Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

I Child’s Suffering Unites Community PEQUANNOCK, N. J. (NC)~ One girl’s suffering has helped unite this community. The girl is 11-year-old Shir ley Breeman. She would have entered the seventh grade at Holy Spirit School here in Sep tember if she had been able. But Shirley was totally paralyz ed by an injury in a backyard pool last July. Since then the people of Holy Spirit parish and their neigh bors have raised $10,000 to help pay her medical bills, ex pected to reach $17,000. Shirley will be hospitalized for at least a year and will re quire therapy to enable her to perform a few simple actions such as feeding herself. The community effort to help the girl—the oldest of six chil- Feast Of Christmas (Continued From Page 1) day that came from the cave of Bethlehem so many centuries ago. The same message is there —love so great that it was divine and incarnate. And St. John tells us that “God is love” if indeed men needed to be reminded of this holy truth. Christmas is a holy story from the past—but oh, so very new. It is radiant with God’s beauty and grace, and His infi nite love. We see a Child shi vering in straw, His tiny arms outstretched to embrace the world. We see His holy Mother with love beaming from her eyes. This is not rhapsody or poetry, but the earnest truth. Even today amid all the threats of military powers and the anxieties that make whole na tions tremble, there is the feast of the Saviour’s birth in this world. It makes everything else of no importance; it casts the very sun into the shadows; it makes men with their foolish strivings look puny and help less. For the Child and His holy Mother are for the salvation of the world. They show all men the way to peace and happiness. Their message is timeless, their example is without paral lel, their presence sanctifies all men. “Holy Mary, Mother mild, bless us with thy holy Child”—at Christmas and al ways. DESBOUILLONS Savannah’s Leading Bridal Store SINCE 1870 AD 2-1145 126 E. Broughton St. Savannah, Georgia dren of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Breeman—is being directed by F ather John Dericks, pastor at Holy Spirit, and Judge Herbert Irwin. Shirley is taking her ordeal like a trouper. One day she told her father, “I’d like to put all my troubles into a bag and give them away.” But she quickly changed her mind, saying: “No—then they’d only be trou bles for someone else.” The plucky lass is offering her suffering for the souls in purgatory and asked her family if they thought “God has a lot more people He wants to get into heaven and that’s why He’s let ting me suffer so much?” Shirley has seen her class mates once since the accident. That was when the ambulance which transferred her from Chilton Hospital here to the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York stopped off at the schoolyard. But her classmates send her tape recordings of their activi ties on a recorder provided by the Salvation Army. A door-to-door canvass has been organized to raise funds for her medical bills. The Ro tary Club donated $500 toward purchase of a device to project print on the ceiling so Shirley can read. A beauty parlor dona-, ted a day’s receipts. The com munity has united to help one of its own. St. Mary’s Auxiliary Meeting AUGUSTA—The Ladies Aux iliary of St. Mary’s Church met at the Parish Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 11th. Mrs. Luther Thigpen announ ced that twenty-eight packing boxes of clothes had been col lected for the Bishops Drive and had been sent to the needy overseas. She also explained that the Auxiliary had asked for contributions to the Feed a Family Project, which makes donations to a needy family each month. The Auxiliary accepted Mrs. T. S. Henderson’s proposal that all of the Study Groups in the Parish be asked to meet and make Christmas arrangements to be given to the shut-ins. It was decided to send Christ mas flowers to the Little Sis ters of the Poor. Monsignor Daniel J. Bourke explained the new ruling of the ecumenical Council concerning the use of English during the Mass and in the Daily Office of the Priest. First Communion Class St. Mary’s, Augusta First Communion class at upper and lower photos with St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Church, Augusta, is pictured in their pastor, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Bourke, V.F. Government Involved In Birth Control Controversy (The issue of birth control and public policy is a burning question throughout the nation. In an effort to determine the dimensions of the problem, NCWC News Service sought in formation from sources in the 50 state capitals and Washing ton, D. C. Facts thus obtained are presented here in the second of three articles.) By Russell Shaw (N.C.W.C. News Service) From the outside looking in, the Federal government in its approach to the birth control issue appears rather likaaman trying to go in two directions at May the peace and joy of Christmas abide with you. First State Bank And Trust Company 3 Convenient Locations ALBANY, GA. once while standing still. The description, though pa radoxical, is appropriate to a situation in which voices in and out of government are raised urging contradictory and mu tually exclusive policies. At one extreme arethosewho advocate an active government effort involving largescale ex penditures for research on birth control and implementation of birth control programs through foreign aid. On the other wing are those who want the govern ment to stay out of this field— period. Somewhere in the mid dle are those who would sanc tion a strictly limited govern ment role through support of basic research. Advocates of the activist ap proach scored a significant suc cess this year in the foreign aid bill. For the first time, a section written into the bill by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee provided for spend ing U. S. funds “to conduct research into problems of con trolling population growth and to provide technical and other assistance to cooperating coun tries in carrying out programs of population control." Sponsored by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the for eign relations chairman, this provision was inserted in the bill during a closed committee session without benefit of public hearings. In 15 days of Senate debate on the bill, the birth control section went unmention ed. Opposition was expressed, however, by Msgr. Paul F. Tanner, general secretary of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. In a letter to Fulbright, Msgr. Tanner declared that “for the Federal government to adopt a policy approving the promotion of artificial contraception is to infringe upon the freedom of conscience of many of its citi zens. . .It is not the business of government to enter into this question.” The House version of the for eign aid bill did not contain this provision. The section was eli minated from the bill by Senate- House conferees, who instead adopted a provision limited to research on population prob lems and making no reference to birth control. The Federal government’s role with regard to birth con trol became a major public is sue in 1959. On July 23 that year a citizens’ committee ap pointed by President Eisenhow er to study the foreign aid pro gram and headed by William Draper, Jr., issued a report calling for cooperation by the U. S. government with under developed nations “in the for mulation of. . .plans designed to deal with the problem of popula tion growth.” On Nov. 26 the U. S. Catholic Bishops in a joint statement de clared their opposition to the use of public funds to promote artificial birth control. They stated: “United States Catholics will . . .not support any public as sistance either at home or abroad to promote artificial birth prevention, abortion or sterilization whether through direct aid or by means of inter national organizations.” The issue quickly became part of the debate that preceded the 1960 presidential election campaign. Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike of California raised the question of whether the Bishops’ statement would be binding on a Catholic Presi dent. A specific statement of gov ernment policy on the issue was given in December, 1962, by Richard N. Gardner, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Af fairs, at a meeting of the Eco nomic Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. He' repeated the same position last May at a conference on popula tion problems sponsored in Harriman, N. Y., by the Ameri can Assembly. Said Gardener: “While the United States will not advocate any specific family planning policy to any other country, we can help other countries, upon request, to find potential sour ces of information and assis tance on ways and means of dealing with population pro blems. “The provision of materials for this purpose can best be done by those governments whose citizens are not divided on this question, by private foundations, and by business firms.” Having heard this policy out lined, the conference of citizens prominent in various fields in effect rejected it by adopting a report that stated: “The U. S. should provide direct aid to countries wishing assistance in family planning programs. Such aid would in clude services and materials (implements) for family limita tion, as well as information to that end.” Apart from the foreign aid (Continued On Page 8) The Southern Cross, December 19, 1963—PAGE 3 Prelate Foresees Further Progress In Next Session (By Father Placid Jordan, O.S.B.) VATICAN CITY (NC)—There is every reason to look forward to the next council session with full confidence that further pro gress will be achieved and that issues which now seem contro versial will be settled in a spirit of mutual understanding and charity. Archbishop John Carmel Heenan of Westminster, president of the Assembly of Bishops of England and Wales, said this to the N.C.W.C. News Service on the closing day of the second session. “We can be certain,” he said, "that the council Fathers now returning home are not the same that attended the first session, for their outlook has changed, their vision has been broadened. "We should remember that during the first session, the bishops met as strangers and there were divisions of opinion which often exaggerated their true significance. “Now however it is quite clear that a new spirit prevails among the Fathers. It was no ticeable all during the second session that there was no re crimination in the speeches de livered. "If we want to speak of dis pute at all, we might say it was more of psychological than dog matic nature, for in matters of doctrine there cannot be any di vision among us. Pope John left no doubt that “aggiornamento’ only means a rewording not a change of doctrine, because it is realized that sometimes the old image of the Church is not sufficiently attractive to our age, that her teaching is often couched in scholastic terms which the modern world finds difficult to understand. “All dogmatic: discussions revolve around the best ways and means to bring about mo dernization and rejuvenation in facing the challenge this pro blem implies. “If there is division among the bishops, it amounts to noth ing more than different out looks.” Asked whether the differen ces which became rather arti culate in regard to such issues as episcopal collegiality or the sources of Divine Revelation were not actually more than merely psychological, Archbi shop Heenan said: “Of course there are differ ent views, but what matters is that they now are voiced without hard feelings and that no- one disputes the right of anyone else to express himself freely. “Take episcopal collegia lity,” he said. “Theresomebi- shops stress authority as the guiding principle while others, fully recognizing authority as it should be exercised in the Church, still assert that the methods of exercising it could at times be changed. “Also, we should remember that certain problems before the council need not be resolved theologically at all. The theolo gians sometimes have holidays of their own! The council won’t interfere with them. It does not object to honest debate. “When the results of the work done by the mixed commission entrusted with the revision of the draft proposal on the source of Revelation will be known, we will see that this is sue which first appeared so tensely con troversial no longer is so. “A formula has been found which, to my mind, the council will find entirely acceptable.” Asked about problems still to be faced with the ecumenism schema, he replied: “I have no doubt that they constitute no obstacle on our way to reaching full agreement. It is perfectly evident that the overwhelming majority of coun cil Fathers want good inter faith relations. But it is equally clear that we must safeguard the authority of bishops in the promotion of ecumenical efforts so as to avoid confusion in the minds of the faithful. “We will not admit any change of basic doctrine, but we want to do all we can to cooperate with other Christians in true friendship and charity. Our common belief in Christ now is the preeminent consideration. On the strength of it, we may freely engage in an honest dia logue which is bound to lead to better mutual understanding and elimination of age-old pre judices on both sides.” Asked if these efforts should not reach out to non-Christian religions as well he said: “Indeed they should. In a world where opposition to all religious faith has become so articulate, the dialogue should be broadened in order that wide spread ignorance on the part of non-believers may be over come.” Turning to statements on Christian-Jewish relations and religious liberty which did not come up fordebatethis session, Archbishop Heenan said: “We can be quite certain that no one would even dream of not following through on these two vital issues. I am entirely con fident they will be settled quite satisfactorily at the next ses sion. “To rush them through now without proper debate would have been unfortunate. Even tually those critical of the post ponement will see the wisdom of the procedure adopted.” J) oru JEWELERS • 13 BROAD STREET AUGUSTA. GEORGIA Mann Television Service Company TV-RADIOS-TR ANSISTORS TAPE RECORDS-STEREOS 148 West Broad AD 6-6358 Savannah, Ga. SEASON’S GREETINGS J. P. Stevens Engraving Co. Wedding Invitations Engraved Stationery--Reception & Visiting Cards Monogrammed Stationery Acknowledgement Cards College & School Diplomas 110 Peachtree, N. W. Atlanta, Ga. JA. 2-6870 DO YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING An Albany Institution For More Than 70 Years ALBANY, GA. May the joy of this Holy time be yours today. Lilliston Implement Company ALBANY, GEORGIA