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Vol. 44, No. 48
10c Per Copy — $5 A Year
WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
OF THE DIOCESE OF
SAVANNAH
SAVANNAH, GEORCxIA, THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1964
BISHOP THOMAS J. McDONOUGH, (right in photo) escorts long-time friend, Msgr.
J. P. O'Mahoney from Cathedral in Miami, Florida. On Monsignor O’Mahoney’s right
is Auxiliary Bishop William J. McDonald of Washington, D. C. Monsignor O’Mahoney
was one of 14 Miami priests who marked golden and silver jubilees of their ordination
at a Solemn Mass on June 3rd. He is the Palm Beach pastor of the late President Ken
nedy. Bishop McDonough was the principal speaker at a clergy luncheon which followed
Mass — (Photo Courtesy the Voice, Miami)
Religious Leaders Unite
In Race Justice Appeal
j PHILADELPHIA (NC)--This
City’s religious leaders have
appealed in their first joint
statement for local churches to
pray and work for racial just
ice.
* ‘Racial discrimination can
in no way be justified. It is in
fact immoral to refuse to as
sociate with other persons sol
ely because of race,” the lead
ers said.
Archbishop John J. Krol of
Philadelphia read the joint
statement at the conclusion of a
special Mass (June 5) in the Ca
thedral of SS. Peter and Paul.
More than a score of other
Christian clergymen and civil
leaders attended the Mass cel
ebrated by the Archbishop to
launch a Catholic Crusade of
Prayer for racial harmony and
religious unity. The cathedral
was crowded to the doors.
Archbishop Krol said he read
the statement at the special urg
ing of Methodist Bishop Fred
Pierce Corson of Philadelphia,
president of the World Meth
odist Council, and Episcopal Bi
shop Robert L. DeWitt of Pen
nsylvania, both of whom were
present at the service.
Signed by 10 Christian and
Savannah
Student
Is Lay Apostle
Miss Carole Sigman of Ca
thedral parish, Savannah was
one of fourteen students of Dun
barton College, Washington,
D. C. who participated in a
mission departure ceremony
held at the college prior to
their leaving for a summer of
apostolic service in mission
areas of the U. S. and Mexico.
The departure ceremony was
conducted by Father Anthony
Linares, a priest member of
Opus Dei, who acted as spiri
tual advisor during students’
formation program.
Six students will work in
Chilpancingo in the Diocese of
Chilapa, Mexico under the spon
sorship of the Conference on
Inter-American Student Pro
jects.
Four including Miss Sigman
will serve in the Archdiocese
of Sante Fe, N. Mexico and
three in the Diocese ofRaliegh,
N. C.
One student has been assign
ed by the Extension Lay Volun
teer Society for the academic
year, 1964-65.
Jewish leaders, the statement
said that concern over * ‘the
deepening of racial unrest and
misunderstanding” in Philadel
phia impels all religious faiths
to speak out and reaffirm what
they believe in common.
The statement made no spe
cific mention of racial inci
dents, but unrest here had in
cluded a dispute earlier in the
year over “blackface” makeup
worn in the traditional Mum
mers’ parade and abuse of a
young Negro couple who moved
into an all-white suburb.
The statement said that “all
men have the same Father,
Creator and Lord of life, in
whose image all have been cre
ated, whose purpose for all men
is fulness of life.”
“Every man may truly
be called ‘neighbor’ and ‘bro
ther’ of his fellow man, whom
he must therefore indeed res
pect,” it said.
“We call first for prayer,”
it said. “Let each religious
community implore Almighty
God to bestow His gifts of un
ity and love upon us, without
which there can be no real
harmony among men.”
Each religious community
was asked to * ‘work for its own
inter conversion and the renew
al of all its members.”
The leaders said that they are
“mournfully aware” there is no
spectacular answer to racial
injustice.
But they said that if ‘ ‘the or
dinary and seemingly insignif
icant kindly deeds and gentle
courtesies of daily life” were
multiplied “a million times
each day,” this would “most
certainly bring about the healing
influence of the Divine Presence
and teachings to bear upon the
(Continued on Page 5)
PRAY FOR OUR
DECEASED
PRIESTS
REV. BENJAMIN
B.K. DONOHOE
June 12, 1912
RT. REV. BENJAMIN J.
KEILEY, D.D.
Seventh Bishop of Savannah
June 17, 1925
Oh God, Who didst give to
thy servants by their sacerdotal
office, a share in the priest
hood of the Apostles, grant, we
implore, that they may also
be one of their company for
ever in heaven. Through Christ
Our Lord, Amen.
Say Regime Violates Rights
Huge Demonstrations Mark
Saigon Catholic Protests
Trial
Sparks
Action
SAIGON, Vietnam (NC) —
Maj. Dang Sy, Vietnamese Ca
tholic officer, has been convict
ed by the ‘‘Revolutionary
Court” here of murdering eight
Buddhists during a demonstra
tion in Hue on May 8, 1963,
and sentenced to life imprison
ment at hard labor.
Foreign observers here find
the sentence impossible to re
concile with the trend of the
evidence at the five-day trial.
The sentence (June 6) aggra
vated Catholic discontent and
resulted in mass demonstra
tions the next day.
The presiding judge cut Dang
Sy short in his final statement.
The major’s curtailed address
ended: “I am innocent. I am a
victim of religious differ
ences.”
During his trial Maj. Dang
Sy declared that police tried to
make him accuse Archbishop
Ngo dinh Thuc of Hue of order
ing repression of Buddhists.
Archbishop Thuc is the
brother of the late President
Ngo dinh Diem.
Dang Sy made this statement
twice in the courtroom (June 2)
during his vehement 30-minute
rebuttal item by item of the
prosecutor’s lengthy indict
ment. He said the trial had a
religious basis. The prisoner
was accused of “murder and at
tempted murder with aggrava
ting circumstances.”
He declared he had been held
for months in a dark cell where
“you could not tell night from
day.” During that time gov
ernment agents tried to make
him accuse the Archbishop,
he asserted. Later that day he
added that while he was held
prisoner in Saigon as well as
Hue, he was offered safecy if
he would put the blame on the
Archbishop “or on some other
priest” for ordering action
against the Buddhists.
The government news ser
vice, Vietnam Press, did not
report the foregoing statement
of the major in its account of
the trial.
Maj. Dang Sy, aged 35, was
trim in a khaki uniform. He
wore four campaign ribbons
with a palm leaf for the highest
army citation and stars for
other citations. He attended the
advanced officers’ training
school at Fort Benning, Ga.,
in 1959. He is married and has
seven children, and the birth
of his eighth child is expected
one of these days.
Dang Sy’s mother, aged over
70, came to court to see him.
During an interval in the
trial he told me and another
correspondent with an ironic
smile that to was guilty of two
mistakes: “I am a Catholic
and I executed my superior’s
orders.”
Conflicting testimony was
given by prosecution witnesses
during the five-day trial.
For instance, two men who
claim to have been in a car
with the major on the night
of the incident contradicted each
other when questioned sepa-
(Continued on Page 6)
DUNBARTON COLLEGE LAY APOSTLES — Front row, left to right: Carmen Suarez,
Carole Sigman (daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Merriman, 1 Kinzie Avenue, Savan
nah, Georgia), Ann Gartlan, Marcia Cronan, Martina Leonard, Linda Lane, Bonnie Bodin.
Back row, left to right: Mary Jo Powers, Mary Ann Hindle, Lois Birmingham, Charlotte
Casey, Maureen Marr, Ursula Jussel, Kathleen Kobik.
Father Patrick J. O’Connor, N.C.W.C. correspondent in
Saigon, South Vietnam, reports below on Catholic protests
against alleged rights violations under the Khan regime,
and the conviction of a Catholic army major which touched
off the mass demonstrations.
SOME of 40,000 demonstrators who marched in Saigon, South Vietnam June 7, protesting
alleged rights violations under Khan regime.
Demonstrations were sparked by conviction June 6 of army major Dang Sy, accused
of murder in death of Buddhists in Hue last year.
Vietnam government claimed deaths resulted from explosion of concussion grenades
thrown by Dang Sy’s troops to disperse rioters.
Church Leaders Hit Cultural Charter
Christians Of Middle-East
Fear Arab League Action
BEIRUT, Lebanon (NC) --
Christian communities in the
predominantly Moslem nations
belonging to the Arab League
are gravely worried about a
Charter of Arab Cultural Unity
approved by the league’s coun
cil, its top executive body.
Church leaders in the Middle
East have pointed out that the
charter makes no provision for
freedom of religion or thought,
seems to aim more at Moslem
than at Arab unity and is strong
ly influenced by politics.
They add that the charter en
dangers Catholic schools and
they accuse it of totalitarian
aims since it seeks to bring all
schools in Arab League coun
tries into one single regiment
ed educational system.
The charter was first ap
proved by a majority of the
ministers of education of league
countries at a meeting in Bagh
dad, Iraq, on Feb. 29. Also ap
proved at that time was the es
tablishment of an Arab organi
zation similar to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization. Both
proposals were submitted to the
league council for ratification.
During a meeting in Carlo,
the council approved (May 21)
the charter and the proposed
Arab UNESCO. But no steps
have yet been taken to put them
into effect because several lea
gue members — Lebanon,
Morocco and Saudi Arabia —
asked for modifications of the
charter, which are now being
studied.
Among league members,
most concern about the charter
is felt here in Lebanon, the only
Arab country without a Moslem
majority, although even here
Moslems make up close to 50%
of the population. At the Bagh
dad meeting, the Lebanese dele
gate, Edouard Honein, a Chris
tian, voiced reservations about
the charter, saying it seemed to
him to be im compatible with the
sovereignty of individual league
members.
Although the charter provides
that Arab League nations will
seek to educate youth to have
“an attachment to religious
principles,” Christian leaders
point out that for most people
in Arab countries “religion”
means * ‘Islam.” They add that
the charter says nothing about
teaching young people to respect
the religion of others.
They also note that Article
15 speaks of cooperative efforts
by league nations to propagate
“Islamic Arab culture,” and
have expressed fears that this
phrase indicates that the char
ter’s real aim is to seek,
through a so-called Arab cul
tural unity, a pan-Islamic poli
tical unity.
Middle East Christians say
another indication that the char
ter is strongly motivated by
political considerations is its
preamble’s call for support
of all who oppose “the world
forces of evil represented by
(Continued on Page 6)
Rep. Carey Proposes
Parents 9 Resolution
40,000
March In
Capital
SAIGON, Vietnam—Vietnam
ese Catholics numbering 40,-
000 or more staged a huge dem
onstration in Saigon (June 7)
‘ ‘because our fundamental
rights as citizens are unjustly
injured,” according to their
declaration.
The crowd began an orderly
march in columns of five. It
halted about mile and half from
center city and people alighted
to form ranks.
The demonstrators had their
own capable marshals and the
entire program was efficiently
organized. It seemed to take
authorities by surprise but
no attempt was made to hinder
it.
Many had small crucifixes or
holy pictures pinned on shirt or
jacket, or let the crucifix of
their rosary hang out a breast
pocket.
Many wide banners bearing
slogans in Vietnamese and En
glish were carried. These call
ed for religious freedom, CMA
opposition to communism and
thanks to American soldiers and
the U. S. Government and peo
ple.
Samples of the slogans in
English:
‘ ‘Catholic brethren be ready
to fight for our nation and our
Church,” “We back up the
struggle of our Catholic breth
ren in central Vietnam,” “We
are thankful to the warriors of
the friendly nation who lost
their lives for our nation,”
“We’re grateful to the Ameri
can Government and the Amer
ican people.”
Some slogans and a circular
letter distributed denounced
U. S. Ambassador Henry Cabot
Lodge. Speakers from the top of
a sound truck announced in Viet
namese, English and French
that the anti-Lodge slogans had
not been authorized.
The organizers reiterated the
(Continued on Page 3)
WASHINGTON (NC) — Rep.
Hugh L. Carey told the House
committee studying public
school prayer amendments it
should also be concerned with
the rights of parents of chil
dren in nonpublic schools which
teach religion.
The New York legislator,
speaking before the Judiciary
Committee (June 3), proposed a
Congressional resolution which
he said defended parental rights
over their children’s religious
development in both public and
private schools.
The resolution (H. J. Res.
1036) consists of two sections:
1. No parent shall be den
ied the right to have any of his
children engage involuntary re
ligious exercise in any public
school . . .
2. No parents shall be denied
the right to financial support
from any governmental entity
for the education of his chil
dren by reason of the attend
ance of his children at a non
public school of the parent’s
choice.
Carey, a member of the House
Education Committee, is an out
spoken supporter of giving gov
ernment education aid directly
to parents who could use it at
the school of their choice.
Carey spoke on the final day
of seven weeks of hearings by
the committee on nearly 150
proposed constitutional amend
ments to offset the U. S. Su
preme Court’s 1962 and 1963
decisions against prayer and
Bible reading in public schools.
Carey saw the issue of pray
er in school primarily as one in
volving the rights of parents.
* ‘The parental right is prior to
any social or governmental
right in the sense that one holds
it precisely as a parents and not
as a legal concession from so
ciety,” he said.
He advanced his propo
sal concerning the right of par
ents in nonpublic schools,
he said, “to rebut any implica
tion which might arise from sin
gular consideration of public
school religion.”
The concluding day of the
committee’s hearings included
a loud complaint from a spec
tator that atheists had not been
represented in the parade of
preachers, professors and pol
iticians before the committee.
Kenneth F. Klinkert of Meno-
menee Falls, Wis., strode for
ward from the audience, shout
ing, “point of order, point of
order,” to make his com
plaint.
Chairman Emanuel Celler of
New York refused to let him
testify, ordering him to submit
a statement. Klinkert told news
men that when children pray, it
is like exposing them to false
and untrue advertising.
The committee is expected to
get down to voting on the pray
er issue in late June. Its course
of action is not clear, but one
unofficial survey of the 35-
member unit reportedly shows
16 are opposed to any consti
tutional amendment and 3 plan
to absent themselves from a
vote.
In the meantime, Rep. Frank
J. Becker of New York, spon
sor of the leading proposed
amendment before the commit
tee, said he would be willing to
drop that part of it which would
prevent the Supreme Court from
ruling against references to God
on coins and in public ceremon
ies.
But Becker said he will not
make any concessions on the
principal provision which would
permit prayer and Bible read
ing in public schools if children
of objecting parents are excus
ed from participation.
In the meantime, although
public hearings were ended, the
committee continued to receive
opinions. Eighty - five Indiana
Protestant, Catholic and Jew
ish clerics opposed an amend
ment in one statement and 223
constitutional lawyers and
teachers took the same stand in
another.
The statement of the lawyers
and teachers was circulated by
four widely known figures in
the field of constitutional law
and Church-State relations:
Father Robert F. Drinan, S.J.,
dean of the Boston (Mass.)Col
lege Law School; Paul A. Freund
of Harvard Law School; Wilbur
G. Katz of the University of
Wisconsin Law School; and Leo
Pfeffer, general counsel of the
American Jewish Congress,
New York.
Antismut Bill
Approved By
House Group
WASHINGTON (NC) — The
House Post Office Committee
has approved unanimously (June
4) a revolutionary bill em
powering recipients of mail to
force a halt in delivery of
material judged “morally of
fensive.”
Sponsored by Rep. Glenn Cun
ningham of Nebraska, the mea
sure is aimed at cutting off the
repeated delivery of unwanted
smutty literature or suggestive
advertising, especially that sent
youngsters.
The bill would permit a
person to return mailed mater
ial the individual held to be
“morally offensive.” Thecom-
plaintant could request the
Postmaster General to notify
the sender that no more unso
licited mail is to be sent him.
If mailings continue, the Post
master General would be em
powered to seek a court order
to stop them and request that
further violations result in con
tempt of Federal court proceed
ings.
Cunningham has pushed hard
for such a measure. One of his
children was subjected to un
solicited mailing of smut sev
eral years ago. The Congress
man has said subsequent inves
tigation convinced him that
youngsters are being sent such
material wholesale.
The committee had consulta
tions for more than three
months with Post Office and
Justice Department officials on
the bill.
The Justice Department has
not endorsed the measure, no
ting that it saw constitutional
and practical problems, es
pecially with the provision that
the government is obliged to
enforce each citizen’s idea of
what is “morally offensive.”
Cunningham has said there is
some possibility mail patrons
might try to stop delivery of
political or religious matter on
grounds that it is morally of
fensive, but he did not rate this
as a major problem.