Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, August 22, 1963
What’s Happening In Vietnam?
Civic disturbances and disorder in South
Vietnam has been building up at a great
pace in recent weeks. Three Buddhist bonzes
and a Buddhist nun have burned themselves
to death in what has been publicized as
dramatic protest against “religious persecu
tion” allegedly raging in the hapless Far
East outpost. The problem has been extended
to the point where American foreign policy
is called into question.
The impression has been created that it is
the Catholic Church which is responsible for
the alleged persecution of the Buddhists in
South Vietnam. U. S. papers constantly refer
to the fact that President Ngo Dinh Diem
is a Catholic. Practically every article pub
lished on the crisis makes reference, subtly
or openly, to his “Catholic-dominated” gov
ernment.
There is too consistent a pattern to call it
accidental. Certain Americans, including
groups that thrive on their anti-Catholicism,
have seized the opportunity and are wringing
from a lot of dubious reporting all that they
can. Not only President Diem is under at
tack, more deliberately the attack is on the
Catholic Church. Some of the most bitter
articles have been written not from Vietnam
but from the safety of U. S. newsmen’s
armchairs far removed from the center of
activity.
The curious part of it all is that Frederick
E. Nolting, Jr., the retiring U. S. ambassa
dor to South Vietnam, about two weeks ago
declared: “Frankly, after almost two and
a half years, I have never seen.any evi
dence of religious persecution.” Similar
testimony was provided by members of our
government services who have been in a posi
tion to observe the Vietnam situation for
some time at close range.
Over the past several months, this news
paper has published reports from Father
Patrick O’Connor, the very able correspon
dent for NC News Service in the Far East.
This Columban Father has presented the
Vietnamese story dispassionately and in
depth. He has presented a picture of the
situation that differs greatly from the emo
tionally charged persecution story given in the
general American press.
Father O’Connor is no special pleader for
President Diem, but by his detailed reports,
he smashes the charges that Diem’s govern
ment is “Catholic-dominated,” that
the Church and Catholics have received spe
cial consideration by his regime, and es
pecially that the present disturbances under
his rule are motivated by protests against
religious persecution. They are politically
inspired, he says, and aimed at the over
throw of the Diem government.
During his almost 20 years of reporting
from the Far East, Father O’Connor has
acquired a very enviable record for his
painstakingly accurate work—accurate
because he wants the facts and he gets the
facts, right on the scene. His careful re
porting contains the fruit of his own long
years of experience and observation in that
area. And he has bluntly stated that the
“United States has been sold a bill of goods
on Vietnam.”
South Vietnam has had a turbulent his
tory since gaining its independence 10 years
ago. There have been pressing economic and
political problems plus the powerful pres
sures of Communist encroachment. President
Diem has emerged as the leader and has
held out against this Red attack. He has
kept his country free, and a determined
roadblock against the Red march in Asia.
If he has been harsh and repressive in his
efforts to maintain political order and sta
bility, then that should be the focus of
criticism, but with full evaluation of all the
facts. Diem is a Catholic, but he is not the
Catholic Church. It serves no useful purpose
to over-simplify the troubled situation by
unfounded charges of religious persecution
by the Catholic Church. - (STANDARD AND
TIMES—PHILADELPHIA) .
Why Drag Our Feet?
God’s World
It seems strange that most of
us show so little eagerness to
get to heaven. We all have a
great desire to be happy. We
look forward with keen antici
pation to each approaching holi-
d a y when,
freed briefly
from .hum
drum rou
tine, we can
‘ ‘have a lit
tle fun.” The
thought o f
heaven, how
ever, leaves
us compara
tively unmoved. We experience
no stirrings of pleasurable ex
citement at the prospect of what
awaits us after death.
One reason for this impassive
attitude towards the joys of
heaven is the fact that to get
to heaven, we first of all must
die. For most of us, too, death
will be preceded by suffering.
Our minds are so preoccupied
by the thought of suffering and
death that we seem unable to
raise our eyes to what follows
after. Suffering and death are
the grime on the window which
obscures the view of the beau
tiful world which lies outside
our present shabby quarters.
It is not discreditable that
we shrink from a confrontation
with death. God has made us
that way. If death were too at
tractive, we might not take pro
per care of life and health. We
might expose ourselves too
easily to physical dangers. Our
aversion to death is the built-
in mechanism by which God en
sures that we shall reach the
term of years He has set for
us. It is, in short, the instinct
of self-preservation.
Nevertheless, in spite of our
understandable reluctance to
die, it does seem that heaven
should exert more of an at
traction upon us than it does.
It will not, unless and until we
force our minds to bypass the
ugly specter of death and
. to meditate often on the ecsta
tic future that shall be ours.
We cannot, of course, reach
a true understanding of hea
ven in this life. The intensity
of heaven’s happiness is so far
beyond our wildest imaginings
that even God cannot get across
to our limited minds the nature
of the bliss He has in store for
us. If an advertiser were to
invent a slogan for heaven it
well might be,“It must be ex
perienced to be appreciated.”
A mother could more easily ex
plain to a five-year-old child
the nature of conjugal happi
ness, than God could explain
to us the happiness of heaven.
We are not so naive as to
think of heaven as a beautiful
placid, park where we sit around
at our ease and chat with rela
tives and friends, while God
walks by occasionally to give
us a benign nod of recognition.
But we do ever try to grasp,
even faintly, what it will be
like to be caught up in the
wild, raging torrent of God’s
love for us, as this barrier of
human flesh is dissolved? Do
we ever try to apprehend what
it will mean to find ourselves
fairly exploding with love as
our unsealed eyes now perceive
Him who is infinitely good and
infinitely lovable?
In this life we find our great
est happiness in the company
of people whom we love and who
love us. But we never have
(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 news
paper.
Buddhist Spokesman Says
No Quarrel With Catholics
By Father Patrick O’Connor
Society of St. Columban.
SAIGON, Vietnam, (NC) --
Vietnamese Buddhists have no
thing against the Catholics, a
spokesman for the Inter-Sect
Committee for the Defense of
Buddhism said here. His com
mittee is the group involved in
the three-month-old quarrel
with the government of the Re
public of Vietnam.
"We have no dispute with the
Catholics,” Thich Due Nghiep,
34-year-old bonze (monk) who
acts as public relations officer
for the committee, told
N. C. W. C. News Service. “The
dispute is only between the gov
ernment and the Buddhists.” He
made the statement in Xa Loi
pagoda, now the busy headquar
ters of the Buddhists’campaign.
Leading bonzes have made
similar statements before to
foreign journalists and others.
As proof of their attitude
towards Catholics, Thic Due
Nghiep cited the radiograms
sent by their superior bonze in
Rome, expressing sympathy on
the death of Pope John XXIII
and congratulating His Holi
ness Pope Paul VI. He also
showed a copy of another ra
diogram sent to the Pope on
August 10. In this message the
superior, Thick Tinh Khiet,
thanked the Pontiff on the basis
of a news agency report that
“His Holiness had advised the
South Vietnam government to
make an equitable settlement of
the Buddhist problem.” The
message referred to “our
purely religious movement.”
Thich Due Nghiep repeated
that their movement is "pure
ly religious, not political as the
government alleges.”
One hour earlier the crowd
massed in the street had been
addressed by a saffron-robed
monk speaking into a micro
phone from a porch roof inside
the pagoda yard. He led the
crowd in Buddhist prayers and
spoke of the bonze who had burn
ed himself to death. Then he
turned to strong denunciation of
the government and Madame
Ngo dinh Nhu, calling on the
crowd to raise their arms to
show agreement. It was pro
bably the most vehement public
utterance made by a Buddhist
bonze in Saigon since the dis
pute began.
(Well - informed Buddhists
have said that the aim of the
present agitation is the collapse
(Continued on Page 5)
'THEY TRIED RELIGION TO DEFEAT ME TOO'
As John The Good Said . . .
It Seems to Me
JOSEPH BREIG
known such love, and therefore
such happiness, as will all but
tear us asunder when we
possess God, and God us. Yes,
we shall know our family and
our friends in heaven, and re
joice (in an absentminded sort
of way) that they are with us.
But we and they shall be so ab
sorbed in the piercing joy of
loving God and being loved by
Him, as to have little time or
thought for one another.
Best of all, the happiness
of heaven can never pall or
lessen. It can only grow and
grow and grow through all eter
nity. And eternity, let us re
member, is a long-drawn-out
time. Eternity is just one single
moment of exquisite rapture—
a moment which never ends.
In heaven there is no sense of
going on and on. After we have
been in heaven a billion earth-
years, if a recent arrival were
to ask, “How long have you been
here?” our answer would be,
' ‘Why, I just came!”
Yes, it is to be feared that
we do not get from our faith
in heaven the spiritual mileage
that we should. Temptations
would lose much of their power
and life’s troubles would lose
much of their weight if we could
realize, even dimly, what things
God has prepared for those
who love Him
Prejudice is irrational. Pre
judice is even a bit mad. Pre
judice is a kind of witches’
brew of ignorance, fear and
pride. It does not examine the
evidence, and then judge. With
out consider
ing the
evi
dence, it pre
judges; this
unreasoning
pre - judge
ment is the
origin of its
name.
P rejudice
does not say,
"Here is a person; let us see
what kind of person he is.”
What prejudice says is, "Here
is a person who is a Catholic,
or a Negro, or a Protestant,
or a Japanese” (or whatever)
and then it summons up all
kinds of bogies in the mind.
PREJUDICE can be for or
against. Prejudice can say,
"Ah, here is a fellow Irish
man. Obviously he is a wonder
ful chap.” It can say that about
a Frenchman, a Jew, a Catho
lic, a Mason. Prejudice can pre
judge instantly in favor of, or in
opposition to, anybody.
The I’m-for-you type
prejudice, by and large, i
merely annoying. The harm i
does in minor, at least by com
parison with the anti-kind
prejudice—the pre-judgement
that says, "Here, this man has
a dark skin. I must keep him
out of this place, this job, this
of
of
organization. I will blackball
him.”
What is the Christian atti
tude? Take up your copy of Pope
John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris
(Peace on Earth) which to my
view is a very great encyclical
—great above all for as
sembling in forthright terms,
the essence of the Chris-
tain treatment of fellowman.
LOOK AT PART 1, under
"Rights.” Every man, says
Pope John, has the right to
life and to bodily integrity. No
body, in other words, has any
right to throw things at any
body; to threaten anybody.
Every person further, has
the right "to the means which
are necessary and suitable for
the proper development of life.
These are primarily food,
clothing, shelter, rest, medical
care and finally, the necessary
social services.”
So far, it is pretty elemen
tary. What else? "By the nat
ural law,” wrote Pope John,
"every human being has the
right to respect for his person.”
Right there is something we can
think about, without ever ex
hausting its meaning.
"THE RIGHT to respect for
his person.” What is person?
As Pope John says, a person is
one "endowed with intelligence
and free will.” Respecting a
person, then means respecting
the other fellow’s intelligence,
and respecting his right to
choose for himself, free of co
ercion.
Some people have wondered
why Negroes object to the "Mis
ter Bones” stage representa
tions of their race. Here is the
answer. If we are brainwashed
into thinking of Negroes as
unintelligent, we will hardly re
spect their intelligence, as Pope
John says we must.
"From the dignity qf the
human person,” Pope John’s
encyclical continues, "there
also arises the right to cafry
on economic activities accord
ing to the degree of responsi
bility of which one is capable.
"FURTHERMORE— and this
must be specially emphasized—
there is a right to a working
wage. . . to give the worker
and his family a standard of
living in keeping with the dignity
of the human person.”
Keeping people in slums and
ghettoes by preventing them
from buying or renting homes
in suitable neighborhoods, is,
clearly, a direct violation of
Pope John’s directives. And
if further evidence is needed,
the Holy Father said specifi
cally, "Every human being has
the right to freedom of move
ment and of residence. , .”
Such are the basic Catholic
principles in this matter. Either
we accept them, and live up to
them, or we don’t. If we don’t,
we’re not very Catholic, no mat
ter what Catholic organization
we may belong to—or be an of
ficer in.
Things I Don’t Like?
Jottings
By BARBARA C. JENCKS
"Although some people seem on the surface
to be quite awful through and through, Lord,
I know that this can’t be so. There must be
something tremendously worthwhile in the
worst of us or thou wouldn’t ever have
bothered to create or redeem us. Let me then,
see others as thou seest them, let me
look for those sides in their characters
which are attractive and even—unlikely as
it may seem—beautiful.”
From "Prayer for a Person One Dislikes”
by Dom Hubert Van Zeller.
Which Promises to be Dull,” . . ."Prayers
before an Interview Which Promises to be
Unpleasant”. . . "Prayer before visiting
the Dentist.” These prayers set themoodfor
a listing of things not liked.
SHORTLY after writing "Summer Litany,”
a listing of some of my favorite summer
associations, I received a letter from a reader
asking isn’t there anything or anyone you
dislike? It would seem much more interesing
to me if you wrote a column on the places,
people and things you didn't like. There are
few people or places which I can truly say
that I dislike. Since this letter came, I’ve
been trying to record some of the things
that I don’t like. On hot days and days that
are "hot” with pressure at the newspaper,
things do not look too appealing to me but
listing things disliked is a big order. Quoted
at the start of this column is part of a
prayer from the book, "Come Lord” by
the English writer, Dom Hubert Van Zeller.
In this book besides the "Prayer for a Per
son One Dislikes,” there are also prayers
with such titles as "Prayers Before a party
THINGS I DON’T LIKE? Burnt toast, cold
coffee, articicial flowers, bills, political
speeches, cold weather—maybe I shall alter
this dislike after this summer’s unpre-
cedneted temperature—snow, confustion, late
parties, wrinkled clothing, dirt, traffic jams,
milk, beets, casseroles, TV westerns, long-
involved conversations, gossip, having to ex
change things in a store, changing typewriter
ribbons. I don’t like waiting in line at
supermarkets or banks. . . going shopping,
going to the dentist, playing cards or parlor
games like charades, speaking in public,
formality, details, telephone calls, bores,
perfectionists, specialists, machinery,
washing or wiping dishes, carrying packages,
technical reports. I don’t like the high noon
of day, wearing hats, front seats, bulky
clothing, rock and roll music, sentimental
religious art, crowds, dull pencils,- leaky
pens, custard, ungraciousness, discourtesy,
home movies, statistics, movie magazines,
cranky bus drivers or sullen waitresses or
salesgirls, Sunday nights, Monday mornings,
hospital smells, taking medicine, flies in
a restaurant, windows that stick and doors
(Continued on Page 6)
U. S. M issioners Role Of Government
DAVENPORT, Iowa—The
Catholic Church in the United
States will have some 5,000
priests, Brothers and nuns plus
more than 1,000 volunteers
from the laity working in the
mission fields of Latin Ameri
ca before the close of the 1960s.
This estimate came from Fa
ther John J. Considine, M. M.,
director of the Latin America
Bureau, National Catholic Wel
fare Conference, in an address
(Aug. 21) at the annual Study
Week of the^ Apostolate spon
sored by the Davenport diocese.
GORMANSTON, Ireland, (NC)
—Prime Minister SeanLemass
told an organization of Irish
farmers that the country should
determine the proper role of
government in the light of Pope
John XXIII’s encyclicals.
Social activity must develop
as much as possible through
"intermediate bodies enjoying
effective autonomy” which
should recognize that they have
to "make their specific con
tributions to the national wel
fare and. . .bring their own
interests into harmony with the
needs of the community,” he
said.
Israeli Carmelite
Billy Rose
Drops Play
NEW YORK, (NC)—Variety
has reported that producer Billy
Rose has decided to forego plans
for his Broadway production of
the controversial German play,
"The Deputy.”
The show business weekly
magazine gave no additional de
tails on Rose’s action to drop the
play which is an attack on Pope
Pius XII, alleging he was indif
ferent to Nazi persecution of
Jews during World War II.
JERUSALEM, (NC)—Israel
has naturalized a Jewish-born
Carmelite monk who last De
cember lost a legal battle for
automatic citizenship under Is
rael’s Law of Return, an In-
Bible Reading
O. K. In Delaware
terior Ministry spokesman said
(Aug. 16).
The Law of Return admits
automatically Jews as citizens.
Israel’s high court turned
down a request by Carmelite
Father Daniel, a 40-year-old
Polish Jew, that the court make
the government recognize him
as a Jew.
New Peru Head
DOVER, Del., (NC)—Bible
reading and recitation of the
Lord’s Prayer will continue in
Delaware public schools if state
Attorney Gen. David Buckson
has his way.
Buckson argued that the U. S.
Supreme Court’s decision out
lawing the practices affects only
the states involved in the cases
before the court, Maryland and
Pennsylvania.
The court's decision did not
automatically make similar
laws in other states unconsti
tutional.
LIMA, Peru, (NC)—Presi
dent Fernando Belaunde Terr>
asserted on assuming office
that "only by the immeasurable
goodness of God and the under
standing of my fellow country
men” can he succeed.
The new President announced
a program stressing public
housing andprovision of schools
for the close to one million
Peruvial children without them.
"We must channel public and
private funds for the solution of
the most urgent social pro
blems,” Belaunde said.
But Not In Kentucky
FRANKFORT, Ky., (NC)—
Kentucky’s Attorney General
has said he will issue shortly
an opinion advising public
schools they must drop daily
Bible recitation.
Asked for his opinion of the
U. S. Supreme Court’s June 17
decision against religious
practices in public schools,
Atty. Gen. John Breckinridge
told the state school board that
Bible reading must stop.
Kentucky law required public
school classes to open with the
reading of Bible passages.
50,000 Christians
In Israel
JERUSALEM, (NC)—Chris
tians in Israel numbered 50,-
543, 2.3 per cent of the coun
try’s population in the 1961 cen
sus, the Central Bureau of Sta
tistics has announced.
Melkite Rite Catholics from
the largest single group, with
20,313. Greek Orthodox num
bered 15,473; Latin Rite Catho
lics, 7,048; Maronite Rite Ca
tholics, 2,644; and Protestants,
1,704. The remainder belong to
various small Oriental Church
es.
QUESTION BOX
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q. When the recitation of Our
Fathers and Hail Marys is re
quired in order to gain an in
dulgence, must these prayers
be said perfectly—by paying
strict attention to each syllable
of every word? Or is it suffi
cient to say these prayers in
the ordinary manner one is used
to pray?
A. The principle that God only
expects human beings to act in
a human way applies to gaining
indulgences as well as it ap
plies to anything else. Involun
tary distractions are part and
pracel of the human condition;
so long as they are not deli
berately entertained, they do not
mitigate sincerity in prayer;
and consequently, do not lessen
prayer's efficacy.
FOR GAINING an indulgence,
the traditional prayers "for the
intentions of the Holy Father”
(when they are required) must
be said vocally; i.e., the words
must be uttered exteriorly, al
though they need not be audible.
INSOFAR AS DISPOSITIONS
are concerned, such prayers
should proceed from a proper
intention and with sufficient at
tention. A proper intention ap
plies the will to render honor
and glory to God and to acknow
ledge our absolute dependenc
upon him—all of which is pre
sumed whenever Christian
prayer is meant. Sufficient at
tention is secured when on
directs his mind and will either
(1) to the correct pronunciation
of the words or (2) to the mean
ing of the words or (3) to th
object of prayer: God.
THERE IS A paragraph in
Father Winfred Herbst’s book
on indulgences (Indulgences,
Bruce, 1955) which succinctly
covers this whole matter:
"WHEN IT IS SAID that de
vout prayer is necessary for
the gaining of an indulgence, it
is not meant that any new or
special obligation is thereby
imposed. All that is required is
that one pray with the proper
intention and attention, in other
words, that one pray from the
heart and try to avoid distract
ing thoughts. The same holds
good with respect to partial
indulgences.”
(There are many indulgences
for which vocal prayer is not
(Continued on Page 5)
°)j The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44
Thursday, August 22, 1963
No. 7
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
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,
Associate Editors