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THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5 QUESTION BOX Her Firstborn Son? Saints in Black and White ST. HUGH—ABBOTT 7~~& ff BY MONSIGNOR J. O. CONWAY Q. IF MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS, WAS A VIRGIN THROUGHOUT HER LIFE, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN MATHEW 1:25: “AND HE KNOW HER NOT TILL SHE HAD BROUGHT FORTH HER FIRSTBORN SON: AND HE CALLED HIS NAME JESUS.“? A. Before this statement St. Matthew has told us of the vision of Joseph in a dream: an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him not to be afraid to take Mary to his home, because it was through the power of the Holy Spirit that she was to become a mother. So Joseph complied and took her into his home, but had no relations with her before her son was born. St. Matthew is interested in telling us that Jesus was born through the influence of the Holy Spirit; he is not concerned with what happen ed later. He makes no reference, one way or another, to Mary’s virginity af ter the birth. His statement that ; she had no relations with her husband before the birth does not imply that she had them afterwards. Nothing is said about that. The term “firstborn” is pro- jbably not authentic here in 'Matthew, who simply says that Mary bore a son, and that Joseph called him Jesus, as the angel had told him to do. Some Greek texts have inserted a phrase that this was Mary’s “firstborn,” a term used by St. Luke in 2;7. Firstborn was a sort of legal title acquired by a son at the moment of his birth; he bore that title even if no other sons were ever born. Q. A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE WHO IS OF METHODIST FAITH, SAID SHE WOULD LIKE VERY MUCH TO BELIEVE THERE IS A PUR GATORY, BUT HAS NEVER SEEN ANYTHING IN THE BIBLE THAT COULD CONVINCE HER. I TOLD HER I BELIEVED THE SOUL WAS JUDGED IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH, BUT IF IT WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO ENTER PURGATORY, THAT THE PRAYERS AND GOOD WORKS OF ITS LOVED ONES ON EARTH COULD SHORTEN ITS TIME THERE: AND ON THE DAY OF GENERAL JUDGMENT THE SOUL WOULD ENTER HEAVEN. SHE BELIEVES THE SOUL REMAINS IN THE GRAVE TILL THE DAY OF GENERAL JUDGMENT, AND THAT WE HERE ON EARTH CANNOT HELP THE SOUL AFTER DEATH. IT IS EITHER SAVED OR LOST. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP HER BELIEVE? A. While the name purgatory does not appear in the Scriptures there are a number of texts in the New. Testment which seem to take it for granted: Matthew 12, 31-32 tells us that abusive speech will be forgiven, even that against the Son of Man, but “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven for it, either in this world or in the world to come.” Does this not imply that some sins will be forgiven in the world to come? Matthew 5, 25-26 may seem at first glance to deal with the judgments of eartly courts, but if taken in its context surely refers to the judg ment of God, and seems to admit the possibility of repaying the last penny after that judgment. St. Luke has a similar text: 12, 58-59. St. Paul in 1 Cor. 3, 11-15 speaks of a person who will be saved, “as one who has passed through the fire.” There are a number of other texts which have been frequently accepted as referring to Purga tory, but they require special study and inter pretation to discern such reference. Your Methodist friend may not be greatly impressed by a quotation from the Second Book of Mac cabees, since she does not accept it as Sacred Scripture. However, it does show that a great change had taken place in traditional Jewish thought. Sheol, the place of the dead, had always seemed a rather dreary, hopeless place for the just as well as for sinners. But in II Macc. 12, 38-45, we read about the prayers of Judas Mac cabeus and his soldiers for those who had been killed in battle, and he also took up a collec tion of 2000 silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem that a sacrifice might be offered for them. It was a holy and pious thought to pray for the dead that they might be freed from their sins. The thought and practice of the early Chris tians followed this example of Judas, and in the writings of the Fathers of the Church we find from very early times testimony of the belief in Purgatory and of the need to pray for the dead that they be freed from their sins. The idea that the soul rests in the grave until resurrection day is hardly more cheerful than the ancient Jewish idea of Sheol. It hardly fits in with the traditional Christian idea of the immorta- ity of the soul. Where does the soul rest when the body is cremated? or With the ashes or with the smoke? Q. PLEASE DISCUSS IN YOUR COLUMN THE TYPES OF DEGREES GIVEN TO CLERGY UPON COMPLETION OF SEMINARY TRAINING. IF DE GREES ARE PRESENTED, ARE THEY AVAIL ABLE TO LAYMEN? WHERE? CAN A LAYMAN ATTEND A MAJOR SEMINARY (ASSUMING QUALIFIED ACADEMIC COURSES) WITHOUT VOWS AND WITHOUT PLACING HIMSELF UN DERJURISDICTION OF A PARTICULAR BISHOP, AND IN HOPE THAT HE MAY SUBSEQUENTLY EMBRACE THE PRIESTHOOD? IN OTHER WORDS CAN A QUALIFIED LAY MAN PAY HIS BOARD AND TUITION, FOLLOW THE COURSE AND DISCIPLINE OF SEMINARY TRAINING, BE FREE OF OBLIGATIONS TO ANY PARTICULAR BISHOP, AND THEN SUBSE QUENTLY APPLY FOR HOLY ORDERS? A. The majority of seminarians receive no theo logical degree at the end of their regular course. There are a few universities which have theolo gical courses available to laymen—courses which lead to degrees. However, a young man planning to receive Holy Orders must spend at least four years in a re gular seminary, unless his bishop dispenses him from part of it for very special reasons. A young man may be admitted to a seminary only on a bishop’s authority. The proper bishop to admit him is the bishop in whose, diocese he has permanent residence. Special arrangements might be made for a seminarian to pay his own room and board, though it is rarely done. He could not be kept in the seminary unless he showed an attitude, behavior and ability which indicated that he would make a good priest, and when it came time for him to be ordained, his call to orders would still depend on his own bishop, unless special arrangements were made for him to be accepted into another diocese. Q. A SHORT TIME AGO (IN A LUTHERAN PAPER, I BELIEVE) I READ THAT THE CATHOLIC VERSION OF THE BIBLE WAS GETT ING CLOSER TO THE PROTESTANT VERSION. AT THE TIME I THOUGHT OF THE LITTLE GIRL, RIDING TOWARDS THE MOUNTAINS, WHO REMARKED THAT THE MOUNTAINS WERE GETTING CLOSER TO HER. NOW YOU SAY, “THROW AWAY THE OLD DOUAY VERSION,” WHILE WAITING FOR THE NEW CONFRA TERNITY EDITION MAYBE WE SHOULD BUY THE REVISED STANDARD PROTESTANT EDI TION I A. If you are studying the Bible you might do a lot worse than buy the RSV. It is an excellent translation which combines much of the dignity of the King James with the accuracy of modern expression and scholarship. Right now in England and Scotland a Catholic edition of it is being prepared. It will include the deutero-canonical books (the Apocrypha) in their proper places, rather than grouped in an appendix; and will incorporate in the text a few verses which the Protestant edition has consigned to foot-notes. It is not a question of our coming closer to the Protestant editions. (That was done long ago by Bishop Challoner in his revisions of the Douay). It is rather that we are all profiting by the same scholarship to come nearer to the original He brew and Greek. The fourth and final volume of the Confra ternity Old Testament is expected very soon. While awaiting the revised New Testament you might try the Kleist-Lilly edition, published by Bruce (Milwaukee). Then there is always Mon- signor Knox, of course. I have it in three volumes as published by Sheed & Ward. Somebody must have stolen my old Douay. I can’t find it. SCHOOL DEBATE Mrs. Ryan Has Rights CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 in his parochial school system. This step was far more startling than the views expressed in Mrs. Ryan's book, yet few educators were heard to criticize it on the Broadwalk of Atlantic City. In the face of this type of double-standard thinking, it takes a particular brand of courage to continue clergy-laity dialogue about problems which are properly the concern of both. Yet according to a priest-panel at the convention, “All this does not mean that we are not aware that problems do exist and something needs to be done.” In Christian Charity then, we must not draw up sides but rather let us allow whoever will to speak his mind without fear or favor and at tempt peacefully to solve our problems. There is no room for vanity, pride, or intolerance. Catholic education is a partnership, not a mono poly — let’s keep it that way. ORDINARY. EXTRAORDINARY A New Kind Of Criminal CARDINAL ON COUNCIL Warns Against Optimism ACROSS 1. Tolerate 6. Choice 10. Mineral spring 13. Beggar 14. Storage place 15. Weight 16. Conjunction 17. European black- headed gull 19. He received the habit at age — 21. Insect egg 23. Sept 25. Quay 26. White flakes 28. Lazar 30. Its opening words are Te lgltur 33. Brilliant success 35. Exists 37. Cotton fabric 38. Narrator 40. Hesitate 42. Flushed 43. Snow runners 45. Harshness 47. Concerning 48. That Is . (Ger.) abbr. 50. Ophidian 52. Subdues 54. Man’s name 56. Wood nymph 58. One who gathers 61. Skid 63. Medical fluid 65. He succeeded St.- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 AN EIGHTEENTH century English jurist, Sir John Powell, once pleaded with a court and left behind a fine quotation; “Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.” It is only reason which fences us off from the apes, which opens to us the all but limitless realm of our potentiality, which governs our morals and mores. And yet this sublime gift maintains a precarious stance. How else account for the fact that the noble Mrs. as head of his order. 66. Arrives 68. City of Northern China 70. Lamb 71. Elvers 73. Dally 75. Doctor of Sacred Theology 76. He gained the — of many monks 79. Loose robe for women 81. Comb form; Early 82. Biblical lion 83. Stares 85. Containing cerium 87. Indeed 88. Fleshy fruit 89. Ridge of gravel DOWN 1. Continent: abbr. 2. Pile drive ram 3. Simians 4. Post 5. Babble 6. A degree 7. Ice: (Ger.) 8. Elapee 9. Poisonous 10. More forbidding 11. “Raven” author 12. Female name 13. He was one 16. Attack 18. Mild - 20. Greenish blue 22. Charges 24. Not even 27. Callings 29. Forgive 31. Heavy blow 32. Joint 34. To pay tithes (Scot.) 36. Fructose 39. Erects 41. Shakesperlan character 44. Skylike 46. Available 48. Circular plate 49. He earned one 51. Having ears 53. Scouts 55. Goddess of Vengeance: Gr. Myth 57. Mounds of sand 59. Enlivens 60. A composition; music 62. Abysmal 64. Spite 67. Drowse 69. Nomens 72. Armhole of a garment 74. Cricket bowl 76. Radiation 77. Before 78. Beverage 80. Eggs 84. Elder: abbr. 86. Ancient City of the Sumerians ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 BOSTON (RNS) — Franz Cardinal Koenig, Archbishop of Vienna, warned an inter- religious audience of some 1,800 persons here that “to expect too much” from the Second Vatican Council would lead to "certain disillus ionment” and “even utter dis appointment.” He gave the Paulist Fathers’ Christian Culture Series Lec ture here before the largest audience of its kind ever as sembled in the city. RICHARD CARDINAL Cush ing, Archbishop of Boston, hail ed Cardinal Koenig as "one of the most brilliant lights” of the Second Vatican Council. The 58 - year - old Austrian prelate, who has carried out Vatican diplomatic missions in Iron Curtain countries, is a member of the Council’s Theo logical Commission. HE STRESSED that the "dis cussions, deliberations and de clarations” of the Council should be afforded "realistie appraisal” in light of thcr ecu menical body’s extensive goals and historic jjerspectives. However, he warned that those who expect an immediate solution to all of the world’s problems from the Council would be "gravely disap pointed.” CARDINAL KOENIG ob served, however, that mankind has * ‘moved forward through the Council” to such an extent that "we might look with optimism to the Council as a sign of hope in a rapidly unifying world.” "A worldwide ecumenical movement is in progress, draw ing all races and continents,” he said. “Bridges will be built which will join Rome to the Protestant world. . .contacts are already established which would hardly have been pos sible before.” CITING “EXTENSIVE brid- ARNOLD VIEWING More-Or-Less Biography BY JAMES W. ARNOLD Peabody, a gentle lady in every sense, should be simultaneously heroine and criminal by our new standards? How else account for the fact that the Catholics I mentioned should cheer, with enthusiasm unexpected even by himself, a man who preaches the direct antithesis of the sim plest definition of their Faith? These are thoughts to daunt the mind-of rea son and heroes, new criminals and law, and the tightrope we are so blithely walking. In the ecumenical spirit, one can easily bleed for famed Methodist preacher Norman Vincent Peale, who undergoes the ordeal of a more-or-. less biography in the new movie "One Man’s Way.” Biographical films of living personalities tend to reflect reality with all the stunning accuracy of TV commercials, and when the subject is popu lar religious leader of any denomination, the re sult resembles an election year speech on flag, brotherhood and decent literature. “One Man’s Way,” in short, does not pretend to be object ive truth. Nor is it entirely fresh as drama, beginning with early scenes of the regular boy who resents being typed as a “minister's son” to the fade- out when the embattled clergy man smooches his loyal wife and goes out to face the world with the vintage line: "It’s not going to be any picnic.” LIKE MOST of us, Dr. Peale (now 66, pastor of New York’s hoary Marble Collegiate Church) has led an eminently unphotographable life. The conflict is largely verbal and intellectual, wheth er it deals with the preacher’s attempts to work out his vocation, to woo a young lady who thinks ministers are square, or to battle critics of his theological approach. About all the movie can do better than any book (it is based on Arthur Gordon’s "Minis ter to Millions”) is show the impact of Peale’s highly theatrical oratory, This object is convin cingly achieved, thanks to the honest power of actor Don Murray, who blasts his way through three or four epic Peale sermons with the camera at point-blank rage, The viewer may or may not care for this kind of rhetoric, but he begins to comprehend the man’s influence and intensity. LIKE THE book, the movie is a friendly brief for the Peale message and method. But it avoids impugning the motives or intelligence of his de tractors within the Protestant community. The de fense seems to be that Peale is not really ex pounding a Chamber-of-Commerce-approved - Christianity, that “success” for him is not limited to materialistic gain, and that he believes himself to be in the spirit of the Christ of the Gospels. The final judgment, doubtless perplexing to Catholics who like to settle such disputes on doctrinal grounds: nobody is wrong. The film argues the sincerity and effectiveness of Peale’s "way,” It works for many people, so why not move over and make room for it? BUT AS a fringe benefit the movie shows enough of Murray-as-Peale to allow perceptive spectators to decide for themselves. It is not so much what Peale says as what he stresses. Re- ges" linking Rome and Eastern Orthodox Churches,” Cardinal Koenig noted that "on both sides there has been a desire to tear down the barricades.” He told the interreligious audience that the impact of the Council has been felt beyond the Protestant and Orthodox com munities and into areas where ’ a progressive secularization of the intellectual world has not made man better or happier.” THE COUNCIL’S wide-rang ing effects has touched in habitants of Communist coun tries, he stressed. * Even this Iron Curtain may one day show even larger openings so that the hope for a better future can pass through.” Emphasizing that because "the world has not become bet- 5,000 Ushers BOMBAY, India (NC) — Five thousand ushers are being tra ined to direct and guide the 50,000 visitors expected at the 38th International Eucharistic Congress here Nov. 28 to Dec. 6. ter through materialists” and “because many people believe that religion is essential' to make people better,” he said, "We can hope that one day a bridge will reach across the Iron Curtain to unite the people with God and bring them to a lasting peace.” HE SAID the impressive im pact of the Council "is all the more surprising because at the beginning, both within and with out the Catholic Church, there was a suspicion that the Coun cil might become merely a ’splendid showplace of Ca tholicism,’ ” But, he added, Pope John XXIII "created a- favorable cjimate — the most significant factor contributing to the Coun cil’s success.” CARDINAL KOENIG credited the U. S. press — "with few exceptions” — with reporting Council activities "more and better than some in the so- called Catholic countries of Europe.” He said this helped the Council— especially in its second session — to present to the world an "insight to the spiritual inspiration of our times.” ligion as a strictly personal contract with God guaranteeing success(”. . .and that man sold not 12,000, but 19,000 Christmas cards 1”), the con fusion of spiritual and mental health, the bene volence of a universe without a use for suffer ing and hell, the emphasis on the glory of man and happiness on earth and you-can-do-it-if- you-try. It is not surprising that this doctrine fits the Reader’s Digest image of God, or that it can be used to justify the pernicious Puritan doctrine that the poor and desolate are somehow victims of their own moral weakness. Peale has clearly found a response among Americans who want to be told that independence and selfconviction are superior to following objective moral impera tives, and that it is not only possible, but God’s will, to have the best of both worlds. It would be hard to find an approach more directly opposed to the Catholic spirit and tradition. THE ONLY downright objectionable scene oc curs at the climax, when Dr. Peale’s all-night prayers apparently snatch an incurably ill girl from the brink of death. Perhaps it really happen ed, perhaps the authors simply needed a drama tic episode to conv.nce the hero to ignore the critics and stick to his post. But in the film the event is pure Hollywood flummery. The audience is plainly left with the impression, undetailed and unverified, that God has approved Dr. Peale’s work with a miracle. This outrageous use of the Almighty, for dramatic and even propaganda pur poses, is the sort of device truly religious films neither need nor want. Otherwise the production by Frank Ross (“The Robe”) has simple dignity and other good acting performances by Diana Hyland (as the blonde college flapper who wants her skirts to be as short as anybody’s) and William Windom (as Peale’s minister-father). There are some touch ing moments, especially in the love story, but unless one is wrapped up in Peale’s mission, the film is generally flat. THE DIRECTION by young (34) Denis Sanders is pedestrian. Both Sanders (who won an Oscar for a short subject 10 years ago as a prodigy out of U. C. L, A.) and cameraman Ernest Lasz- lo (“Mad, Mad World”) were apparently persuad ed to think negatively. 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, 8 1/2 The Leopard. Better than most: America America, Dr. Strange- love, Love With the Proper. Seminary Fund Remember the SEMINARY FUND of the Archdiocese of Atlanta in your WjLll. Be quests should be rtiade to the “MoAt 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 FUN God Love You BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEhT In the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testa ment, there are several characters: 1. The victims of the world’s injustice, symbolized by the man who was robbed and beaten. 2. The respectable, such as the priest and the levite who ful filled all duties of their state in life, but in the face of poverty and suffering merely “looked the other way” and hustled off. 3. The innkeeper, who dies a work of kindness, provided he is paid for it. 4. The Good Samaritan, who had compassion which, in the original Greek, means his heart went out to one. Another man’s pain was real; there was some thing passionate about his com passion. So in the world today, there are those who read of the world’s poverty and mumble in a melancholy way; "What a pity.” Others in holy rage shout; “What a shame.” But they look and pass by. Thus to the robbers, the traveler was a victim to be ex ploited; to the priest and the levite, a nuisance to be evaded; to the innkeeper, a business proposition; to the Samaritan, a neigh bor to be helped. Many of us will lose our souls not because of the evil that we have done, but because of the good which we have left undone, The Master’s condemnation fell upon those in the parable who did nothing. No oppressive wrongs are mentioned in the story of the rich man who feasted sumptuously while Lazarus, the leper, lay at his gate. The indictment was only in what the rich man left un done. No destructive vices are reported to those who are con demned on the Last Day. The indictment will be charged of use lessness: "I was hungry and you gave Me not to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger and you took Me not in; naked and you clothed Me not; sick and in prison and you visited Me not.” It could be just reading the “God Love You” column in which we appeal for The Society for the Propagation of the Faith which could be your greatest sin. To neglect all of this is to neglect the work of the Church itself. Not just one area of the earth, not just one missionary society, not one order, not one area, not one dio cese, but the Church. Do not neglect itl Send an offering today to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10001. GOD LOVE YOU to L. A. B. and her aunt for 55 "My niece was saving this for a two-wheeler, but decided to give it to the Missions instead. She made me realize how tardy I have been in sharing.” ...to J. D. C. for 520 "Someone made out my income papers but refused to accept payment. I hope he will benefit by this donation more than if he had accepted the money.” ...to J. R. W. for 5100 "I rendered to Caesar today by paying my income tax. The enclosed is a like amount to render to God. Find out how an annuity with The Society for the Propagation of the Faith helps both you and the poor of the world. Send your requests for our pamphlet on annuities, including the date of your birth, to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10001. 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-J. Rainey P, O. Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.