Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
QUESTION BOX
Resisting Temptation?
BY MONSIGNOR J. O. CONWAY
Q. IF I AM TEMPTED TO COMMIT A CER
TAIN MORTAL SIN IN BOTH THOUGHT AND
DEED, WHAT HAVE I GAINED IF I RESIST
THE TEMPTATION REGARDING THE DEED,
BUT COMMIT THE MORTAL SIN IN THOUGHT?
I AM AS DEAD WITH ONE SIN AS WITH TWO.
A. You love God less if you deliberately of
fend Him twice, just because you have done
it once.
There may well be elements of scandal which
make the external sin worse. It is surely a
worse sin because it is more
voluntary and deliberate.
We should not admit too
quickly that we have committ
ed deliberate mortal sin in
thought; we may still be dally
ing with temptation in a weak,
uncertain way.
True religious conviction
should take us beyond the stage
of merely worrying about our
own skin and how much it will be singed. There
isn't much love in such selfish concern.
***
Q. WHAT KIND OF SIN I S IT WHEN WE
FAIL TO LISTEN TO THE NON-INFALLIBLE
BUT SOLEMN TEACHINGS OF THE POPE ON
TEMPORAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC MAT
TERS? WHAT IF WE ACTIVELY FIGHT AGAINST
THE VERY THINGS HE SAYS ARE MOST CA
THOLIC IN SPIRIT AND FOR WHICH HE IS
PRAYING? I MEAN THINGS LIKE INTERRACIAL
JUSTICE, ORGANIZATIONS FOR INTERNAT
IONAL PEACE, ETC.
A. What kind of sin is it when a child scorns
the teachings of his parents regarding morality
or similar serious matters?
Sometimes in our American politics the con
flict of issues is not clearly defined. Sometimes
we find little to choose between personalities.
But we should still not be indifferent. Before
our present Congress, for instance, there are
issues which will demand that our Senators,
especially, stand up and be counted. The side
on which they stand should tell any Catholic how
to vote when these men become candidates.
Q. HOW CAN JACKIE^S SISTER GET Atf
ANNULMENT? ARE ANNULMENTS FOR THE
RICH, OR FOR A PRINCE AND PRINCESS?
OR WAS IT ONLY BECAUSE SHE IS JACKIE’S
SISTER? IN 1534 HENRY VIII ASKED FOR AN
ANNULMENT FROM CATHERINE TO MARRY
ANNE BOLEYN BECAUSE HE WANTED A SON.
THIS REASON SEEMS TO BE AS GOOD
OR BETTER THAN JACKIE’S SISTER’S REA
SON.
HOW CAN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DO THIS?
THIS IS GOD’S LAW; NOT THE CHURCH’S.
THIS HAS HURT ME: I AM ASHAMED TO BE
A CATHOLIC. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE LOSE
THEIR RELIGION. PLEASE PRAY THAT I
MIGHT SEE THE LIGHT. I AM THE MOTHER
OF TWO TEENAGERS. WHAT DO I TELL THEM?
A. You might start out by telling your teen
agers that they should have confidence in the
integrity and honesty of the highest judicial
officers in the Church of Jesus Christ. When
decisions are given which we do not under
stand, proper humility will prompt us to in
quire about them calmly, and without suspic
ions and allegations.
In 1534 Pope Clement VII, after seven years
of study, found that Henry VIII and Catherine
of Aragon had apparently been validly mar
ried. He had no choice but to deny Henry’s
petition for a declaration of nullity. He had to
conform to the truth and to God’s law, even
though he knew his decision might lose all of
England to the Church.
We are certainly endangering our faith when
we question the authority of the Pope to teach
us in matters related to doctrine and morality.
Interracial and social justice are moral quest
ions. Justice is the basic virtue Which regulates
practical relationships between men; it is clear
ly within the range of the authority given to
St, Peter and his successors - as faith teaches
us. Peace too involves many virtues - particu
larly justice and charity in multiple manner.
Even to question the Pope’s teachings in these
matters is to be much less than Catholic and
to offend against obedience, respect and humility.
To talk or write or work against them involves*
direct' sins against justice and charity along with
the rest, >
encyclical is a very solemn method of
teaching, prepared with great care, and'is
sued in formal manner. It represents the teach
ing of Jesus Christ through his Vicar on earth;
the authentic teachings of the Church of Christ;
and many authorities are convinced that some
encyclicals contain infallible* pronouncements.
To treat them as trivialities’is & matter of pre
sumption approaching heresy/";
’**
Q. A PROMINENT CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN
STATED THAT A CITIZEN’S NEGLIGENT FAIL
URE TO VOTE WOULD BE A GRIEVOUS SIN
IF THERE WERE GRAVE ISSUESCONFRONTING
THE NATION AND THERE WAS A NEED FOR
HIGHEST QUALITY POLITICAL LEADERS. HOW
CAN A CITIZEN TELL WHETHER NATIONAL,
AND INTERNATIONAL, CONDITIONS ARE SO
GRAVE THAT HIS FAILURE TO VOTE WOULD
BE A MORTAL SIN? WHAT COMMANDMENT
WOULD BE VIOLATED BY SUCH FAILURE?
A. VVhy should we always be quibbling about
mortaL sin? As a citizen and as a Catholic you
have a duty to vote. Are you going to neglect
your plain duty simply because you may
squeeze by with only a venial sin? What about
love of God and country?
Along with the duty to vote goes the duty
of informing ourselves about the issues and
the persons involved. In these days of tension
our country needs leaders of highest quality
all the time. Great issues of social justice
confront our nation’s internal welfare; and
issues of international justice are multiplex,
many of them involving a danger of nuclear
war.
Now, after nearly seven years of investi
gation, the Sacred Roman Rota has found proof
that the former marriage of Lee Bouvier
Radziwill was in fact invalid - no real mar
riage from the beginning - so they had no
choice but to declare it invalid. Truth and
justice demanded such declaration. God’s law
demanded it. So the judges of the Rota fol
lowed their onsciences even though they knew
their decision might set tongues wagging.
Just about every diocese in the Catholic world
has a court, established by the local bishop,
to hear the evidence in cases similar to that
of Princess Radziwill, and to try to judge and
give decisions. My own job for twenty-some
years has been to head such a court. I have
helped try to decide cases similar to that of
Jackie’s sister. Cases of this kind are very
difficult to ! p r ove; so I suppose we have given
many more negative decisions than affirmative
ones ( an affirmative decision is one which
declares th6 J marriage invalid ). When we do
give an affirmative decision there must be an
appeal from our decision to another court (in
our case that of the Archdiocese). Sometimes this
other court disagrees with us. Then appeal is
made to the Roman Rota for a third trial.
I have seen many cases go through the Rota;
the process is long and exacting, but the re
sult is always one of sound justice. I have
studied many decisions of the Rota; they are
always carefully reasoned from brilliant know
ledge of the law and perceptive attention to the
facts of the case as found in the evidence. I
trust a decision of the Rota as I trust the Bible
(making allowance for human fallibility).
I know not the history of the case of Princess
Radziwill. It was probably tried twice in diocesan
courts before it reached the Rota. It may have
been tried more than once by different "turns”
of the Rota. But this I know: the evidence wa»
clear and convincing or she would never have
received a favorable decision.
The Rota hears and decides several hundred
cases a year - about half of them for pauper*
who can pay none of the expenses. Possibly
half of these cases end in affirmative decisions
-declarations of nullity. (They have been well
sifted before the Rota gets them). Besides, there
are thousands of declarations of nullity given
each year by diocesan courts - cases which
never reach the Rota. No fuss is raised when
Joe Blow's marriage is declared invalid. It
is front page news when' Lee Radziwill gets
the same decision.
This declaration of nullity makes me proud
to be a Catholic and a part of the judicial ma
chinery of the Church which seeks always to
act justly and in accord with truth, regardless
of personalities.
LITURGICAL CHANGE
Understandable Confusion
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
more immediate and natural response. Even
formally dictated common prayer will have more
of a spontaneous flavor when it is clothed in our
mother tongue. This should lead us to approach
easily the reforms of ritual when they are ef
fected after the Council,
The one criterion which, above all others, will
determine the new forms of the liturgy will be
pastoral concern for the good of souls. Esthetics
and tradition will have to cede place. The first
and foremost consideration will always have to be
the effectiveness of the liturgy in its main con
cern, the sanctification of the faithful. This is the
determining factor behind the simplification, the
use of the vernacular, the clear definition of the
roles of priest and layman in public worship.
It is also the reason which dicutes the renewed
emphasis on Scripture witnessed by the Constitu
tion. Nothing can speak as effectively to the heart
and mind as the inspired word of God. The stress
upon this point in the Constitution implies a reali
zation that we have been remiss in this regard
in the past. We can look forward to considerably
more use of the Bible, Old and NewTestaments, in
the future. Probably a longer cycle of readings for
the Sunday Masses will be evolved so that a broad
er and more varied diet of God's word will be
made available.
There are hints of the liturgy of the future in
the reformed ceremonies for Good Friday and
the Vigil of Easter. In these solemn celebra
tions, non-essentials have been done away with and
simple, me**n» \t;Jul lines have been drawn between
the various phases of the service. Our sight is con
centrated upon the subsunce of what we are do
ing - achieving the honor of God and our own
proper relationship to Him and among ourselves.
The exercise of our baptismal prerogatives is
clear and obvious. We can look forward to a re
peated and varied renewal of this experience at
each celebration of the liturgy of the future.
Saints in Black and White
ST. SCHOLASTICA 88
Across
1. Suede
4. Prinij donna
I. Eye inflammation
14. Sleeping place
14. Storm direction
15. Prow
16. 3rd letter ot the
alphabet
17 Nigerian Negro
IS. Hymn
19. Semester
20. Female name
21. Livonian; abbr.
22. Broad
24. Swine
26. Helm position
27. City in
New Hampshire
30. Stain
33. Plaster
36. Sc. Benedict was her
40. Dynamite
43 Edge of molding
45. Cell
46. Marsh plant
••»*. Happen
'50. Boredom
51. Armadillos
53- Pertaining to the
blood
5 5. Bushy chimps
56 She governed tt
t rtiry near
Monte
58. Tax assessment
60. Enclosure
161. Exalt
•6J. Tree, nine family
65.
lixcrctc
28.
67
Obscene
71
Sense
29
74.
Cossock regiment
31.
77.
Catalpa
7X.
Tavern
32.
79
I’addle
34.
81
India coin
35
84.
Last Queen ot Spain
37.
85
Vocation (abbr.)
38.
86.
Mohammed's
39.
son-in-law
40.
87.
Restrain
41
88.
Siamese coin
89.
Tlteavc
12.
90.
Make edging
4 #.
91
Western Kuropean
47.
92.
Digraph (pi.)
*9.
52.
Down
54.
1.
Little is . ... of
57.
this Saint
Hindustan
59.
3
Exploits
62
•i.
Daylight Saving Time 64.
5.
Native
66.
6.
Part ot speech
68.
7.
Short for ammunition
69.
8.
Image ot a beetle
70.
9.
Decade
71
10.
Urge
11.
Dance
77
12.
A Great Lake
7.i.
13.
St. Benedict saw her
7 S
'ikettess going up to
76.
heaven in the fortu
59.
of a
80.
2 V
Vocalized pause*
a*
News Service
s \
26.
Attentive
Hindu Goddess of
Splendor
Pertaining to flight
Babylonian God of
War
Thames Estuary
Arc
Makes rice-like forme
Venerate
Evade
Exalt
Tinge
Country in Himalaya
Mts.
Plague
Poisonous tree
Childish nonsensc
Pace
Knot
Striplings
Suffix denoting
origin
To escape (si.)
Spirit
Groove
Forward
Negotiate
Tithe
Nobel Price winner
She died iu the
' ear . .43.
Presently
Sulfix (nuuu)
Frolic
Joint
Cereal ^raiu
"Hcurt of Dixie":
abbr.
Nothing
Insect
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON-PAGE 7
CARDINAL CUSHING
Prelate Explains
Opposed School
BOSTON, Feb. 28(NC) —
Richard Cardinal Cushing, in a
statement addressed to come
dian Dick Gregory, has explain
ed his opposition to school boy
cotts sponsored by civil rights
groups.
The Archbishop of Boston
said he thought neighborhood
and living conditions are a far
more pressing challenge
to social justice than racially
imbalanced schools, although
he said these must receive
"prompt attention.”
HE PROPOSED a special
program of late afternoon
or early evening study halls
where school children in under
privileged areas could do their
homework, enjoy wholesome
recreational facilities and, if
need be, get "a good hot sup-
II
per.
The Cardinal maintained that
the home "is the first and fore
most classroom, "but he said
that bad home conditions in
some areas keep children from
doing their home study.
"CROWDED, INFERIOR liv
ing quarters, unemployed fath
ers, shattered families, dis
tressed neighborhoods— these
do not conduce to a full and
harmonious education, no mat
ter what the formal advantage
of schooling,” the Cardinal
wrote.
The Cardinal addressed
his statement to Dick Gregory,
a Negro comedian who has thr
own himself into the civil rights
protest movement, especially
in the South.
CARDINAL CUSHING, who
publicly opposed the school
boycott here (Feb. 26) which
kept 9,000 children out of school
in protest against de facto seg-
eration, noted that Gregory ex
pressed disappointment in his
position*
Gregory said of the Cardinal
at a press conference; "If I
had to vote for one man to give
the whole world justice, I would
have voted for him."
IN A "Dear Dick” reply, the
Cardinal praised the comedian
for "his willingness to sacri
fice and suffer for his belief
in the dignity of human be
ings."
He explained that he opposed
the boycott because he believes
such demonstrations call atten
tion to themselves and not the
problem which prompted them;
that they throw “emotional obs
tacles in the way of expert stu
dy” and that "I do not like to
see children encouraged to defy
the law, even when the law al-
Why He
Boycott
lows imperfections to exist in
our society.”
"MASS TRUANCY, no mat
ter how highly motivated, in my
judgment tends to foster a spi
rit of rebellion or indifference
toward lawful authority in chil
dren and victimizes rather than
inspires them. Children should
be educated, not exhibited,” the
Cardinal said.
In his statement, the Card
inal said he would like the
economy, private and public,
"to make new efforts to provide
more and more good jobs
for Negro fathers, more and
more decent housing in so-
called white suburban areas,
more and more moral and cult
ural training to heal and bind
the wounds of torn and sepera-
ted families,”
CARDINAL CUSHING offer
ed use of Catholic facilities in
underpriviileged areas as study
hall facilities. He expressed
confidence his proposal would
be agreeable to the city and the
state and said many persons,
such as college students, would
volunteer to put the program
across.
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
ARNOLD VIEWING
4 Seven
Days In May 9
"j 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.
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
In "Seven Days in May,” the Pentagon, depicted
as a paranoiac beehive of the Right VViqg, plots to
overthrow a 1974 president w r ho has pushed through
an unpopular disarmament treaty with the Soviet
Union. Only the sheerest bad luck keeps the bad
guys from winning.
One’s first impulse is to dismiss the drama as
surplus fantasy from the "Twilight Zone” (Rod
Serling adapted the popular Knebel-Bailey novel
for the screen). But as a man who once scoffed at
a student’s story about a sniper who shota presi
dent during a motorcade, I’m no longer certain
that ours is not a science-fiction world.
IN "SEVEN DAYS,” how'ever, there is a whole
string of improbabilities, each full of dreadful
implications about the state of the republic. First,
it is assumed that the president would make, and
the Senate ratify, a treaty unanimously opposed by
the Joint Chiefs he himself had appointed. Worse
yet, Gallup shows support from only 29 percent
of the public. This could happen
only if a Senate majority had all
•t once become suicidally idea
listic, an event about as likely
as the abolition of Congress.
Second, it is assumed that all
but one of the Joint Chiefs
would ”go along” with the re
volt - and that the holdout would
* keep his mouth shut, exhibiting
greater loyalty to the clique than to the Constitu
tion he has sworn to defend. This assumption,
sloppy and insulting, suggests the existence of a
monolithic "military mind” which grants career
success only to automatons.
THIRDLY, IF the proposed-coup d’etat is to have
any chance, it must assume the collusion of all
major elements of the armed forces, communica
tion media, and opinion leaders of the public.
The chief plotter (a dashing Air Force general
played by Burt Lancaster) plans no mere holding
action pending the restoration of the Constitution.
He means to be Boss, and he expects everyone
to love him.
If all these assumptions could be safely made-
now, in 1974 or 2074-then the fact that Lancaster
and friends are foiled by the discovery of a batter
ed cigaret case is of little comfort. America
could not live, and would not deserve to.
As S.L.A. Marshall has noted, the victorious
president dares not even let the people know what
has happened. The whole incident is hushed up,
resignations are submitted, life goes on. The
country, saved, continues its ignorant march to
oblivion.
THE YARN is basically a political liberal’s
nightmare, giving shape to his worst fears about
malevolent conspiracy among the military and re
actionaries 'to prefer aggressive', patriotic dic
tatorship to peace-seeking, world-oriented demo
cracy. In its way the vision is as unhealthy and
oversimplified as the fantasies concocted on the
other side by Mr. Welch.
Director John Frankenheimer has been in this
nightmare world before ("The Manchurian Candi
date"); the new film marks a step up from the
level of Batman comics to, say, the Saturday Even
ing Post. The characterizations are credible and
fair. One fears, in fact, that Lancaster’s speeches
may draw cheers from the audience. The issue in
the revolt is clearly one of means, not ends; it is
a difference less sensitive talents could well
have muddied.
THERE IS concentration on realistic detail -
White House picket lines, Senate hearings, presi
dential press conferences, slick gadget-filled
Pentagon interiors. There is a convincing sense of
fitness and understatement that can be contrast
ed with the bizarre melodrama pf Preminger's
"Advise and Consent.”
Among the actors the most help comes from
Frederic March as the harassed "commonman”
president facing the challenge of the dynamic Lan
caster. In their confrontation scene, the audience
is visually forced to choose between the nervous,
unspectacular democrat and the charismatic mili
tary hero. March is the first convincing, and mov
ing, modern president since Alexander Knox did
"Wilson,” and Lancaster makes his mandisturb-
ingly attractive.
KIRK DOUGLAS, as a loyal officer who discov
ers the plot, has the task of restraining his for mid-
able emotions. He is fine except for one impossi
ble scene with the (how to say the truth without
hurting?) fading Ava Gardner. The cad must make
love to her to get certain letters...oh, the jobs
one is forced to do for one’s country. Edmund
O’Brien, as a boozy cotton senator from Georgia,
and Martin Balsam, as a tough presidential assis
tant, make it all somewhat easier to swallow.
Frankenheimer has great sport with the Penta
gon's closed-circuit TV sets, including using them
for a new twist on the Villain-is-Coming-While-
the-Hero-Searches-his-Room scene. He also gets
striking effects with "inside” shots - from in
side cars, guard booths, etc. - and is a fantastic
user of closeups on meaningful symbols (incri
minating letters, cigaret cases) during the action.
Film buffs will enjoy a good brawl on the White
House sidewalk, shot with a hand-held camera,
and a clever scene in an air terminal. A little
Negro boy is playing with a toy half-track while
actor O’Brien, who has just escaped from the
fascists in a real one, searches for a kidnapped
friend. At the tense fadeout, O’Brien walks into the
distance and one hears the tinny, but ominous,
rat-tat-tat of the toy.
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, Tom
Jones, This Sporting Life, The
Leopard.
Better than most; Love With the Proper Stranger,
Charade.
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
There was a leper who lived in one of our larger cities. For
years the disease had eaten nerves in his hands and feet and scar
red his face. Doctors, not familiar with the disease, did not dis
cover it until it had so ravaged him that boys made fun of him in
the streets and on subways, and women said: "He will soon be
gone. You will not have to look at that ugly face much longer.”
A priest heard about him,
finding him the very day he
contemplated suicide. With
charity and frankness he told
him: "You will never find any
one to love you in this world ex
cept those who love Our Lord.”
As the disease was no longer
communicative, the priest rent
ed an apartment for him and
helped him back on his feet. But more important, he began in
structing him in the Faith over a period of two years. It took pat
ience and much charity to overcome the bitterness in his heart.
A few weeks before his First Communion, the leper brought
three young married women, all ex-fashion models, to the priest.
One of them had heard about our friend while making a picture
about leprosy in Africa, Each of these women, (none of them Cath
olic) took turns bringing him to their home on weekends. The
priest said to them: "I know Ilovehim because he is Christ to me,
the Christ who seemed like a leper on the Cross. 1 love him be
cause he is a living crucifix, not a plastic one, and every time he
comes to my house, he comes as the ambassador of the poor of the
world. But tell me, why do you bear him such charity?” They
answered: "For the same reasonl Christ blesses our homes
when he enters.”
If only we could inspire some of you rich people, who give vast
sums of money to those who are already rich, to give to the poor.
Find "Living Crucifixes.” There are millions of them in Africa,
Asia and Latin America I Christ is in the poor just because they
are poor. He is in the rich not because they are rich, but only be
cause they are virtuous I There is a world of difference between
the twol Do not waste your money on plastic crucifixes, synthetic
Christs. The rich can thank you now, but as Our Lord said "you
have already had your reward.” The poor cannot thank you. The
Holy Father never tells you whom he helps when you aid him
through his Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Therefore,
the Lord must thank you—and His thanks is heavenl
GOD LOVE YOU to Mrs. M. V. for $20 "For Christ’s poor.”
....to S. F, for $3 "I saved this money by walking instead of taking
a bus.” ...to a Waitress for her Tuesday tips each week "In honor
of St. Anne, my patron saint.” ....to Mrs. R.E.R. for $5 "I prim-
ised this to the Missions in St. Anthony's name for a favor
granted.”
The ten letters of GOD LOVE YOU spell out a decade of the
rosary as they encircle the medal originated by Bishop Sheen to
honor the Madonna of the World, With your request and correspond
ing offering you may order a GOD LOVE YOU medal in any of the
following styles:
$ 2 small sterling silver
$ 3 small 10 k gold filled
$ 5 large sterling silver
$10 large 10k gold filled
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 Archdioceaan Director, Very Rev. Harold*^ Rainey P. 0.
Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.