Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—The Southern Cross, October 1, 1964
oath Sc
(By Herbert J. Wellmeier)
op
e
Who will take his place? Who
will stand in the stead of Fa
ther Peter, the fifth priest to
die in the diocese in less than
two years? This Benedictine
monk has been called to eterni
ty by God, and leaves a void
along with the other recently
deceased priests that causes us
to wonder which young men
will answer God’s call to the
priesthood to fill the vacancies.
Both the diocese and the reli
gious orders are in dire need of
boys willing to do and die for
Christ. It is time for more and
more young men to consider
seriously whether their vocation
in life is not perhaps the life of
another Christ, functioning as
the hands and feet, the mouth
and heart of the God-man.
A beautiful Benedictine cus
tom is to place two small vigil
lights or candles flanking the
crucifix before an • overturned
plate at the dining room place
of the recently deceased fellow-
monk. This ritual is maintained
for thirty days. It. is a stark
but loving reminder of the ab
sent brother. Of course, even af
ter the thirty days have elaps
ed, the departed monk is con
tinually remembered in masses
and suffrages. None is soon for
gotten.
Let us hope the people served
by Benedictine Fathers Peter.
Brendan, and Norbert, along
with Father Crean and Monsig
nor Brennan will continue to
pray for these good priests and
will pray for others to answer
God’s call and stand in their
place.
In several areas of the dio
cese, youth clubs are formulat
ing plans, some elaborate, some
simple, to celebrate Catholic
Youth Week with special activi
ties. Father Teoli and his fellow
moderators are working hard
with their CYO members for a
Communion breakfast with a
featured speaker for Youth Com
munion Sunday on the feast of
Christ the King, on the last Sun
day of October.
Also, St. John’s in Valdosta
has written in that their enthu
siastic unit plans a celebration
of Catholic Youth Week.
Each year the National office
of CYO encourages a Youth
Communion Crusade, wherein
each parish of a diocese takes
a week at a time on a rotating
basis for full attendance at dai
ly Mass and Communion by all
CYO members. Rather than to
circulate a schedule we sim
ply appeal to all units to get
all their members to have this
spiritual activity the very week
their parish has Forty Hours
Devotion. In this way, there is
a continuous Eucharistic devo
tion by CYO for Christ the
King until Pentecost. Won’t each
moderator or spiritual chairman
see to this in his parish!
Savannah Serrans
Hear Father Bane
“Raqial understanding is a
challenge to our Christian con
cept of man’s dignity,” said Fa
ther Raymond Bane, S.M. to
members of Savannah’s Serra
Club.
‘‘The racial problem springs
from history. Just as we have
inherited the problem, so too,
St. Andrew —
(Continued, from Page 1)
!
dition, was X-shaped, and he
was tied to it rather than nail
ed to it to prolong his agony.
It is said he hung on the cross
for three days, all the while giv
ing witness to his faith in
Christ. After death mercifully
arrived he was buried by his
fellow Christians in the city of
Patras.
The body of the apostle re
mained in Patras until 356 when
it was taken by the Emperor
Constantine to die new capital
he had built on the banks of the
Bosphorus. The following year
it was solemnly placed in the
new Basilica of the Holy Apos
tles there.
At a later but unknown date
the head was removed from the
rest of the remains and return
ed to Patras.
In 1453 Constantinople fell to
the Moslems. The fortress-city
of Patras was one of the By
zantine empire’s last holdouts in
Greece, but it, too, fell. Thomas
Paleologus, brother of the last
Christian emperor of Constan
tinople, took the head with him
in his westward flight from Pat
ras.
In that way the head of the
Apostle Andrew was brought to
the West. It is recorded that
when the French crusaders re
took Constantinople in the 13th
century the other relics of St.
Andrew were redeemed and
brought to the Italian city of
Amalfi.
But the head arrived with
Thomas Paleologus in Ancona,
across the Adriatic Sea from
Greece, on Nov. 16, 1460.
Pope Pius II sent a legate to
meet Thomas and bring the
relic to Rome, but for fear of
brigands the relic was taken to
the fortress-city of Narni where
it remained for about 18 months.
Whbn the relic finally came
to Rome on April 12, 1462, Pope
Pius II met it at the Milvian
Bridge, the scene of Constan
tine’s victory over Maxentius
which paved the way for the
enfranchisement of Christianity
Pius, one of the great masters
of Latin style, has left us a rec
ord of his greeting to the relic:
‘‘You have arrived, 0 most ho
ly and venerable head of the
holy apostle. You have taken
refuge with your brother, prince
of the apostles. You will be re
stored to your own soil with
glory. God willing.”
And God has so been willing.
Asian Struggle
Hurts Future Of Church
A
by Father T. J. Sheridan, S.J.
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
SINGAPORE, Malaysia — The
Catholic Church has become an
unwilling victim in the terri
torial struggle between Malay
sia and Indonesia.
Both nations have granted
Catholics full freedom of reli
gion. Bui in both nations Cath
olics are a struggling minority
with similar problems which in
peaceful times might be solved
by mutual cooperation. Until
the political mistrust and ac
tive warfare is ended, Catholics
in the two coutries must pur
sue separate paths to what they
hope is a common goal.
The Church in the former
Dutch colony of Indonesia has
DIOCESAN LITURGICAL AND MUSIC COMMISSIONS conducted three Liturgi
cal Clinics last week, for the clergy and Sisters of the Diocese of Savannah. Pos
ing for photo at Clinic held in Albany for clergy of Columbus deanery are Music been very well treated by the
Commission members (standing, 1. to r.) Rev. Arthur Weltzer; Rev. George government of President Sukar-
James; Rev. Felix Donnelly, Chairman; and Rev. Marvin LeFrois. Liturgical Com- no - Dutch missionaries
mission members are seated. They are (1. to r.) Rt. Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Bourke;
Rt.,Rev. Msgr. Andrew J. McDonald, Savannah Chancellor; Rev. William Dowl
ing; and Rt. Rev. Msgr. John Toomey, Commission Chairman. (Photo by Me)
Spiritual Paralysis Hides
tC’AntirmpH from W
were
permitted to adopt Indonesian
citizenship and have continued
their activities without interrup
tion. Conversions in certain
parts, such as the island of
Flores, have been so great that
these sections can be said to be
virtually Catholic.
Yet, although Catholics in In
donesia number about 1.5 mil
lion, they represent only slight
ly more than one per cent of
the total population.
Malaysia, 'like Indonesia, is
largely Moslem. Its coastal city
of Malacca, which St. Francis
Xavier knew and w'here h i s
body lay for a time, is predomi
nantly Catholic. There are large
Catholic communities in Singa
pore and in the capital, Kuala
Lumpur.
But again as in Indonesia
Malaysian Catholics are only a
small percentage of the popula
tion. If one includes the commu
nities of Sabah and Sarawak on
the island of Borneo, there are
probably not more than 250,000
Malaysian Catholics in a popu
lation of 10 million.
While permitting freedom of
religion, the governments of the
two nations are anxious to cre
ate national solidarity, especial
ly in the face of a possible con
flict between them. This desire
was typified by a talk given by
Lee Siok Yew, Malaysia’s assist-
tant minister of education, at
a dedication of a Buddhist tem
ple in Banting (Sept. 19).
Declaring that all religions
have an important role to
in the country, he said:
may differ in creed, but we a-
gree on basic principles — the
principles of truth, justice, char
ity and freedom. We agree in
our desire for cooperation, good
will and mutual understanding.
‘‘These spiritual concepts,” he
said, ‘‘are the bonds which hold
together our various races cul
tures and communities. Especi
ally in this hour of peril and
strain, when the nation is threat
ened by enemies both from
without and within, we must
make our religion a truly liv
ing faith.”
Whether the demands of na
tional solidarity will interfere
with the parallel development
of the Church in both nations,
is something Catholics in Malay
sia and Indonesia are still wait
ing to discover.
we have inherited the spirit of
Christ’s charity, the problem’s
solution. To view the one with
out the other would be either
foolhardy or extreme.”
Father Bane stressed that no
legal solution however intricate
could ever solve the mistrust
which presently exists on both
sides of the racial picture. The
ultimate solution is charity and
person to person understanding.
Father Bane’s talk was one of
a series given by priests and
laymen to the Serrans on mod
ern social problems.
Legate At
Orthodox
Service
LONDON (NC) — Archbishop
Igino Cardinale, t h e apostolic
delegate to Great Britain, at
tended the celebration of the
Divine Liturgy by Russian Or
thodox Patriarch Alexei of Mos
cow here (Sept. 27). The 86-
year-old Orthodox prelate was
here to repay a visit of Angli
can Archbishop Michael Ram
sey of Canterberry to Moscow
two years ago.
Also attending the Orthodox
service w r as Msgr. Patrick Ca
sey, vicar general of the West
minster archdiocese, represent
ing Archbishop John C. Heenan.
Just the day before, Archbish
op Ramsey and Patriarch Alex
ei stood before the high altar of
the Anglican cathedral at Can
terbury and pledged themselves
to seek the unity of Christen
dom.
The patriarch, speaking in
Russian, said there were no se
rious differences between their
churches, and those w'hich ex
isted were mainly external.
Where religion is treated at all
in the classroom it is scoffed
at. Generally it is ignored.
The church is trying to reach
the children through a religious
education program, but its suc
cess is far short of complete. In
traditionally Catholic areas like
Slovenia and Croatia, the Church
can attract the majority of the
children to religious instruction
classes. But in less Catholic
areas like Belgrade, scarcely a
fourth of the Catholic children
come for instructions.
There are even more drop
outs when the youths enter the
middle (high) schools. At this
age the power of the state’s
tightly guarded monopoly on
youth activities becomes pain
fully evident. Sports programs
and youth associations are firm-
lv in the hands of the regime
(Continued from Page 5)
and are forbidden to all others.
The Church is finding it diffi
cult to compete for youth’s at
tention under these circum
stances.
Young men who overcome all
these spiritual barriers and de
cide to study for the priesthood
face new hurdles as they enter
the seminary. Local commis
sars have frequently tempted
bright young students to for
sake the seminary by offers of
scholarships, living allowances
and even cash bonuses.
Seminarians are also drafted
into the army and have to face
the challenges of a completely
atheist military life where the
services of chaplains are bar
red. Often an interval of many
months elapses before such a
seminarian can sneak off to
View From The Rectory
(Continued from Page 4)
Mass and the sacraments.
The bright side of this gener
ally somber picture is that these
spiritual rigors are bringing to
the ranks of the priesthood men
of exceptional caliber, whose
determination and selfless dedi
cation to Christ have been tem
pered in a crucible of many
trials.
Of great aid to priests in car
ing for their scattered flocks—
some priests serve as many as
three widely separated parishes
—are the services of the nuns.
Many Sisters were expelled
from their convents and had
their properties confiscated in
the ferocious onslaught on the
Church immediately after the
end of the war. Now the harsh
edges of the government’s pro
gram against the nuns has been
smoothed, but the ideal of blunt
ing their influence remains.
phan because mother wants to
work and both dad and mom
want a heavy social life. Or
especially when mpm sits home
every night wondering whether
dad really works at the office
until 2 a.m.
After our relatives are given
their share of love, there should
be enough left over for our
neighbor. That includes the
grumpy next - door type who
hates your kids, the automobile
drive with the overworked horn
and overworked temper, and the
girl at the next desk who clips
her nail, snap, while you’re try
ing to concentrate.
Next on our list of love-bene
ficiaries must be all human be
ings without distinction as to
race, nationality, religion, sex,
age, occupation or wealth. Very
few persons would admit that
they hate anyone in one of these
classes, but it’s a sad fact of
life that even Christians are de
ficient in group-love.
All around us there are those
who like Negroes ‘‘as long as
they keep in their place,” or
who hate all Germans, Irish
men or Italians. Many Catholics
seem to think that all practic
ing Protestants undoubtedly fig-
Many nuns have been dismiss
ed abruptly as hospital nurses.
Others are being eliminated
, „ slowly as they retire or as new
nough power to take away their lay nurses can be trained to re- TwetltV-Five YeafS
liberty. P^ce them. Z
ure that we are pushing for e-
PRESENT FACULTY of Aquinas Boys Section (1. to r.) Brother Clement Gerard,
Brother Peter Louis, Brother Alphonse Justin, Director of the Community, Brother
Richard Aloysius, an alumnus of Marist: School in Savannah, Brother Robert Bap
tist and Brother Gilbert O. Barry. (Schaeffer Studio)
There are the fellows who
hate women (as a class); there
are the older folks who look up
on teenagers as a separate race.
Some persons distrust doctors,
others say lawyers are no good,
and — sob — there are even
those who dislike priests. How
many persons there are who
scorn the poor, and poor per
sons who hate the rich.
We could compile quite a list
of excuses that are advanced
for failure to love relatives and
neighbors and groups. But no
matter how you slice the meat,
it’s still baloney (or bologna).
Christ called the precept of
charity a new commandment:
“A new command I give you,
that you love one another; that
as I have loved you, you also
love one another.” He called it
new because before His coming
people did not understand the
obligation of love so forcefully
as He intended.
It may be that, thousands of
years after His coming, the com
mandment is still new.
Features Barbecue Dinner
St. Janies Autumn
Festival Oct. 3rd
William Lubinsky, president
of the St. James Men’s Club an
nounced that the annual St.
James Autumn Festival and
Barbecue Dinner will be held on
the Parish grounds, Montgomery
FALL FESTIVAL — Home products pictured above
will be on sale at the Fall Festival and Bar-B-Que of
St. James Church, Savannah. The Festival will be held
Oct. 3rd on the school grounds. These items were
made by members of St. James Parish Council.
crossroads and Whitfield Ave
nue, on Saturday, October 3,
1964, from noon until 7:00 P.M.
This affair, the eleventh an
nual, has reached the state of
institutional around St. James
and the Savannah area, and this
year, according to co-chairmen
Gene Powers and John Rode-
walt, all efforts are being put
forth to improve upon previous
events.
From the time the fires are
lighted in the w T ee hours of the
morning, for cooking delicious
barbecue chicken and ribs, un
til the clean-up crew completes
its chores late in the evening,
the grounds will be a beehive
of activity. Men, women, and
their children will all be work
ing together on the dinner trim
mings, the traffic flow, the take
out line, the many attractions
and concession stands, and all
of the many other tasks requir
ed to make this affair one of
the areas most looked-forward-
to events.
This program goes on despite
the murmurings of doctors who
have the highest esteem for the
nursing ability and dedication
of the nuns.
All Sisters have been ousted
from positions in education.
0
The nuns are now becoming
the chief assistants to priests in
the Church’s program of cate
chetical training. Religious com
munities are continuing to re
ceive recruits, but at a reduced
rate.
Government hostility to reli
gion is creating a special dilem
ma for teachers. Pressure on
them is such that they dare not
attend church openly, baptize
their children in church or send
them to religious instruction.
The official animosity to re
ligion also prevents all army
personnel and their families
from an open practice of their
Faith.
The government is displaying
confidence in the success of its
program of ‘‘scientific educa
tion,” one confidant noted. He
pointed out that at a recent
Socialist (communist) party con
gress steps were taken to elim
inate a paragraph in the sta--
tues saying that Marxism and
religion are incompatible. The
official explanation was that
socialism had progressed and
the influence of religion declin
ed so much that the specific
reference to their incompatibili
ty is no longer necessary.
‘‘Surface facts support then
reasoning,” he added. ‘‘But God
has the divine intuition to over
come human logic. That is the
basis of our confidence.”
Marist Brothers Mark
Milestone In Augusta
Old Boys’ Catholic High
School on Telfair Street in Au
gusta stands no more. But it
was in 1939, 25 years ago, that
four Marist Brothers arrived to
open its doors. Brother Nicholas
Mary, the first principal, wel
comed 47 boys on the first day
of school. The faculty consisted
of Brothers Francis Michael,
Paul Celestin and Hildebert.
The Marist Brothers, ever since
1957, have been conducting the
boys’ department of Aquinas
High School. The Marist Broth
ers belopg to a world-wide re
ligious order dedicated solely to
teaching. Some of the larger
cities in the United States
where their schools are situated
are Miami, Chicago and New
York. Prior to their arrival in
Augusta, the Brothers ran Mar
ist High School in Savannah
from 1919 to 1939.
The archives show that Bishop
Gerald P. O’Hara was Bishop
of the then Savannah-Atlanta
diocese. Fr. Leo Keenan was
the pastor of the nearby St.. Pa
trick’s Church. The first foot
ball coach was Mr. “Pug”
Youngblood. The officers of the
newly founded Boosters Club
were: Mr. John Chesser, Mr.
Patrick Rice, Mr. Andrew Shea-
han and Mr. Thomas Kearney.
Cuban Refugees
Since Castro, more than 300,-
000 refugees have passed through
or settled in Miami, the Catho
lic Digest reports.
The Ladies Auxiliary was in the
hands of Mrs. James Mulherin,
Mrs. William Wallace, Mrs. Wil
liam Doyle and Mrs. Louis Gas
kins.
The roster of the first gradu
ating class was as follows:
Maurice Baber, Peter Franklin,
Archie Gleason, John Lemon,
Thomas Maxwell, Matthew Mul
herin, John Nevin, F o r n u m
Smith, Edward Weigle and Nath
an widener.
Obituaries
Mrs. Gomez
♦
COLUMBUS—Funeral services
for Mrs. Vernoa Carol Gomez
was conducted September 26
from Holy Family Church with
the Reverend Walter L. diFran-
cesco, officiating.
Survivors include her hus
band, Justo Gomez, Columbus;
two sisters, Mrs. Ethyl Syfrett,
Fortson, and Mrs. Vaneta Nor
wood, Fort Smith, Ark., and a
nephew, John Syfrett Jr.. Fort-
son.
C. M. Passler
SAVANNAH—Funeral services
for Charles M. Passler were
conducted September 28 in the
Chapel of Our Lady at the Cath
edral of St. John the Baptist.
The Reverend John N. O’Rourke
officiated.
Survivors include a son, Char
les S. Passler, of Brewster, N.
Y.; two grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren.
J. F. Sullivan
T^^S
SAVANNAH—Funeral servTCTes
for Jerome F. Sullivan were
held September 24 from the
Blessed Sacrament Church with
the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew J.
McDonald officiating.
Survivors are his wife, Mrs.
Regina Haslam Sullivan of Sa
vannah; three daughters, Mrs.
Hall Allen of West Palm Beach,
Fla., Miss Regina Sullivan and
Mrs. Miller Horne of Savannah;
a sister, Mrs. Edward Waters
of Savannah, and several grand
children and great-grandchildren.
Russian Christians
According to the Catholic Di
gest, the best statistics show a-
bout 50 million Christians in the
USSR — about one-fifth of the
population.
MRS. NADINE ANDERSON, president of the Savan* Mrs. Eunice Williams, vice-president, Mrs. Polly