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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, May 14, 1964
An Act Of Faith
We read in St. John’s Gospel in the sixth
chapter: “This is a hard saying. Who can
listen to it?”
It was the reaction of the disciples to whom
Christ had just announced “I am the living
bread that has come down from heaven. If
anyone eat of this bread he shall live for
ever; and the bread that I will give is my
flesh for the life of the world.. . Amen, amen
I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall
not have life in you . . . For my flesh is
food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. . .
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood,
abides in me and 1 in him ...”
And on hearing Christ’s insistence on this
promise of His own flesh and blood to eat
and drink, St. John tells us, “From this time
many of his disciples turned back and no
longer went about with him.”
It was then that Christ said to the apos
tles, “Do you also wish to go away?”
And it was then that Peter in the name
of the apostles, and of believers in the Real
Presence for all time, answered: “Lord to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
everlasting life and we have come to believe
and to know that thou are the Christ, the
Son of God.”
And hence it is now, in the new simple
Communion ceremoney where the priest
holds up the Sacred Host and says “Corpus
Christi” and the communicant answers
''Amen” that we relive again and again the
act of faith by Peter.
We believe it is the “Body of Christ,”
it is really His Flesh and Blood, Soul and
Divinity under the appearance of a little white
wafer, which we receive and eat, and so we
answer from the depth of our faith and love,”
So be it.”
We are reminded by this change, (really
a return to what was the custom in earliest
Christian tradition), of the feast of love which
Christ held with His disciples on Holy Thurs
day night when He made good His promise
and did give them His flesh to eat and His
blood to drink; “Take and eat; this is my
body . . . all of you drink of this; for this
is my blood ...”
We are reminded that our Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass today is such a feast of love.
It is in this light that we now happily ac
cept this act of Pope Paul’s paternal care in
giving us this liturgical change which brings
to us such a realization of the meaning of
the communion act.
May our “Amen” rise from hearts full
of love and gratitude to God Who, in our
human weakness and wants deemed to share
His Flesh and Blood with us.—(Catholic Week,
Birmingham).
“Do As I Do
An article in last Sunday’s New York Times
Magazine defends the unusual thesis that pa
rents who try to teach children manners
should really practice what they preach. As
one youth complained,” “They tell you to put
your napkin on your lap, and then they don’t.”
Most children, the article holds, are more
than aware of flagrant inconsistencies in
adult behaviour. Hence they cannot but won
der why they must conform to courtesies
which grown-ups commonly ignore without
any explanation. A child asks himself why
he should be polite to others when his own
father or mother sometimes makes it a point
to be positively discourteous; why he should
be neat about his appearance when his pa
rents frequently go about town obviously look
ing like roustabouts.
Do as I do,” not simply “Do as I say,”
ought to be a fundamental yardstick of pa
rental guidance. Moreover, if such a rule is
essential as regards matters of etiquette,
how can faith or morals be taught without
reference to it? Children are bound to obey
their parents in all that is not sin, granted.
But what of parents who, by bad example,
contradict moral norms which they preach
with empty words? —(Catholic Transcript-
Hartford).
Population Limitation
Propaganda Increasing
By J. J. Gilbert
WASHINGTON — Increasing
pressure is being exerted to
nudge the United States govern
ment into sponsorship of birth
control in Latin America.
Persons favoring the move
assert that this government is
about to take the step. It is not
possible at this time to confirm
this claim, nor is it possible to
“knock it down” altogether.
Interpretation of the Fulbright
Amendment to the Foreign As
sistance Act of 1963 is an im
portant consideration.
Much is being written on the
subject in newspapers and ma
gazines. It is asserted that
Latin America’s population, in
creasing at the present rate,
will triple in this century. It is
claimed the Alliance for Prog
ress will not work unless pop
ulation growth is halted in Lat
in America.
Meetings of the International
Planned Parenthood Federation
are being held at various places
in Latin America, and a recent
one claimed attendance by rep
resentatives of 26 governments,
half of them official delegates.
Following a late IPPE meet
ing in Puerto Rico press re
ports said the U. S. Agency
for International Development
(AID) is assigning priority sta
tus to birth control in its pro
gram in Latin America.
Here in Washington, officials
deny AID is instituting any birth
control program in Latin
America. It was said the agency
is currently drawing up “guide
lines” for field offices respect
ing the general subject of popu
lation limitation, but that it
recognizes the Fulbright
Amendment as restricting U. S.
interest to research into the 1
population problem.
In 1959, the Catholic Bishops
'of the U. S. met this issue
squarely. They warned that * ‘a
campaign of propaganda has
been gaining momentum to in
fluence international, national
and personal opinion in favor of
birth prevention programs,”
and that “the vehicle for this
propaganda is the recently
coined terror technique phrase,
‘population explosion.’ ”
They noted that ‘ ‘some inter
national and national figures
have made the statement that
artificial birth prevention with
in the married state is gradu
ally becoming acceptable even
in the Catholic Church,” and'
they added bluntly: “This
simply is not true.”
“United States Catholics,”
the Bishops continued, “believe
that the promotion of artificial
birth prevention is a morally,
humanly, psychologically and
politically disastrous approach
to the population problem.” Ca
tholics, the Bishops added,
* ‘will not support any public
assistance, either at home or
abroad, to promote artificial
birth prevention, abortion or
sterilization whether through
direct aid or by means of in
ternational organizations.”
As the Bishops noted, the pro
paganda for population control
in Latin America is increas
ing. As it increases, even though
many of its claims may
be wrong or fuzzy, it becomes
more and more difficult
to counteract it, or even to keep
track of what the situation really
is.
Keepers Of The Peace
God’s World
(By Leo J. Trese)
“Blessed are the peacemak
ers,” said our Lord, “for they
shall be called the children of
God.” This being true, then it
is double true that “Blessed
are the peacekeepers.” It is
a great act
of charity to
resolve the
quarrels of
others and to
reconcile an
tagonists. It
is an even
greater act
of charity to
refrain from
instigating a quarrel ourselves.
There are three basic skills
needed by those who would ful
fill the role or peacekeeper
and thus rejoice the heart of
Christ. These skills are valua
ble in all our interpersonal re
lationships. They are particul
arly needed by husbands and
wives if a marriage is to be
happy and the home is to be a
haven of peace.
The three skills may be de
scribed as (1) the ability to
allow another person to make
a mistake without feeling per
sonally affronted by his lapse;
(2) the ability to admit one’s
own mistakes quite frankly
without feeling a need to justi
fy oneself; and (3) the ability
to be right and still be silent.
The third one is the most im
portant of all.
At first sight these seem very
simple skills which anyone
might easily acquire and prac
tice. The simplicity, however,
is deceptive, because these
three aptitudes run counter to
the deep-seated pride and vani
ty with which Orginial Sin has
endowed us. Moreover, there
seems to be in all of us a streak
of sadism. Like the naughty boy
who enjoys pulling the legs off
from houseflies, we seem to get
pleasure from catching some
one in a mistake and then mak
ing him squirm for his blunder.
Let us look in on a peace-
loving couple. The husband, in
specting the family checkbook,
finds that his wife has balanc
ed the book wrongly. It is ask
ing too much of human nature
to expect the husband to say
nothing and simply to correct
the error. However, he is con-
Visitor
The School Prayer Trouble
It Seems to Me
JOSEPH BREIG
A vigorous debate has been
going on in the U. S. Congress
over proposals to amend the
Constitution to insure that pub
lic schools may open classes
with prayer and Bible reading.
The dis
pute is an
echo of a
great dis-
c u s s i o n
which has
been in pro-
g r e s s for
many years
in the minds
and hearts of
Americans.
It is of universal interest and
application, because it is con
cerned with political problems
of vast importance, which every
country faces in one form or
another.
THERE IS ENORMOUS con
fusion because, as yet, neither
the people nor their representa
tives have disengaged themsel
ves from their emotions long
enough to stand back and look at
the root causes of the disagree
ment.
All the root causes are ad
mirable, because they consist in
strong loyalties to very good
and indispensable things.
Let me put the matter into
three propositions:
First, the American nation is
profoundly, and indeed unalter
ably, committed to religion.
Second, the nation is also
profoundly and unalterably
committed to education.
(The two commitments are
enshrined in one sentence in the
Northwest Ordinance which
says that schools must forever
be encouraged because religion
and education are necessary for
good government.)
Third, America also is deeply
dedicated to one of history’s
greatest tasks of political wis
dom: delimiting, correctly and
workably, the separate spheres
of action (which of course often
overlap) of government and of
the Church.
There is furious debate in
Congress because these three
great goods seem to be in col
lision. The collision, however,
is only apparent, not real.
The trouble is that a great
many Americans equate their
loyalty to God with loyalty to
the recitation of a prayer and
reading of a few verses from
the Bible in the schools which,
as children, they came to love.
So fierce is this loyalty that
thoughtless accusations of athe
ism, godlessness and cynicism
have been hurled at those who
do not want to amend the Consti
tution.
THE SUPREME COURT has
been cruelly misrepresented
because the justices ruled that
school prayers and Bible read
ings violate the First Amend
ment to the Constitution.
(The court stressed that it
was not outlawing patriotic
songs, statements, practices,
etc., which emphasize Ameri
ca’s faith and trust in God.
(Neither did the court forbid
voluntary prayers in school or
Our Work
tent to remark, in a normal
tone of voice, ‘ ‘I see you’ve
made a mistake in subtraction
here.” The wife, in turn, is
content to answer, “I’m sorry,
dear. I’ll have to be more care
ful.” How much better this, than
the following interchange.
Husband: “When will you ever
learn arithmetic? I’ve told you
a dozen times to check your
figures carefully. You shouldn’t
be trusted with a checkbook at
all.” Wife: “If you had to look
after five children with the baby
crying and the phone ringing and
someone at the door, you’d make
mistakes, too, Mr. Einstein.”
The battle is on.
Again, the husband returns
from the supermarket lacking
one item on the shopping list.
The wife is too human to re
main wholly silent but she says
only, “You forgot the butter,
but we can get along without
it.” The husband answers,
‘ ‘Sorry, sweetheart, don’t know
how I missed it.” The wife
could have said, with an air of
deep injury, “You always for
get somethingl How do you ex-
(Continued on Page 6)
Jottings
By Barbara C. Jencks
“Lord, I consecrate to you
my work. You bring me every
day in contact with many peo
ple. I want to love them. Let
your goodness radiate through
me into the world, so that those
who come in contact with me will
learn something of you and your
love.
Rev. William Kelly, S.J.
WORK, like all good things,
was created by God. St. Joseph
is the patron of the worker. We
spend more time at our work
than we do in our homes with
our families. Yet for many,
work is not a happy, pleasant
part of life. Co-workers, condi
tions are apt to be unpleasant,
heroic efforts must be met to
overcome the temptations which
come daily, hourly to un
kindness, disloyalty and uncha
ritableness. Recently I dis
covered two prayers especially
written for the worker to endow
him each morning with a spirit
which would war against the
temptations he meets on enter
ing his place of employment.
Prayer works wonders and if all
those who were unhappy at their
desks or machines, all those
who suffer injustice from their
employers or co-workers
were to read this prayer daily,
think of what a power for the
good and for the curing of evils
would be theirs.
ITE MISSA EST: ‘‘I came,
with my sins, my troubles, my
weakness, my limitations. I go
with the life of Christ with the
Host in my soul; Let me go as
a host, offered with Him and for
the love of Him to all those
with whom I shall come into con
tact today. Let me be to them
a Christ, living with His
love, not asking for anything,
but with my own heart an altar
of sacrifice, where He shall be
offered for them, in patience, in
submission, in compassion, in
service, in cooperation, in
abnegation, in wrestling with
self, and, please God, in dying
to self. Let Him be a host lift
ed in me, in places where other
wise no Host comes; Let me
show His beauty, His simplici
ty, His attractiveness, in laugh
ter, in tenderness, in my
interest in their affairs, in see
ing the good in them, fostering
their aspirations, making my
self, my heart — not only the
outside of me — accessible to
them.
“Let me reveal Him even
when I fail; in humility, in ac
knowledging my faults without
servility, without morbidity,
without the vanity which is
amazed by its own failure; But
asking forgiveness and going on,
trusting Him. Let me work with
His devotion to duty, to the will
of God, and for the glory of God;
let my soul be His Nazareth;
let Christ in me, be among my
fellow-workers, and be in ways
Civil Disobedience
Can Be Dangerous
Seminary Closed
CLEVELAND (NC) — Civil
disobedience to gain civil rights
may create greater evils than it
erases, a priest said during
Cleveland’s observance of Law
Week.
Preaching to a congregation
of judges, legislators and law
enforcement officers (May 5),
Msgr. Michael J. Murphy, rec
tor of St. Mary Seminary here,
said there are more dangerous
things than being temporarily
denied human rights and legi
timate human aspirations.
“By disobedience to lead oth
ers to despise lawful authority,
to disregard the very legal pro
cess, to unwarranted disobe
dience of just laws, to enkindle
passions and widen divisions
in the body politic—these seem
to be losses to the community
at large that may well outweigh
the burden unjustly imposed,”
he said.
MUNICH, Germany (NC)-
One of the five remaining Rus
sian Orthodox seminaries inth
Soviet Union has been closed
it was reported here by Radic
Liberty, a station that beam
its programs into Russia.
The station, operated by for
mer Russian citizens, said
publication of the Moscow (Or
thodox) Patriarchate had listec
seminaries in Moscow, Len
ingrad, Odessa and Lutsk, bu
failed to mention one that pre
viously existed at Minsk.
The Patriarchate, to com
pensate for a series of closing
of religious schools, has an
nounced it would openacorres-
pondence school, the radio sta
tion said. However thes
courses would be limited to or
dained clergymen, not seminar
ians.
Urges Pope
John’s Reforms
Doubt U. S.
Race Riots
anywhere else. The justices
simply said, in essence, that
government cannot constitu
tionally give children prayers
to say, or read the Bible to
them, in a school-sponsored re
ligion program.)
UNDERLYING all the dis
puting is the fact that most
Americans want their children
not only to be educated, but to
be given the nation’s heritage of
religious commitment and for
mation.
What is needed, then, is not
a constitutional amendment to
provide for a token attention
to religion for a minute or two
each morning.
What America must arrive at
is a successful synthesis of
American loyalty to education,
to religion, and to church-state
separation plus church-state
cooperation.
ONE POSITIVE suggestion
has been heard in Congress.
Rep. James C. Davis, a Georgia
Democrat, has asked for real
religious instruction and for
mation of children, by their own
religious leaders, in a program
using free time in the public
schools, with facilities provided
for that purpose as they are
provided at West Point, Anna
polis and the Air Force Acade
my.
When Americans begin lis
tening to voices like that of Rep.
Davis, the nation will be on its
way to making one more tre
mendous contribution to the
science of successful and happy
government.
NEW ORLEANS (NC)—Peo
ple in Iran find it difficult
to believe that race riots oc
curred in this country.
This is because they have
seen white and Negro Peace
Corps volunteers in their coun
try “working and living toge
ther without problems, sharing
the same quarters like bro
thers,” Kenneth Malveaux,
a former Peace Corps volun
teer said here.
Malveaux, who was with the
Peace Corps in 1962 and 1963,
was in Isfahan, Iran, when the
bloody Birmingham, Ala., riots
occurred. Russia isn’t so very
far away, so communist broad
casts dealt heavily with the Bir
mingham dilemma, said Mal
veaux, a Negro from Lafayette,
La., but the Iranians found it
difficult to believe.
BUENOS AIRES (NC)—Ar
gentinian President Atturo Illi
quoted Pope John XXIII’s ency
clical Mater et Magistra in ur
ging his Congress to adopt leg
islation which would keep th
people from falling into total
itarian programs.
In his reform bill recom
mending a living minimum
wage, the late Pope's statemen
that “the economic wealth /
a people consists not only in
total abundance of goods, but al
so and still more in a true
distribution, according to jus
tice, as a guarantee of th
personal development of th
members of a community, ir
which consists the true aim o
the economy.”
Rally Hits “Filth”
On British TV
“Under God”
In Pledge Hit
ALBANY, N. Y. (NC)—The
New York Court of Appeals has
taken under advisement a chal
lenge to the use of the words
“under God” in the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag recited
daily in public schools.
The words were attacked be
fore the court, New York's
highest, by representatives of
the Freethinkers of America on
the grounds that their recitation
in public schools. violates
Church-State separation.
The state education depart
ment contended, however, that
the pledge recitation is basical
ly a patriotic, not a religious,
ceremony.
BIRMINGHAM, England (NC
—Radical policy changes t
eradicate televised “filth’
were demanded by some 1,00
persons who packed the tow
hall here for a rally sponsore
by the “Women of Brita:
Clean-up TV Campaign.” 1
The (May 5) meeting endorse
a telegram to Queen Elizabet
and Prince Philip asking thei
support for “a radical chang
in the policies of the enter
tainers in general and the gov
ernors of the BBC (Britis
Broadcasting Corporation) ii
particular.”
The telegram said that
view of the terrifying increas
in promiscuity and its attendan
horrors, we are desperate!
anxious to banish from ou
homes and theater thos
who seek to demoralize and cor
rupt our young people.”
QUESTION BOX
By David Q. Liptak
Q. There was an item in the
newspapers recently which
made mention of the Old Catho
lic Church. Is there such a
church?
A. There is a religious group
which calls itself the Old Ca
tholic Church (though we have no
way of knowing whether this is
the church referred to in the
press item cited by our ques
tioner).
THE OLD CATHOLICS came
into being shortly after the last
formal session of the First Va
tican Council in 1870. Their
leader from the start was a bril
liant German priest-scholar,
Dr. Ignatius Doellinger, a pro
fessor at Munich. Even before
the council opened, Doellinger
began to attack the doctrine of
papal infallibility—which the
council later defined—on his
torical (rather than theological)
grounds. Defending his thesis
in a series of articles, he grad
ually created a potent anti-Ro
man faction at Munich. Later,
after the majority of the Fa
thers assembled at the coun
cil decided to petition the Pope
for a definition of papal in
fallibility, Doellinger declared
open warfare by stating, “From
the beginning of the Church tc
this day no one has ever be
lieved in the Pope’s In
fallibility.”
RETURNING TO MUNICH af
ter the last sessions of Vatican
I, Doellinger was met in a
railway station by the Arch
bishop of Munich, who said to
the professor: “Let us get t<p
work.” To which Doellinger
replied: “For the old Church.”
When the archbishop insisted
that there is only one Church,
Doellinger answered: “They
have created a new one.”
STEADFASTLY REFUSING
to accept the Church’s defined
doctrine, Doellinger was ex
communicated on April 17,
1871. His followers then inau
gurated the “Old Catholic
Church” — their first bishop
was consecrated by a schis
matic Jansenist bishop of Ut
recht. For political reasons
the new sect was encouraged and
protected by the Prussian gov
ernment, and also by civic lead
ers in Bavaria.
The Southern Cross
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Vol. 44
Thursday, May 14, 1964
No. 44
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
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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