Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, May 11, 1963
Mary’s Month
During the month of May parish life
seems to take on new vitality and vigor.
In some instances last minute preparations
are being made for First Holy Communion,
in other places final plans are readied for
the annual Communion breakfast, in all
parishes hearts are happy and hands are
busy preparing for the annual May Crown
ing ceremony. The Catholic world prepares
most exactly for the annual tribute to the
Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven.
Families gather each evening for the
recitation of the Family Rosary. Young and
old join in their tribute to the Heavenly
Lady. Wouldn’t it seem strange without this
wonderful Queen? This beautiful devotion con
tributes to human welfare in so many ways.
The father of the family displays his
strength and leadership; mother provides the
sense of warmth and love; children, the
great imitators, reap courage and devotion.
With Jesus and Mary in the midst of the
family group, the temptor cannot enter.
Father Peyton’s slogan, “The Family that
prays together, stays together,’’ is not an
empty, meaningless notion.
In addition to stabilizing the family unit,
the Rosary increases the virtues of faith,
hope, and charity in the individual. We make
a profession of faith by reciting the Apos
tles Creed. The objects of hope are found
in the last articles of the same Creed:
“I believe in the communion of saints, the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the
body, and life everlasting.” Charity is exer
cised in the Our Father. This prayer is
an act of perfect charity, since we solicit,
above all, the extension of God’s glory,
the advent of His kingdom, and the conformity
of our will with His.
The Rosary, then, aids us as individuals
by increasing the virtues of faith, hope, and
charity. This prayer helps the family by
placing each member in his rightful role. It
promotes the welfare of the church by uniting
her members under the mantle of the Virgin
Mary.
Mary’s Month teaches us that we must
go to Jesus through Mary, Her Rosary pro
vides the spirit we all need for the journey
to our Redeemer.
—THE CATHOLIC LIGHT—
Emotional Threats To Faith
God’s World
By Leo J. Trese
Loss of faith may result from
intellectual pride or P'&rn ha
bitual sin. There is Mother po
tential danger to faith which
may arise from the emotions
rather than from the intellect
or the senses.
This is the
danger faced
by the person
who, in child
hood, has had
an unsatisfac
tory relation
ship with his
or her father.
With a father
who is a cold and rigid sort
of person, perhaps harsh and
domineering, even brutal, a
child almost certainly will de
velop a feeling of hostility to
wards his father.
In many instances the child
is afraid to admit this feeling
into the realm of consciousness.
He represses his hostility into
his subconscious mind and on
the conscious level assures ev-
rebel directly against God.
However, there is a less aug
ust father-figure close at hand:
the pastor. A person with a re
pressed hostility to his own fa
ther will find it extremely diffi
cult to establish a comfortable
relationship with his pastor. He
will be hypercritical of the
pastor and resistant to the pas
tor’s requests and directives.
Unless the priest possesses
exceptional tact, the day may
come when the parishoner quar
rels openly with his pastor, then
crowns his rebellion by staying
away from church.
There is hardly a parish in
the land which does not have at
least one man who is an ex-
Catholic because he “had a fight
with the pastor.’’ Sometimes
there is no overt quarrel be
cause there is no personal con
tact. The rebel still may aban
don Mass and the sacraments
with the excuse, “I can’t stom
ach that man,” (meaning the
pastor, of course). This fallen-
away Catholic is unaware that
eryone7*Tnclu3ing himselYT’th'aT
he loves his father. However,
repression does not eliminate.
The buried hostility still exerts
strong pressure upon the emo
tions.
Unfortunately, in later life
this hostility is likely to be
ventilated towards anyone who
presents the image of father
hood. God, by His very nature,
is a father-image. The adult who
has a submerged resentment
against his own father may be
tempted to transfer his resent
ment to God the Father. The
danger is most acute if God’s
law is a barrier to something
which this individual wishes to
do.
The person may hesitate to
he is trying to get back at his
own father by “punishing” the
pastor—and ultimately God
Himself.
This does not mean that just
because we feel a stirring of
resentment against a particu
lar priest, we therefore are
suffering from an acute emo
tional problem. We may have
been genuinely hurt by a priest.
Profiting by progress in the
science of psychology, semin
aries make a scrupulous effort
to spot any sign of emotional in
stability in candidates for the
priesthood. Good personal ad
justment and a fair degree of
prudence are high on the list
of requisites for a priestly
vocation. However, no screen
ing process is foolproof. Oc
casionally a man of unbalanced
character may slip through the
mesh.
Even if this were not so, we
priests are human. We have our
faults, we make our share of
mistakes. It is not too sur
prising if we sometimes do
something which is offensive to
a parishoner. Faults aside,
there still may be clashes of
personality. It does sometimes
happen that two individuals,
each a fine person in his own
right, will find themselves
quite incompatible and irritat
ing to each other.
If our faith is basically
strong, we do not allow our re
sentments, whatever their
source, to turn us away from
God. We do not “punish” God
because we are tempted to be
angry at some priest. We do
not punish our pastor because
he reminds us, obscurely, of our
own father. With our faith for
tified by charity, we do for the
disagreeable priest what we
would do for anyperson who has
offended us: we pray for him and
recommend him to God’s mer
cy. In the meantime we happily
continue to fulfill our religious
duties. We know that one priest
is not the Church; much less is
he God.
(Father Trese welcomes let
ters from his readers. The in
creasing volume of letters pro
hibits personal answers but
problems and ideas contained
in such correspondence can be
the basis of future columns.
Address all letters to Father
Leo J. Trese, care of this
newspaper.)
A Treasured Legacy
By BARBARA C. JENCKS
“From the rising of the sun
even to the going down, My
name is great among gentiles.
And in every place there is
sacrifice, and there is offered
to my name a clean offering
. . .Come eat My bread and
drink the wine which I have
mingled for you.”
Gradual of a Mass
* * *
IT WAS LATE at night and
the next day she was leaving
to dedicate her life as a mis
sionary nun, but my friend sat
down and wrote me a letter
which is a treasured legacy.
Hardly a week goes by that
the words written do not return
to mind again and again. There
was a lot personal in the letter
about her feelings on the eve
of entering a convent after an
active independent life and car
eer. It was her last advice as
a laywoman. “One thing I ask
and it can be a danger to any
one like you. With all writers
and those in iiterature, some
times they begin to confuse
themselves personally with the
things they create. . .and in
spite of all their best inten
tions, become affected. Don’t,
Don’t. You’d lose your definite
personality. First editions,
publicity, etc., you have exper
ienced all the glitter produced.
A fine example, I am, never
theless here is a prayer I made
up a couple of years ago, and
it might help someday:‘No mat
ter where I go, or whom I
might meet, most necessary
and most vital thing in my life
is to receive You daily in Com
munion—let no one person,
place or thing separate me
from you.’ With the crowd of
people and events connected
with the press, it is so neces
sary and it is so easy to say
about midnight, I won’t go to
Mass and Communion tomor
row, it doesn’t matter. Maybe
it has never happened to you
but someday it might. Its hap
pened so often to me, and I’d
be struggling all the time. It
isn’t easy, heaven knows, and
if one falls now and then, I’d
never blame her. I promise to
pray for you every day, while
at adoration.’’ That legacy was
written more than ten years
ago and I know it by heart and
experience.
* * *
MANY DAYS are discourag
ing and I wonder what on earth
could be redeeming about any
actions of the day. Yet if it
has been a day begun before the
altar of God who gives joy to
my youth—(a brave quote) I
know that the day is salvaged
somehow. Father Denis Geaney
has recently given hope with
this thought, too. “Sanctity for
the laymen can only be achiev
ed from the broken pieces of an
untidy day.” I write about this
today for this day marks the
anniversary of my baptism and
first Holy Communion, the day
life really began for me. By
the human calendar I was 21,
by the Lord’s I was just born.
The biggest event of my life
time.
##:>!<
HOLY THURSDAY, the an
niversary of the institution of
the Holy Eucharist is an ex-
pecially favorite feast of mine.
Our Lord promised His friends
on the eve of His Crucifixion
that He would not leave them
orphaned. So it is with us. Our
friends and family may die,
we may be away from home or
have no home, we may travel
the ends of the earth, suffer
in a hospital or charity home,
we can be crippled, ravaged
with disease, alone in old age.
We may fall a hundred times—
seventy times seven—and be
forgiven—no matter what hap
pens in the circumstances and
chances of life. God is waiting
for us. He is ours merely for
the asking. It is the only change
less event in our ever-changing
life. It is the one event of a
day we can really count on—
and no matter what life holds,
there is no greater joy than
this moment. There is nothing
more real in the world than
Christ on the altar at Mass.
Kennedy Award Witness To Faith
WASHINGTON, (NC)—U. S.
Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy was
presented the Brien McMahon
Memorial Award by the Ford-
ham University Club of
outstanding
Washington for
public service.
Named in honor of the late
Connecticut Senator, the award
was given last year to Supreme
Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.
MUNICH, (NC)—Julius Card
inal Doepfner declared here that
Catholics must give witness to
their Faith in deed and that
pious participation in the Holy
Eucharist is not enough.
Warning against any separa
tion of worship and witness, he
said that Christians’ sacrifice
at the altar would not be accep
ted by God unless first the lack
of love and the wrong done to
one’s fellow man were uprooted.
Press “Leaks”
Graduates
Not Prepared”
Does Iz Speak For K?
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., (NC)
—A Protestant editor said here
that the Second Vatican Council
“benefited from leaks” made to
the press.
Dr. Harold E. Fey, editor of
the Christian Centry magazine
of Chicago, said that despite
traditional Vatican caution re
garding the press the public
got a fairly accurate picture
of the council.
Dr. Fey, who covered the first
phase of the council for his mag
azine, spoke (May 3) at a ses
sion of the Catholic Press As
sociation convention. On the
platform with him was another
Protestant journalist, Don Taft,
religious editor of the Miami
Herald. He made a plea for more
realism and more background
reporting in regard to the
council.
LONDON, (NC)—A “pathetic
bewilderment” in the face of
practical moral problems is the
response of today’s Catholic
school graduates in Britain, a
group of Catholic teachers ha^
agreed.
Because their training is not
It Seems to Me
Catholic Hour’
realistic, the graduates are not
able to make an intelligent
Christian assessment when they
meet new views on such matters
as extramarital purity, birth
control, strikes, nuclear dis
armament and race bias, it was
declared.
The Catholic Educational
Council, meeting at St. Mary’s^
College near here, urged a newj
emphasis on practical matters*
in the classroom and the estab
lishment of a vigorous Catholic
youth service to follow up the
work in school.
JOSEPH BREIG
The official Soviet govern
ment newspaper, Izvestia,
which is edited by Premier
Khruschev’s son-in-law, took
an unfortunate attitude in its
first comment on Pope John’s
Peace on Earth
encyclical.
I z ves-
t i a ’ s story
about the en
cyclical was
headlined,
“ Washington
Is Not Satis
fied.” Ives-
tia’s comment
was:
“The appeal for peace and
disarmament by the head of
the Catholic Church will not
reach his parishoners who sit
in Washington. At any rate, it
will not deflect them from their
chosen path in the armaments
race.”
Izvestia quoted the New York
Herald Tribune, which said that
the encyclical assumed the need
for co-existence between com
munist and non-communist
states. Izvestia then said:
"This is precisely what
Washington does not want.”
point in history.
Premier Khruschev has been
talking for a long time about
peaceful coexistence. But the
trouble is that thus far, what
he means by peaceful co
existence is not what the West
means by it; and until Khrus
chev does mean what the West
means, there will be no true
peaceful coexistance.
By peaceful coexistence,
Khrushchev seems to mean that
while global nuclear war is to
be avoided, the Soviet Union and
its communist parties through
out the world will go on trying
to undermine America and the
West by subversion, conspir
acy and local violence.
HIS ATTEMPT to establish
nuclear missile bases in Cuba
for the purpose of blackmail
ing the western hemisphere with
military threats made a mock
ery of the words “peaceful
coexistence.”
I hope that Izvestia was not
speaking for Premier Khrush
chev and his associates in the
Kremlin, because this kind of
talk is not going to advance us
one inch toward the peaceful
world that mankind needs and
wants—and indeed must have if
we are to avoid nuclear catas
trophe.
Radio Vatican found it neces
sary to remind the communist
press that when Pope John calls
for negotiations, disarmament,
and establishement of a world
authority to foster true peace,
the pope is not talking about
the tongue-in-cheek communist
kind of coexistance.
Izvestia’s comment is the op
posite of statesmanlike, and
statesmanship of the highest or
der is indispensable at this
Vatican Radio said that the
heart of the Peace on Earth
Encyclical is to be found in
Pope John’s insistence upon re
spect for “the dignity of the
human being, his rights, his
duties. The very scope of peace
is the liberty and growth of the
human being.”
Premier Khruschev, there
fore , must show greater wis
dom than Izvestia did if we are
to make any real progress to
ward the kind of peace Pope
John outlines in his encyclical.
UN SECRETARY GEN. U
Thant welcomed the Holy Fa
ther’s words, both about the
world situation and about the
need for strengthening the UN
to deal with world problems.
Thant believes that “the
world is heading for a synthe
sis.” He noted, at a news con
ference last September, that
religious tolerance was regard
ed as a crime a couple of hun
dred years ago, but that people
of varying religious views fi
nally learned to coexist in
peace.
Thant believes that humanity
will learn also to live at peace
despite differing political ide
ologies. Let us hope so, but it
will not come to pass as long
as one political ideology
schemes for the destruction of
the others.
THANT ALSO emphasized
that he believes firmly in par
liamentary democracy as the
only type of society which is
“congenial to the growth of
human freedom, happiness and
genius.” But he is willing to
live at peace with those who
believe otherwise.
We of the West also are will
ing and anxious to live at peace
with those who do not see eye-
to-eye with us. We are convin
ced that the human race will
prefer democracy to commu
nism if left free to make a
choice in due time. ®
Is Premier Khruschev^ill-
ing to engage in mutual\lis-
armament, and gradually to al
low people to choose for them
selves? That, I think, is the
central question of this point.
NEW YORK, (NC)—A history
of the Church’s councils dur
ing the Middle Ages, from 800
to 1453, will feature the sec
ond episode of the “I Am With
You” series on the “Catholic
Hour” program May 12 from
1:30 to 2 p.m., EDT, over the
NBC-TV network.
The episode will trace the
development of the Church in
the West from the time of
Charlemagne in 800 to the
fall of Constantinople in 1453
and feature scenes in Rome,
Subiaco and Florence in Italy,
Lyons, Avignon and Vienne
in France, and Constance, Ger
many.
Red Gains
ROME, (NC)—Most anticom
munists here have expressed
considerable alarm over the
Communist party’s gains in Ita
ly’s first national elections in
five years.
But the Vatican City daily,
L’Osservatore Romano, pointed
out that the Catholic-oriented
Christian Democratic party re
mained the country’s largest
and declared that it “remains’
the irreplaceable pivot of demo
cratic security after the diffi
cult test.”
Lay Theology
Instructor
Martyrs’ Faith
SANTA CLARA, Calif., (NC)
—The University of Santa Cla
ra has named a layman an in
structor in theology for the first
time in its history.
Father Theodore Mackin,
S. J., chairman of the theology
department at the Jesuit school,
announced the appointment of
Charles K. Winston as a theo
logy instructor and said he
hopes it “may set a prece
dent and . . . may lead some
students into a career in the
ology.”
LONDON, (NC)—Tyburn
Walk, an annual pilgrimage that
honors the English Martyrs,
this year followed the actual
route taken by the martyrs from
Newgate Prison to the gallows
of Tyburn Tree. In previous
years since the end of World
War II police had diverted the
marchers from Soho Square. -
About 2,000 gathered to begin
the walk. They were joined by
others along the way, and when
the leader, Bishop Brian Foley
of Lancaster, officiated at
Benediction at Tyburn Convent
the crowd was estimated at
3,000.
QUESTION BOX
Across Missouri
Catholic Parents’ Protest
Packs Public Schools
ST. LOUIS, (NC)—A “wild
cat” move by Catholic parents
of removing their children from
parochial schools and enrolling
them in public schools has
mushroomed in rural areas ac
ross Missouri and could spell
“financial disaster” for the
state public school system.
The movement is a protest
over the killing (May 1) by the
Missouri House Judiciary Com
mittee of a bill which would
permit all students, regardless
of the school they attend, to
ride on tax-paid school buses.
The action was taken by the
parents on their own initiative,
apparently without consultation
with Catholic Church or school
officials. In a matter of a few
days the move snowballed. Hun
dreds of children were remov
ed from parochial schools and
rode the public school buses.
Hubert Wheeler, State Com
missioner of Education, said
if the protest continued across
the state and the paro
chial school children contin
ued in public schools next Sep
tember, it would cost Missouri
a minimum of $66,500,000 to
accommodate them. Groups of
parents said they will continue
to send their children to the pub
lic schools.
Summit, Sullivan, Hot Springs,
Arnold, Kinnswick, Pacific, Os-
aga Bend, Vienna, and Hickman
Mills, all of which are small
farming communities.
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q. To go to confession worthi
ly, sorrow for one’s sins is, I
know, just as important as con
fessing them, Is such sorrow
had, though, if one is truly
repentant for having sinned, or
is something additional requir
ed?
A. Sorrow for sin is but one
element of three, the composite
of which is technically referred
to as contrition. And contrition
is a sine qua non for the valid
reception of the Sacrament of
Penance.
Contrition means (1) sorrow
and (2) hatred for sin, coupled
with (3) a firm determination
not to sin again. Or, to put it
backwards: sorrow and detesta
tion plus resolution add up to
contrition.
SINCE SIN is a theological
concept, contrition must pro
ceed in faith and be related to
God in some way. One could
contrite because by sin one h
offended God who is all go
and deserving of all one’s lov
Given its nobility—it emanat
from sheer love of God f
his own sake—such contriti
is called perfect contritio
Such contrition is had if o:
realizes—in Father Franc
Connell’s words—“that God
all-good and then gives him tl
first place in his heart, turnii
away from any sins (at lea
mortal sins) that he may ha'
committed in the past, and ri
solving not to offend him ser
ously in future.”
IMPERFECT contrition i
attrition proceeds from lessi
motives related to God: the lo:
of heaven or the fear of he]
for instance. Outside the Sa<
rament of Penance imperfe
contrition is not sufficient f<
(Continued on Page 6)
A spokesman for the Missouri
school system said if the state’s
172,000 parochial school stu
dents were turned into the pub
lic school system, the move
could cause “financial disas-
ter.
The movement was confined
to the rural areas. There were
no such incidents reported in
St. Louis, Kansas City and other
urban areas of the state. Par
ents simply removed their chil
dren from the parochial schools
and enrolled them in the public
schools, packing them on the
public school buses.
l(0)j The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180, SAVANNAH, GA.
Vol. 43
Saturday, May 11, 1963
No. 34
Less than 12 hours after the
House committee action, the
movement apparently began in
Centertown. It spread to Wash
ington, St. Martin, Union, Kra
kow, Guildehaus, St. Clair, Eu
reka, Baldwin, Fenton, Festus,
High Ridge, House Springs,
Crystal City, Valley Park, Gray
Priest-Pilot
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.
HOLLANDIA, New Guinea,
(NC)—Father Edmar Vergou-
wen, O.F.M., 33, who set up a
flight service to assist in land
missions, has died in the crash
of a plane he was piloting on a
supply trip from here.
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