Newspaper Page Text
I
Vol. 44, No. 5
10c Per Copy — $3 A Year
■
SAVANNAH. GEORGIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1963
Msgr. Await To Conduct
Villa Marie Retreat
For Men Aug. 23-25
SAVANNAH—The Very Rev.
Msgr. William J. Await will be
the Retreatmaster at the annual
Retreat for Men to be held at
Camp Villa Marie August 23rd
to 25th.
The retreat is open to adults
and high school students and will
open on Friday evening at 8 p.m.
and will close Sunday at 3:00
p.m.
Monsignor Await, a native of
Baltimore attended All Saints
School of that city and High
School at St. Charles, Canton-
ville, Md. He persued his Col
lege studies at St. Charles Col
lege and St. Mary’s, Paca
Street, Baltimore. He attended
St. Mary’s Seminary, Roland
Park. He received his A.B. at
St. Mary’s, Paca St.; His
S.T.L. at St. Mary’s Roland
Park, and J.C.B. at the Catholic
University, Washington, D. C.
The Most Rev. John M. Mc
Namara ordained Msgr. Await
in Baltimore on June 12, 1947.
1961 until 1962. At the present
time he is pastor of St.
Joseph’s, Washington. Monsig
nor is Executive Director, Ca
tholic Youth Organization,
Archdiocese of Washington and
Spiritual Director of Merrick’s
Boys Club.
For additional information or
reservations on the retreat con
tact any of the following:
Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew J.
McDonald, AD 4-0601 or write
P. O. Box 2227, Savannah.
Mr. John Kelleher, AD 6-
0708 or write 526 E. 46th St.,
Savannah.
Mr. James Daly, AD 4-3511
or write 737 E. 37th St., Savan
nah.
Mr. C. J. Dulohery, EL 5-
8928 or write 422 E. 37th St.,
MONSIGNOR WILLIAM AWALT Savannah.
He was assistant at St. Mat
thew’s Cathedral, Washington,
from 1947 until 1961; pastor of
St. Peter’s, Olney, Md. from
Mr. Walter Rozenbeck, AD
2-6413 or write 3 Palm Ave
nue, Savannah.
Registration fee is $5.00.
In Ceylon
Buddhist Extremists Push
Probe Of Catholic Action
COLOMBO, Ceylon (NC) —
Ceylon’s government, prodded
by Buddhist extremists and left
ists, has decided to appoint a
three-man commission to
investigate the Catholic Action
organization of this southeast
Asian island nation.
The government’s decision
(Aug. 2) is the most recent
extremist victory in the
bitter campaign waged against
the Church here in recent years.
Spearheaded by fanatical Budd
hists, the drive has been fos
tered and exploited by the Com
munist party and other Marx
ist-oriented groups, which have
strong influence on the govern
ment of Premier SirimavoBan-
daranaike.
The Reds have no posts in
the cabinet, but in the July,
1960, elections the government
party—the Great Ceylon Free
dom Party (SLFP)— had a no
contest pact with the Commu
nists and the Trotskyists. The
SLFP made a similar pact in
last December’s municipal
election here.
Moderate leaders of the coun
try’ s Buddhist majority have
remained aloof from the anit-
Church campaign.
In reply to the government’s
new action, Archbishop Thomas
Cooray, O.M.I, of Colombo has
issued a statement denouncing
the machinations of the "new
ideology — materialistic and
K. C. Names
Bishop’s
Committee
AUGUSTA—Bernard S. Dun-
stan, State Deputy Knights of
Columbus has named a Bishop’s
Liaison Committee.
Named to the committee for
the Savannah Diocese are Pius
Masciocchi of Augusta; Flem
Cliet and Hugh Grady of Sav
annah; Gerald Gardner of
Brunswick; N. H. Nadicksberne
of Warner Robins.
The group held their first
meeting with Bhisop Thomas J.
McDonough last week.
Also present at the meeting
were Right Rev. Msgr. Andrew
J. McDonald, Chancellor of the
Diocese of Savannah, and State
Chaplain of the Knights of Col
umbus and Joe Bresnahan of
Augusta.
atheistic—which strives to
cause division and make the cit
izens themselves fight a fra
tricidal battle.’’
The Archbishop said Ceylon
ese Catholics “have nothing to
fear from the commission if it
is impartial.’’
But he added: “Let Catho
lics beware. Let them be on
their guard against insidious
activities against their faith.’’
Appointment of the commi-
sion to investigate Catholic Ac
tion was called for at a series
of rallies organized by extre
mist Buddhist groups in July.
The groups used accusations
that the Vietnamese government
of Catholic President Ngo dinh
Diem is persecuting Buddhists
in his country to step up their
anti-Catholic campaign there.
Some 50,000 members of
Buddhist organizations mar
ched through Colombo’s streets
to protest against events in
Vietnam and the activities of
Ceylon’s Catholics which, they
alleged, aim at destroying the
Buddhist religion and culture
here.
That rally and others in Naw-
alapittya and Panadura called
for the naming of the inves
tigating commission.
L. H. Mettananda, veteran
anti-Catholic campaigner and
leader of the Bauddha Jatika
Balavegaya (Buddhist Action)
repeated his old charges that
Ceylon’s Catholic Action has
infiltrated government and
business circles and plans to
destroy the morality, spirit
uality and national conscious
ness of the Buddhist majority.
The same accusations were
made in a 175-page attack pub
lished by Bauddha Jatika Ba
lavegaya which recently was
given front page coverage in the
national press.
Buddhists account for about
two-thirds of Ceylon’s more
than 10 million people. Catho
licism, introduced here by-the
Portuguese 450 years ago, has
about 800,000 adherents. About
a fifth of the people are Hindus
and more than 500,000 are Mos
lems.
Mettananda claimed at the
rally here that Catholic Action
had deliberatley sabotaged gov
ernment properties and used in
sidious methods to convert
Buddhists. He accused Catho
lics of luring young Buddhist
men and women by organizing
parties where much liquor is
served. He asserted that un
less the government acted
quickly, Ceylon would become
another Vietnam where Budd
hists are persecuted.
The same line was followed
at another rally under the
auspices of the extremist Am-
balanagoda Bhikku Sangamaya,
at which Ronnie de Mel, for
mer director of Ceylon Radio,
said that the imperialist policy
of the U. S. had been carried
out so well in Vietnam that
it was able to foist a Catho
lic president on a nation where,
he asserted, 85 per cent of the
people are Buddhists. The same
thing could happen overnight in
Ceylon through Catholic Ac
tion, he added, if Buddhists do
not wake up.
By American On Scene
U. S. Ministers’ Vietnam
Charges Called Unjust
SAIGON, Vietnam, (NC) —
Charges that the Vietnamese
government denies religious
freedom and is undemocratic
and unstable, made by the U. S.
Ministers’ Vietnam Committee,
were described here as "gross
misrepresentations, t a n t a-
mount to unjust and inflama-
tory propaganda that can only
benefit the cause of commun
ism.’’
This countercharge was made
in an open letter by an Ameri
can working for a private re
search organization. Harold F.
Erickson of Sutter Creek,
Calif., wrote in reply to an
advertisement of the com
mittee.
He said that the advertise
ment showed "an appalling lack
of factual evidence, an incre
dible naivete and an irrespon
sible disregard of the conse
quences of lending the names of
eminent Protestant and Budd
hist ministers and Jewish rab
bis to this spurious and ill
advised ‘cause’. ”
The full-page advertisement,
which appeared in the New York
Times (June 27), was featured
by a photograph of the Budd
hist monk, Quang Due, publicly
burning himself to death to
protest what he called religious
persecution of Buddhists by the
Vietnamese government of Pre
sident Ngo dinh Diem, a Ca
tholic.
Captioned "We Too Protest’’
the advertistment said "Ameri
can clergymen of various
faiths” protested against four
things:
"1. Our country’s military
aid to those who denied him
(the monk) religious freedom.
"2. The immoral spraying of
parts of South Vietnam with
crop-destroying chemicals and
the herding of many of its people
into concentration camps called
‘strategic hamlets.’
"3. The loss of American
lives and billions of dollars
to bolster a regime universally
regarded as unjust, undemocra
tic and unstable.
"4. The fiction that this is
‘fighting for freedom.’ ”
The protest was signed by a
dozen clergymen. Among them
were Anglican, Baptist, Lu
theran, Methodist, and Unitar
ian ministers, including An
glican Bishop James A. Pike
of California; the Rev. Dr.
Harry Emerson Fosdick, Mini
ster Emeritus of the Riverside
(Continued on Page 2)
AFRICAN CARDINAL AT KNIGHTS CONVENTION—
Laurian Cardinal Rugambwa, of Bukoba, Tanganyika, first
negro cardinal, is shown upon his arrival, August 3, in
Indianapolis, Indiana, for the 48th annual convention of the
Knights of St. Peter Claver. With him are his secretary,
Father Deogratios (left) and Father Harold Perry, S.V.D.,
national chaplain of the Knights of St. Peter Claver and
rector of St . Augustine’s Mission Seminary, Bay St. Louis,
Miss.—(NC Photos)
At World Council Conference
Vatican Observer Says Church
Entered Ecumenical Mainstream
PRAY FOR OUR
PRIESTLY DEAD
REV. JOSEPH F. SHEA
August 10, 1886
Oh Cod, tVho didst give to
thy servants by their sacredotal
office, a share in the priest
hood of the Apostles, grant,
we implore, that they may
also be one of their company
forever in heaven. Through
Christ Our Lord, Amen.
QUEBEC, (NC)— The Catho
lic Church entered the main
stream of the ecumenical move
ment during a recent World
Council of Churches meeting
in Montreal, according to a
priest-observer at the meet
ing.
The Church made a ‘‘deci
sive entry. . .by word and deed”
into the fourth world conference
of the World Council’s Faith
and Order Commission, July
12 to 26 in Montreal, said
Father Bernard Lambert, O.P.
Father Lambert, of Cour-
ville, Que., was one of five
official Catholic observers at
tending the Faith and Order
meeting on behalf of the Vati
can’s Secretariat for Promo
ting Christian unity.
The Roman Catholic Church
is not a member of the World
Council of Churches, which is
composed of 201 Protestant,
Anglican, Orthodox and Old Ca
tholic denominations. However,
increased Catholic interest and
sympathy toward the World
Council was apparent during the
Montreal meeting.
Father Lambert, in an arti
cle in the Quebec newspaper,
L’Action, said the Catholic ob
servers "were not just atten
tive and silent. Their coopera
tion was sought.”
The Dominican priest said the
Montreal meeting was par
ticularly characterized by the
participation of the Orthodox
Churches and the Roman Ca
tholic Church.
"Previously, the ecumenical
movement was mainly Anglican
and Protestant,” he said. "At
Montreal, the universalizing of
the ecumenical dialogue was
clearly seen, and the estab
lishment of a better balance,
thanks again to the clear and
active presence of the Ortho
dox and also of Catholics.”
Father Lambert cautioned
against "illusions” that would
minimize "the depth of the di
visions that separate us.”
Nevertheless, he said, the
Montreal meeting took place in
an atmosphere of "impressive
good will.” The participants
did not abandon their own con
scientious beliefs, but they did
avoid "polemics” and showed
a desire to understand the po-
PRESIDENT MEETS PRESIDENT—U. S. President John F.
Kennedy greeted members of the Girls’ Nation gathered for
their annual meeting in Washington. Pictured in the rose
garden of the White House, he is shown chatting with Kathleen
Ann Vorhies, newly elected president of Girls’ Nation. She
is a student at St. Anthony’s High School, Wailuki, Maui,
Hawaii.—(NC Photos)
sitions of others, he said.
He said the meeting had re
sulted in "a deepening and en
larging of understanding of our
Christianity and a more for
mal opening to other tra
ditions.”
"The conference was not just
a pure and simple repetition of
the past under another form,”
he said. "Overfive years, over
a decade, there has been pro
gress in the sense of a deeper
insight into the profound truth
of Christianity and a more ar
ticulate exchange of the truths
possessed by the various tra
ditions.”
Orthodox Prelate Says
Churches Treading
Road To Unity
CHICAGO, (NC) — Christian
Churches are traveling the road
to unity, the Greek Orthodox
Primate of North and South
America asserted here.
Archbishop Iakovos, who is a
ranking official of the World
Council of Churches, expressed
hope during an interview here
that the Greek Orthodox Church
will send official observers to
the second session of the se
cond Vatican Council which will
be convened by His Holiness
Pope Paul VI in Vatican City
on September 29.
"A meeting on whether offi
cial observers of the Ecumeni
cal Patriarchate will go to the
Vatican Council will be held
late this month,” Archbishop
Iakovos said. "It depends on
the tone of the invitation from
the Vatican.”
There were no official ob
servers from the Ecumenical
cal Patriarch Athenagoras I of
Constantinople at the first ses
sion of the council, but the
Russian Orthodox Church
was represented among the
observers.
"There is a new image of
unity in Christendom today,”
said the bearded, 52-year-old
Orthodox leader, who is a U. S.
citizen. He was guest of honor
at a reception tendered by lead
ers of Chicago’s Greek com
munity in a Lake Shore Drive
hotel.
Antagonism which have been
prevalent since the Reforma
tion are vanishing and "Christ
ians the world over are find
ing a common ground,” the
Archbishop said. He estimated
it may take "years, even de
cades” before there is a re
union of all Christendom.
"The ecumenical movement
is moving forward at a steady
pace,” Archbishop Iakovos
said, "and it cannot be halted
or rerouted. In the end, the ecu
menical movement will en
compass the whole life of the
church in a way which shall
warm the hearts of all who
believe in a church univer
sal.”
He stressed that there is a
need for deeper theological dis
cussions across confessional
lines. He said "we have hope
fully passed through the state
of ecumenical romance and that
our theologians would do well
to cross their respective con
fessional lines free from pre
judice, armed with an open
mind and soul. We have many
things to learn one from ano
ther.”
Among the recent motivating
forces quickening the ecumeni
cal movement, the Archbishop
pointed out, are the Second
Vatican Council, the World
Council of Churches assembly
in New Delhi, India, and the
recent fourth World Confer
ence on Faith and Order held
,in Montreal, Quebec.
He said another important
meeting affecting church unity
will be held August 26 to Sep
tember 2 by the leaders of the
World Council of Churches in
Rochester, N. Y.
Pope Paul Goes
To Summer Villa
VATICAN CITY, (Radio, NC)
—His Holiness Pope Paul VI
left Vatican City (Aug. 5) and
went by car to his summer
residence at Castelgandolfo.
The Pope left the Vatican at
5:30 p.m. (Aug. 5) and arrived
at the hilltop village in the Alban
Hills about 20 miles south of
Rome at 6:00. He went im
mediately to a balcony of the
residence which overlooks the
village square to bless the
townspeople for the first time
since his election to the pontif
icate.
Pope Paul spent the last night
before the opening of the con
clave which elected him at Cas
telgandolfo as a guest of Dr.
Emilio Bonomelli, director of
the papal villa in Castelgandol
fo.