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GEORGIA PINES
Station Break
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
A year ago we had a blizzard up in North
Georgia which practically immobilized the whole
community for twenty four long hours. The Nati
onal Guard was called out to aid the farmers
by bringing feed to the cattle and chickens over
impassable roads. Unless one owned a space heat
er or had a fireplace in their home, the water
froze. Some people resorted in desperation to
bringing the back yard brazier into their homes
in order to get some kind of heat.
It brought into focus just what part electricity
plays in our everyday living. I sometimes wonder
if there are many, many things which we take
for granted and should they be cut off we would
be literally lost.
RIGHT NOW, FOR example, I
am writing this column with the
radio playing. Just a few mom
ents ago I heard an ambulance
on its way to the Hall County'
Hospital. Already the report of
an accident which took place
less than five minutes ago is
being broadcast over the air.
What a wonderful part radio
plays in our lives, not only for
information, but no doubt the ambulance was dis
patched all the quicker because the accident
report came in by radio.
I know nothing about the mechanics of a radio
and even less about the operation of a radio
station. The other day, however, I was eating
lunch at a restaurant known as Ira's Submarine
when the owner of station WDUN came in and
joined me. (Incidentally that restaurant is not
called Submarine because his prices are so low
but rather because the emporium features afoot-
long sandwich which is famous in these parts.)
Anyhow, during the course of the meal John Jac
obs invited me for a tour of his radio station.
IT BROUGHT BACK memories of other stat
ions I have been in. I remember in particular
that when I was newly Ordained I was responsible
for a 15 minute program known as the Cathedral
Hour down in Savannah. On one occasion I
followed some religious group who had brought
some snakes into the stuido. Needless to say this
made the local manager a little upset. At any
rate, the following week we "preachers” were
informed not to bring animals into the station any
more. This meant that I had to leave my pet cat,
Catechism, tied up to a post in front of the stat
ion.
In Atlanta, I have been on television exactly
five times. I must confess that it was a nervous
experience. It was about that time when Bishop
Fulton Sheen was so popular. I guess I got a real
lesson in humility though when "my hour” was
bumped in favor of the Republican National Con
vention. (Imagine this happening in the heart of
the Democratic South).
MY NEXT EXPERIENCE on radio was in Cedar-
town where the church had a fifteen minute pro
gram every Monday morning. One time the sports
announcer who followed me failed to show up and
the radio operator asked me to pinch hit for him.
He was really stuck. In the middle of the program
I ran into some real tongue twisters and suddenly
realized that all of the names on Notre Dame's
"Fighting Irish” football team were not Sullivan,
Murphy or O’Brien.
Jim Hartly is a radio announcer on another stat
ion here in Gainesville. One day I called Jim up
and asked him to announce that my dog, Bullet,
was lost. Jim, very kindly, put it out on the air.
Just to show how much attention some people
give to announcements, later in the day someone
called WGGA and asked, "What was that about the
local Catholic priest being his by a bullet?”.
GETTING BACK TO my tour of W D U N, I
was amazed when John Jacobs showed me all the
equipment necessary to broadcast over F» M.
Gainesville's F M. station has the largest fre
quency of any FM station in the state of Georgia.
Of course there was the advertisment department
and being in a business akin to radio I know just
how important advertising is to keep the "wheels
rolling”.
I guess we all like to hear the news and listen
to music over the radio. But without advertis
ing, believe me, there would be nothing coming
out of that little "squak box”.
THE TOUR WAS MOST fascinating and cer
tainly made me more appreciative of all the plann
ing, effort and direction that goes behind every
program each time you turn on the little knob
and await the tubes to warm up. (That is, of-
course, unless you are lucky enough to own
a transistor).
QUESTION BOX
Permit Cremation?
BY MONSIGNOR J. 0. CONWAY
Q. HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE WE ARE
ABLE TO USE ENGLISH FOR PARTS OF THE
MASS?
A. I wish I knew. Some authorities indicate a few
months: others say several years. I am sure
there is much work to be done and many decisions
to be made, but let us pray for
/ gfcx speed while remaining patient.
Q. WHY DOES THE CATHO-
rm 0*''' - LIC CHURCH PROHIBIT CRE
MATION? IT IS A QUESTION
WE AS LAYMEN ARE SUSCEP
TIBLE TO BE ASKED. THE
QUESTIONER ALWAYS STAT
ES IT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE.
THE ANSWERS WE HAVE
BEEN ABLE TO COME UP WITH ARE: “OUR
LORD WAS BURIED,” AND "DUST THOU ART
AND TO DUST THOU SHALL RETURN.” *
A. I can give you assurance that the rigorous
laws of the Church against cremation will gradual
ly be relaxed when it is evident that the person
requesting it is not denying the doctrine of the
resurrection of the body, but rather has good rea
son for his request.
It is quite possible that the new revision of the
Code of Canon Law may omit this prohibition en
tirely.
***
Q. I NEED HELP IN EXPLAINING THE ME AN-
ING OF THE PHRASE, "CHARITY BEGINS AT
HOME" TO SOME OF OUR CATHOLIC FRIENDS.
they say it is all right to put a
DIME IN THE COLLECTION BOX WHEN YOU
CAN AFFORD A DOLLAR, "BECAUSE AFTER
aLl-charity BEGINS AT HOME.”
I SAY THEY ARE MISUSING THAT PHRASE.
CAN YOU TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS?
A. Our Lord commands that we must love our
THOMAS
neighbor as ourselves. Love of self is the norm:
it prompts us to love God above all, and thus to
save our souls. It urges us to take reasonable
care of our life and health. It requires that we
perform our duties regularly and practice our re
ligion faithfully.
Then in loving neighbors it Is quite natural -
and quite right - that nearest neighbors come
first. A man should love his wife more than some
pretty woman down the street. He should love his
children more than the gang in the next block, or
even the orphans in Korea.
He loves his friends and associates more active
ly than strangers, foreigners, and Communists.
However, this order of precedence does not
exempt him from loving all of them, treating them
fairly, wishing them well, and helping them ac
cording to their needs and his means.
Almost any truth can be twisted and rationaliz
ed. Charity begins at home, but it doesn’t end
there by any means. It radiates outward to all
parts of the world, embracing all races, nations
and classes.
When it comes to giving most of us are limited.
If the wife and children have holes in their shoes
and must live on mush and milk, the dime in the
collection is justified. But skimpy support of the
parish is not justified so that papa may have an
egg with his beer, that mamma may have a new
television, or that the children may have all the
pleasures their little hearts desire.
After all the home parish is a part of home. And
if the home parish forgets the missions and the
apostolate so that it can have a new set of bells
in its crenelated tower,'it is twisting things too.
The Lord praised the widow for her mite. But
He will hardly be enthusiastic about the man who
picks a dime from his stacked billfold.
How about tithing? That tends to put charity in
proper proportion and eliminate rationalization.
AQUINAS
Man For Right Moment
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
The inspiration from which Thomas drew his
dedication was complex. The rationalism of
Aristotle, the need for a disciplined theology',
the instinct of an age beginning to develop an
interest in physical science and the material
world- all converged into his great ambition.
"The task that Thomas set himself,” writes
Josef Pieper, "(was) to create an intellectual
synthesis in which the natural world and know
ledge were given their due - as well as the super
natural and belief, so that both realms achieve
full recognition. ” All this he did in the name of
theology-, for he was first and always a theologian.
HE CREATED a philosophy because, as he used
purely reasonable principles to examine the data
of revelation, he insistently defended the rights
and universal interests of man’s mind. His thought
stands open to the world as it is, because of
which he was accused in his own time of "world
liness”, or what we would call secularism.
Tomist thought is no closed and glib system that
considers truth a static possession to be catalog
ued and litanied forever. It is instead "a pro
gressive and assimilative philosophy” open to any
insight, to every kernel of truth, no matter what
its source or what errors surround it. A kind
of symbol of this "openess” is Thomas' own
refusal (not inability) to complete his greatest
work, the Summa Theologica.
Jacques Maritain wrote that "the disease of
the modem world is a disease of the intellect.”
This verdict seems hardly open to objection.
If it is true, then Thom 1st philosophy - in its
authentic state not the dried-up, impoverished
version too many of us have had to endure-—
is an ideal antidote. Thomas thus becomes a
man of our hour, too. Both in his person and in
his thought, the Saint of the thirteenth century
is the man to meet the needs of the twentieth.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE $
Saints in Black and White
ST. VERONICA OF MILAN 82
ACROSS
I. Mexican dollar
5. Reverberate
9. Urn
13- Sarcoma
14. Crow-like bir»l
15. Mangle
£6. Warrant
17. Irish ancient capital
18. Moslems, Sunnite
19. Cut
20. Caused by an
infection
21. Train
24. Fit
25. Slime
27. Old make car
28. 12th grader; abbr.
29. Trifles
31. A Great Lake
32. Anyone
33. Esg dish
36. Musial
40. Her parents were
43- Relative
45. New Zealand fish
46. Tree
47. Entity
48. Our Lady showed he.
three letters
50. Passage way
52. Core
53. Concerning
55. Ornamental borders
56. Congers
60. Elec, current
62. Ruilding wing
64. Crib
65. Insect egg
66. She medidated on
God’s
69. Nautical rope
70. Antarctic ice breaker
71 and Andy
72. Original sin
74. She prayed frequently
for those who
"5. Network
76. Point of land
77. She was told not tc
p.rform her duties
for motives
7 8. Having toes
79. Dotted with figures
80. Parasite in blood
DOWN
1. The first letter
showed her ....
of intention
2. Shed
3. Toper
4. Correlative
5. Deletions
6. Heart
7. White with age
8. Stamp of approval
9. She saw the whole
life of Jesus in
successive
10. Biblical character
11. Cluster of spores
12. Record
13. Time in music
16. Foss
17. Riots
22. Teutonic Deity
23. Cambric
26. Music character
30. Call for help
31. Alcana
34. Female name
35. Social calls
37. Muscle spasm
38. Exclamation!
39. Nothing
40. Edible seed
41. Old times
42. Friend (French)
43. Metonym
44. She is one
48. 3rd letter told her to
..... daily
49. Rage
51. Having tresses
52. Public vehicle
51. Biblical priest
57. Ensnare
f8. Compare
59. Dutch town
Aloof
(ri. Onyx
63. Behold!
67. Soot; Old F.nglish
68. Scruff
70. Fighting Force
73. Make hazy
74. Furope; abbr.
76. Baseball term: abbr.
77. Height; abbr.
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLE ON-PAGE 7
Marist Head
Will Speak
When Very Rev. Vincent
Brennan, S. M., visits the Par
ents’ Club of Immaculate Heart
of Mary School on Sunday, Feb
ruary 2, he will talk to the group
about a familiar but seldom
studied subject. Fr. Brennan,
president of Marist College, has
chosen for a topic, "Vocations
States of Life—How They
May Be Discovered and Fur
thered.” He addressed the
Parents* Club soon after its
founding in 1961, discussing the
virtues parents hope for in
their children and the inpor-
tance of the parents* own lives
as formative examples for those
children
Fr. Brennan brings to his
hearers suggestions for put
ting their actions into sharp
focus and at the same time has
practical advice applicable I
day-to-day situations. On Sun
day, February 2, Fr. Brennan
will emphasize marriage as a
true vocation, as well-defined
as vocations to religious lives.
His presentation will be a fit
ting addition to the ideas and
understandings begun at the re
cent Cana Conference held at
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Church.
The Parents’ Club meeting
will begin at 3 p.m . in the
school cafetorium. All of Im
maculate Heart of Mary
School’s parents and interested
friends are invited to attend.
Cuba Mission
BRUSSELS (NC)—Six Belgian
priests from the Liege and
Bruges dioceses leave here to
morrow to do pastoral work in
Cuba. **
ARNOLD VIEWING
‘Man In The Middle’
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
"The Man in the Middle” is a lonely-hero-
stands-up-for-justice drama intended to inspire
as well as entertain. The message comes over
loud and clear, but the viewer, has the uncomfort
able feeling of being grabbed by the lapels and
vigorously rocked back and forth.
The film has some interesting ingredients. A
regular army colonel (Robert Mitchum) is as
signed to put up a token defense for a racist para
noiac (Keenan Wynn) who has
shot several dozen bullets into
a British soldier for "defiling
the white race.” The victim
had apparently been exploring
the beauties of life with native
women in World War II India
during lulls in the war.
THE TRIAL MUST be swift
and fatal to patch up strained
British-American relations so that the real fight
ing may continue. Currently U. S. audiences, pain
fully aware that Yariks are not universally beloved,
may have trouble getting worked up over a long-
forgotten feud with the English.
The army wants only the appearances of a fair
trial for Wynn, although noTShe has been more
completely crazy since Bette Davis danced along
the beach in "Baby Jane.” They obviously pick
the wrong barrister in old soldier Mitchum, who
is given to such admirably old-fashioned state
ments as: "Expediency can have no part in jus
tice.”
THE COMMANDING general (Barry Sullivan)
does all he can to boost expediency, including of
fering Mitchum a promotion and transferring the
only available psychiatrist to the Indian equiva-
ard Fast in his post-Communist phase, makes a
fine stand for right ("It’s easy to fightfor the in
nocent, but to fight for the sick, the warped, the
lost - that’s justice"). But it avoids other prob
lems. Why must the racist be so clearly insane?
Unfortunately, most of them have no such excuse.
For all its faults, "Caine Mutiny” intrigued be
cause Queeg was not quite mad. And what will hap
pen to Mitchum for choosing principle over the or
ganization? The film doesn't say.
MOSTLY THE MOVIE is strong, male-appeal
courtroom drama with a leaven of humor. Its one
attempt to broaden the box-office-casting France
Nuyen irrelevantly as a nurse who offers her pil
low for Mitchum's over-taxed conscience - earned
a B rating from the Legion of Decency. The epi
sode added another to our growing collection of
classic farewell lines. Says Mitchum to France,
as he stands in her doorway en route to the air
port: "I’m going to miss the jasmin."
Gleanings from the mail bag:
A friendly Wheeling, W. Va„ reader who fol
lows the film art magazines reports on an article
blaming critics for the status quo of movies. The
article suggests critics should penetrate more
deeply into the film-as-art, rather than treat it
as literary or theatrical work "as they usually
do.” The reader asks my reaction.
THE TROUBLE WITH film is that it is litera
ture and theater, as well as film, and that it
needs criticism as all three. The trouble with
critics is that, outside of a few highly specialized
magazines (like Film Quarterly), they rarely
have enough space to do this highly complicated
job. It is also easier, unhappily, to stick to familiar
standards than to try to explain new ones.
Yet to appreciate the film artist we must un
derstand the creative techniques peculiar to his
medium. The same is true of music and painting.
The critic-journalist cannot really hope to do this
kind of explaining except in limited ways. But he
is obliged to devote more attention to standards of
beauty, so that this element is not permanently
submerged in judgments of truth and goodness.
lent of Pocatello, Idaho. But Mitchum stubbornly
digs up another psychiatrist (Trevor Howard),
and in scenes sharply reminiscent of "The Caine.
Mutiny,” allows both Wynn and a disreputable
army doctor (Alexander Knox) to reveal themsel
ves in court.
The dialog is intelligent, the acting much more
than competent (especially by Wynn, Howard and
Knox). The film also gets tight, virile direction
from Britisher Guy Hamilton (‘The Best of Ene
mies”), who served apprenticeships with Sir Cdrol
Reed of John Huston. In one scene, Mitchum in
terviews Wynn in prison and realizes he is ill.
As Mitchum leaves, Hamilton has him see Wynn
standing alone in the exercise yard, surrounded
by bare, impenetrable walls. Thus the scene's
point is visually reinforced, and some needed
sympathy gained for the mad defendant.
A NORTH VALE, N. J., woman failed to see the
humor in "Divorce, Italian Style.” Among other
things, she said, it mocked the Catholic religion;
the stars were ugly; the scenery was nothing; the
house even with a maid was a mess. In contrast
was ‘The Thrill of It All”: she "laughed all the
way through... It was stupid, nonsensical, good
clean fun. The house was clean, the stars good-
looking...Everyone came out wiping their eyes.”
Housekeeping and eyewash aside, there is no
answer possible when someone says, "I didn't get
it.” In comedy we are invited to laugh, sometimes
for no reason beyond absurdity itself. In the end
each of us must decide if our comedy is to tell us
something about ourselves and our false values, or
simply to rearrange the familiar targets, the sex
and materialism in differently shaped but eternal
ly glossy packages.
BUT THE DESPERATENESS of the situation -
that the army would risk reducing itself to such
brutal manipulation of justice - is never estab
lished. The ending confirms this judgment: despite
the trial outcome, British and Americans are
chummier than ever
The story, adapted from a novel written by How-
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
For everyone: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,
Lord of the Flies, Lilies of the
Field, The Great Escape.
For connoisseurs: Winter Light, 8 1/2, This
Sporting Life, The Leopard.
Better than most: The Haunting, Charade.
Seminary Fund
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.
mm
_ All Aluminum Carports. All Aluminum
E Screens. Drapery Rods, Aluminum
Jalousies. Ornamental Railings, Flexalume
. Aluminum Siding, Home Insulation
1409 N. Broad St., Rome, Gc.
Dave Miller B. B. Miller
HYBEBT
• PRINTING
O LITHOGRAPHING
COMPANY
TRinity
5H727
Strvimi Atlanta Sint a 1912
550 FORREST ROAD. N. t.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
This year, spend
Holy Week in
the Holy Land
This Easter, follow the footsteps of our Lord. Join the
seventh annual American Express Holy Week and
Easter Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Departure: March
22, via TWA jet. The Rev. R. F. Rustige, Assoc. Editor
of the St. Louis Review, will lead your group to Jeru
salem, where you’ll visit the milestones in the life of
Christ—The Grotto of the Nativity, the River Jordan,
Mount of Temptation, Lazarus’ Tomb, the Via Dolo
rosa, Calvary. On Easter Sunday, you assist at a Pon
tifical Mass at the Tomb of Our Lord in the Basilica
of the Holy Sepulchre. Return via Rome (where an
audience with the Holy Father has been requested),
Lourdes and Paris.
Four other Holy Land Pilgrimages on June 7, July 12,
August 8 and September 13, with visits to France,
Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain via TWA jet. Each
Pilgrimage led by a spiritual director and escorted by
a multilingual courier. Contact your travel agent or:
t AMERICAN EXPRESS^
American Express Travel Agency
121 Peachtree Street N.E., Atlanta 3 (JA 3-7820
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
Modern man often is not worried about his soul, principally
because he forgets that he has a soul to save. But he is tremen
dously interested in his body. We who have the Faith, on the other
hand, often do not rightly value its service to God. What better
proves this than what we might call "outside-the-body philanth
ropy,” or the postponement of generosity until after death? It
has been said that what we give away during life is gold, but after
death is lead, for bony fingers and cold hands lack that warmth
which is essential to love. Does the covetousness and avarice
which keeps all treasures until death really cease to be less
real in a mortuary? It is one thing to wait until death to provide
for relatives and dependents, but does death have to hold us up
by the heels to shake charity to the poor out of our pickets?
One way to wisely provide for one's necessities and also to in
sure necessary income until death is to take out an annuity with
The Society for the Propagat
ion of the Faith. The advant
ages are these: 1. You will
be assured an annual return
until death. 2. At death, your
capital goes to the Holy Fat
her. 3. He, who knows the needs
of the world better than anyone
else, makes a distribution to
all the Missions of the Church
4. You thus help the poor of the
world rather than some rich in
stitution which already has
millions.
From another point of view, there is a special merit for good
deeds "done in the body.” Sacrifices made while we are living
is “bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life
also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodily frame” (1 Cor.
6; 19).
We can sow only in life, and he who sows sparingly reaps spar
ingly, but he that soweth bountifully reaps bountifully. Wait not
until your soul leaves your body before you provide for the im
poverished Christ in mission lands. "Glorify God in your body.”
For further details about annuities and wills for the poor and the
Missions, write to us at 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York
10001, and include the date of your birth.
GOD LOVE YOU to A. F. W. for $5 Here is the $5 that the
children and I earned by decorating and selling pine cones for
Christmas.” . . . to R. J. H. for $45 "The enclosed is what 1
realized from the sale of junk metals which I salvage In the
course of the repair work on buildings and which I promised to
Almighty God for our needy Missions.’ . . . to P. M. F. for $16
"A dividend from the first shares of stock I have ever purchased.
I want to invest it in God’s work, because He has been so good to
me and my family.” . . , toM. F. for $2 "Earned shoveling snow.
I hope it can help someone who needs food or clothes,’*,. . to
Anonymous for $27 "Hoping that others may try to make the *27
cents per’, ‘27 dollars per.* ”.
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 Pro
pagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York lx*N. Y. or
your Archdiocesan Director, Very Rev. Harold--Jv Rilasf P, O,
Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.