Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, June 18, 1964
Exercise In Logic
"President Kennedy and Premier Khrus-
chev met privately in Austria in 1961. The
agreements reached at that secret summit
have not been revealed to the American peo
ple. We do know, however, that the President
carried on an extensive correspondence af
ter the Vienna meeting.
"Since the American people have never
been fully informed, it does not seem unreas
onable to assume that the heads of the U.S.
and Russian governments may have plotted
to dump Castro for the sake of ‘peace’ and
sure-fire re-election of Mr. Kennedy in 1964.
‘ ‘The President found it convenient to get
tough toward Cuba and Castro just prior to
the elections in 1962. But we have never heard
officially what JFK may have given Khrus-
chev in exchange for this favor”.
No, the above comment does not come from
the National States' Rights Party, the John
Birch Society, the Paul Revere Associated
Yeomen or any other extremist organization
—but from the Savannah Morning News edi
torial of June 15th.
The Savannah paper admits it has never
heard officially that the late JFK and Niki
ta Khruschev entered into a secret agree
ment by which Kennedy was given the green
light by the Red boss to "get tough” with
the Cuban dictator during the missle crisis
of 1962, but, in an amazing demonstration
of irrefutable logic it declares that in the
absence of any evidence to prove it, it is
reasonable to assume that Khruschev agreed
to "dump” Castro in order to win "sure
fire re-election” for Mr. Kennedy 25 months
later.
"Why is it reasonable to assume this?”
readers may well ask. Logic, of course.
You can’t argue with logic.
It seems that down in New Orleans there
is a Cuban refugee named Dr. Carlos Brin-
guier who says that Fidel Castro hired Lee
Harvey Oswald to kill Kennedy because he
(Castro) had heard that Premier Khruschev
and President Kennedy were plotting behind
his back to doublecross him.
One has but to view this authoritative
information in the incriminating light of the
undisclosed contents of the Kennedy-Khrus-
chev correspondence, bearing in mind the
self-evident fact that Mr. Kennedy’s first
allegiance was not to duty, honor and country,
but to the advancement of his personal poli
tical future, which could not be assured with
out the aid of Nikita Khruschev.
It can then be seen, quite clearly, that since
Mr. Kennedy was assassinated almost two
years after his 1961 meeting with Khruschev
thirteen months after the Cuban missile cri
sis, and only one year before the Presiden
tial election, undoubtedly, it is reasonable
"to assume that the heads of the U. S. and
Russian governments may have plotted to
dump Castro for the sake of ‘peace’ and
sure-fire re-election of Mr. Kennedy in
1964”.
What? You say it’s unfair to attack a dead
man because he can’t answer the charges?
Well, even if he were alive, how could he
possibly refute such inexorable logic?
Justice Loser In Yiet Court
By Father Patrick O’Connor
Society of St. Columban
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
SAIGON — Communism gained, a Buddhist
faction was encouraged and justice lost,
when Catholic Maj. Matthew Dang Sy of the
Vietnamese army was sentenced here to life
imprisonment with hard labor on June 6.
He was found guilty of murdering eight
persons, killed by still unidentified explo
sions during a Buddhist demonstration out
side Hue government radio station on May
8, 1963. As commander of security forces,
under the province chief and the general
commanding the corps area, he had been or
dered to disperse the crowd.
A five-day trial ended in the ordeal of a
long evening session and a grim sentence
at 10:35 p.m. in a somber courtroom lit by
the bright pallor of neon tubes. The prisoner,
35-year-old father of seven children, was
condemned not only to life imprisonment but
also to pay compensation amounting to 1 1/4
million piastres (more than $17,000) to the
families of victims he was not proved to have
killed.
The communist Viet Cong have reason to
rejoice over the sentence. It removes one of
the best young officers from the Vietnamese
army, a man with 12 1/2 years’ military
experience, including an advanced training
course in Fort Benning, Ga., and distinguish
ed service in combat.
A politically ambitious party in Vietnamese
Buddhism can now cut a notch in its noncom
batant gun. It has gained “face” and proved
its power by having a Catholic made a scape
goat.
Justice is a loser in the case, and with it
the morale of some elements in the Vietna
mese armed forces.
Justice lost because the case against Dang
Sy was not proved, and even the prosecutor
admitted it was not proved.
Before beginning his summing up on the
final day the prosecutor asked for an ad
journment so that further investigations might
be made. He said that some points were still
doubtful and some facts were lacking. The
presiding judge said adjournment was im
possible.
Later, when the prosecutor was making
his reply to the defense lawyer’s final plea,
a high official from the Ministry of Justice
entered the courtroom from the side and was
overheard telling the prosecutor that the
hearing should be stopped. This time the pro
secutor said it was impossible to stop.
The case against the young major was not
proved, because some prosecution witnesses
contradicted each other and because other
witnesses shot holes through the prosecution
case.
A crucial question was whether the Ameri
can MK3 grenade could have caused the muti
lation of the victims’ bodies and the hole in
the cement pavement. This was the only
grenade used by the men under Dang Sy’s
command.
The court never really probed that issue.
It refused to call an American officer who
could quote the official U. S. Army manual
on the grenade.
The text of the manual and testimony given
by at least two witnesses indicate that the
MK3 grenade could not have the effects that
were discernible outside the Hue radio sta
tion on May 8, 1963.
At the trial went on, this correspondent
was forcefully inclined to think that the ac
count given by the Ngo dinh Diem govern
ment after the incident last year was true.
It was received then with general skepticism.
Contrary to reports published in Vietnam
and abroad, the evidence showed that there
were no tanks on the scene. The prosecutor
never alleged that Dang Sy’s soldiers fired
into the crowd.
The president of the court and the prose
cutor seemed anxious to deny that the case
had any religious aspect. In reality, that
was its principal aspect.
Dang Sy, a Catholic, was the only officer
brought to trial in connection with any of
the police actions against Buddhist demon
strators. His immediate superior, the pro
vince chief, under whose orders; he .acted,
is a Buddhist, now not only at liberty but
enjoying leave with pay.
In the government news service, Vietnam
Press, Dang Sy has been reported as having
“murdered” not eight persons but eight
Buddhists. The Vietnamese press has written
luridly and with impunity of Dang Sy before
his trial, as guilty of massacring Buddhists.
Buddhists in Hue demanded that the trial be
held there, just before the feast of Buddha’s
birthday. When the government decided to
hold the trial in Saigon, Thich Tri Quang,
the leading bonze of Hue, wrote to his
fellow Buddhists: “Thd^government had ap
proached me before setting the place for
the trial.”
Here may be the key to the verdict for
which justification could not be found in the
evidence.
The testimony given in the court could not,
of itself, lead nine intelligent men to find
Maj. Dang Sy guilty of murder and sentence
him to a lifetime in prison. It is feared that
the sentence was decided on by higher-ups
in the government, and by arrangement with
the Buddhists. Dang Sy could not well be put
to death, but Buddhism still wanted, in Thich
Tri Quang’s words, “a severe and spectacu
lar condemnation.” So he wrote early in May.
When later he agreed to the change of venue
to Saigon, he surely made that, condition.
The trial concerned the incident that open
ed up the Buddhist agitation leading to the
overthrow of the Ngo dinh Diem government
and all that has followed. Yet it was very
poorly attended by the foreign press and still
more poorly reported. Anyone who attended
the sessions could see great gaps in some
wire service reports, which omitted some
of the most significant evidence.
Three of the Vietnamese who were asked
to assist the National Catholic Welfare Con
ference representative as interpreters dur
ing the trial refused because they were
“afraid.”
There Are Eleven Other Promises
God’s World
Most of us learned, in child
hood, about devotion to the Sa
cred Heart of Jesus. In the in
tervening years we may have
forgotton much of what we
learned. We do know that Jesus
m ade twelve
p romises
through St.
M argaret
Mary to all
who would have
a true devotion
to His Sacred
Heart. Pro
bably the pro
mise which
we remember best is the twelfth
(By Leo J. Trese)
one: "I will grant the grace
of final penitence to those who
communicate on the first Fri
day of nine consecutive
months.”
This is a magnificent prom
ise. Obviously it presupposes
good will on the part of one who
seeks to qualify for it. It would
be folly for a person to receive
Holy Communion on nine First
Fridays simply as a form of
"fire insurance,” and then feel
free to embark on a life of sin.
Such a person would be guilty of
presumption and would vitiate
Christ’s promise. However,
anyone who makes the nine
Holy Communions of reparation
out of love for Jesus and who
honestly tries, however imper
fectly and with whatever fail
ures, to live a Christian life,
certainly can count upon dying
in the state of grace.
Because of its implications
for eternity, this promise of
final penitence is the one we
remember best and prize most
highly. Many of us have forgot
ten, perhaps, the other eleven
promises which Jesus made.
They are wonderful promises,
breathtaking promises. Con
sidering the riches they offer,
(Continued on Page 6)
Brother to Brother
It
to Me
Not that I have anything
against Shintoists, but I am op
posed to forcing Catholic child
ren in public schools to take
part in Shinto religious exer
cises. I am well aware that
nobody is
trying to do
so; I am
merely mak
ing a point.
What I
really wish
to say is that
I am against
ordering pu
pils whose
parents are Black Muslims to
stand up in the classroom each
morning, salute the Flag, and
recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
And this time I am not setting
up a straw man; a bill is in the
New Jersey legislature which,
if it became law, would require
teachers to do that to children
—or at least to try.
CLEARLY, this kind of thing
is in violation of the U. S. Con
stitution, and what is more,
it is wrong. Further, it is
folly because its effect is the
exact opposite of the effect
sought by those who advocate
such legislation.
Surely if there is anything we
have learned at long last, it is,
first, that we have no right to
convert people by force, and
second, that as a matter of fact,
converting folks by force
doesn’t work. Maybe you can
make them conform outwardly,
but in mind and heart they be-
JOSEPH BREIG
come more opposed than before
to whatever it is that you are
forcing them to go through the
motions about.
BUT THE MATTER goes even
deeper. It is wicked to put a
youngster in the position of
being torn between obedience to
his parents and obedience to his
teachers. The psychological and
spiritual effects are almost as
devastating as when his father
and his mother give him con
trary orders about the same
thing.
His parents may be mistaken
in directing him to refuse to
salute the Flag; but after all
they are his parents, and the
teacher isn’t. It is an imposi
tion on teachers, too, to put
them in a situation in which they
are required by law to try to
force children to disobey Father
and Mother.
IT IS AN INSULT to the Flag
of the United States, and to all
that it stands for, to try to force
anybody to salute it against his
will. The basic principle which
the Flag symbolizes may be
expressed as an exquisite con
sideration for the consciences
of the people, and for their right
and duty to do as conscience
dictates.
If the Flag could speak, it
would thunder against any at
tempt to force any expression
of respect for it out of anybody,
because respect for the Flag
must be voluntary or else it is
hypocrisy; and hypocrisy to
ward the Flag is disgraceful.
A Special Time
Jottings
"With so many trees in the
city, you could see the spring
coming each day until a night
of warm wind would bring it
suddenly in one morning. Some
times the heavy cold rains would
beat it back so that it would
seem that it would never come
and that you were losing a sea
son out of your life. You expec
ted to be sad in the fall. Part
of you died each year when the
leaves fell from the trees and
their branches were bare
against the wind and cold, win
try light. But you knew there
would always be spring . . .
Ernest Hemingway in
"A Moveable Feast”
* * *
O SOMETIMES LIFE is un
bearably sweet. For me it is like
that mostly in the Spring—es
pecially when it seemed as if
Spring would never come. It
came for me suddenly one day
in May in Connecticut where it
seemed that overnight the dog
wood had bloomed and the trees
By Barbara C. Jencks
had put on a Kellyish green and
the mountains were purple,
grey, blue, black as the day
progressed and the lake was like
a mirror broken only by the plow
of m otor boats. It was at a place
high in the hills, away from
phones and deadlines and de
mands and all the things which
make life savage and hard. I
find it hard to relax usually for
my mind is always clicking like
a typewriter with things to be
said and done and written and
fears which are like bogeymen
hugging the mind’s shadows.
But for forty-one hours there in
Connecticut life was sweet and
this good green earth was dear
and my mind was at rare peace
and the wounds of the worka
day jungle were momentarily
bound and balmed. Heaven
seemed to have swooped low.
I’ve really never known an in
terlude quite like it. Ernest
Hemingway’s new book, "AMo
veable Feast” which I was read
ing at the time set an easy go-
Care Of Aging
Convention Topic
NEW YORK (NC)—Two pan
el sessions on Catholic servi
ces for the aging will be a high
light of the 49th annual Catho
lic Hospital Association con
vention at the New York Hilton
Hotel here June 22 to 25.
Mother M. Bernadette de
Lourdes, administrator of St.
Joseph’s Manor, Trumbull,
Conn., will moderate one panel
on June 23. Msgr. Thomas J.
Holbrook, who directs the Chi
cago archdiocesan program for
the aged, will moderate the sec
ond panel June 24. Theme of the
convention is "Issues, Challen
ges and Opportunities.”
ONE OF THE GLORIES of
America is America’s recog
nition of the importance of vol
untarism; America’ s reverence
for the dignity of the human
person. A priest in Italy has
been fined and given a sus
pended jail sentence for uphold
ing the right of the individual
to refuse military service if his
conscience so orders. Italy,
clearly, has some catching up
to do in this matter.
In America, conscientious
objectors are treated with con
sideration. There is no attempt
to force them to bear arms;
for one thing, they would make
such poor soldiers as to be
worse than useless. But they
are free to select service in
hospitals, on ambulances and
the like.
AND WHAT, when all is said
and done, is more intelligent
than to give such work to those
who prefer it, rather than ar
bitrarily to order somebody into
it who has no taste for it?
All this, it seems to me, is
at the heart of the interminably
long debate about a school-
prayer and Bible-reading
amendment to the U. S. Consti
tution. Government should not
impose religious exercises on
children; it’s as simple as that.
But then, as Prof. Paul A.
Freund of Harvard Law School
told Congress, comes the real
challenge: "To strengthen mo
ral education in the public
schools without meaningless or
divisive ritual.” Precisely so.
War Unlikely
Gruenther Says
MANCHESTER, N.H. (NC)—
Gen. Alfred M. Gruenther said
here he is "convinced” there
will be no third world war.
But, he told 257 graduates of
St. Anselm’s college and more
than 2,500 guests, in all like
lihood the ideological struggle
with communism will continue
throughout the lifetime of the
graduates.
Gruenther, former Supreme
Allied Commander in Europe
and former president of the Am
erican Red Cross, received an
honorary doctorate of laws at
the college’s 71st commence
ment.
45,000 Refugees
Resettled
MIAMI, Fla. (NC)—More than
45,000 Cuban refugees have
been resettled by Catholic Re
lief Services—National Catho
lic Welfare Conference since
January, 1961, according to the
Cuban Refugee Center here. The
center, operated by the Depart
ment of Health, Education and
Welfare, released figures
showing that in that period 116,—
359 refugees had registered
with CRS—NCWC,
France Honors
Cardinal Cicognani
VATICAN CITY (NC) —
President Charles de Gaulle
has awarded the grand cross of
the French Legion of Honor to
Amleto Cardinal Cicognani, Pa
pal Secretary of State.
Presentation of the decora^
tion was made here (June 13|
by Rene Brouillet, French am
bassador to the Holy See. The
citation said the award was
made as a gesture of the presi
dent’s filial regard for the Holy
See and as a sign of gratitude
for the friendship Cardinal
Cicognani has always shown
for France as Secretary of
State.
Attend Protestant
Seminar
VAUMARCUS, Switzerland
(NC) — For the first time,
Catholic theology students were
invited to an annual semin
here organized by the various
Swiss reformed Protestant
theological faculties.
Students from the Catholic
seminary in Fribourg accepted
the invitation with the autho
rization of Bishop Francois
Charrier of Lausanne, Geneva
and Fribourg. They were ac
companied by one of their semi
nary professors, Dr. H. Stirni-
mann of Fribourg, who also gave
a seminar lecture.
Sunday Work
Guidelines
MUNICH, Germany (NC) —
Munich’s Cardinal has given
Bavarian farmers three guides
about permissible Sunday wor£
and then told them to form their
own consciences on applying
them.
Julius Cardinal Doepfner,
Archbishop of Munich and Frei
sing, noted that in the past rural
pastors had given blanket per
missions to farmers for Sunday
work. Now, he said, he was put
ting the matter squarely up to
individual consciences.
QUESTION BOX
the tempo of happiness, hedon
istic as it was in a Paris spring
time of long ago.
# * *
FRANCOIS MAURIAC wrote
‘ ‘There is nothing more rare in
life than that single moment in
which we have no desire to be
elsewhere.” These moments
are never frequent in any life.
I remember an October day in
Dublin, crossing the bridge at
O’Connell Street. It was after
a distressing summer. I re
member stopping and leaning
over the bridge to watch the
gulls sweep down and the sun
streak over the water and I
thought: *‘0h, Lord, it is good
to be here among these people,
my people, again.” I didn’t want
to be anywhere else than where
I was. Again on winter even
ings with a family in Brighton,
the wind would be rippling at
the clapboards, the windows
frosted and we were all content
to be together around the well-
continued on Page 6)
By David Q. Liptak
Q. Regarding the ecumenical
movement: I have never seen a
list of the chief factors sepa
rating Catholics from other
Christians today. Could you
possibly print such a list?
A. The fundamental differen
ces among (1) the various Pro
testant Churches, and (2)
between them and the Church
of Rome, are dogmatic and
moral in character.
THE CHIEF DOGMATIC dif
ference pertains to the nature of
the Church as founded by Christ.
Catholics acknowledge the
Church as a unique, universal
unity which is both invisible
and visible. Moreover, the con
cept of Church includes the no
tion of “a society which mani
fests in a public way Christ’s
triumph over Satan,” as well
as “a life which establishes
a totally new relationship be
tween redeemed humanity and
God” — “Toward An Adequate
Concepty of Church,” by Fr.
John J. King.
AMONG non-Catholic Chris
tians there is wide divergence
of belief in this area. Even
the ecclesiology of a theologian
such as Karl Barth, who fre
quently leans toward Catholic
doctrine, _seems far afield of
traditional Catholic teaching.
THE QUESTION of the na
ture of the Church also implies
that of papal primacy. One could
almost say that the “problem
of the Church” is epitomized
in the doctrine of papal pri
macy. In the words of one in
formed observer: “Prior to all
these (other questions) and far
outweighing them in impor
tance, stands the fundamental
question—Is there, or is there
not, a Vicar of Christ upon
earth, who possesses jure di-
vino a distinctive authoritative
position in relation to the whole
of Christendom?” Then, too, of
course, there is the problem of
papal infallibility.
NEXT on the list is the pro
blem of the episcopacy. The bi
shops, Catholic doctrine in
sists, are the successors of the
Apostles, who rule their dio
ceses by divine right, in union
with the Supreme Pontiff. Pro
testantism, on the other hand,
speaks of an "historic episco
pacy,” the meaning of which is
too complex to explain in thi
brief column.
OTHER MAJOR BARRIERS
to ecumenicism from the dog
matic viewpoint include dif
ferences relative to the Mass
(the sacrificial character of
which was denied by Luther and
Calvin), the sacraments (many
of which are rejected by non-
Catholics) and Mariology.
AMONG THE MORAL pro
blems prejueicing unity, two are
paramount. One concerns mar
riage; in particular, the indis
solubility of the sacramental
marital bond. The second is the
question about the obligation to
follow an erroneous conscience
and whether such an obligation
engenders a right to religious
freedom—a matter now before
the Council. This question “is
no mere academic one,” notes
Father David Greenstock in
"Unity: Special Problems, Dog
matic and Moral,” “as will be
appreciated immediately once
we remember that a right, as;
opposed to a mere obligation,
implies objective juridical de
mands which command respect
and non-interference from all
who come up against it.”
(Father Greenstock’s mono
graph, from which we drew for
this artical, appears in Vatican
II, The Theological Dimension,
edited by Father Anthony D.
Lee: The Thomist Press,
1963 — a “must” book for
every theologian, clerical or
lay.)
The Southern Cross
Vol. 44
P. O. BOX 180. SAVANNAH. GA.
Thursday, June 18, 1964
No. 49
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 Mark waiter, Managing Editor
Rev. Lawrence Lucree, Rev. John Fitzpatrick,
Associate Editors