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Vol. 45, No. 45
CATHOLIC
Pope Paul VI
Hails Vocation
Of Journalist
NEW YORK (NC)—Pope Paul
VI reminded Catholic journalists
that the popes as well as the Sec
ond Vatican Council “have force
fully affirmed the value” of their
vocation.
The Pontiff expressed his tri
bute in a letter to the Seventh
World Congress of the Catho
lic Press here. It was addressed
to Raimondo Manzini, editor of
jservatore Romano, Vatican
daily, and president of the
International Union of the Catho
lic Press.
LU CXC
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Pope Paul said both the popes
and the council have encouraged
journalists to pursue their ef
forts “often quite extraordinary,
to be faithful to that very ideal
which in point of fact, is the theme
of your discussions: ‘Truth in
the Pursuit of Liberty.’ ”
The Pope noted that the “com
bined notion of truth and liberty”
is dear to the hearts of all Chris
tians. “The Church, the minister
of truth, is likewise the minister
of liberty and you are assured
of the dearest understanding and
support of pastors with the re
sponsibility in this field when
you assert the proper rights of
truth in the pursuit of liberty,”
the Pope’s letter stated.
“Furthermore, that which ap
pears to the Christian as a re
quirement of his faith is — and
who would not rejoice in this—
a value being more and more af
firmed in the modern world by
men anxious to work for the
common good of society.
“Employed in the service of
truth, a free press helps its
readers to be better informed
with a view to better under
standing and thus better action.
It helps to enlighten and instruct
men in a climate of charity,
and to insert them in their right
ful place in the community of
men whose natural bonds ofsoli-
» result from being part
great family of God’s chil
dren.
“This indicates the importance
of the objectivity with which
Catholic journalists inform their
readers of world events since a
newspaper, whether it is pur
chased because of need, interest
or desire, diffuses as a medium
of information, day after day,
a conception of life, an order of
values, a hierarchy of ends, a
vision of the world...
“While respecting the laws of
finality of the medium you are
using you give it the human value
that thus allows you to transmit
in your own fashion the message
of salvation which each Chris
tian, today more than ever be
fore, ought to feel the desire
of making known around him.”
In his address the editor of
L’Osservatore Romano said here
the mission of the Catholic jour
nalist is to seek a middle ground
between servile silence and un
controlled criticism.
The Second Vatican Council
offers Catholic journalists “a
new and broad testing ground”
in seeking their place between
freedom and authority, the editor
said in his address prepared in
French and simultaneously
translated into other languages
at the congress’ keynote lunch
eon.
Manzini said that civilization
today would be inconceivable
without exercise of the right to
information. “In areas where it
is rejected or bridled,” he said,
“there arises a crisis in the
social order.”
But he said that today this
right is carried to extremes.
“People want to know everything;
everything must be said,” he
commented.
“The area of reserved domain
and that of prudence seem to be
constantly smaller, more than
reason demands. It seems that in
journalism the Gospel statement
is coming true; ‘what you do in
secret will be proclaimed from
the rooftops,’ ” he said.
As a result of “an excessive
amount of indiscreet and pas
sionate information,” there has
developed “illnesses” which
need “the medicine of truth,
clearly understood and wisely
administered.”
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH
NATION
Auxiliary Bishop
Lay Music Director
CHARLESTON, S.C. (NC)—The Charleston diocese has appointed
a layman, Robert I. Blanchard, as diocesan director of music and
charged him with developing music to accompany liturgical reform.
Blanchard is a native of Fenwick Hall, John’s Island, and a graduate
of local schools and the Catholic University of America.
EUROPE
Jesuits To Vote
• ME (NC)—The Jesuit Fathers’ general convention here will begin
g for a new superior general on May 22nd. Consultations to
select candidates were held from May 18 to 21. After the elections,
delegates are scheduled to resume discussion of the length of his
term and other problems facing the Society of Jesus.
FAR EAST
Entertain Children
BOMBAY, India (NC)—American sailors aboard the U.S.S. Green
wich Bay entertained here (May 9) a group of 50 children of a
Catholic home for homeless. The youngsters visited the ship,
which was on a five-day goodwill call here, in the company of
Father Richard Frances, director of the home called “Snehasa-
dan” (Abode of Love).
NEWSPAPER DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1965
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CARDINAL DONS APRON — Joseph Cardinal Ritter of St. Louis waits on the
residents of the Little Sisters of the Poor home in SL Louis on his annual visit.
Here Miss Elizabeth McDonald, 90, who has lived at the home 12 years, is show
ing the Cardinal a cherished photo of the late Albert Cardinal Meyer of Chicago.
The Little Sisters operate a home in Savannah, having served the area more than
75 years. (NC Photos),
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ARCHBISHOP SPEAKS AT BOGALUSA
‘Course To Right Wrongs
Set By Men Of Good WilV
WASHINGTON (NC)—Pope Paul VI has named Msgr. Alfred
M. Watson, vicar general of the diocese of Erie and rector of the
Cathedral of St. Peter, to be Auxiliary to Archbishop John Mark
Gannon, Bishop of Erie.
BOGALUSA, La. (NC)— Boga-
lusa is “not a city which illus
trated what is wrong with our
past, but rather what can be
right about our future,” Arch
bishop John P. Cody said in a
sermon at racially-tense Boga-
lusa.
The Archbishop of New Orleans
spoke (May 16) at Annunciation
church where he conferred the
sacrament of Confirmation upon
an integrated class of children.
“No one can, with good con
science, deny that the Negroes
of Bogalusa—the Negroes of all
Louisiana—have been denied the
rights, the opportunities, the hu
man dignity accorded to other
men,” the Archbishop told the
children and their parents and
others packed into the church.
“But men of good will,” he
continued, “have set a course
in Bogalusa to right those wrongs
and put Louisiana on a new path
of freedom for all.”
Bogalusa,, a lumber mill town
of 21,000 persons 50 miles north
of New Orleans, has been the
scene of civil rights demonstra
tions and a counter rally and
march by white “conserva^ves.”
The Archbishop had praise for
Louisiana Gov. John J. McKeithen
and Bogalusa Mayor Jesse
Cutrer.
The Archbishop cited the ef
forts of priests, Sisters and lay
men in past months and years
to bring about a climate of un
derstanding. He noted that Ca
tholic schools of the archdiocese
have been integrated since 1962
and said he wished to emphasize
“that no Catholic child will be
turned away from Catholic school
because of race.”
“All of these developments add
up to a plus rather than a minus
for the city of Bogalusa,” Arch
bishop Cody declared. “Its pro
blems, aired before the world,
are now reaching toward solu
tions. And a pattern could be
set here which will make Louisi
ana a model for the South rather
than a bad example.”
The racial question, the pre
late said, is one filled with emo
tion. There have been inflam
matory declarations, he added,
from both sides in Bogalusa,
but the irresponsible words have
been spoken “by men who re
present only a small portion of
the white or Negro population of
this city, of this state, and of
this nation.
“Our problem seems to be
that the great numbers of people
not represented by the radical
elements of either side do not
speak out for themselves. The
indications are that this will
no longer be the case in Boga
lusa,” he said.
FOR DIOCESE
Rev. Roy L. Cox
To Be Ordained
The Rev. Roy L. Cox will be
ordained for the Diocese of Sa
vannah at the Pontificial College
Josephinum, Worthington, Ohio,
on Saturday May 29th.
REV. R. L. COX
The Most Reverend EgidioVa-
gnozzi, Apostolic Delegate to the
United States, will ordain Father
Cox.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy
L. Cox, Father Cox was born in
New Orlean, La., August 5th,
1940. ■ He attended grammar
school in Alexandria, Baton
Rouge, Shreveport and Natchito
ches in Louisiana.
Father Cox entered Maryhill
Seminary (Pineville, La.) inSep-
tember of 1953, his first year in
high school.
He was graduated from Mary
hill in 1959 and continued his
studies for the priesthood at
the Pontificial College Jose
phinum.
Father Cox will sing his first
Solemn Mass on Pentecost Sun
day, June 6th, at his parish
church St. Peter’s in Covington,
Louisiana.
It is expected that Father Cox
will arrive to assume his studies
in the diocese sometime in June.
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ATN.Y. CONVENTION
Catholic Press Role
In Forming Public
Opinion Is Stressed
NEW YORK (NC) - Church
authorities must encourage in
telligent and responsible parti
cipation by the faithful in the
C hurch’s development and
growth, a bishop said here.
And, added an editor, this can
be accomplished largely through
the development of public opinion
within the Church by the Catholic
press.
Both Bishop Ernest J. Primeau
of Manchester, N. H., and Father
Roberto Tucci, S. J., editor of
Rome’s Civilta Cattolica, spoke
(May 18) at one session of the
7th World Congress oftheCatho-
lic Press on “The Relationship
of Freedom and Authority.” The
congress incorporated the 55th
annual national convention of the
Catholic Press Association of the
U.S. and Canada.
Nearly 800 representatives of
the Catholic press in the United
States, Europe and elsewhere
attended the congress, whose
theme was “Truth in the Pursuit
of Liberty.”
The Constitution on the Church,
Bishop Primeau noted, calls for
establishment of “organs”
through which public opinion can
flow. The most important such
structure, he said, is the Catho
lic press.
“By and large,” he continued,
“it has done its share in pro
viding an open channel for the
flow of information and ideas to
the public and of public opinion
to the authorities...But I would
like to sound a warning.
“Those editors and writers
who have been in the vanguard
of the renewal in the Church
must not lose contact with the
main body of the faithful. If this
occurs the formulation and the
development of public opinion will
come to a sudden and violent
end.”
Father Tucci, who edits a
widely known Rome Jesuit fort
nightly, said the Church today is
engaged in a “search for what is
best” and this “demands dis
cussion not alone among restrict
ed groups but within the whole
believing community itself.”
This freedom, he said, is limit
ed” wherever a dogmatic decision
in faith or morals is involved”
and must be conducted within the
bounds of prudence and charity.
Turning to the responsibilities
of Catholic journalists and those
who control their publications,
Father Tucci said they must give
the news objectively to foster
proper public opinion.
But he warned that “truth with
out charit y is a negative force’,’
and that journalists must respect
the legitimate rights of others
and of the common good. “No one
will claim that all news, no mat
ter what, is equally beneficial
or inoffensive at all times and
in all places,” he said.
The following day (May 19),
the delegates, many of them U.S.
and Canadian editors who merged
their annual convention into the
world congress, heard from the
editor of the new lay-operated
National Catholic Reporter of
Kansas City, Mo.
Speaking on “Liberty in the
Catholic Press,” Robert G. Hoyt
said that “when you talk about
freedom of the press, you are
not talking about a mere abstrac
tion.”
A
“Freedom of the press is not
just an idea, but an idea with a
history, an idea that has been
institutionalized. We are not in
venting it here today; on the con
trary, we inherit it and it comes
to us equipped with traditions,
guidelines and restraints,” he
said.
When a newspaperman reacts
against one-sided reporting, he
said, “it is because he knows
his freedom exists for the sake
of serving readers and not for
the sake of promoting his own
view of the situation in City
Hall or of the nature of the cos
mos.”
Hoyt said the “first responsi
bility” of editors is to their
readers because the Church is
“a society made up of free,
responsibile persons.”
“Our freedom does not de
rive from our enjoyment ofbeing
free,” he said. “It rests on the
‘Pacem in Terris’ principle that
our readers have a right to be
informed about what is going on.
“This does not mean, I hap
pily concede, that there can be
nothing confidential in the con
duct of Church affairs, that any
secret a journalist encounters
must automatically be converted
into a headline. It does mean
that once in a while we have
to make a tough decision. And
I would add that asking permis
sion to publish something is not
a tough decision,” he said.
As for editorial criticism of
Church operations or the de
cisions of leaders, Hoyt claimed
that while criticism can be over
done and carried out in the wrong
spirit, “criticism is a service.”
“The Catholic journalist who
performs the service in a re
sponsible way in demonstrating
not disloyalty, but a true sense
of the Church,” he said.
AT PRESS MEET
United Nations
Support Lauded
NEW YORK (NC) — Catho
lic press support for the United
Nations was stressed here by a
Spanish Catholic journalist and
by the president of the Catho
lic Press Association of the U.S.
and Canada.
Alberto Martin Artajo of Ma
drid and Msgr. Robert G. Pe
ters, editor of the Peoria, Ill.,
Register, responded to a wel
come by U Thant, UN Secretary
General, who greeted nearly 800
delegates of the 7th World Con
gress of the Catholic Press at
UN headquarters (May 20).
Artajo was Spain’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs 1945 to 1957 and
is chief representative for edi
torial matters of the board of
La Editorial Catolica, a pub
lishing house which issues the
Madrid daily, “Ya,” ajidaseries
of papers in provincial capitals.
FOUNDING EDITOR—John A.
O’Connor will establish a new
diocesan newspaper for Bishop
Michael Hyle of Wilmington, Del.
O’Connor, until now with The
Monitor, San Francisco, is a
1948 graduate of Notre Dame
University, and later did gradu
ate work in journalism at Stan
ford University.
(NC Photos)
He also is secretary general of
the State Council, Spain’shighest
legal advisory body.
The Catholic press and the UN,
said Artajo, “are united by one
and the same noble enterprise:
to work for peace between all
peoples.”
“The world is moving with
inexorable steps toward unifica
tion,” he said. “The interdepen
dence of states is today an
ineluctable fact in the social, eco
nomic and political orders.
“National structures, hitherto
valid, are now displaying visible
inadequacy as the basis of the
world order.”
Yet, he said, international re-
lat'-ms face a “great obstacle”
in the “mutual distrust aroused
by the radical disparity of the
ideological systems that claim
to give a controlled and utili
tarian version of the unbribably
objective criteria of human
truth.”
The Catholic press, he said,
will work tirelessly to build a
bridge of truth and freedom
“which will allow the already
existing international solidarity
to develop and to pass freely
and unrestrictedly among all the
countries of the world,” he said.
\Msgr. Peters called the UN
“one place where a man can
bring the principles of natural
law or even the law and beati
tudes of Christianity and not
feel entirely out of place.”
“While there may be a few
dissenting voices, and while there
may be occasional awkward in
stances, this is the UN for which
the Catholic Church and the
Catholic Press have long made
obvious their high regard,” he
added.
The UN, he said, “operates
on the natural and Christian con
cept that absolute, unlimited sov
ereignty is an illusion and a dis
aster.”