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1 1 t f 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