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PAGE 4—The Southern Cross, September 6,1973
The Southern Cross
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We Hope We’re Wrong
According to an NC news report last
week, an Orthodox Church leader in
London has warned that his church
might have to withdraw from the World
Council of Churches (WCC) if the
council continues its present course of
involvement with social activism in
various parts of the world.
Archbishop Athenagoras of Thyateira
and Great Britain, spiritual leader of the
Greek Orthodox Church in Britain,
charged that the WCC had lost its
spiritual orientation and is becoming too
involved with politics.
“The views of the sociologists have
swallowed the pursuits of the shepherds
and of the theologians and of the
founders of the ecumenical movement,”
he declared, adding that . .the heart of
the WCC has lost its religious pulse
and . . .tends to equate the ‘salvation
today’ as financial assistance and
rehabilitation of the underdeveloped, of
those who fight against racial
discrimination.”
The Archbishop, like many others,
feels that the World Council of
Churches, in dealing with matters which
should be the concern of the United
Nations, is dealing “with matters that are
within the sphere of politics” and not of
organized religion.
We have not seen the full text of the
prelate’s warning and, not being a
member of the WCC, we don’t know
much about its operations other than
those which have, at times, been
reported on in the press. It’s possible the
Archbiship may have some legitimate
grievances against the world
organization.
But we’re sorry he apparently feels
the Churches have no legitimate concern
in the affairs of the United Nations. We
feel otherwise.
For the most part, people are virtually
powerless in the face of government
anywhere, but especially in those
countries where the simplest of human
rights are systematically trampled under
foot. Often, people have no champion
with strength enough to bring pressure
to bear against government-inspired and
protected injustices except the churches.
In Poland, for instance, the only
deterrent to a government bent on
destroying every vestige of religion has
been the strong voice and determined
action of the church.
It is doubtful, too, that civil rights
legislation in the United States would
have come as soon as it did and with the
teeth it has if the churches had remained
silent about the issue.
We sincerely hope the Archbishop will
agree with us (assuming he ever hears
about us) and that we have simply
mininterpreted his stance vis-a-vis the
church and its proper role in society.
Jerry Lewis Telethon
Three cheers for comedian Jerry
Lewis and the scores of other stage,
screen and television performers who
helped to raise more than twelve million
dollars for research into the disease of
muscular dystrophy during a
twenty-hour continuous telethon last
Monday and Tuesday.
Countless children around the world
will be the beneficiaries of their talent
and their time.
thousands, of other people working at
local television stations around the
country who also took part in the
telethon, spending long and wearying
hours on telephones or before cameras
inviting viewers to contribute to the
fund raising effort.
Then, of course, there were the
hundreds of thousands of people who
made the donations which added up to
such an astonishing total.
There were hundreds, perhaps
God Bless them all.
Pick Your Own Horoscope
Mary Carson
I read horoscopes regularly. They appear on
the comics page in my daily newspaper and I’m
pretty faithful about reading the comics too.
I usually find my horoscope distressing. It
tells me tidbits like: “Show more consideration
for your children.” “The loved ones around
you have been under stress. Take over some of
their responsibilities to give them more
relaxation.” “A good day to get all those
household chores done while others are out.”
This advice is a bit irritating on its own. But
when my kids read it, it becomes outright
nauseating.
“Hey, Mom! Did you see what you’re
supposed to do tomorrow . . .While we go to
the beach, you clean house and cook a great
supper . . .and then you tell us what nice kids
we are.”
I admire the writing in horoscopes. It takes
talent to lump millions of people into twelve
categories and come up with a prediction that
sounds personal, but when you analyze it, fits
anybody.
So I thought I’d write a “Horoscope for
Mothers” with none of that good sound advice
like: “Expect some set-backs today, but
react patiently.” “Show you are considerate
and thoughtful.” “Do not take that loved one
for granted.” No, my version will tell you what
you really want to hear.
If you don’t like the advice for your sign,
pick another one, because I haven’t the slightest
idea where the planets are at any given time.
GEMINI (May 21 to June 21) Your husband
will win a two-week all-expense-paid vacation
to anywhere . .. including someone to take care
of the kids.
CANCER (June 22 to July 21) Not a good
day for vigorous activity. Have a leisurely time
reading, relaxing, or doing whatever you enjoy.
LEO (July 22 to Aug. 21) Today your
family will begin to appreciate all you’ve been
doing for them for years.
VIRGO (Aug. 22 to Sept. 22) A school
chum from 20 years ago will visit .. .and she’s
absolutely frumpy.
LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Fine day for
catching up on all those things you’ve been
meaning to do for yourself, but never have
time.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) A peaceful
day when all is in harmony in your household.
But the evening holds excitement. Your
husband is going to take you out to dinner.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) The
local work-study program wants your house
and yard as a test area to completely
re-decorate and re-landscape.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 20) One of
those rare days. Your checkbook balances with
the bank statement, and the kid who you
thought needed new shoes for school still fits
into last year’s.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 to Feb. 19) The
Forestry Service wants you to observe the
growth of redwood trees for three days.
PISCES (Feb. 20 to Mar. 20) A home
economics student wants to work as a live-in
maid and take care of your family for a month,
just for the experience.
ARIES (Mar. 21 to Apr. 19) Excellent day
for progress. The kids will finally get the chores
done that you’ve been nagging them about all
summer.
TAURUS (Apr. 20 to May 20) That’s
mine .. .and I’d rather not even guess. I have
trouble enough handling the things I know
ARE GOING to happen.
GENERAL TENDENCIES: Wake up,
Mother. You’ve dreamed about tomorrow long
enough. Time to get back to work today.
Besides, “drastic changes needed in your baby’s
attire.”
BE STRONG!
FFAR NOT!
“BE STRONG! FEAR NOT! Here is your God!” These words summarize the
thought contained in'the readings for Sunday, Sept. 9, the 23rd Sunday of the Year.
(NC Photo)
Good History
U.S. Catholicism Needed
Reverend Andrew M. Greeley
Copyright 1973, Inter/Syndicate
It is fashionable to believe that
anti-Catholicism vanished in American life in
the 1960 election. In a certain sense it did.
Most Americans are no longer suspicious about
or opposed to the Catholic Church. But
curiously enough, anti-Catholicism has survived
and is as virulent as ever among American
intellectual and cultural elites. It is a subtle,
sophisticated, disingenuous sort of
anti-Catholicism-though by no means an
altogether unconscious form of prejudice.
The furious attacts by the intellectual elite
on Michael Novak, for example, are
fundamentally aimed at his premise that there
might be something in Catholic ethnic culture
that the rest of society ought to attend to. The
even more furous attacks on Novak by “kept”
Catholic intellectuals like the Callahans are a
sign that they quite correctly interpret the new
interest in ethnic heritages as a judgment on
them for having sold out to the intellectual
establishment.
When you make a nice living reassuring the
elites that their negative judgments about the
American Catholic population are valid, you
deeply resent anyone’s suggesting that you
might be in effect as anti-Catholic as the elites.
The evidence of sophisticated
anti-Catholicism is all around for anyone who
has become sensitized to it. A recent, almost
classic, example is the Dial Press Bicentennial
History of the United States. The volume on
American Protestants was assigned to Martin
Marty, Associate Dean of the Divinity School at
the University of Chicago. Dean Marty, one of
the most distinguished of contemporary church
historians, not only wrote a brilliant book,
RIGHTEOUS EMPIRE, but won the National
Book Award a year ago for his efforts.
CATHOLIC AMERICA. He is a good and decent
man, and the book is a good and decent book.
Despite the titualistic ending that suggests the
Berrigan brothers are the wave of the future for
the American Church-an ending that is now
absolutely required for any book by a Catholic
liberal-Cogley has summarized smoothly and
intelligently some of the high points of the
history of the American Church (though
scarcely the history of the American Catholic
population). There may be nothing new or
original or insightful in the book, but it is not a
bad book. I think that together with Theodore
Maynard’s STORY OF AMERICAN
CATHOLICISM it would be a good book for a
freshman college course in American Catholic
history-if there were any Catholic schools left
that bothered with such “ghetto” courses.
Nor can one fault Mr. Cogley for not being
Martin Marty, just as no one would presume to
criticize Marty for editing a magazine that fell
short of the standards of Mr. Cogley’s journal
from the Santa Barbara Center. One really
faults the editors of the series and Dial Press,
however, for thinking that the history of
American Protestantism required serious
scholarship and the history of American
Catholicism did not. What’s more, one can fault
American Catholic intellectuals for not
criticizing such editorial judgment and for
jumping all over me (as they will) for suggesting
that CATHOLIC AMERICA is not quite up to
the standards of RIGHTEOUS EMPIRE.
One of my colleagues in the history
department at the University of Chicago has
pointed out to me that even if the commission
were given to a distinguished Catholic historian
and even if he had the native intellectual ability
of Martin Marty, he still would not have come
close to RIGHTEOUS EMPIRE.
There is no Catholic historian of Marty’s
stature and competence, but there is an
increasing number of Catholic historical
scholars who are capable of writing a book that
at least might have honorably shared a shelf
with RIGHTEOUS EMPIRE.
But CATHOLIC AMERICA was written by a
jounalist, not a historian. John Cogley is a
journalist who has specialized for decades in
interpreting American Catholicism to the liberal
and intellectual elites in such a way as to do
very little to disturb their prejudices. The
editors of the bicentennial series wanted a
distinguished reinterpretation of American
Protestant history and a confirmation of the
popular cliches about Catholic history. If this is
not bigorty-deep and profound if unconscious
and unintended-then I don’t know what
bigotry is.
I do not intend to criticize either Cogley or
The detailed monographic work on the
history of American Catholics (which is
something more, be it noted, than histories of
dioceses or biographies of bishops) simply has
not been done. In other words, American
scholarship has practically ignored the past of
one-quarter of its population. If blacks can
argue that it was prejudice that led American
historians to act as though there were not black
history, Catholics can with equal logic argue
that it was prejudice that has led the
intellectual establishment to ignore Catholic
history.
Someday in the not too distant future, I
hope, a group of Catholic intellectuals will
arrive on the scene who will raise bloody hell
about this kind of bigotry. Until then, the
bigots will go on their serene ways totally
undisturbed in their prejudices -- indeed
reinforced in them by the self-proclaimed
Catholic liberal intellectuals.
Necessity:
Priceless
Spur
Reverand James Wilmes
Benjamin Franklin was the 15th child among
17 children and had to scratch for a living in his
early teens. Thomas Edison was orphaned early
and likewise quit school to go to work in his
teens. Abraham Lincoln as a lad was ill-clothed,
and had little schooling.
These are but a few of the men, and women
too, who came to greatness out of adversity and
seemed to thrive on disadvantage. How can one
account for these and thousands of other
“underprivileged” boys and girls who have
turned in a remarkable record from an
unpromising background?
One thing is certain: they lacked security. In
its place they had the necessity of struggle and
what the poet calls “Hard work to do and loads
to lift.” In short, responsibilities.
Naturally, not every child of necessity in
days gone by came through to renown, despite
hardships and heartaches. This is why so many
in our day try to make sure the rising
generation has every possible advantage. But in
providing, let us remember that greatness and
genius have often been nourished on some
disadvantage.
Time alone will tell whether the
“underprivileged” of our affluent age are in the
lower-income or upper-income homes. We see
many promising youngsters being ruined by
parents who too-lovingly rob them of the
priceless spur: necessity. Don’t make it too
easy.
That
Maude
Thing
Joe Breig
“Yawping moral imbecility.” Those are the
words that come to me as I search for a way to
characterize the abortion episodes on the
CBS-TV program called “Maude.”
Even if abortion had not been the theme,
the atmosphere of the show was vile. It had us
watching and listening to three women-Maude,
her daughter, and Maude’s best friend.
If I recall correctly, Maude was involved in
her fourth “marriage.” The friend had been
divorced and remarried once or twice. The
daughter was divorced and looking for
somebody to be her second “husband.”
Maude was in a roaring tizzy because she had
just learned that she was pregnant at age 47.
Her darling daughter was quick with the
solution: abortion was now legal in New York
State where they lived. And the “best friend”
urgently concurred.
All this was presented in the crudest kind of
“comedy” format, to the accompaniment of
the emptyheaded guffawing and applauding of
an audience which must surely have been
composed exclusively of idoits.
Consider now the moral effect of this sort of
thing. Marriage is not the lifelong love
commitment of a man and a woman in the
presence of God and of the whole human
family back to Adam and forward to the end of
time. It is not the noble and humble giving and
receiving of vows never to be broken, forever to
be sacred.
No, marriage is an arrangement for bodily
usage? and when it no longer pleases, it is to be
cast aside in favor of another, and another, and
another arrangement with someone else. It is
nowhere near as holy as the mating of beasts; it
is unholy, non-holy, a nothing.
And children? Oh, children are a disaster.
They are to be shunned like some sort of
hideous disease, instead of being welcomed
with love and joy, coming from the hand of
God with his creative love new upon them.
As I said, this “Maude” show was vile with
that sort of selfishness, that kind of moral
blindness, that utter lovelessness except for
self-love. The new life within Maude inspired
nothing but shock and horror.
Her husband was of the same low mind. He
and she moaned that at age 60 or thereabouts
they would be parents of “an Eagle Scout”-as
if the thought of having a splendid son were
something obscene.
I remember saying to my wife, when one of
our daughters was bom, that good heavens I’d
be 65 before I got the kid through college. But
I said it with happiness; I loved her as I loved all
our little ones, and would willingly have
worked to age 165 for her. And now she is
helping childless couples to adopt and love
babies; and she is a daily joy to us.
The cretins in the audience howled with
laughter and applauded as Maude displayed her
selfishness; her self-love which had not an inch
of room for a thought of the life of the child
within her. The whole morally rotten
atmosphere was one of roaring approval of a
decision to hire a doctor to kill the little one
and yank it out of her wonb and heave it into
an incinerator-although of course those brutal
truths about abortion were not mentioned.
My stomach is strong, but I was sick of soul.