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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, September 2, 1965
The Southern Cross
P. Q. Box 180, Savannah, Ga.
Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.J.CLD., 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 85.00 per year.
Cuban Refugees
The tyranny of Fidel Castro has forced thou
sands upon thousands of Cubans to flee their
homeland and seek asylum in the United States.
The exodus began shortly after the bearded
dictator siezed power and continues to this
day, though fewer and fewer are now able to
escape the island prison.
In the beginning, the full weight of pro
viding necessary food, clothing, medicine and
jobs for these refugees fell upon the Diocese
of Miami, which rose magnificently to a truly
herculean task.
It did so through the determination and leader
ship of a Catholic Bishop imbued with Catholic
social principles, and through the personal
sacrifices of South Florida’s Catholic people,
who responded quickly and generously to their
Bishop’s appeal.
Though other religious agencies soon joined
in the task of rehabilitating a destitute and
homeless people, the work of the Miami dio
cese in this field has gone on unabated. Other
Catholic dioceses and the National Catholic
Welfare Conference are also active in pro
grams to alleviate the plight of Cuban refugees.
And the motivating force behind every agency
so engaged is the same - Christian social
action, based upon Christian social principles.
It comes with poor grace, indeed, then,
when a Cuban refugee organization undertakes
to rebuke Pope Paul VI, as head of the Catholic
Church, for teaching those principles, and be
trays its own ignorance of Catholic teachings
which, if they had ever been practiced by more
than a minority of Cuba’s businessmen, politi
cians, industrialists, and teachers, would long
ago have brought true justice and freedom to
a Cuba which would never have seen either
a Batista or a Castro.
CABBAGES AND KINGS
, Rev. William V. Coleman
On Children
Our Lord said, “Let the little children
come unto me.” This September more will
“come unto Him” than in any other year in
our nation’s history. Some will come as close
as possible through the Catholic school. Others
will stand away a bit in their C.C.D. classes,
shy and not quite so taken with Christ. All in
all, more children will see Our Savior in one
way or other this September. Let’s thank God
for that.
room for Him
the inn.
The youngsters I worry about
are those who, through no fault
of their own, will not get to know
God at all. Unfortunately, their
number is growing too. Public
schools can no longer entertain
the notion of God in their class
rooms. Our supreme Court has
unfortunately expelled Him as
undesirable. There is no more
in the school than there was in
Ideally, children who are unable to see God
in the Catholic school should receive a'really
intensive course 01 religious instruction in
their parish and in their homes.
As a matter of fact, few homes seem able
or ready to teach their children about God.
I have heard parents say that their child
attended religious instruction for a year or
two and that was quite sufficient. I have heard
others declare that they really don’t see the
need of religious instruction past the eighth
grade. What misguided, misinformed and almost
treacherous parents! How can children appreci
ate God in a home which harbors an attitude
like that!
Harper’s Is A Ferry
“MESSAGE OF THEIR CLOTH”
You just never know where a phony’s hiding
these days. On opening the mail last Friday
we found an absolutely horrifying account of
a counterfeit in the sacred precincts of the
Vatican, itself.
After reading it, we wondered how a coldly
calculating, deceitful, cynical charlatan could
have ever passed himself off as Pope Paul VI,
Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Church, suc
cessor to St. Peter, and the very Vicar of
Christ on earth.
We wondered, too, at the perspicacity and
intellectual acumen which had guided the
author of the account out of the darkness of
ignorance in which the world’s half-billion
Catholics languish and into the glorious light
of the truth. Who could this intrepid and per
ceptive writer be?
We checked the story’s credit line. He was
identified as “a Roman Catholic observer who
has watched developments in the Vatican Coun
cil very closely indeed”. But his real identity,
like that of the ‘Counterfeit of the Vatican’
must forever remain unknown. For, alas, the
name F. E. Cartus, under which he writes,
is phony,too.
But, we would not be denied. We would get
to the bottom of it all, one way or another.
We checked the return address on the en
velope which had brought the startling docu
ment to our office. It had come from a maga
zine claiming the name “Harper’s”.
Well, that was the end of it. We chucked
it into “File 13”. A false alarm. A fraud or,
perhaps, someone’s idea of a practical joke.
After all, what did we have? A report about
a thoroughly unbelieveable villian masquerading
as a Pope, authored by an anonymous writer
known only as F. E. Cartus and masquerad
ing as a “Roman Catholic Observer”, and
circulated by a magazine masquerading as
“Harper’s”, which every schoolboy knows is
really the name of a ferry in West Virginia.
GOD’S INTEREST NEVER LAGS
God’s World
Rev. Leo J. Trese
We are extremely unfortunate if we lack
sensitivity to the intimate and active presence
of God in our life. A great amount of
unnecessary anxiety can afflict us if we fail
to advert to the personal interest which God
has in each one of us, and to the directive
influence which God exerts upon us.
The extent to which God can participate
our lives must largely depend, of course, up(
the willingness with which we submit to H:
guidance. Ordinarily God will respect the fr<
will with which He has endowe
us. He will nudge us often, bi
seldom push.
However, a person wh
honestly does wish to try <
do God’s will, can be con
fident that he always is oi
safe ground. He always is head
ed in the right direction.
A mistake which we sometimes make is to
assume that God’s infinite greatness puts Him
at a remote distance from ourselves. We tend
to think of God much as a worker on the as
sembly line might think of the president of a
great corporation --a far -off person whose
responsibilities are too weighty to allow him
to get involved in the personal problems of
individual workers.
In theory we believe that God loves us and
watches over us, but in practice we are not
thoroughly convinced that God is totally ab
sorbed (as He really is) in our own petty
affairs.
Oh, yes; God wants me in heaven and He
will parcel out a generous portion of grace
to me--whatever that may mean. But that
God should keep a minute-to-minute vigil
over me, disposing circumstances and events
for my greatest good well, do I really
believe that? Do I live by that conviction?
ning to end, is as everlasting as God Him
self. From all eternity He has taken into ac
count the action and reaction, the coopera
tion and the resistance of each human will.
From all eternity God has evaluated our pra
yers and our strivings, our obstacles and our
handicaps. From all eternity God has prepared
Himself to be with me right now in this pre
sent need of mine.
A favorite gadget encountered in science-
fiction literature is the “time machine”. This
imaginary device enables a person to move
backward and forward through time; to drop in
casually on the Rome of Julius Caesar, or to
move forward at will into the twenty-fifth
century.
Truth is stranger than fiction. We possess
the power to reach all the way back into eter
nity. The prayers we offer today, the decisions
and the efforts we make today, extend back
through the whole expanse of time to influence
God’s eternal creative decrees. The choice
I make at this moment had to be noted by
God and His own plan adjusted accordingly,
from all eternity.
To be strictly accurate, of course, we can
not speak of past or present with respect to
God. With Him there is no past or present,
only the eternal NOW. God surrounds time
and contains time, even as a clock’s case con
tains the works. But we have to speak of God
in human terms. There is no other way.
Of this we can be certain; As long as we
are trying, with reasonable diligence, to do
our duty as we see it, God is working along with
us. He “sticks His finger in” far more often
than we realize. He prepares the way for us,
steers us around traps, compensates for our
unavoidable ignorance and corrects for our
honest mistakes. Except for sin, we never are
completely on our own.
Factually, what happens to me today has
been planned by God from all eternity. God
does not change His procedures from day to
K day. His plan for the universe, from begin-
However erratic and at times discouraging
our course through life may seem to be; God
is “gentling” us onward to our own ultimate
good.
It Seems To Me
JOSEPH BREIG
One great problem of hu
man communications is that
the languages in which they
must be carried on are in
evitably a kind of shorthand.
I mean that we cannot pos
sibly know all—or even most
of—the thoughts, feelings,
emotions and experiences that
lie behind the other fellow’s
statements. That is why it is
important to
S try to define
ing, as exactly
as we can, upon
what it is that
we are talking
about, and what
* we mean by the
words we use.
It occurs to men that one
example of this might be my
recent column in which I dis
agreed with America maga
zine about the participation
of priests and Sisters in civil
rights demonstrations. “Am
erica” was concerned lest
the Church’s * ‘capital of moral
authority” be frittered away,
and felt that “the more often
clergymen and nuns march,
picket or sign petitions, the
less bitingly effective be
comes the message of their
cloth.”
I argued, on the other hand,
that the American Negro re
volution is one of the world
changing events of history,
and the religious leadership
should not withdraw its visi
ble presence from it after
a few dramatic gestures.
0
Unfortunately, my column
was published soon after the
tragic mob riots in Los An
geles; and in the minds of
some readers, the words
“civil rights demonstrations”
may have taken on, tempora
rily, a connotation which
could cause misunderstanding
of my meaning.
When I spoke of priests and
Sisters in connection with such
demonstrations, the image I
had before me was of the
participation seen in the
march from Selma to Mont
gomery in Alabama, and in the
earlier demonstration in
Washington sponsored by the
National Conference on Re
ligion and Race.
I meant the kind of action
for human rights which, as
Dr. Martin Luther King keeps
on reminding us, is the only
kind that will ultimately—
and irresistibly—be success
ful. It is action growing out
of love of fellowmen. Not out
of hatred. It is patient, non
violent, long-suffering, or
derly, and scrupulously obe
dient to, and respectful of,
just and reasonable civil au
thority. It is what St. Paul
defined charity to be.
That is the sort of civil
rights demonstrating in which
I think the clergy ought to con
tinue to take part; and as long
as it is that kind, I do not
think it will ever have an un
favorable effect upon public
opinion. The public will never
stop respecting the clergy for
striving in appropriate ways to
correct injustices and to help
the poor, the disadvantaged,
the discriminated-against.
Quiet the contrary.
As for “America's” feeling
that people might eventually
begin yawning with boredom at
the sight, in a TV newscast,
of “another nun” being “drag
ged into a paddy wagon,” let
me clarify my remarks on that
point also.
Unless it happens after this
column is written, no Sister
has ever been dragged to a
paddy wagon for civil rights
demonstrating. Six Sisters in
Chicago walked with dignity
to a police van upon being
ordered by an officer to do
so. They were saved from
being sent to the House of
Correction by two Negro
lawyers who paid their fines
after they said that all money
given to them belonged to the
poor.
My feeling is that the po
liceman who put the nuns und
er arrest must have been
over-excited, or had got out
of the wrong side of bed that
morning. What he did was
silly. And the magistrate who
passed sentence will never
be placed in my gallery of
Solomons come to judgment.
Never.
“RED DIAPER 11 1BIES "
Capital Report
WASHINGTON— Second
generation communists are
making their presence felt
in the United States.
Witnesses have told a Senate
committee that these young
people, also called “red dia
per babies,” are among the
leaders of agitations and de
monstrations on university
campuses in this country. One
witness said they constitute
“a considerable percentage
of the hard core leaders.”
He said it evidenced “the
effectiveness of communist
conditioning of young people.”
At the same time, it was
revealed that officials here
are very much concerned over
the increase in communist
activity in Latin America in
recent months. In many coun
tries, it is said, some uni
versities have become key
centers of communist activity
and the starting point of riots
against the government.
The campaign, reports
state, is stimulated chiefly
in Castro Cuba.
Charles E. Moore of Whea
ton , Md., public relations di
rector of the International As
sociation of Chiefs of Police,
said he has made an investi
gation of communist youth act
ivities, and he added that he
agreed with the FBI and others
that the communists require
only a small percentage of
those involved to assume di
rection of almost any type of
disturbance.
While a small hard core of
communists can manipulate
disturbances, witnesses said,
very often “the publicized lea
ders” are not communists.
The Reds exploit grie
vances, real or exaggerated,
which students profess to
have, and are making inten
sive efforts to get Communist
party speakers on college and
university campuses under the
guise of free speech, it was
asserted.
Other Congressional com
mittees are said to have been
briefed earlier this year by
U. S. intelligence and infor
mation agencies, that there
was a very real threat of step
ped-up activities in Latin
America. The warnings, ac
cording to latest word, are now
being borne out.
it
I
{
Every child who is not in a Catholic school
deserves to be under systematic, religious
instruction. That includes our high schoolers!
In fact few need it more than they.
Fortunately, more of our parishes are be
ginning to realize that they have an obligation
to the CCD pupil. More and more are making
better provision for them.
In many parishes gone are the days when
the CCD child was looked down as a second
class citizen. Pastors seem willing to spend
the money necessary for the best texts, better
qualified teachers are being recruited and
the best facilities are more and more being
utilized for the CCD. Teaching God requires
the best for who is more worthy of it than
He?
Perhaps we might take the chance of being
a bit apostolic and check around the neighbor
hood to see if there are any children who need
to know more about God and, then, do something
about it.
QUESTIONS
Our Faith
M'sgr. Conway
Q. May I ask why our superiors cut the
prayer at the end of the Mass? I am not sure,
but it seems it was our good Pope Pius X who
had us say the prayer for the conversion of com
munist countries. Now we have quit saying it
and we sure have not converted anyone, it
seems.
A. The prayers after Mass have an interest
ing history. They are usually
called the prayers of Leo XIII,
or the Leonine prayers, though
they really began with Pius IX.
In 1859 the Papal states were in
grave danger of being gobbled
up by a united Italy; so all
through the area which he ruled
as a secular prince, Pope Pius
ordered that special prayers
be said after Mass. Even after the Papal States
had totally disappeared in 1870, these prayers
continued to be said. In 1884 Pope Leo extended
these prayers to the whole Church. Leo’s
primary concern was, the freedom of the Church
in Germany where Bismarck was waging his
Kulturkampf. But even after freedom was re
stored there, the prayers continued to be said,
and the popular notion was that they were for
the settlement of the Roman question; so that
the Pope would be liberated as prisoner of the
Vatican and receive again his rights as temporal
sovereign.
In 1929 Pope Pius XI and Musolini achieved
a happy solution of the Roman question, but
still the prayers were continued. In 1930 Pbpe
Pius XI asked that they be said for Russia, for
the peace and freedom of its Christian people.
He did not speak of conversion; in the prayers
we ask for the conversion of sinners.
The nucleus of the prayers come from Pius
IX; Leo XIH added the prayer to Michael
the Archangel; and Pius X permitted the triple
invocation of the Sacred Heart be added.
The Instruction for the Proper Implemen
tation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,
issued by authority of Pope Paul VI on Sept
26, 1964, became effective on the first Sunday
of Lent, 1965. It abolished the Leonine prayers
completely, along with the last Gospel. These
prayers never did properly fit the Mass. They
were added for special crises and became an
enduring habit. The present hymn of praise
and thanksgiving for special intentions are now
said before the Offertory, as Prayers of the
Faithful.
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