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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, May 20, 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 John 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 August and the last week in December.
Subscription price $5.00 per year.
Pray For Persecuted
Obscured by the news of political oppression
and military agression is the very real plight
of millions of persons of various religions
suffering persecution in many areas of the
world.
Catholics are, of course, most familiar with
the attempts of communist governments to drive
the church out of existence. The Catholic
Church’s liturgy may be celebrated in only
one church in all of Russia, and then only
for the benefit of Catholics in the diplomatic
service of foreign countries.
Confiscatory taxation and outright expropria
tion of church property in the communist
countries of eastern Europe have closed the
doors of Catholic schools and universities and
silenced the presses of Catholic newspapers,
pamphlets and periodicals. Arbitrary laws make
it impossible, in many cases, for Catholics to
carry out their religious duties without su
perhuman effort, and make it all but impos
sible for the Church to carry on her mis
sion as teacher of the faithful.
In Cuba, all kinds of restrictions are placed
on the activities of clergy and religious and
only a handful of priests and sisters are left
to minister to the spiritual needs of Catho
lics of that country.
Brutal oppression is the order of the day
in Red China.
But others suffer for their faith, too. At
present, the Jews of Russia are being sing
led out as special objects of the State’s anti-
religious policies. Fifty three Baptists in Cu
ba have been placed on trial as "spies”, with
31 more arrested last week.
And in Turkey, Greek Orthodox Christians
are being made the ‘ whipping boys” in the Tur
kish government’s campaign against the Cyprus
regime of Archbishop Makarios.
More than a thousand Greek Orthodox have
been expelled from Turkey, stripped of all their
possessions, except for $22.00 they are per
mitted to keep. Another 9,000 to 12,000 are
being threatened with expulsion.
The printing office of the Ecumenical Pa
triarchate, headed by the venerable Patriarch
Athenagoras has been closed down. Three di
rectors of Greek Orthodox schools maintained
by the Patriarchate have been dismissed be
cause they premitted the showing of two films -
one on the celebration of the 1,000th anniver
sary of Mount Athos (which the SOUTHERN
CROSS reported on last year), and the other
on the meeting of Patriarch Athenagoras and
Pope Paul VI last January.
New reports have been circulated, declaring
that Turkish authorities are. thinking of ex
pelling the Patriarch, himself even though
he is a Turkish citizen because he was born
a Greek citizen, and Greece and Turkey are
locked in a battle over Cyprus.
If these reports are true - and Vatican
Radio has thought them reliable enough to
comment on - then, it would appear that Tur
key is trying to strike at Cyprus’ President,
Archbishop Makarios through Patriarch Athena
goras, a tactic as unfair as it is futile.
For Athenagoras has no authority over Ma
karios, as the head of the Greek Orthodox
Church in Cyprus and certainly no authority
over him in his capacity as President of Cy
prus.
Turkey’s persecution of the Greek Ortho
dox is certainly a poor testimonial to her oft
expressed profession of respect for freedom
of religion. It is also, despite claims to the
contrary, an attempt to use religious oppres
sion as a political tool in its dispute with
C yprus.
Catholics pray daily for their Priests, Broth
ers, Sisters and fellow Catholics who suffer
for their faith. We hope they will extend that
Charity to all - Jews, Baptists, Greek Ortho
dox, and men and women of all faiths whose
religion has made them the victims of in
justice and tyranny.
May we and they continue in the conviction
of St. Peter, the first Pope, that "We ought
to obey God, rather than men.”
HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT
God’s World
Rev. Leo J. Trese
"If you ask the Father anything in My name,
He will give it to you.” This is a breath
taking promise which Jesus has made to us.
It puts tremendous power into our human hands.
It may be that we do not fully appreciate
the extent of our power. Perhaps we are not
fully using this power over God which He Him
self has given us. It even may be that, deep
down in our hearts, we do not truly believe
that anything is ours for the
asking.
If we seem to have a dis
couraging lack of success with
' our prayers of petition, it is
possible that we are not really
asking in the name of Jesus.
! To ask in His name is much
more than a matter of words.
It means to approach the Father in union with
Christ and in His spirit.
God can recognize His Son in us only if we
have love for God, as witnessed basically by
our freedom from grave sin, by our oneness
with Christ in the bond of grace. Further,
we come to God in the spirit of Christ only if
we are committed to the doing of God’s will.
Our committment may be still imperfect and
probably is. However, the prayer of Jesus in
Gethsemane, "Not My will but Thine be done,”
must find some answering echo in our own heart.
Otherwise we are incapable of asking "in His
name.”
Further, since love for neighbor is so essen
tial an element in our Christ likeness, we
hardly can present God with a request which
can be granted only at the expense of someone
else. We are not asking in Christ’s name if
the gain we seek must mean another’s loss.
Let us assume that when we offer our pe
titions to God we actually do so in"the name
of Jesus. That is, we do love God and do try to
be fully acceptant of His will. We do love
our neighbor and desire his greatest good.
Why is it, then, that with such dispositions we
so often seem to appeal to God in vain? We
pray and pray, but nothing happens.
The customary explanation is that God, Who
is infinitely good, wants for us only what
will promote our welfare. He knows all things
and knows, better than we, the ultimate effect
of this or that favor which we ask of Him. If
the result will be harmful to us in the long
run, then God certainly will not grant what
we ask. Our prayer will not be wasted. God
will compensate us in some other way. But
God would be untrue to Himself if He gave
us what would hurt us.
All of this is perfectly true and undoubtedly
does account for some of our apparent failures
in prayer of petition. However, there may be
another and less obvious reason for some of our
disappointments in prayer. It may be simply
that we do not pray with sufficient faith.
Perhaps when we turn to God in some neces
sity of emergency we are not really very hope
ful. We feel that we have nothing to lose by
appealing to God but we expect that in the end
we probably will have to work out the solution
for ourselves.
This state of mind is ruinous to prayer of
petition. The one disposition above all others
which we much bring to prayer is a strong,
strong faith in God's ability and desire to
help us. We have only to page through the Gos
pels to see what emphasis Jesus puts upon
faith. Time and again He assures a petitioner,
"Your faith has saved you,” or, "Your faith
has made you whole.”
Is there some favor which you very much
want from God? Are you in the state of grace?
Is God's will your norm of action, so far as
you can make it so? To the best of your know
ledge will the favor you seek bring no hurt or
loss to another? Are you also as sure as
humanly possible that the granting of the favor
will not be in the least prejudicial to your own
spiritual welfare?
Very well, then. Present your petition to
God "in the name of Your Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ.” Ask bravely, ask confidently.
God will not mind even if you scold Him a
bit. (God, Your Son promised this. Aren’t You
going to back Him up?”) Then be ready, per
haps sooner than you think, to offer your
prayer of thanksgiving.
MEAT ON FRIDAY^ si?
It Seems To Me
JOSEPH BREIG
Talking companionably to pil
grims, Pope Paul dropped a hint
not long ago that he is pondering
the wisdom of abolishing com
pulsory Friday meatlessness.
The Holy Father, I assume is
interested in seeing how the idea
strikes people. Let me give him
my solemn assurance that he
will hear no
§ complaints from
In the noblest
ecumenical
spirit, I am will
ing to sacrifice,
this enforced
sacrifice, and to
relinquish the privileged posi
tion in the ranks of the saints
which it has given me.
THE WAY I SEE IT, either
we ought to repeal the Friday
law altogether, or we should
shift the prohibition to some
thing other than meat.
The discrimination in favor of
folks like me has gone on much
too long. The time has come for
a redressing of the balance.
What I mean is that although
meat is the only thing I can eat
without resenting every bite, I
have dutifully forced down some
thing else, masquerading as food,
every blessed Friday of my life
from early childhood; and I am
weary of it.
If it has got to go on this way
until I am liberated by death,
then so be it. I will heroically
continue to obey the law, and
after I have drawn my last breath
I will stride to St. Peter at the
gate, and with a lordly gesture
request him to stand aside for a
real ripsnorter of a saint.
BUT WHY, I ask myself,
should I hog the spiritual splen
dor? If the wealth of this world
ought to be fairly distributed,
surely it should be so in the next
world. Do we want to go through
everlasting days in the presence
of glaring contrasts between
riches and poverty?
Firmly I reply, no, we do not.
Allow me to say, therefore,
that although certainly I do not
come within a million miles of
understanding them, I have noth
ing against the peculiar people
who (yes, dear, it is true) actual
ly like eggs, fish, cheese, spa
ghetti, macaroni, lasagna and all
that stuff.
I have nothing against them at
all. To the contrary, I love them
with an unselfish Christian love.
This being so, I do not think that
they ought to b e denied equal
opportunity to grow to towering
sanctity.
MY SUGGESTION to Pope
Paul, then, is this: let us either
drop the Friday abstinence alto
gether, or let us turn it around
so that meat is permitted, and
all these other things are forbid
den.
Let us invite the lovers of
eggs-cheese-lasagna into the
front ranks of the blessed. Let us
generously share our Christian
greatness with them. Let THEM
do some penance for a while—
say about 10 centuries.
However, I do not insist upon
this solution. As I said, Pope
Paul will hear no objections from
me if he decides that we ought
to be left free to choose our own
Friday menus.
After all, as he remarked, in
many countries the Lenten fast
and abstinence have been sus
pended except for Ash Wednes
day and Good Friday.
FURTHERMORE, the Holy
See for several years has per
mitted travellers on planes to
eat meat on Fridays; and only
recently the dispensation was ex
tended to trains.
Thus, folks going around on ex
pense accounts, eating in style
in jet planes or in dining cars
roaring across the countryside,
may order meat, while the farm
er tilling the field, and the rail
road worker pounding spikes
with a sledge hammer, must sit
down at noon and insult the in
ner man with a hunk of cheese
or an egg or peanut butter sand
wich.
No sir, Pope Paul will hear no
criticism from me if he decides
that it is high time for Friday
meatlessness to go the way of
the preposterous old from-mid-
night Communion fast.
U.S. ROLE IN VIETNAM
Capital Report
WASHINGTON--It is almost 25
years since the Catholic press in
the United States helped to ex
plode a myth that was beclouding
this country's dealings with com
munism in the Far East.
This is recalled because offi
cials here show puzzlement over
an apparent misconception which
persists regarding this country’s
role in the Far East today--in
Vietnam.
In 1946, those who now rule
China were still striving to take
over the country. They were
generally referred to as com
munists, but there was an ex
tremely vocal element in the
United States which insisted they
were only "agrarian reformers”
seeking to correct social abuses
in their country. And, it was add
ed, what they were doing was
no concern of ours.
Father Patrick O'Connor,
S.S C., NCWC News Service cor
respondent in the Far East, did
what no other correspondent
at the time did; he went to Nan
king and asked Gen. Chou En-lai
what he and his followers were.
The general admitted quite
frankly that they were Marxist
communists and that their ulti
mate goal was a classless society
for China and for the world.
They were committed to dialectic
materialism.
Apparently the Chinese com
mas ists have moved past the
initial stages of their revolution,
and are already striving to ex
tend the "classless society” be
yond the borders of China. Only
in recent days, President Johnson
has repeated the warning that the
struggle in Vietnam .-lust not be
regarded as a real uvil war but
as a "war of liberation” the
communists foster wherever they
can. He also recalled that for a
quarter of a century the U.S.
has stood between the peoples
of Asia and those who would
enslave them.
"This kind of war,” the Presi
dent said regarding Vietnam, "is
war against the independence of
nations,”
"And we will meet it, as we
have met other shifting dangers
for more than a generation,”
he added.
To those who asked "why the
responsibility should be ours,”
he answered; "The answer is
simple. There is no one else
who can do the job.”
CABBAGES AM KINGS
Rev. William V. Coleman
On Reaction
Cardinal Sheehon of Baltimore summed up
the purpose of the Catholic Press — "to
comfort the disturbed and to disturb the com
fortable.” It was more than a clever use of
words. It was a challenge to balance the con
fusion of the world with the order of the Word.
Let’s be frank enough to admit that every
Catholic paper, like any good teacher, will
strike a pose now and again to stimulate its
readers’ thought. Nothing bet
ter pleases an editor than an
attempt to refute his latest
editorial. Reaction is a sign of
reader interest.
There is much in the Catho
lic press which is far from
"gospel” truth. Every issue
of every paper is filled with
opinions and debatable ideas. Under pressure
of reader reaction these half refined thoughts
take on added clarity and fuller truth. Without
reaction from its readers a paper is too power
ful, too arbitrary and tends to become dicta -
With The Southern Cross this necessary
reaction must come from you. Every edito
rial or column is your invitation to think and
react - always with charity but certainly,
where called for with force.
A few months ago, I delighted in writing a
column in which I frankly stated my own
opinions on the subject of school boy athletics.
My point was simple - too much attention for
a growing youngster is just as dangerous as
too much candy. There was reaction - reac
tion aplenty. My phone was panting from over
work and the presence of my car anywhere
was an open invitation to discussion.
Unfortunately not a single letter arrived
on the subject. None was willing to put his
ideas into print beside my own so that the
thinking reader could take his choice. Your
reaction would have delighted me no end.
One local sports writer took up the cudgels.
His attempt to refute ideas, however, degene
rated into a personal attack. He slipped from
the high plateau of controversy into the murky
marsh of invective. Yet, I cannot help but
applaud his desire to react, if not the depth
of his reaction.
How about you? What kind of a reaction
can you muster to what you read in the Southern
Cross? A grunt? A groan? A grumble? Why
not say it where it counts - in your Catholic
Press.
QUESTIOm
Our Faith
Q. Please give me a DIRECT answer:
1. Since when can a Catholic woman remarry
after being divorced, be in the state of grace,
and receive the sacraments?
2. How can such a person be worthy of Chris
tian burial?
This is in regard to Mrs. ViolaGreggLiuzzo.
t A. I have chosen this question
from among many I received on
this subject, because it is — in
spite of its evident lack of Chris
tian charity — the most re
strained and dignified. It is piti
ful to discover in the minds of
many Catholic people a malig
nant distortion which suspects
the Church of skulduggery, judges the deceased
with malevolence, and seeks to blame the
victim rather than the murderer for a heinous
and shameful crime.
Your DIRECT answer is this; Mrs. Viola
Liuzzo was validly and properly married in the
Church to Mr. Liuzzo. Officials of the Arch
diocese of Detroit gave this information to the
New Orleans Clarion Herald, which published
a brief explanation. I believe her previous
marriages were declared invalid by Archdio
cesan authorities, Frankly I do not recall the
details, because I consider such matters per
sonal and have complete confidence in the know
ledge and integrity of the officials who handle
marriage cases in the Archdiocese of Detroit —
and in other dioceses throughout our land, and
throughout the Church.
Unless your parish is unusual you must have
at least a dozen members who have had former
marriages declared invalid and are now properly
married in the r ’hurch to another mate. Some
of them are probably the most fervent and active
members of your parish.
Unless your parish is unusual you must have
at least a dozen members who are converts
and have had former marriages dissolved by
the Pauline Privilege or the Privilege of the
Faith and are now living in very proper union with
another spouse.
These things are routine in the Catholic
Church. In the course of years I have learned
to have great respect for most of the people
involved in my marriage cases.
"But hearing this they went away, one by one,
beginning with the eldest. And Jesus remained
alone, with the woman . . .” (John 8,9)