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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 14, 1963
Anti-Communism
Production and crop failures in one com
munist nation after another, including Soviet
Russia, itself, point up graphically the falsity
of the principles of Marxism-Leninism and
the premises on which they are based. And if
the people of the Soviet Union appear to be
better off then their counterparts in other
Red-ruled nations, it is not because Com
munism, having had forty years in which to
establish itself, is now beginning to work,
but because the resources of a pillaged and
plundered eastern Europe have fed, clothed,
and sheltered Russians at the expense of mil
lions of others enslaved in satellite coun
tries.
But the self-contained seed of economic
disaster is not the worst characteristic of
Communism. For it is inherently barbaric
and morally bankrupt, a fact demonstrated
time and again throughout its history—in its
many programs and purges—in the deliberate
starvation of recalcitrant peasants—in its
bloody suppression of entire nations which
had looked to it for liberation from Nazism—
in its brutal and treacherous murder of Hun
garian freedom fighters—in its crucifixion of
Cuban patriots—and above all, in its ruthless
repression of all meaningful religion and its
callous depersonalization of its victims.
It is the anti-thesis of Christianity and the
Ape of God. With it, there can be no peaceful
co-existence, for it must war against God as
the flesh wars against the spirit.
But it does exist. It controls the lives
and destinies of hundreds of millions of
human beings, and we can and must peace
fully co-exist with them.
This is a fact all too often overlooked
by self-styled experts in the field of anti
communism, who would have Christians
adopt the Red methods of deceit, starva
tion, and even bloodshed in an effort to free
the world from further communist expansion.
It is high time these experts realized
that the battle against Communism is the
battle of the forces of God against the forces
of anti-God, and that the forces of God are
led, not by ex-generals, ex-FBI agents, or
politicians, but by the Church.
The answer to the spread of Communism
will not be found in simply decrying its evils
or denouncing as communistic everything
that Communism, itself, has not denounced.
It will be found in the exercise, by all who
lay claim to the name of Christian, of the
spiritual and corporal works of mercy toward
everyone in need, wherever in this world
he might live.
It will not be found in the high-sounding
and well rounded oratory of those whom God
warns “serve Me with their lips” but whose
“hearts are far fromMe,” and whose concept
of human rights is strictly limited by their
own economic self-interest.
It will be found in the consecrated work of
a truly Christian people dedicated to the
proposition that the world is not ruled by the
law of the jungle—work aimed at the de
struction of a cruel concept of human dignity
which while acknowledging individual rights
and obligations, denies any meaningful obli
gation on the part of society toward the wel
fare of Its members.
Vietnam Catholic Action
Urges Cooperation
By Father Patrick O’Connor
Society of St. Columban
SAIGON, (NC)—The National
Committee of Catholic Action
of Vietnam has issued a state
ment here reminding Catholic
groups of their duty to work
for the common good and
strengthen national union.
The statement also asserts
(Nov. 5) the obligation to ac
hieve observance of basic
human rights for all.
‘‘Facing the new situation
whose importance everyone ap
preciates because of its close
relation to the nation’s
destiny,” the statement reads,
“the National Committee of Ca
tholic Action feels that it should-
reaffirm the fundamental prin
ciples set forth by ecclesias
tical authority, the encyclicals
and pastoral letters.
"Applied to the present situ
ation, these principles could be
stated as follows:
“First—Catholics ought to
live in union with their com-
patirots and share the senti
ments of the nation according
to the spirit of the messages
of His Holiness Pope Paul VI
and the encyclicals of Pope
John XXIII, expecially Pacem
in Terris.
“Second—in an atmosphere
of understanding and harmony
with all, Catholics will make
it their duty to achieve for
themselves and to respect in
others the fundamental rights of
the human person such as free
dom of thought, of belief and of
worship.
' ‘Third—although the Church
■Liturgy Expert-
Stresses Import Of
Council Liturgy Action
(The author of the following
article is the former president
of the National Liturgical Con
ference in the United States,
professor of canon law at the
Catholic University of America
and an expert for the Second
Vatican Council attached to the
council’s; Liturgy Commission,
serving as secretary of a lit
urgical subcommission.)
By Father Frederick McManus
N.C.W.C. News Service
VATICAN CITY-The Second
Vatican Council may be remem
bered in history as the council
that brought the people back in
to the public worship of the
Church.
On Oct. 31, with overwhelming
approval of the final chapter
of the document, the council
completed its work on the 130-
paragraph Constitution on the
Liturgy which was the first
item on its agenda more than
a year ago.
A few final modifications of
the document are now being pre
pared by the council’s Liturgy
Commission. These will be
voted upon by the bishops during
the next two or three weeks —
in time, it is hoped, for offi
cial publication by conclusion of
the council’s second session on
Dec. 4.
Even now it is possible to sum
up the council’s nearly unani
mous decision on the reform of
Catholic worship:
—Permission for the use of
the vernacular languages in
countries where this will help
the people’s understanding.
—Revision of all services so
that they will be simpler and
clearer, with a greater part for
the people, again with allowance
for regional variations.
—A program of instruction
for clergy and faithful in the
meaning of worship.
A lengthy and formal docu
ment has been agreed upon. It
will be Church legislation and
exhortation. It will decree a
project of change in the texts,
prayers and rites by which
Catholics worship God.
But what will this mean on
Sunday morning in the average
parish? What has the council
accomplished for the people
in their life of prayer and wor
ship?
Sunday is the Lord’s day, the
day on which the Church cele
brates each week the triumphant
resurrection of Christ from the
dead. The best way to picture
liturgical change resulting from
the Second Vatican Council is
to describe its impact on Sunday
Mass, when the community of
believers comes together to ce
lebrate the eucharistic sacri
fice.
If we look ahead one or two
or three years—it could be
more or less—the most obvious
and striking change we can ex
pect is the use of the vernacu
lar languages or mother ton
gues in the Mass, replacing the
Latin language in many parts
of the service. To begin with,
the readings from the Bible,
Epistles and Gospels, will be
in the language of the people.
The reading of the Bible at
Mass is intended to be an an
nouncement of God’s word to
the people, yet up to now the
official reading has been done by
the priest, standing with his
back to the people and speaking
an unintelligible language. On
Sundays, in fact, a makeshift
repetition in English has been
necessary if the people were to
hear the word of God at all.
Almost as important, the
parts of the people will be said
or sung in their own language,
and this reveals an aspect of
Catholic worship that Latin has
concealed. If there are prayers
of the Mass to be said by the
priest, there are also prayers
which belong to the people.
There is a kind of apportion
ment of roles: the priest has
his part, the people have their
part—and the people's parts
should be in the language they
understand.
Thus the Gloria and Creed,
the Hymns of Christian joy and
faith will not be said in Latin
by the priest, but in English by
the people. The same is true
of the Sanctus and the Agnus
Dei. In every Mass there
is psalmody, verses from the
Old Testament recited or sung
between the Epsitle and Gos
pel, at the beginning of Mass,
at the Offertory of bread and
wine, at Communion. All these,
properly speaking, are the peo
ple’s song or prayer and may
be permitted in the people’s
language.
In some countries there has
already been a revival of psalm
recitation and singing; the
psalms are, after all, the com
mon hymns of Jews and Christ
ians alike, composed under
God’s inspiration. We can ex
pect that their use in English
at Mass will revive Catholic
love of these sacred songs.
Today they are largely un
familiar and their unfamiliarity
suggests that a mere trans
lation of Mass texts from La
tin to English is no cure-all.
This is the reason that the
bishops of the council have de
cided that there must be pro
grams of instruction, so that the
words of worship may be un
derstood—and thus said with
meaning and prayerful purpose
by the people.
A second feature of the Mass
of the future will be a new ap
proach to preaching, by which
priests will be expected to make
the sermon an integral and re
lated part of the Mass itself,
not a seeming interruption. This
development should be helped
along by two promised reforms
in the rite of Mass, already
agreed upon by the council:
The first is to make the
“service of the word of God”
(Epistle Gospel, sermon) stand
out distinctly in the structure
of Mass, probably by having
the priest lead this part of
Mass from the bench or seat
or even pulpit. The second is to
provide a greater variety of
Epistle and Gospel passages in
a cycle of two, three or more
years.
This does not mean that the
(Continued on Page 5)
LONDON, (NC) — The Uni
verse, a London Catholic Week
ly, has turned up an Anglican
cardinal: Canon Joseph Ronin-
son, the sacristan of St. Paul’s
Anglican Church here.
Canon Robinson’s official
title of “cardinal” goes back
to pre-Reformation times when
the minor canons of the then
Catholic cathedral were form
ed by royal charter in to a “col
lege.” The college’s senior
members were called cardinal,
and the title still exists.
K. Of C. Workers
Contract
Bishops In
Accident
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (NC)—
Office workers at the Supreme
Headquarters of the Knights of
Columbus here have overwhel
mingly voted to accept a new
three-year contract which con
tains a package increase of 25
cents per hour.
The workers are members of
Local 329, Office Employes In
ternational Union, AFL-CIO.
ROME, (NC)—Four Ameri
can bishops were injured in an
automobile accident while tour
ing the Holy Land on Nov. 4.
Two are hospitalized in Tel
Aviv, Israel.
f V .,
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stays absolutely outside all
forms of government, Catho
lics have the duty to work for
the common good and to make
a positive contribution to build
ing up the country in confor
mity with the social teaching
of the Church.”
The committee urgently
asked local committees and
groups to have the foregoing
principles made widely known
* 'to strengthen national union
which is indispensable for the
nation’s survival.’’
The committee begged all to
increase their prayers “for
our dear country, Vietnam.”
All the bishops of South Viet
nam are absent from the coun
try attending the ecumenical
council in Rome.
Note To The Post
It Seems to Me
Alabama Prelate
Sees Integration
Coming
MOBILE, Ala.—Archbishop
Thomas J. Toolen said here that
the issue of integrating Ala
bama Catholic schools must be
faced.
Archbishop Toolen, Bishop of
Mobile-Birmingham, said that
despite the opposition of Ala
bama Gov. George Wallace and
others school integration can
not be halted.
The hospitalized prelates are
Bishop William G. Connare of
Greensburg, Pa., and Auxiliary
Bishop John J. Scan lan of
Honolulu, Hawaii.
The other two, injured but
able to return to Rome, are
Bishop Paul L. Hagarty,
O.S.B., of Nassau, Bahamas,
JOSEPH BREIG
An amusing-annoying rheto
rical performance by Thomas
J. Fleming was presented, with
appropriate hoopla, in a recent
issue of the Saturday Evening
Post, under the title, “The
Crisis in Ca-,
t h o 1 i c
Sc hools.”
(Not that
there isn’t a
crisis of a
sort, al
though it is
not nearly as
panic - button
as Fleming
made it sound. But I will leave
that aspect of the matter to the
pastors and school superinten
dents and bishops.)
What intrigued me was, first
Fleming’s calm assumption that
if interreligious tensions have
risen out of disagreement
among Americans over school
financing, the fault must auto -
matically lie with those Catho
lics who have the effrontery to
suggest that their children are
entitled to some share in state
and federal educational tax
funds.
NOWHERE in Fleming’s ar
ticle could I find any sugges
tion that Catholics who feel like
that can be other than unreas
onable. “Last year,” he ponti
ficated, “the Catholic demand
for help was one of the main
reasons for the defeat of the
administration’s desperately
needed federal aid bill, and this
year there is every sign that
the deadlock will be repeated.”
Whether or not Fleming intend
ed it so, the result of that kind
of writing is to make Catholics
appear Dog-in-mangerish and
unpatriotic.
The fact is that Catholics did
not “demand help” for their
school children from the fed
eral government. I cannot recall
that any prominent Catholic
came out flatly for federal aid
to education. As Fleming him
self reports (contradicting his
own thesis) one-third of the bi
shops favor federal aid, one-
third are against it, and one-
third are indifferent. And the
laity is roughly estimated to be
divided half and half.
“THERE IS OBVIOUSLY no
solid bloc of Catholic voters
(or even of bishops),” Flem
ing writes, “ready to endorse
unanimously the Church’s cur
rent policy on the issue,” I
am sure we would all be fas
cinated to hear Fleming ex
plaining how the Church can
have a policy which no solid
bloc of Catholics or even of
bishops is ready to endorse.
We would seem to need a word
from Alice in Wonderland at
this point.
Apparently it did not occur
to Fleming that many Catholics
might feel that it is their
opponents, not they, who have
dog-in-managerishly blocked
federal aid to education. In
Fleming’s treatment of the mat
ter, such groups as the Nation
al Education Association come
out looking high-minded and im
partial, although the fact is
that they have repeatedly block
ed federal education aid rather
than allow a nickels-worth of
consideration for youngsters in
Catholic and other religious
schools, and in private schools.
THERE IS ROOM for plenty
of difference of opinion as to
who has been small-minded and
unreasonable in this matter.
And it might have occurred to
Fleming that many Catholics
feel an obligation to resist a
federal aid bill that would de
stroy religious education by a
simple process of bankruptcy.
Fleming’s article, in short,
was unfair and unbalanced. It
was bad journalism, and neither
Fleming nor the Post has any
cause to be proud of it. The
Post, I am confident, would
never suggest that Negro citi
zens stop demanding their
rights in order to avoid inter
group tensions. Why is it bland
ly taken for granted that Catho
lics are out of order when they
take their stand for some kind
of school tax equity?
THERE IS a musty smell,
too, about Fleming’s’piece, as
if it had been written a year
or so ago and never updated.
Not once does he mention the
change in climate which has re
sulted in a cooperative Catho-
lic-Protestant-Jewish seeking
for solutions at the present
time, and almost an end to
polemics.
For one thing, though, I do
thank Fleming. He says that in
a Catholic school an arithmetic
problem might read, “If a
priest saves 800 souls from
Purgatory with one Mass, how
many will he save with 20 Mass
es?” That mad, mad example
of the confusing of religion with
other studies ought to convince
everybody that this sort of thing
is poor pedagogy, leading to
bad theology. The only right
answer to so imbecilic a ques
tion would be, “No one but God
knows, Sister.” And God does
not choose to tell us.
5 Year Council?
ST. LOUIS—The ecumenical
coundil may last three—or even
five—years more, Auxiliary
Bishop George J. Gottwald of
St. Louis said here.
Bishop Gottwald, back from
the council’s second session,
said it would take ‘ 'a minimum
of three years” to cover all the
draft proposals before the coun
cil and noted that other council
Fathers have speculated that it
might require five years.
who is a native of Greene,
Iowa, and Auxiliary Bishop John
F. Hackett of Hartford.
The four had gone to the Holy
Land during a four-day break
in the Second Vatican Council,
Nov. 1 to 4. They were riding
in a taxicab to the airport in
Tel Aviv when a truck struck
their vehicle broadside.
Pope Uses Gift Car
VATICAN CITY, (NC)—Pope
Paul VI went for a ride for
the first time (Nov. 8) in the^
white Lincoln Continental pre
sented to him in October by a
group of alumni of Notre Dame
University.
QUESTION BOX
Death Be Not Proud
Jottings
By Barbara C. Jencks
"Now they have come, those
afternoons in November,
When all the air is still and
branches are bare,
And the long, lovely light that
I remember
Invades with luminous peace
the untroubled air.”
Sister M. Madeleva,
C.S.C.
* * *
AT ONE time or other, most
of us realize with a sudden and
full impact that here ‘ 'we have
no lasting home.” That somday,
we know not where or when we
are going to die. We experience
this fact in the death of some
one dear. . .on all Soul’s day
and during the somber reminder
that November brings in its
illustrations of a dying nature.
The fact walks with us but most
of the time we are not aware of
it or avoid it. Few find joy in
contemplating death despite the
fact that it means being with
God. The previews of heaven
found in scriptures fail to ex
cite with their promise that
“eye has not seen nor ear heard
what God has prepared for those
who love Him.” This battered
world with its fear of nuclear
attack and worries about Cuba
and Russia and taxes and rents
and unpredictable weather still
is clung to as a pearl of great
price. This is quite natural.
FEAR OF DEATH is a nor
mal attitude. I am told that only
the saints, the mad and the
young do not dread its daily
approach. I have read of those
who suffer the most painful
ills, those who have borne great
poverty cling wildly to life. It
would seem to me that beside
this normal fear of death, which
is the unknown, most of us would
push our deadline ahead be
cause we are aware that we have
accomplished so little in this
life. One lifetime is given to
each of us to become that per
son which God has envisioned
from all eternity. In the secret
of our hearts, most of us rea
lize that we have not ac
complished what we might have.
Father Hubert Van Zeller,
O.S.B., my favorite spiritual
writer despite his being an En
glishman, has written that one
of the saddest sights in the world
is the “near-saint.” He says
that the hunger for sanctity is
not rare and it is granted to
most everyone who knows any
thing about God at all. Yet the
British Benedictine goes on to
make an interesting statement.
"By the time most of us are
forty it has become abundantly
clear that we are failures. . .
The truth is that all of us know
in our heart of hearts how very
far we have fallen short of what
once we could have been. What -
(Continued on Page 5)
By David
Q. Isn’t it a Christian prin
ciple that persons of con
siderable wealth are obliged
to use their excess riches in
favor of the poor?
A. There is not question about
it. One’s superfluous income,
i.e., that which he does not
need to live decently, and with
dignity, is not left to his own
discretion. Rather, as Pope
Pius XI emphasized in hisQua-
dragesimo Anno, “the rich are
bound by a very grave precept
to practice almsgiving, benefi
cence and munificence.”
THIS IS A SUBJECT we have
had to return to more than once,
evidently because it is still
widely misinterpreted. Yet any
one conversant with the rudi
ments of Christianity should
know that the possession of
excess wealth entails obliga
tions both in justice and in
charity toward those who are in
need. Such obligations are ex
plicitly detailed throughout the
New Testament, as for example,
in the first Epistle of St. John;
“He who has the goods of this
world and sees his borther in
need and closes his heart to
him, how does the love of God
abide in him?”
SOME OF THE warnings on
the subject by the early Church
Fathers are electrifying. St.
Augustine wrote: “One who pos
sesses superfluous goods is in
possession of another’s pro
perty.” This was a conclusion
he reached from the premise
that ‘ 'the superfluity of the rich
is necessary for the poor.”
AND ST. GREGORY, the
Great, commenting on the stoy
of Dives, the rich man in the
Gospel, wrote: “No one should
Q. Liptak
feel secure even though he can
say, “I have not stolen any
thing belonging to others, and
what belongs to me I use law
fully.’ For that rich man (i.e.,
Dives) was delivered into hell
because he used the wealth giv
en him for luxury and closed
his heart to the misery of the
poor.”
JUST WHAT does constitute
excess riches is more readily
calculated in some instances
than in others. Nor, is there a
strict obligation to put all one’s
extra wealth specifically in
almsgiving. Thus, as Father
Bernard Haering observes: “A
socially sound and fruitful use
of material goods in other ways
may frequently prove more ad
vantageous to the furtherance of
the true welfare of our neigh
bor than the distribution of
alms. The sharp utterances of
many Fathers of the Church de
claring that there is an obli
gation in charity, or even in 4
justice, to give all one’s super
fluous goods in alms may rea
sonably be interpreted to mean
that there is a real obliga
tion to devote the total super
fluity to the welfare of one’si
neighbors, primarily in the
form of alms.”
(The Law of Christ, Vol, II;
The Newman Press: 1963)
WHAT ALL this means in the
concrete is that everyone who
chances to have more than ade
quate means should ask him
self, sincerely and prayerfully,
(1) just how much of his wealth
is superfluous, (2) just how his
superfluity can alleviate human
misfortune. He should then pro
ceed to implement his findings
with prudence.
cM) The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44 Thursday, November 14, 1963
No. 19
Published weekly except the last week in July and the
last week in December by The Southern Cross, Inc.
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Second class mail privileges authorized at Monroe, Ga. Send
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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