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SERVING 88 SOUTH GEORGIA COUNTIES
NEWSPAPER DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH
the statute violated the right
of marital privacy, which it
called “intimate to the point
of being sacred.”
“Now if the government is
enjoined by this decision from
forbidding the practice of birth
control, it logically follows
that it is likewise forbidden to
promote it,” Archbishop O’-
Boyle Commented.
Citing efforts to link birth
control with anti-poverty pro
grams, he said:
“This. . .is not the govern
ment’s business. The choice
of how many children a couple
should have is the sole per
sonal responsibility of the
spouses. It is no less their
responsibility if they happen
to be poor.”
. . .“No one questions the
right—even the desira
bility-- of expanded govern
ment-sponsored research into
the problems of human re
production. . .However, the
moment that government pre
sumes to ‘give advice’ in this
delicate area, it opens the
door to influencing the free
decision of its citizens. And
from influence it is only a
short step to coercion.
“Especially when economic
factors are involved.
Cautioning against ex
pecting a change in Catholic
teaching on contraception, the
archbishop quoted condemna
tions by both Pope Pius XI
and Pope Pius XII.
He noted that Pope Paul
VI, in establishing a special
study commission on popu
lation, said. “So far we do
not have sufficient reason to
regard the norms given by
Pope Pius XII in this matter
as surpassed and therefore
not binding.”
At the same time he noted
the existence of “a number
of Catholics classified as ex
perts who, while asserting that
they do not officially speak
for the Church, nevertheless
have not hesitated to try the
case in the newspapers, in
periodicals and on tele
vision.”
The archbishop said such
activities had raised “false
hopes” in some quarters and
persuaded some congres
sional committees and public
bodies that the Church’s at
titude was changing. He said
he felt obliged to speak to
counter this impression.
The archbishop urged his
listeners “not to allow pre
occupation with the techniques
of birth limitation, even those
which are not of themselves
immoral, to distract us from
the higher duty of trust in
God.”
He added: “Which one of
you in this cathedral has not
known at some time the terr
ifying worry of being out of
a job or being hit by heavy
hospital bills? Where are
those worries today?
“And if next week you were
asked to sacrifice one of your
children to ease the ‘popula
tion explosion,' which one
would you choose?”
DEPARTURE FOR VATICAN II — Bishop Thomas J. McDonough boards
plane at Savannah airport on first leg of his journey to closing session of Ecu
menical Council. Bidding “Bon Voyage” are (1. to r.) Father Francis Dono
hue, Southern Cross editor; Msgr. Andrew J. McDonald, Chancellor; and Fa
ther Kevin Boland, Vice-Chancellor. Bishop McDonough is spending a few
days with members of his family in Philadelphia before continuing on to Rome.
(Staff photo by Bob Ward)
ATLANTA ARCHBISHOP ASKS
FOR COUNCIL SUCCESS
Pontiff Asks
F or Prayers
SCHOOL DAZE — Trance-like expressions of these
pupils at Blessed Sacrament School, Savannah, mir
ror reluctant farewell to summer joys as school days
begin again. Donna Kent, third grader and Flor
ence Kenny, fourth grader were among 9,500 stu
dents returning to parodnic. .. li o o i classrooms
throughout Diocese last Tuesday.
(Staff photo by Bob Ward)
Peter’s Basilica, during which
all would join in “singing
the praises of the Lord.”
Urging that religious com
munities everywhere unite in
prayer for the Council, the
Pope said one of the inten
tions would be that the Church
might be prepared “to meet
the ennobling responsibilities
that await her at the con
clusion of the Ecumenical
Council.”
The Pope explained he had
chosen the Feast of the Exal
tation of the Holy Cross as
the opening day of Vatican
II’s final session so that. . .
“all may grasp more deeply
that He who was lifted up
from the earth on that wood
is the only One Who draws
all things to Himself and that
under Heaven there is no other
Name given to me n by which
we can be saved.”
Pope Paul said that “if
the Council continues to re
ceive the light of grace of
Christ’s Holy Spirit of truth,
and if the hearts of the Fa
thers are open to Ris delicate
and yet powerful promptings,
irresistible though hidden,
then and only then can the
session which is about to begin
and the conclusion of the en
tire Council bring forth all
the fruit that is desired.”
“But prayer,” he added,
“is the indispensable means
for securing this success. . .
May the petitions of the whole
Church ascend to God tobriftg
down on the Council an out
pouring of heavenly graces,
to obtain for the work of The
Fathers the necessary energy
and dispatch, and to win the
future collaboration of all in
the practical application of
the deliberations and decrees
of the Council.
* *>
ROME (RNS) — Pope Paul
VI announced that he would
join the Fathers of Second
Vatican Council in a peniten
tial procession through the
streets of Rome to mark the
opening of the Council’s fourth
and final session on Sept. 14.
The pontiff’s announcement
was made in a document dated
Aug. 21 in which he exhorted
the faithful everywhere to join
in prayers for the success
of the Council. He urged that
special ceremonies of penance
be held in every Catholic
church in the world.
Pope Paul said that “out
standing relics of the Holy
Cross” would be taken from
the Basilica of St. John La-
teran for the penitential pro
cession in which he would
join more than 2,000 bishops
in the half-mile march to St.
BISHOP L. ABEL CAIL-
LOUET has been named ad
ministrator of the Archdio
cese of New Orleans. Auxili
ary Bishop of the See since
1947 and a vicar general since
1962. (R.N.S. Photo)
1
‘Ground-Rules’ To Help
Relieve Racial Tensions
ATLANTA (RNS) —
“Ground-rules” for both Ne
groes and whites, intended to
help resolve racial tensions
before they can build into
Los Angeles-type race riot
ing, were suggested by Ro
man Catholic Archbishop Paul
J. Halliman of Atlanta.
Writing in his “Arch
bishop’s Notebook” in the ar
chdiocesan weekly, Georgia
Bulletin, the prelate also as
serted that the Church must
be involved in seeking racial
justice, both as an institution
and through the day-to-day
lives of its members.
The “ground-rules” listed
harmful practices and attitu
des which the archbishop said
should be stopped. Leading
the list for whites was “Blam
ing the past.” He called on
white persons of today to “ad
mit our own sins against the
Negro’s human dignity.”
White persons should “stop
tolerating the Negro,” the ar
chbishop w rote. ‘ ‘ Respect him
as a child of God as much as
the white is.”
Putting racial questions “on
property rights (my neighbor
hood, my job, my school)”
was condemned by the church
man, who said: “Human rights
morally come first. Besides,
the exclusion of the Negro
does not even protect the be-
Uttllij
HEADLINE
HOPSCOTCH A
NATION
Luci Confirmed
WASHINGTON, D. C. (RNS) — Luci Baines Johnson, 18,
younger daughter of President Johnson, who was recently re
ceived into the Roman Catholic Church, has now been con
firmed, it was reported here. The confirmation was said to
have taken place in St. Matthew's cathedral here and to have
been performed by Archbishop Patrick A. O’Boyle of Wash
ington.
EUROPE
Nuns' Fashions
ROME (NC) — What’s new in fashions for nuns? At a pri
vate showing (Aug. 29) in one of Rome’s top fashion houses,
around 25 superiors of congregations for nuns were given
ideas about what can be done to modernize or simplify habits
for their Sisters. The show was staged at the fashion salon
of Fontana Sisters and was organized by an American tele
vision network (ABC).
FAR EAST
Snake Charmer Priest
JABALPUR, India (NC) — Father ZachariasMundattachundayil,
an expert snake charmer, was among five priests ordained
by Coadjutor Bishop Leonard D’Souza of Jabalpur. The newly-
ordained priest followed his father’s profession and learned
snake charming as a youngster. He is also well known for
his snake poison remedies.
loved property rights. Segre
gation was a main force in
the thread-bare Southern
economy for seven decades.”
Both Negroes and whites
were told to “stop generali
zing” about the other racial
group.
Negroes were admonished
to “stop labelling other Ne
groes who disagree as to me
thod as ‘Uncle Toms,’ ” and
“stop ridiculing whites who
love and work equal justice for
all as much as the Negro
does.”
Defense by Negroes of
“every demonstration as
‘non-violence’ ” was also on
Archbishop Hallinan’s “stop”
list for Negroes because, he
said, it is “bemirching a no
ble and fruitful method.”
Negroes, he said, should
“stop the reticence about what
every responsible Negro lead
er is (or should be) doing
about self-help programs, and
the curbing of lawlessness by
Negroes.”
A special advisory to “a
number of white civil rights
workers” counseled: “Men,
shave those beards! Girls,
comb your hair! Revolutions
are sometimes started by the
kooky types, but something
more is necessary to get so
lid gains.”
INSiOE STORY
L.A. Aftermath
Poverty War
School Calendar ^
NAACP Rebuttal
Vol. 46, No. 9
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1965
ARCHBISHOP O’BOYLE
$5 Per Year
Defeatism, Despair
Seen In Population
Control Proposals
WASHINGTON (NC)—Arch
bishop Patrick A. O’Boyle of
Washington said here that
government “has no busi
ness” promoting birth con
trol.
He said there are. . .“bet
ter guides for our society”
than the “four horsemen of
national disaster--birth con
trol, abortion, sterilization
and enthanasia.”
Reliance on such neasures
is “the philosophy of defeat
ism and despair. It is un-i
worthy of our heritage, un
worthy of our destiny,” he
declared.
Archbishop O’Boyle , who
is chairman of the administra
tive board of the National ca
tholic Welfare Conference,
took this stand against govern
ment birth control programs
in a sermon preached (Aug.
29) inSt. Matthew’s Cathedral.
In seeking a solution to pop
ulation problems in the U. S.
the archbishop said, there are
“two general lines of approach
--one positive, one negative.”
He said a “positive attack”
would include such steps as
decentralization of industry
to underpopulated parts of the
country, improved trans
portation, increased distribu
tion of surplus food to the
needy, ajid better job train
ing.
He commended such mea
sures, calling them “typically
American.” But he strongly
opposed the “negative ap
proach” of birth control, call
ing it “unworthy of our Ameri
can tradition.”
Warning of the growing
danger of government invasion
of the right of privacy, the
archbishop pointed to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s recent ruling
invalidating Connecticut’s law
against birth control. The
court’s majority agreed that
Official
The Most Reverend Thomas
J. McDonough, Bishop of Sa
vannah, announces the follow -
, ing appointments.
RT. REV. MSGR. ANDREW
J. MCDONALD Diocesan Di
rector of Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine.
RT. REV. MSGR. JOHN D.
TOOMEY Moderator of the
Diocesan Council of Catholic
Men.
REV. MARVIN LeFROIS
Assistant Director of Dioce
san Council of Catholic Men.
REV. DENIS BEGLEY,S.M.
A. Spiriutal Director of the
Savannah Curia of the Legion
of Mary.
REV. MYRON BATEMAN,
M.S.SS.T. Assistant Pastor of
Immaculate Conception Chur
ch, Dublin.
AT LEGION CONVENTION
Priest Deplores
Godless Society
PORTLAND, Ore. (NC) —
The threat of communism in
southeast Asia is real enough,
but “just as real and threaten
ing is the materialistic, God-
forgetting, self-sufficiency,
independent rules by which we
are living,” the national chap
lain of the American Legion
declared here.
Father Morris N. Dummet,
a diocesan priest from New
Orleans, called on Legion
naires at their national con
vention in Portland to use their
effective organization in a
“continuous crusade against
the abuses and offenses and
missed opportunities of our
nation in this generation.”
Speaking at a patriotic and
memorial service, he specifi
cally cited the increase in
crime and said the “basic
causes” must be diminished.
He said that a large ma
jority of those in prison in
this country come from bro
ken homes, and according to
studies, two-thirds ofthepeo
ple in the psychiatrists’
offices are from broken
families.
Perhaps, said Father Dum
met, “we have to revert to
those bygone days in which
family life was considered the
heart of society.”
\ He called for a return to
“the simple God-based be
liefs of our forefathers,”
which, he added, seem to have
become “antiquated.”
Was George Washington a
“square” when he took his
first oath of office as Presi
dent, April 30, 1789, and de
clared, “So help me God”?
Father Dummet asked.
Expressions of faith, he
noted, have permeated official
documents and functions of
this nation for centuries. The
drafters of the Declaration of
Independence, he continued,
“left no doubts about their
beliefs” when they called on
the protection of Divine Pro
vidence.
“A society based on God
was good enough for George
Washington, James Madison,
Thomas Jefferson,” said Fa
ther Dummet. “Is it not good
enough for us?’ ’