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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, February 24 ; 19,66
Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.J.C.D., President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor John E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
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The Pope And Penance
It would be easy to misread the mind of the
Church as reflected in Pope Paul’s most re
cent Apostolic Constitution “Poenitemini”, in
which traditional rules of fast and abstinence
have been substantially revised.
It would, that is, if one averted only to the
changes set forth ia the document and failed
to acquaint himself with the reasons for the
changes.
It certainly is not true, as some have too
quickly and erroneously concluded, that Ca
tholic teaching on the necessity of penance in
Christian life is being changed. If anything, it
is being reaffirmed and strengthened. It is not
being changed, but brought up to date.
The entire document appears on pages two
and three of this edition of THE SOUTHERN
CROSS. A careful perusal should bring to every
reader a new appreciation of the purpose of
penitential practices and move them, not to a
spirit of laxity, but to a more fervent and
meaningful spirit of self-denial and self-
immolation.
It will be seen that the intent of the Consti
tution is not to “do-away-with” the practice
of mortification, but to provide for a more
spontaneous and responsible practice of it.
While the document is technical and explicit
in part, it constantly stresses the SPIRIT of
penitence, rather than simple adherence to the
letter of the law of fast or abstinence. It
restates the basic concept that the essence
of penance lies not in one’s renunciation of
legitimate pleasures, but rather in the faithful
performance of one’s daily duties.
The Church insists, says Pope Paul, “that
the virtue of penitence be exercised in per
severing faithfulness to the duties of one’s
state in life, in acceptance of difficulties arising
from one’s work, and from human coexistence,
in the patient bearing of the trials of earthly
life and the utter insecurity which pervades it.”
The Church, he says, scrutinizes the signs
of the times to find “besides fast and abstinence,
new expressions more apt to achieve, according
to the character of different epochs, the very
purpose of penitence” which is the intimate
and total conversion and renewal of the whole
man.
It is certainly difficult to discern any “con
version” or ’‘renewal” in the lives of those
who slavishly adhere to the letter of laws
limiting the consumption of food and com
manding abstinence from meat, but who turn a
deaf ear to Christ’s command to “Love your
neighbor as yourself” and to his admonition
that “Whatever you did to one of these, the
least of my brethren, you did it to Me.”
In this latter half of the twentieth century,
fast and abstinence, alone, are certainly not
“expressions. . .apt to achieve. . .the very
purpose of penitence.”
The papal decree offers some suggestions
that all of us would do well to ponder and to
carry out.
Personal ascetism is, indeed, necessary if
men are to retain a balanced view of their
own nature as citizens of both this world and
the one to come - and if their affections are
to be directed to the things of Heaven as well
as of earth.
But, beyond this, Pope Paul, in his decree
on Penitence, reminds us that Christ Himself
set the example for those who would follow
Him, and urges us to practice self-denial
and mortification voluntarily. “Following the
Master,” he says, “every Christian must re
nounce himself, take up his own cross, partici
pate in the sufferings of Christ.” But, Christ
endured them, not for Himself, but for all
men, whom He loved, even to death on the
cross. We ought to participate in the sufferings
of Christ for the same motives - love of God
and love of neighbor.
The Holy Father throws into bold relief
a practical and modern way of linking self-
denial with the works of Love: “Where the
economic well-being is greater, so much more
should the witness of asceticism be given. . .
and at the same time there should be given
a witness of charity toward brothers who suffer
from poverty and hunger, beyond every boundary
of nation and of continent.”
No, the Church is not de-emphasizing the need
for and the place of penance in our lives. She
is simply reminding us that it is not an end in
itself, but a means to an end - growth in holiness,
a clearer witness to the Christ we profess to
follow and imitate.
Properly understood and acted upon, Pope
Paul’s new decree can end the scandal of Ca
tholics whose vision of salvation is limited
to themselves and the Redeemer - who wouldn’t
think of eating meat more than once a day during
Lent, who abstain from public entertainments and
‘give up’ this and that, but whose hearts remain
untroubled by the cries of the poor, the ignorant,
the suffering.
And, hopefully, it could mean the end of a
concept of penance and mortification which sees
it as nothing more than just a badge which
“shows everybody that we’re catholics.”
THE ROOTS OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
God’s World
Leo J. Trese
We come into the world with certain basic
needs. Some of these needs are physical, such
as the need for food and the need for oxygen.
If our physical needs do not find satisfaction,
we either die or suffer poor health.
But we also have basic psychological needs.
If these needs are not satisfied, we may not
die, but we almost certainly shall be lacking
S in emotional health.
Love is the most essential
of our psychological needs.
Love is as necessary for the
healthful development of the
mind as food is for the body’s
well-being. Rejected children,
deprived of love during infancy and childhood,
inevitably exhibit personality problems in adult
hood.
Aside from love, psychologists differ as to
the exact number and nature of our other psy
chological needs. There is pretty general agree
ment, however, as to our need for acceptance,
for recognition and for achievement.
The need for acceptance means that we do
not want to be isolated, we do not want to
stand alone. We want to be approved by and
received into those groups which are impor
tant to us. We want to be “one of the gang.”
We suffer, for example, if we are left out ol
a party by those whom we value as friends.
The need for recognition means that we want
other people to see us as a worthwhile sort
of person, deserving of respect and attention.
It is very painful to be looked down upon as
a person of little consequence. It is this need
which makes “status symbols” so precious
to us.
The need for achievement means that we
must have some taste of success. We can ex
pect to fail in some things some times, but
without a reasonable score of successes we
easily develop harmful feelings of inferiority.
If these basic needs have found a normal
degree of satisfaction during our childhood,
then almost certainly we have reached ma
turity with a well-balanced personality. We
have a satisfactory image of ourselves in our
mind—an image which we have formed from
seeing ourselves mirrored in the behavior
of other persons toward us.
On the other hand, if our basic needs have
not been satisfied, then we are likely to suf
fer from deep-seated (and usually unrecognized)
feelings of insecurity. In our own mind we have
an unfavorable self-image which we try to hide
from ourselves by so-called “defense mecha
nisms.”
One such mechanism, a very common one, is
that of hypercriticalness. We try to make our
own failings seem less by magnifying the faults
of others and by belittling the accomplishments
of others. The faultfinding and self-righteous
person is someone in search of a better self-
image.
If we feel a compulsion to be overcritical
and self-righteous, we may never be able to
wholly eliminate our inner feelings of insecurity,
but with God’s grace we can eliminate the out
ward manifestations of that insecurity.
We can take our place beside the Publican
and face our own sins, and leave the sins of
others to God.
In the Gospels, of course, Jesus is not trying
to give us a course in psycology. Our Lord is
concerned primarily with helping us to rise
above our weaknesses, rather than with analyz
ing the sources of those weaknesses. His re
peated message is that we can and must con
quer our unbrotherly tendencies, whatever the
origin of those tendencies may be.
RELIGION AND PUBLIC SCHOOL
It Seems To Me
James Francis Cardinal
McIntyre of Los Angeles said
the other day that the U. S.
Supreme Court, through its
school prayer decisions had
“relegated the U. S. to the
classification of an atheistic
country.”
Senate Re
publican lea
der Everett M.
Dirksen of Il
linois mean
while told jour
nalists that he
was planning
c o n g r e s-
sional action
aimed at overturning the
court’s prayer decisions.
“I don not intend”, said Sen
ator Dirksen, “to let nine
men tell 190 million Ameri
cans, including children,
where and when they can say
their prayers.”
Dirksen’s objections cen
tered on a case in which the
Supreme Court decided not
to hear an appeal by a group
of parents in New York, who
wanted their children to pray
together in their public school
classrooms.
In effect, the Sup re me Court
upheld lower courts which
ruled that parents “must con
tent themselves with having
their children say these
Joseph Breig
prayers before nine (o’clock)
or after three—not within
school hours.”
The passage, plucked out of
context, was unfortunately
worded. It seemed to say that
youngsters as individuals are
forbidden to pray in class
rooms. This is not true. What
the courts held to be iUegal
was prayer involving, in one
way or another, the authority
of public schools.
Cardinal McIntyre ap
proached the matter from
another angle. The Supreme
Court, he said, “missed the
whole point in the ruling on
saying prayer in school. There
is a definite distinction be
tween religion in general and
the practice of denominational
religion. The argument is in
the way of worshipping not in
the belief in God.”
It is not the Supreme Court
which has missed the point. It
is Senator Dirksen and
Cardinal McIntyre. Senator
Dirksen is mistaken in think
ing that the Sup re me Court has
tried to tell anybody “where
and when they can say their
prayers”. Cardinal McIntyre
is mistaken in thinking either
a way of worshipping, or be
lief in God, is at issue.
The root Supreme Court
decision in the matter was
handed down in June 1962, in
the case of prayers composed
for classroom use by public
school authorities of New York
State.
The court made clear in
that decision what the issue
is. Public schools are govern
ment institutions. The pro
blem, then, is one of protecting
children from any kind or de
gree of government coercion
in religious matters. It is a
problem of guarding freedom
of conscience--a freedom
which the Second Vatican
Council specifically upheld.
The Supreme Court em
phasized that to interpret its
decision as hostile to religion
or prayer would be completely
wrong. The history of man
and of America, the court said,
“is inseparable from the his
tory of religion.”
But “it is neither sacrile
gious nor anti-religious,” the
court went on, to say that
government, whether national,
state or local, “should stay
out of the business of writing
or sanctioning official
prayers, and leave that purely
religious function to the people
themselves and to those the
people choose to look to for
religious guidance.”
I find it difficult to under
stand why cardinal McIntyre
and Senator Dirksen object
to that.
UJCI JOHNSON’S WEDDING
Capital Report
BY J. J. GILBERT
WASHINGTON (NC)—An
nouncement from the White
House of the plans for the
marriage of Luci Baines John
son, youngest daughter of the
President, have ended senti
mental speculation that she
would be the seventh daughter
of a president to be married
in the White House.
The scene of 18-year-old
Luci’s marriage to Patrick
J. Nugent, 22, presently
stationed at nearby Andrews
Air Force Base, has been
announced as the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Con
ception in Washington, largest
Catholic church in the United
States and one of the seven
largest churches in the world.
Archbishop Patrick A. O’-
Boyle of Washington will offer
the nuptial Mass at noon,
August 6, preceded by the ex
change of marriage vows wit
nessed by a lifelong friend of
the family of the bridegroom,
Father John A. Kuzinskas of
St. George’s (Lithuanian)
Church, Chicago. A wedding
reception will be held at the
White House for the family and
close friends.
The date and place of the
marriage ceremony were the
choice of the couple involved.
The National Shrine ofthelm-
maculate Conception is not
affiliated with any archdiocese
or parish or university. It
is a national church erected
by the Catholics of the nation
in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
The wedding of Luci John
son, a student at Georgetown
University’s school of
nursing, and Airman Nugent
wiH be the first wedding held
in the upper part of the Shrine,
w{uch was opened in 1954.
Other weddings have been held
in the crypt in the lower
church.
The Shrine, dedicated on
Nov. 20, 1959, will seat 3,000
persons. A White House aide
stated that the event will be a
family affair and not an
occasion of state. However, it
is ejected that many persons
prominent in public life will
be present as friends of the
Johnsons.
Luci Baines Johnson was
baptized in Washington’s ca
thedral of St. Matthew on her
18th birthday, July 2, 1965,
in the presence of President
and Mrs. Johnson and their
older daughter Lynda. She had
been taking instructions 10
months and declared the
choice was her own for some
time.
CABBAGES AND KINGS
On Abraham
Rev. William V. Coleman
There are few characters in the Old Testa
ment as worthy of admiration as Abraham.
His life was one resolute following of an ever
beckoning God. While still a young man, he
was called by God to leave his old haunts
and family and march into Palestine, thence
to Egypt and, finally, to return to Palestine.
Never a murmur from the great patriarch!
The Crisis of Abraham’s life
came in his later years. God
sent word that He demanded the
sacrifice of Abraham’s son.
Heavy at heart, Abraham car
ried his only child to the place
of sacrifice, placed his tender
body upon the altar, raised
his knife and was ready to ful
fill his bloody task when his
arm was stopped by God.
The greatness of Abraham lies in his total
committment to God. Saint Paul calls this
committment Faith. Abraham’s Faith, how
ever, was something more than a cold, ab
stract acceptance of truth. It was a living,
vibrant, all-embracing conviction that God was
leading him to a greatness he did not under
stand. At times, the path to this greatness must
have seemed contradictory, but follow it he did,
so convinced was he of the wisdom and provi
dence of God.
The Faith of Abraham has much to teach us
Catholics today. There is little doubt that God
has tested Faith in our generation. There is little
doubt too, that God is leading us to a great
ness we do not yet completely understand and
that the paths seem contradictory at times.
Yet, bouyed up by that same spirit of commit
ment which strengthened Abraham we, somehow,
have to march on, sacrificing many Isaacs, if
need be.
The sadness of our generation is that some
have not yet caught the vision of the future
or committed themselves to the new role of
the Church in the world and are still hanging
back, hoping for a return to a kind of life
that will never be again.
Father de Pauw is perhaps the prime example
of a man who lost the vision and became so
entangled in the past he could not see the future.
Yet, Father de Pauw is not alone. Ever so
many Catholics, who are neither so vocal as
Father de Pauw nor so disobedient as he seems
to have been, still have not yet committed them
selves to the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit
manifest in the CounciL
There is a tendency to hang back, to hope
for a return to old ways, to passively resist,
to fail to respond to the stimulus of God’s
Spirit. Abraham’s committment was hardly
an easy thing. Perhaps, today’s chaHenges
are difficult for us, too. Yet, Abraham’s re
ward was to begin the work which would, in
time, manifest Christ to the world. Isn’t this
our promise too?
QUESTIONS
Our Faith
Msgr. Conway
Q. In an article in our diocesan paper about
the Unity Octave I noticed that a Protestant can
act as godparent for a catholic in baptism, with
permission. What I would like to know is: can
a catholic act as godparent at a Protestant
baptism? My brother would like me to be god
mother for their coming baby.
A. I did not see this article. If you quote it
correctly then I must disagree with it. Our
Bishops’Commission for Ecu
menical Affairs says, in its in
terim guidelines:
“From the nature of the of
fice of sponsor, Christians of
mother communions may not be
invited to act as sponsors at
Baptism and Confirmation. The
sponsor does not act only as a friend of the
family, nor only as one who promises to pro
vide for the Christian education of the person
to be baptized or confirmed, but also as a
representative of the community of the Ca
tholic faithful. As a representative of the
community the sponsor stands as guarantor
of the faith of the candidate he presents. A
Christian not of our communion cannot be
asked to assume this role.”
Other churches may have a different con
cept of the role of sponsor in baptism. If they
consider the role to be primarily social or
friendly, without religious obligations, a ca
tholic might in exceptional cases act as spon
sor in a Protestant baptism. But I consider it
strongly inadvisable as a general practice be
cause it is discriminatory. Good ecumenism
requires fairness.
Q. Does the new rule of fhsting permit you
to have a full breakfast an hour before Holy
Communion.
A. Yes; there are no restrictions. One full
hour must elapse between the time you finish
eating or drinking and the time you receive
Holy Communion. Water does not break the
fast at any time; and medicine is permitted
at any time for those who need it.