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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, October 31, 1963
Monsignor Brennan
With the death of Monsignor Brennan last
Sunday afternoon, a priestly career which
spanned four decades came to a close.
His death meant sorrow and heartache for
his family, relatives, friends and devoted
parishioners. For his fellow priests it meant
another gap in their ranks — the loss of a
comrade in the cause of Christ and His
Church. For some of the older clergy it
meant the loss of a friend known from boy
hood days, and one with whom they had
shared the Sacred Priesthood of Christ for
many years.
But, surely, there is joy and consolation in
the reflection that his was a life spent for the
good of souls — that through his priestly
ministrations souls were brought to Christ
and Christ to the hearts of men — and that
Christ will not be outdone in generosity.
Those who mourn him will find their solace
in giving back to God, with generosity and
Faith, a soul which He created for Himself
and whose greatest desire was to be another
Christ, carrying on in our world His work
of redeeming the souls of sinful mankind.
His brother priests will find great spiritual
profit in meditating on the Apostolic zeal,
the dedicated determination, and the spirit of
obedience with which Monsignor Brennan
carried out every assignment given to him.
And all, priests and laity alike, can repay
a debt of gratitude for the many graces which
this good priest’s life undoubtedly called
down upon the Church in our Diocese by
remembering him faithfully in their prayers,
asking eternal light and peace for a good and
faithful Servant of Jesus Christ.
The Bedsheet Brigade
Forty persons were driven from a Savannah
motion picture theater last Sunday night by a
tear gas bomb. Perhaps, by the time this
editorial appears in print, the criminal who
exploded the weapon and who values his own
prejudices more highly than the safety of his
neighbors will have been caught. At any rate,
we hope so.
But this act of lawlessness should have
come as no surprise to anyone who has
viewed the sorry sight of members of the
Ku Klux Klan hawking their bigotry before
the eyes of Savannah citizens in front of the
city’s four downtown theaters.
It was simply a manifestation, in a concrete
and criminally irresponsible manner, of the
naked hate which, in spite of protestations to
the contrary, is the ONLY motivating force
behind an organization both un-Christian
and un-American.
The Klan has thronw down the gauntlet.
It is up to the responsible citizens of Savan
nah to pick it up and to show, by their con
tinued support of films which merit the.
patronage of intelligent, discriminating and
morally responsible people, that the Ku Klux
Klan shall not dictate to them the sources
of their motion picture entertainment.
Concern Vs. Worry
F.J.D.
God’s World
To worry is un Christian.
Worry dishonors God. It as
sumes that God does not have
things under control. Worry
implies that God is not inter
ested in His world; or, more
s p e c i f i -
cally, that God
is not interes
ted in me.
A mother
may answer,
"That’s all
very well, but
I’d be a poor
sort of.mother
if I didn’t
worry about my children.’’ A
father may say, "If I didn’t
worry about my family I’d nev
er keep my nose to the grind
stone as I do."
Such statements confuse the
word "worry" with the word
"concern". Webster defines
concern as "Interest in, or care
for, any person or thing; regard;
solicitude." Worry is defined
as "undue solicitude; vexation;
anxiety."
It is our duty to be concern
ed. Parents must have a con
cern for their children. All
of us, as members of Christ’s
Mystical Body, must be con
cerned about our fellow man.
We must be concerned about our
neighbor who is not a Catholic
We must be concerned about the
slum-dwellers in our city. We
(By Leo J. Trese)
must be concerned about racial
injustice. We must be concern
ed about God’s honor and glory,
and grieved that so many
should dishonor Him by sin.
Yes, we have ample cause for
concern.
However, our concern must
be laced generously with the
virtue of hope if it is not to
degenerate into worry. Our
trust in God and in His con
stant, loving care must never
weaken.
To avoid worry we need, al
so, to have a sense of per
spective. That is,we~must cul
tivate the ability to see life as
a whole and not in small piec
es. We need to see our pres
ent cross—sickness, loss of
job, birth of a Mongoloid child
—as a part of a larger picture
into which this darkness will fit
as a logical and a constructive
part.
Our worries will lessen, too,
if we have a sense of history,
an ability to look back and to
look ahead from where we stand.
F or example, parents worry
about the unpredictable behav
ior of their teenage son or
daughter. If they could look
back to the emotional turnoil
of their own adolescent years,
and ahead to when son or daugh
ter will be a devoted father or
a placid matron, concern would
not so easily grow into worry.
To paint with a larger brush,
Praise For Fr, O’Connor
Rep. Zablocki On Vietnam
By John J. Daly, Jr.
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
WASHINGTON—The second
ranking member of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee said
here Vietnam’s Buddhist up
risings began as a legitimate
religious protest, but now
are being exploited by com
munists.
Rep. Clement Zablocki, in
an interview the day (Oct. 23)
after his return to the capital
form a two-week study mission
to the Far East, had high praise
for the reporting of Father
Patrick O’Connor whose dis
patches have appeared in the
Catholic press.
The Wisconsin Democrat said
the veteran Far East reporter
of the N.C.W.C. News Service
has been reporting "much more
honestly" on the religious issue
than most other sources of news
in Vietnam.
Zablocki, chairman of the
House’s subcommittee on the
Far East and the Pacific, led
an eight-member group of
legislators which visited Viet
nam and other sensitive areas
of southeast Asia.
His conclusions, which he
said are largely shared by other
mission members, include
these on the issue of persecu
tion and Catholicism:
—There is no evidence of re-'
ligious persecution of Budd
hists.
—It is erroneous to describe
Vietnam’s government as "Ca
tholic" and to imply that the
recent disturbances stem from
Catholicism.
—The U. S. press corps in
Saigon seems young and inex
perienced, seeking chiefly sen
sational stories, and failing to
confirm many of the details.
Visiting newsmen sent on spe
cial assignment get more accu
rate accounts on the alleged
religious issue.
Zablocki related that on two
occasions in Saigon, his mis
sion held sessions with news
men, seeking the reporters’
facts and opinions on develop
ments.
Father O’Connor, he said,
read to the congressional dele
gation a chronology he pre
pared of the events related to
the Buddhist uprising.
"None of the other 40 or so
reporters took exception to his
account," said Zablocki, al
though he noted that the report
differed in many ways from;
dispatches seen in U. S. news
papers at the time of the inci
dents he reviewed.
(Father O’Connor, although
critical of several aspects of
the Vietnam government’s con
duct in the Buddhist controver
sy, has reported that the charge
of a "Catholic-dominated” gov
ernment which systematically
persecutes Buddhists and fav
ors Catholics is untrue.)
Zablocki said that other in
terviews in Saigon resulted in
reports that backed up early
Father O’Connor dispatches,
such as government-financed
construction of Buddhist pa
godas and government agree
ment with initial BuddhisJLde-
Operation
Understanding
m m m m * v
’ -v
^2/ : v N
we might examine the anxiety
which many good Christians
experience at the prevalence of
sin and the disregard for God’s
rights. It is fitting that we have
concern for God’s honor and
glory. Indeed, this must be our
primary and our ultimate con
cern. However, a sense of per
spective and of history will
keep our concern from swell
ing into disturbing anxiety.
There are more Catholics
on earth tod^y than there were
people on earth 300 years ago.
In the year 1650 the total popu
lation of the world is estimat
ed to have been about 500,000,-
000, of whom only a minority
were Catholic. Today’s Catho
lic population is estimated at
550,000,000. We still are only
one-fifth of the world’s total,
but Christ’s Church remains
the leaven in the mass which
Jesus proclaimed it to be.
There is much unbelief and
sin, yes; but there is much
faith and virtue, too. There are
about 415,000 priests in the
world. Every day, from 415,000
altars, the holy sacrifice of the
Mass goes up to God, with un
counted millions kneeling
around those altars even on a
weekday. God’s honor and glory
are not on the wane.
We do well to be concerned
for family, not neighbor and for
God—but always with courage,
with confidence and hope.
Let’s Call Father Father
} ;
It Seems to Me
There is certainly a priest
hood of fatherhood. A valuable
book could be written on the
subject, going back to Abraham,
who is so mirrored the father
hood of God that his son gave
to him the
same un-
quest ioning
love and obe
dience that
Abraham
gave to Je
hovah.
Indeed, a
father who is
not in a very
real sense a priest toward his
children is failing them. He
owes it to them that they shall
be able to see in him, and even
to feel in him, the divine good
ness showing through.
It is part of a father’s job
to be a religious man—a man
who is religious in a manly and
virile way, so that the youngs
ters, and especially the boys,
will not come to think that
religion is effeminate.
THIS MEANS that the father
not only is a prayerful per
son, and not at all ashamed of
being so, but also that he is a
man of principle and of morals.,
I do not think it is too much to
say that if all fathers could
be persuaded to be what fathers
ought to be, within a genera-
mands—only to have them re
vised by Buddhists.
He said the first Buddhist
protest in Hue was a legitimate
uprising over injustice. The
government denied the right to
fly a Buddhist flag at a major
event in Hue, although the papal
flag had flown prominently at a
Catholic ceremony only days
before.
"Since then, the communists
have exploited the issue,”
Zablocki said. "And the Reds
have used this highly emotional
issue effectively.
"We must remember that
Vietnam is a police state, a
situation that has come about
because it is a state engaged in
civil war. My own impression
is that if the Vietnam govern
ment did not use what we con
sider ‘harsh’ measures against
alleged Buddhist demonstra
tions, the communists could
paralyze the country.”
On the issue of a "Catholic
government,” Zablocki said
that "nothing is more errone
ous.” He produced a statistic,
also earlier reported by Father
O'Connor, on the religious com
position of government leader
ship. It claims that less than
25 per cent of the government’s
staff is Catholic. (
Zablocki, whose group spent
three days in Vietnam, said he
will urge to the full House For
eign Affairs Committee that a
highly respected private indivi
dual or a team of investigators
be sent to Vietnam to prepare
an exhaustive report on the
Buddhist issue.
JOSEPH BREIG
tion or two we could close al
most all the jails and prisons
on earth.
I suspect that almost all ju
venile delinquency—and the
more violent forms of adult
delinquency also—grow psy
chologically out of a sort of
subconscious rage against the
failure of fathers to be admira
ble.
A FATHER OWES it to his
son to be admirable. This does
not mean that he must be a pa
ragon; but he must be a man to
whom a boy or girl can lookup.
A father should be honest with
the kind of honesty that declines
to indulge even in small intel
lectual or social dishonesties;
an honesty that looks squarely
at what is, and stands unflinch
ingly for what ought to be.
A father should be courage
ous in adversity and illness, not
a whiner or a quitter. A father
should be a happy companion,
much more given to praise than
to blame, and above all never
a nagger.
A FATHER SHOULD be loyal
to his wife and children with al
most a fierce loyalty. If he is
that, he will almost inevitably
receive in return the warmest
and most confident loyalty.
A father owes it to his family
to be kind; magnanimous; gen
erous not so much with money
Lourdes
but with love and a kind of
reverence for the mysterious
ness of human personality.
The result of this kind of fa
therly example is young people
who are happy, who are serene,
who feel secure in the fortress
of the father’s virtue; who can
almost reach out and touch God
by touching the father.
WHEN YOU ARE reared by
that kind of father, it is easy to
believe in God and to have confi
dence in Him; to know that He
is good and merciful and lova
ble, no matter how appearances
might sometimes argue the con
trary.
I think I might boil it all
down by saying that every boy
and girl has the inalienable right
to the kind of father the very
thought of whom is a benedic
tion.
ALL THIS is preliminary to
saying that I am glad the ecu
menical council included among
its concerns the thought ofhav-
ing lay people, and expecially
fathers, administer some of
the sacramentals.
It is important to make fa
thers feel their priestliness;
to realize that they stand in the
place of God, and that God has
given it into their hands to
make their wives and children
feel keenly His goodness.
Jottings
"LOURDES is the mystical
body of Christ
on crutches
in wheel chairs
carried on a litter
Lourdes is the fact of mor
tality
seen whole in diminished
flesh.
Outside the gates, business
as usual,
Inside the gates, in the
grotto,
no bargains
Only hope in people called
hopeless,
faith—simple, wise—
and sometimes miracles.”
From ‘Jubilee*
* * *
IF THERE were but one place
in all the world to which I could
return, that place would be
Lourdes in France. Even more
than Rome and the historic
Vatican Council and Ireland,
my "other country," I love
Lourdes. All during the plan
ning for this tour, my interest
and excitement centered on
Lourdes. It is strange when I
try to analyze my feeling to
ward Lourdes. I just am com
fortable there and I found some
thing inexpressible there that
I had looked a long time to
By Barbara C. Jencks
find and did not find. It is one
of those comfortable places,
where one feels at ease and at
peace. It is like the one or two
homes one visits and looks
forward eagerly to return in
vitations there. . . all is in
order and you sense a belong
ing and ease and comfort there.
I find these things at a home
I visit and I find the same
sense of belonging in Ireland,
so it is hard to understand ex
actly why I love Lourdes bet
ter than any other place in the
world. I would return there
sooner than to any other
place.
* # *
THE LOURDES VISIT is the
highlight of my tour for me.
My first visit was made on the
Feast of the Holy Rosary, 1961,
only a few months after my mo
ther’s death. It seemed that for
the first time since it all hap
pened—the wake, the burial, the
expressions of sumpathy, the
sleepwalking aftermath—I had
found comfort. It was like being
home again and fnding out that
all was going to turn out right.
It was worth traveling half way
across the world and now after
two years to be back! Rome is
grandeur and there was
the chance to see history in
the making. If I were a really
good journalist, Rome with its
color and excitement and fever
ish pitch would be the highpoint
of the journey. But this little
village nestled in the Pyrenes
Mountains was theplace I longed
to visit most ... to be alone
at the grotto or to be a part
of the singing processional of
hundreds holding candles
against the blackness of the Sou
thern France night singing the
stirring Lourdes hymn, "Ave,
Ave, Ave Maria."
* * *
IRELAND IS THE land of the
heart and Rome, the city of
the soul but Lourdes is the city
of both. My list of petitions
was long. The first time I went
to Lourdes, Icould not pray for
myself. But I received the
comfort from an aching pain or
separation by death. This time,
I will aslo remember others—
the blind woman who writes me
such inspiring letters; the shut-
ins, a woman with five chil
dren in her early thirties who
has cancer; all the sickness in
the hospitals. I’ll remember
those who are carrying crosses
that seem to stagger them in
(Continued on Page 6)
Consecration
Scheduled
LOS ANGELES (NC)—Auxi
liary Bishop-designate John J.
Ward of Los Angeles will be
consecrated Dec. 12 in St. Vi-
biana’s cathedral.
This is the feast of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, copatroness of the
archdiocese. James Francis
Cardinal McIntyre of Los Ange
les cabled from Rome that the
Sacred Congregation of Rites
had given permission for the
consecration on that date. Or
dinarily, by canon law episco
pal consecrations take place on
Sundays or on feasts of the
Apostles.
Father Ciszek
SHENANDOAH, Pa. (NC)--
Father Walter M, Ciszek, S.J.,
freed recently after 23 years’
detention in the Soviet Union,
described the celebration of
Mass in his home town parish
here as one of the happiest
moments of his life.
The Jesuit priest, who was
released Oct. 11 in a U. S.-
Soviet prisoner exchange, told
1,000 persons crowded into St.
Casimir’s church that their
prayers preserved his faith and
courage during his captivity.
Contraceptives
WASHINGTON (NC)—The
Post Office Department has ap
proved for mailing a birth con
trol product which was held up
for six weeks by the St. Louis
postmaster.
The St. Louis postmaster had
delayed mailing of 490packages
of the product, an aerosol foam
contraceptive, pending instruc
tions from Washington.
The product’s manufacturer
has indicated that some 50,000
samples of the product will be
mailed out in response to re
quests resulting from advertis
ing in national magazines.
Congo Youth Leader
LEOPOLDVILLE, The Con
go (NC)—Donatien Dangi, di
rector of the Congolese govern
ment’s youth services, has been
elected national leader of the
Xaveri Catholic youth move
ment.
The Xaveri movement has
35,000 members in the Congo
where it was founded in 1952
by Father Georges Defour, W.F.
It has spread to Ghana, Nigeria,
Cameroun, Uganda, Tanganyi
ka, Ny as aland, Northern Rhode
sia, Rwanda and Burundi.
“Religious
Morals” Hit
BERLIN (NC)—Th Soviet
government newspaper Izvestia
has carried an article (Oct. 24)
attacking a top Soviet writer for
approving some aspects of
religious morals.
The writer, Konstantin Simo
nov, 48, a declared atheist and
communist, had said in an in
terview that he thought religious
precepts uring people to live a
moral life have their "useful
side."
Izvestia printed along article
by Grigori Simonov, a Moscow
philosophy professor, which
praised the writer’s basic athe
ism but called his qualified sup-'
port of some religious preceptfc
"flirting with religious mor-^
als."
The professor wrote that to
say there is something good in
religious morals is "incompat
ible with genuine atheism, which
seeks its task as the complete
overcoming of religion and can
not allow any peaceful coexis
tence."
Honor Fr. Hesburgh
EASTON, Pa. (NC)—Father
Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C.,
president of Notre Dame Uni
versity, was awarded an honor
ary doctor of laws degree by
Lafayette College, a Presby
terian institution here.
Neutral On
Birth Control
THE HAGUE, The Nether
lands (NC)—Birth control is s
private matter to be decided
by couples according to their
own consciences and does not
concern the government unless
it affects public health condi
tions. This clarification of the
Dutch government position on
the issue was given to a Social
ist member of Parliament, Dr.
Lamberts, by the Ministry of
Social Affairs, headed by
G.M.J. Veldkamp, a Catholic,
By David Q. Liptak
Q. In some of the news re
ports on Pope Paul’s recent
address to the Roman Curia,
it is stated or at least
implied, that the Eastern or
thodox Church severed reac
tions with the See of Peter be
cause they couldn’t accept the
doctrine of papal infallibility.
Is this correct? I though that
the doctrine which the Ortho
dox originally opposed is that
of the primacy of the pope.
Moreover, one of the articles
indicated that Pope Paul’s
speech implied a “reatreat"
from the dogma of papal infal
libility. But a doctrine can’t be
changed, can it?
A. The doctrine of papal in
fallibility and that of the pri
macy of the Roman Pontiff are
distinct concepts. Both are of
faith.
PAPAL I NFALLIBI-
LITY means that the Holy Fa
ther, the successor of St. Pe
ter as Vicar of Christ on earth,
cannot possibly err when he
speaks ex cathedra, i.e., when
by virtue of his supreme teach
ing and postoral office and au
thority, he defines a doctrine
relating to faith or morals
which must be accepted by all
the faithful.
INFALLIBILITY entails nei
ther a special revelation nor an
inspiration, but rather implies,
a divine assistance by which
the pope is preserved from er
ror when speaking ex cathedra.
THE DOGMA of the primacy
of the Roman Pontiff refers to
the fact that Simon Peter, as
the Prince of the Apostles and
first head of Christ’s Church,
received, for himself and his
successors, a preeminence, not
merely of honor, but of supreme
jurisdiction over the universal
Church.
THIS PREEMINENCE was
promised by our divine Lord
when he said: ‘‘And I say to
thee, thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my
Church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
And I will give thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven; and
whatever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in hea
ven, and whatever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven" (St. Matthew XVI:
18, 19.)
AND THIS GREAT promise
was fulfilled when Christ, af
ter demanding a threefold pro
fession of love from Peter in
reparation for his triple de
nial on the eve of the Crucifix
ion, perhaps?), said: "Feed my
lambs . . . Feed my lambs . . .
Feed my sheep” (St. John XXI:
15-17).
AS REGARDS a "retreat”
from these doctrines, the same
can be said which must be said
of any dogma of faith; namely,
no change is possible. As the
Vatican council affirmed spe
cifically of defined doctrines:
‘‘Therefore, the definitions of
the Roman Pontiff are of them
selves and not through the con
sent of the Church, irreform-
able."
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44 Thursday, October 31, 1963 No. 17
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