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THE CATHOLIC PRESS-3
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN P/ GE 3
Instilling In Readers, A Strong Sense Of Community
This is the third of a series of 12 articles
on the Catholic Press written exclusively for the
GEORGIA BULLETIN by leading editors through
out the country. John G. Deedy, Jr. is editor of
the Pittsburgh Catholic, official newspaper of the
Diocese of Pittsburgh. He is one of the "new
breed" of young, vital Catholic newsmen who
work in the Press Apostolate.
BY JOHN G. DEEDY, JR.
There are numerous problems facing the
Catholic Press in America, but few are more
immediate than the Catholic Press developing and,
in turn, instilling in its readers a strong sense
of community.
One of the curious phenomena of the history
of the Catholic Press in this country is the zeal
with which it has served devotional and institu
tional Catholicism, and thecasualnesswith which
it has reported the communal environs of its
readership. For instance, over the years the Cath
olic Press has conscientiously familiarized rea
ders with the civil services of faraway Vatican
City (its jail, railway station, fire department,
telephone system, salary programs, etc.) while
at the same time it has ignored these same
civil departments and programs in the locale
of publication — the locale, ironically, into which
its Catholic readership is expected to carry the
influence of religious conviction and Catholic
social thought.
CONSEQUENTLY, if there has been a prob
lem (and, indeed, there has) about the influence
of the Catholic on the community, the Catholic
press bears a measure of accountability. In exam
ining its conscience on the matter, the Catholic
Press can take no consolation in the reasoning
that it gave its readership (a) what it wanted,
(b) what it was capable of absorbing, and (c)
what was good for business and religion. The
press has duties and responsibilities which trans
cend simplistic codes. Mr. Dooley of happy bar-
tending memory used to say that one of the func
tions of the press was to "comfort the afflicted
and afflict the comfortable." The Catholic Press
has only of late and to limited degree come to
subscribe to this Dooley logic. Too long the
Catholic Press’ mode of operation has been the
antithesis of Mr. Dooley's counsel. It has com
forted the comfortable, saved the saved, and af
flicted as few as possible — at least as few
Catholics.
THE CATHOLIC Press complains about a
fringe-Catholic readership, but its readership is
thus because the Catholic Press itself has been
a fringe-Catholic press. It is here that the chall
enge of which we write is joined. The Catholic
Press must instill in its readers a real sense
of community, a sense of belonging and caring,
from the international right down to the local
level and extending into all temporal areas
of activity.
This challenge has civic, political, cultural,
intellectual and religious implications, and the
meeting of it depends on a press of vision, depth
and perception. A Catholic Press with strong pro
pensities for crusaders on issues which enjoy a
JOHN G. DEEDY, JR.
legal tolerance and/or moral acceptability among
others in the community (for example, birth con
trol, Sunday sales, censorship) will never pro
duce a readership sensitive to the larger consi
derations of life in a pluralistic society, nor a
readership capable of making much in the way
of positive contribution to its milieu. Likewise,
a Catholic Press engrossed in banalities will
never be able to fulfill the obligations of thought
fulness and constructive involvement that it has
to a Catholic population which may be presumed
to be interested more and more in the things of
the mind and the world of men, and less and less
in sentimentalism, emotionalism and the narrow
ecclesiastical precincts of yesterday.
A CATHOLIC press operationg with its eyes on
the world , not merely the Church sanctuary,
will be a press that will be misunderstood both
within and without the family. There will be those
who will accuse such a press of butting its nose
where it has no business; they will "thank" the
press to stay where it allegedly belongs, in the
insipient world of the devout. But if the whole
world is God’s, if religion should reach into
every corner of this world, and if belief should
inspire man's meaningful actions, then the relig
ious press has not only a right, but a duty to
interest iself in, report and help shape the tem
poral sphere.
This is the challenge; well met, it means a
Catholic Press of new prestige and influence
better serving God, Church and state.
One might stress, however, that the challenges
of the Catholic Press do not belong exclusively
to the newsmen who produce the product. A chall
enge also exists for those for whom the Catholic
newspaper or magazine is produced.
Fr. Karl Rahner, S. J., in his little classic
"Free Speech in the Church" (Sheed & Ward,
1959), argues the obligation of the informed lay
man to make his personal contribution to the
development of public opinion within the Church
and its dissemination outside her. The layman
cannot limit himself, Fr. Rahner writes, solely
to Mass and the sacraments, and then be list
less about or proceed to criticize everything the
Church says and does, especially in the realm
of social action. Fr. Rahner stresses the ur
gency of keeping in touch with "the vital sources
at the heart of the Church’s supernatural acti
vity.” The layman should know his parish priest,
he points out; he should also know (and Fr. Rah
ner concedes that this does not mean he must
become a "joiner”) that there are certain types
of Church organizations to which he quite rightly
is expected to belong. Then, pertinent to our dis
cussion, Fr. Rahner continues;
“THERE IS SUCH a thing as the Catholic Press,
for instance. Now it seems doubtful whether this
is always as good as it might be, but it will cer
tainly never be any better than it is as long as
people, educated Catholics in particular, simply
assume that it is beneath their dignity to read
it and support it."
This is an important point; it makes the pro
blem of excellence in the Catholic Press the
responsibility not merely of the professional
Catholic journalist, but also of the individual
Catholic. "If people have any complaints about the
Catholic Press," writes Fr. Rahner, "they should
make them known to the people who can do some
thing about it." After that it is the job of the editor
and his superiors to see that the product improves.
SUPREME COURT BRIEF
Virginia School Plan
Assailed By CEF Group
WASHINGTON (NC) — TheU.S.
Supreme Court has been asked
to bar state and county tuition
grants and tax credits for
segregated education in Prince
Edward County, Va. f on the
grounds that they involve racial,
religious and geographic dis
crimination.
This argument is urged on the
court in an amicus curiae
(friend of the court) brief sub
mitted by Citizens for Educat
ional Freedom, a national or-
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ganization of 25, 000 members
"dedicated to freedom of choice
in education."
THE CEF BRIEF supports
the idea of public assistance
to citizens so they can attend
schools of their choice—pub
lic or private, church-affili
ated or nonsectarian — but
warns that discrimination on
religious or other grounds in
allocating such aid opens "a
whole Pandora's box of pre
judices."
The Supreme Court agreed
Jan. 6 to consider the Prince
Edward County school dispute.
It has set March 30 as the date
for oral arguments in the con
troversy.
The Prince Edward County
case was one of the original
school desegregation cases
dealt with by the Supreme
Court a decade ago. In 1959
the county closed down its pub
lic schools rather than de
segregate them.
A PRIVATE school foundat
ion was set up to provide edu
cation for white pupils. It was
aided by grants and tax credits
from the county and state.
Later, however, a Federal
district court barred further
grants and credits on grounds of
discrimination. The CEF brief
asks the Supreme Court to con
tinue this ban.
Theoretically, the organizat
ion says, the Virginia tuition
grant plan represents ' 'an im
portant step in fostering
educational freedom" through
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FLORIDA'S
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SAINT LEO COLLEGE SAINT LEO, FLORIDA
encouraging "diversity" in
education.
"But,” it adds, "considering
the delicacy and importance of
the subject matter involved, it
is all the more imperative that
strict distributive justice be
observed in administration of
tuition grants...
"IF EVERYONE is sub
sidized in the choice of a
school except he who chooses
a school with a religious af-
fliation; except he who would
cross the county line; except
this person or that, we open
a whole Pandora’s box of pre
judices."
The state and county aid in
Prince Edward County was
limited to nonsectarian private
schools; church-affiliated in
stitutions were excluded. This
constitutes denial of "equal
protection of the laws against
religious discrimination,"CEF
says.
In addition, aid went only to.
students attending public
schools outside the county or
private schools within the
county. This is denial of "equal
protection of the laws against
geographic discrimination,"
the brief declares.
FINALLY, CEF says, the ef
fect of the Prince Edward plan
was to prevent ' 'equal protect
ion of the laws against racial
discrimination" because bene-,
fits went only to students at
tending "a 'private nonsectar
ian’ substitute for public schools
closed to avoid desegregation,'
Emphasizing the denial of
free choice in education in the
Prince Edward situation, Citi
zens for Educational Freedom
points to the experience of the
Prince Edward County Chris
tian Council, set up by Negroes
to operate "training centers"
for Negro children after the
public schools were closed.
CEF says that because of Its
designation as "Christian" this
group was disqualified from
state and county aid.
"YET IT is quite obvious,"
CEF comments, "that the
Prince Edward Christian Coun
cil might easily have changed
its name so as to make its
'students' eligible for tuition
grants and its donors eligible
for tax credits ... It could
benefit all of these people-
students and donors—by mere
ly surrendering its convictions.
"But it is plain that the Chris
tian Council, its supporters,
students, and donors will not
sell their convictions in ex
change for a tuition grant or
tax credit. . . ,
'The only purpose served by
the tuition grants was to tempt
the people of Prince Edward
County to surrender their
moral, religious and legal prin
ciples,”
OF U.S. HIERACHY
FOUR OUT OF seventy-four Marist seniors were finalists in the
National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test. Left to right in the
front row are finalists C. Vance Arnold, and Robert Bockman
and Paul Applegarth (the last two regular contributors to the
GEORGIA BULLETIN). Looking on is fourth finalist David Go-
vus. Applegarth Tied with two other students to make the high
est score in the entire state of Georgia,
UNEASY TRUCE
Reds Provoking
Peruvian Revolt
BY ANDRES RUSZKOWSKI
(N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE)
LIMA, Perus — The shadow
of Castro communism has rea
ched into Peru and turned a land
reform program into a near
rebellion.
The Peruvian government
has responded to clashes in the
Andean region around Cuzco by
proclaiming a month’s martial
law. But the truce is uneasy,
and there are fears of recur
rence of the violence that
brought 15 deaths when soldi
ers dislodged 8,000 farmers
from lands they had taken over.
OBSERVERS here say the
pattern is similar to that of
Venezuela, where Cuban-tra
ined communists tried to-nullify
a recent national election
through terror. Arms and
propaganda material found here
in Lima are said to confirm
the revolutionaries' links with
Fidel Castro.
Land reform is being under
taken in Peru by the government
of President Fernando Belaude
Terry incoalition with the
Christian Democrats. The
communists, it is clear, are de
termined to sabotage the pro
gram.
THE government arrested 40
Red leaders in Cuzco. It is
said that a plot was in pro
gress to set up an independent
state in the south of Peru with
a pro-Castro government.
When the arrest of the com
munist became known, an
invasion of farmlands began at
Canchis in Cuzco state. It was
this action that led to the blood
shed at Los Molinos. The in
vaders were led by a group of
women. Behind them came a
group hurling stones at the op
posing guardsmen and police,
The feeling was so high
among the people that after the
clashes one wonan is reported
to have refused to allow her son
to be taken to a hospital. She
declared; "He is my only son.
But may he die so that others
may know what is happening
herel".
IN THE Cuzco region, farm
ownership is fairly wide
spread, and there are few of
the large estates found else
where in Peru. Most farmers
live in relatively comfortable
homes. Nevertheless the area
has been the scene of intense
communist agitation since 1961
TO FARMERS
Pontiff Praises
Relief Services
NEW YORK (NC) — Pope
Paul VI has praised the work
of Catholic Relief Services—
National Catholic Welfare Con
ference as an "outstanding ex
ample of fraternal love" and
urged all U. S. Catholics to
support it.
"We cherish the confident
hope that the Catholics of the
United States will continue their
steadfast cooperation with this
most worthy cause,” Pope Paul
said in a message to the Bis
hops of the United States.
THE POPE’S message was
sent in connection with the 1964
Bishops’ Relief Fund Appeal,
which will be conducted nation
wide from March 1 to 8. A
minimum goal of $5 million has
been set for the campaign,
which is the chief financial sup
port of CRS — NCWC.
Catholic Relief Services, the
U. S. Catholic overseas relief
agency, is the nation’s largest
private voluntary overseas re
lief group.
During 1963 it aided more
than 40 million needy persons
and conducted relief and techni
cal assistance programs in 70
countries. The shipments of re
lief goods totaled 900,000 tons
and were valued at more than
$176 million.
POPE PAUL'S message re
viewed the agency’s develop
ment from the time of World
War II, when it sought to alle
viate the "devastating effects"
of the conflict on "millions of
peoples throughout the world,”
to the present.
He said the charity of the U.
S. Bishops, as shown in Cath
olic Relief Services, "has im
pelled you to make the world
• your vineyard."
Priest Champions
Migrant Workers
TUCSON, Ariz. (NC) — A
priest-authority on agriculture
told a group of farmers here;
"If you want skilled Ameri
can laborers to work on your
farms, give them American
type Jobs.”
Father James L. Vizzard,
S. J., speaking (Feb. 10) at the
threeday National Farm Labor
Conference, sponsored by the
U. S. Labor Department’s
bureau of employment security,
said farmers should nto be sur
prised that so many different
groups are concerned about mi
grant farm workers.
AS REPRESENTATIVE of
the National Council of Agri
cultural life and Labor, he said
Protestant, Jew ish and Catholic
groups, the AFL-CIO, and other
civic and welfare groups are
interested whenever people are
poor, sick, hungry, underpaid
and oppressed.
One of the main reasons, he
said, is; "Slums, whether urban
or rural, breed irreligion and a
lowered moral condition."
FATHER Vizzard said he
found it easy to hold a dialo
gue with large growers about
improving the lot of the mi
grant workers w ithout endan
gering the right of the growers
to a decent profit. But, he con
tended: "A profit cannot be gai
ned at the price of human mis
ery. And consumers in America
would gag on their lettuce, if
they knew the inhuman condi
tions of the men who brought it
to their table.”
"We have noted with paternal
interest that, as the years go
on, your overseas program of
relief, resettlement and assis
tance in the fields of health, ed
ucation and welfare has shown
a steady increase in most
areas, demonstrating that the
poor and needy are always to
be found,” the Pope said.
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