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V WRITERS AIND READERS EDITED BY LEO J. ZUBEB 2332 North Decatur Rd Docaxur. Georgia A MAN NAMED JOHN: THE LIFE OF POPE JOHN XXIII, by Alden Hatch, Hawthorne Books, 1963, 288 pp., illus., '* $4.95. Reviewed by Leo J. Zuber. This interesting and infor mative volume tells the story of another man, “one sent from God, whose name was John.” When Cardinal Roncalli entered the 1958 conclave, who knew him? Who had ever heard of * him? When, five years later, as John XXIII, he died, who in the world did not know him? Who had not heard of him? On his election, much of the world wondered; on his death, the whole world mourned a friend. This biography, obviously hurried to completion, traces this remarkable personality from humble birth (25 Novem ber 1881) to death (3 June 1963); his career of service to the church and to mankind might have remained essentially un known to much of the Western world had he not been papabili. Roncalli’s years before 1958 were spent in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and in sad, beset France (1944-1953), and in Ve nice, from few of which places, even including France because of the times, would his name and reputation go very far afield. So in 1958, we were quizzical. y* The volume is anecdotal and in human proportions always. When Roncalli arrived as arch bishop and nuncio to liberated France, the quarters he was to occupy showed the lack of care of the war years. He arranged for their cleaning and refur nishing. One workman, busy in an adjoining room, dropped a heavy plank on his foot; his cursing brought the archbishop on the double with a message then and even now in the book iin French suggesting that the man might say something ap propriate without being blas phemous. Roncalli worked well / at the human level. How to ad- ' dress Mrs. Kennedy when she came to visit him? He tried * 'Mrs. Kennedy—Madam Ken- Mann Television Service Company -RADIOS-TRANSISTORS X TAPE RECORDS-STEREOS 148 West Broad AD 6-6358 Savannah, Ga. ■V Everything for the Sick Room Hdispital Beds-Wheel Chairs -Invalid Walkers-Patient Lifters. Many othqr Sick room needs. \ Prescriptions Calleck For and Delivered WACHEL’S PHYSICIAN SUPPLY CO. Paul H. Ewaldsen 408 Bull St. - AD 6-4271 nedy—Madame.” But when she arrived, protocol left;he opened his arms wide and said in greeting “Jacqueline!” He had the knack of seeing and of re cognizing the person, not the personage. The book makes no pretense of being biography in the studied, ponderous, definitive sense. Quite the opposite; it will fit your hand, your head, and your heart just as John did/ IMAGE OF AMERICA, by Norman Foerster, University of Notre Dame Press, 1962, 152 pp. $1.95, and THE MODERN GOD, by Gustave Weigle, S. J., Macmillan, 1963,168 pp., $3.95. Reviewed by Flannery O’ Connor. These two books can be read together with considerable pro fit. Prof. Foerster’s is a brief social and literary history of America from the Puritan Age through the deistic and romantic periods to the rise of realism and on to the present times of disillusion and search for something new worth believing in. Behind each of these changes in outlook is a different view of God and man’s relation to him. The essays ends in a brief con sideration of the historical im agination as found in Southern literature, particularly Faulk ner. Prof. Foerster sees Ameri cans as “an idealistic people, responsive to humanitarian im pulses, believing in the dignity of man and the primacy of hu man rights, but confused, inse cure, and anxious amid the for ces of a world in turbulent revolution.” Fr. Weigle begins at this point and analyzes the instability of the modern relig ious condition. He sees that our roots are in religious faith which we have not been able to throw off like the Russians but that in practical philosophy, we are as materialistic as they. Fr. Weigle discusses the place given God in the civic order, in the moral values of Ameri can culture, and by intellec tuals. He ends by discussing the witness of the Church and its impression, or lack of impres sion, on the public conscience. He finds that our delimma is too many weak secular faiths and suggests that what is need ed is a “great faith resting on a big theology.” Both Prof. Foerster’s and Fr. Weigle’s are valuable essays which should add greatly to the Catholic’s understanding of his country and his times. Home Mortgage Insurance — Group Insurance Flem G. Cliett, V'; Jr. & Staff Supervisor Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. 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McDonough hands spade to Sister Mary Aurelia, R.S.M., as Sister Mary Fe- licitas, R.S.M., Principal, and Reinee Johnson and Fred Howe, senior class representatives smile their approval. Canadian Prelate Warns Against Proposed Law For Child Adoption TORONTO, Ont., (NC) — An archbishop here issued awarn- ing protest against efforts to change the Ontario province's child welfare act so as to per mit placing a child for adop tion without consideration of re ligious affiliation. "Those who would urge the state to believe it has the right to make a law that in effect permits it to decide the reli gious affiliation of a child seem unaware that they are dis cussing and debating the philo sophy of human life itself,” Coadjutor Archbishop Philip F. Pocock of Toronto said. "They also seem unaware that they are accepting a philo sophy that goes against the nat ural law, that opposes the whole Judaeo-Christian tradition, that agrees with a materialistic, totalitarian philosophy of human life,” he continued in a state ment published in the Canadian Register, newspaper of the To ronto archdiocese. “It is time that those who think thus be told exactly what they are proposing as a philo sophy of human life, as a phi losophy of the state as a fu ture for citizens of democracy, when they even imply that the state could make a law that would deprive a child of one religious affiliation and give it another,” the prelate said. "Let us begin by showing that fuzzy thinking on the power of the state over human life, and foolish relegation to the state of inalienable human rights is not new. . .The phil osopher Plato maintained that children were to be bred for the utility of the state. He frankly declared that to imple ment this crude form of stat- ism ‘our rulers will find a con siderable dose of falsehood and deceit necessary for the good of their subjects.’ "Many other pre-Christian philosophers shared the atti tudes of Plato on the complete preeminence of the state in de termining the destiny of child ren born within its jurisdiction. It was the development of the Judaeo-Christian ideal of man —his dignity as an individual, his natural rights, his family rights, his freedom amongst his fellows—which preserved man from the fate implied in the totalitarian philosophy of Plato and other pagan theorists. * 'Despite the light brought by the Judaeo-Christian re velation to help dispel the dark ness surrounding man’s rights, and to prevent men from blindly surrendering their lives to the state, many theorists of later generations have uttered philo sophies and made decisions which are a reaffirmation of the old pagan concepts. The Archbishop then quoted from principals and courts in U. S. cases involving the ques tion of jurisdiction which the state has over a child. He con tinued: "It would be surprising if the despotic power of the state TV SERVICE Glynn Electronics 2423 NORWICH AM 5-7669 over human life, the material istic view of what real rights any individual may have, embodied in the (U. S. ) quo tations, do not shock even those who would so glibly and casu ally concede to the Government of Ontario the right to ignore the religion of a child in plac ing it for adoption. But if those who propose this philosophy don’t know what they are ad vocating as part of the power of the state over human life, surely those of us who adhere to the Judaeo-Christian tradi tion should know and should re ject it as a throw back to pa ganism. “Let us make no mistake about what we are doing when any of us believe we are es pousing the true welfare of children by suggesting that the government can create a child welfare act or amend such an act in order to give itself or its agencies the power to change the religious affiliation of a child. We are selling out our children to statism, to a ‘pa rens patriae.' We are agree ing that a child belongs to the nation before it belongs to it self or to its parents, that it is first a national child and then somebody’s son or daughter.” The Canadian Register, com menting editorially on Arch bishop Pocock’s statement, said: "Catholics are not asking the government of Ontario to prevent anyone from freely changing his religious faith. Far from it: the true Catholic must respect and encourage the free exercise of conscience. "What we do demand is that the wishes of the parents in all cases be accepted, and that the parent be given the sole right of decision. "To this end, for example, the amended act must make pro vision for a declaration by the mother to the effect that ‘I want my child brought up as a Catholic’, or ‘I want my child brought up as a Protestant’, or even ‘I don’t care what reli gion my child professes’. Then let the government agency con cerned carry out the wishes of the mother.” Peace Group Told Catholics ‘Obliged In Conscience’ To Work For Success Of ‘Allianza’ WASHINGTON, (NC)—Catho lics are "obliged in con science” to work for the ac ceptance and success of the Al liance for Progress, a priest experienced in foreign aid work said here. "The Alliance embodies our principles of international so cial justice to such a degree that unless we give it active support, our high-pitched ac clamation of Pope John’s new social horizons sounds like so much vacuous horn-blowing,” declared Msgr. Joseph B. Gre- million. Msgr. Gremillion, director of socio-economic development for Catholic Relief Services— National Catholic Welfare Con ference, endorsed the Alliance for Progress, the cooperative program of U. S.- assisted so cial and economic development in Latin America, in an address to the 36th annual conference of the Catholic Association for International Peace (Sept. 27). The conference theme was “The Christian Challenge in Latin America.” The CAIP’s annual peace award, presented during the conference, went this year to Theodoro Moscoso, U. S. Administrator of the Alliance for Progress. Msgr. Gremillion in his ad dress described the Alliance for Progress as a concrete embodi ment of Catholic social doc trine, particularly the teaching of the late Pope John XXIII in his encyclicals Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris. He said the Alliance "not only deserves but even de mands” the support of Christian leaders and organizations. He urged Catholic leaders to work for citizen support of the Alliance, noting that its appro priations are "now being hacked away in Congress.” He said it is "under standable” that the Pope and other top churchmen should state their social teaching in general terms. “But we do not really adhere to this teaching if we keep it general all the way down the line and on all occasions,” he commented. Msgr. Gremillion said the Allaince is essential to the suc cess of the "peaceful revolu tion” in Latin America that "offers the basic counterforce for dealing with Cuba and the other violent revolutions which threaten most of our neigh bors.” He linked the Alliance with what he called "astonishing” changes now taking place with in the Church and among Chris tian-oriented leaders in Latin America. He said this "hopeful drama tic change” among Catholics manifests itself in three ways: 1) The Church’s social teach ing is now reaching the people through pastorals and state ments by the bishops and, on a grassroots level, through many teaching and training programs. 2) Social action programs of many kinds are "spreading rap idly,” including credit unions and cooperatives, savings and loan associations and housing projects, technical and leader ship training and community self-help unions. 3) "Most hopeful of all,” Christian lay leaders are ac quiring influence within poli tical parties and labor move ments. "We see then that the re forms jointly promoted by the 20 partmen nations of the Al liance for Progress receive of a sudden vigorous and unexpec ted support from the Church of Latin America, until now dis missed as conservative and sta tus quo,” Msgr. Gremillion said. The Southern Cross, September 26, 1963—PAGE 5 P.C.C.W. Meets At Tybee SAVANNAH BEACH—St. Mi chael’s Parish Council of Ca tholic Women held their first meeting of the new school year, Miss Kathryn Flowers, presid ing. Attendance at the deanery meeting was urged, committees were reappointed, and coopera tion with national projects was emphasized. The new pastor played host to the group with refreshments in the rectory. Saint James Home & School Meeting SAVANNAH—At the Septem ber meeting of the Saint James Home and School Association Mon signor John D. Toomey spoke of the school's potential for the coming year, and con gratulated the members on their cooperation in the tithing pro gram. The new officers, committee chairmen, members of the fa culty and school bus drivers were introduced by the Presi dent, Mrs. W. J. Bremer, Jr. The budget for the school year was presented by Mrs. Dan Willoughby for approval. Mrs. O. A. Anderson, Presi dent of the Savannah Deanery, D.C.C.W. reminded the mem bers of the luncheon meeting to be held at Hunter Air Force Base on September 26. Mrs. Cluese McElveen, re presenting the Parish Council urged all new members to at tend the meetings of the Council and to participate in its activi ties and Mr. Eugene Powers spoke of the Annual Barbecue to be sponsored by the Men’s Club on October 5. The Program Chairman, Mrs. O. B. Carr announced that Representative Bart Shea would be the speaker at the October meeting. MARRIAGES SALTER-McBRIDE BRUNSWICK—A military wedding, September 14th, united in marriage, Miss Deborah Dean McBride, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Patrick McGuire, and Ensign Thomas Stafford Salter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley L. Salter of Sault St. Marie, Mich. The marriage at St. Francis Xavier Church was solomnized by the Rev. Andrew Walls, S.M. in a double-ring ceremony. JACOBS-VAUGHN AUGUSTA—Miss Beverly Elaine Vaughn and Mr. Milton Daniel Jacobs were married September 21st at St. Mary’s- on-the-Hill Church by the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke, V.F. The bride is the daughter of Mrs. Charles Reid Vaughn and the late Mr. Vaughn and the bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Jacobs. CRAMER-BUSHA SAVANNAH—Miss Mary Lee Busha, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Busha of Toccoa and Wal ter Eugene Cramer III, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Eugene Cramer Jr. of Savannah, were married September 7th at Toc coa. The Rt. Rev. Msgr. P. J. O’Connor performed the cere mony. For Wedding Invitations Cf It’s The Acme Press 1201 LINCOLN STREET PHONE 232 6397 DESBOUILLONS Savannah’s j , "Leading Bridal Store SINCE 1870 AD 2-1145 126 E. Broughton St. Savannah, Georgia Chatham Typewriter Co. Registers - Adding Machines f Typewriters New and Used Reconditioned 317 EAST BROUGHTON SAVANNAH,GEORGIA AD 6-3351 INDIA: SISTER JOHN WRITES SISTER JOHN OF THE SACRED HEART writes from MELO- REM in CHANGANACHERRY Archdiocese in Southern India . . .‘‘About fifteen years ago, we » > if). started a convent here. A pious charitable man donated a site with a building on it . . . This was enough for the Sisters then but now 3 we are 17, finding it difficult to i ^ have enough space in the dormitory, refectory and small chapel. The good man has gone to his eternal reward . . . The Catholics are mostly poor, so poor indeed that we have to give them small helps at times.” . . . Sister John asks if we can assist her band of Sisters in building , a bigger convent—cost $3,000—and the Archbishop there warmly backs her request . . . Can you help with any amount, big or small? It will be deeply appreciated. The Holy Father’s Mission Aid for the Oriental Churcfo Historic Cathedral Given Designation Of Minor Basilica ST. LOUIS, (NC)—The Mis sissippi riverfront Church of St. Louis IX, King of France, the "Old Cathedral” of this archdiocese, has been designat ed a minor basilica, the 15th in the nation. The 129-year-old structure was once the mother church of a diocese that embraced more than half of the continental Unit ed States and is the site of the founding in 1845 of the St. Vin cent de Paul Society. The special dignity of a minor basilica was decreed formally in 1961 by Pope John XXIII, but announcement of the honor was delayed until architectural restoration of the historic shrine was virtually completed. The basilica will be one of the central attractions of the multi million dollar Jefferson Nation al Memorial to open next year in connection with the bicen tennial of St. Louis. It is ex pected to attract an estimated 3,000,000 visitors annually. The memorial will have as its central feature a curve of stainless steel that will soar 630 feet above the riverfront project. Visitors to the top of this monument will look direct ly down on the Old Cathedral. The honor of minor basilica is assigned to certain churches because of their antiquity, dig nity, historical importance or significance as centers of wor ship. They enjoy certain cere monial privileges and are giv en ornamentation. COUNCIL RECONVENES At the FIRST VATICAN COUNCIL, the Bishops in attend ance were often amused by the imaginative stories about the Council in the London papers. Now as the second session of VATICAN II opens, reporters will probably have developed a. keener ability and more efficient machinery for getting the facts straight . . . Certainly the problems of the missions will be on the minds of the Bishops. Our Association looks after the missionary needs of 18 Near East and Middle East coun tries. You can help this work along by: □ —Taking out a membership. Single person: $1 a year; family: $5 a year. Perpetual single membership: $20 a year; family: $100. You participate in the graces of the •Holy Father’s Masses and ^hose of 15,000 priests in the countries entrusted to us. □ □ -Helping build a chapel or school. Cost $2,000 to $6,000.. -■Educating a seminarian like AUGUSTINE or MATHEW. Cost: $100 a year for six years. □ —Training a Sister like SISTER STELLA MARIA or SIS TER ANNIE XAVIER. Cost: $150 a year for two years. □ □ -Sending a FOOD PACKAGE to a PALESTINE REFU GEE FAMILY. Cost: $10. Or a BLANKET: $2. Perhaps you would prefer to help with a REFUGEE CHILD’S SCHOOL EXPENSES: $25 per term. -Purchasing something to furnish a chapel, from vest ments to a sanctuary bell. Cost: $50 down to $5. POPULATION EXPLOSION. A knowledgeable friend tells us that 50% of all the people who ever lived are living today! This comes from the tremendous increase in births and ad vances of medicine in the last century. Certainly a multitude of persons to be reached with prayers! Remember our priests with your MASS STIPENDS. LONELY CROWD. A scientific magazine states that by the year 2026, people will be standing shoulder to shoulder due to population growth. But just think of the immense missionary wort to be done! Your STRINGLESS GIFTS help us to do what is needed, wherever the Holy Father thinks needs are greatest! f£i*Rear'£ast OlissionsjMi FRANCIS CARDINAL SPILLMAN, President Msgr. Joseph T. tyoa. Mot‘1 Sec’y Seed all communication tot CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION 480 Lexington Avo. at 46th St. Now York 17, N. Y«