one you must at all costs
break. You can do it. I did it,
and I am thinking of organiz
ing Bad Backs Anonymous to
rush day or night to the aid of
anyone who feels an attack of
son-lifting coming on.
Being father of five and
grandfather of seven, I well
know, Mr. President, what
temptation assails a male at the
sight of his very own small
flesh-and-blood running to
ward him, crying joyfully and
trustingly, “Up Daddy” (or Up
Grandpa!”)
THE TEMPTATION is fierce,
but resist it . Resist it like a
saint.
Out of long experience pain
fully acquired, I assure you that
young John will survive the
traumatic shock of finding out
that his father is not the strong
est man on earth.
Oh, I’ll admit that for a few
days he will look at you oddly
out of the corners of his eyes,
but he’ll adjust. He is a bright
lad, and before long, he’ll turn
the Tom Sawyer fence-
white-washing gambit. He’ll
start boasting to other kids
that his Dad can stand more
pain than anybody else in the
whole world.
Unlike the boy who says, “My
Pop can lick your Pop,” John
will not be exaggerating. He
won’t even be approaching a
hundredth of the truth. You and
I, Mr. Kennedy, with the kind
of backs we have, know what I
mean.
I REMEMBER a time when I
had been fool enough to lift
something, and was sitting with
heat applied to my back, trying
to persuade the muscle spasms
to let go.
Just then, our Jim, who was
about the age of your John, pell-
melled into the living room on
his new trike. He took the turn
to fast, and if I hadn’t caught
him by reflex action, he’d have
gone headlong against a coffee
table.
I saved his neck, but the roar
of agony I uttered sent
h'im scurrying in fright. Weeks
passed before he could be con
vinced that his father hadn’t
turned into a child-terrorizing
old ogre.
PICK UP your son? No sir,
I beg of you. Don’t try it. Let
those three words become your
motto in such matters. I re
spect your desire for physical
fitness among the people. But
physical fitness for you and
for me consists in avoiding
exertion. Let us bravely face
reality.
Aside from tapping a type
writer (with a woman’s touch)
I have only one regular exer
cise, Mr. President. Upon aris
ing in the morning, I swing one
leg in a certain way which
I have discovered, puts my
back in gear like a stick-shift
auto.
You ought to see that per
formance, sir. My wife says
it is better than Charlie Chap
lin.
WASHINGTON, (NC)—“Sun
day in a Pluralistic Society”
will be the title of a seminar
at the convention of the Nation
al Council of Catholic Men in
Atlantic City from April 24 to
28.
Topics to be discussed in
clude the following: “The Mean
ing of Sunday to Catho
lics,” “How the non-Catholic
Community Reacts to Catholic
Convictions on Sunday Clos
ing” and “Constitutional Prob
lems of Sunday Closing in
a Pluralistic Society.”
Father Charles E. Curran
of St. Bernard's Seminary, Ro
chester, N. Y., will present a
paper at the seminar.
Uganda Schools
KAMPALA, Uganda, (NC)-h
Uganda's Young Christian
Student movement, a Catholic
organization, has asked the na
tional government to continue
the system of denominational
education.
The YCS sent a memorandum
to this effect to the special
commission now investigating
Uganda’s educational needs and
prospects. “We, the Catholic
students, will stand firm to de
fend our rights to be educated
in the schools of our denomina
tion, which we feel will provide
us with complete education,
the memorandum said. It added:
“The Church’s function in the,
process of our education is con-'
tinuous. . .We must be taught
our religion and this teaching
must be incorporated in the
whole process of educational
organization.”
f
QUESTION BOX
Scriptural 3\osar?
OMAHA, (NC)- If a general
aid to education bill is passed
by Congress, church-related
schools must “get in the first
time, because if we don’t, we
may never get it,” participants
in a Citizens for Educational
Freedom informational pro
gram were told here.
William Crozier, history in
structor at Duchesne College,
a Catholic women’s college
here, and CEF program chair
man, also told the group that
“if a Federal aid bill is pass
ed and private schools are left
out, private schools will be in
trouble. We will face the pros
pect of having second-rate
schools.”
Asserting that the problem is
national in scope, Crozier cited
recent interest in a shared-
time program by officials of
the Chicago archdiocesan
schools.
“Calling for shared-time now
is certainly calling for help,”
he said.
Crozier also pointed to the
moratorium on school building
in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
He added “here in Omaha, we
find ourselves unable to com
pete with the public schools for
teachers.”
“Beginning teachers
graduates just out of college--
get a salary in our private
schools that is $1,700 lower
than the public schools offer,”
he said.
Crozier also said Omaha Ca
tholic schools are unable to ac
cept almost 5,000 children for
lack of space.
Crozier reiterated CEF’s
neutrality on the question of
whether Federal aid should be
appropriated in the first place,
but its insistence that if aid
is voted it should benefit all
children--those in independent
as well as tax supported
schools.
The Omaha CEF elected J.P.
Regan, an Air Force master
sergeant stationed at nearby
Offutt Air Force Base, presi
dent; Dr. Harle Barrett, di
rector of the Creighton Uni
versity medical dispensary,
vice president; and Mrs. Ruth
Miller, a housewife, secretary-
treasurer.
Third Sorrowful Mystery
THE CROWNING WITH THORNS
Our Father
Part 8
'Why, what evil has he done?’/
But they kept crying out the more,
'Crucify him!’
Mark 15:14
Hail^Mary
Now the soldiers led him away “into the
courtyard,/
and they stripped him and put on him
a purple cloak.
Mark 15:16; Matt. 27:28
Hail ^ Mary
And plaiting a crown of thorns they
put it upon his head,/
and a reed into his right hand.
Matt. 27:29
Hail Mary
And bending the knee before him they
mocked him,/
saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!’
... Matt. 27:29
Hail Mary
'Shall I crucify your king?’/
And the chief priests answered, 'We
have no king but Caesar.’
Hailjlx Mary
John 19:15
Then he handed him over to them to be
crucified./
And so they took Jesus and led him
away.
By David Q. Liptak
Q. Where is heaven? Could
it be here on this earth some
where? Must I believe that I
and other human beings will
spend heaven standing in one
place with folded hands?
A. Heaven—the word deriv
es from the Anglo-Saxon heo-
fon—is both a state and a place.
As a state it comprises the ul
timate end of man’s yearnings.
As a place, it constitutes man’s
only true and final homeland—
in heaven everyone “belongs”
in the most perfect sense.
SO MUCH is known from the
few facts God has revealed about
heaven or paradise. Known with
like certainty is that the prin
cipal source of man’s happi
ness in heaven will be his abil
ity to see God directly, face to
face as it were, and not mere
ly meditately as in this life,
through faith in God and
the manner in which he mir
rors himself in creatures.
SUBJECTIVELY, the happi
ness each person will enjoy in
heaven can be epitomized—in
a term readily understandable
to the modern world—as “full-
fillment.” Indent, “fullfilment”
could be taken as a descriptive
synonym for paradise.
BY THE same declension, the
means of experiencing heaven’s
fulfilment will necessarily be
commensurate with man’s ca
pacity to enjoy himself as a
human being. The immage
of heaven as an ethereal gard
en peopled with winged choirs
floating atop clouds—a common
artistic accommodation — is
therefore no more than sym
bolic. Equally as unfounded is
the image of robed individuals
standing around with folded
hands.
WHERE HEAVEN IS has not
been revealed. It has been made
known, though, that there will
be a new heaven and a new
earth, at the end of time. This,
St. John tells us in the Apo
calypse, wherein he also men
tions some details about the
after-life:
"AND IS SAW a new heaven
and a new earth.
For the first heaven and the
first earth passed away, and the
sea is no more . . . And I
heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, ‘Behold the
dwelling place of god with men,
and he shall dwell with them.
They will be his people, and
God himself will be with them
as their God. And God will
wipe away every tear from
their eyes. And death shall be
nor more; neither shall their
be mourning, nor crying, nor
pain any more. . . ” (XXI: 1-4)
AS FOR the duration of heav
en—eternity is incomprehensi
ble to time creatures such as
ourselves—another mystery
arises. One key to a shallow
understanding of this phen
omenon is the difference which
exists in this life between mo
ments of pain and moments of
joy. Thus, a day of pain pas
ses here as so many years,
whereas a year of unmitigated
happiness is as but an hour.
Hail Mary
John 19:16
And they spat on him,/
and took the reed and kept striking
him on the head.
Matt. 27:30
Hail Mary
Pilate again went outside and said, 'I
bring him out to you,/
- that you may know I find no guilt
in him.’
John 19:4
Hail sKMary
Jesus therefore came forth,/
wearing the crown of thorns and the
purple cloak.
John 19:5
Hail Mary
And Pilate said to them, 'Behold the
man!’/
But they cried out, 'Away with him!
Crucify him! ’
John 19:5, 15
Hail JJK Mary
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit./ As it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180, SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 43
Saturday, March 16, 1963
No. 26
Editor’s Note: This is one of the 15 decades
of the Scriptural Rosary, a modern version
of the way the Rosary was once prayed in
the Middle Ages. We are presenting the
complete Scriptural Rosary in 15 install
ments as a service to our readers. You are
invited to save these meditations for future
use. Or you may obtain the complete set in
illustrated prayer-book form by sending $1
to the nonprofit Scriptural Rosary Center,
6 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. 2, Illinois.
Published weekly except the last week in July and the
last week in December by The Southern Cross, Inc.
Subscription price $3.00 per year.
Second class mail privileges authorized at Monroe, Ga. Send
notice of change of address to P. O. Box 180, Savannah, Ga.
Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.J.C.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor
John Markwalter, Managing Editor
Rev. Lawrence Lucree, Rev. John Fitzpatrick,
Associate Editors
