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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, February 25, 1965
The Southern Cross
P. O,. Box 180, Savannah, Ga.
Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.J.C.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor j 0 hn E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
Phone 234-4574
Second Class Postage Paid at Waynesboro. Ga.
Send Change of Address to P. O. Box 180, Savannah, Ga
Published weekly except the second and last weeks
in June, July and Augusta and the last week in Deeember.
Subscription price $5.00 per year.
Save Obscenity Law
State Senator John Gayner, of Brunswick,
announced on Monday, his intention to intro
duce a bill in the Senate seeking outright abolish-
ment of the Georgia Literature Commission.
Should the bill become law, the state anti-ob
scenity law will become virtually ineffective.
Its teeth will have been removed.
According to Senator Gayner-, “All they
(the Literature Commission) are is a censor
ship board.” He fears that the commission
“could be put in a position of controlling what
people read, see at the movies or at plays ..
and feels that the curbing of obscene literature
should be done by solicitors general under ex
isting laws and “not some sllbte commission.”
The fact of the matter is that the com
mission was not instituted to, nor does it have
the power to, declare any publication obscene,
or to forbid its distribution or sale.
Only the courts may declare what is or is
not legally obscene. And prohibitions against
the manufacture, distribution or sale of what
has been declared by the courts to be obscene
come not from the Literature Commission, but
from the Georgia anti-obscenity law.
Mr. Gayner’s ^ fears and allegations con
cerning the commission are unfounded and it
is to be hoped that the.' following few facts will
allay any misundesrtanding concerning Geor
gia’ efforts to curtail the activities of pomog-
raphers in our State, which his charges may
have aroused in the minds of others.
In 1957, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered
what still remains a landmark ruling in the
field of legal efforts to restrain the distribution
and sale of obscene literature — the Roth-Al-
berts decision.
Roth and Alberts had been convicted of
violating anti-obscenity laws. In appealing to
the High Court, they argued that restraints on
the distribution of any kind of literature, in
cluding obscenity, violate the First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution (“Congress shall make
no law abridging the freedom of speech or of
the press”).
The argument was firmly REJECTED in a
majority opinion written by Justice Brennan.
“Implicit in the history of the First Amend
ment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly
without redeeming social importance. THIS RE
JECTION FOR THAT REASON IS MIRRORED
IN THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT THAT OB
SCENITY SHOULD BE RESTRAINED.” (Em
phasis, ours.)
After having thus established the principle
that obscene materials can be proscribed by
law, the Court then set forth its test for decid
ing what, in fact is obscene.
Justice Brennan put the test in these words:
“Whether, to the average person, applying con
temporary community standards, the dominant
theme of the material taken as a whole ap
peals to prurient interest.”
The Court further explained that obscenity
is that which “goes substantially beyond cus
tomary limits of candor in the description or
representation of nudity, sex or shameful acts”
and that the “dominant theme” test means that
isolated passages of a prurient nature are not
sufficient by themselves to render a work lia
ble to banning.
In 1959, the Supreme Court, elaborating fur
ther on its stand, held that to be constitutional,
laws making it a crime to sell or distribute
obscene material must require proof that the
seller or distributor had “knowledge” of the
contents of the material.
The Literature Commission is nothing more
than an instrument, created to implement the
law, guaranteeing that only matter which has
been declared obcene in a court of law may be
proscribed, and that the sanctions of the anti
obscenity law may be invoked only against
those who KNOWLINGLY publish, distribute
or, sell what has already been legally declared
obscene.
The sole activity of the Literature Com
mission is to seek declaratory judgments, in
court, to the effect that specific publications
fall under the definition of obscenity set forth
by the U.S. Supreme Court, and embodied in
the Georgia anti-obscentiy law; and to inform
publishers, distributors and retailers of the
judements, when and if they are granted.
It may be that Georgia’s law will be chal
lenged in the Supreme Court at some time in
the future. It may even be that the Court will
find in it some error or defect which could
render it unconstitutional.
But unless and until such a time comes, it
must be assumed that the Georgia Legislature,
in enacting the anti-obscenity law, used the pru
dential judgment, concerning its constitutional
ity, which they are supposed to exercise in the
framing of any legislation.
Back-door assaults on the law, which would
render it powerless by destroying the Litera
ture Commission, its only really effectual
means of implementation — while depriving the
law, itself, of its day in court — should not be
tolerated.
Georgians should quickly let their legisla
tors know that they do not concur in an effort
which, if successful, would hand to the smut-
peddlers a golden victory on a silver platter.
FOR WHAT SHALL WE PRAY?
God’s World
Rev. Leo J. Trese
“What wouldst thou have me do for thee?”
This is the question which \ Jesus put to the
blind man who besought mercy of our Lord as
H)e passed by on His way to Jerusalem. It was
a breathtaking question. It was
§ a blank check on the infinite
power of God. “Anything you
want you may have,” Jesus is
saying. “What is your choice?”
The blind man had his an
swer ready. He was obsessed
by a single consuming desire—
to be able to gaze upon the
world about him. “Lord, that I may see!” he
begged. Instantly his prayer was granted. “Re
ceive thy sight,” Jesus replied, “thy faith has
saved thee.”
If Jesus suddenly were to appear before us
with a similar question, “What do you want
Me to do for you?” what would our answer be?
Better health? Success on the job? Money to
pay off the bills? Solution of a personal or
family problem?
God knows our wants, of course, even bet
ter than we know them ourselves. It would
sieem that in temporal matters the more per
fect prayer of petition would be simply, “Give
me whatever You know to be best for me,
Lord; whatever is most in accord with Your
will.”
Still, it pleases God to have us turn to Him
in our particular needs. In every prayer of pe-
ition there is an implied act of adoration. By
our requests we acknowledge God’s infinite
goodness and power. We would not be turning
to Him if we did not believe that He cares for
us and that He can help us.
If our entreaty is to be effective, however,
it must also include an acknowledgement of
God’s infinite wisdom. We must concede that,
in the end, only God knows what is best for us
As we well know, petitions are the least es
sential of our prayers. In the hierarchy of im
portance, prayers of adoration are at the top
of the list. These are the prayers in which we
salute God’s infinite greatness and holiness.
We concede our own nothingness apart from
Him. We assure Him of our faith in Him, our
trust in Him and, above all, of our love.
Next come prayers of thanksgiving for the
love and the care which God has lavished upon
us. Adoration and gratitude then naturally lead
to prayers of contrition.
It is only after these three steps that we
are prepared for prayer of petition. This does
not mean that every time we give ourselves to
prayer we must mechanically tick off praise,
thanksgiving and contrition before daring to
ask God for anything. It means only that we
must maintain a sense of proportion in our
prayers and not think that when we have ask
ed for our daily bread, we can let the pest of
the Lord’s prayer go by the board.
In our petitions, too, there is a gradation
of importance. Unselfish prayers, prayers of
fered for the needs of other persons, are es
pecially pleasing to God. In praying for our
selves, it is our spiritual petitions which God
most welcomes. When we plead, “Please, God,
help me to keep from sin,” “Please, God, help
me to do Your will always,” or “Please, God,
help me to grow in love for You,” there is no
need to add the condition, “If it be Thy will.”
In such petitions, we know that .our will is at
one with God’s. Offered with sincerity and per
severance, these requests infallibly will be
granted.
As Others See Him
CABBAGES AND KINGS
Rev. William V. Coleman
On Evil
They held a meeting of the Board down in
Hell a few years ago. Things were just not
going as they should Souls were showing a
remarkable resistence to the
S tried and true temptations.
Business was off and there
was no prospect of an in
crease, unless a new and novel
advertizing campaign could be
launched.
Lucifer addressed the board.
He harranged all of the depart
ment heads. Impurity was down twenty per
cent. Stealing was off fifteen. Murder was
down so low on the graph that it was hardly
worth counting. Something was wrong. Unless
someone started producing bigger and better
temptations, there was going to be a shake-up.
New blood was needed.
The troubled board took out the old books
which listed discarded items, vampires, witch
es, spells and black magic. These were passe.
Heresy seemed to be loosing its appeal. There
was nothing in the old records which seemed to
fit the modern situation.
Suddenly from the back of the hall there
arose a small lugubrious voice. “Perhaps, I can
be of some use,” it said. All eyes pivoted to
the semi-darkness. It was the devil of gloom.
A moment of silence. A nodding of heads. The
meeting was over.
Gloom was promoted to a first rate office,
given a staff of his own and propaganda mate
rials to set the campaign rolling. Being an am
bitious little devil, he let loose a whole series
of reasons of why man should, in this twentieth
century of plenty be said, frustrated and
gloomy.
RIGHTS OF THE READER
“ So you make only six thousand and
there’s that fellow making seven.”
It Seems to Me
In the light of John XXIII’s
encyclical, Paeem in Terris
(Peace on Earth) it seems to
me that the rights and respon
sibilities of the journalist, and
the colossal importance of jour
nalism, must be seen in rela
tion to the God-given rights of
readers.
Pope John said that peace on
earth can come
(only from duti-
f u 1 observance
M j of “the order
|L J laid down by
Observance of
this order, he
jsi a i d, includes
respect for the
“univesral, invi
olable and inalienable” natural-
law rights which belong to each
of us by virtue of the fact that
we are human persons.
The beloved pope then listed
among those rights these two:
“The right to freedom in
searching for truth and in ex-
pressing and communicating
one’s opinions.
I cannot see how it is at all
possible for those rights to be
respected and execised without
the help of free and responsible
journalism.
Furthermore, the enormous im
portance of good journalism is
driven home to us by Pope
John’s statement that respect
for these inviolable human rights
is necessary in order that peace
may reign in “the order laid
down by God.”
Good journalist, then, is in-
JOSEPH BREIG
dispensable if we are to have a
world fit for human dignity. And
for good journalism, we must
have competent and dedicated
journalists who are free to do
their work.
What makes a good journal
ist?
AS I SAID earlier in this se
ries of articles, the capable
journalist is formed in part by
journalism studies, and in larg
er part by experience—by the
doing of the work.
Through study and experience
the journalist gains working
knowledge of the techniques and
skills of his field of communi
cation.
Even more importantly, he
comes to have an understanding
of t h e governing principles of
journalism which grow out of
the nature of journalism.
FINALLY, the good journalist
has a dedicated loyalty to his
readers.
It is for the reader that he
labors often under extremely
painful conditions, sometimes at
risk of grave injury or death.
It is for the benefit of readers
that the journalist will write a
paragraph 10 times, 20 times, 30
times if necessary in his tire
less striving to convey meaning
and truth — and to clothe them
in literary beauty when possi
ble.
THE JOURNALIST must be
humble about himself; if he
isn’t, his communication with
readers will falter; he will be
gin to write not to serve them,
but to show off. But he must
be proud about his work: he
must realize its importance be
cause he is contributing to the
order ordained by God; he is
helping people to exercise their
God-given rights.
This is the work by which the
journalist chiefly is sanctified;
this is his humble and unweary
ing exercise of charity. It is to
this that he is morally commit
ted to be indomitably true.
Inevitably, we come now to
the task of defining a right and
just freedom of the press; free
dom of the journalist in serving
the reader.
For men of good will, it is not
really very difficult. I think the
essence of it can be compacted
into these statements:
1. The journalist is entitled to
respect as a professional.
2. No one should interfere
with the journalist’s duty to in
form readers truthfully and ade
quately; or ask him to do any
thing that may cause readers to
lose confidence in him, his in
tegrity, and his publication.
In the case of Catholic jour
nalism, fidelity to journalism’s
nature and principles is neces
sary if the true good of the
Church is to be served. The
more professional the Catholic
journalist is, the better Cathqlic
journalism he will produce. Pie
ty should be present — but piety
with professional competence.
With that, I conclude my Cath
olic Press Month series of col
umns.
“You have only one television?”
“Does your husband really love you? I don’t
siee that glow in his eyes anymore?”
“Washing dishes can be almost nice, but
its still druggery isn’t it?”
“Johnny got only a B on his report card.
How can he ever be a success without an A?”
With Gloom’s success all Hell rejoiced.
Every department had a huge increase in total
volume. Once any man, woman or child fell
into Gloom’s clutches, he or she was prey to
any department, dishonesty, impurity, envy or
anyone else who had time to work on him, but
with business what it is there is hardly time
to get to everyone, as in the old days—before
gloom.
Which all goes to prove the old adage, “A
sad saint is a sorry saint and a sorry saint is
not a saint at all.”
QUESTIONS
Our F aith
Msgr. J. D. Conway
Q. I have not gone to confession since the
liturgical changes came in, and I would like to
know if it is true thait the act of contrition is
not said in the confessional. And how should a
salutation start when one enters?
A. Begin your confession in the usual way
by asking for the priest’s blessing. Then after
you have confessed your sins assure the priest
that you are honestly sorry
for them. But then listen to
the words of absolution as he
speaks to you in English. They
have been changed from Latin
to English so that you can hear
and understand them. It is
not proper for you to be saying
your act of contrition at the
same time. I urge that you say
it just before you go into the confessional.
WOMEN SUPPORT JOB CORPS
Capital Report
Q. In a recent column a reader cited the
new parish priest as stating that it was forbid
den to attend a Protestant service. How nar
row minded can one be? In the community in
which I was raised, as well as later in life, we
had no close neighbors except Protestants, with
whom we exchanged work, etc. They were our
friends in life and I have not only attended the
funerals of many of them, but have on occa
sion been a pallbearer.
WASHINGTON (NC) — Four
national women’s organizations,
including the National Council
of Catholic Women, have pledg
ed their memberships to work
jointly in a nationwide group
that will screen and prepare
young women for job and family
life training in residential cen
ters as part of the nation’s war
on poverty.
The new organization will be
known as Women in Community
Service Inc. (WICS), and is
composed of the National Coun
cil of Jewish Women, the Na
tional Council of Negro Women,
the United Church Women and
the NCCW.
At the group’s first national
meeting here, Mrs. William Coo
per, WICS president, said screen
ing centers for young women al
ready had been established in
New Orleans; Portland, Ore.;
San Francisco; Nashville, Tenn.;
Pittsburgh and in Essex County,
N.J. She said WICS plans to
have a screening center in ev
ery state by June 1.
The screening centers will be
run by trained volunteer mem
bers of the four women’s organi
zations which boast a total
membership of 27 million wom
en. They will recruit young wo
men who are deficient in educa
tional or vocational experience,
and will send the young women
to residential training centers
licensed by the U.S. govern
ment’ s Office for Economic Op
portunity.
WICS was established through
an initial grant of $175,000 from
the Office of Economic Oppor
tunity. Miss Mary A. Hallaren
of Washington, former director
of the Women’s Army Corps,
will serve as WICS executive di
rector.
Dr. Bennetta B. Washington,
director of the women’s training
centers for the OEO, said resi
dential centers have already
been approved in St. Petersburg,
Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio, and Los
Angeles.
The young girls would live at
the residential training centers
for about one year. They will be
provided with a basic education,
job training, instruction in home
and family life, and subjects de
signed to develop citizenship re
sponsibility.
Mrs. Cooper, the president of
WICS, is a member of the Na
tional Council of Jewish Women.
Other officers are Mrs. Albert
Fischer of the United Church
Women, vice president; Miss E-
thel Williams of the National
Council of Negro Women, secre
tary; and Miss Margaret Mea-
ley, executive director of the
National Council of Catholic Wo
men, treasurer.
If that has harmed my Catholic brotherly
love or given scandal I will just have to be
wrong .
A. You merely discovered ecumenism be
fore the word became popular and its good old
common sense a novelty.
Q. The answers given by Msgr. J. D. Con
way — whoever he is — in the Question Box
are so up to date that he, himself, must have
lost touch with Catholic tradition. No doubt his
grandparents and great-grandparents are turn
ing over in their graves if they are aware of
his modern theology.
A. Half of my grandparents and three-
fourths of my great-grandparents were Protes
tants, and I hope they are all resting peaceful
ly in heaven. But it was Pope John XIII who
brought me up to date with his call for an
aggiornamento of the entire Church. I believe
future generations will know him as the great
est saint of our times: the man sent by the
Father and inspired by the Spirit to introduce
the Church of Christ to the twentieth century.