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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, February 10, 1966
Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.J.C.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor j 0 hn 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.
Sales Pitch
The month of February is “catholic Press
Month”, the time of the year when Diocesan
newspapers throughout the country solicit read
ers for renewed subscriptions, and prospective
readers for new subscriptions.
Last week a prestigious catholic magazine
published an article decrying this annual obser
vance and complaining that “Catholic Press
Month” merely provides an opportunity for edi
tors of Catholic newspapers to contrast the vir
tues of their products to what they see as the
failings or limitations of secular newspapers.
“Catholic Press Month” also seems to be a
time, the magazine article intimated, when edi
tors of catholic publications pat themselves on
the back for pulling the diocesan press up from
the doldrums of provinciality to, at least, a
comparatively respected position in the field
of journalism.
We don’t know whether this assessment of
“Catholic Press Month” is entirely correct
or not, but, just to be safe, we’ve tied our
right hand down so we can’t pat ourselves on
the back.
We’re only going to suggest that readers re
new their subscriptions next week, and ask
newcomers to the Diocese of Savannah to
subscribe to THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
(F.J.D.)
Happy Anniversary
The USO passes a major milestone this
month, 25 years of practical ecumenism in
providing a “home away from home” for U.S.
servicemen.
As part of the anniversary, the Catholic,
Protestant and Jewish bodies making the USO’s
six member agencies will sponsor celebra
tions around the country on Feb. 6.
The USO, formally known as the United Ser
vice Organizations, was formed originally by
combining in World War II the welfare efforts
of the National Catholic Community Service,
the National Jewish Welfare Board, the Young
Men’s Christian Association and the Young
Women’s Christian Association. Later the
National Travelers Aid Association joined.
Bishop Paul F. Tanner, general secretary of
the National Catholic Welfare conference who
has held a number of posts within the USO, noted
last week, in Washington, that one of the ob
jectives of the organization is meeting the
spiritual and religious needs of servicemen.
He suggested that in celebrations sponsored
by religious oodles this aim oe noted. In addi
tion, he said, “calling attention to the USO at
this time will also serve as a solemn reminder
to offer prayers for the armed forces fighting
in Vietnam.”
The USO, which has headquarters in New
York, is supported by voluntary contributions,
primarily through United Funds and Community
Chests.
Today the USO is on active duty with U.S.
troops in the pacific, from Korea to Viet
nam; in the Caribbean, from Guantanamo Bay
to Puerto Rico; in Europe, from Turkey around
the Mediterranean rim to Italy and France.
Millions of American men and women re
member with gratitude the little touch of home
they found in USO club in all parts of the
world. Most of those men and women are no
longer in military service, but, just as the
support of their parents made USO activities
possible diuing the years of World War H and
the Korean conflict, their own support is now
needed if the United Service Organizations are
to be able to continue a work so vital to our
sons and daughters. Time, effort, talent and
money couldn’t be invested in a better cause.
(F.J.D.)
SIN IS A FREE CHOICE
God’s World
Leo J. Tre'se
There are some persons who suffer from,
unnecessary anxiety and even mental torture
because of a malformed conscience.
This does not refer to those persons who
are afflicted with the psychological illness
known as scrupulosity. Scrupulosity is the
inability to make a rational judgement con
cerning one’s own moral acts. Its roots are
emotional rather than spiritual
and a psychiatrist can be far
more nelp than a priest in
curing scruputosity.
However, there are in
dividuals whose reasoning pro
cess is sound enough, but whose
judgement in moral matters is
unfavorably affected by lack of
This lack of knowledge may concern either
the deed itself (thinking, for example, that it is
a mortal sin to use simple profonity) or it may
concern the nature of a voluntary act (thinking,
for example, that an action committed under
sudden and overpowering temptation is fully
deliberate.)
A teenage boy, for instance, may find him
self buffeted by strong temptations against
chastity. He is a boy who is sincere in his
religious faith, honestly wanting to love God
and trying his best to do God’s will. Despite
his regularity in prayer and in receiving the
sacraments, he finds himself overwhelmed with
erotic phantasies or by a physx^ai urge which
results in masturbation.
The boy grows progressively more discour
aged. “What’s the use of trying?” he wonders.
* ‘I do my best to be good, and still I commit
sin!”
His discouragement results from his failure
to see the contradiction in his statement, “i do
my best. . . .still I commit sin.” If a person
really is doing his best, he cannot commit sin,
certainly not a grave sin. By its very definition
a sin must be a deliberate, a freely chosen act.
If a person’s firm will and desire is to love
God and to do God’s will, and he uses aU
possible means to that end yet still does violate
God’s law, then the violation can be due only to
some interference with the person’s freedom
of choice. This interference may stem from
an unforeseen and irresistible surge ofpassion,
such as anger, fear or sexual passion; or free
dom may be lessened by such influences as
fatigue, nervous disturbance of simple inadver
tence.
In our religious instruction classes in times
past we have tended to underplay the element
of voluntariness in sin. We have defined sin
correctly as “any wilful thought, desire, word,
action or omission forbidden by the law of
God.” We then have proceeded to classify
and to explain meticulously all the species
of actions by which we could offend God.
Unfortunately we have said little about the
factors which may reduce the deliberateness
of such behavior, except perhaps to point out
that we cannot commit a sin in our sleep or
by accident.
It is not surprising that as a result of this
imbalance, many persons have 4 suffered con
fusion and anxiety at the apparent discrepancy
between their good intentions and their bad
actions.
Happily we now are revising our approach
in the moral instruction of our youth. We now
present the concept of sin in a more positive
light: not so much as the breaking of a law,
but as the betrayal o f God’s love for us by
the denial of our love to God.
At the same time, the influences which may
diminish our freedom of choice are appraised
more realistically. Advances in the science
of psychology, with a resultant better under
standing of the stresses and pressures to which
the human will is subjected, have given us
much clearer insight into the nature of sin.
In evaluating our own moral actions, it often
is difficult for us to judge the extent of our
responsibility and therefore of our culpability.
Often we must leave it to God, the searcher
of hearts, to judge, and be content ourselves
to beg forgiveness for whatever guilt there may
have been.
But any time that we can say, in all honesty,
“1 uiu my best,” then we rviiow that we have not
severed our union with God.
knowledge.
WASHINGTON, LINCOLN AND BREIG
It Seems To Me
Joseph Breig
There was a time when birth
dates seemed to me important.
At least, the ones that fell in
February did. George Wash
ington and Abraham Lincoln
were born in February; and
so (as you guess) was I.
It was good for my morale,
in small boy-
hood, to know
M | that important
people had
J been born in
mL 'same
month as I, or
vice versa. I
needed the
thought. It made me feel that
maybe I was not quite nobody.
Not somebody, but some little
something more than nothing.
I was the kind of kid who
went under the bed and back
against the wall, out of reach
of the longest adult arm, the
moment I heard a visitor’s
voice at the door of the flat
I grew up in. I was that shy
about people.
You got into our flat by
climbing 25 bare wooden
steps. You got out by descend
ing them. I went down faster,
once, than anybody else before
or since; anybody in history.
But the feat did nothing for
my self-confidence.
I was as nearsighted as
Silas Marner, and nobody knew
it. Nobody knew it until I was
eight years old, when some
body—I suppose my teacher—
told my parents they ought
to take me to an eye doctor.
That was the first I ever knew
that everything wasn’t a blur
for everybody—just for me.
I felt eight feet tall when I
came out of that doctor’s of
fice, because I could see the
floor way down there below
me.
Are you literary enough
to remember Silas Marner?
He was a man in a novel of
the same title, who was as
nearsighted as I was until I
was eight—only in his case
it was all his life. The children
made fun of him and fled from
him because he peered; but
all he wanted to do was to be
good to them, and to get close
enough to see them, and tell
which was which.
I don’t remember whether
I read Silas Marner before or
after I got glasses, but either
way I felt sorry for him, and
yet afraid of him like the
children in the book. That’s
how vivid my imagination was.
No movie can ever be as real
to me as the images that form
ed in my mind when I read
stories as a boy.
Silas Marner had at least
one thing going for him; he
didn’t live in a flat. One near
sighted day I stepped right out
into space at the top of the
25 steps, not knowing I had
come to them. I went to the
bottom rolling and tumbling
scaring my mother worse than
Silas Marner ever scared any
body.
I wasn’t even bruised; but
as I said, the achievement did
nothing for my ego, maybe
because it only confirmed what
people said, that I was a
clumsy one. But those birth
days in February—that was a
different thing. I used to ima
gine Washington and Lincoln
walking into the flat and shak
ing my hand because I was born
in their month; and then I’d
feel 20 feet tall—much too
big to get under a bed.
THE HAPPIEST CHILDREN
Capital Report
WASHINGTON — Parents
who are reasonable and strict
with their children can find
scientific government support
for their stand. But, as might
be expected, they don’t need it.
In other words, parents who
have the self-reliance to
establish a set of clear, firm
rules for their family and en
force them, consistently raise
the happiest children. The
children are happier, show
more affection for their pa
rents, and are more self-
reliant.
On the other hand, the per
missive parent is unable to
buy the love ana respect of his
children with favors. In the
end, the permissive parent
is often brought to the use of
more severe physical punish
ment than the strict parent
employs, because the latter
never lets problems grow un
til harsh punishment is need
ed. Actually, strict parents
rarely have to rely on physi
cal punishment.
These things are brought out
in a study sponsored by the
National Institute of Mental
Health, which is part of the
National Institutes of Health
in nearby Bethesda, Md.
Seven years of work went
into the study. It reached back
to parents following inten
sive tests and interviews with
10-to-12 year old boys of mid
dle class families conducted
by Dr. Stanley Coopersmith
of the University of California
at Davis.
The Coopersmith study
showed that boys with high
self-esteem do the best at
study and at play. This led
to the revelation of differences
in child-rearing, and it was
found that boys with self
esteem may be the result
of parents who have self
esteem and self-confidence.
The study showed that it
was the father who was the
famiiy aisciplinanarian in
these cases, and that the strict
father was usually self-con
fident and successful. “Both
parents,” says NIH, report
ing on the Coopersmith study,
“were direct, realistic people
who handled issues directly
and who expected, and usually
got, the best out of life.”
In a separate report, Dr.
Roger L. Shapiro of the NIMH
indicated that insecure pa
rents may tend to produce
insecure children who are
prone to failure.
Reporting on a study of 30
disturbed, adolescent college
drop-outs, Dr. Shapiro said
the composite family picture
shows “insecure parents”
feeling themselves threaten
ed “by the growing indepen
dence of their youngster.”
In an effort to control him,
the doctor continued, such
parents “respond to him in
ways which convey a picture
of his incompetence.” They
tell him “he is unreliable,
ineffective, helpless and un
grateful.”
CABBAGES AND KINGS
On Aid
Rev. William V. Coleman,
We all share the responsibility for the fact
that whole populations are undernourished. The
duty of helping the poor and unfortunate should
especially stir Catholics who are members
of the Mystical Body of Christ. Saint John
says, “In this we have come to know the love of
God, that he laid down His life for us; and
we likewise ought to lay down our lives for
our brothers. He who has the goods of this
world and sees his brother in need and closes
his heart to him, how does the
love of God abide in him?”
Everyone realizes that some
nations have a surplus of food,
particularly of form products,
while elsewhere large masses
of people experience want and
hunger. Now justice and hu
manity require that richer countries come to
the aid of those in need.
The underlying causes of poverty and hunger
will not be removed in many countries by aid
alone. For the most part, the causes are to
be found in the primitive state of the economy.
To effect a remedy, all available avenues should
be explored to help fully instruct citizens in
necessary skills to help them to acquire the
capital necessary to promote economic growth.
Economically developed countries must take
particular care lest in giving aid to poorer
countries, they try to turn the prevailing politi
cal conditions there to their own advantage
and seek to dominate them.
Should such attempts be made, this clearly
would be but another form of colonialism.
When international relations are thus encum
bered, the orderly progress of all people is
endangered.
When economically developed countries assist
poorer ones, they should not only have regard
for the individual characteristics of these na
tions and respect them but should also take
care lest they seek to impose their own way
of life upon them.
By the time you have read this for, you may
be wondering whether Father Coleman if really
a communist, a question which is I understand,
bruitted about by some of my readers. In my
defense all I can say is that everything prior
to this paragraph is taken word for word from
Mater et Magistra, the encyclical letter of
Pope John XXHI. The translation is mine and
correlates closely with that of the NCWC re
lease. The passage is somewhat truncated be
cause of space requirements.
Perhaps it might be worth re-reading the
words of Gooa pope John on foreign aid before
mimicking the emotional cries of the “America
Firsters” and other radical Conservatives who
seem to feel that only Americans have a right
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
QUESTIONS
Our Faith
Msgr. Conway
Q. I recently read an article which claimed
that there is a piety void at the present time.
Many popular devotions have been downgraded
in recent years, including the rosary, visits
to the Blessed Sacrament, devotional confes
sion, novenas, missions, and even retreats.
These no longer have the force in the lives
of many catholics that they once had.
Meanwhile the new liturgy
has not yet become sufficiently
meaningful or satisfying to fill
the void. As a result many Ca
tholics feel a loss in their lives
and they are not happy about it.
I am i n this category, even
thought at first I was one of the
most enthusiastic o f all about
the new changes.
A. I believe there is truth in the claim you
quote. Possibly we have been too quick to de
sert old devotions without finding something
better to replace them.
Some of us, I am afraid, have confused the
Council’s change of emphasis with repudiation
of the old. collegiality does not undermine
the primacy of the Pope, ecumenism gives no
green light to religious indifferentism, reli
gious liberty is not subversion of obedience,
and the renewal of liturgical worship need be
no enemy of private devotion.
In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy we
find these statements: “The spiritual life,
however, is not limited solely to participation
in the liturgy. The Christian is indeed called
to pray with his brethren, but he must also
enter into his chamber to pray to the Father
in secret. . .Popular devotions of the Chris
tian people are to be highly commended, pro
vided they accord with the laws and norms of
the Church. . .But these devotions should be
so drawn up that they harmonize with the
liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred
liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it,
and lead the people to it, since the liturgy
by its very nature for surpasses any of them.
I believe that popular devotions will gradually
develop, especially those which center around the
Bible, and include preaching, singing and read
ing. But not all people are yet ready for these.