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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, November 28, 1963
“Why?
The spontaneous outpouring of grief and
sympathy by the great ones of this world
and its little people—the stunned disbelief of
a nation which thought "surely, this is all a
terrible dream. Surely, I will awaken soon”—
the heart shattering clatter of the horses’
hooves as they bore the flag-draped coffin
of the universally acknowledged leader of
the free people of the world toward his
body* s last resting place—the solemn cadence
of muffled drums, striking at the hearts
of millions still puzzled and bewildered—the
grief laden face of a young widow clutching
the hands of two children too young to fully
comprehend that they would never see their
father again this side of eternity—all bespoke
the enormity of a single act, by one man, which
had snuffed out the life of John Fitzgerald
Kennedy, President of the United States, plun
ged his family, his country and, indeed, the
world into mourning, and changed the course
of human history.
But, if the death of John F. Kennedy has
led only to grief and mourning—if it has
led the minds of men only to question,
"Why?”, but not to seek for the answer,
then his death has been in vain and the sor
row of a nation only a mass exercise in self-
indulgence.
He has deserved better than that from the
people to whom he had dedicated his life,
and for whom, finally, he lay it down.
To those whose grief is real and to whom
every human life is a precious gift from God,
we offer these words of NBC newsman, Chet
Huntley, broadcast only a few short hours af
ter the President’s death, and which he has
kindly made available to THE SOUTHERN
CROSS. We think he has answered the ques
tion, "Why?”.
"It is a logical assumption that hatred .. .
far left, far right, political, religious econo
mic, or paranoiac . . . moved the person or
persons who, today, committed this combined
act of murder and national sabotage.
"There is in this country, and there has
been for too long, an ominous and sicken
ing popularity of hatred. The body of the
President, lying in Washington, is the thun
dering testimonial of what hatred comes to
and the revolting excesses it perpetrates.,
"Hatred is self-generating, contagious. It
feeds upon itself and explodes into violence.
It is no inexplicable phenomenon that there are
pockets of hatred in our country—areas and
communities where the disease is permitted,
or encouraged, or given status by those
who can and do influence others.
"You and I have heard, in recent months,
someone say, ‘Those Kennedy’s ought to be
shot.’ A well-known national magazine re
cently carried an article saying Cheif Jus
tice Warren should be hanged. In its own
defense it said it was only joking.
"The left has been equally extreme.
"Tonight, it might be the hope and the
resolve of all of us that we have heard
the last of this kind of talk, jocular or
serious; for the result is tragically the
same.”
Part Of The Answer?
In the editorial above a na
tionally known television news
man notes the "pockets of hat-
kred” in our country. The pic
ture at right shows one of the
placards which have been car
ried by pickets from the Knights
of the KuKlux Klan outside Sa
vannah’s four downtown motion
picture theaters since October,
when they were desegregated.
Pickets have appeared every
night, and on Sundays, except
in inclement weather, carry
ing this and similar signs.
They were there last Monday
evening, too. Most Georgians,
heeding the proclamations of
President Johnson and Gover
nor Sanders observed the day
by attending memorial services
in their respective places of Di
vine Worship, the sorrowing
joining, in spirit, with millions
of their fellow-Americans who
prayed for the eternal happi
ness of President Kennedy and
Patrolman J. D. Tippett, both
cut down by an assassin's bul
lets and for the consolation of
their grief-stricken families.
For most Americans, last
Monday was "A Day for Mourn
ing”, but for the Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan is was a day,
like all days—another “Day
for Hating.”
Asks Significance Of
UN Report On Vietnam
By Father Patrick O’Connor
Society of St. Columban
’ SAIGON, Vietnam (NC)—The
-accused government ofNgodinh
Diem is dead now, and so is
^he.
r< Hence the report of the Unit-
-ed Nations Fact-Finding Mis
sion on alleged violations of
Buddhists’ rights in Vietnam is
something for historians to
study, not for statesmen to act
^on.
The allegations contributed to
the death of the government and
its president before the UN fact
finders had finished their task.
^Months of press reports about
"alleged oppression of Bud
dhists,” "alleged discrimina
tion,” had helped to generate the
thinking that generated the coup
of Nov. 1.
What will be the significance
of the report?
No matter what the findings
are, the report will record a
unique fact in modern history.
For the first time a govern
ment invited the United Nations
to send a fact-finding mission
to inquire into alleged viola
tions of human rights commit
ted by itself. Thus the govern
ment of Ngo dinh Diem set an
example.
Ceylon, which was represen
ted on this seven-man mission,
has been accused of violating
human rights in regard
to Christians and Tamils. Hav
ing accepted the principle of UN
"fact-finding” in South Viet
nam, it ought to accept it for
itself.
The Sudan, a member of the
UN General Assembly which
sent the mission to Vietnam, has
been accused of violating the
rights of Christians since 1957.
This correspondent in the
presence of some members of
the UN mission’s staff here,
wondered aloud whether the
mission would extend its acti
vities to other countries—"for
instance, Ceylon.” The only
answer was a snicker.
The value of the UN mis
sion’s report (or reports) as
a judgment is limited by the
circumstances in which the
mission worked.
It spent only 11 days in Viet
nam. On the last two it was
unable to work because of the
military revolt. It stayed all
the time in Saigon, except for
24 hours in Hue by three of the
seven members.
For interviewing Vietnamese
speakers, it was dependent on
its solitary interpreter, a Lao
tian educated in Hanoi, now at
tached to the‘tJN office in Bang
kok. He could be a Buddhist
partisan or anti-Buddhist (Bud
dhism is far stronger in Laos
than in Vietnam), anti-Diem or
pro-Diem, and the members of
the mission might never know.
On the other hand, the mis
sion had advantages. Its mem
bers worked hard, devoting long
hours to interviews. The gov
ernment gave them facilities
beyond what anyone expected.
"We have been allowed to see
everyone we asked to see,” the
chairman Abdul Rahman Pazh-
wak of Afghanistan, said mid
way during the mission’s stay
here. Only persons "connected
with the Buddhist problem”
were to be interviewed.
"Within the categories ag
reed on, I cannot recall any
person whom we asked to see
and whom we have not seen,
"the official spokesman of the
mission said on the day of its
departure. "We consider that
the facts we have collected are
enough.”
Contrary to a press report,
"the government did not try
to impose a program on us,”
he said. "It had a provisional
program for us to take oh al
ter as we chose.”
(Continued on Page 6)
We Are Men, Not Angejs
God’s World
There are two passages in
St. Paul’s epistles which strike
a responsive chord in most of
us. In Romans (7;19-23)St. Paul
tells us, "I do not the good that
I wish, but the evil that 1 do not
'wish, that I
perform. . .
For lam de
lighted with
the law of God
according to
the inner
man, but I see
another law
in my mem
bers, warring
against the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner to the
law of sin that is in my mem
bers.”
St. Paul returns to the same
theme in Galatians (5:16-18)
when he says, "The flesh lusts
against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh; for these are
(By Leo J. Trese)
opposed to each other, so that
you do not do what you would.”
Anyone who makes a sincere
endeavor to lead a Christian
life is aware of the sustained
tension that exists between our
spiritual self and our animal
self. A Freudian psychologist
would describe it as the strug-
ble between the id and the super
ego. However, we define it, we
know by experience that there
often is a wide gap between good
intentions and actual perfor
mance. We understand only too
well the force of St. Paul’s
words, "I do not the good that I
wish, but the evil that I do not
wish, that I perform.”
St. Paul was a realist; He did
not pretend that he or his con
verts were angelicized by rea
son of baptism. He insisted that
he and they face honestly the
fact of their humanity, the fact
of natural passions disordered
‘Requiescat In Pace”
Special Event
For Deaf
NEWARK, N. J. (NC)—Some
600 deaf people from New Jer
sey will attend a Christmas
service to be held in St. Fran
cis Xavier church here Dec. 8
The service will include a ser
mon to be given in sign lan
guage. There will be a Christ
mas party at the church hall
following the service. The event
is sponsored by the Mount Car
mel Guild of Newark.
Mass For President
SAN JUAN, P. R. (NC)—
Archbishop James P. Davis of
San Juan presided at a Solemn
Requiem Mass for President
Kennedy in the San Juan cathe
dral. Church bells throughout
the archdiocese tolled when
news of the President’s death
was announced and prayers
were offered for him at all
Sunday Masses.
Peruvians Tearful
At Kennedy News
UMA, Peru (NC)—Children
taught by Maryknoll Sisters
from the U. S. broke into tears
here as their teachers told them
of the death of President John
F. Kennedy, and an ailing Per
uvian priest left his sickbed to
rush to the Maryknoll parish of
Santa Rose de Lima to offer
his sympathy to the American
priests there.
Charges Of
Red Infiltration
MADRID, Spain (NC) —
Spain’s Young Christian Work
er movement has had to resort
to a mimeographed sheet to an
swer newspaper charges that
the YCW is communist-
infiltrated.
The reply was prepared for
the September issue of the YCW
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Sanctity Of A People
It Seems to Me
Not alone the United States,
but all the world’s nations
should feel themselves hon
ored by the unprecented tri
bute that Pope Paul VI paid
to American Catholics a few
weeks ago.
I refer to the
Holy Father’s
unexpect
ed statement
at the cere
mony in St.
Peter Basili
ca in which Bi
shop John Neu
mann of Phila
delphia became the first male
American to be proclaimed
"Blessed” by the Church.
It was not surprising that
Pope Paul said that Blessed
John’s sainting should do away
with the mistaken notion "that
American Catholicism is not
oriented to the singular and
sublime expression of sanc
tity.”
The pope, however, then star
tled his hearers by saying that
American Catholics have de
veloped "a people’s holiness”.
HE BEGAN by referring to
a book entitled "Sanctity in
America,” written some years
ago by Amleto Cardinal Cicog-
nani, his secretary of state, who
for 25years was apostolic dele
gate in the U. S.
The book, said Pope Paul de
monstrates the existence of "a
sanctity no longer individual but
collective, no longer restricted
to individual cases but shared
by numerous groups of the
faithful, no longer of one but of
JOSEPH BREIG
many, the sanctity of a peo
ple.”
Is is possible, the Holy Fa
ther asked, "that in this our
modern world, so profane and
so tainted by unbelief and vice,
that a national sanctity should
have been produced—and pre
cisely in America?—the sanc-
’ tity of which St. Peter spoke:
‘You, however, are. a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a purchased peo
ple,’ ”
Pope Paul then answered his
own question.
"This is our trust and our
hope. When we see certain man
ifestations of American Ca
tholic life, the parishes, the
schools, the universities, the
hospitals, the missions, when
we observe the spirit of faith
and sacrifice underlying these
works, when we feel the pro
found and solid union linking
those Catholics to the Catholic
Church, when we have before us
priests and Religious who
reflect the example of John
Neumann, how great a trust,
how great a hope fills our
soul!”
And what was the example
of Blessed John Neumann? That
of one who goes apart from the
world and inflicts fearful pen
ances upon himself? No; it was
a typically American example of
the person who does his job day
in and day out, and accepts as
a matter of course the trials in
volved in doing so.
It was not because Blessed
John Neumann wanted to be
cruelly cold that he slept on
the ground in the forests, but
because part of his job was to
visit his people in the fron
tier regions. It was not be
cause he wanted to feel a ter
rible loneliness, as even
Gdd had'hidden Himself,- that
he rode horseback through Pen
nsylvania mountain fogs, but
because his work took him
there.
THIS DETERMINATION that
duty must be done at all costs
is a specially American trait.
It is characteristic not only of
American Catholics, but of Am
erican Protestants and Jews
and even humanists. Children
walk to school through vicious
ly cutting winds; people get to
the office and the factory, and
to synagogue on Saturday or
church on Sunday, through how
ling blizzards or along streets
and sidewalks coated with trea
cherous ice. And hundreds of
thousands of American Catho
lics are at Mass and Commun
ion, fasting even on week days,
in savage weather.
Cardinal Cicognani and Pope
Paul are right; there is a peo
ple’s holiness in the United
States. And when I say that all
nations should rejoice in this
tribute paid to America, I mean
that America is the son of all
peoples; it is a nation made of
all nations, and to its shores
have come profoundly relig
ious people from everywhere
on earth. All the nations can take
pride in what their children have
achieved in America.
10 More Years
MONTREAL (NC)—Paul
Emile Cardinal Leger, Arch
bishop of Montreal, has written
to a priest here, Father Geor
ges Matte, and given his
appraisal of the future of the
Second Vatican Council.
"If things continue to evolve
at the present rate, we might
still be here in 10 years,” he
said.
Free Ads
ST. LOUIS (NC)—The St.
Louis Review, newspaper of the
St. Louis archdiocese, is offer
ing free want ads in two con
secutive issues to employers
who pledge to accept applica
tions from all job seekers, re
gardless of color.
magazine Juventud Obrera, but
police confiscated the issue.
The charges appeared in or
gans of Spain’s only legal po
litical party, the Falange, in
Madrid, Murcia, Burgos, Ovie
do, Vigo and Zamora. They
were based on a photo in the
August Juventud Obrera show
ing some 250 YCW members and
50 priests at a seminary in
Oviedo. An uplifted arm in the
rear of the group looks like a
clenched-fist communist sa
lute.
Diplomats Extend
Condolences
VATICAN CITY (NC) —Bel
gian Ambassador Baron Pros
per Poswick, dean of the dip
lomatic corps accredited to the
Holy See called on Francis
Cardinal Spellman, dean of the
U, S. Hierarchy, to express the
corps’ grief at the assassina
tion of President Kennedy.
Death Means Reunion With God
Jottings
by original sin. Spiritual growth
would be hindered, rather than
helped, by a denial that we have
within us a strong potential for
evil. A willful child is not re
formed by confining him to a
dark closet and passions are not
controlled by the pretence that
they do not exist. We must aim
to discipline our passions, not
to repress them.
It is not a disgraceful thing
that we find in ourselves evi
dences of lust, hate, sloth, jea
lousy, pride or greed. We are
not ignoble persons by reason
of the fact that we find lustful
thoughts pleasurable, or exper
ience flashes of hate for those
whom we ought to love (even for
parent or spouse) or feel stir
rings of resentment at the good
fortune of a neighbor, or are
elated when praised by others,
or cast covet^ys eyes on a top
(Continued on Page 6)
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me.”
Christina Rossetti
* * *
THE funeral of a nun or a
monk is a happy occasion. Some
communities return from the
cemetery to eat a special feast-
day dinner rejoicing at the en
trance of one of their brothers
or sisters into heaven. Recently
Joseph McLellan of the ‘Boston
Pilot,’ wrote a column on "his
funeral” and what he’d want it
to be like. The idea of writing
such a column has enormous
possibilities and I was amazed
that I had not thought of it long
before this. Mr. McLellan wrote
that the most poignant funeral
he had ever seen took place in
Paris at the Cathedral of Notre
Dame. He described it: "It was
utterly simple: a horse-drawn
carriage moved slowly down the
street bearing the coffin and be
hind it walked the blackclad,
veiled widow. The whole scene
had a muted, personal grief to
By Barbara C. Jencks
it that was deeply impressive.
Yet it also had a decoroum,
a facing of inescapable fact, a
lack of vulgar escapism or
overstatement. There was no
attempt, at this time of all
times, most ludicrous to im
press the neighbors,” Mr. Mc
Lellan went on to state that this
is the kind of funeral he’d like
to have but at other times he
reported that he’d like to have
400 singers—the Boston Sym
phony, no less—and four dozen
trumpeters sending him off with
the Berlioz Requiem. The Bos
ton columnist’s funeral con
cepts did not appeal to me, not
that I haven’t thought of my own
funeral or even made provisions
for it but aside from the fact
that there be a requiem, little
else really matters.
CURRENTLY we are being
treated in radio, television, ma
gazines and newspapers to com
mentaries on the controversial
book, "American Way of
Death,” by Jessica Mitford.
American funeral and burial
customs are the targets. Ac
cording to Miss Mitford,
American status seeking ex
tends beyond the grave and that
most Americans are buried with
too much show, elaborateness
and pomp. In Ireland recently,
we were discussing funerals
and the Irish group were amaz
ed at our customs of dressing
up the dead and applying cos
metics. The Irish wear third-
order type shrouds and burial
mechanics are all very matter
of fact. The Irish corpse looks
dead, unlike our pink and white
touched up corpse! The caskets
are of the minimum require
ment, no plush-lined, water
tight, silver-plated bomb
proof. Survivors for the most
part walk in procession and do
not ride in long slick limousines
to the graveyard. Miss Mit
ford' s book, which is being
‘gravely’ attacked by the
nation’s morticians, advocates
(Continued on Page 6)
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q. On All Stains’ Day I was
reminded of this question, which
I have been meaning to ask for
some time: How many saints
are there? Is there an official
list?
A. How many saints? There
are either 4500 or 283 or 2565
or 7000. The answer depends on
several aspects o f the term
"saint.”
2565 is the number we favor.
It represents the combined total
of saints and blessed cited in the
newly revised four-volume
Butler’s Lives of the Saints,
edited by Father Herbert
Thurston and Donald Attwater
(P. J. Kenedy and Sons, New
York; 1956). Abbot Butler’s ori
ginal work, published in London
in 1756 and 1759, contained only
1486 separate entries.
4500 is the approximate total
of saints and blessed mention
ed nominatim in the Roman
Martyrology. Nonetheless, this
classic work, in which all the
listings are arranged calendar
like, according to feast or com
memoration dates, contains a
daily reminder to the effect that
it omits "many other holy mar
tyrs, confessors and holy vir
gins” whose names have been
lost.
7000 (or more) is the number
of saints and blessed contained
in a thorough dictionary pub
lished by the Benedictines of
Ramsgate: The Book of Saints.
283 is the figure of formally
canonized saints counted by the
scholarly Jesuit, Father John
F. Broderick, in an article pub
lished by the American Eccles
iastical Review in 1956.
FATHER BRODERICK’S
catalogue begins with the first
known papal canonization for
which solid historical facts ex
ist: that of St. Ulrich of Augs
burg, a German bishop who was
raised to the honors of the altar
during the first Lateran Coun
cil in 993. Excluded from his
reckoning, therefore, are not
only the Scriptural saints, but
also the Church Fathers (i.e.,
St. Augustine, St. Jerome),,the
early martyrs (St. Lawrence,
St. Cecilia), and the national
apostles (St. Patrick, SS. Cyril
and Methodius).
IN AN ATTEMPT to explain
some of the problems involved
here, Father Broderick wrote:
"DURING THE FIRST mille-
nium of the Christian era, (the
method of acknowledging saints)
remained a recognized epis
copal prerogative. Long after
the first formal papal canoni
zation into the twelfth century
and occasionally later, this
practice perdured.”
NOR WAS THERE once any
uniformity, as to the meanings
of the words "saint” and
"blessed.’ ’ The first formal
beatification was that of Francis
de Sales, in 1662.
IT WAS POPE URBAN VII
who, in 1625 and 1634 drew up
the basic norms now observed
in canonization processes. In
Father Broderick’s words
again: "Henceforth everything
whatever concerning the public
homage of holy persons became
solely the prerogative of the
Holy See.
. . .But explicityly exempted
from this prohibition was the
cult of those saints then hon
ored by common consent of the
Church, or by immemorial cus
tom, or in the writings of the
Fathers and holy men; and ce
lebrated with the tolerance of
the Apostolic See or the Ordi
naries.”
SUCH CANONIZATIONS are
known as "equivalent canoni
zations.” This was the way St.
Albertus Magnus was canonized
in 1931, for example—Pope
Pius XI simply confirmed his
cult. The same of St. Margaret
of Hungary, whose cult was con
firmed by Pius XII in 1943.
ANOTHER PROBLEM in ca-
(Continued on Page 6)
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
"Vol. 44 Thursday, November 28, 1963
No. 21
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