Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 7, 1963
Guest Editorial
Men And Manners
We will always have our extremists—those
excitable people who have become so taken up
with a cause as to lose their perspective on
the rest of reality. They seem to exist in
almost every area of human activity, but for
some reason or other they flourish in the
world of politics. They are always saving the
world from something, or for something—
and if this is not clear to all others, the
extremists do not suffer under any such
handicap in vision. They are confident and
convinced—and pretty generally insuffer
able.
Last week two incidents made evident
how extreme the extremists can get. The
United Nations Ambassador to the United
Nations was struck with a placard as he left
a gathering in Dallas and the Chief Justice
of the United States Supreme Court was pelt
ed with pamphlets in a similar context in
New York. Since neither Mr. Stevenson
nor Justice Warren are, strictly speaking,
political figures it may be hard to under
stand at once how they can arouse this sort
of reaction from any group. The answer, we
suppose, is that they are both symbols—
active, productive symbols—of points of view
not universally popular in American life. The
Supreme Court regularly has its critics,
which is a healthy democratic sign, but
assaults on the Chief Justice and absurd
calls for his impeachment are simply lu
natic. At the same time some Americans
may be thoroughly dissastified with the
United Nations as an international agency,
but an attack on the U.S. Ambassador is
hysterical.
Perhaps it is the hopeless nature of the
extremist’s cause that makes actions like
these more or less inevitable. When it is
obvious that Americans are not going to get
out of the U.N. and are not changing the
direction of the Supreme Court on state’s
rights, what can the extremist do? He loses
his temper and whatever shred of rational
ity remains to him, and he resorts to vio
lence. These are essentially the gestures
of the unintelligent and the immature, of
those who have abandoned civil debate in
favor of civil disorder. They are, in this
sense, the worst sort of subversives, seek
ing to upset the good society by demon
strations of physical fury.
The pitiful aspect of the picture is its
futility. If the extremists really wished to
persuade others to their own convictions,
they have chosen the worst possible way.
The public is shocked by insult and attack on
two of the most respected men in public
life; they cannot fail to turn away, in revul
sion and protest, from those responsible.
Whenever we lose our temper, we have pro
bably lost our argument; when we replace
reason with assault, we have come close to
losing our mind.—(The Pilot - Boston)
Aid Amendment
Foreign
WASHINGTON — A one-
sentence amendment to the for
eign aid billpending in Congress
has raised numerous problems
in a variety of fields.
The amendment to the For
eign Assistance Act of 1963
would make U. S. funds avail
able to promote birth control
studies and programs in coun
tries obtaining aid.
The proposal raises prob
lems that are moral, practical
and political, It raises problems
at home and abroad.
Artificial birth control is
regarded as intrinsically im
moral by Catholics and others
in this country. To them, it is
highly offensive to have the
U.S. foster such programs as a
matter .of government policy.
It is not a question of such
persons trying to force their
beleifs on anyone else, as has
been pointed out to the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
In a pluralistic society, they
have a right to be considered.
In this instance, it would seem,
they are being forced to
stand for something which is
repulsive to them, because
others are, for the most part,
indifferent to the moral issues
involved.
On the practical side, many
feel that artificial birth con-
By J. J. Gilbert
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
trol is not the cure for prob
lems confronting countries with
rapidly expanding populations.
Increased production, dis
covery of new foods and ma
terials, irrigation and emigra
tion offer more solid hopes of
improvement, and undoubtedly
will have to be resorted to whe
ther birth control is practiced
or not. Meanwhile, to the ex
tent that artificial birth con
trol is encouraged, the real and
unobjectionable solutions are
likely to be neglected.
Politically, the program giv
es a colorful weapon to those
who would inflame the colored
races against the white race,
the underprivileged countries
against the rich, notably the
U. 'S. They can picture the pro
gram as a deceptive maneuver,
planned to bring about the de
cimation of populations in
colored and poor countries. In
fact, it has already been done.
The so-called foreign aid bill
already is having a rough time
as a piece of legislation. Many
oppose it for political, econo
mic and allied reasons. For its
supporters to burden it with the
distrust of those who will now
dislike it for purely moral rea
sons, seems completely ill ad
vised.
Some of those who speak
for the amendment profess to be
astonished that it should stir
up such moral indignation. Per
haps they have heard too much
from those who steadily
promote the cause of artificial
birth control, and too little
from those who oppose it.
In 1959, President (then Sen
ator) Kennedy said it would be
“a mistake for the U. S. gov
ernment to attempt to advocate
the limitations of the popula
tions of underdeveloped coun
tries.” He also said it would
be a “great mistake” for this
country to appear to promote
“the limitation of the black and
brown peoples whose popula
tion is increasing no faster than
the United States.”
That same year, the Soviet
Russian delegate told the UN
Economic Commission for
Asia and the Far East: “The
imperialists want to cut down
your growth because they are
afraid of your increasing num
ber s and because of the inad
equacy of their economic sy
stem. We shall feed you no
matter what your numbers
are.”
For Soviet Russia, he offered
education, loans, technical as
sistance and trade.
What We Know About Purgatory
God’s W orld
Our knowledge of purgatory is
rather limited. We do know that
it is the place or state where
a soul receives its final fur
bishing, if needed, in prepara
tion for heaven. The word
“place” is
s o m ewhat
ambiguous
as this word
means a par
ticular posi
tion in the
created uni-
verse,
wherea s a
d i s embodied
soul is not
subject to the limitations of ma
terial creation. As far as the
soul is concerned, purgatory
would be “any place” where the
soul cannot see God.
The inability of the soul to
see God is the essence of the
suffering of purgatory. Housed
in its physical body, the soul
in this life is shielded from the
powerful attraction which God
exerts upon the human spirit.
Released from the body by
death, the soul feels the irre
sistible pull of God’s attractive
ness. Like a rocket from its
launching pad, the soul tries to
go to God with all the power of
its being.
But, although God is every
where, no soul with the least
taint of self-love can see Him
who must be the total object of
our love. One who dies free
from grave sin has not rejected
God. Yet, even unreprented ven
ial sin or unfulfilled penance for
sin constitutes a barrier be
tween the soul and God. This is
(By Leo J. Trese)
not a permanent barrier, as
mortal sin is; but this tem
porary barrier must somehow
be demolished before the soul,
completely purified of self, is
fit for union with Him Who must
be our all.
As the soul “strains at the
leash” to reach God, yet cannot
find Him, it experiences inde
scribable anguish. It burns with
a consuming but frustrated de
sire for God, and this agony of
frustration is the very suffering
which purges the soul of the last
traces of self. There comes the
moment when the soul, restored
to its pristine purity, receives
the spiritual vision which theo
logians call the Light of Glory.
Suddenly God bursts upon the
soul in all His infinite beauty
and goodness and lovability. The
soul possesses God and is pos
sessed by Him. The soul is in
heaven.
Time as we know it — hours
and days and months — is a
measurement of the physical
universe. A disembodied spirit
is outside the limitations of
terrestial time. Therefore it
seems pointless to ask how long
purgatory may last for any
particular soul. Even in this
world, suffering is measured
by intensity rather than by time.
One hour of excruciating pain
can seem like a year. As mea
sured by our worldly time, the
suffering of purgatory may en
dure for but a moment — a
moment which, to the suffering
soul, may seem like an eternity.
Whether we speak in terms of
“shortening the time” or of
“lessening the pain,” we who
are still upon earth can help
the souls in purgatory. They
cannot help themselves. Their
time of personal merit ended
at death. They only can suffer
with patience, awaiting the
blessed moment of heaven's
thundering dawn. However, God
in His goodness has given us
the privilege of helping these,
our brothers and. sisters, in
their distress. God gladly will
accept our prayers and pen
ances in their behalf.
How populous is purgatory?
No one can know, but purga
tory is probably not as crowd
ed as some persons think. I
remember that when I was a
child in catechism class, the
good Sister said that almost
everyone, even saints, will at
least have to “pass through”
purgatory. I suspect that Sis
ter’s appreciation of God’s holi
ness somewhat overshadowed
her understanding of His love
and mercy.
Since the sacrament of Ex
treme Unction removes all the
“remains of sin,” a person who
has worthily received the Holy
Annointing in his last illness
would be in no need of purga
tory. This would be true also of
anyone who has gained a
plenary indulgence just before
death, or who was able to make
an act of perfect love for God
in his final moments.
Nevertheless, love dictates
that we take no chances in pre
maturely canonizing those who
have gone before us. Many or
few, the souls in purgatory plead
for the charity of our remem
brance.
And He Did!
~' r '~
I want to /ef some
/res/? air into Me
C/?urc/?
The Trial Of Mark Twain
It Seems to .Me
JOSEPH BREIG
“What a pity that some one
did not reach this bitter dis
illusioned old man with a vital
Christianity instead of the dull
theological hellfire type which
he ighorantly confused with the
real thing.”
That para
graph is taken
from Dr. Nor-
man Vincent
Peale’s com
ment on Mark
Twain’s “Re
flections on
R e ligion, ”
published in
the Hudson Review, a literary
quarterly.
Twain (Samuel Clemens)
wrote the “Reflections” in
1906, but directed that they not
be published until the year 2406.
His daughter, Mrs. Clara
Samoussaud, lifted the ban on
publication a short time before
her death. Previously, she had
forbidden publication for fear
of giving “aid and comfort” to
the anti-religious Soviet Union.
TWAIN DENOUNCED the Old
Testament as depicting a God
“overcharged with evil im
pulses . . . He is always punish
ing — punishing trifling mis
deeds with thousandfold sev
erity.”
Twain ridiculed the Immacu
late Conception (he meant the
Virgin Birth).
He blamed Christianity for
the world’s wars, misery and
suffering, and said that God’s
only interest in “man or the
other animals” is to torture
and slay them, and “get out of
this pastime such entertain
ment as it may afford.”
THESE REFLECTIONS
strike me as a confused and
angry sort of “Out of the depths
I to Thee, Lbrtf.*'’ It is not
at all unusual for a person who
is hurt and bewildered to yell
senselessly at those to whom in
fact he looks for love and under
standing. And knowing some
thing of the goodness of God, we
need not doubt that Mark Twain
found what he did not even real
ize that he was seeking.
As Dr. Eugene Carson Blake,
stated clerk of the United Pres
byterian Church U.S.A., ex
pressed it, “Redemption, re
conciliation, reunion of man
with God are the ingredients
missing from Twain’s relig
ious reflections.” He notes that
Twain, at the time of writing,
had lost his wife and two daugh
ters, and “these harsh events
he seemingly could not under
stand ...”
NOR CAN ANY ONE under
stand the evil and pain and sor
row in the world—not fully.
But without God there is no
possible explaining the good
ness, beauty, unselfishness,
sacrifice that we see all around
us.
Indeed, without God there is
no explaining how or why any
thing exists at all. An d so we'
live in faith, often not compre
hending, often wondering why
God permits this or that, but
Visit To Knock
Jottings
By Barbara C. Jencks
’ ‘Mary of the Gael, reveal to
us thy face
When comes the ending of our
earthly day.
Bring us His pardon for our
sins last trace,
And lead us safely on the
homeward way.”
Brian O’Higgins
KNOCK, THE LEAST known
of the Marian shrines, was an
appropriate last-day stop on my
recent European trip. This
weary pilgrim spent the last
day visiting the Irish shrine
where in the years following the
infamous Potato Famine, it is
believed that Our Lady appeared
to comfort the people who had
such great devotion to her.
LORETO, LOURDES and now
KNOCK. The faith of the Irish
is proverbial and it is found
even today that the devout of
this nation speak of Our Lady
as if she lived next door. For
those in County Mayo—which is
immediately followed by the
words, “God Help Us” because
of the great poverty of the
area—it is almost as if Our
Lady were next door neighbor
for they boast the presence of
the nation’s only Marian Shrine.
The day our group stran
gled from the big green bus
into the shrine to begin the de
votions was a misty day, much
like every other Irish day. But
the mist coming down seemed
this day an over-generous douse
of holy water.
The Knock Story had its be
ginning on the evening of August
21, 1879, the eve of the Octave
of the Assumption. It was one
of those evenings that suddenly
beset a summer’s day. A misty
rain was falling and twilight
was coming early to this small
village in County Mayo, in the
West of Ireland. The narrow
streets were deserted and the
stillness of the evening was
broken only by the footsteps of
an occasional villager hurry
ing through the rain to say a
prayer at the simple little Par
ish Church.
Hungary
“Abandoned”
NEW YORK (NC)—A Hungar
ian refugee leader, preaching
at an anniversary Mass mark
ing the suppression of the
1956 Hungarian revolution, said
his country has “again been
abandoned to its fate.”
Msgr. Bela Varga, chair
man of the Hungarian Commit-
Mexico Suppresses
Truth About Tito
tee, spoke scathingly of “those
people in the free world who can
be so easily misled by the blan
dishments of Red propaganda or
by the temporary gains of busi
ness transactions.
He disputed claims of relaxa
tion in the policies of the pres
ent Hungarian communist re
gime and said the Hungarian
people are experiencing star
vation and the Hungarian
Church is subject to persecu
tion.
MEXICO CITY (NC)—T h e
Catholic weekly Mundo Mejor
has strongly denounced police
confiscation in Acapulco of one
of its issues shortly before the
arrival of President Tito of
Yugoslavia.
Issues of another Catholic
weekly, Union, and the political
review Nacion, were confis
cated the same day (Oct. 4)..
Mundo Mejor said (Oct. 26)
that it tries to give its readers
the truth on national and world
events and therefore could not
hide the truth on * ‘crimes com
mitted against the Yugoslav
Catholics by Tito.”
Pope Stresses
Need For Grace
Anti-Semitism
In Russia
trusting Him because He is in
finitely (and therefore myster
iously) good and merciful.
As Dr. Peale said, it is a
pity that Twain’s reflections
were not about religion as it
really is, but about a carica
ture of the real thing.
IT IS CARICATURE of one
kind or another that basically
good people attack when they
think they are attacking relig
ion; and the author of Huckle
berry Finn and Tom Sawyer
surely was a basically good
person. As Charles Neider, a
biographer of Twain, remarked,
“He didn’t like injustice.”
Rabbi Theodore Friedman,
president of the Rabbinical As
sembly, noted that Twain wrote
that “man is a machine.” But,
said Rabbi Freidman, “No ma
chine ever waxed indignant with
righteous wrath, as does Twain,
over man’s inhumanity to man.”
WHEN ALL IS SAID and done,
there is mystery in religion too
deep to be entirely penetrated
because divine goodness cannot
fully be encompassed by creat
ed mind. It is enough for us that
God, in His Incarnation for our
redemption, suffers boundless
ly more than we, and suffers in
each of us because He infinitely
loves us.
We are never alone. He is
always with us, and never more
so than when we feel most de
serted. It is heartbreaking that
Mark Twain did not, at the time
he wrote his reflections, realize
that.
CLEVELAND (NC) — Msgr.
Lawrence P. Cahill, president
of St. John College, joined three
others here in a letter to So
viet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
protesting persecution of Jews
in the Soviet Union.
The letter told Khrushchev
that Americans are “shocked”
at the wave of anti-Jewish per
secution now under way in your
country.”
“We prayerfully hope you
will repudiate and terminate
the show trials, the press vi
lification, and other incitations
to public anti-Semitism,” it
also said.
In addition to Msgr. Cahill’s
signature the letter had the
signature of Rabbi Philip Horo
witz of Brith Emeth Congrega
tion; Rev. B. Bruce Whittemore,
executive director, Cleveland
Area Church (Protestant) Fed
eration, and Cleveland
Councilman Leo A. Jackson.
The four formed a Cleve
land Committee on Anti-Sem
itism. Its aim is to keep peo
ple here informed about perse-j
cution behind the Iron Curtain.
VATICAN CITY (NC)--Pope
Paul VI stressed the existence
of and need for grace in the
holy lives of Catholics during
his weekly general audience
here (Oct. 30).
The English text of the Pope’s
remarks is as follows:
“We welcome your visit in
these days particularly devoted
to the thought of holiness. Holi
ness is the theme of the ecu
menical council. It is exempli
fied by the great and good men
We have recently beatified. It
will be celebrated by the whole 1
Church on the feast of All
Saints.
“By your Baptism you are
already as the early Chris
tians used to say ‘saints.’ That
is blessed, dedicated to God and
members of the Church. And We
exhort you to be aware of your
Christian dignity and to pre
serve it by living always in the
state of grace.
* ‘Nothing can be higher than
grace, the divine principle of
supernatural life. Nothing can
promote our spiritual growth
more than faithfulness to the
state of grace. We pray that
you may always have a life of 1
grace and use every occasion/
to increase your sanctity and
perfect your holiness.
By David Q. Liptak
Q. Are all Catholics eligible
for indulgences? What about
persons who are excommuni
cated? Isn’t some specific in
tention required before one can
gain an indulgence?
A, To be eligible for gaining
indulgences, for oneself, a per
son must be baptized, not ex
communicated, and in the state
of grace, at least at the end of
the works required for gaining
them. For those indulgences
granted only locally or to a
special group, one must also be
subject to the authority granting
the indulgencies.
Actually to gain an indulgence
a Catholic must 1) fulfill the an
nexed works prescribed and
precisely in the manner and at
the time required; and 2) have
the general intention of receiv
ing the indulgence (the reason
here being that favors are not
granted except to those desir
ous of them). The intention of
gaining indulgences need not
be directed to a particular in
dulgence. It should, however, be
at least a habitual intention (i.e.,
one once actually made and nev
er revoked).
formance of the strict penan
ces of the early Church.
DURING THE FIRST Chris
tian ages, extremely severe
penances were frequently im
posed for sins. Some of them,
dictated by the official Church
canons or laws rather than by
individual confessors, were-
styled “canonical penances”,
and were often public. Notable
exambles: three days’ fast on
bread and water for disecra-
tion of the Sabbath; a lifetime
of public humiliation, including
debarment from the main body
of the church for murderers.
A PLENARY (Latin plenus:
“full”) indulgence is dis
tinguished from a partial indul
gence in that it has the capa
city to remit all the temporal
punishment due to sin. In order
to gain a plenary indulgence in
all its fullness, a person must
be free not only from sin but
also from all affection for sin.
The Pastor of the Church,
Very Reverend Archdeacon
Bartholomew A. Cavanagh, sat
reading in the rectory, occa
sionally glancing up at the rain
outside. His housekeeper, Mary
McLoughlin, had a “day off”
and Archdeacon Cavanagh was
remaining at home in case any
sick-calls or other emergency
might arise. It was now about
7:30 and the archdeacon ex
pected that his housekeeper
would be home shortly and then,
perhaps, he’d take a good-night
stroll around the village. He
heard the sound of voices from
over in the direction of the
chapel, thought he heard some
one shouting, listened for a mo
ment and then resuitned his
reading.
Archdeacon Cavanagh was to
regret for the rest of his life
that he did not pay more atten
tion to that shouting, for out in
the chapel-yard, had ho gone to
investigate, he, too, might have
seen an apparition ofthe Bless-
(Continued on Page 5)
Q. Exactly what does the
phrase “partial indulgence of
500 days” mean?
A. A partial indulgence is so
called because it has the capa
city to remit part of the tem
poral punishment due to sin af
ter the guilt of that sin has
already been remitted. A “par
tial indulgence of 500 days”
signifies that as much satis
factory efficacy is granted as
would be gained if the person
receiving this indulgence real
ly spent 500 days in the per-
Q. If one’s dispositions were ’
not noble enough to receive a a
plenary indulgence which
he wished to obtain, would all
his efforts be in vain?
A. A plenary indulgence is
granted in the sense that if a
person cannot gain it in full,
he nonetheless can gain it par
tially, in proportion to the pur
ity of his dispositions.
Q. Is it possible to gain indul
gences for other living per
sons?
A. No one gaining an indul
gence can apply it to other liv
ing persons; but all indulgences
granted by the Holy Father are
applicable to the souls in pur-
(Continued on Page 5)
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44
Thursday, November 7, 1963
No. 18
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
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Most Rqv. 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