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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, January 16, 1964
Spirit Of The Church
The spirit of the Church today might well
be defined as one of renewed vitality, vi-
orous silf-examination and pruposeful com
mitment to the great work of presenting to
the whole world the Church, as the Bride
of Christ, without spot or wrinkle.
It is a spirit which, through the delibera
tions of two sessions of the Second Vatican
Council, has communicated itself to all men
of good will, fired the imagination of the
world and rekindled the hopes of mankind
for an end to the scandal of a Christendom
divided against itself and hiding, under the
“bushel” of mutual animosity, misunder
standing and distrust, the light and warmth
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But the faults of Christendom are the faults
of Christians—and if Christianity is ever to
usher in an age of true peace among men and
nations, based on Justice and Chairty, those
faults must be overcome.
The series of six lectures which the Dio
cese of Savannah will sponsor beginning next
Thursday evening can be a beginning in this
direction.
For, animosity will only be overcome by
Charity, misunderstanding by knowledge, and
distrust by mutual respect.
The lectures are open to the public and a
cordial invitation has been extended to all,
whether of the Catholic Faith or not. Thus,
all who profess Christ as Lord may meet in
Charity; come to a deeper knowledge of the
Church as she is, not as she is so often
misrepresented to be; and through a frank
exchange of divergent views, progress from
mere tolerance of one another to genuine
mutual respect.
Happy Anniversaries!
Few clerics in the history of the Diocese of
Savannah have given -of themselves so un-
stintingly and devotedly to Church and Com
munity as has the Rt. Rev. Monsignor T.
James McNamara, Rector of Savannah’s his
toric Cathedral.
This year he will observe his 65th birth
day, the 40th anniversary of his ordination to
the Sacred Priesthood, the 25th anniversary
of his appointment to his Cathedral post and
to the rank of Domestic Prelate.
His love for the Cathedral parish and the
city of his birth have become almost legen
dary, and have been proven by a priestly
career and a life of public service which
have brought prominence to his name and to
the Church which he represents, and added
much to the laurels of the famed “Savannah
Irish.”
We are confident that not only the people
of Cathedral Parish, but all Catholics and,
indeed, all who feel, with Monsignor Mc
Namara, that Savannah is “no mean city”
will join with us in wishing him “Ad Multos
Annos.”
One Red
Two Youth Programs
WASHINGTON, (NC) — Two
new youth programs have been
revealed here. One aims at up
lifting young people; the other
will seek to subvert them.
President Johnson has taken
the first steps in a two-part
effort to aid youths who are
physically and mentally handi
capped. J. Edgar Hoover, di
rector of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, has announced
that the Communist party in
this country is launching a new
national youth organization with
other aims in view.
A task force on manpower
appointed by President Kennedy
last September has concluded
that, if examined now, one-
third of the country’s youth
would not meet the standards
for military service. One-half
of them could fail physical tests;
the remainder, mental tests.
President Johnson has now
asked the Selective Service Sy
stem to examine as soon as
possible all new registrants who
are out of school, and has
called upon the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare
to initiate ‘‘a manpower con
servation program” to meet as
far as possible the needs of
those who fail the Selective
Service tests.
Up until now, those who have
been rejected usually have not
been told that they need medi
cal attention. Now they will
have explained to them the rea
sons for rejection and what
steps may be taken to obtain
education, training and health
services.
The task force found that a
major portion of young men
below physical and mental stan
dards- * 'are the products of pov
erty.” It also found they have
‘‘an inherited situation, and un
less the cycle is broken, they
will almost surely transmit it
to their children.”
President Johnson said he
would like to see an America
where no one will reach the age
of 21 ‘‘without the health, edu
cation and skills that will give
him an opportunity to be an ef
fective citizen and a self-sup
porting individual.”
FBI Director Hoover has told
Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy
that the Communist party laid
the groundwork for a new na
tional youth organization at a
meeting held in Chicago in Oc
tober. He said it will seek to
exploit ‘ 'what the party describ
es as a drift toward the left
among young people.”
The new organization, it has
been stipulated by Communist
party leaders, ‘‘should avoid
the appearance of a Soviet-
styled organization; however, it
should not tolerate anti-Soviet
or anti-communist thinking,”
Hoover reported.
Hoover stressed ‘‘thecontin
uing danger represented by the
Communist party,” in his mes
sage to the Attorney General.
‘‘The Communist party, USA,
has continued its unswerving
allegiance to the Soviet Union,
which is committed to the goal
of world domination by com
munism,” he said.
The Problem Of Evil
God’s World
(By Leo J. Trese)
By Leo J. Trese
Many persons find themsel
ves troubled in mind by the
so-called “Problem of Evil.”
The problem usually is phrased
in the question, “How can we
reconcile all the evil and suf
fering which exists in the world,
with the idea
of a good and
loving God?”
We who
have suffered
the least are
the ones most
likely to be
plagued by
this question.
0 urselves
comparatively free from phy
sical and mental pain, we find
it hard to understand why
others, so much more inno
cent than we, have so much
agony to bear. Why, especially,
should little children be per
mitted to suffer?
The basic answer to the pro
blem of evil is that God had
the choice of making us the
creatures we are, capable of
feeling pain and of inflicting
pain, or of not making us at
all. The ability to possess God
in heaven is predicated, for us
as for the angles, upon a pre
liminary act of love for God—
a freely made choice of God.
For this preparatory act of love
which makes heaven possible,
we must be free; otherwise
there could be no voluntary
choice of God.
Yet, in this freedom there
lies a great danger. We have
the power not to love as well
as to love. We have the power
to choose evil over good. There,
if we may express it in human
terms, lay God’s dilemma: to
create the human race, with all
the dangers inherent in human
freedom, or not to create us
at all.
Once God made His decision
(as He did from all eternity)
and set His plan in motion, He
was committed to letting human
freedom run its course. God
could not constrain us to do
good only, without destroying
our freedom. To be free and
yet not free—this would be a
contradiction in terms—much
like speaking of a triangular
circle.
Yes, but why cannot God do
this: every time He sees a per
son about to perform an action
which will cause suffering, why
cannot God strike that person
dead? Better yet, why create
that person in the first place?
The answer, again, is that God
might as well have called the
whole thing off before He be
gan. The human race would
quickly have been an extinct
species.
Can you, for example, hon
estly say that you never have
caused a moment’s pain to any
one? Is there any person of your
acquainance of whom you can
say, with certainy, "He never
caused a moment’s pain to any
one?” If God struck dead or
left uncreated every perpetra
tor of pain, it would be an emp
ty world.
As far as physical suffering
is concerned, a capacity for
sickness and pain is inherent in
our physical nature. Conceiv
ably God could have made us
pure spirits without bodies, but
He already had made the angels.
We were to be a new species of
beings, new sources of love and
new witnesses to God’s glory.
God did offer freedom from su-
fering as a very special gift to
Adam and his descendants in
return for Adam’s love. Our
forefather Adam, as we know,
struck the gift from God’s prof
fering hand.
Suppose that you imagine
yourself for a moment in God’s
place. It is for you to decide
whether to create the human
race or not. Inevitably there will
be suffering, yes; but there also
will be indescribable and ever
lasting happiness for the great
majority who make, however
imperfectly, their choice of
God. What would your decision
be? Or, try to improve on God’s
plan. Ask yourself how you
would eliminate all suffering
without at the same time elim
inating the freedom of the hu
man will, the freedom to choose
God.
Admittedly, when all is said
that can be said, there still re
mains an element of mystery in
the problem of evil. We shall
not know the whole answer until,
in heaven, we know all things.
Meanwhile we are confident that
not one tiniest twinge of inno
cent pain is being wasted.
Christ’s sufferings have for
ever sanctified and given sig
nificance to human distress.
Even the baby’s colic has its
share in atoning for humanity’s
sins and in gaining grace for
mankind.
Gift From Pope
MEGIDDO, Israel (NC)—
President Shneor Shazar of Is
rael presented (Jan. 7) to Dr.
Haim Sheba, director of the
state hospital here, the elec
trocardiograph unit he received
as a gift from Pope Paul VI.
Unity Octave; Jan. 18-25
Loaves And Fishes: 1964
Lay Ideas
On Sermons
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (NC) —
Bishop Leo Pursley of Fort
Wayne-South Bend has asked lay
people to send suggestions for
the series of sermons to be
preached in the diocese’s chur
ches during Lent.
"I believe,” wrote the Bi
shop in his regular column in the
Our Sunday Visitor, newspaper
of the diocese, “that there is
need of dialogue, of intercom
munication, within the Church
as well as between the Church
and those who are not members
of its visible body. .
“I believe that bishops and
priests need to know more of
what our people are thinking,”
he added. “In almost any of our
many good Catholic publications
that you might pick at random,
I have read remarkably clear
and sound statements of Catho
lic teaching by lay people. Some
of the best sermons I have seen
in print come from this
source.”
Newspaper
Schedules Debut
HOUSTON, Tex. (NC) —Fa
ther John L. Fos, executive
editor, said it is expected the
Texas Catholic Herald, news
paper of the Galveston-Hous-
ton diocese, will make its de
but late in February. He also
said George M. Monahan, for
merly of the Voice, Miami, Fla.,
diocesan newspaper, will be the
lay editor of the new paper.
Abbot
Eugene Boylan
ROSCREA, Ireland (NC)—
Abbot Eugene Boylan, O Cist.,
of Mount St. Joseph Abbey here
has died of complications fol
lowing an automobile accident
last month.
Abbot Eugene, 59, was widely ■
known for his books on spiritual
life, ‘‘This Tremendous Lov
er” and ‘‘Difficulties in Mental
Prayer.” He gave many re
treats in the United States and
elsewhere. Among his sur
vivors are a brother, Father
Stephen M. Boylan, O. Carth.,
of Arlington, Vt., and Mother
Mary Fintan of Cincinnati, O.
Anti-Religious
Posters
BERLIN (NC)—The Literary
Gazette in Moscow has called
for an increase in the distribu
tion of antireligious posters as
part of the stepped up drive
against religion in the Soviet
Union.
The Soviet publication com
plained that in the past few
years only a dozen such pos
ters had been printed, none
with a press run of more than
30,000 copies. It also called
for a change in the system of
placing orders for antireligious
posters.
Israeli National
Theater
It Seems to Me
Pope Paul VI has summoned
us to a patriotism that is more
than global; a patriotism of
the whole of mankind, from the
first human being to the last.
But before we talk about that,
let us make
sure that we
are talking
about the
same thing—
about true
and unsullied
patriotism.
Patriot-
ism is love.
Patriotism is
a shining virtue. But there is
always a deadly danger in it—
the temptation to confine it to
a group, or a class, or an
area, or a people. When we do
that, patriotism begins to make
us hate, or fear, or suspect,
or at least shy away from,
whatever or whoever is not
included.
PATRIOTISM can and should
be most intense in its concern
for what is nearest and dear
est. But it ought to extend
infinitely. To stop patriotism at
any point, is to say that outside
that limit, there’s something
or someone whom we should
not love.
Patriotism, to be what it
ought to be, must embrace all
existance. First, it must go to
God, because in spite of ap
pearances, He is the being Who
is closest to each of us. From
Him our patriotism must go
forth to everything and everyone
JOSEPH BREIG
else. Absolutely nothing maybe
excluded from it, because love
that is not universal is crip
pled love.
POPE PAUL, in his first
Christmas message to the
world, called upon the nations
to put their energy, ingenuity
and resources to work to solve
what is probably the most pres
sing of all our problems today
—the problem of hunger.
Hunger, Pope Paul warned us,
“can become a subversive force
with incalculable results.” But
his intention was not to try to
frighten us into action; on the
contrary, he praised the nobili
ty with which “great projects
of international aid” have been
set afoot since the end of World
War II.
WHAT I CALL Pope Paul’s
appeal for universal patriotism
is this: he said that the right
solution of mankind’s food prob
lems is not to be found in anti
birth methods which are
contrary to divine law and to
“the sacred respect that is due
both to marriage and to new
born life.”
The correct answer, said
Pope Paul—the action that will
bring success—is multiplica
tion of food.
This is true patriotism be
cause it excludes nobodyfrom
its love and concern. It opens
its arms to embrace our ances
tors, back to Adam, ingratitude
because they handed down
—often at terrible cost in sac
rifice — the priceless gift of
life. And it reaches out into
the future to take to its heart
the little ones to be born
from now until the end of
time.
CALL THIS MYSTICISM if
you wish. Call it sentimen
talism. I reply that it is I who
am the practical man. I hold
that with God nothing is im
possible to us. I contend that
it is preposterous to suppose
that God sends human beings
into the world without also
making it possible for us to
feed them, and clothe them, and
rear them.
The reason they are not fed
is that we do not love them
enough. We do not have a soar
ing patriotism about them. We
will not work and sacrifice for
them as we will for our own
children whom we see daily in
our own homes.
WE DO NOT stir up our im
aginations to hear the weeping
of hungry children who are geo
graphically far away from us.
We waste our energy and money
fussing over birth prevention
instead of plunging into the task
of multiplying food and promot
ing trade.
Eighteen years ago, millions
of people were desperately hun
gry in Europe. Today, Europe is
bloomingly prosperous. What
was accomplished there can be
accomplished everywhere, if we
will put our hearts and our
modern technology into the task
—if we will be the magnificent
patriots of all humanity that
we ought to be. After all, the
human race is one family.
11
A Truly Good Book
Jottings
‘ ‘A truly good book is some
thing as natural, and as unex
pectedly and unaccountably fair
and perfect, as a wild flower
discovered on the prairies of the
West or in the jungles of the
East.”
—Henry David Thoreau
* * *
MENTION A BOOK in this
column and it is sure to trig
ger a letter-to-the-editor de
bate. Remember Hemingway
and O’Connor, not to mention
Salinger? Several years ago, my
recommendation of Morris
West’s ‘‘Devil’s Advocate”
started a mild reaction, too,
but it wa s pale in contrast to
the bonfire set by Hemingway
and Salinger. Recently, I had to
file my vote for the Novel of
the Year with the National Book
Award Committee. There will
be many in disagreement but I
selected Morris West’s ‘‘Shoes
of the Fisherman.” Right away,
I admit that I have read bet
ter novels and his train of
thought often ran truant. West
By Barbara C. Jencks
attempted to reach for the stars
and that he sometimes landed
with a clothesline around his
neck in some opinions does not
deter me from citing this book.
West’s books, in my opinion,
repeatedly strain for the fine
and good and his clerical arena
of pre-occupation is bound to
bring him critics. Strangely,
much of West’s criticism comes
from inside the pale, not from
the non-Catholic readers.
This author in no small way
contributed to the ecumenical
dialogue. Those non-Catholics
who might never last through
newspaper accounts of Council
proceedings or read John
Courtney Murray are delight
ed with the view (some will
say ‘‘bird's eye”) of the Church
given by this sensitive artist.
West once said that to him the
“faith wasn’t a convenience but
a hell of a burden. I cannot be
a comfortable Catholic novelist.
In my questioning of the faith,
and in my observations of peo
ple, I have been forced to ac
cept the human totality.” Thus
when he writes of men of God
being less than the angels, he
meets with clattering and cluck
ing. And to me, West never,
never lets his figures stray too
far from the all-loving merci
ful God. He does get carried
away in situations improbable
but the depth of his character
portrayal redeems him.
* * *
WHEN WEST FIRST ap
peared there was a great fuss.
Father Gardiner’s choice of his
“Devil’s Advocate” as Catho
lic Book of the Month was
attacked as “indecent and ill
chosen.” Others rejoiced that
at last a novelist had appeared
“who was a step beyond the
Sacred Heart Messenger.” Fa
ther Gardiner aruged that Ca
tholic Book Club award by say
ing that dissenters have never
learned what to look for in fic
tion, how to make valid distinc
tions between portrayal or
moral lapses and tacit appro-
continued On Page 5)
New Rhythm
Conference
PORTLAND, Ore. (NC) —
Registration has filled two ini
tial sessions of anew Portland
archdiocesan program of con
ferences on the rhythm method
of family planning, and a third
set of conferences has been
arranged. Conferences, con
ducted by the Family Life De
partment of the archdiocese,
present instruction in the rhy
thm method and other aspects
of family life from a panel of
physicians, priests and mar
ried couples.
Israeli national theater has re
jected a proposal to present the
play “The Deputy” which cri
ticizes Pope Pius XII on its
forthcoming U. S. tour and has
deferred a decision to stage
the play later in Israel.
The rejection came a few
days after Pope Paul VI, speak
ing to Israeli officials in Jeru
salem, brought up the subject
of Pius XII’s honesty and good
will and asked that his memory
not be reviled. Pope Paul was
directly associated with Pius
XII in efforts during World
War II to rescue Jews from
nazi persecution.
QUESTION BOX
(By David Q. Liptak)
Q. The encounter between
Pope Paul VI and the Patri
arch Atheagorus has been des
cribed as the first meeting of a
pope and an Orthodox leader in
the last 500 years. That would
take us back to the 1400’s.
But didn’t the rupture between
Rome and the East occur un
der Photius in the ninth cen
tury?
A. Between the time of Pho
tius and the end of the 1400’s,
several reconciliations between
Rome and the Eastern dissi
dent churches took place. Chief
among these was the Reunion of
1439.
YET TO SAY that Photius
was responsible for the rift
between the Western Church
and Eastern Orthodoxy is not
accurate. It’s somewhat like
saying that Henry VIII was re
sponsible for the Anglican
Church.
PHOTIUS DID prepare the
way. But the actual break was
planned and executed by Mi
chael Cerularius, at a time when
the papacy was at its nadir.
“In 1054 the Greek schism was.
consummated,” writes Daniel-
Rops . . . “We need hardly
say that both sides were to
blame. . .”
PHOTIUS, who succeeded the
disgraced Ignatius as Patriarch
of Constantinople in 858, was
one of the most learned men of
his age. His troubles with the
Holy See began when the strong-
willed, and perhaps not too
tactful, Pope Nicholas I (858-67)
refused to recognize his status.
Nicholas certainly had cause:
there were several grave ir-
regulairites surrounding the
patriarch’s consecration, a sy
nod which he convoked, and a
letter he sent advising the pope
of his elevation. One difficulty
led to another—there is a world
of history involved here—until
Photius was formally censured
by Rome and, believe it or nor,
the pope was “deposed” by Pho-
tius.
THE STORMY patriarch dis
appeared around 886, but his
ideas and his writings survived
(i.e., the pamphlet “Against
those who say that Rome is
the Primatial See”). These
“flattered the worst sentiments
of the Byzantines” (in Daniel-
Rops’ phrase) and fired new an
tagonisms between East and
West.
MICHAEL CERULARI
US, who became patriarch in
1043, deliberately used these
antagonisms to establish him
self firmly as “pope” of the
East. Once again he was aided
by indecision, lack of tact, and
gross misunderstanding on the
part of the Latins. Eventually ,
excommunicated by the papal
legate, he had become so power
ful that he did not hesitate
publicly to put a torch to the
bull of excommunication. Then,
on July 23, 1054, he had a
specially convoked synod issue
an edict accusing the Latins of
trying to pervert the true
Faith. Thus the tragic rift was
sealed.
NOT THAT the schism was
finalized everywhere in Russia
at that time. For when the
Holy See approved an updated
Russian calendar of saints in
1940, twenty-one of the new
entries were saints who had
lived after 1054.
“)] The Southern Cross
Vol. 44
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH, GA.
Thursday, January 16, 1964
No. 27
Published weekly except the last week in July and the
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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 Mark waiter, Managing Editor
Rev. Lawrence Lucree, Rev. John Fitzpatrick,
Associate Editors