Newspaper Page Text
Only Remnant Of
Visible Church Left
In Czechoslovakia
(The author of the following
article uses a nom-de-plume
to protect himself against the
almost certain retaliation of
the communist regime in
Czecho solva kia.)
By Karel Hrolik
(N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE)
MUNICH, Germany—Com
munist Czechoslovakia’s pro
paganda machinery depicts
Christianity as dead—a relic of
the past which educated people
can no more believe in than
Greek mythology.
The regime’s representation
of the religious picture
is to some extent a mirror
of reality.
Only a remnant of the visible
Church remains in what was
once a 75 per cent Catholic
country. The bishops have been
jailed or otherwise suppressed
long since. Most of the priests
in one way or another have
been subjugated.
There is a relatively long
standing tradition of religious
indifference in Bohemia. But it
is now taking hold in the other
major provinces of Moravia and
Slovakia as well.
Czechoslovakia has long been
highly industrialized, its stan
dard of living the highest in
central Europe. Under com
munism, the people remain re
latively well off—even though
the economic situation has been
worsening—and their primary
concern is about material
things.
Because of the indifference,
what happens is usually deter
mined by convenience. And the
government has made religious
practice highly inconvenient.
The network of government in
formers is so widespread that
teachers and white Gollar work
ers who want to go to Mass feel
they must seek out churches
TERMITES
SWARMING?
where they will not be recog
nized. Parents know that if their
children become marked as be
lievers, they will be barred
automatically from higher edu
cation.
Of old, the churches served
as the registers of births, mar
riages and deaths. Virtually
everybody went to church for
Baptism, marriage and burial,
at least. The communists have
made this unnecessary.
Childbirth used to take place
in the home, and the newborn
were taken to the nearby church
for christening soon afterward.
Nowadays, 97 per cent of the
children are born in state hos
pitals. Except in rare cases,
they are not baptized there.
When they are taken home, no
body thinks about Baptism.
For marriage, the regime has
made it illegal to have a reli
gious ceremony prior to the of
ficial State one. It has also
provided for special ceremonial
rites designed to displace those
of a religious nature. Here too
it has been successful.
Even in death, the commun
ists have made it convenient to
forego Christian burial. Cre
matories have been built
throughout the country. Where
they exist, nearly everybody is
cremated instead of buried. Un
dertakers provide for every
thing, and the services of the
clergy are not needed. The tes
timony of one priest in a town
in the Prague region appears
typical: There were only three
religious funerals in the com
munity of nearly 3,000 persons
in three years.
The general population’s easy
journey into the new era of
irreligion has had a catastro
phic effect on the spirituality of
young people. Fewer and fewer
children are taken to church.
In large cities, religion is no
longer taught.
Parents take great care about
the physical health and well
being of their children, and
look after their schooling. But
religious education, formerly a
school subject, has fallen by the
wayside.
In Slovakia, where the old
religious spirit is more tena
cious, there are still many mid-
dleclass families who like to
see their little girls in white
dresses and veils for First
Communion. But in the Slovak
capital of Bratislava, when the
make youp tRip a pilQRimAQe
mission of
nomBRe be bios
1565-1965
amepica’s oldest mission
st. Augustine, flopida
DOWNTOWN
\ SAVANNAH’S
Newest And Finest
HOME OF THE FAMOUS
PURPLE TREE LOUNGE
AND
COLONY RESTAURANT
Manger Hotel
CONSECRATION OF NATIONAL SHRINE BELLS—Archbishop Patrick A. O’Boyle of
Washington, blesses one of the 56 bells composing the carillon to be installed in the
Knights’ Tower of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
The ancient ceremony of the consecration of the bells was held on July 14. It is a more
solemn ceremony than blessing, and sets the bells apart for sacred use. Ringing of the
bells for any other purpose is reserved to the permission of the archbishop (NC Photos)
Individual Key
To Race Accord
children appear before the
priests for examination prior
to receiving the Sacrament, they
turn out to be religious illi
terates. Even the “decidedly
Catholic’’ families appear
quite unable to carry out the
normal parental duty of instruc
ting the children in the basic
truths of-their Faith.
The State forbids pornogra
phy as an element of capitalis
tic decadence. Its own approach
is a return to “naturalism.”
Sensuality has a mark of “pro
gress” beyond the old Chris
tian morality, and boys and
girls are encouraged to go off
to youth hostels together. In
some schools, teachers instruct
girls on how to avoid becoming
pregnant. And the law of the
land has long made abortion free
for everybody.
The total number of live
births had decreased as a re
sult—from 252,740 in 1957 to
216,973 in 1959—and the regime
recently took a second look at
its abortion policy.
The apparatus revealed last
January that in the previous
five years 85 per cent of the
women requesting abortion gave
reasons other than health. So
it introduced a new regulation
stating ^jhat henceforth fees
would be charged for all abor
tions except those performed
for health reasons.
The decay of the * 'new moral
ity” is pervasive, and the long
er the regime dedicated to athe
istic materialism maintains its
deadlock, the worse the reli
gious situation promises to be
come—at least humanly speak
ing.
But there is a ferment in the
worldwide Church and there is
ferment in the world of com
munism. Those who still per
severe in the Christian Faith in
Czechoslovakia pray that the
eve r-darkening atmosphere
may be the herald of a new
dawn.
PITTSBURGH — The racial
crisis must be met in terms of
the individual person, Bishop
John J. Wright of Pittsburgh de
clared at a Mass in St. Paul’s
cathedral here marking the cen
tenary of the Battle of Gettys
burg.
* ‘In the social teaching of the
Holy Catholic Church, the em
phasis is squarely on the indi
vidual,” he said,’’not on nation
ality, peace, class or organiza
tion. In the specific problem of
so-called ' inter-racial’ re
lations the individual is the key
to the solution at both ends Of
the question.
“The tensions will not be
solved until the individual rises
above the prejudices of his
group and acquires personally
an attitude like to the mind of
that God Who is no respecter of
persons; this means, on the
other end, that each person must
be seen as an individual, ac
cepted on his own individual
merits and judged -without ref
erence to his pigmentation or
ancestry.”
To help establish a moral and
therefore truly humane racial
attitude, Bishop Wright urged on
Catholics a three-fold personal
program: private and public
prayer; rigorous examination of
conscience in matters of inter
racial and social justice, as rig
orous as that one gives to other
areas of one’s moral life; and
careful study of the social
teachings of the Church, perti
nently presented in the encycli
cals of all the modern popes,
notably Pius XI, Pius XII and
John XXIII.
He commented that this goal
of individual response to the ra
cial crisis is necessary "not
merely out of a spirit of civil
justice to others, but for our own
moral integrity and spiritual
perfection.”
■' Such a response, the Bishop
added, will make it much easier
for religious groups “to play
their full and proper and indis
pensable part in meeting the
crisis which President Kennedy
accurately described as basic
ally moral.”
Bishop Wright noted that “the
Negro problem — pathetic,
shameful and immoral as it is —
is not unique in our history. One
traces the fortunes of one mi
nority group after another —
,the Jews, the Irish, the Ital
ians, the Eastern European
races, the Orientals in the west
ern part of our country — and
the record reads much the
same.”
“There have been en
couraging advances by the Ne
gro, just as there were ad
vances by other groups toward
full citizenship,” the Bishop
continued. “But they have not
been dramatic enough to warm
hearts concerned about our na
tional integrity, nor have they
been sufficiently rapid to in
dicate profound moral sensi
tiveness on our part. Too often
they have been strictly and cold
ly legal advances.”
Bishop Wright stressed that
the legal aspect is, however,
only one dimension of the chal
lenge. He said that people today
must see the problem as did
Abraham Lincoln, “not as one
of intergroup or social dyna
mics, but as a problem which
is moral, and therefore reli
gious, and therefore theolo
gical.”
He cited Lincoln’s call for
public acts of prayer in repa
ration for the sins around us,
and commented that this
prayerful and theological ap
proach of Lincoln should in
spire a similar approach today,
in order to remedy the * ‘defect
of independence” among Negro
Americans.
“It is for these reasons,”
Bishop Wright stressed, “that
a new moral outlook is much
more important than new legis
lation, necessary though legis
lative action to secure justice
may often be.”
Newsstand
Operators
Lose Permits
CHICAGO, (NC)--Mayor
Richard J. Daley of Chicago
announced revocation of the
permits of 22 newsstand opera-
tbrs who were found guilty of
selling obscene magazines.
Permits are issued by the
Department of Streets and Sani
tation for the use of public
sidewalk space.
The operators were convict
ed in May, 1961, in Municipal
Court and fined from $100 to
$150 each. Some appealed to the
Illinois Supreme Court, which
dismissed the appeals in Jan
uary.
Permit revocations are ef
fective July 18.
Sc
RANGE BUT TRU
ittle-Known Facts for Catholics
E
By M. J. MURRAY
Copyright, 1963, N.C.W.C. News Service
THESE original wood -
EM&ODY -mo IDEA OF the rtOLV
fAMlU/ AS SEEN THROUGH 7Hf jrv*-
^ ^ modern Nigerian
the VILLAGERS OP FAGA, IN ITALYS ABRUZZJ
, mountains, Follow a centuries-old custom
TO CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF ST ANTONY ABBOT.
-HUGE TOWERS OF REEDS ARE BUILT AND THEN SET
Aught at Nightfall, the manner in which they burn
is taken as an indication for the next harvest.
The Southern Cross, July 18, 1963—PAGE 3
LAND REFORMS IN BRAZIL
CALLED ANTI-RED WEAPON
(N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE)
BONN, Germany—Both the
people and Bishops of predom
inantly agricultural Brazil want
land reform, and they want it
now, Jaime Cardinal de Barros
Camara has declared.
The Archbishop of Rio de
Janeiro also told a corres
pondent of KNA, German Cath
olic news agency, that im
mediate reform to aid Brazil’s
millions of impoverished and
landless farm workers is pos
sible without the constitution
al amendments that leftists are
calling for.
Cardinal Camara reported on
the Red threat in South Ameri
ca’s largest country, warning
that although the Communist
party is legally banned there,
in practice it enjoys the same
freedom as any other political
party.
The Cardinal noted that the
Brazilian Bishops have for
mally called for land reform.
But he stressed that he is not
in favor of taking properties
from private owners and paying
for them in long-term govern
ment securities, as has been
advocated by backers of re-
iorm. He said:
“In view of our inflationary
economy, this would be irres
ponsible. Such a procedure is
not only unfair, it would also
postpone the solution o f the
agrarian problem, since the
constitution would first have to
be amended to provide for pay
ment.
‘ ‘On the other hand, it is in
deed quite possible to carryout
effective land reforms at once
within the framework of the
constitutional provisions now
in force.”
Brazil’s leftists are trying
to tie land reform to constitu
tional changes that would limit
the rights of private property.
This effort has led to fears that
such changes may endanger
other present constitutional
provisions, which include many
hard-won Catholic gains such as
antidivorce laws, religious in
struction in schools and chap
lains for Brazilian armed forc
es.
Cardinal Camara pointed out
that land reform must be car
ried out “in accordance with
conditions in Brazil.” He em
phasized that there is enough
unused government-owned land
to make agrarian reform prac
tical right away without consti
tutional changes. He said:
“The government is the larg
est landholder in Brazil and,
although not all of the land be
longing to the government can
be exploited at once, it is true
that there are mapy tracts of
of land which can be divided up
immediately. It is simply not
true that the land the govern
ment owns is not suitable for
agriculture.”
But, he added, “I am
Proper Attire
TOLEDO, Spain, (NC)--En-
rique Cardinal Play Deniel,
Archbishop of Toledo, has said
that women may not enter this
city’s cathedral with uncovered
heads of clothing which gives
scandal. Men may not enter in
shorts or sport shirts.
of the opinion the agrarian re
form can be carried out im
mediately only if people give
up plans for constitutional am
endments.” He said that such
amendment s * ‘ naturally require
a long time and meanwhile the
cost of living will rise higher
and food will become scarcer.”
The Cardinal stated that ag-
ragarian reform must consist of
more than merely giving land to
the landless, noting:
“My colleague, Carlos Car
dinal de Vasconcelos Motta,
Archbishop of Sao Paulo, dur
ing a meeting with (Brazilian)
President Joao Goulart declar
ed that it is mandatory prior
to any land reform to plan, to
built and to erect storehouses,
as well as to set up technical
and financial aid for the farm
ers so that the reform may ac
tually attain its objective.”
Asked if there is a communist
threat in Brazil, Cardinal Cam
ara answered:
“Recently a manifesto was
published in Rio de Janeiro by
eight democratic organizations
asserting that communism
cannot come to Brazil because
it is already there ... I can
say that the communists enjoy
at least all the freedom of action
accorded to a legal political
party althouh they are ban
ned.”
The Cardinal said that “there
is a reaction against commun
is m among Catholic students,”
but added that * ‘this reaction is
having difficulty in making
headway because the . . .
(secular) Brazilian student as
sociation has at its disposal
considerable funds from the
government. Without doubt the
(secular association) is a field
of communist activity.”
Cardinal Camara thanked the
Bishops of Germany for the aid
they have sent his country add
ing:
“German Christians and
those of many other . . . coun
tries are starting to realize that
Brazil and Latin America will
play a decisive role in the new
shape of the world and in the
future of Christendom.
0Q
O
O
JS
t'v DAVIDSON’S
IKentuikij fried (j\
liiken
2029 Buena Vista Road
323-3805
Mothing disappears as fast as..
COLUMBUS, GA.
SAVANNAH
/f
V
Belford
Co.
314-316 Congress Street, West
and 313-315 St. Julian Street, West
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
Branches: Mobile, Ala. & Gulfport, Miss.
Distributors of
Maxwell House Restaurant Coffee
Hester Motor
Service, Inc.
t'l .
GMC—General Motors Trucks
237 Montgomery Street P. O. Box 797
Telephone ADams 3-2101-2 and ADams 3-0019
Savannah, Georgia
in
i