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OCTOBER 18th---CONFRATERNITY SUNDAY
NEWSPAPER DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH
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^1. 45. No. 15 SAVANNAH, GEORGIA. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1964
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POPE PAUL VI greets Bishop Ardavazt Terterian of the Armenian Church of Marseilles,
France, former professor of the patriarchal seminary in Lebanon, and one of 75 council
observers representing 23 churches of the world. The Pontiff presented each observer with
a leather-bound copy of the New Testament in both Latin and Greek. Augustin Cardinal
Bea, president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (center), and Bishop Jan
Willebrands, secretary of the unity secretariat, introduced the observers. (NC Photos)
Town Buries 21 Tornado
Dead In Week Of Grief
by Newell Schindler
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
LAROSE, La. — “I know the
children didn’t suffer. I know
they’re happy in heaven,” Mrs.
Tillman Gros spoke, firmly,
slowly.
The children — Michael, who
would have been 3 in January,
and his brother, Randy, who
was. to have his first birthday
in November — were buried
(Oct. 6) after Requiem Mass
at Holy Rosary church.
Services for the brothers and
for 19 others were held through
out a grief laden, week as the
bayou people buried their dead
left by the killer tornado off
shoot of Hurricane Hilda that
roared across Larose Oct. 2.
The twister destroyed nearly
everything in its path. It swept
like a giant bulldozer down a
mile-long stretch just across the
road from Bayou Lafourche.
father, Tillman Gros, 30, em
ployee of a paper mill, saw the
tornado approaching.
Members of the family lay on
the floor in their home, seeking
protection as best they could.
Mrs. Gros clung tightly to her
children.
Within seconds all seven per
sons in the house were flying
through the air.
Council Applauds
Layman’s Address
VATICAN CITY (NO — The
bishops of the ecumenical coun
cil applauded warmly when Pa
trick Keegan of Great Britain
stepped up to the pulpit to be
come the first layman to speak
at the council.
Keegan, head of the Interna
tional Federation of Christian
W^&ers Movements, addressed
'tj^^athers on behalf of the lay
mHr and women auditors of the
council, who had been charged
theretofore to listen, not speak.
The 48-year-old Englishman’s
address resounded in vigorous
English over the council hall’s
amplifying system.
BISHOP Richard O. Gerow
of Natchez-Jackson will com
plete 40 years as a member
of the episcopacy on Oct. 15.
Nearing 80 years of age and
active in the administration
of his diocese, Bishop Gerow
was ordained a priest in 1909
and consecrated bishop in
1924. (NC Photos)
“The Very existence of the
document under discussion is
proof that the apostolate of the
laity is no luxury or passing
fashion,” he said, referring to
the lay apostolate schema.
He went on to say that the
lay auditors welcomed the chap
ter in the schema on the Church
dealing with the laity as ‘‘giv
ing us a new vision of our ac
tive participation in the whole
mission of the Church.” Like
wise, he said, the Constitution
on the Liturgy, passed by the
council last December, ‘‘has vi
talized our share in the public
worship of the Church.”
But he said that it is the
schema on the lay apostolate
which ‘‘marks for us a point of
fulfilment in the historical de
velopment of the lay aposto
late.”
He continued:
“All working in the various
fields of this apostolate welcome
its debate as a powerful recog
nition of their efforts. It means
this apostolate is incorporated
into the new dynamism of the
Church, and it leaves the field
open for further developments.”
Keegan added that lay people
are also anxiously awaiting the
council discussion on Schema 13,
on the Church and the problems
of the modern world. He con
cluded by saying that the lay
apostolate reaches its fullness in
close collaboration with all oth
er members of the Church, es
pecially the bishops and their
clergy.
“There must be the ‘family
dialogue’ of which the Holy Fa
thers have so frequently spo
ken,” he said, “for the distinc
tion between hierarchy and laity
implies no distance, and this de
bate has done much to bind us
together inseparably in the sin
gle mission of the Church.”
The council Fathers listened
to Keegan’s address in rapt si
lence, and applauded spontane
ously at its conclusion. “A wo
man ought to be next,” one of
them remarked, and the council
Would not be surprised if this
other innovation were to occur
soon.
Council Holds 100th Meeting
Crucial Rules Dispute Arises
Over Religious Liberty Issue
ROME (N.C.)—An attempt to circumvent the
authority of the ecumenical council and reverse its
basic trends was thwarted ‘as the council held its hun
dredth meeting.
It was prevented by the resolute action of a group
of progressive cardinals, headed by Joseph Cardinal
Frings of Cologne, Germany, ’and including Albert
Cardinal Meyer of Chicago and
Joseph Cardinal Ritter of St.
Louisathe only American cardi
nals then present in Rome.
Council Fathers familiar with
the events that stirred public
opinion over the weekend! of
Get. 11 have stated that Pope
Paul VI was unaware of the
contents of two letters recom
mending changes in procedure
in dealing with two key council
issues—the proposed council de
clarations on the Jews and re
ligious freedom.
The letters were sent by Arch
bishop Pericle Felici, council
secretary general, to Augustin
Cardinal Bea, president of the
Secretariat for Promoting Chris
tian Unity, which had drawn up
the declarations.
Since a special subcommittee
Mrs. Gros, 23, said her chil- << We mus t have been thrown
dren were at play when their 2 oo feet,” said Mrs. Gros.
Two other persons in the
house, Tillman Gros’ aunt and
uncle, were killed. His father
was injured critically.
While awaiting the funeral for
her children, Mrs. Gros sat in
the living room of a home about
a half mile from the one she
was in when the tornado swoop
ed down. A few feet away, in a
simple coffin, lay the bodies of
her sons.
She rested her bandaged knee
on a hassock as she spoke. Her
arms and face bore dozens of
scratches. Her right eye was
swollen and black.
She recalled how Michael lik
ed to go to church with her on
Sundays, how he often said: “I
like Jesus.”
The brothers were buried in
the neatly-kept little cemetery
in back of the church Michael
liked to attend.
Holy Rosary church was the
scene of other funerals during
the week for victims of the tor
nado. A. J. Champagne sat in
the church while Requiem Mass
was offered for his wife, his
mother, and his mother-in-law.
There was another Mass for
four members of the Noless Ar-
ceneaux family. A fifth member
of the family was still missing.
The tornado death toll, listed
at 21, was an uncertain num
ber. Those who survived said
they expected other bodies
would be found in Bayou La
fourche, just across the road
from where the twister hit, and
in the surrounding sugar cane
fields.
Though most houses along the
mile - long path of destruction
were demolished, a handful
were left standing, with perhaps
a room or the back half torn
off and splintered.
Men like Norman Badeaux
and Leon Bourgeois considered
themselves fortunate. Their
houses were thrown a few yards
from their foundations, but no
members of their families were
seriously injured. The houses
which once stood to either side
of Badeaux’s home were no
longer there.
“When you’re in something
like this and you come out a-
live you can only thank God,”
he said.
Bourgeois snapped his finger
to describe the swiftness of the
twister.
New Editorial
Column Begins
This Week
This week THE SOUTHERN
CROSS begins a new editori
al column entitled “Of Cab
bages and Kings.” Written
by the Very Reverend Wil
liam V. Coleman, Rector of
St. John Vianney Minor Sem
inary, and Vice-Chancellor of
the Diocese of Savannah, the
column will reflect the au
thor’s views on a variety of
topics of current interest.
of the unity secretariat had
been working on the two de
clarations for the preceding 10
days, Archbishop Felici’s letters
were immediately looked on as
undue interference and as open
ly contradicting council regula
tions.
An impression was created,
when information about the
archbishop’s letters leaked out,
that a new attempt was being
made by forces not in agree
ment with the basic ideas in the
declarations on the Jews and
religious freedom to make inef
fective decisions that were for
mally reached by the council by
overwhelming majorities. This
was especially true because one
of the letters intimated that the
declaration on the Jews, now
elaborately drafted, might be
condensed into a brief para
graph in the schema of the
Church.
Alarm spread over the week
end. This caused Cardinal I
Frings to call a meeting of a
I imber of cardinals on Oct. 11.
It was decided at the meeting
to draft a memorandum to Pope
Paul to call his attention to the
awkward situation that had a-
risen.
Protestant observers at the
council who were aware of the
developments expressed gratifi
cation that the cardinals’ initia
tive had fully succeeded in as
serting the council’s authority,
and that what at first seemed
to be a major crisis was so
quickly overcome.
News From China Of
Imprisoned Rishops
by Germaine Swain
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
HONK KONG — First hand
news of the persecuted, Church
in communist China, including
a report of the death of an im
prisoned Chinese Sister, was
brought here by a layman ex
pelled from Shanghai after sev
en years imprisonment.
Jacques Matiatos, 40, was im
prisoned mainly for his Legion
of Mary activity, he told the
N.C.W.C. News Service at St.
Paul’s hospital, where he has
stayed since his arrival here
Sept. 30. Suffering from ulcers,
he was released from prison on
June 5.
Matiatos was in the same
Shanghai jail as 73 - year - old
Bishop Jamas E. Walsh, M.M.,
American prelate who was sen
tenced in 1960 to a 20-year term
for “subversive activities,” and
Bishop Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei
of Shanghai.
Born in Saigon to a Vietna-
PRAY FOR OUR
DECEASED
PRIESTS
REV. JAMES A. KELLY
Oct. 16, 1876
RT. REV. MSGR.
JOSEPH F. CROKE
Oct. 19, 1951
RT. REV MSGR.
LOUIS F. X. BAZIN
Oct. 21, 1916
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.
mese mother and a Greek-born
father who became a French
citizen, Matiatos joined the
French army, then went to Chi
na and stayed there after his
discharge. He was imprisoned
in 1957.
He said: “Bishop Walsh look
ed fairly well and maybe recog
nized me as I passed his cell
in the Shanghai hospital jail on
June 3. He did not smile at me,
but they say he always looks
as if he is praying.” Bishop
Walsh is constantly attended by
a Chinese bodyguard, and is
never left alone, he said.
Matiatos also said he saw
Bishop Kung Pin-Mei last Janu
ary in the hospital jail. “The
Bishop could not have weighed
a hundred pounds. He was spit
ting blood and looked very
sick,” he said.
Two Chinese Little Sisters of
the Poor in Shanghai, recently
released, told him of the death
in September of a member of
their community, Sister Marie,
in prison. The nuns| told him
that another member, Sister
Louise, was reimprisoned for
writing to Hong Kong.
About religious practice in
Shanghai, Matiatos said:
“They like to say you can be
lieve in any religion, but that is
for visitors. I went to Christ
the King church. A Communist
party man sat at a reception
desk where I went to ask to see
a priest. I had to fill out a
form and say why. Then the
priest came out. We had to talk
only in Shanghai dialect. But
the priest would not talk to me
about anything. He was afraid.”
Almost three of the seven
years he spent in prison, Matia
tos said, were in the hospital
jail, partly because of ulcers
but also because he slashed his
arms and even part of his
throat to get some edible food.
THE BISHOP’S CONFRATERNITY OF THE LAITY helps educate more than 120
students preparing” for the priesthood in. this Diocese at St. John Vianney Minor
Seminary and several other seminaries in this country and Ireland. In photo a-
bove two students at St. John’s pray before statue of school’s Patron Saint. Next
Sunday workers will call at every home in the Diocese. Each wage-earner is ask
ed to contribute a minimum of $25.00 to the Confraternity.
Twenty-two Uganda Martyrs
To Be Canonized On Sunday
by Donald F. Brophy
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
The canonization at the Vati
can Oct. 18 of 22 young men as
saints and martyrs of the
Church is the final chapter of
a story that began in Uganda
in Africa in trial and agony.
Archbishop Enrico Dante, Sec
retary of the Congregation of
Rites has announced that the
ceremonies will begin at 8:30
A.M. (3:30 A.M. E.D.T.) and
will be broadcast by Vatican
Radio on short wave to Europe
and Africa.
It was midway in the 19th
century when the first Catholic
missionaries, all of them White
Fathers, penetrated into this
area in the heart of Africa and
began making converts. The
king (Kabaka) of what is now
Uganda was Mutesa I who en
couraged the Catholic and Pro
testant missioners despite the
opposition of some Arab Mos
lems.
As Mutesa grew older, how
ever, European invasions into
the neighboring Sudan and Tan
ganyika convinced him that the
missionaries were paving the
way for hostile armies. And
when Matesa died in 1884, his
son, Mwanga, began to perse
cute the Christians in earnest.
At this time most of the mis
sionaries were forced to flee
temporarily, leaving the infant
Church in the hands of lay
catechists.
In 1885 Anglican Bishop James
Hannington was murdered on
Mwanga’s orders while on • his
way to assume his See of East
ern Equatorial Africa. Suspi
cious that some of his Christian
attendants had told the mission
aries of his part in the killing,
Mwanga confronted Joseph Mu-
kasa Balikuddembe, a court fa
vorite and a leading Christian.
Joseph reproved him for the
act. Enraged, Mwanga ordered
him killed.
Joseph was beheaded and
then burned on Nov. 15, 1885,
the first Catholic to die for his
faith in Uganda. He was not to
be the last.
Mwanga next forbade the
teaching of religion to his sub
jects. His anger reached a peak
once more when he learned that
a page named Muwafu, the son
of a high court official called
the Katikkiro, had been in
structed by a lay catechist, Den
nis Ssebuggwawo. The catechist
was executed immediately.
The next day Mwanga order
ed all the s Christians in his
court to assemble. About 30
youths — Catholics and Angli
cans — presented themselves
with no illusions about Mwan
ga’s intentions.
Then the prisoners began a
long and terrifying march from
Mwanga’s summer lodge near
Lake Victoria to the city of
Namugongo. The victims were
(Continued on Page 2)
NATION
Channel 38 On The Air
BOSTON (NC)—A new picture was beamed into homes here
from transmitters atop the Prudential Tower building as the Boston
archdiocese’s television station WIHS-TV broadcast its first pro
gram. Initial programming includes full public commercial-enter
tainment programs directed to all home viewers. WIHS-TV will
shortly begin a six-hour educational schedule, commencing at 9 a.m.,
The new station is owned by the archdiocese and operated in the
public interest.
‘Hotline’ Negotiator
EMMITSBURG, Md. (NC)—Maj. Gen. George P. Sampson,
U.S.A., who negotiated the direct “hot line” between Washington and
Moscow, is being presented with the fourth annual DuBois medal
of the Alumni Association of Mount St. Mary’s College here Oct. 17.
The medal, named for the college founder, Father John DuBois,
who later became the third bishop of New York, is given annually
to one who has distinguished himself by outstanding public service.
Gen. Sampson is deputy director of the communications system of
the Defense Communications Agency.
Prisoners Threatened, Beaten
FAR EAST
SAIGON, Vietnam—Eighty-eight Saigon Catholics held in Hue
prison in central Vietnam have recently been threatened, beaten and
prevented from attending Sunday Mass at the prison chapel, it
has been learned here from trustworthy sources. A Catholic trying,
to reach the chapel for Mass (Oct. 4) was reportedly beaten un
conscious by other prisoners held for offenses against the common
law. The Catholics victimized in the prison are mostly men who
held office under former Premier Ngo Dinh Diem. Some of them
have not been tried after months of detention. All are known anti
communists. ’
Reds Bemoan Failure
EUROPE
MUNICH, Germany (NO—A communist newspaper has com
plained that even party officials are not very persistent in their
efforts to stamp out religion in rural areas of Hungary. According
to Radio Free Europe here, the newspaper, Kisalfold, in the Hun
garian city of Gyor bemoaned the fact that most atheism classes
are desultory hourly or half-hourly sessions held at infrequent in
tervals. Said the newspaper: “How can it be expected that villag
ers to whom it is essential that their children be brought up in the
spirit of religion, and who have an inherited respect for the here
after, will be influenced by these efforts to stop instructing their
children in religion.”
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