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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, September 80, 1965
The Southern Cross
P. 0„ 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.
A Cause For Hope
New York authorities predict a tumultuous
welcome for Pope Paul when he arrives in
this country next week. But the millions ex
pected to crowd the city’s streets and the tens
of thousands who will crowd Yankee Stadium
for the Papal Mass for peace will be only a
fraction of the men and women everywhere
who find in his coming to address the United
Nations a cause for optimism, and renewed
hope that the nations of the world may yet
learn to live in peace with one another.
There are, of course, the scoffers - the
cynics who would clothe the Pope in their own
unlovely habit and see only a self-seeking man
acting out a publicity stunt to enhance his own
image as a world figure - the pessimists
(whose motto seems to be “If, at first, you
don’t succeed, quit” ) with their sigh of des
pair, “What can he say at the United Nations
that he has not said before at other times and
in other places?”
For our part, we don’t expect to wake up
the morning after Pope Paul leaves, to a new
and trouble-free world.
But the single fact that theSecretary-General
of the United Nations places enough value on
the influence of spiritual leadership in the lives
of men and nations to invite the Head of the
Catholic Church to add his voice to those of the
high statesmen of the world in a universally re
cognized international forum is, for us, a cause
for rejoicing and new hope for a better future
for all men.
Headline Readers
Last week THE SOUTHERN CROSS published
a official summary, released by the Vatican
Council on its draft document on religious
liberty. We did so for the same reason that
impelled some Bishops to object to the shema
during Council debate. Some people might mis
understand and mistakenly believe that the
Church was abandoning her claim to be the
one, true Church founded by Jesus Christ.
The document clearly lays such fears to
rest, and the summary pointed out that fact.
Yet, conversations among Catholics during
the past week, as well as questions and ob
jections expressed in some of our schools
reveal that many apparently feel the Council’s
action on Religious Liberty promotes a spirit
of religious indifferentism.
It seems there are still a lot of people
who never read any further than the head
lines. And the chances are that none of them
are reading this editorial. But we will reprint
the following excerpt from last week’s sum
mary anyhow.
LOVE AND
God’s
Leo
God does not need us. This is an important
truth to keep in mind in our quest for spiritual
betterment. It would be egocentrism of the
worst sort to think that we are “doing some
thing for God” when we keep His command
ments, when we pray, when we perform acts
of charity.
God’s complete independence of His crea-
§ tures is poetically expressed
in the 49th Psalm. God’s mes
sage, although addressed to the
ancient Hebrews, is for all men
and all times.
“Hear, my people,” God pro
claims, “andlwill speak; Israel
I will testify against you; God, your God, am I.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, for
your holocausts are before me always.
“I take from your house no bullock, no goat
out of your fold. For mine are all the animals
of the forests, beasts by the thousand on my
mountains. I know all the birds of the air, and
whatever stirs in the plains belongs to me.
“If I were hungry I should not tell you, for
mine are the world and its fullness. Do I eat
the flesh of strong bulls, or is the blood of
goats my drink?
“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and
fulfill your vows to the Most High, then call
upon me in time of distress; I will rescue you,
and you shall glorify me.”
No, there is nothing which we can give to
God or do for God which will add one whit to
His infinite perfection and happiness. Even
our love for God, which is the highest tribute
of praise that we can offer Him, He does not
need. He wants our love, but the reason why
He wants it is because He has such a love for
us. Loving us, He desires our happiness, and
He knows that there can be no true and lasting
happiness for us except through our love for
Him.
He is so intent upon our happiness that He
commands us to love Him. Actually love is
not .something that can be evoked by a com
mand. Love must be given willingly by the lover.
‘ “As if to forestall conservative objections,
the schema hastens to assert that religious
liberty “does not imply that man has no reli
gious obligations, or that he thereby becomes
independent of the authority of God.” The sum
mary states, “such liberty gives no individual
the right to equate truth and falsehood, nor
does it mean he has no obligation to acquire
correct ideas on religion, or that he can decide
on his own whether or not he will serve God,
or in what manner.
‘ “The concept of religious liberty,” it con
tinues, “leaves intact the Catholic teaching on
one true religion and one true Church of
Christ.”
‘With that said, the document goes on to
state that on the basis of reason and revela
tion “in religious matters no one should be
forced to act or be prevented from acting
according to his conscience in private or in
public, always within due limits.” ’
We don’t see how anyone could possibly
read ‘religious indifferentism’ into such clear
and concise language.
HAPPINESS
World
J. Trese
God’s command that we love Him (accompained by
the grace to love) is more an urgent plea than
a command. Love for our neighbor becomes
an absolute imperative only because it is an
essential factor in our love for God. The one
cannot exist without the other.
Occasionally we encounter persons who, on the
human level, are incapable of love. Humans
learn to love by being loved. One who has re
ceived little or no love in infancy and childhood
seldom is able in adulthood to establish warm
and lasting emotional relationships, either in
friendship or in marriage. Such an individual
is permanently handicapped in his search for
happiness on the natural level.
Fortunately, our love for God does not depend
upon emotional involvement. Even an emotional
cripple is capable of making that full commit
ment of himself to God which constitutes love
for God. Through his love for God he becomes
capable of a “volitional” love for his neighbor,
a love-in-practice, even when emotional love
is impossible.
Moreover, the emotionally cold person is
not nearly as handicapped as is the person
who, for all his emotional health, dissipates
his affective energies on hatred or resent
ment. There is nothing so corrosive to hap
piness as the nursing of ill-will toward another.
There is something suicidal about animosity.
The hater destroys his own happiness. It is he
who suffers, rather than the person whom he
hates.
We all have an eagerness to be guided by
experts. Newspaper columnists who dispense
advice always are the most popular, whether
the advice concerns health, heart affairs, per
sonal grooming or investments.
There is no expert so infallible as God.
When God says that our greatest and only
true happiness will be found in loving Him
and in loving our neighbor for His sake, He
has said that last word on the subject of
happiness.
If we find in ourselves any degree of male
volence toward another, we are fools and maso
chists not to spit out the poison.
THE RIGHT A TTITUDE
It Seems To Me
Joseph Breig
I have quoted extensively
from the letters of Catholic
Traditionalist readers be
cause I believe they have the
same right as anybody else to
be heard, and because their
views ought to be understood.
What chiefly
disturbs them,
JL J I gather, is the
changed litur-
1 li / gy. They would
like to have at
l eas * a Mass or
^ two on Sunday
celebrated: in
the old way--in Latin, with the
people quietly praying and the
priest facing away from them.
(This, to them, means all are
symbolically facing toward
God.)
I am sorry to say that one
reader feels that I wrote in
“a contemptuous, condes
cending tone” in trying to show
that the updating of the Church
is greatly needed. If there is
truth in the accusation, I
apoligize; certainly I never in
tended to sound like that.
If the Traditionalists will try
to bear with me, may I say
that I got the impression that
their unhappiness over the
“new things” is due mainly to
the fact that they are not
looking far enough across the
world and into the future.
The renewal of the Church
is not only for our benefit;
it is intended to make Chris
tianity understandable and at
tractive to billions now living,
and to countless billions in
the future.
One “Traditionalist”
Writes that he visited an Eas
tern Rite Churchinhis “sear
ch for some form of worship
that would give me the same
satisfaction I knew in the
past.” But the liturgy’s pur
pose is to send us forth as
“other Christs”—not to “give
us satisfaction.”
More than one reader has
said that some converts es
pecially have been upset by
the changes. “They liked the
reverence,” writes one man.
“the quiet dignity along with
the age-old ‘be here forever’
attitude of the Church. . .
“During instructions, they
were told that the Church was
infallible; and that they could
go to any country in the world
and the Mass would be the
same, etc. . . .”
Here we face damage that
was done by sincere but mis
taken apologetics. The scope
of infallibility was grossly
exaggerated, as if it extended
to everything, rather than only
to rare definitions of faith
or morals by a pope or a
council. And often we talked
as if having the Mass in Latin
were of the essence of the
Faith; but it was a historical
development, subject to change
when change would enable
the Church to better serve
Christ.
I can only say that I hope allof
us, converts included, will
come to see that we should
open our minds and hearts
to the universality of our
Christian mission, and wel
come anything that promises
to contribute to that mission,
even if it discommodes us
personally.
It used to be customary to
talk about religion in terms
of comfort and consolation.
W ell, of course, life is much
more tolerable when its ulti
mate purpose is believed in
than when it isn’t; but God’s
revelations were not given to
us to make us comfortable,
but to set us up and doing in
the service--often the very
uncomfortable service —
of others.
Let me be personal again.
I hate to sing; my voice is so
pitched that the key chosen
by the organist is always
wrong for it. But my comfort
is not what the liturgy is all
about; and so I do my best.
This, it seems to me, is the
right attitude.
EDUCATION AID RULES
Capital Report
WASHINGTON (NC)—The
U. S. Office of Education has
published regulations for ad
ministration of the two prin
cipal programs under the new
law to benefit secondary and
elementary education.
In regard to participation by
eligible pupils attending paro
chial and other private
schools, the guidelines printed
in the Federal Register stress
that while public agencies
must control the programs,
nonpublic school pupils must
be counted in.
In general, despite restric
tions based on church-state
considerations, the regula
tions reinforce the intent of the
law that nonpublic school pu
pils benefit as far as possible
from the programs.
Concerning the law’s pro
vision under which textbooks
and library materials will be
distributed, the regulations
contain a number of cautions
designed to avoid church-state
problems when dealing with
private school teachers and
pupils.
But they do not specifically
explain how the books will get
from the public agency which
owns them to students and
teachers in Catholic schools.
It is expected that a variety
of methods will develop, rang
ing from pickup of the books
at a public library by private
school pupils to delivery of
the books to the pupils at
their school by local public
school personnel.
Signed into law by President
Johnson on April 11, the major
program under the law will
give money to public school
districts to benefit pupils from
families with an income of less
than $2,000 a year.
Parochial and other private
school pupils in the same in
come bracket will benefit
through shared services and
facilities under public school
control.
Participation of nonpublic
school children must be“sub-
stantially comparable” to that
of public school children, the
regulations specify.
The regulations state that
special projects can include
“broadened health services,
school breakfasts for poor
children and guidance and
counseling services” in addi
tion to strictly educational
offerings.
Banned are the paying of
salaries of private school per
sonnel, constructing of fa
cilities or the placing of teach
ing equipment permanently
within private schools.
CABBAGES AND KINGS
Rev. William V. Coleman
On
Immigrants
Three of my four grandparents were poor
Irish immigrants. The fourth was the child of
two more penniless Irish who came to the Land
of Opportunity to begin a new life. To a degree,
they were successful. Their children were more
so. We, the grandchildren, have had better op
portunities than either generation before us.
I suppose that this is the
typical immigrant story. I think
that this is what many of our
well-intentioned people expect
of the Negro today. How often
we hear, “My people made it
by the sweat of their brow,
without government help. They
were too proud to live on the
dole. Why can’t the Negro do
the same?”
Times have changed. Our country is not the
same land which welcomed the tired, the poor,
the huddled masses of two generation ago.
To begin with, employment patterns have
changed. Two generations ago, there was a
demand for unskilled labor to build the rail
roads, the canals, and the communication sys
tems which now span the country. Today, there
is little demand for the unskilled. More and more
education is demanded for simpler and simpler
jobs. Machines now do in a day the work which
once required weeks and hundreds of men.
In the days of the immigrants, American
life still regarded manual labor as an honor
able and worthwhile occupation. Today, the
unskilled laborer is regarded as little different
than a relief case. Poverty today is failure.
Finally, living patterns as well have
changed. A hundred years ago, advertising was
an infhnt. There were no voices clamoring to
the poor that they must have everything from
toothpaste to television in order to live a happy
life. The ads may sell toothpaste and television,
but they also sell discontent.
Today, people know how the other half lives
and are unhappy because they, too cannot live
in luxury. Every television program, every ra
dio show , every bill-board reminds the poor
man of his failure. Our forefathers may have
been content with little. Yet, knowing mine, I
imagine it was because they really didn’t
know what to wish for.
This week, the Senate passed a new immi
gration bill. There was great talk of attracting
only desirable immigrants. The Senators
realized that the poor no longer have a land
of opportunity in America. The days of pheno
menal rise to riches have passed. In effect our
senators said that America has enough unskilled
poor and can no longer offer them an opportunity
for the better life.
The next time you hear the old immigrant
argument, think a little.
QUESTIONS
Our Faith
Msgr. Conway
Q. As a convert to the Catholic Faith I did
not feel qualified to answer a question put to
me by a member of my Protestant family
recently. “Since there were Christians prior
to the time of Catholicism, how then can Ca
tholics claim to be the one true Church?”
A. Ask your relative to tell you who the
t Christians were who existed
before Catholicism. Ask him
when the Catholic Church came
into existence. And let me know
his answers;' they should be
interesting.
The earliest Christians may
have called themselves the people of God or
the new Israel, the Kingdom of God or the body
of Christ, but they were the immediate ancestors
of those who in later times were called Catholics.
The word “catholic” comes from a Greek
adjective katholikos, meaning general or uni
versal. Justin Martyr wrote of the catholic
resurrection; Tertullian noted “the catholic
goodness of God.” Justin was referring to the
general resurrection, and Tertullian to the
universal, or complete, goodness of God.
The first one to apply the word catholic to
the Church of Christ was St. Ignatius, in a
letter he wrote to the Smyrneans about 110
A.D. Gradually the adjective catholic came
to mean the one and only true Church of
Christ, in opposition to various heresies of
those early centuries. In this sense it ben
came part of the Apostles Creed and a technical
title for the Church.
In those early centuries the term Catholic
applied to all orthodox Christians of both
East and West. It was only many centuries
later that the name Catholic came to be applied
rather exclusively to the Church of the West,
and the name Orthodox became proper to the
Church of the East.