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f
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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, June 22, 1963
Of Art And Pornography
There are many mavericks running in the
human race, but none limps along quite so
awkwardly as the relativist.
He is the fellow who tells us with appar
ent sincerity and seemingly no fear at all of
the booby hatch that "all truth is relative,”
or that "tastes differ,” or—in a tone more
assertive than inquiring—"who’s to judge?”
He glories in what he calls "the open mind,”
for it passes his understanding that the mind
functions only when it closes. But not so
for the relativist, of course. He tells us
that the mind must be sharp at the edges,
open wide enough to admit everything, and
never close on anything. Picture a bear-trap
with a broken spring and you have his intel
lectual ideal to life.
The relativist often poses as an intellec
tual, but in this posture he is a fraud. In
fact, he is anti-intellectual in the true sense
of the term; he has no faith in the power of
the intellect to conclude to the true answer
to a question and thereby close the question.
It is certainly no mark of respect for the in
tellect to deny its power to close on the
truth, to assert instead that the difference
between truth and error is merely relative.
No, far from being an intellectual, such a
fellow is a veritable kamikazi pilot of the
mind, utterly dedicated to wrecking his ship.
Take as an example the relativist view
that "truth is relative.” Any fellow who pro
poses this is obviously so open-minded that
he admits even contradictions into his think
ing. For he proposes for other people’s ac
ceptance a truth that is, in his own view,
not relative, namely: "It is absolutely true
that truth is relative.” Now if he is right,
then he is wrong, for he takes a position
that cannot even be stated without presupos-
ing the truth of its own denial.
The case is little better with the rela-
vist slogans "tastes differ” and who’s to
judge?”
"Tastes differ” is a phrase that has legit
imate meaning and application on the level
of simple sensation, as at the dinner table
some persons prefer pickles, and other pre
fer olives. But it is not as a piece of do
mestic wisdom ever kept in mind by the
thoughtful hostess that the relativist uses the
statement. He tears it out of the limited
field of its proper application and uses it
broadcast over the fields of human con
cerns. Do you prefer pornography to art?
Well, we are told, "tastes differ”—with the
implication that all tastes are not only dif
ferent, but equally good.
At this point, the domestic proverb be
comes an aesthetic slogan employed by those
who have no "taste” themselves and who
cannot bear the idea that others do. It thus
becomes the pithy apologia of those who have
surrendered all claims to objective stan
dards of criticism; who have taken refuge
from the cruel, cruel objective world by
embracing what the late William Dean Howells
scorned as the view "which instructs a man
to think that what he likes is good, instead of
teaching him first to distinguish what is good
before he likes it.”
"Who’s to judge?” is possibly the most
absurd slogan in the relativist’s repertoire.
The obvious answer is: "I am, since you have
abandoned all standards for judging and
claiming a true verdict on anything, includ
ing my capacity to judge.” But the relativ
ist’s question is only rhetorical. What he
really means to convey is the absolute as
sertion that no one can really judge and
claim an absolutely true verdict on any
question. "Who’s to judge?” is merely an
alternative version of "tastes differ.” They
both intend the sense: "Do not presume to
make an objective true judgement.”
Yet the two slogans are used in different
areas. "Tastes differ” is most often employ
ed as a way of avoiding having to answer
criticism in the arts; "who's to judge?”
(THE TABLET)
Child Psychology Is Love
God’s World
If you are a parent, par
ticularly a young parent, you
may experience some anxiety
as to your adequacy in the field
of child psychology. Be com
forted! The chances are that you
are a better
p sy chologist
than you
•think.
Infancy
through
childhood is
the time of
greatest vul
nerability in
the develop
ment of human personality. Pa
rents who bring their child safe
ly to the age of puberty without
serious psychological damage,
can then sit back and relax.
Their future parental respon
sibilities may not be wholly
free from concern, but the most
crucial stage is past. By the
age of twelve or so, the human
personality is quite solidly set.
It cannot be greatly altered
thereafter.
From the moment of his birth,
a child’s one great psychologi
cal need is for love. It is love
which gives him a feeling of
self-worth. He is loved; there
fore he is lovable; therefore he
is a worth-while person. It is
love, too, which builds in a child
a sense of security. He is a
stranger to tension since, being
loved, he knows that all his
needs will be cared for.
The child, of course, does not
reason this out. In his early
years, particularly in infancy,
a child operates pretty much on
the level of instinct. But his
instinct is sharp and perceptive.
It is hard for us adults to rea
lize how acute is the sensiti
vity of an infant to the presence
or absence of love in his en
vironment.
Rejection, or denial of love,
is the most severe psycholo
gical wound which a human being
can suffer. A child who feels
himself to be unloved will be
emotionally nandicappeq for
life. In his mature years he
inevitably will exhibit person
ality difficulties. He must
defend himself, somehow,
against the deep-buried feel
ings of rejection and insecurity
which are too painful to admit
to his conscious mind.
It is not only a lack of love
for himself which will under
mine a child’s sense of security.
The same result, in a less
pernicious form, will be effect
ed by chronic discord within
the home. The loud and angry
voices of quarreling parents
will leave their impress upon
the infant’s brain and nervous
system and upon the child’s
personality pattern. These an
tagonists are the two people
upon whom the child must de
pend for survival. Their quar
reling instills a fear that his
home may break up; a fear, too,
that he may be forced to choose
between the two people whom he
most loves. Such a child lives
under continual tension. As an
example; it has been discover
ed in classroom research that
an intelligent child who fails in
his studies, quite often is the
victim of discord at home.
Considering how complex is
the process of personality de
velopment, we can be grateful
that God has made the princi
ples of parenthood so simple.
There really are only two basic
rules of child psychology which
are of surpassing importance.
The first is: Parents, love your
child. By word and by action,
give him frequent assurance of
your love. You never can tell
your child too often, "1 love
you.” You never can love your
child too much. A so-called
"spoiled”_ child is not the vic
tim of too much love. He is the
victim of rejecting parents who,
feeling guilty, try to make up
by lenience for the love they
cannot give.
Love is quite consonant with
discipline. If love is there, it
will be evident even in punish
ment. "It is because I love you
so and so much want you to
have a happy life that I must
punish—not you, but your mis
behavior.” The parent may not
put this into words, but the
message of love will come
through.
The second basic rule is:
Parents, love each other. Let
your children see that you love
each other. There is no greater
assurance that you can give to
your children, that theirs is a
secure and stable world.
A wider knowledge of child
psychology will be helpful in
coping with many incidental
problems of parenthood. But, if
two parents genuinely love each
other and both love their child
ren, they already have 90% of
child psychology solidly at
work.
(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. Ad
dress all letters to Father Leo
J. Trese, care of this newspa
per.)
What Number In Succession
Will
VATICAN CITY, (NC)~Will
the new pontiff soon to be elec
ted be the 260th or even the
264th pope?
The answer is: nobody is
sure.
The current issue of the offi
cial Vatican yearbook, the An-
nuario Pontificio, lists 259
popes, including John XXIII. It
no longer, however, numbers
the popes as it did until the
1946 edition, when it listed Pope
John’s predecessor, Pius XII,
as the 262nd pontiff. At that
time, the yearbook listed two
early popes as Cletus and Ana-
cletus. Since then it has been
discovered that these names
applied to one person. Also a
number of popes included in
the 1946 list are now consider
ed to have been antipopes.
In a note explaining the drop-
New Pope
ping of its practice of number
ing the popes, the yearbook sta
ted that there are difficulties
and uncertainties in listing the
1,900-year line of succession
of the pontiffs.
The conductor of the investi
gation which resulted in the
revised listing was the late
Msgr. Angelo Mercati, prefect
of the Vatican archives, who
emphasized that his findings
did not contradict the Church’s
teaching of an uninterrupted
line of popes. He also noted
that the list of popes which had
been in use for some 200 years
had never been regarded as
absolutely accurate.
He explained that the list
used by the Vatican yearbook
had previously been based on
the series of portraits of the
pontiffs in the Roman basilica
Be?
of St. Paul’sOutside-the-Walls.
But historians had cast so many
doubts on the traditional list
ing, Msgr. Mercati said, that he
had been given permission by
Pius XI to begin a historial
inquiry into the records of suc
cession.
Among th% problems making
it difficult to ascertain who was
in legitimate succession to the
Chair of Peter, it was pointed
out, are the cases of Diosco-
rus, who died 22 days after his
election in 530 and who may
or may not have been legiti
mate; the succession of John
XII, who was deposed by Em
peror Otto I in 963 and who
died in 964, and certain elec
tions around, the middle of the
11th century,,*
Prayerful Waiting
Father, send us a Father
Orthodox,
Protestant Prelates
Popes Were Pastors
PITTSBURGH, (NC)—Ortho
dox and Protestant clergy at
tended a Solemn Pontifical Re
quiem, sponsored by the Pitts
burgh diocese in St. Paul’s
cathedral, for the late Pope
John XXIII.
Present in their robes were
Bishop Theodosios Sideris of
VATICAN CITY, (NC)—Of the 1
15 popes who have reigned in;
the past two centuries, eight'
were ordinaries of residential
Sees at the time of the election.
Seven were officials of the
Roman curia, the Church’s cen
tral administration.
Of the six pontiffs who have
reigned during the present cen
tury, four were ordinaries and
two were curial officials.
Ancona, of the Sixth Archdio
cese of the North and South
America Districts (Greek Or
thodox); Bishop Austin Pardue
of the Pittsburgh Episcopal dio
cese; Dr. W. Sproule Boyd,
chairman of the committee on
interchurch relations, Pitts
burgh Council of Churches, and
Dean Basil Gregory, rector of
the Greek Orthodox cathedral.
Pope’s Gift To U. S.
VATICAN CITY, (Radio, NC)
—A golden stole, the deathbed
gift of Pope John XXIII to the
U. S. Bishops, will be delivered
to the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in
Washington, D. C., following the
election of a new pope.
The stole was a gift to Pope
Jewish Mother
On Pope John
Lonely And Not Lonely
It Seems to Me
JOSEPH BREIG
One of the paradoxes of our
planet is that although there is
nobody who is not in some way
lonely, there is nobody who is
not in some way companioned.
We are lonely for God, all of
us, whether
or not we
realize or
admit it, be-
cause He
alone can fill
our every ca
pacity. And
yet He does
not show
Himself to us
directly.
All the same, He is with us
by the faith and grace He gives
us if we are believers, and by
His power and glory for those
who do not believe—or rather
those who imagine that they do
not believe; for atheism is a
faith surely filled with recur
ring doubts about its own vali
dity.
God’s companioning of us
seems to ebb and flow accord
ing to our disposition and the
circumstances of the moment.
Sometimes we can almost take
Him in our arms. Sometimes,
in intolerable pain, we are mov
ed to wrestle with Him. And
sometimes it is as if He were
hiding Himself inaccessibly.
Even then, we know that He is
around somewhere and some
how; there is an easing of lone
liness in the knowledge that we
are in His hands, and will see
Him sooner or later.
THE MOST IN-LOVE hus
bands and wives can be lonely
together. Communication, even
in the tenderest times, is less
than perfect. Nobody gets to the
core of anybody else. Nobody,
indeed, gets to the core of him
self; we are ultimately strang
ers to ourselves, astonished,
sometimes mildly and some
times violently, in the presence
of our own impenetrability.
Everything, ultimately,
comes to mystery, whether it
be the numberless universes,
the heart of the atom, the ripen
ing of a tomato on a vine, or
our own inexplicable personali
ties. We reach out gropingly for
comradeship, and there is no
greater service that we can do
to our fellowmen than to attend
to their loneliness—to ap
proach, to listen, to love.
The students at the Univer
sity of Mississippi are lonlier
than the one Negro student with
whom they will not associate.
"I’ve had friends everywhere
I’ve ever been,” said James
Meredith to a reporter. "But
at Ole Miss those who would be
friendly to me are still ham
pered and aren’t allowed to
openly befriend me.”
THIS IS a terrible failure in
education. This makes every
thing the students learn at Ole
Miss turn sour in their mouths.
It is a terrible burden to carry
around with one the determina
tion to pretend that somebody
else isn’t there.
James Meredith is willing to
be friendly, and the others
aren’t; there is no one more
lonely than he who forbids him
self to recognize another. That
is why a home in which a hus
band and wife will not speak to
each other is a more frightful
hell than one in which they yell
at each other.
Federal troops remain in Ox
ford to protect the constitutional
right of James Meredith to at-*.,
tend the university. As a citizen,
hejs entitled to the same rights
as every other citizen. If it were
not so, the nation would be a
mockery of itself, of its found
ing fathers, and of its basic
law and reason-for-being.
IT IS A TRAGEDY, it is rea
son for tears, that students at
Ole Miss are so sunk in igno
rance about humanity that they
can carry on this farce, and
must be restrained by the pre
sence of soldiers from harming
James Meredith, who like them
selves, is a human being and an
image of God.
Meredith is less lonely than
the others because Meredith is
large-hearted and they are
small-hearted; Meredith is
serving a true ideal, and they
a false ideal; Meredith’s mind
is open to them, and theirs
are closed. “They gave my car
a little going-away present
Sunday afternoon,” he said
with rancor. * ‘They threw
eggs and trash on it.”
All this—all this to the
South’ s and to America’s horri
ble embarrassment—at a time
in humanity’s history when hit-
lerism and Stalinism-and other
organized stupidities are disap
pearing in the swamps whence
they emerged, and the sun of
love is shining through all our
differences.
Salute To “Father”
Jottings
By BARBARA C. JENCKS
LAST SUNDAY we observ
ed Fathers’ Day, we would sa
lute all the men in our life.
"Father” is not a term confin
ed to physical paternity alone,
it is a state of showing fatherly
and paternal concern. It is for
this reason we call our priests
"father.” They are spiritual
fathers, fathers of our souls,
so to speak. There is perhaps
no one who so truly fulfilled
the title "father” in all its
most sacred connotations than
Our Holy Father—he was so
truly a father to the world. His
was both a human and spiritual
concern for the people of the
world, he did not seem to see
the thousands and millions of
people before him but the dis
tinct personality of each soul.
On Fathers’ day, while prayers
went up for Pope John, we also
saluted those many others who
have been spiritual fathers to
us during our lifetime—the
priests who bless, absolve,
preach, teach. We also salute
the men in our reading audience
and the many others whom we
meet each day at work. Also the
men who have come and gone in
our lifetime—relatives,
friends, business associates. A
boquet of three Fathers’ Day
meditations are given them all.
FOR THOSE who have been
discouraged or who struggle
too long and too hard in the
market place for a place in the
sun, meditation upon this anony
mous offering by an anonymous
writer.
ONE SOLITARY LIFE
He was born in an obscure
village, the child of a peasant
woman. He grew up in still ano
ther village, where he worked in
a carpenter shop until he was
thirty. Then for three years he
was an itinerant preacher. He
never wrote a book. He never
held an office. He never had a
family or owned a house. He
didn’t go to college. He never
visited a big city. He never
traveled two humdred miles
from the place where he was
born..
He did none of the things one
usually associates with great
ness. He had no credentials but
himself. He was only thirty-
three when the tide of public
opinion turned against him. His
friends ran away. He was turn
ed over to his enemies and went
through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross
between two thieves. While he
was dying, his executioners
gambled for his clothing, the
only property he had on earth.
When he was dead, he was laid
in a borrowed grave through the
pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come
and gone, and today he is the
central figure of the human race
(Continued on Page 5)
MIAMI, Fla., (NC)--A letter
from a Jewish mother, who con
sidered it a "privilege to share
the same world” with Pope
John XXIII was among messages
of condolence from non-
Catholic religious leaders and
laymen received by Bishop
Coleman F. Carroll of Miami.
Mrs. Bertha Cohan Salzman,
wife of an attorney and a mem
ber of the congregation of Tem
ple Beth Am, sent a $25 check
from herself, her husband and
their five children in "loving
memory” of the Pope.
* ‘It does not matter how you
disburse this offering in his
memory,” Mrs. Salzman wrote,
"but if it means ‘bread’ for
someone who is hungry, that
would be nice. I think it pleases
his soul that peoples of all
faiths will do good deeds in
his name, so that he may ‘live
on’ in our hearts.”
John from Francis Cardinal
Spellman, Archbishop of New
York, on the Pope’s 80th birth
day. He wore it on the opening
day of the ecumenical council.
Flags At Half Staff
TAIPEI, Formosa, (NC)—By
government order, flags on all
government installations and
schools throughout Formosa
were flown at half staff on the
final day of official mourning
for Pope John XXIII.
Married Deacons
PILAR, Argentina, (NC)—In
hopes that the ecumenical coun
cil will resume, eight Argentine
Bishops approved a series of
recommendations to present to
the next council session,' in
cluding a proposal to restore"
married deacons.
Job Bias Study
Zasu Pitts
LOS ANGELES, (NC)—Re
quiem Mass was offered here
for Mrs. Zasu Pitts Woodall,
movie comedienne.
She is survived by her hus
band John; a daughter, Mrs.
John Reynolds, and a son, Don
ald M. Gallery. The Mass was
offered (June 11) in the chapel
of Holy Cross Mausoleum.
TRENTON, N. J., (NC)—A
priest was named by Gov. Rich
ard J. Hughes to a 20-member
committee named here to study
discrimination in job opportuni
ties in New Jersey. He is Fa
ther Aloysius J. Welsh, direc
tor of the Pope Pius XII Insti
tute of Social Education of the
Newark- archdiocese. Hughes
said the committee’s task will
be to call attention to areas of
employment discrimination,
public or private.
QUESTION BOX
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q. In my daily missal there
are several terms which I don’t
understand. What’s the differ
ence, for example, between a
"feast day” and a "ferial day?
What does "Paschaltide”
mean? And why is it that dif
ferent prayers have different
conclusions?
A. A feast day, in liturgical
usage, is one on which the
Church’s public worship is di
rected in a special way to cele
bration of a mystery of Christ,
or to veneration of Our Blessed
Lady or the angels or saints.
Feasts "of the first class” are
the most solemn in the Church’s
calendar. Examples are Christ
mas, the Epiphany, Easter,
Pentecost, the Immaculate Con
ception, All Saints’ Day.
SECOND CLASS feasts rank a
degree lower in solemnity.
Among them are all Sundays
which are not of first class
rite, and lesser feasts of Our
Lady, such as the Seven Sor
rows (September 15).
MOST FEAST DAYS are of
the third class. Examples: St.
Anthony (January 17), St. Philip
Neri (May 26), St. Pius X (Sep
tember 3), St. Raphael, Archan
gel (October 24); etc.
FERIAL DAYS or ferias are
the individual days of the litur
gical year which are neither
feasts, nor Sundays, nor vigils.
(Vigils are days preceding cer
tain feasts and by their nature «
look forward to such feasts.)
Ferial days are divided into four
classes. Ash Wednesday and the
ferias of Holy Week are in the
first category. Most ferias are
third class; i.e., most of the
days of Lent and Advent.
(Older designations such as
"double” and "semi-double”
feasts are no longer employed.
In this sense, some missals
are dated.)
"PASCHALTIDE” refers to
one of the several major Church
seasons; specifically, the one
which extends from the Easter
Vigil through to the Saturday
following Pentecost. Other ma
jor seasons are:Advent,Chris-
tmastide, Septuagesima, Lent,
and the season ‘ 'throughout the
year.”
THE ENDING of missal pray
ers differs, in general, accord
ing to how God is addressed in
the opening of the prayer.
THUS, IF the prayer is di- t
rected to our Divine Lord, the
conclusion begins: "Who livest
and reignest with God the Fa
ther in the unity of the Holy
Spirit. . .” But if the prayer !
is addressed to God the Fa
ther, the termination starts:
"Through our Lord Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, who liveth
and areigneth. . .” And if the
Holy Spirit has been mentioned i
in the prayer, the phrase "in
(Continued on Page 5)
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH, GA.
Vol. 43
Saturday, June 22, 1963
No. 40
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 i
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, 4
Associate Editors a
