The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, April 11, 1963, Image 19

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY APRIL 11, 1963 PAGE 5 GEORGIA PINES Easter Time Of Charity Saints in Black and White ST. FRANCIS de SALES MARTIN. WORK BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN One dictionary defines the word “Tradition” as the delivery of facts to posterity, or an oral account transmitted from age to age. Every club, organization, school or nation has certain traditions which are handed down over the ages. Sometimes these traditions such as charity and the like are praiseworthy and laudable; other times, such as often occurs in fraternity initi ations, the traditions are somewhat questionable. Canon Law, the rules and regulations of the church, even provides for respect to traditions. After a number of years a tradition, provided that it is not contrary to the written law, actually becomes a law. HERE in Georgia we have many wonderful traditions. I think, however, the best among them is the tradition of charity which our people have for the poor at Christmas and Easter. In many dioceses of our country it is a tradition that the collection taken up on thes e holidays is given to the pastor of the parish. Many years ago, Georgia priests forsook this tradition and initiated a new tradition. The priests decided that the collections taken up on these two days would go to the orphans and those less fortunate among us. Georgia can well be proud of its institutions for the needy. Though few in number, the Catho lics of Georgia for many years supported a home for girls in Savannah, a home for boys at Wash ington, and an Vocational School located at Sava nnah. With the division of the state into two dioceses, St. Joseph's Home in Washington, be came the institution located in our area and while only boys are boarded at the Home, girls and needy cases are cared for through Catholic Social Services, an agency of the Archdiocese which handled over 3,000 inquiries last year resulting in aid to 383 families and 124 children. THE MAIN support of St. Joseph's Home in Washington and the works of charity performed by the archdiocese comes from the generousity of the people at Easter and Christmas. Even with these two collections, the archdiocese ran a de ficit of over twenty-thousand dollars last year. At Eastertime when we think in terms of new clothes, vacations, flowers etc. it is also good to gear out thoughts along the lines of helping those who are less fortunate. The other day I read a form letter in which the sender asked the question: what would happen to your children if you and your husband were killed in an automo bile accident. The question was answered by saying that probably the children might be lodged in a common institution possibly with hardened criminals until some disposition might be made of the case. The thought struck me of how fortunate catholic parents living in the archdiocese are. That should a simular tragedy strike they have the comforting knowledge that their children would be under the tender care of the good Sisters who operate the Home. THE FACT that these Homes could be built by the Catholics of Georgia at a time when they were so few in number is certainly a credit to their sacrificing spirit and sincere desire for charity. In short, they initiated a tradition of charity. Now down through the years this tradition of charity has been perpetuated. The church in Georgia has grown, especially in the last ten years. With this growth has also come a growth in problems, a growth in responsibilities, and a growth in obligations. It is no longer possible to support the works of charity on what was available ten years ago. No man could possible live on the same salary that he made ten years ago even though he may be doing the same amount of work. So too, it is not possible to operate the Home and care for the needy on what was donated ten years ago. This year in making your donation to the Home make it generously, remembering full well the tradition of charity among Georgia's catholics and the sacrifices of the past which made possible an institution such as St. Joseph's Home. QUESTION BOX Did Christ Ever Smile? BY MONSIGNOR J. D. CONWAY Q, IS IT TRUE THAT OUR LORD NEVER WAS KNOWN TO SMILE OR LAUGH WHILE ON EARTH? A. The Gospels do not mention any smiles or laughs, but they make little note of any other emotional reactions of Jesus. Presumably He was angry when He drove the money changers from the temple, but while the four Evangelists narrate the facts, only St. John makes any re ference to Jesus' personal reaction, and he does this by quoting from Psalm 68, “The zeal for thy house has eaten me up.” Presumably Jesus suffered agonies of pain, loneliness and misery during His Passion; but no Evangelist mentions it. They merely tell the facta. Even His words, “I thirst” are narrated casually. Our only explicit hint of pain is that He "cried out with a loud voice” as He was dying. Of course His own des perate words tell us much: "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The only exception is in the story of the agony in Geth- semane. Here the Evangelists note that Jesus was “saddeded and exceedingly troubled” (Mat thew), “began to feel dread and to be exceedingly troubled” (Mark). But St. Luke draws no con clusions; he simply narrates the fact that “His sweat became as drops of blood running down upon the ground." On one occasion prior to the Passion, St. John mentions that Jesus “groaned in spirit and was troubled." It was when Mary and her friends came to Him weeping about the death of Lazarus; “And Jesus wept.” (John 11, 33-35). Since the Evangelists are so calmly factual, we can only surmise His sense of humor, His smiles and His laughter. The human nature of Jesus was complete and perfect; and surely a sense of humor is indispensable to human per fection. Jesus would hardly have been a normal baby if He had not smiled and laughed, for His mother and St. Joseph, often; when old Simeon took Him in his arms in the temple, and when the Magi brought Him their gifts. EDITORIAL On Easter 1963 Continued From Page 4 --that it is absurd. The cult of power, the worship of the dollar, the search for success-- are nonsense. Peace of mind, proper adjustment, positive thinking--are opiates. Segre gation, the search for peace by an arms race, production merely for profits, are perversions of God’s order. This must be said --but this is some job. Who would dare to stand up and say this? Who would have the courage to challenge a mon ster of such size? No philosophy could steel a men to this task. No emotional fever could lead a man to complete it--even if he started. But men who have seen Death conquered can ch allenge the world. Men who have recognized their Lord in the Breaking of the Bread will dare all in His Name. Men whose joy is exceedingly great can do nothing less. Role Of Universalism Cited On Unity Levels ACROSS 68. Trig. Terms ?7. Urge Onward 70. Lease 29. Punishable 1. Stripling 71. Thrust 31. Lady Scholar 6. Unguent 73. Item of Data 32. The First Man 10. Wind direction; 73. Auto, old make 34. Lasting, Poetic Abbrv. 76. Drinkable 36. Part of a Motor 13. Phytology 79. Royal Palm 39. Wrap Up 14. Wild Plum 81. Vice President; 41. Auriculated 13. Royal University of Abbrv. 44. Volumes Ireland; Abbrv. 82. Chem. Suffix 46. Permanent Pen 16. A Measure 83. Verse Meter Resident 17. Wide Open 83. Japanese Sword 48. Object of Worship 19. Quarters 87. Sticky black liquid 49. Feminine Name 21. Young Man 88. God 31. Swift 23. Magnesium Sulphate 89. Upright 53. Region of Euphrates 23. Bridge Valley 26. Fastened DOWN 35. Gangster 28. Flower 57. Denial 30. Large Intestines 1. Ergo 59. He became Bishop 33. Celeste 2. Adult Group of ... 33. Distance Runner 3. Vogue (SI.) 60. Prevent 37. Stepped 4. Awkward 62. Catholic High 38. Relate 3. Plaster Base Tribunal 40. Light Boat 6. Bill of Sale; Abbrv. 64. Recapture 42. Watery Body 7. Whole 67. Fanatical 43. Occurrence 8. Noose 69. Sweet Carbon 43. From Birth 9. A Wine, Fr. Compound 47. Decimeter 10. He is Patron Saint 72. livid; Sc. 48. Illinium of ... 74. Voiceless 30. Blunder 11. Hello 76. An Abyss 32. Asiatic Lemur 12. Peruke 77. Turkish chamber 34. Indistinct 13. Cooked Meat 78. Australian Bird 36. Wanderer 16. Raised Platform 80. Antarctic Circle, 38. Harbor 18. Greek Dialect Abbrv. 61. Scent 20. Insect 84. Bachelor of Science 63. Lazar 22. A Playing Card Abbrv. 63. Communes (Gr.) 24. City In Northern 86. New Testament; 66. Toll Italy Abbrv. ANSWER TO LAST WEEKS PUZZLE PAGE 7 NEW YORK (NC) — A Cat holic lay leader said here that Catholic universalism should act as a liaison between Ch ristian unity and human unifi cation on the material level. Martin Work, executive director of the National Coun cil of Catholic Men, warned that if Catholics do not help effect such a linkage, secular univer salism will bring about the triumph of materialism. Work spoke (March 29) at the 1963 Conference of Mission Specialists, held at Fordham University (March 29-30). The me of the conference, sponsored by the university's Institute of Mission Studies, was “Univer salism; Catholic and Secular." “SECULAR universalism, whether it is seen as technical, cultural, or political," said Work, “is moving rapidly into such a dominant position in the evolving and emerging world that unless there is a dramatic change in Catholic attitude and action, we will find that the world of tomorrow is not more Christian, but less." It is the “special function” of Catholic universalism, he asserted “to serve as liaison between the unity of the Chr istian faith and the human uni fication that is going on in the world today.” Such universalism, he conti nued, “cannot be kept in focus or discussed intelligently with out reference to the Second Vatican Council,” because at its heart there “must lie a true understanding of the meaning of unity." IT MUST be recognized, he said, that “Christian unity is primarily a religious unity while secular universalism means a movement towards world unification on a purely material and natural plane." “To have any significant effect on the world movement towards unification, Catholics must take all the risks involved in a direct confrontation...We must commit ourselves to liv ing out in this evolving world the principles that will give it the Christian dimension that is lacking and still so needed." DECLARING that “Catholic universalism today is the hope of the world, as well as of the Church,” Work added that a person with a deep grasp of 150TH ANNIVERSARY I would suspect a certain inward smile when He saw the devil working so hard at the frust rating task of tempting Him. He must have had a smile of pleasure for the centurion who expressed great faith, and for Pet er’s mother-in-law when she got up from her bed of sickness and began to wait on Kim. I can readily imagine a smile of amusement at the terror of His disciples during the storm on the lake; and He could hardly have kept from lauding when Peter started sinking while walking on the water. Can you imagine His failure to smile at the little girl — daughter of a ruler of the synagogue — whom He took by the hand and brought back to life? In the desert, when He multiplied the loaves and fished that all might eat and be satisfied, He must have had a smile of friendliness for them. Surely He was not frowning when He praised the Chanaanite woman for her great faith, and healed her daughter. What sort of expression do you suppose He turned on all those dumb, blind, lame and maimed He cured when they were placed at His feet? He must have given some sign of pleasure when Peter expressed his great faith at Cae sarea Philippi. There was surely no glumness at the moment of Transfiguration. He must have been amused when He sent Simon off to the sea to catch a fish and extract the coin of tribute from its mouth. Did He have no smile for the little children who came to Him that He might lay hands on them and pray for them? I suspect a smile of tolerance for that mother of the sons of Zebedee who asked favored places for her sons in the kingdom. Surely He would have smiled at the crowds which greeted Him with palms on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Do you think He frowned at ths sinful woman who anointed His feet in the home of Simon the Pharisee. ARNOLD VIEWING Long Day’s Journey Into BY JAMES W, ARNOLD Ingmar Bergman has said that his movies are concerned with only two things; man's relation ship to woman and to God. The late Eugene O’Neill, America’s only Nobel Prize dramatist, insisted his Interest was only in man and God. IT IS this obsessive concern with ultimate questions - particularly man’s panic in a world that seems Godless - that makes “Long Day's Journey into Night,” generally regarded as O’ Neill's masterpiece, so relentlessly fascinating. The play's qualities, of course, are not all intellec tual: it is an actor's para dise of clashing emotions and devastating character rev elation through conflict. For the audience, it is an exhaust ing emotional binge. T. S. El iot , whose Christian enthu siasm knows some bounds, described it as “one of the most moving plays 1 have ever seen." IF THE questions are good ones, O’Neill’s answers are not the sort a Catholic might agree with. The play's ending is a chilling dramatiz ation of despair. But the author is not smug: he seems to cling to the hope that he is wrong, that man may succeed, where his characters have failed, in finding what has been lost. The nearly four-hour play has been made into a movie with no words but O'Neill’s. Be fore its mid-October opening in New York, direc tor Sidney Lumet boasted that only 11 pages of the original text had been jettisoned; by shrewd pacing he had cut playing time to a managable 170 minutes. But the cross-country version has been reduced still another half hour, a cut that must be harmful considering Lumet’s own view that the play's point is “impossible to achieve without the weight of time and revelation behind it.” “Journey” is, as Doris Falk suggests, a tragedy with four heroes, members of O’Neill's own family. Mother, father and adult sons, as we find them, are in varying stages of disintegra tion, partly because of fate (its modem expression: heredity and unconscious psychological drives), partly because of their own mistakes. O’Neill comes closer to truth than either melodrama, which assumes man’s total responsibility and in sists on simple eye-for -an eye justice, or naturalistic drama, which makes man the help less victim of society or his glands. THE ONLY plot in “Journey” is that each character, in the single day that begins with casual post-breakfast joking, comestcx understand not only himself but each of the others, slowly, terrifyingly. The only action occurs inside their tormented minds as they come, individually and as a family, face to face with their real selves O’Neill wrote the play as a kind of therapy to express what is finally the family’s only so lace: “deepplty and understanding and forgiveness for all the four haunted Tyrones,” as they sit silently about the table, surrounded by the fog and encroaching night. Christian unity recognizes it “is not only a gift to the Cat holic, but a mission to be ful filled." He urged that “religious un ity approach the unity of the material world in terms of the latter's primary interest in the human good of mankind and give to it not only the best of their professional and tech nical knowledge and skill, but also their Christian ethic and faith.” "I would suggest," he said, that Catholic universalism to day become known more as an apostolate than an apologetic, transforming by charity from within rather than by criticism from without." Paris Rites Honor Ozanam, Lay Leader PARIS (NC) — Ceremonies have started here marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Fredric Ozanam, an outstanding 19th century lay leader. The ceremonies began with a students' prayer vigil and Mass near the tomb of St. Vin cent de Paul at the Vincentian Fathers' Paris mother house. The Vincentian Fathers, offici ally known as the Congregation of the Missions, were founded in 1625 by St. Vincent de Paul. Ozanam, a professor at the University at Paris, was a foun der of the Society of St. Vin cent de Paul, an association of Catholic laymen devoted to personal service of the poor. MAURICE Cardinal Feltin, Archbishop of Paris, attended a meeting after the Mass where Pierre Chouard, president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Council General, and two his tory professors from the Uni versity of Paris described the importance of Ozanam*s initia tive and the growth of the society. The St. Vincent de Paul So ciety, which had 237 members in 1837, now has some 300,000 members throughout the world. The commemoration will fea ture several weeks of religous observances and study sessions on the society's work. If it were only autobiographical, a morbid confession of pain and neurosis, “Journey” would ba interesting but limited drama. The wonder is that it touches, with such explosive theatrical force, the uniting and disuniting elements in all families (as Henry Hewes notes): the past grievances, half-forgiven, unburied in time of crisis; the faults that must be overlooked; the rivalry between children; the career disappoint ments of the father; the loneliness and boredom of the wife. TO REVEAL inner conflict, unfortunately, O' Neill leans too heavily on dialog. The play often seems “ a long series of speeches and counter speeches; self-analysis - reaction of the listener- then his self-analysis, and so on ad taedium." The film - via closeup, cutting, camera angle and motion, and even background music (a melan choly piano score by Andre Previn) - softens this domination of language. The play is subtler and better for it. In one scene, Mary (Katherine Hepburn) has just resumed, as is subtly apparent in her be havior, the use of narcotics. We are made to feel its significance through a long closeup on the reaction of the father (Sir Ralph Richardson); then the rest of the scene, in which everyone avoids mentioning what is most on their minds, is shot, as a perfect frame for the mood, over the slumped foreground figure of Richardson. MISS HEPBURN plays a pious, convent-bred woman ill-prepared for the terrors of the world; she finds one escape in drugs, another in a fan cied return to the security of her lost faith. But for her religion would be a protective wall, the “forgiveness of die Blessed Virgin” only as meaningful as a mother’s kiss on a child's injured hand. Actress Hepburn is required to display every emotion with her vast, lovely talent; only now and then is the illsuion marred by her fussy and famous Hepburn mannerisms. While Katie got the Oscar nomination, the male performances are equally impressive. Richardson wins enormous sympathy for the one time matinee idol whose childhood poverty (inherited from his father) is the ultimate cause of everyone's misery. His love for those he unwittingly destroys is heartbreaking. The speech in which he describes how his hunger for money ruined his talent (“What the hell was it I wanted to buy, I wonder, that was worth (it)?" is one of a series of power ful monents where he and his sons (Jason Rob- ards, Jr. and Dean Stockwell) confront their con fused feelings of love and hate with violence and often rollicking humor. “JOURNEY” superbly typifies O’Neill’s concern for what he felt was the key problem of 20th century man: “the death of the Old God and the failure of science and materialism to give any satisfying new One for the surviving religious instinct...” Even though he left the Church at 13, O'Neill's work is always grappl ing with a Catholicism he never quite regained. As Sinclair Lewis noted in his Nobel speech, life for O'Neill was “terrifying, magnificent, and often quite horrible a thing akin to a tornado, an earthquake or a devastating fire." This fine film may find a new audience for an author to whom, at leasi, the suffering of man was no small thing. God Love You MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN One wonders if we are not too hard on St. Thomas, the Apostle who said he would not believe until he could see the marks of nails in the Hands and Feet of Our Lord and the scar in His Side, Was he not asking for a sign that Our Lord was different from the rest of men? Everyone else was willing to accept a teacher, a master, a wonder-worker and a giver of bread. Not so Thomas. He wanted nothing less than a Savior. And how else would the Conqueror of Sin be known except by wounds suf fered on the battlefield in the war against evil? The evil? The only kind of love that Tho mas would accept was a Heavenly Cupid who carried in the quiver of His salvation ar rows that wounded Self for the sake of His love of humanity. Thomas was indeed a doubter, for he did not accept the testi mony of the other Apostles who witnessed the Resurrect ion. But Thomas should live not just as a doubter, but as the spokes man of broken hearts and anxious minds, for he would accept no other God but Him Who stumbled to a throne. And if it was only the Wounded Christ Who appealed to Thomas, so also it is only the Wounded Church that will appeal to the world. A Christ without scars would never have conquered the Roman Empire, and a Church without scars will never conquer Asia and Africa. Now that Lent is over, let there not be a return to old days of life, for even the Risen Christ on Easter wore not wounds but scars. We beg you, then, to be scarred Christians—scarred in hands from sacrifice; scarred in feet from wandering in thought put of your prosperous America to the hungry Asiatics; scarred in side, as your heart is wounded not in getting but in giving. The reason missionaries make more converts than we do in the United Stated is because they have more scars of poverty, suffering and need. If we have not made any converts here at home, may we scar ourselves to make them in Asia and Africa, where wounds are more open, hearts more broken and bodies more crucified 1 GOD LOVE YOU to A. O. C, for $10 “When the newspapers went on strike, I started to put away a dime a day for the Missions. Now please accept my donation.” ...to Mrs. K. B. for $15 “I decided to do without an Easter handbag to help the poor of the world." ... to M. E. S. for $8 “Being a convert of three years, it is my joy to know that I can help bring the Faith to someone else." ...to N. H. for $2 “So many times I get dep ressed when my small world doesn't seem to be going my way. But after reading your columns I get down on my knees to thank God for having so much when others have so little." You carry the Blessed Mother's image in your heart, but why not show it by wearing her GOD LOVE YOU medal? The ten letters of GOD LOVE YOU form a decade of die rosary as they encircle this medal originated by Bishop Sheen to honor the Modonna of the World. With your request and a corresponding offering you may order a GOD LOVE YOU medal in any one of tee following styles: $2 small sterling silver $3 small 10k gold filled $5 large sterling silver $ 10 large 10k Gold Filled SHEENCOLUMN: Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York Lx, N.Y. or your Diocesan Director. Rev. Harold J. Rainey, P.Q, Box 12047, Northside Station, Atlanta S, Ga