Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, February 13, 1964
This Is The Lent That Is
Some people are very good, thank God.
Other people could not get a spiritual in
spection sticker without a few repairs. Com
plete overhauling may even be necessary to
pass a road test to heaven. The road map of
Christ says: “If anyone wishes to come after
Me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily, and follow Me.”
PROVE YOUR LOVE . . . Christ can ex
pect penance from all of us. He went all the
way for us. That fact is too easily forgotten.
If we had never seen a crucifix and suddenly
discovered Christ on a cross dying for our
sins, then penance and its need would be
better understood. Love must be the real
motive behind penance and sacrifice because
Christ’s love for us was proved by His
suffering for us.
NO EXCEPTIONS . . . People do not look
forward to Lent. “I don’t like Lent” is a
common expression. Deep in our hearts, how
ever, we know that Lent is needed. No better
proof for that than the words of Christ Him
self: “Unless you do penance, you shall all
likewise perish.” No one wants to perish.
Some may be exempt from fasting but no one
is exempt from doing penance which is not
limited to Lent but is highlighted in Lent.
THE NEW LENT . . . The meeting was
over. Mothers and dads moved toward the
refreshments. Sandwiches, coffee, cake, and
ice cream. All this and Lent too! The Lent-
and-Lunch angle puzzled the visiting priest,
but the explanation of one of the couples
puzzled him still more: “Father, we don’t
take any dessert at the evening meal. That’s
why we’re having the lunch now.” The new
Lent! Leave it to someone to find a way
around a law, even if it is the wrong way —
and it is. Such a practice has no justification.
CAN YOU TAKE IT? . . . The little girl
was only seven. “I made a sacrifice for
Jesus today” she told the priest as she show
ed him her skinned knee. “Falling and skin
ning your knee, is that a sacrifice?” asked
the priest. “No, Father, but I didn’t cry.”
Being able to take it for Christ proves our
virtue. “Jesus, please, help me to do a
little extra for You because of all You have
done for me” is a prayer that should often
form on our lips.
CHAINED? . . . Just looking in the refri
gerator without taking a snack is still pe
nance for most people. Candy, cigars, ci
garettes, magazines, movies, and television
have taken such a hold on people that a more
moderate use of them or total abstinence
during Lent is a struggle indeed, a struggle
pleasing to God.
HOW DO YOU RATE? . . . Complimenting
rather than criticizing people; being patient
in difficult situations; keeping your hand off
the horn in congested traffic; being pleasant
on a crowded bus; giving a full day’s work in
school or to the company; going out of your
way to make people happy; being cheerful at
breakfast; having a headache without acting
like a martyr; not seeking excuses for your
mistakes; disagreeing without being dis
agreeable; letting another have his way;
squeezing in extra prayers during the day
and making it to church in the evening for
the Lenten services — all these are ways of
living Lent with and for Christ.
NO CUSHIONED CROSSES . . . Above all
else, offering the sacrifice of the Mass with
Christ is the most acceptable daily sacri
fice that we can make. Getting to bed at night
and getting out of bed in the morning are
tough. But is it fair for us, through lack of
appreciation, to be stretched out on a nice
soft bed in the morning when Christ, our
Friend, is stretched out on the cross for us?
Daily Holy Mass and Holy Communion draw
us closer to Christ than anything else we
might do.
TRY . . . Much of the joy of Easter comes
from knowing that we tried to walk the way of
the cross with Christ. No fast, no feast!
No sacrifice, no salvation; No cross, no
Christ! Love Christ and you will live Lent
with Him. This is the Lent that is. (Reprinted
from The Western Catholic)
RIGHT OFF THE TOP
“You Can’t Force Liking”
Buddhists
Object To Catholic
In High Vietnam Post
It Seems to Me
JOSEPH BREIG
By Father Patrick O’Connor
Society of St. Columban
SAIGON (NC) — Buddhists
have objected to the proposed
appointment of a Catholic as
Prime Minister in the new Viet
namese government, it is learn
ed on good authority here.
On the other hand Archbishop
Paul Nguyen van Binh of Sai
gon has told Maj. Gen. Nguyen
Khanh of the Military Revolu
tionary Council (Feb. 4) that
Catholic authorities were pro
posing no names for the Prime
Minister post. If two persons,
one Christian and one non-
Christian were being con
sidered, and the non-Christian
was better qualified, the bishops
preferred to see him appointed
the Archbishop said.
General Khanh consulted po
litical and religious leaders
before forming the new govern
ment, members of which were
announced today.
The Catholic whose appoint
ment as Prime Minister was
considered likely was Dr. Nguy
en Ton Hoan, whom the mili
tary council invited by tele
gram to return from France.
He arrived in Saigon on Feb.
4. An opponent of the late Pre
sident Ngo Dinh Diem, Doctor
Hoan left Vietnam in 1954. He
is the leader of the Dai Viet
Party, which Vietnamese des
cribe as nationalist and author
itarian in policy.
General Khanh solved this
problem by becoming Prime
Minister himself and naming
three Vice Prime Ministers,
of whom Doctor Hoan is listed
first.
Among the 18 members of the
new cabinet are two Catholics,
Hoan and Minister of Justice,
Nguyen van Mau, who held the
same post in the provisional
government formed after the
November coup.
A prominent member of the
Cao Dai sect, Dr. Le van
Hoach, was named minister
without portfolio.
Only some Buddhists can be
said to have opposed the nam
ing of any Catholic as Prime
Minister. New internal divi
sions have developed among the
Buddhists since what they re
garded as their victory last
November.
From opponents of civil
rights laws for the protection
of Negroes and other minor
ities, we have been hearing, in
recent weeks, the argument that
“You can’t force people to like
one another.”
A statement clearly aimed
against Doctor Hoan was is
sued by the Buddhist “Institute
for the Propagation of the
Faith,” which said at the same
time that Buddhists do not
engage in politics.
Maj. Gen. Duong van Minh,
who led the Nov. 1 coup and
was first chairman of the Mil
itary Revolutionary Council,
has become “Chief of State”
on request of the present mili
tary council.
N o, we
can’t force
people to like
one another,
and nobody
has suggest
ed that we
can. But we
can, and we
should, make
it illegal to deprive people un
justly of the rights and dignities
that belong to them as human
beings and as citizens.
The Founding Fathers of the
United States, for instance, did
not try to force anybody to like
anybody; they weren’t fools.
But they wrote into the Decla
ration of Independence that all
men are endowed by their Crea
tor with inalienable rights.
Do It Now!
God’s World
(By Leo J. Trese)
' ‘I really ought to .... ”
These are words spoken quite
frequently in the average home.
The frequency with which we
speak the words provides a
pretty good index of the degree
to which we
have develop
ed self-dis
cipline. Self-
discipline is
the ability to
make our
selves d o,
now, some
thing which
should be
done, however
task may be.
distasteful the
Let us assume that you have
been watching the early-evening
news program on television.
The program ends. Do you rise
immediately, turn off the TV
set, and go to fix that leaking
faucet or sticking door, write
that long-overdue letter or ba
lance the checkbook against the
bank statement which came to
day? Or do you remain staring
at the TV screen through a
succession of commercials,
then find yourself trapped as a
new program begins ? It may be
a third-rate program, but you
have to see it through to the
end.
Instead of a television set it
may be a newspaper in which,
after scanning the principle
news stories, you still must
peruse a host of filler-items of
no significance. Or it may be a
phone call to a friend who can be
depended upon to keep you in
conversation for half an hour or
more. Or it may be a trip to
the drugstore where, after buy
ing your cigarettes, you can
browse among the magazines
and linger over the greeting
card rack. Anything rather than
get at the things which need
doing.
The person who procrasti
nates, who always postpones
distasteful duties as long as
possible, is lacking in self-
discipline. He or she is lacking
in mastery over self. He or she
is a victim of the vice of sloth.
It is not for nothing that sloth
is classified as one of the seven
capital sins. Sloth is bad enough
on the natural level, where it
wastes so much of precious
time and of human resources.
Because of sloth, physical, or
mental, work is neglected or
done in shoddy fashion. Duties
are skimped. Acts of charity
are omitted. Evils which should
be corrected are allowed to
accumulate and to grow in in
tensity.
On the supernatural level the
effects of sloth are even more
damaging. We quiet an accusing
conscience by promising that
“some day soon” we shall be
gin to pray more regularly, re
ceive the sacraments more fre
quently, stop drinking so much,
quit the gossip or give up some
other habit or occasion of sin
which is impeding spiritual pro
gress. The “some day soon”
seems never to come.
Sloth is not an incurable af
fliction. Most of us slip into our
procrastinating habits by inad
vertence. We let ourselves fol
low the line of least resistance
without realizing that, in so
doing, we are abandoning com
mand over self.
Self-discipline, like any other
habit, is developed and deepened
by practice. We begin by resolv
ing, "From now on, when there
is something that should be
done, I shall do it immediately.
If something has to be post
poned, it will be my own ease
and pleasure, not my duties.”
The implementation of this re
solve will call for considerable
firmness. Sloth yields, but it
yields stubbornly.
However, as time goes on we
begin to enjoy a sense of satis
faction in disposing of tasks and
duties as they occur. It is such
a good feeling to know that we
are “on top of ourselves,” that
we are in the driver’s seat,
effectively managing our time
and energies. Moreover, we are
released from the hidden ten
sions which we suffer when con
science continually chides us
for duties undone. With "do it
now” as our motto, we enjoy
our leisure twice as much when
we come to it, because our lei
sure is unmarred by uneasy
awareness of neglected obliga
tions.
In our spiritual life, especial-
continued On Page 5)
THE FATHERS went so far
as to assert that this principle
of human rights is self-evident
—that is to say, it ought to be
obvious to anybody possessed
of right reason.
Anyhow, they made it the fun
damental principle of law in the
United States that the rights
which God has given to human
beings must be respected, and
cannot rightly be infringed by
anybody.
There is room for discussion
and debate about what it is pos
sible for law, at a given time
and in a given situation, to ac
complish. But nobody who ex
pects to be considered intelli
gent ought to go around uttering
such a simplistic statement as
‘‘You can’t force people to like
one another.”
NOBODY IS TRYING to make
anybody like anybody. There is
merely a proposal that folks be
prohibited by law from carrying
dislike of others to the point of
infringing on their rights.
In many respects, this is al
ready done in all civilized soci
eties. The law everywhere, for
example, says to people, in ef
fect, * ‘You can’t be stopped from
disliking one another if that is
what you insist upon doing, but if s
you want to stay out of jail,
you’d better not carry your dis
like to the point of assault and
battery, rioting or murder.”
Most human beings, in point of
fact, do like one another, and
in a special way this is true in
America because Americans
have so much in common all
the way across the continent.
A CLUSTER of Americans
who have never before seen one
another can sit down together in
a railroad club car and soon be
friends animatedly talking about
sports or politics or any one of
a hundred things.
What makes this possible is
a combination of factors: they
speak the same language; they
dress pretty much alike —
neatly and attractively but with
out ostentation — they possess
A Papal Audience
Jottings
By Barbara C. Jencks
ONE of the happiest elements
of the Rome trip to the Council
last Fall was the fact that three
Allegany Franciscan Sisters
were on the tour to add that un
iquely Franciscan happiness of
sunlight and good will to the pil
grimage. The following is part
of the Rome journal kept of the
trip by Sister Martha Mary,
OSF, one of the happy Francis
can trio. As Secretary to the
Mother General of the Allegany
Franciscans, she was invited to
share the pilgrimage with her
Sisters. (Sister Martha Mary is
the sister of Dr. Joseph Wil
ber of Atlanta). Thus we are
happy to reprint in part some
of Sister Martha Mary’s jour
ney’s jottings.
FLYING TO EUROPE these
days is marvelous. A prayer,
a meal, a page or two—and
you’re in paris. Six hours after
we left Logan, we touched down
at Orly Field. We had crossed
the Atlantic via Nova Scotia
and Newfoundland at 39,000 feet.
Tailwinds pushed us 30minutes
ahead of schedule. Orly was the
most perfect, the cleanest air
port 1 have ever seen. At times
it does us Americans good to see
what our European neighbors
accomplish. We somethimes
think we have a corner on ex
cellence in nearly everything.
Thirty-one minutes flying
brought us to Milan. It was a
most exciting trip over the Alps
at 27,000 feet with the pilot guid
ing the plane around Mont Blanc
and the Matterhorn. At the same
time he kept up a steady com
mentary on the landscape, nam
ing the peaks to the right and
left of us. But the static was too
bad to understand all he said.
Words could not add to the thrill
of those snow capped peaks, with
their glacier-filled crevices
and sheer cliffs of rock rising
from the sea of morning mist. I
can’t recall the details of fly—
Wednesday, the day of our pa
pal audience, was our third
day of bright Roman sunshine
(Continued On Page 5)
Hits Lack Of
Social Doctrine
NEW ORLEANS (NC)—The
failure of Catholic education in
the past to teach the social doc
trine of the Church has made
Catholicism irrelevant in so
ciety, Father Louis J. Twom-
ey, S.J., said here.
The director of Loyola uni
versity’s Institute of Industrial
Relations challenged delegates
Denies Israel
Criticized Bishop
from seven states at an insti
tute in theology for the laity to
overcome “the deficiencies
with which you come out of your
Catholic schools.”
He said the ignorance of the
Church’s social doctrine “is
completely baffling and a re
flection of the whole concept
of what we mean by the Fatih.”
Catholics, he said, see no
contradiction between member
ship in the John Birch Society
and the Catholic Church, be
tween membership in the
White Citizens’ Council and
the Catholic Church.
JERUSALEM, Israel (NC)—
A spokesman for the Israeli
Ministry of Religious Affairs
has denied that any of its
senior officials criticized Mel-
kite Rite Bishop Georges Ha
kim of Acre, this nations’ only
residential Catholic bishop.
The denial was made by a
ministry public relations offi
cer, M. E. Druck, in a letter
published (Feb. 5) by the Je
rusalem Post, English - lan
guage daily. The newspaper had
reported (Jan. 31) that “senior
Religious Ministry officials”
had said that a memorandum
allegedly given by the Bishop
to Pope Paul VI during his
January pilgrimage here was
presented to help the Bishop in
gratiate himself with the Arab
world and get a better post.
Druck said “there is nofoun
dation to this report.”
Catholics In
West Germany
Layman Named
To Chancery Post
CHICAGO (NC)—William G.
Simpson, onetime deputy ad
ministrator of the Small Busi
ness Administration, Washing
ton, D. C., has been appointed
lay director of the Chancery of
fice for the Chicago archdio
cese.
The post is newly established
by Albert Cardinal Meyer
Chicago. He said Simpson will
be his assistant in planning, di
recting and controlling financial
and related activities of the
chancery office. The activities
will include building programs,
long term financing, budget and
control system, personnel and
research affairs, the Cardinal
said.
BONN, Germany (NC) —
There were 26.7 million Pro
testants and 24.5 million Ca
tholics in West Germany, ex
cluding the city of Berlin, in
1961, according to a census
taken that year. The census re
sults, made available here, also
showed that 95.7% of the coun
try’s population of 54 million,-
excluding Berlin, belonged to
either the Catholic Church or
the Protestant Church.
similar educations; they have a
quiet respect for themselves
and for one another, and so on.
Yet their backgrounds may be
extremely different. One may
be a scion of a socially promi
nent and wealthy family, another
the child of an immigrant. One
may be of English descent, an
other German or French, an
other Hungarian or Bohemian
or Greek or Syrian or Roman
ian or Italian.
ONLY A GENERATION or
two ago, as likely as not, the
ancestors of these friendly and
sociable people lived severely
apart, and referred insultingly
to one another as Hunkies or
Dagoes or Bohunks or Krauts.
The law made no attempt to
say to them, “You’ve got to like
one another.” What the law did
say was that they must respect
one another's human rights.
From respecting one an
other’s rights, they came
gradually to know one another.
Because their rights were re
spected, they were able to rise
socially, economically, educa
tionally. And so they came to
know, to understand and to like
one another.
No, you can’t make anybody
like anybody, any more than by
law you can make people vir
tuous. But we can and must
create conditions conducive to
virtue and to mutual liking;
conditions which encourage
folks to be considerate, friendly
and helpful. That, after all, is
in large part what the law is
for.
Ends Lenten Fasting
LA CROSSE, Wis. (NC)—Bi
shop John P. Treacy of La
crosse has abolished the obli
gatory lenten fast for Ca
tholics in his diocese.
Bishop Treacy, announcing
the new policy, urged that Ca
tholics instead fast voluntarily
during Lent as an act of pen
ance.
He said that in the past there
has been too much emphasis on
fasting simply to avoid serious
sin. * ‘When the fast is observ
ed just to avoid sin, it is rob
bed of much of its value,” he
said.
In recent years several oth
er U. S. dioceses, as well as
many dioceses in foreign con-
tries, have done away with ob
ligatory Lenten fasting.
Fr. Kueng Selected
TUEBINGEN, Germany (NC)
—Father Hans Kueng, author
and lecturer on the Second Va
tican Council, was chosen una
nimously as dean of the theo
logical faculty at the University
of Tuebingen for the current
academic year. Father Kueng is
director of the university’s ecu-
minical institute, and the author
of "The Council, Reform and
Reunion.”
St. Paul Relic
In Malta
VALLETTA, Malta (NC) —
A relic of St. Paul that is one
of Malta’s national treasures
is being returned here this
month from Spain, where it was
exhibited last summer in Paul
ine Year ceremonies. The relic,
an armbone encased in silver,
is being brought by Benjamin
Cardinal Arriba y Castro of
Tarragona. St. Paul was ship
wrecked on Malta in 60 A.D.
QUESTION BOX
ing from Milan to Rome,—ex
citement was mounting so fast.
First glimpses of the Roman
landscape are pregnant with a
sense of history. On one hand
are modern warehouses and
factories; nearby the thousand-
year-old ruins of Ostia, the an
cient port of Rome. In every
kilometer there is the contrast
of fine new stuccoed villas with
red-tiled roofs and beside them
the bleached bones of ancient
masonry. I was surprised that
some of the foliage is quite
tropical: palms and palmetto
like trees. The weather was
golden. We entered the city by
the Gate of St. Paul with the
white marble Cestian Pyramid
crowded beside it, almost top
ping the remains of the ancient
Roman walls.
(By David
Q. Settle an argument: Does
Lent begin on Ash Wednesday,
or on the first Sunday of Lent?
And if Lent is supposed to last
40 days, how is it that I keep
counting 46?
A. Ash Wednesday marks the
beginning of Lent in the modem
Church, of course. But this was
not always so.
A 40-DAY PERIOD of pre
paration for the Easter triduum
of Good Friday, Holy Saturday
and Easter Sunday was observ
ed, insofar as we know, as early
as the fourth century — just as
soon as the Church emerged
from the catacombs, in other
words. The choice of 40 days
rather than, say, 50 days, or 20
days, was based principally on
Scriptural reasons: Christ’s
40-day retreat atop Mt. Sinai.
THE ORIGINAL LENT was
calculated by counting back 40
days from Good Friday, how
ever. (Good Friday and Holy
Saturday were not considered
part of Lent proper, but belong
ed, as Father Joseph Jungmann
points out, to the sacratissi-
mum triduum crucifixi, sepul-
ti, suscitati (i.e., the most holy
triduum of the “crucifixion, en
tombment and resurrection”).
In counting back these 40 days
Q. Liptak)
all the intervening Sundays were
reckoned as Lenten days. (One
reason for this is that the pri
mitive Lent was observed more
as a time of retreat and puri
fication, than as a season for
external mortification marked
by mandatory fasting—though
all who could do so fasted sev
eral times a week, they did so
voluntarily.) So that the first
day of Lent coincided with a
Sunday.
WHEN, AFTER THE fourth
century, the note of fasting be
came so characteristic of Lent
that the terms “Lent” and
“fast” became almost synony
mous, Sundays were no longer
considered part of the sacred
season. (The reason, obviously,
is that a Sunday, being a "little
Easter,” does not admit of
fasting.) So that Lent was re
duced to 34 days.
BUT THE DESIRE to return to
the Scriptural 40-day period be
gan to reassert itself. The pro
blem was solved by adding 4
days to the “front” of Lent
(thus placing the beginning of
Lent back on Ash Wednesday)
and including both Good Friday
and Holy Saturday as parts of
Lent (i.e., 34 plus 4 plus 2
equals 40).
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44 Thursday, February 13, 1964
No. 31
Published weekly except the last week in July and the
last week in December by The Southern Cross, Inc.
Subscription price $5.00 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