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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, September 19, 1963
Farewell And
Welcome
Father John Crean is dead. He spent the
last several years of his life in semi-re
tirement because of ill health, and outside
the city of Augusta he was probably not
well known, except to his brother priests.
But his death is a tragic loss for all of
us.
The death of a priest is always tragic.
Not because a man has died, but because
there is removed from our midst one who
was taken from among men and * ‘ordained
for men in the things that appertain to God,
that he might offer gifts and sacrifices for
sin”—one who was called by Christ to share
in His eternal Priesthood and to be a co
worker with Him in bringing God to men and
men to God.
Father Crean’s death means that the Dio
cese and the world is poorer. For, there is
one less priest to stand at the Altar of God
and, in the Name and place of Jesus Christ,
to offer to the Eternal Father the Body, Blood,
Soul, and Divinity of the Redeemer on behalf
of sinful mankind, helping to continue until the
end of time the Sacrifice of Calvary and the
intercessory office of the Second Person of
the Blessed Trinity.
There is one less priest to bring to
souls the saving Grace of Baptism and to
minds and hearts, the precepts and teachings
of Divine Revelation.
There is one less priest to nuture souls
with the Body of Christ in Holy Communion,
to heal them from the wounds of sin in the
Sacred Tribunal of Penance, and to help
them on their way to God with the forgiving
and strengthening Graces of Extreme Untion.
But, if to lose such a one is tragic, to
gain a priest is joy, and to gain four, a great
blessing, indeed.
On the same day that God called Father
Crean to Himself, three young priests arrived
in Savannah from Ireland and a fourth was on
his way. For the next two years they will
exercise their priestly functions in the Dio
cese of Savannah, filling the void left by the
death of another—and continuing the wonder
fully generous tradition which brought Father
Crean and so many other priestly sons of
Ireland to labor in this part of Christ’s vine
yard, so far from home and loved ones.
We bid Father Crean a prayerful farewell,
secure in the Faith that if we remain close
to Christ we shall surely‘see him again,
and share with him in the eternal happiness
of Heaven.
And we welcome with gratitude Fathers
Cotter, Keane, O’Brien and Murphy assuring
them and their generous families across the
sea of prayerful best wishes for fruitful ser
vice in Christ’s Church in the Diocese of
Savannah.
Senate Paper Says
Reds Will Try To Flood’
U.S. Campuses With Speakers
By J. J. Gilbert
WASHINGTON, — Commu
nists in the United States are
about to make an intensive ef
fort to attract the attention, and
allegiance, of young people.
This is the warning of the
U. S. Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee, which advises
that ‘‘the Communist party
plans to flood American Col
lege campuses with speakers
this fall in an effort to revive
its national youth organiza
tions.”
The Subcommittee issues its
warning in the form of a mono
graph, whose author it de
scribes as having been in the
Communist movement for four
years, but who broke with it
in 1950.
The monograph quotes from a
letter which it says “has been
sent out by Arnold Johnson,
a member of the National Com
mittee of the Communist Par
ty, to all editors of college
newspapers and student coun
cils.” It says “Johnson sign
ed the letter as director of
the Lecture and Information
Bureau, Communist Party, U.
S. A.”
“May we request you to in
vite representatives of the
Communist party to speak at
forums of the student body of
your school in the 1963-64 col
lege year, whither in the form
of lecturers, participants in
symposia, or in debates. Du
ring the past year, Communist
spokesmen addressed more
than 30 colleges and univer
sities which (appearances) were
attended by approximately
75,000 students and townspeo
ple.”
The monograph quotes J. Ed
gar Hoover, Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investiga
tion, as having reported that
“from late October 1961 to May
1962, leaders of the Commu
nist Party, U. S. A., made
48 speeches before groups of
college students all across the
nation.”
It is said in connection with
the monograph that the Com
munist youth movement in the
U. S. “ceased to exist in the
wave of disillusionment caused
by Khrushchev’s 1957 speech
denouncing Stalin.” But, it is
pointed out, “the desire of
the Communists to organize
American young people has not
subsided. As the older mem
bers of the Communist party die
off or go to prison, new ca
dres are needed to fill the
ranks.”
And so, it is said, “in the
coming year, communist ac
tivists will appear on the na
tion’s campuses giving lec
tures.” It is warned that some
“will appear as open members
of the Communist party,” but
others will appear as repre
sentatives of other committees
and groups.
Example For Teen-Agers-St. Maria Goretti
Jottings
“How great is the error of
those who consider virginity
as the effect of ingorance and
ingenuous of little souls without
passion, without ardor, without
experience and therefore ac
cord it only a smile of pity.”
Pius XII on occasion of ca
nonization of Maria Goretti.
TWO family magazines gear
ed to the college age student
feature articles in their current
issues on the college student’s
attitude toward sex. “Lady
Chatterly Goes to College” and
“Has Chastity a Chance at Col
lege” were the articles’ titles.
While plaids and stripes are in
vogue, it would seem that vir
ginity was out of vogue if we
were guided by these two arti
cles. Sex is part of the package
for the football weekend we are
told and also that most girls
are embarrassed to admit they
are virgins. In a recent issue of
the “Journal of the National
Association of Women Deans
and Counsellors,” a featured
article stated that “Sexual in
tercourse before marriage is
increasing on college campus
es.” Sarah Gibson Blanding,
former Vassar president, made
front-page headlines all over
the nation last year when she
stated that standards of behav
ior expected of Vassar students
include. . ."avoidance of pre
marital sex relationships.” Her
critics were loud and legion.
In the interem two name col
leges in the Vassar league have
done everything but condone
such action in their liberal
checkout privileges and permits
for visiting in men’s dormi
tories. When I suggested to one
college educator that she con
gratulate Dr. Blanding for her
(By Barbara C. Jencks)
stand in this matter, the ans
wer was why should she be
commended for upholding the
Ten Commandments,^only what
was to be expected.
NOT TOO LONG ago, this
newspaper featured a story of
the increased number of unwed
mothers. A supervisor of Ca
tholic Charities was quoted as
saying: “More and more nice
kids from good Catholic fami
lies are coming to this agency
in pregnant conditions.” It was
found that many Catholic
youngsters, products of Catho
lic schools, were among the
victims. One doctor recently
told me that “this is indeed a
sex diseased age.” For too long
sex has been taboo, presented
as a negative subject, some
thing forbidden, wrong, against
the Sixth or Ninth Command
ment. The mystery, sanctity
and beauty of sex in its proper
setting was never stressed. The
following came to me in part of
a recent letter: “I think I told
you that 3 girls with whom Joan
went through high school had
babies after 6 months of mar
riage. Joan was completely
shaken, cried herself to sleep
after the news about the third
girl who was very close to her.
She said to Robert (her bro
ther): ‘Aren’t there any good
boys left?’ to which Robert
said, 'Well, there’s me and
Jimmie and John (her other
brothers) but I don’t know how
many others.’ It’s true about
the Murphy boys, and a sad
commentary about the rest of
the male population.” This let
ter over simplifies but is indi
cated of the times.
SEX IS presented attractively
in all its distorted and forbidden
forms. We fail in bringing to
youth the beauty and strength
of sex as God intended it to be.
Youth today are heroic who
deny these occasions of sin.
The temptations come in all
forms: magazines, newspapers,
television, movies, advertise
ments,- music! Sex is used to
“sell” everything from chew
ing gum to tractors. The posi
tive element in chastity has not
been stressed enough, it seems
to me. No better thought on the
subject have I found than this
quotation from Pope Pius XII
when he canonized a teen-age
saint whose example today is so
needed:
* * *
“How can he who has sur
rendered without a struggle
imagine what strength it re
quires to dominate without a
moment’s weakness, the secret
stirrings and urgings of the
senses and of the heart which
adolescence has awakened in
our fallen nature? To resist,
without a single compromise
the thousand little curiosities
which impel one to see, to lis
ten, to taste, to feel and thus
approach the lips to the intoxi
cating cup and inhale the deadly
perfume of the flower of evil.
Our beata was a strong soul.
She knew and understood, and
this is precisely why she pre
ferred to die. She was not
merely an innocent ingenue in
stinctively frightened by the
shadow of sin. She was not
sustained by a natural feeling
of modesty. No. Though still
young she already gave signs
of the intensity and depth of her
love for her Divine Redeemer.”
10k 'f', .
RENEWAL OF CHURCH
The Scandal In England
It Seems to Me
JOSEPH BREIG
The truly religious—and
truly human—reaction to events
such as the recent vice scan
dal in England is to pray for
those unfortunately involved.
And the prayers must not be in
any sense
p atronizing,
or touched
with the
faintest trace
of superior
ity or smug
ness or com-
p 1 a c ency.
They should
be prayers
filled with the love of God and
of fellow human beings whom
God created as His images,
whom He loves, and for whom
He died.
Not even the famous state
ment, “There, but for the grace
of God, go I,” is good enough.
It is not humble enough. It im
plies that the person who says
it feels that the person in the
gutter is more of a sinner than
he. Such a judgment could be
made only by God, Who alone
knows all that is involved in our
lives.
THE BETTER, the perfect at
titude is that of St. Paul, who
said that he chastized his body
and brought it into subjection
lest, having preached toothers,
he himself fall. Even when he
was driven, in defense, to seem
to boast of his Jewishness, of his
sufferings and sacrifices, and of
his supernatural visions, Paul’s
humility shone through every
word; his writing stammered
with the bottomless embarrass
ment of the profoundly humble
man.
All our progress is made
through humility. Someone has
said that the great scientific
discoveries are made because
somebody sat down humbly, like
a child, before the facts of na
ture, acceping them as they
are, accepting without ques
tion the conclusions that came
from the study of them.
WE USED TO look down upon
the town drunk, spurn or avoid
him, or at best josh him and
perhaps now and then read him
a lecture. But at last some
body had the humility to see that
there was something about him
—something in his physical or
psychological makeup, or both
—which made it impossible for
him to drink rationally. And so,
out of humility, Alcoholics Ano
nymous was born; and who can
estimate the good, it has done
and will do, the tears it will
dry and has dried, the wisdom
it has taught us about helping
and not condemning the other
chap?
It was so, too, with the men
tally disturbed, and retarded;
with the leper; with any unfor
tunate you care to name. Out of
humility came the studies which
have taught us what we know
about mental disorders, anden-
You Can Be Mistake Proof
Cod’s World
“Recently, in company with
a priest friend, I was on my
way to attend an important
meeting in a distant parish.
My friend was driving the car
and soon he had me worried
as to whether
we would make
the meeting at
all. “We turn
right here,” I
said, and he
proceeded to
turn left.
“We’re going
north,” I in
sisted, “and
we’re headed south.” It was an
overcast day, but I had confi
dence in my sense of direction.
“Now just relax,” my friend
soothed me. “We’ll get there.”
Strangely enough, after one or
two more (I wasn’t sure) wrong
turnings, we did arrive well
on time. “You should have had
more trust in me and enjoyed
the scenery,” my friend chid
ed, jokingly. When did I ever
lead you astray?”
This little incident illustrates
rather well a frequent occur
rence in our relationship with
God. In the lives of most of us
there must be many times when,
if we could catch His voice, we
would hear God say, “Whydon’t
(By Leo J. Trese)
you have more trust in Me?
Why don’t you relax and enjoy
life more? When did I ever
lead you astray?”
It is strange that there should
be so much doubt and uneasi
ness in our lives when the re
cipe for peace of mind is so
simple. If we try always and to
the best of our ability to do
God’s will as we see it, we
cannot ever be wrong. Conse
quently we can move through life
with much greater confidence
and serenity. The formula is as
simple as that.
So often it happens that, fac
ed with an important decision,
we find ourselves anxious lest
we decide wrongly. Then, after
the decision is made, we con
tinue to worry for fear that we
may have made a mistaken
choice. Yet, if our decisions all
are made on the basis of, “What
under these conditions, would
God probably want me to do?”
how can we ever go astray?
“Yes, that sounds easy,” you
may reply. “The trouble is that
I cannot always be sure that I
have discerned God’s will cor
rectly. Suppose that I have tried
to figure out what God would
want me to do, but I guess
wrong? This is what worries
me,” The answer is that there
cannot be a wrong choice as
long as that choice has been
made in accordance with God’s
will, insofar as you can detect
His will.
Let us assume that you are
faced with an important decis
ion: to marry this man (or wo
man) or not; to enter the con
vent (or seminary) or not; to
accept this new job and move
your family to another city,
or not; to place your mother in
a home for the aged, or not.
You pray earnestly for the guid
ance of the Holy Spirit. You seek
competent advice if that seems
called for. You weigh the ad
vantages and disadvantages, not
only for yourself but also for
others involved. You honestly
try to eliminate purely selfish
motives from your assessment
of the situation. You truly do
try to look at the matter from
God’s point of view. Then you
make your decision.
Now, if you have done all
this, then your decision will be
the right one even though, from
a human point of view, it after
wards seems that you were mis
taken in your choice. This is the
beauty of acting in accordance
with God’s will: even when you
are wrong you will be' right.
(Continued on Page 5)
Relief Unit
TAIPEI, Formosa, (NC) —
The U. S. Catholic relief agen
cy here opened its storehouses
to the victims of typhoon Glo
ria, which smashed across nor
thern Formosa, leaving hun
dreds dead and 30,000 or more
homeless.
Catholic Relief Services—
CYO To Hear
Hoover
National Catholic Welfare Con
ference ordered all powdered
milk—about 400,000 pounds—
at its port warehouse distribu
ted to the seven worst-hit coun
ties. The agency also converted
all flour stored in the city into
bread, 12,000 pounds in all.
Father Francis O’Neill,
M. M., directing this work, re
ceived an SOS from one stric
ken county with 15,000 people
in dire need. All flour, wheat
and oil earmarked for routine
distribution was sidetracked for
this emergency.
The worst floods in the his
tory of Taipei inundated this
city. Thousands of families, in
cluding Americans living here,
were made homeless. St. Chris
topher’s church, which has a
largely American congregation,
was flooded, with mud covering
the altar.
NEW YORK, (NC) - FBI Di
rector J. Edgar Hoover will
be a featured speaker at the
National Catholic Youth Organi
zation convention here, No
vember 14 to 17.
Hoover will receive the
CYO’s 1963 “Pro Deo et Ju-
ventute” (For God and Youth)
Award at the convention’s ban
quet on November 16. He will
then address delegates.
Francis J. Darigan, a junior
at Providence (R. I.) College
and president of the National
CYO—Teenage Section, will de
liver the keynote address onNo-
vember 14. More than 7,000
teenagers and young adults are
expected at the gathering.
Other major speakers will be
Msgr. George A. Kelly, director
of the Family Life Bureau,
Archdiocese of New York, and
Msgr. Terrence J. Cooke,
chancellor of the archdiocese
and past associate youth di
rector of the See.
U. S. Bishops
To Help Press
abled us to be of assistance in
stead of standing aside, if not
in pride and superiority, then at
least in bewilderment and fear.
Once we gave the leper a bell to
ring so that we could avoid
him; now we love him and
arrest his disease.
IT HAS BEEN so with tuber
culosis, with polio, with small
pox, with scarlet fever; humility
and love of fellowmen have
worked wonders of healing and
prevention where mistaken love
of self left the problems un
solved and left fellowmen suf
fering. There are civilizations
on earth today where a person
can die unhelped in the street
because he becomes the respon
sibility of whomever goes to his
assistance. But love of God and
fellowmen, and humility, cause
us to seek out others to assist
them.
In the area of sex, wfehaveas
yet not done much. We have not
succeeded in seeing clearly the
sacredness of sex. Not seeing
the vision, we have not commu
nicated it to the young. In this
the books have failed; the poets
and dramatists have failed; the
movies and TV have failed, but
we need not go on failing; not
if we learn to see in such prob
lems as that of England’s scan
dal a summons to prayerful,
humble seeking of ways to con
quer this physical- psycho
logical problem as we have
conquered so many others.
ROME, (NC) — The U. S.
Bishops are reviving the brief
ing sessions which assisted
American newsmen, covering
the first session of the Second
Vatican Council.
The U. S. Bishops’ Press
Panel, which will provide clar
ification and background mater
ial on the subject matter dis
cussed by the council fathers,
will function again attheNCCS-
USO club at Via della Concilia-
zione 2, near St. Peter’s Square.
Sixty-three workshops, de
bates and panel discussions will
be packed into the four days.
They will deal with politics,
social justice, public morality,
communism, the ecumenical
movement, racial segregation
the lay apostolate and juvenile
delinquency.
H
Convention headquarters will
be the New York Hilton Hotel.
Kilmer’s Tree
Bishop Ill
In Red Jail
HONG KONG, (NC)— A for
mer Belgian cabinet minister
was quoted here as saying that
Chinese communist officials
informed him that Bishop James
E. Walsh, M. M., is ill.
Bishop Walsh, Maryland-
born Maryknoll missioner, was
imprisioned in Shanghai in 1958.
The communist regime announ
ced in March of 1960 that he
had been sentenced to a 20-
year jail term for * ‘espionage.”
He is now 72.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.,
(NC) - A stately white oak
credited with inspiring Joyce
Kilmer, World War I hero-
poet, to write his famous poem,
“Trees,” is no more.
Dying of old age—it is be
lieved to have been nearly 300
years old—the Kilmer Oak was
taken down (Sept. 18) piece by ‘ 4
piece. The tree could not be
felled or chopped down because
of its tremendous crown. It had
a branch spread of 108 feet
and near-perfect symmetry.
On Anti-Smut
WASHINGTON, (NC) - A Ne
braska congressman has pro
tested opposition voiced by a
committee of the New York City
Bar Association to an anti
obscenity bill he is sponsoring.
Red-Murdered
Priest Found
ROME, (Radio, NC) — The
grave of a French missioner
kidnapped two years ago by Lao
tian Reds has been found, it
was reported to the mother-
house of the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate here.
The body of Father Louis
Leroy, O.M.I., was identified
by fragments of his cassorkand
by his height. Europeans are
generally much taller than
Laotians.
Rep. Glen Cunningham of Ne
braska said he does not believe
the stand taken by the bar asso
ciation’ s Committee on the Bill
of Rights represents the po
sition either of most members
of the New York gr'oup or of
lawyers throughout the country
generally.
The bar association com
mittee, in reply to an inquiry
from the House of Representa
tives postal operations subcom
mittee, had called the bill spon
sored by Cunningham “dan
gerous experimentation.”
QUESTION BOX
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q. At the time of death, the
soul is judged by God imme
diately. Why then is the soul
judged again on the last day?
What is the difference between
the particular and the general
judgments?
A. The dogmas of the parti
cular and general judgments are
of faith. One’s particular judg
ment occurs immediately after
death. The general judgment
will follow the resurrection of
all men in the body.
THAT MAN SHOULD be
judged at the moment of death
is reasonable. Unlike human ar
biters, God in his infinite wis
dom requires no time in order
to make a decision; he sees and
understands the condition of a
soul simply by willing to do so.
FROM WHAT has been re
vealed, moreover, it is not logi
cal to think that man should be
kept waiting for hours, or years,
or even centuries, before he is
judged for the way he has spent
his life. After death man’s fate
is sealed one way or another for
all eternity; he cannot possibly
affect his destiny one iota.
SPECIFICALLY, one’s parti
cular judgment consists in
vividly realizing (1) one’s true
state of soul, formed by the sum
total of the free acts he per
formed during life; (2) the right
ness and inevitableness of one’s
destiny; and (3) the presence of
the Divine Judge to whom one
is accountable—which is to say
that the particular judgment is
not so much a receiving of a
(Continued on Page 5)
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44 Thursday, September 19. 1963 No. 11
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