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Vol. 44, No. 42
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WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
OF THE DIOCESE OF
SAVANNAH
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1964
Archbishop Orders
Alabama High, Grade
Schools To Integrate
ARCHBISHOP TOOLEN
Woman Atheist
Sues Again On
Prayer Issue
BALTIMORE (NC) -- Mrs.
Madalyn Murray, Baltimore
atheist and central figure in the
U. S. Supreme Court case which
banned compulsory Bible read
ing in the nation’s public
schools, filed suit in the U. S.
District Court here attacking a
Maryland law permitting silent
meditation.
f The law, enacted this year by
the Maryland Legislature, be
comes effective June 1. It per
mits the state’s public schools
to require a moment of silent
meditation each school day.
Judge R. Dorsey Watkins
signed Mrs. Murray’s request
for a special three-judge panel
to hear her petition and also
signed an order giving the Bal
timore School Board 15 days to
show cause why it should not be
restrained from putting the
meditation practice into effect.
Spokesman
Explains Federal
Aid Stand
i. BALTIMORE, Md. (NC)—No
one seeking inclusion of non
public schools in federal aid
proposals wants the government
to provide catechisms or cru
cifixes, the director of the Le
gal Department of the National
Catholic Welfare Conference
said here.
William R. Consedine told the
53rd annual convention of the
Baltimore Archdiocesan Onion
of Holy Name Societies that
* ‘parents and churches are eag-
(er to keep complete control of
the religious aspects of educa
tion.”
Consedine has been one of the
NCWC spokesmen to appear be
fore congressional committees
studying Federal aid to educa
tion and he was a chief archi
tect of the legal department’s
major legal study arguing for
the constitutionality of Federal
aid to church-related schools.
He told 1,200 men:
* ‘If the government provides
scientific equipment or lang
uage laboratories for children
going to one school, it makes no
sense to say that the government
cannot provide the same things
■to all children for the same
public purpose.”
Too many people see the dis
cussion on Federal aid to paro
chial and other nonpublic
schools as a ‘‘religious tug of
war,” according to Consedine,
with the Catholic Bishops on one
end and protectors of Church-
State separation on the other.
' ‘All the Bishops are really
asserting,” said Consedine, “is
that to the extent our schools
fulfill public purposes in com
mon with public schools in pro
viding citizen education, these
services constitutionally selec
ted by tax-paying parents for
'fhe education of their children
may and ought to be accorded
equal recognition.”
MOBILE, Ala. (NC) — Arch
bishop Thomas Joseph Toolen
announced all Catholic high and
elementary schools in the Mo-
bile-Birmingham diocese will
be integrated racially in Sep
tember.
‘ ‘I know this will not meet
with the approval of many of our
people, but in justice and chari
ty, this must be done,” the Bi
shop of Mobile-Birmingham
said in a letter read (April
26) in all churches throughout
the diocese.
I ask all of our people to ac
cept this decision as best for
God and country,” the Arch
bishop added.
The diocese includes all of
Alabama and 10 counties in
northwest Florida. The two Ca
tholic high schools and eight
grade schools in the Florida
portion of the diocese were in
tegrated racially last Septem
ber.
In all, the diocese has 15 high
schools and 86 elementary
schools with a total enrollment
ROME (NC) — Individuals
receiving Communion from now
on are to take part personally
in the prayers during distri
bution of the Eucharist, accord
ing to a new decree of the Sa
cred Congregation of Rites.
The decree, dated April 25,
abolishes the prayer the priest
traditionally has said while dis
tributing sacramental hosts:
“Corpus Domini nostri Jesu
Christi custodiat animam tuam
in vitam aeternam. Amen.”
(“May the Body of Our Lord
Jesus Christ preserve your soul
to life everlasting. Amen.”)
In its place the Congregation
of Rites, with the approval of
Pope Paul, has decreed that
priests will now say only the
words “Corpus Christi”
(“Body of Christ”) and that
each person receiving Com
munion will respond “Amen.”
A second decree of the Con
gregation of Rites, bearing the
same date, provides for the
insertion in the Divine Prais
es, recited mainly at the end
of the ceremony of Benediction,
the invocation “Blessed be the
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.”
Used by Christ in several in
stances in the New Testament,
the word “Paraclete” comes
from a Greek word meaning one
who is called, an advocate.
The prayer is to be inserted
in the Divine Praises after
the invocation “Blessed be Je
sus in the Most Holy Sacra
ment of the Altar.”
of nearly 26,000 students, ac
cording to latest statistics.
In the letter to his people,
Archbishop Toolen said:
' ‘After much prayer, consul
tation and advice, we have de
cided to integrate all schools
in the diocese in September.
‘ ‘I know this will not meet
with the approval of many of our
people, but in justice and chari
ty, this must be done.
* ‘I ask all our people to ac
cept this decision as best for
God and country. No matter what
personal feelings are, the com
mon good of all must come first.
* ‘In this diocese we have al
ways tried to give our Negro
people everything that we have
given to our white people, es
pecially in the way of education.
‘ ‘The procedure for admis
sion will be determined by the
pastors and by Rt. Rev. Msgr.
J. Edwin Stuardi, superinten
dent of schools.
‘ ‘Again we ask all our people
to accept this regulation as best
for God and country,”
A Vatican press bulletin said
the Congregation’s decree al
tering the formula for the dis
tribution -of Communion was
authorized by Pope Paul in re
sponse to many requests. The
press bulletin noted that this
newly authorizedformulawas in
use in the Church in the 14th
century, and is still in use to
day in the Ambrosian Rite, a
Latin rite differing slightly
from the Roman and used main
ly in the Pope’s former Arch
diocese of Milan.
The bulletin said inclusion
of the Holy Spirit in the Divine
Praises was also a result of
many requests, and it was not
ed that the Divine Praises had
been composed originally as a
prayer of reparation against
blasphemies.
American For
Brazilian See
VATICAN CITY (NC) — Pope
Paul VI has named American
Father Robert Anglim, C.SS.R.,
Ordinary of the independent
prelature of Coari, a recently
created See in Brazil.
Father Anglim was bom in
Lombard, Ill., in 1922 and or
dained' Jan. 6, 1948. He is a
member of the St. Louis pro
vince of theRedemptorists.For
the past three years he has
been superior of the Redemp-
torists’ vice province of Man
aus in Brazil.
Donovan Denies
Cuba Statement
NEW YORK (NC)—Attorney James B. Donovan declared
here that he never said publicly or privately that the Ca
tholic Church is not being persecuted in Cuba.
* ‘Any statement that I ever made such an observation is a
complete falsehood,” he declared.
“It is common knowledge that a large number of priests
have been expelled from Cuba and that the Church there is
not free to operate schools and carry on other teaching
programs,” he said.
Donovan said the statement to which he takes excep
tion was attributed to him in reports and comments in the
Catholic press following a talk he gave at the National
Press Club in Washington.
On that occasion, Donovan gave a talk on another topic.
At the end of his remarks he was asked from the audience
whether or not Catholic churches are closed in Cuba.
Donovan said that every Catholic church he saw in Cuba
remains open, although hampered by a scarcity of clergy.
Donovan personally negotiated with Fidel Castro for the
exchange of $60 million worth of U. S. medical supplies
for 1,300 prisoners captured in the unsuccessful Bay of
Pigs invasion of 1961. For this, he received the highest
decoration of the American Red Cross.
Communion
Formula Changed
No De-emphasis Of Mary’s
Role Seen, Expert Says
Charge ‘Totally False’
(The following article examines the impact of actions of the
Second Vatican Council on devotion to the Mother of God. The
author is a Carmelite friar who is associate professor of sac
red theology at the Catholic University of America, Washington,
D. C. He has played an active role in the work of the Mariolo-
gical Society of America.)
* * *
By Father Eamon R. Carroll,
O. Carm
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
The Fathers of the Second
Vatican Council have decided
that the interests of the Church
would be better served by con
sidering Mary in her own rela
tionship to the Church.
In a procedural vote in Oc
tober, 1963, the Fathers chose
by a slim majority to discuss
Our Lady not in a separate
schema, as originally propos
ed, but as a chapter in the lar
ger schema on the Church.
An immense amount has been
published about the significance
of this move. Some reports
characterized it as a "de-em
phasis” of Mary.
The fact is that the council
is not playing down Mary, but at
tempting to present Marian doc
trine in a way that will make
the Church more understand
able and attractive to the mod
ern mind.
The vote on Mary was moti
vated by the compelling con
cern that the council judge all
matters, including Our Lady,
in the light of the church itself.
The traditional truths about
Mary retain their full validity
—she is the one conceived with
out original sin, the ever-Vir
gin Mother of God, taken to
the company of the risen Christ
body as well as soul.
The council is not turning its
back on the legitimate past,
but is vibrantly aware of the
present needs and future hopes
of the* Church.
The council is in continuity
with the thought of this cen
tury on the relationship between
Mary and the Church.
Much of the Marian theology
of earlier decades approached
Mary’s relationship to the
Church in terms of Mary’s
role in the redemptive work of
Christ. Many experts favored
the position that Our Lady had
a proximate and direct involve
ment in the Saviour’s Passion
and death. The Mother of Christ
was considered in God’s plan
as having shared in the objec
tive redemption by which Christ
won all graces for His church.
Other theologians preferred
to speak of Mary as the spir
itual mother of the members of
I (Continued on Page 3)
OPEN HOUSE—Mr. Melvin Dillard (center), President of
the Nativity Men's Club, explains use of various Sacred
vessels to Mr. B. Arthur Gilreath, Mayor of Thunderbolt,
Ga., and Mrs. Gilreath. Photo was taken during Open House
at Nativity of Our Lord Church last Sunday.
Labels Expulsions “Political
No Persecution
In Sudan Says
State Department
WASHINGTON (NC) -- The
United States State Department
has asserted here that the ac
tions of the government of the
Sudan, includingthe expulsion of
all foreign missionaries from
a large part of that country,
“have been based on political,
rather than religious, consid
erations.”
In answer to a query, the Of
fice of Public Services in the
State Department’s Bureau of
Public Affairs has released a
statement declaring that this
country does not believe the
curtailment of U. S. economic
assistance “would be in the
broad United States interests, in
the interest of Christianity in
the Sudan, nor in that of the
missionaries.”
Three hundred Catholic and
Protestant missionaries, some
of them American, were ex
pelled from the central African
republic in March. Most of the
missionaries were located in
the southern part of the coun
try. The Sudan’s government is
dominated by the Moslem ma
jority in the north.
After reviewing the attempts
by the Sudan to replace Chris
tian mission schools with Ara
bic - language government in
stitutions, and the resulting up
rising in the south, the State
Department concluded that the
United States “cannot question
the responsibility of the Sudan
government for public order
in the country and the integrity
of its territory, and hence to
take the measures it considers
necessary for this purpose.”
It further stated: “The Sudan
has constantly maintained, and
-continues to assure us, that its
policy is one of religious tol
erance, that it has no desire
to interfere with the purely
religious functions of the mis
sionaries, and that its actions
in the south are dictated sole-
continued on Page 3)
NEW YORK (NC) —The
executive director of the Am
erican Catholic overseas re
lief agency labeled "absolute
ly and totally false” a press
report alleging that supplies
distributed in South Vietnam
through his agency are given
only to Catholics. *
Bishop Edward E. Swan-
strom, chief administrator of
Catholic Relief Services—Na
tional Catholic Welfare Con
ference, made this point (April
27) in a public stateimfit tak
ing issue with a Saigon story
published by the Los Angeles
Times the previous day. That
story, citing a report by Am
erican investigators in Viet
nam as charging CRS with cor
ruption and incompetence, was
later picked up by other Am
erican news agencies.
Among other charges cited
was one stating that in some
cases parish priests in Viet
nam distributed the U. S. sur
plus food free to Catholics but
demanded payment for it from
non-Catholics.
Bishop Swanstrom declared
that this charge is “absolute
ly and totally false.” But he
said resignedly that he probab
ly will keep hearing' it “as long
as we are in existence, simply
because we are a Catholic ag
ency.”
The Bishop said CRS would
be able to give a point-by
point answer “when the con
tents of this report is made
known to us.”
AT THE VATICAN PAVILION in the New York World's
Fair, the famed Pieta of Michaelangelo is enclosed in a huge,
bullet-proof glass case surrounded by guards. The room it
is exhibited in is in darkness except for blue spotlights glit
tering around the statue with a soft white spotlight playing
directly upon it. Millions are expected to view this priceless
art treasure from the Vatican. (NC Photos)
Following is the text of Bi
shop Swanstrom’s statement:
“I am shocked by the vir
tually libelous statements in
the press concerning a report
on purported black market ac
tivities in American-donated
foodstuffs in Vietnam, the
contents of which thus far have
not been made available to our
agency.
"In any relief program, ei
ther domestic or foreign, some
supplies invariably get into
commercial channels which in
no way reflects either fraud
or incompetency on the part
of the distributing agency.
“Through the Catholic Re
lief Services program in’ Viet
nam, more than 344,000 tons of
supplies have been distributed
since 1954. Over six million
sacks and cartons of foodstuffs
were involved. Even a tiny frac
tion of this amount would loom
large to those unfamiliar with
problems relating to the move
ment and distribution of large
tonnages if seen in commercial
hands.
"Last year for example, 260
sacks and cartons of foodstuffs
were undelivered, that is, were
never received, by Catholic
Relief Services in Vietnam al
though they had been loaded
on the steamers involved at
U. S. ports. This type of leak
age is a primary source of what
(Continued on Page 3)
PRAY FOR OUR
PRIESTLY DEAD
REV. JEREMIAH O’HARA
May 6, 1940
VERY REV. DANIEL
j. McCarthy
May 8, 1957
Oh Cod, fVho didst give to
thy servants by their sacredotaf
office, a share in the priest
hood of the Apostles, grant,
we implore, that they may
also be one of their company
forever in heaven. Through
Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Prayer Hearings
To Be Lengthy
WASHINGTON (NC) — The
House Judiciary Committee
hearings on constitutional
amendments which would per
mit voluntary religious ex
ercises in public schools, will
run for some time, it was indi
cated here.
At the (April 22) opening, it
was understood the hearings
were called reluctantly by Rep.
Emanuel Celler of New York,
committee chairman. However,
Celler noted that the 35 sepa
rate resolutions proposed by
147 House members “attest to
the widespread interest and the
many schools of thought on this
important subject.”
“It will be our privilege to
consider the testimony of dis
tinguished church leaders, of
experts in the field of constitu
tional law, theology and educa
tion, and of exponents of all
points of view,” he said.
Rep. Frank J. Becker of New
York, a leading sponsor of the
amendments, led off the testi
mony by charging that a * ‘fra
ternity of cynics, atheists and
unbelievers” are opposing the
change. >
* ‘The same forces which ini
tiated the campaign to outlaw
devotions in our schools are
now determined to eliminate
the words ‘under God’ from the
Pledge of Allegiance and the
words ‘in God we trust’ from
our coins and currency,” he
said.
Becker was followed by many
other Congressmen, including
Rep. Howard W. Smith of Vir
ginia who urged the committee
to “tell the Supreme Court to
keep their noses out of reli
gion,” and by Rep. Robert F.
Sikes of Florida who charged
that “there is on foot in this
nation a deadly attempt by a
small minority to make our
America officially a Godless
nation.”
Rep. Louis C. Wyman of New
Hampshire presented to the
committee a 67-yard-long peti
tion signed by an estimated 16,-
000 persons from Ohio and Ken
tucky supporting the amend
ments.
Several committee members,
led by Rep. John V. Lindsay of
New York, urged the witnesses
to refrain from implying that
only atheists and agnostics
were opposed to the legislation.
Suggesting that the witnesses
devote themselves to the consti
tutional question, Lindsay said
he hoped the hearings could be
conducted “with the absence
of implications that members
who ask questions about these
amentments are somehow anti-
God, anti-morality or even anti
children.”
Lindsay’s comments were
echoed in New York by Rabbi
Jay Kaufman, vice president
of the Union of American (Re
form) Hebrew Congregations,
who said Congressmen were
faced with threats of being call
ed “Godless and anti-reli
gious” unless they supported!
the bill.
Further opposition to the leg
islation has come from the Na
tional Council of Churches of
Christ, the Protestant Epis
copal Church, the Lutheran
Church in America and the
National (Jewish) Community
Relations Advisory Council.
The only congressman to op
pose the amendments during the
first week of hearings was Rep.
B. F. Sisk of California. Sisk
said “radical, right-wing ex
tremists” were trying to stam
pede Congress into amending
the Constitution.
Becker’s amendment states
that “nothing in this Constitu
tion shall be deemed to prohibit
the offering, reading from or
listening to prayers or Biblical
Scriptures, if participation
therein is on a voluntary basis,
in any governmental school, in
stitution or place.”
Vietnam Relief
CRS Director Labels
CAPPING CEREMONY—Above photo shows some of the 26 students from St. Joseph’s
Hospital School of Nursing in Savannah at “Capping” ceremony last Sunday. Students
received their caps from Bishop Thomas J. McDonough at Savannah’s Cathedral of St.
John the Baptist. Sister M. Bonaventure, R. S. M„ is the Director of the School.