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THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 196* GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
QUESTION BOX
Why Abstain?
BY MONSIGNOR J. O. CONWAY
Q. WHY DO CATHOLICS REFRAIN FROM EAT
ING MEAT ON FRIDAYS?
with a supernatural destiny, but with no means
to attain it. Except for the Redemption we would
be more hopeless than natural man could ever
have been.
A. We do it for love of our Lord Jesus Christ
who died on Friday for love of us. We do it as
an act of penance and selfdenial, that our little
sacrifice may be united with His great Sacrifice,
and be acceptable to God the Father as a repara
tion for our sins. We do it in obedience to the
Church of Jesus Christ: in early days her child-
dren developed a custom of abstaining from meat
on Friday, so uniform and general that it gra
dually became a law.
Q. WILL YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN THE
CHURCH’S ATTITUDE REGARDING THE OC
CURRENCE OF ORIGINAL SIN? HOW DO ADAM
AND EVE FIT IN WITH THE EVOLUTIONARY
CONCEPT? WOULD NOT MOST HUMANS, IN OUR
PRESENT STATE OF DEVELOPMENT, HAVE
SINFUL QUALITIES IRRESPECTIVE OF ADAM
AND EVE?
A. The doctrine of original sin rests on the fact
that God created the first man and woman in an
elevated state of personal fri
endship with Himself. They
were not mere human beings;
they shared in God’s life and
happiness, as his adopted chil
dren. They did not merely live
on earth; they lived in the Para
dise of Eden, a place where God
dwelt in special manner with
them.
However, they did not yet
see God in all His glory and goodness. They
did not have the Beatific Vision, which we all
await in heaven. Such full view of God would have
made sin impossible for them. They had to live
by faith in God. And their faith did not sustain
them when trial came. God wanted them to be
like Himself, to share His nature in grace; but
they chose to seek their own way of resembling
God; they would know and choose good and evil for
themselves.
Our solidarity in Adam caused us to lose grace,
and so to be born in sin; but our solidarity in
Jesus Christ causes us to regain grace, and to
be restored to God’s love and friendship, to be
adopted again as children of the Father. St. Paul
states it in these words: "Therefore as from the
offense of the one man the result was condemn
ation to all men, so from the justice of the one
the result is unto justification of life to all men.
For just as by the disobedience of the one man
the many were constituted sinners, so also by
the obedience of the one the many will be con
stituted just. ” (Rom. 5, 18-19).
Natural man, created with a natural destiny,
would have had sinful qualities irrespective of the
sin of his first parents; but no such natural
man was ever created. Adam and Eve were cre
ated with supernatural destiny — life with God
in heaven — and they were given the means
of attaining their purpose. If they had kept all
of God’s original gifts we, their supernatural
descendants, would have been free from sin. But
they lost them; so we are born into the world
The religious doctrine of Adam’s sin and its
effects on us has no direct connection with the
concept of evolution. It is quite possible that the
bodies of Adam and Eve did develop from lover
animal forms and were given human souls by
God. The story of their sin remains the same.
Q. DOES THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BELIEVE
THAT ALL THE JEWS CURCIFIED JESUS? OF
WHAT NATIONALITY WERE THOSE PEOPLE
WHO DID FOLLOW CHRIST? WEREN’t THERE
SOME JEWS WHO BELIEVED IN CHRIST AND
DIDN’T WANT HIS CRUCIFIXION?
A. In different Gospels we read that some of
the "chief priests and Pharisees,’’ some
"Scribes and elders’’ and a whole mob were active
in demanding the crucifixion of Jesus. But the
Apostles were Jews, the Mother of Jesus was
Jewish. Certainly Lazarus and his sisters, Mar
tha and Mary, remained faithful to the Master.
And we have no reason to believe that the great
crowd of enthusiastic followers who welcomed
him to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday had so quickly
changed their minds. Most of the Jews of Pales
tine had no knowledge of the events of Good
Friday, and the great number of Jews in the
diaspora, scattered in many lands, had proba
bly never heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Certainly
they had no part in His crucifixion.
The 3000 Jews who became Christians on the
first Pentecost probably far outnumbered those
who had any part in demanding the death of
Christ.
I
The soldiers who tortured Him and nailed
Him to the Cross were not Jews. Pilate was a
Roman, The truth is that all of us who have been
guilty of sin had a part in the crucifixion, be
cause Jesus died to make reparation for our sins.
The unjust accusation that the Jews killed Christ
has been- the root of Christian anti-Semitism
for nearly 20 centuries. It has caused Christians
to hate rather than to love; it has given them ex
cuse for almost constant persecution of the Jews;
and it formed a ferment which had its ultimate
result in Nazi extermination camps.
Pope Pius XI reminded us, in an encyclical
in 1937, that "anti-Semitism is a movement in
which we Christians may have no part. . . .
Spiritually we are all Semites."
In Rom. 9, 1-5 St. Paul outlines the religious
heritage which we owe to the Israelites: "to
them belong the sons hip, the glory, the conve-
nants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the
promises,; to them belong the patriarchs, and of
their race, according to the flesh, is the
Christ. . .’’
On the Cross Jesus forgave those who cruci
fied Him and prayed to His Father in heaven for
them. And He gave us a commandment that we
should love one another as He had loved us. Pre
judice drains off our Christianity.
Letters To The Editor
TO THE EDITOR:
. I certainly agree with the gen-
' eral principal that no Congress
man or Senator should vote for
a bill which he conscientiously
believes to be violative of the
United States Constitution. Ob
viously, no one could have a duty
to violate his own correctly
attuned conscience. However, I
do submit that anyone who bases
his opposition to the "public
accommodations" section of the
current Civil Rights Bill upon
constitutional grounds is in dan
ger of stretching the Constitu
tion, if nothing else.
Long before our constitution
was adopted, when inns were
coming into existence for the
purpose of serving travelers, it
soon became apparent that the
innkeeper needed protection
from the dishonest guest, and
vice versa. Thus, a whole body
of common law evolved defin
ing the relative rights and du
ties of the innkeeper and the
guest. Nowhere was to be found
any slightest hint of lalssez
faire. One of the earliest com
mon law principles was that
an innkeeper held out his place
of business as a public place
to -which travelers might re
sort and be accommodated.
Some common law courts did
not include a public eating place
within the definition of an inn.
The Georgia Code of 1933
provides that "The innkeeper
who advertises himself as such
is bound to receive as guests,
so far as he can accommodate
them, all persons of good char
acter offering themselves, who
are willing to comply with his
rules." The Georgia Code has
broadened the definition of inn
keeper to include anyone ope
rating "taverns, hotels and
houses of public general enter
tainment for guests." Essen
tially the same principle is
found in every Georgia Code
that has been adopted since
1863. Of course, in any event,
that was the law in Georgia be
fore the United States constitu
tion was adopted, since Georgia
is basically a common law
state. Both of our Senators
served as Governor of Georgia,
sworn to uphold her laws, at
times when the foregoing "pub
lic accommodations" provision
was a part of Georgia law.
There is no record of either of
them having made any effort
to repeal that provision.
The "public accommoda
tions" provision of present
Georgia law is completely sup
ported by logic and justice. The
Tech fan does not wish to be re
fused food in the Athens restau
rant on the last Saturday in No
vember. The Yankee corporate
executive does not wish to come
to Atlanta to close a big deal
and have to take his chances
on being refused Southern hos
pitality.
The Scriptures fail to dis
close whether a Jew or a Gen
tile was proprietor of the inn
at which the Good Samaritan
lodged the unfortunate Jew
whom he had extracted from a
ditch. It is reasonable to as
sume that the "public accom
modations" provision applied
even then. Nothing has hap
pened since then to make it or
any of the other principles em
bodied in the Civil Rights Bill
unreasonable, unconstitutional
or un-Christlike.
FERDINAND BUCKLEY
ATLANTA
EASTER MESSAGE
Easter Role Cited
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1)
dio throughout the world, and
was carried by television to
much of Western Europe.
WHILE THE crowd waited in
the square for the Pope to re
appear, a light rain began to
fall. The people stirred appre
hensively, and umbrellas began
to mushroom. But more and
more people kept streaming in
to the square. By the time the
Pope came to the balcony the
crowd was overflowing onto
the broad avenue that runs from
St. Peter’s Square to the River
Tiber.
For his address Pope Paul
wore a white cope and the bull
et-shaped tiara with which he
was crowned last June 30,
a gift from the people of Milan,
where he was Archbishop for
nearly nine years before as
cending to the papacy.
THE POPE delivered his 25-
minute speech in ringing and vi
brant Italian. Then he intoned
the apostolic blessing "urbi et
orbi"-- to the city (of Rome)
and to the world. Wave after
wave of enthusiastic applause
and cheers rose to him after
the blessing.
The Pope turned to several
other modern languages to ex
tend his Easter greetings. In
English he said: "A happy and
blessed Easter to you all I A
happy and peaceful Easter to you
all I".
Saints in Black and White
ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS
94
KINGSHIP OF CHIRST
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Secular Institute Member
Lives Apostolate In World
ACROSS
1. Benefit
5. Bullet sound
9. Relative
13. Largest continent
14. Long wood runner
15. The badge of his
Order shows a —
17. Saints (female)
18. Acknowledges
20. Rest
22. Stress
25. Outer (Pref.)
26. Sport
27. Comparative
suffix
64. Near 29.
66. Meat dish 33.
68. Drenched
69. Exaltation
71. Pitched 34.
73. Current 35.
75. Scholarship 36.
76. Heron
78. Greaser 37.
80. Monk's hood 38.
81. Yes (Colloq) 40.
82. Female nickname 42.
83. Part 43.
45.
DOWN
1. Urgency 46.
28. Daub
2. Silicate
47.
29. Nigerian Negro
3. Mortgage
49.
30. Verge
4. He modeled his
50.
31. Forward
life on the —
54.
32. Brief
5. Afterthought
55.
34. Velocity
6. Image
56.
35. Burgh
7. Late
57.
39. Creator
8. Noble minded
58.
41. Marsh elder
9. Potential of
60.
42. Cunning
Hydrogen
63.
44. Loud and shrill
10. bronze, Roman
64.
48. Haggard
money
51. Poss. adjective
11. feeler
65.
52. Dessert
12. Spot
67.
53. Contradiction
16. Purposeful
69.
55. Pads
19. The supernatural
70.
56. Draw
beat of his heart
72.
59. Pierce
was intense enough
60. As far as
to — his shirt
74.
61. Trouble
21. Bishop of Rome
77.
62. Narcotic shrub
23. Tavern
79.
63. Fort
24. Approval
Exclamation
The badge of his
Order contains —
nails
Before
Spasm
Egg-shaped
ornament
Conflict
Disposed
Above
Fear
Plaything
Certified
accountant
Smash
Favorable vote
Anglo-Saxon letter
Swimming
Allow
Of a standard
Sunrise
Tenth
Priests
Triple
Conjunction
His Feast Day Is
In —
Pronoun (Dem.)
We are (Contr.)
Recite
Movement: music
Miami Indian
Tribe
Perish
Digraph
Without place;
abbr.
NEWARK, N.J. (NC)—She's a
secretary. But we’ll have to call
her Jane Doe because she is a
member of a secular institute.
She has taken a vow of chastity
and promises of poverty, obe
dience and me apostolate as a
Missionary of the Kingship of
Christ.
No one, however, knows this
about Jane Doe — not her
friends, not the people she
works with in a large firm, not
even her mother with whom she
lives. She submitted to an inter
view under obedience and on
condition that her identity be
kept secret.
WHY THE secrecy? "I would
lose my effectiveness if people
knew," she said simply. Her
apostolate: to bring Christ to
her particular wo rid—her busi
ness, her family, her society.
You wouldn't suspect Jane
Doe is a member of a secular
institute. Not when you see her
wearing a crimson dress with a
heavy gold bracelet, a stylish
coat, makeup; not when you see
her order a cocktail. But as she
explains, to be effective in her
apostolate she has to be a part
of the mainstream of a business
girl’s life.
SECULAR institutes were ap
proved by Pope Pius XII in
1947. Nine of those which have
been canonically approved are
established in North America.
They are associations of people
dedicated to Christian perfec
tion and saving souls while liv
ing in the world. "Mingling with
people and being frtedly' ’ is
ARNOLD VIEWING
6 America America 9
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
Against "America America," Elia Kazan’s
sprawling masterpiece of gratitude to an aggres
sive ancestor, one can raise only puny objections.
The film has almost everything: freshness and
vitality, pictorial splendor and subtlety, charac
terizations of literary quality, an impelling sense
of the variety, dignity and tragedy of the human
condition.
Yet it runs too long (nearly three hours), and
much before the end of the film has said it all.
Part of the problem is the lead
ing actor, a young Greek (Sta-
this Giallelis) with an appeal
ing, handsome face but only two
or three expressions. The boy
lacks the versatility and skill to
carry us the full distance.
PERHAPS a more important
negative factor is the theme lt-
Mlf: the obsession of a boy to
escape the decedent Turkey of the 1890’s and be
gin a new life in America, which he idealizes
as a substitute for Heaven. This is far from the
fam iliar w ill-the-noble-imm igrant- make-it f ilm.
The boy’s motivation is not rational, but neuro
tic and full of fantasy.
When honest methods fail, he uses dishonest
and degrading ones. He has learned it is that kind
of world. The important thing is to Get Where He
Wants to Go. Fascinating for a time, this sort of
fanaticism soon becomes tedious. And when suc
cess comes, the triumph is dimmed by the mem
ory of what has been lost in the getting of it.
Producer-writer-director Kazan, for the first
time complete creator of his own film, shares
these mixed feelings. But a note of gratitude
predominates, a grudging acknowledgement of the
survival of the fittest. For if the boy Stavros had
not been so ruthless, then neither he nor his
relatives would have escaped the physical and
moral morass of the Middle East. In the family
history of the real-life Kazan (born in Constan
tinople), the act was magnificently crucial.
DESPITE its imperfections, this is a brilliant
film. Kazan, whose productive career spans less
than 20 years, has the unique distinction of having
seen critically acclaimed best film director three
times, best stage director four times. At least
three of his movies belong on any all-time list -
"Viva Zapata," "East of Eden," "Waterfront."
As his first "original," "America America"
is a major cinema event.
The film bristles with Kazan-patented realism
and tension. Much of it is physical - the conflict
between Tlirk oppressors and Greek and Armenian
minorities, set in the rugged rural wilderness of
the actual locales. But the best is psychologi
cal: what happens when Stavros becomes engaged
to the homely daughter of a well-to-do family so
he can use her dowry for passage to America.
Acting honors in this episode are usurped by the
girl (Linda Marsh), a frail creatare whose innter
vitality all but bums holes thrpugh the screen,
and her father (Paul Mann), a stock bourgeois
merchant turned into a complicated, delightful
human being. (Miss March will soon be on Broad
way as Ophelia to Richard Burton’s Hamlet.)
part of that task, Jane Doe ex
plained.
Jane renews her vow of chas
tity each year. But inwardly,
she believes she will never
marry; she has espoused the
single state for life. While she
is obedient to a superior—it
was this obedience that brought
her to the interview—the de
mands on her are not many.
SHE MAKES a good salary.
But because of her promise of
poverty, she and a superior
work out an annual budget which
allows her to stay suitably
dressed and equipped for her
social and professional posi
tion. The idea, she said, is to
"be generous with others and
sparing with yourself."
As part of her work in the
apostolate she teaches Confra
ternity of Christian Doctrine
classes and promotes retreats,
as well as exercising die day-
to-day apostolate that is her
primary responsibility. How do
you exercise that apostolate?
"You believe your Faith and you
live it to the fullest," she ex
plained.
SHE SPENDS two hours a day
in prayer to fortify herself for
this work. There is daily Mass
and Communion, meditation, a
visit to the Blessed Sacrament,
the Rosary, the Office of the
Franciscan Tertiary (all mem
bers of her institute are also
members of the Third Order
of St. Francis), examination of
conscience and spiritual read
ing.
Dawn is breaking when her
prayer ritual begins with medi
tation and partial recitation of
the Office before the drive to
church for Mass. How does she
find the time? "You just make
a schedule for each day and
try your best to keep to it. You
learn to use your time well
—you can’t fritter it away."
IN ADDITION to her dally
prayer she is required by the
rule she has accepted to go to
confession, make the Stations
of the Cross and perform an act
of devotion to the Blessed
Mother each week.
Seminary Fund
Remember the SEMINARY FUND of the
Archdiocese of Atlanta in vour W;L11. Be
quests should be made to the “Mo^t Rev
erend Paul J, Hallinan, Archbishop of the
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta and his sue*
cessors in office”. Participate in-the daily-
prayers of our seminarians and in the
Masses offered annually for the benefactors
of our SEMINARY FUNb
THE MORE memorable sequences: the arrival
of the suitor in the merchant’s parlor, surround
ed by Victorian decor and three fat, nodding un
cles, while the women fuss and clatter in the kit
chen; actor Mann’s recounting of the joys of Old
World family life; the horseplay between father
and favorite, over-protected daughter; the fami
ly’s stuffed stupor after an elaborate meal.
Kazan displays his virtuoso skills in film nar
rative. Sometimes it is in wordless montage of
Images (of the family gathering their treasures for
the boy’s journey, or of his struggles on the docks
to earn money). Sometimes it is in the shots
alone: of the awesome Anatolian mountains, ringed
with whisps of cloud; of people scurrying from the
marauding Turkish cavalry; of the tiny figure of
Stavros clambering across the vast face of a
plateau, or (shot from above) winding through vil
lage streets pursued by the scolding voice of his
mother.
CUTTING is used imaginatively to telescope
time, even within a scene, thus omitting extran
eous dialog and tedious changes in mood. The
sound of the next scene often intrudes on the
last moments of the preceding one. When Stav
ros is tempted by an evil traveling companion,
a speedup in the rhythm of the cuts (from girls to
boy to tempter) produces excitement and tension.
A more remarkable example occurs when the
boy, taunted beyond endurance, finally attacks
and kills his tormenter. This is violence purely by
indirection: in the tempo of the cutting, the sounds
of the fight, the glimpse of a hand or head below
the rocky hilltop where the camera is stationed.
The movie captures fragments of humanity in
describable in any other medium. While Stavros’
father describes for the family how one day the boy
will set up his younger brothers in business,
there is a lovingly poignant exchange of smiles
between Stavros and a chubby young sibling.
There is the heart-tearing shriek of a prostitute,
threatened with eviction, echoing through a shabby
apartment: "I’m only an animal without a bed and
a room I" And at Ellis Island, as the immigrants
await the customs inspectors, the soundtrack
changes from utter silence to a crescendo of ex
pectant noise (as the inspectors arrive) to si
lence again (as they settle down to question^ each
arrival.)
THESE are only samples of the film’s rich
ness. It may well be another in which the parts
outshine the whole. But few movies in recent
years match the emotional pull of Kazan's cli
max: the camera sweeps over the faces of the
hopeless persecuted in a Turkish village, as
Stavros’ off-camera voice calls from America:
"Come, you I Let's go, youl"
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
For everyone: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World;
Lord of the Flies, Lilies of the
Field.
For connoisseurs: Winter Light, Tom Jones, The
Leopard.
Better than most: America America, Dr. Strange*
love, Love With the Proper
Stranger, Charade.
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEtf
It is the nature of affluence to blind us to tne needs and wants
of others: the rich man never saw Lazarus at his door; God called
the rich church of Laodicea in the Apocalypse the "poorest"
of all the churches. The prosperous Church becomes the ghetto
Church. A dead parish is like the Dead Sea. The latter receives
fresh waters from the River Jordan, but it has no outlet. It keeps
them all for itself and is dead.
In order that we in America
might be more united with the
suffering, impoverished Christ
in the rest of the world, it
would be well for us, instead
of traveling the "Via Dol-
larosa," to begin a Via Dolorosa
in the following way:
1. Give three per cent of all
parish construction costs to the
Holy Father for the propagation of the Faith in other lands and
for the feeding of their poor. I f we can afford a million dollar
school, we can give the equivalent of five churches in mission
lands, each costing $6,000.
2. Many of the priests in the Missions live on Mass stipends,
with no other source of income or livelihood. Priests in the
United States could send their stipends to The Society for the
Propagation of the Faith which distributes them to bishops in
mission lands and they, in turn, to needy priests. In this way there
is equitable distribution to all orders, all societies and all areas
in the Missions.
3. High school students, both young men and young women, could
make sacrifices to buy jeeps for mission lands. Once sufficient
money was collected to pay for a jeep and the transportation for
a missionary, the money could be sent to the Holy Father and his
Sacred Congregation, who would assign the jeep to the neediest
mission.
4. Housewives and mothers could gather spare clothes and send
them to a missionary under the direction of their Diocesan Direc
tor of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
5. Doctors, surgeons, dentists and engineers could offer their
services for two months of the year to the poor people in some
mission land under the direction of the Catholic Medical Mission
Board (10 West 17th Street, New York, New York).
Remember, Christ is in the rich only because they are virtuous.
He is in the poor because they are poor. Make yourselves poor for
the Lord and send your sacrifice to The Society for the Propaga
tion of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10001,
GOD LOVE YOU to J.E. for $1.55,"Mybrothers and I sold some
old toys that we found in the basement and want to give the money
to help hungry children." .... to C G. for $25 "I have made many
baby afghans for relatives and friends which were all stitches
of love. I am happy to send this money from selling one." .... to
S.B. for $10 "1 saved this on laundry." .... to J.E.W. for $5 "The
sacrifices of an urchin, motherless Indians and a Unitarian couple
—it was all they had."
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE? Read our special May-June issue
of MISSION and learn how you can make others comfortable too.
If you wish to be put on our mailing Ust for this bi-monthly
magazine, just ask us via: The Society lor the Propagation of
the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10001.
pie your soertfteo to at and mail it to Moat
• Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Pro-
don* of the Faith, 366 Pifth Avenue, New York lx^ N. Y. or
K r Archdiocesaii Director, Very Rev, Harold Jv Rainey P.O,
; 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga,