Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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