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f Jottings . . . . (continued from page 4) expect! THE GREAT IRISH Eman cipator, Daniel O’Connell—the Abraham Lincoln of Ireland— wrote these directions as death neared: “My soul to God; my heart to Rome and my body to Ireland.” Every Catholic heart grows tender at the sight and voice of Pope John, who truly has taught the world the humanity of the Church; we thrill to the sight of St. Peter’s dome, which in truth is the home parish of every Catholic. Yet as much as I love Rome, there are two other spiritual centers which claim a part of my mind and heart and soul. As Rome is the city of the soul; Ireland is the land of the heart’s de sire and as the Vatican Tour which I will lead in October begins in Rome, it fittingly ends in Ireland. But in between, there will be many significant moments. Notable is Lourdes. I have often said that if I could return to but one place of all others in the world, that place would be Lourdes. There was something for me at Lourdes that there was nowhere else in the world. As Rome is called the Eternal City; Lourdes is a city of suffering and pain and beau ty, too. The memory of the people and sights and the prayers cried out there have haunted me and I vowed that I would return. It seems too good to be true that not only Rome and Ireland but also Lourdes will be visited before the snow falls another time. * * * THERE ARE other stopovers on this Vatican Tour which have only been names on the map. Places like Nice, Naples, etc. There are others which have been words in history and bio graphy—Florence of Michalan- gelo, Dante and Savanarola and Fr Angelica. But best still are names now sacred like Fa tima in Portugal and Loreto and Assisi each of which have their own savored meaning in my life. A Portuguese family who befriended me will not be forgotten at their own proud shrine. Loreto has many cher ished associations for a replica of this shrine is on the campus at St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame. Assisi, its, sound, the connotations conjures to mind sunlight and warmth and the great Saint Francis, the littpe poor man who made this center important. The Franciscan spi rit is admired and even envied for many years by this repor ter. All these new places hold associations which now will be realized. These “jottings;: come from one who is recover ing slowly from the stunning news of such a trip. At first, it seemed unreal and only now is the full impact beginning to dawn. For one whose trade is in words, the right ones es cape for the moment. A “Mag nificat” of appropriate theme is due. Now there is the an ticipating of seeing new places and revisiting old; and renew ing acquaintances in Rome and Dublin and Lourdes especially. If Georgia readers are inter ested in joining this tour which will be held in late October, write me for details. AUGUSTA r. MEREDITH OPTOMETRISTS and OPTICIANS 737 BROAD ST. — AT THE MONUMENT AUGUSTA. GEORGIA Optometrist: Opticians: Dr. O. M. Murphy, Jr. Miss Lura Seigler Jack Johannsen 933-935 BROAD STREET AUGUSTA, GA. Silverstein’s Cleaners v And Launderers ONE STOP SERVICE A Satisfied Customer Is Our Greatest Asset 2568 Central Ave. Phone RE. 3-3685 Medical Association Charges H C7 Fuerto Rico Abortion Racket By Manuel Arce Trias (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) SAN JUAN, P.R., —Acting Gov. Roberto Sanchez Villella of Puerto Rico has pledged ac tion against the mounting number of abortions performed on this Caribbean island. Several public officials have characterized the situation as “very serious,” and Dr. Jose Licha, chairman of the Puerto Rico Medical Association, has charged this island as being used as a base for an “international abortion racket” patronized by women from the U. S. mainland. Meanwhile, El Debate, Catho lic weekly with island wide cir culation, has appealed to the people, “not to draw the holy wrath of God on this country by committing such a vile action . . . which along with so many, other moral and social evils ... disgracefully separate this Christian Country from the Lord’s blessing.” Acting Gov. Sanchez Vilella said he will confer with the Sec retary of Justice concerning the situation and possible ways to combat it. He emphasized that only doctors and citizens really can cope with the problem. Dr. Licha said he learned of the “international abortion racket” from a physician whose identity was not disclosed. He said the racket originally was based in Havana, Cuba, but when the U. S. broke off diplomatic ties with the Fidel Castro re gime, the base of operations was switched to Puerto Rico. Women from the U. S. main land come to Puerto Rico for weekend stays to have abor tions performed it was charged. ‘‘Phone calls from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are not unusual,” Dr. Licha said. ‘‘Many doctors here have re ceived visits from such women. There are very few doctors in our association membership who have not been approached at one time or another with such requests. “We want to make it perfect ly clear that the Puerto Rico Medical Association is making all possible efforts to weed out and dismiss all association doc tors against whom charges of Assistant Father James A. Clark, as sistant pastor of St. Mary’s church, New Bedford, Mass., has been named assistant di rector of the Latin America Bureau, National Catholic Welfare Conference. DCCW Convention— (Continued spheres of their daily lives. Bishop McDonough announceu that the Savannah diocese now has 110 young men in seminar ies in the United States and Ire land studying to become priests. The closing session of the Convention was a luncheon on Sunday. Rev. Damian Breen, M. S. SS.T. spoke on the Bless ed Mother. He said that being a child of Mary means more than just saying the rosary; that it means constant effort to study her life and practice her virtues. Business at the session in cluded the reading of the an nual reports by the diocesan committee chairmen, the read ing of the convention Resolu tions by Mrs. A. J. Schano and their adoption, the report of the nominating committee, the election of officers and official, greetings from the national di- 7 i »y & MEMBER FDIC The CITIZENS & SOUTHERN NATIONAL BANK • 709 BROAD ST.—Free Customer Parking 740 Reynold* St. • 1448 WALTON WAY — Free Customer Parking • TELFAIR AT 7TH ST. — Free Customer Parking TELEPHONE PArk 2-2661 ~nsr 0 Norman Boat- from Page 1) rector, Mrs wright. The convention voted to hold its Silver Jubilee Convention in the See city of Savannah in 1964 Dates for the Convention are April 10, 11, and 12 with the Diocesan Council to decide in the future if it wants to hold a three day convention in honor of its 25th year. General chairman of the con vention was Mrs. Warren Purks. She was assisted by Mrs. Tom Baynes, Holy Family Parish; Mrs. M. A. Hardy, Our Lady of Lourdes; and Mrs. Gallman, St. Anne’s Parish, Columbus. Girl Scouts ofTroop #28 acted as pages, conducted the opening flag ceremony and served in the displays of relig ious books among which were the works of the featured speak er, Mary Perkins Ryan. performing abortions can be substained,” Dr. Licha added. El Debate charged 108 crim inal abortions have been per formed on this island within the last month. The paper said in one public hospital there were 14 cases of abortions in two days, involving girls 17 to 19 years of age, most of whom are unmarried. Dr. Fernando Batlle, direc tor of the San Juan Municipal Hospital; Dr. Guillermo Ar- bona, Secretary of Health, and Secretary of Justice Hiram Cancio were among those who subscribed to the statement that the situation is “very serious.” Y ietnam (Continued from Page 4) here. Among these I have found only one who recalls having talked to the visiting reporter who wrote those articles. Ever since September, 1954, some French commentators, journalists and others, have been foreseeing for President TSlgo dinh Diem the collapse that they apparently hoped for. After nearly seven years of nonfulfill ment one does not take that forecast too seriously. Some criticisms are repeat ed at foreigners’ dinner tables in Saigon until they become cliches. For instance, Presi dent Ngo dinh Diem is said to have a "mandarin mentality,” by people who wouldn’t know a mandarin if they found one on their front door step. They say this as if it were a profound and revealing diagnosis, not realizing that a mandarin was simply a higher official, equi valent to governor of a province. Vietnamese critics, whose opinions are canvassed and quo ted by foreign inquirers, fall into several groups, some of them overlapping. In assesssing their views, allowance must be made for the following facts: The "intellectuals” in most capital cities of Asia usually find fault with the government in power. Some of the more sophisti cated critics in south Vietnam have studied in France or have relatives who brought back fashions of thought and speech from Paris. One of these is an addiction to criticism, espec ially of governments. The Saigonnais who is cynical about his government today sounds like a Parisian talking in some boulevard cafe about his gov ernment in the 1930s or the postwar years. Apart from any French in- J If You Enjoy the Real Italian Pizza Take Advantage of this Special Offer! 2=PIZZAS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE Cooked Fresh When Ordered—No Frozen Varieties Used! Purchase one of our World Famous Pixias or Spaghetti and Meat Ball Oinners and receive ONE FREE, or a combination of both for the PRICE OF ONE. Offer not valid in Roman Room. noc era's VILLA-NOVA ITALIAN RESTAURANT VICTORY DRIVE-NEXT TO VILLA NOVA MOTEL Not Good On Any Saturday BRING THIS COUPON WITH YOU! Name Officers At Blessed Sacrament SAVANNAH—Annual Reports were presented at the Blessed Sacrament Home and School Association’s Meeting held May 8th, followed by election of officers for the coming year. Officers are: Mrs. Joseph Byrnes, President; Mrs. John McCarthy, Vice President; Mrs. Daniel Gay, Secretary; Mrs. Daniel Corcoran, Treasu rer. Gifts were presented to the retiring President, Mrs. George Abelson, to the Priests, and the Sisters. Monsignor Thomas A. Bren nan, Pastor of the Blessed Sa crament, spoke to the audience and announced that the school make an excellent showing in the Entrance Examinations held for admittance to all Catholic High Schools in the Savannah area. Sister Mary Jude expressed her appreciation to Monsignor Brennan, the Teachers and Par ents for their cooperation dur ing the year. Dates were fixed for the com ing events: May 19th, May Procession; May 20th, Graduation Party; May 22nd, Kindergarten Gradu ation; June 4th, School Picnic; June 5th, Graduation. fluence (which is evident even among the avowedly anti- French), there has long been a pattern of splits and factions in Vietnamese nationalist move ments. The anti-Dier Vietna mese in Paris and elsewhere are themselves divided into rival groups. Some of these divisions are to be expected in any country before and after the winning of independence. Some are na tural anywhere at any time. There are only so many high offices in a government. The “outs” always tend to be sharp ly critical of the “ins” and to feel that they would do things better if they had not been unfairly excluded. An anti-Dier bulletin issued by a dissident group based in Paris and Cambodia last No vember ended with the declara tion: “Dr. XYZ is the only man who can retrieve the situation in south Vietnam.” Apparently there are several such ‘‘only men.” The present government has made mistakes and gives its friends continuing cause for worry. But it does nothing bad ly that some of the dissident groups would not probably do worse. Nor could a change of regime be made by any extra ordinary process that would not open the way to a series of dangers worse than any current shortcomings in administra tion. Unfortunately, hardly any criticism, no matter how rea sonable, may be published lo cally. Only outside south Viet nam can criticism break into print. One of the traits of the administration is that, like most Asian governments, it is ex tremely sensitive. Hence criti cism, however well meant, has little chance of doing the good it ought to do. It provokes reactions and rejoinders that draw more criticism. One foreign observer has said that an immediate danger to Vietnam is that Americans and the Vietnamese government may exasperate each other. That could lead to a critical situation more harmful than critical men. NEW & USED SQ mcmillan |,V motor co. 934 Fourth Ave. FA 2-5400 Columbus The Southern Cross, May 18, 1963—PAGE 5 IJoutli < cop REV. HERBERT J. WELLMEIER Do you get the weary feel ing that controversies never cease, that one trouble or an other is always swirling about. The headlines show racial trou bles in cities both north and south. International crises are constantly being provoked. No one seems interested in peace and brotherly love. Even in small communities, groups war against groups over some mis understanding or disagreement. Why does some nervy agressor always provoke heated strife? All this leads up to the ques tion of why a handful of prof iteering smut peddlers insist on dumping their trash and gar bage on public display! They offer no laudable defense for pushing the product except the coins they reap for themselves. It certainly does a service to nobody. It was encouraging, there fore, to see the Sacred Heart Home and School Association try to get the ball rolling again in a movement to stop the public sale of obscene liter ature. While it is true that the main concern must be suscep tible youth, yet it is desir able that every age bracket of the population be protected. The smut peddler is worse than a narcotics pusher. He poisons the very soul. He takes advantage of a God-given powerful instinct, distorts its purpose and divinely-ordained outlet, and feeds fuel to the burn ing desire for sex, and plays arsonist to a conflagration that cremates good sense and full control of the will. Smoke-screens of propagan da scream pseudo-patriotic cries of “freedom of the press”, and "restriction of personal liberty”. It is exas perating that the public good is subverted to the interest of these few by a succession of legal failures to check the flow of this printed sewage. Decent people can only persist in pro- . 0 HAt * 4ri °»Al C0»* ftVV * testing, “Why can’t a country which protects physical health by food and drug control, not also protect spiritual health by pornography prevention”. As long as the supply isn’t stopped, confused and curious adolescents will hanker after what is available. It is not completely true to say moral ity cannot be legislated. Laws of themselves can’t force us to be good, but they can remove sources of temptation which are intrinsically evil. Protect, the young, yes! And protect all de cent people from the potentially innocent who continue to be corrupted and passionately ar oused by indecent literature. Nobody, absolutely nobody can deny that books that stir prur iency will affect anyone unfor tunate enough to stumble upon such material. Let young people complain to store owners. Cooperation is sought to aid in the fight against smut every where. AUGUSTA e. DINE AT TOWN TAVERN Seventh And Broad Streets — W. J. Heffernan \>v LAK PHARM EVIEW ACY, Inc. 1800 Broad St. Phone PA. 3-4495 AUGUSTA 3 £?s PINNELL HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING, INC. §>ckJbeJ±.- §>e>v\Kcje* 855 Walker St. Park 4-4904 Augusta, Georgia