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f GEORGIA PINES Georgia Generals BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN On my recent trip to Savannah, one of the more pleasant experiences I had was dining at Johnny Ganem’s restaurant. A member of the Cathedral parish, Savannah’s own "Mr. 5 by 5" has open ed an interesting emporium on Habersham Street just south of Saint Joseph’s Hospital. Now what might seem to be just another endorsement of another eating establishment is not intended as such. Yes, the cuisine is wonderful, but I was fascinated by a particular dining room which Mr. Ganem calls the "Rebel Room." I was first introduced to Mr. Ganem by Father Francis Donahue, the editor of THE SOUTHERN CROSS, our sister newspaper for the Diocese of Savannah. Then I was taken to the "Rebel Room.” which 1 fi found most interesting. Johnny Ganem is of Lebonese extraction but a na tive Savannahian who has a deep love for the traditions which surround Savannah life. THE REBEL ROOM is really Confederate Gallery and in an : where traditions seem to a thing of the past, Mr.Gan- has done an excellent job at preserving antiquity. Possibly others have not found this as interesting, but I must confess that 1 have a yearning for history and this is why the Rebel Room intrigued me. Around the walls are portraits of famous Con federate Generals and a little brochure prepared by the restaurant serves as a memento of one’s visit. Seven of the Generals who served the Confederate Army were native Savannahians and twelve in all were in some way or other closely related to the defense of the Savannah area. (Many of our counties of the State today are named after these men who distinguished themselves in the War Between The States.) EIGHTEEN MEN ARE pictured on the broc hure and along with their pictures there is a short resume of their connection with the port city. While the story of Fort Pulaski, near Sav annah, is not described on the folder it is so much a part of Savannah’s history that it needs no reminder to the natives. Fort Pulaski was intended to be a major de fense for the city of Savannah. It was expec ted that the invasion of Savannah would take place by the sea. Instead General Sherman came down from Atlanta by way of land and took Savannah from the rear. The Confederate forces were un der the command of General William J, Hardee who successfully guided the evacuation of Savan nah In December of 1864. Later these events were recorded in a book written by a member of General Hardee’s staff, General Charles C. Jones. ROBERT E. LEE who is probably the most famous of a 11 Confederate Generals lived for a while in Savannah. As a young second Lieu tenant he was assigned to the forces const ructing Fort Pulaski. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Ny. Y„ he was second in his class. His first assign ment was to the Corps of Engineers at Cocks- pur Island in the Savannah River. He was actu ally in Savannah when he received orders to re port to Pressident Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, and assume command of the Army of North Virginia. Another native Savannahian, Francis S. Bartow, was responsible for the selection of gray as the official color for the Confederate Army. Yes, the "Rebel Room” is another must on your visit to Savannah. A city rich in history and traditions, Johnny Ganem has done his share to make a visit enjoyable, entertaining, and in formative. QUESTION BOX What About Limbo? BY MONSIGNOR J. O. CONWAY Q. I CAN NOT HELP THINKING THAT THE LORD DOES NOT WANT INTEGRATION, E. G. GENESIS 21, 9-12. THE LORD TOLD ABRAHAM TO ABIDE BY THE WISHES OF SARA BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT THE MINGLING OF THE RACES. HE AL SO DISCRIMINATED^ AGAINST THE d MIXED BREED SON, THE FIRST., BORN OF ABRAHAM BY TAKING AWAY HIS HERITAGE, BECAUSE THE LORD DID NOT WANT HIS ONLY BEGOT TEN SON TO BE A MIXED-BREED JESUS CH RIST BEING A DIRECT DESCENDENT OF ABR AHAM. A. I hope my readers are not bored by the freq uency of questions of this kind. There must be thousands of poor prejudiced Catholics who are trying to salve their consciences by distorting Sacred Scripture. Genesis 21, 9-12 , tells of Sara's demand that Abraham throw his older son out of the house, along with Agar, his mother, an Egyptian slave. It is evident that Sara was simply jealous. She had just weaned her son Isaac — whom Goo had given her in her old age— and she didn’t want Agar’s son, Is- hmael, to share the inheritance of her own little darling. She kn ew that Abraham loved Ishmael and was per fectly capable of making him equal heir with Isaac. Abraham was deeply hurt by Sara's demand. It was then that the Lord spoke to console him: Give the woman her way, and don’t worry about Ishmael; I will take good care of him, and make him head of a nation. St. Paul points out in Galatians 4, 30, that Agar and Sara were symbols of the old and new conven- ants respectively. Agar and her son had to go be cause they were symbols of the old covenant of Sinai which gave way to the new. The immediate meaning of the Lord’s words to Abraham was that Isaac was the chosen one to be the father of His chosen people. There is no question of race in the whole matter. If you will read Matthew 1, 1-17, you will find that if the Lord showed any concern about the racial purity of His Son’s human ancestry, it was rather a concern that non-Jewish "races” be represented in that ancestry. There are four women named in Matthew’s geneology, and the four have only one trait in common: they are all Gen tiles. Thamar was apparently a Canaanite (see Genesis 38), Bethsabee was probably a Hittite— at least her husband Uriah was (See II Kingsll) Ruth was a Moabite (See Ruth 1-4). And Rahab was a Canaanite (See Josue 2). If you will read I Paralipomenon 2, 34-36, you will see that in the ancestry of David many generations after Abraham — there was an Egyptain slave, named Jarha. And Jesus descend ed from the house and family of David. Q. DOES rr SAY ANYTHING IN THE BIBLE ABOUT LIMBO? IF SO WHERE? A. Our word Limbo comes from the Latin lim bus, a border region, or a fringe, but this Latin word seems to have Germanic origin. As far as I know there is no Greek word in the Bible which is used in the sense we now give to Limbo. In Old Testament times there were frequent refer ences to Sheol, the nether regions, where all the dead gathered. In the New Testament we have re finements on this term.. In Luke 16,22, we are told that the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to rest in Abraham's bosom, or on his lap. When the rich man died he went to Hades, which may have been Sheol or some worse place. On the cross Jesus promised the repentant thief: "You will be with me in Paradise today*** And we believe that Jesus went to the Limbo the Fathers on that day, to announce to them tfct glad tidings of their redemption, So it would seal that "Paradise" might be the Limbo of die Po thers. Was it heaven or Limbo to which Jesus ref erroi when he told the wrongdoers that they would and gnash their teeth when they saw AbrahoB and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God, whilo they were excluded? (Luke 14, 15, there is refer ence to a man who was guest at the banquet in the Kingdom of God. Possibly this referred to heaven itself. In Eph. 4, 9, there is reference to the fact that Jesus descended to the under parts of the earth which we designate as the Limbo of the Fathers. St. Peter, in his First Letter. 3, 19, refers to the preaching to those who were in prison— apparently our Limbo of the Fathers. However, in the entire Bible there is no ref erence to a Limbo of the Infants, which is an invention of theologians in an effort to solve their difficulties about the necessity of baptism for salvation. Q. COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT BECOMES OF THE SOUL OF A MURDERED PER SON? A. Judgement, followed by heaven, hell or pur • gatory; precisely the same as if his death had been less violently induced. Q. CAN A MASS FOR THE DEAD BE OFF ERED ON SPECIAL DAYS, SUCH AS MIDNIGHT MASS ON XMAS, EASTER, ETC.? A. Unless a priest is obliged to offer his Mass for some other intention he may offer any Mass any day for a deceased person. Of course he cannot offer a "Requiem Mass” on big feast days. Even if he offers two or more Masses on such days he may accept no stipend, tho ugh he may offer the second—or third—Mass for any lawful intention he wishes. LITURGICAL WEEK Thanksgiving Day (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4) dom of his beloved Son’’ (First Reading). This kingdom will be manifested definitively and glo riously at the end of time when Christ will ap pear clearly as Lord of all. But the kingdom is al ready here in the Church, however obscurely. The Church is a reality whose very being always re minds us of the last things and that consumma tion towards which all of creation labors. SATURDAY, NOV. 30, ST. ANDREW, APOSTLE. Not only the Apostle, but every Christian is a man with a mission, is a man who is "sent”. "And how are men to preach unless they be sent?” (First Reading). Apostle and bishop and their clergy aids have a special ministry. But we all share a ministry of witness arising from Baptism and Confirmation and, indeed, from every Eucha rist. And to be fully Christian our witness must never exclude that well-founded pope of future glory which gives the Christian life here and now its cogency and reason. Saints in Black and White ST. LAMBERT 67 ACROSS ll He was noted tor his ... .in suppressing disorders S. Resound 9. Goad 13. Germs 14. Moldy 15. Stain 16. Wire rope 17. South Eastern Treaty Organisation IK. Intermittent fever 19. Jupiter’s Wife 20. European Theatre of Operation 21. Corrupt 2.4. Fiddler era}) genus 25. Nigerian Tribe 27. Espy 28. Type of boat 29. ' Unconcealed 3V, bestow 32, Indian Mulberry 33. Capital of "The Garden State" 36. Evict 40.’ Toward the wind 43. Make edging 45. Tibetan gazelle 46. Upit 47. The earth 48. He was from his See 50. Network 52. A badge ot honor 53; Football position: abbr. 55 Thomas 56. Spat 60. Equally 62. Corrode 64. Blackbird 65. River when in Spain 66. To massage 69. Superlative ending 70. Nimbus 71. Painful 72. Chariot used to carry image of a God 74. Sword with a curved blade 75. Ireland 76. Sheet of glass 77. Compact 78. Install 79. Sleigh 80. Special: abbr. DOWN 1. They resemble the horse 2. Female name 3. Flip 4. Locus sigilli; abbr. 5. St educated him 6. Out; (Scot.) 7. Indi-chinese region 8. Lloyd's Register 9. He retired to Monastery 10. Leaf 11. Seizure of power 12. "Gone with the Wind” character 13. Caecum; pi. 16. Fish, carp family 17 Administrative official 22. Ourselves 23- Cardinal who was recent visitor to LLS: 26. Whale 30. Finish 31. Mete 34. Lamb's Mother 35. Arenose 37. Exclamation of disgust 38. Wooden pail 39. Youngster tO. Conflict 41. Sleet 42. Gain 43. Mar 44. Uncle < Spanish) 48. Capped 49. Swarm 51. Constituent part 52. Civil Aeronautics Authority: abbr. 5). Pat 5". Arabian language 58. Vexed 59. Portal 60. Donkeys 61. Coast 63. Forward 67. Melody 68. Not written 70. Drag 73. Donkey when in Paris "4. Conciliatory gift “6. After thought in letter writing 77. Baseball position; abbr. ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, i90d oiiOttOiA fruiui, t nv paql o NEW REGIME Catholics And Buddhists Seek Peace In Vietnam SAIGON, South Vietnam (RNS) Both Buddhist and Roman Ca tholic leaders seemed deter mined, in the aftermath of the military coup that unseated the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, to eliminate traces of religious controversy in embattled South Vietnam, As the ruling junta pledged religious freedom and demo cracy, a spokesman for the National Catholic Action Com mittee issued a communique as suring support for the new gov ernment. Father Joseph Nguyen Viet Cu, director of Catholic Action groups said in the communi que that the "duty of Catho lics is to work for the common good and bring a positive con tribution to rebuilding the na tion.” He disclaimed predominant Catholic support for the regime of President Diem, who with ot her members of the ruling fam ily was a devout Catholic. Father Joseph said the mour ning of Diem's death by Ca tholics was not an indication of favor for the regime, but was a sign of disbelief in the initial official report that Diem’s death was suicide. The priest told newsmen th ough Catholics were aware the Diem regime had committed excesses, it was felt that he was loved by the people. Buddhists were gaining in power in the government and seemed destined to increase their influence, a Western newsman reported. But there was resistance to the desire of some to have Buddhism pro claimed the official religion. Thich Due Nghiep, a spok esman for the Buddhist Inter sect Committee, said that "if Buddhism becomes the official religion there will be a break with other religions.” • "We do not want this,” he added. Nuns Still Work In Soviet Union MOSCOW (RNS) — A story of religious faith carried on by “illegal" nuns inside the athe istic Soviet Union became known here with the publication of a two-page article in Ogonek, Russian version of Life maga zine. Underground Catholic reli gious communities came to light, the magazine said, when a Soviet citizen, Leontina Doman- asevich, was detained at a bor der crossing and interrogated. According to Ogonek, the wo man had aroused suspicion be cause she appeared unnaturally stout. Upon examination, it said, she was found to be carrying 3,000 small crosses and med als. Religious leaflets in her bag, the magazine reported, disclosed the addresses of clan destine nunneries in Lwow. The Buddhist leader also de nied that members of the re ligion are neutralists. This would lead to a Communist take over of Asia,” he said, and though Buddhists "want the war to end as soon as possible," they do not want this to occur at the cost of a loss to com munism. Religious controversy con tinued in some areas, Father Joseph reported, noting that there have been instances of priests being insulted and "cal led traitors and supporters of Diem.” The priest expressed concern too, about the influence of Com munism among Buddhists. "I cannot prove it, ” he told a reporter, "but I suspect that • the Buddhist have been infil trated by Communists. It is so easy to become a monk. All you have to do is shave your head and put on a robe. There is little religious formation or inquiry into a person's back ground. "Communists infiltrate ev erywhere. Last year Redemp- torist missionaries in Dalat discovered one of their relig ious who had taken his first vows was a Communist.” Father Joseph also question ed the statistical strength of Buddhism in the country, say ing it is estimated there are "only 800,000 devout Buddhists while there are 1,300,000 Ca tholics. ARNOLD VIEWING Seminary Fund The Reluctant Saint BY JAMES W. ARNOLD The line between being funny and being ridi culous is so thin there may well not be any line at all. What happens, then, in movies when you have a comic saint? Doesn’t his absurdity make holiness in general seem absurd? The question was neatly raised in "Heavens Above,” In which Peter Sellers’ gentle minister !■ • a*Bt at least by modern secular standards. Ha has no observable spiritual I life, but loves his neighbor with bR a vengeance that is reasonably comparable with St. Martin's Mnljy splitting his cloak to share it with a beggar or St. Francis' chasing r / • poor man down the streets of Assisi to give him the coat off his The answer is in the context. With St. Martin or St. Francis, the comic incident is an absurd but logical outgrowth of an intellec tual and spiritual commitment to Christ. The saints may do ridiculous things, but they are not ridiculous fellows. The Sellers character, how ever, is such a gullible dreamer, so consistently disconnected from reality, so frankly mad, that one is encouraged to associate his indiscriminate, unmotivated charity with simple-mindedness. It’s not so much what the saint does, as why, and what kind of man he is. The problem is well handled in "The Reluctant Saint,” the biography of St. Joseph Cupertino, which is just now being released in many sections of the country although it was seen in some major cities as long as last winter. In this picture St. Joseph appears literally simple-minded, oafish, the constant butt of hu morous situations. But the man’s acts are so admirably tied to his humility, purity and pro found love of God that sanctity emerges, not as laughable, but as a source of joy and wonder. The impression is not that men, or saints, are foolish, but that somewhere behind the mys tery of life there is an awesome kindness and good will, an infinite benevolence. The film, shot on impressive locations in areas of Italy that seem little changed in 400 years, is not, unfortunately, a great one; produc er-director Edward Dmytryk has had only indif ferent success with religious movies ("The End of the Affair,” "The Left Hand of God"). His toughest problem is the one he handles best. How can you show, to a modern audience, an ecstatic saint being lifted into the air without inviting ri dicule? Dmytryk breaks in the audience slowly, first by showing us not the flying saint, but ever so slowly, the saint’s changing viewpoint of a battered statue that is the center of his contemplation. After this preparation, the saint is glimpsed briefly in the air. Later, when Joseph is levitated during Mass, we see him first from above, thus reducing the apparent incongruity of his rise from the floor. The cameras concentrate on the faces and reac tions of others, rather than on the phenomenon itself. The movie takes dramatic liberties with Jo seph’s life, but remains true to its spirit. The real saint had an even harder time than the film suggests, being shunted from monastery to monas tery and subject to Inquisitorial harrassment. His virtues were more frighteningly heroic (e.g., seven 40-day fasts a year) and his ecstasies so frequent he was allowed to say Mass only in pir- vate. In making Joseph’s story palatable and "dra matic," Dmytryk slips into the mediocrity of "saint movie” plot devices. Especially oppres sive is the trite figure of the proud, conserva tive master-of-novices who is forced to symbo lize all the forces of opposition. This fellow mis judges and badgers good-natured Joseph andfinal- ly subjects both hero and audience to an exhausting exorcism rite in Latin. Ironically, Dmytryk has the perspiring actor (Ricardo Montalban) in this scene look like Satan himself. There is also a pat contract between Joseph and a scheming, ambitious fellow monk who leaves bars of soap about to help Joseph knock over valuable chunks of statuary. This monk, a symbo lic cripple, eventually becomes convinced of Jo seph’s holiness and leads an assault on the monas tery by the sick and lame that is both clumsily staged and grotesquely melodramatic. Oscar-winner Maximilian Schell, as the saint, is moving and shabby and sensitive, a true son of St. Francis, though in some scenes his mental fog seems a touch too thick. Lea Padovani is marvelously earthy as scenarist John Fante’s contrived conception of the saint's unspiritual peasant mother, who at one point shrieks her way into Vespers to get her son back into the monas tery. Most delightful, though, is die return after too many years’ absence of veteran Akim Tamiroff in the role of a Pope John-like prelate who con tinually probes at the meaning of such concepts as wisdom, humility, faith and the priesthood. The shot of Tamiroff and Schell discussing theo logy while sitting on their haunches in the dark, roasting chestnuts over anopenfire, is beautifully conceived. Why tell the story of St. Josephnow?He has the eternal appeal of the "little poor man,” the St Francis type; doubtless also, the locale and the peculiar manifestations attributed to the saint challenged Dmytryk. But it may also help, at a time when just im portance is given to the place of the intellect, to recall that IQ, currently the key to the Good Life and the executive washroom, is not neces sarily the key to heaven. As the Tamiroff charac ter observes "Reading and writing? Any fool can do that. But the sacred call comes from God.” CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS: For everyone: Lawrence of Arabia, Lilies of the Field, The Great Escape. For connoisseurs: Winter Light, 8 1/2, This Sporting Life. Better Than most: The Longest Day, The Haunt ing, The V.I.P.’s, The Reluctant Saint. Remember the SEMINARY FUND of the Archdiocese of Atlanta in your Will. Be quests should be made to the “Most Rev erend Paul J. Hallinan, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta and his suc cessors in office”. Participate in the daily prayers of our seminarians, and in the Masses offered annually for the benefactors of our SEMINARY FUND. God Love You BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN ROME. . .Looking over St. Peter's while the Council is in session, one cannot help but notice the make-up of this Vatican Council as compared to Vatican I in 1870. Then there was not a single bishop from Asia or Africa. In Vatican II over 30 per cent of the Conciliar Fathers are from Africa and Asia. What a long way from the beginning of the Church, when St. Paul wrote to the Church of Rome, saying: "Salute Eqeanetus, my beloved, who is the first fruits of Asia unto Christ.” Who the first one from Africa was we do not know—possibly Simon of Cyrene, who helped Our Lord carry His Cross. Diverse as the modern representatives of Epaenetus and Simon are, all of them have one thing in common: they are poor. They pass notes to me through the messengers of the Council or else visit personally beg ging a little for their poor priests. Yet, when they arise in Council, they never speak of their needs I They speak of the Church, not of their nation. They remind us of a leper woman in Uganda, whose arms and legs were eaten off at the elbows and die I knees. She dragged herself four miles on the stumps to a bush J church one morning to receive Communion. The missionary told her that he would bring her Communion in her hut the next morning, after his Mass. But she was there at Mass - the following day. "Did I not tell you I would bring you Our Lord in Holy Com- ! munion?” he asked. "Yes , Father,” she replied, "but 1 did not want to be a trouble to you." How much we grieve, and rightly so, at contempt for chastity in the modern world, but how few of us grieve at avarice or the refusal to share even a little with the afflicted. Here in Rome i we have hands reached out to us from all directions. May you help fill them for the hundreds and hundreds of poor, suffer ing bishops and the flocks they shepherd. Send ybur sacrifice to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. GOD LOVE YOU to T. D. for $10 "I decided not to buy a much- wanted sweater so that some little one could have warm clothing this winter." to Mr. and Mrs. A. J. H. for $10 "We are not going to exchange Christmas gifts this year, so perhaps this will make it possible for another to know what Christmas really means." . . .to Mrs. J. C. T. for $13 "This is a year’s saving of 25£ a week. I did not join the office Birthday Club in order to send it to you". Wondering what to give for Christmas? Why not select our smart cuff-links sets (oval or square), tie clasp or ladies’ charm. Made of gold-colored Hamilton finish with the raised insignia of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, these items make ideal presents. Specify the items you desire, en close a minimum offering of $3 for each piece and iend your name and address to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. - 10001. Cut outthis column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of The Society for the Propagation of die Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10001, or your Diocesan Director, Rev. Harold J. Rainey, P. O. Box 12047, Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.