Newspaper Page Text
I
PAGE 4 — The Southern Cross, November 9.1972
The Southern Cross
Business Office 225 Abercorn St. Savannah, Ga. 31401
Most Rev. Gerard L. Frey, O.O. President
Rev. Francis J. Donohue, Editor • John E. Markwalter, Managing Editor
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Hail and Farewell
When Bishop Gerard L. Frey became
the eleventh bishop of Savannah in
1967, it had been a long, long time since
anyone had spent his entire Episcopal
career in the diocese. Until last Tuesday,
Bishop Frey had.
That fact, we think, has established a
unique relationship between bishop and
people. We have been able to watch him
grow as a bishop from the very beginning
of his episcopacy and he has been able
to watch the growth of the first diocese
he has ever headed..
Maybe that’s why our best wishes to
Bishop Frey on his new appointment as
bishop of Lafayette are so tinged with
genuine regret and sadness. He has never
been anybody’s bishop but our own, and
it’s so hard to bid goodbye to one of
your own.
But we do wish him well. It is our
hope and our prayer that the experiences
we in the Savannah diocese have shared
with him will prove to be of immense
value to him as he moves on to govern a
diocese with ten times more people than
our own, and that he will think of us
often with affection.
In taking over the reins of the diocese
of Lafayette, he returns to an area of the
country where he was born and where he
has many friends who have known him
for many years.
But we have known him as our chief
shepherd for five years and we assure the
people of Southwest Louisiana that they
are receiving from us in the diocese of
Savannah a good, good gift. We are
confident that he will be as good to, and
as good for, them as he has been to us.
Our prayers go with him for a long
and fruitful ministry in the Lafayette
diocese, and they go out to God in
thanksgiving for the time he spent
among us.
Our farewell to him is a simple and
heartfelt, “Thank you and God bless
Toward 1976
The general elections of 1972 are over
and if all the sighs of relief could be put
together they would probably add up to
the loudest noise ever heard on the
earth.
It’s not that voters take elections
lightly. It’s just that they’d had their fill
of political speechifying. Especially
political speeches which skirted the real
issues or which did not confront them
head on, and which expended an
inordinate amount of wordage directed
at the motives behind an opponent’s
record or positions.
Many voters, too, regardless of party
affiliation were appalled at the enormous
sums spent, first to get candidates
nominated and then to get them elected.
Even in these days of inflated prices,
voters felt there was something wrong
when so much money which could have
been put to better use was used in the
most expensive political campaign year
on record.
Party reforms undertaken by the
Democrats and similar reforms being
contemplated by the Republicans may
head off another campaign such as this
in 1976. Between now and then,
members of both parties would do well
to demand that their leaders find ways
and means to reduce the cost of political
campaigning and to place greater control
over party decision-making in the hands
of the electorate.
If we, as voters, felt that we had had
an honest opportunity to choose the
candidates and that the candidates had
no reason to be beholden to big
campaign contributors, elections would
take on a new look. When they were
over, we’d be able to feel that something
of worth had been accomplished.
Home Is Where Mom
Does Your Laundry
Mary Carson
The first five of my eight children are now
teen-agers. The oldest, complete with beard and
shoulder length hair, started college this fall.
When he was a baby I remember overhearing a
neighbor send her children out to play with this
warning: “Dont’t stay here! You’ll mess up our
yard. Go play someplace else!”
The two oldest boys, who are dating,
sometimes start their after-supper activities
after breakfast.
“So long, Mom. I’m going over to my girl
friend’s house. She needs help washing her
parents’ car.”
It sounded terrible to me then. What was a
home for, if the children weren’t welcome?
I’m left at home with our car.. .which is
filthy.
Right there, I made up my mind that OUR
children were ALWAYS gong to be welcome in
our home. When the children were all little,
they were always around me. It was horrible.
They were constantly underfoot. But I did feel
it was important that they learn they were
wanted.
It went a little too far though, because most
of the other kids in the neighborhood felt I
wanted them, too . . .and our yard looked like
the playground in the zoo.
Still, I was sure it was worth it. As they grew
up, they would know that they were welcome
at home, loved, needed and wanted.
Before any of my children reached their
teens, I was an authority on all teen-age
problems. I knew the reason so many teen-agers
ran away from home was simply because they
were never wanted around when they were
little.
Therefore . . .simple logic . . .children
welcome at home as youngsters will be happy
at home as teen-agers.
So, what happened? I now have five
teen-agers in the house .. .in the house long
enough to say, “I’m on my way, Mom .. .see
you later.”
Now that they are old enough to hold an
intelligent conversation, all they say is
“good-bye.”
They go to school, then to after-school
activities .. .in the door .. .eat dinner .. .and
out for the evening of after-supper activities.
The one who’s away at college is worst of all.
At least I see the others at mealtimes. He comes
home only on weekends.
“Hi, Mom I’m home. I left my laundry by
the washer.” (Big deal .. .he’s helping with the
housework.) “I’ve been invited to my girl
friend’s for supper. See you later.”
Sometimes I wonder if I had thrown them
out when they were little if they’d come home
once in a while, out of simple curiosity, just to
see what the inside of our house looks like.
I was bemoaning their absence to my
husband. “Our kids are never HERE! And the
one at college. . .he breaks my heart.
Sometimes I feel the real reason he went to
college was to get away from home.”
Good old philosophical husband, who can
see the bright side of anything, thought for a
minute, then offered, “Look at it this way. The
only thing worse than children who want to
leave home is children who never do.”
His comment sounded a bit flip, until I thought
it through. When children are born, they are
completely dependent on their parents. The
long-range goal, however, must be teaching
those children to be morally, mentally, and
physically capable adults.
The “taking off” period during teen-age
years is necessary. . .for it is the only way they
can mature and become independent.
And I wonder if it is also part of God’s plan
that parents start to yearn for peace and quiet
as their teen-agers grow. Some day, I may be
glad to see them go!
The Catholic Elitists
Lose An Ally
Rev. Andrew M. Greeley
Once or twice a year the editors of the NEW
YORK TIMES wind up John Deedy, the editor
of THE COMMONWEAL, and he grinds out his
standard column on the demise of Catholic
schools. Like most of the other “liberal”
Catholic journalists who set about a decade ago
to dismantle the institutional church (and have
achieved notable assistance from the hierarchy
in this enterprise), Mr. Deedy can scarcely
conceal his delight over one more series of
setbacks for parochial schools.
An interesting counterpoint to Mr. Deedy is
the article in a recent issue of THE NEW
REPUBLIC, “Liberating ourselves from Deadly
Dogma: Aid to Parochial Schools,” by Adam
Walinsky. The latter could scarcely be defined
as a conservative; quite the contrary, he is one
of the most outspoken members of the New
York liberal left intelligentsia.
But he seems to think that the closing of
parochial schools is unfortunate. Incredibly
enough, he argues that there is more racial
integration in parochial schools than in public
schools or private schools and, unlike Catholic
commentators like Mr. Deedy, he acknowledges
the fact that the Catholic inner schools “do
more teaching of poor children than do most
central city public school systems. Blacks and
Puerto Ricans are among the strongest
supporters.” As a matter of fact, the work of
the inner city parochial schools in providing
educational alternatives for the blacks who live
in such neighborhoods is one of the most
impressive works of Christianity currently being
performed in the whole United States. But
since the nuns who teach in these schools and
the priests who scrape together the funds to
support them are not going to jail for their
efforts, Mr. Deedy and his ilk can feel free to
ignore them. : a * : 3 m r
But it is not only the black parents with
whom Mr. Walinsky sympathizes. “The parents
of parochial school children, 75 per cent of
whom have incomes under $10,000 a year, are
among those who most sharply feel themselves
ignored and scorned by every element of
government policy over the last decade:
poverty programs, job programs, education
programs, wars, taxes; all for the benefit of
others, all with these people paying much of
the cost.
Walinsky’s alternative to direct federal aid to
education is ingeneous and simple. “Every
taxpayer would take a modest tax credit -- $25
for each individual, $50 per couple for any
charitable contribution now entitled to a tax
deduction. In other words, the first $50 of the
current accepted tax deduction would be
turned into a dollar for dollar subtraction from
the taxpayer’s tax bill . . .the schools and
churches would conduct general fund raising
drives among all those interested in the survival
of parochial schools: parents, of course, but
also alumni, grandparents and uncles, and
parishioners at large.” Mr. Walinsky observes
that such a simple plan would assure the
survival of parochial schools and would
certainly be constitutional.
One can be permitted to be skeptical
whether such a plan has a ghost of a chance.
Indeed, even if it did get through Congress, one
suspects that the nativists who sit on the
Supreme Court would find some way to strike
it down. Walinsky leaves no doubt as to the
reason why: “All during the years of liberal
reform, there has not been one serious
manifestation of liberal concern, not a single
item on the liberal agenda that related to
working class people, particularly Catholics, in
anything but the most general way. And often
compounding the problem, like twisting a
broken bone into the flesh, has been an implicit
liberal self-righteousness that treats defeats of
Catholic interests as triumphs over the devil.”
Mr. Walinsky is the first commentator of
whom I am aware who has been that explicit
about the crypto-nativism that still permeates
American liberalism. The problem is even worse
for the Catholic masses (all of whom, by the
way, are not working class) than Mr. Walinsky
realizes, for their own self-proclaimed liberal
elite has made common cause with the nativists.
Liberal nuns desert ethnic parishes on the
grounds that ethnics are racists, liberal writers
like Mr. Deedy provide aid and comfort to the
NEW YORK TIMES in its historical vendetta
against Catholic schools. Liberal intellectuals
like Mr. Wills perpetuate the myth of the white
ethnic hard hat racist hawk. For such people
Adam Walinsky must be a particular puzzle for
he represents the New York Jewish intellectual
elite to which most of the Catholic “liberals”
most desperately want to belong; and now he
seems to have betrayed them.
There may be a marvelous irony in what is
happening: Perhaps it will be sensitive,
open-minded Jewish liberals who will force the
Catholic elites to reconsider and - heaven save
us all - even respect the traditions from which
they came.
Monsignor John F. McDonough
: Should there be, as it seems there is, a Cult of the Dead in the Catholic
blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for
they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who
had fallen. He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two
thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory
sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the
resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it
would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a
this sin.” (II Maccabees, 12: 4246 — This is the earliest statement of the
doctrine that prayers and sacrifices for the dead are beneficial. The Cult
of the Dead dates from the origin of the Church. Christians have always shown great
respect for their dead. Are their bodies not that of a baptised person, a believer, the
Temple of the Holy Ghost (I Cor., 6:19)? It is to the bodies of the faithful that God has
promised the glorious Resurrection. So corruptable and perishable, this body will rise
incorruptable and glorious (I Cor., 15:42). Cremation itself is rendered suspect, where it
is accompanied by a materialistic view of death which denies man’s eternal destiny.
It is the living who are obliged to pray for the dead. The believers who have gone
before and the faithful who are living find themselves on either side of a temporal veil
which separates them. Their spiritual meeting will be best realized in Christ and in His
Church, the key mystery of the Christian economy. Then the temple of prayer will
become a true “communion of saints”, the common term for the Christian community.
Where but in the sacrifice of the Savior could the prayers of the living be more efficacious
for those who are enduring their purification in purgatory before presenting themselves
before the face of God?
Who can doubt that the Mass is of great profit for the dead if he has understood the
fact that the Mass is only the representataion in sacramental form of the Sacrifice on the
Cross? With the same High Priest and the same Victim, the Council of Trent reminds us.
All salvation comes from Christ. The Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ. That’s why Christians
to this Sacrifice. We cannot doubt that the Sacrifice of the Mass is a great profit and help
for the sduls in purgatory for whom it especially applies. The Mass is applied to the dead
by way of prayer. It presents to God the oblation of Christ and of the Church and this
oblation through Christ has an infinite value. However, it must be said that we do not
know just how God applies the fruits of the Mass to each soul. The faithful petition God.
They are sure of His benevolence. They are certain that He will answer their petition.
They have a boundless confidence, not in the power of their intercession, but in the
sovereign mercy of their Lord.
Will Women
Be Ordained?
Joseph A. Breig
My wife and my daughters and my
grandparents were baptized with the same
baptism with which I was baptized; as were my
sons and grandsons. And the meaning of this is
crystal clear to me, and I hope to them also.
It is a meaning which is being widely fogged
and blurred at this particular time in the history
of America; a time filled - especially in the
Catholic press and on Catholic platforms - with
endless talk about black Catholics and white
Catholics and all manner of ethnic Catholics:
Hispano and Chicano Catholics,
Polish-American Catholics, Italian-American
Catholics, Slovak-American Catholics, and so
on and on.
I had thought that we were fairly well
finished with that sort of thing; that we had
outgrown the days when there were “German
Catholic” publications and “Irish Catholic”
publications - not because people couldn’t read
English, but because they hadn’t as yet grasped
the deepest meaning of Christianity and of
America.
Once more, as I say, the meaning is being
badly blurred. We seem to be forgetting, or
selectively forgetting, St. Paul’s teaching that in
the Church there are neither Jews nor Greeks,
nor freemen nor slaves, nor males nor females,
for we are all one in Christ Jesus who redeemed
us all. And one of the lessons he died to teach
us is that in the eyes of God every last one of us
is equal, each one equally loved with the divine
love which, alone among all loves, is absolutely
limitless in its intensity and scope.
Here in the United States of America, that
colossal truth is written into the fundamental
law and proclamation which brought forth this
dedicated nation out of the womb of time. “All
men are created equal,” said the Founding
Fathers in the Declaration of Independence,
“and are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights ...”
And so I am puzzled and grieved to hear - in
the nation and in the Church - so much talk, at
this late date, about ancestry and nationality
and other comparatively extraneous things, and
to see so little realization of the towering fact
that what matters is that a human being - any
human being - is a son or daughter of God
from the first beginnings of life.
God knows I am no prophet, but I can add
two and two; and to me it seems inevitable,
with the inevitability of the Divine Will, that
sooner or later there will be women ordained
for all the ministries of the Church. That, to
me, is an inescapable outcome of the
fundamental meaning of the life and teachings
of Christ. And if I am right, then we know by
faith that the Holy Spirit will bring it to pass.
Meanwhile, I think it is high time that we do
a bit less talking about this or that kind or type
or color or nationality of Catholic, and try to
get a good firm hold on the great basic meaning
of Catholic as universal.
We Are
Teachers All
Rev. James Wilmes
A brash man of business said to a professor
of languages, “So you teach Greek!” The tone
of voice implied that, to him, nothing could be
more ridiculous. After a moment of silence, the
professor replied, “No, I teach boys. Greek is
only what I start with.”
So it is with every teacher to whom the
inquiry of truth is the highest good of human
nature. “Greek” is only what they start with;
the means to the end of drawing out the
potential of the pupil, not packing in
information.
Someone has said that education is to the
soul what a block of marble is to the sculptor.
Hew away the block and get to the man! In this
meaning, everyone can be a teacher. Parents can
discover what powers lie in their children from
their reaction to various subjects. The process
begins by capturing their interest, arousing their
curiosity and then fanning the spark of
ambition to learn, into flames. The hammer and
chisel, the tool which is an entering wedge into
the life and thought of another in this process
can be any man’s work, calling, or hobby. It
could be the uncovering of the treasures of a
dead language like classical Greek, or the
editing of a newspaper, or tilling the soil, or
building a house, or a hundred other
occupations.
The old professor’s rebuke is a reminder that
we can all be teachers, that no contribution to
the common good is irrelevant to building a
better world by building better boys and girls,
men and women, to live in it and influence it
by their talents.
RESOLUTION: Often ask every young
person we deal with, “What do you want to do
when you grow up?” and then try to guide
their talents so they deal with people always
and do as much good as possible in the shortest
time.
SCRIPTURE: “The man who keeps the
commandments and teaches others to keep
them shall be called the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven.” Mt. 5,19
PRAYER: Lord, may no one be less good,
less true, less noble for having come within my
influence.