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Burial Of Suicides
Saints in Black and White
ST. FRANCIS OF PAULA 97
rBY MONSIGNOR J.D. CONWAY
Q. Often people suffer from mental disturban
ces that are not apparent to others. At times such
people may be suicidal, greatly desiring their own
death. Some may even succeed in taking their own
life. Does the Church always exclude suicide vic
tims from burial in the Church? If so, why? How
can a priest possibly know the mental difficulties
tormenting such a person, and decide that he is
not “worthy** of a church funeral?
If a disturbed person desires his own death is
he considered in a state of mortal sin? If so, then
isn't this the same as condemning a physically
handicapped person for his own handicap?
A. The Church law which excludes suicides from
Christian hurial exists for the purpose of teaching
the living that suicide is a grave sin, for which
there is seldom opportunity for
^ | ^repentance. Not everyone be
lieves this. The law excludes
only those who take their own
life “with well weighed deci
sion.’’ If there is reason to sus
pect that mental or emotional
jdisturbances made the act less
I than the suicide will be buried
Tn the Church. So much is the
benefit of doubt given to sui
cides that seldom is one excluded from Christian
burial.
No one can be guilty of mortal sin unless he
does wrong freely and deliberately. We are not
responsible for things we cannot avoid.
Q. 1. What is the Mystical Body?
2. Who are its members?
3. What are the requirements to become a
member?
4. Are its members only those whoare living?
5. Are its restrictions only for those of the
Catholic faith?
A. The Mystical Body can be understood only
in terms of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God.
He became man to redeem and sanctify men. He
accomplished this, essentially, by His life, death,
resurrection, and ascension. But He must still
bring the effects of it to each person on earth. The
Mystical Body is an extension of Himself, a con
tinuation of His redeeming and isanctifying; acti
vities, and it embraces all those who come to Him
in faith and baptism.
It is a union of the people of God, joined each
and all to a common head, Jesus Christ, Who seeks
to share His divine life with them.
The most intimate members of the Mystical
Body are those who are joined to Jesus Christ by
baptism, faith and love. They share His life in
full measure. However, those who have lost love
are also members, united to the rest of the Body,
and to Christ its Head, by baptism and faith. Those
who have rejected faith cut themselves off frim
effective membership in the Body.
For an infant the only requirement for member
ship is baptism. For an adult this baptism must
be joined to honest faith.
Only the living are counted as members of the
Mystical Body. Those in heaven and purgatory
are intimately joined with the same head Jesus
Christ, and thus are united to all members of
the Mystical Body, but call this wider union the
Communion of Saints.
AN ALTAR BOY NAMED
"SPECK"
“Have you been handing out traffic
tickets again?”
If we restrict membership to those of theCath-.
olic faith we must be careful in defining this faith.
All those who are baptized into Christ become
members of Christ - members of His Mystical
Body - and they cut off their membership only
when they deliberately reject Christ by denying
faith in him. Many there are who make a partial
denial of faith without any personal guilt. They do
not sever themselves from Christ by simple er
ror; the bonds of their baptism remain effective.
Then there are others who have never been bap
tized, but yet have faith - and often love. Only an
encounter with Christ could have produced these
sanctifying effects in them. And by such encoun
ter they join themselves in some way to the Mysti
cal Body. We might say that they have a baptism
of desire.
Jesus came on earth to be the sacrament - the
effective sign - of our vivifying union with God. In
His Mystical Body He continues to live as a sac
rament - a sign which produces results-on earth.
All those who make personal, compliant encounter
with Him He joins to Himself in His Mystical Body.
***
Q. In the Book of Proverbs, 26:4, is stated:-
“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest
thou be made like him.’’
Verse 5 states: “Answer a fool according to his
folly, lest he imagine himself to be wise.’*
Is this a contradiction or a poor translation. Of
these two quotes, which one is a person supposed
to follow, or can we take our pick?
A. This is a paradox. Its meaning is something
like this: don’t descend to the level of a fool or
you will argue like a fool yourself; and yet you
must argue with him to show him how foolish he is.
The first 12 verses of this chapter have a dozen
wise observations about fools, and the concluding
one is:
“You see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him”.
***
Q. In our area there are quite a few priests
who call the Gospels “Gospel Stories.’’ Now it
seems a lot of people believe that stories are
something that you do not need to believe as the
truth. It seems to me that some people who hear
the priest say “Gospel Stories’’ feel that it is
not necessary to believe them; so I think it is
wrong to call them stories. Would it not be better
to call them “Gospel Truths?*’
A. You may have a good point there. However,
there are many things in the Gospels which are
simply stories; the parables. The householder who
hired men to work in his vineyard and paid them
each a penny ... the wise and foolish virgins
... the sower who went out to sow his seed ...
the man who had two sons and gave the younger
his inheritance ... the king who prepared a mar
riage feast; these stories might well begin,
“once upon a time.” They are told to illustrate
a point of truth.
***
Q. I hope you do not mind if I challenge your
answer to a question about eating meat on Friday
out of charity to a Protestant hostess. I was al
ways taught we were not to compromise when
mortal sin was involved. It takes courage and self-
discipline at a time like that to show God we love
Him first and will serve Him no matter the cost.
Charity is good, but I am sure our Protestant
friend would admire us for doing what is right if
we were noticed in passing up the meat.
To me there is security and peace in knowing
what is right and wrong. The saints had to step
out of line to do what was right many a time.
A. This question comes from a good Sister, and
I have quoted only part of it. She is not the only
one who has disagreed with my suggestion that ob
ligations of charity might sometimes excuse us
from obeying a law of the Church.
Surely I agree with her that we may not com
promise when mortal sin is involved. We cer
tainly could never commit a mortal sin to ac
complish a work of charity. My problem was in
deciding between two obligations: (1) of charity, to
avoid grave offense which might redound to the
harm of religion, and (2) a positive law of the
Church, which we all know is not intended to
oblige always, everywhere, and in all circum
stances.
My judgment was that there may be cases in
which the law of charity prevails over the law of
the Church, thereby excusing me from the law
of the Church. I do not commit sin by eating
meat on Friday when I am excused from the law.
A dispensation might excuse me. A good, sound,
sufficient reason may excuse me.
There is security in knowing right from wrong,
certainly, and there can be no compromise be
tween them. But we may sometimes do a lot of
wrong with the bull-headed and unreasoning con--
viction. that we are doing right. We may commit
no formal s'in, but do a lot of harm. That is why
“holy” people are sometimes “impossible”
people.
‘STATE OF MIND
The Nature Of The South
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
more successful i n tracing the roots of the South
and its myths than they are in evaluating their
present status or projecting their future. There
is a New South, product not only of economic ad
vances but of liberated minds. Hodding Carter,
Ralph McGill and Martin Luther King, Jr. do not
belong to any, real or fictional, Old South. Inte
restingly enough, however, they may have in
herited a portion of their virtues from that
source, The New South probably had its actual
bi rt b in the Great Depression, during which a
presidential report labeled the region “the na
tion’s number one economic problem.” Even the
phrasing is significant. The Old South was separa
tist and engendered loyalty to the state and region
before the nation. The New South is gradually be
coming integrated into the mainstream of Ameri
can history and experience. Southern poverty
brought assistance and, eventually, industrializa
tion. Commerce and industry have contributed,
obliquely but substantially, to the revolution for
civil equality, which marks the present South.
The future should be full of hope - we hope.
THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
TOR ALL FAITHS’
Historic Carrollton
Chapel Being Moved
ACROSS 62. Clamor 30.
1. He fasted from— 64. Gullet 31.
5. Network 65. Personality 34.
9. Ancient Briton 66. Prospect 35.
13. Fairy 69. Youngster
14. Ballad 70. Stomach
15. Molding 71. Three
16. Panama 72. W. Indian shrub 37.
17. Vigor plant 38.
18. Bark cloth 74. Collides 39.
19. Biblical name 75. Employs 40.
20. Stake 76. Medley 41.
21. One who withdraws 77. Prove false
24. Jewel 78. Rational 42.
25. Managed 79. Piercing 43.
27. Conjunction 80. Disappear 44.
28. PI of 18th letter of DOWN.... 48.
Alphabet 1. Name of order he 49.
29. If not founded 51.
31. Heat resistant 2. Test 52.
glass 3. Bother 54.
32. Nickel; abbr. 4. —Deum
33. Tram 5. Head covering 57.
36. English College 6. Date
40. He was bom here 7. Tastes 58.
43. Old make of car 8. Exclamation 59.
45. Comb, form; 9. Circle 60.
boundary 10. Knight’s oath —
46. Roman room 11. Outcast 61.
47. Labor Union 12. Lacerates 63.
48. At regular Intervals 13. Board of Judges 67.
50. Scruff 16. Confine 68.
52. More obtuse 17. Set of seats for 70.
53. Negative clergy 73.
55. Air force student 22. 1/2 an em 74.
56. Pronoun 23. Swindle 76.
60. A degree 26. Pasha 77.
Jap outcast
Sifts
Baseball term
The name of the
order he founded
means—of monastic
order
20 cwt
Mouths
Nothing
Able
“Heart of Dixie”;
abbr.
Flange
Restoration
Simple sugar
Tranquilizer
Scrap
MU? pond
Tahitian national
god
He became one at
age 15
Open
Drags
Flowering water
plant
Joint cavity
— Yo
Sky; Chinese
Broccoli
To Select
Never; (Ger.)
Apis
Stamp of approval
A degree
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7
BY MARGE LaFOV
When the Catholic Church of
Our Lady in Carrollton moved
into its new church, it was fac
ed with a decision to be
made about its former struc
ture. This edifice had been
standing in the heart of the city
since 1893, and to dismantle it
would be to destroy still ano
ther of the few remaining land-
marks : of Carrbllton’s earlier
days; to sell it> meant to risk,
again, its destruction.
The. historic building had
been used, first, for Episcopal
services, and, since 1953, for
Catholic services, and it was
felt that a way must be found
to have the chapel continue to
serve the community in some
capacity.
Archbishop Hallinan, offer
ed to donate the building to West
Georgia College to be used on
campus as a Chapel of All
Faiths. With the approval of the
Board of Regents, the President
of the College, Dr. James E.
Boyd, accepted this offer and,
in the midst of a huge expans
ion program, allotted space for
it in a prominent spot on the
main college road. There it will
be preserved as a link with the
past and will become a part of
the tradition of the College.
’THIS IS a source of much
satisfaction”, said the pastor,
Father Richard B. Morrow,
"both to the pioneer Catholics
of the West Georgia area, and to
the Marist Fathers who came
from Atlanta to offer services
ARNOLD VIEWING
‘The Silence’ Not Golden
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Silence,” the last in
his trilogy on human love and the existence of God,
raises perplexing questions for Catholics who
revere the motion picture.
The usual critical questions are rather easily
answered, Story - oriented
moviegoers want to know if a
film, as comedy or tragedy, will
intelligently and humanly feed
some kind of delight into their
hungry souls. The answer here
must be narrowly qualified.
‘THE SILENCE” is a close
relative of the intellectual
novel. Its surface story is slight
and sordid, and so excessive is the overlay of
gloom and evil that Bergman almost seems to be
spoofing Bergman. The characters are static,
with fuzzy, half-developed motives and little pow
er to reach into the audience for compassion. The
film succeeds mainly on the philosophical level,
as allegory. Unlike most Bergman films, this
one offers little satisfaction on the level of story
or character.
Enthusiasts of film as film are less concerned
with what a fnovie is about. They want to know how
well the director used his medium: camera, light
ing, movement, editing, sound. Although he pre
fers ideas to technique, Bergman rarely disap
points this type of viewer. The Swede achieves his
effects not so much by arty editing as by having
his camera track characters in perpetual motion,
with tight microscopic closeups filling the screen
with maps of the human face from forehead to
chin.
New angles are always crucial, fraught with
meaning; Shots are intensely selective, revealing
and attending to only what must be seen. The
soundtrack is dead unless Bergman wants us to
hear something: a clock ticking, a watch being
wound.
This remorseless camera work, probing, lin
gering, straining until the slightest gesture re
veals something vital, can be tedious for custo
mers used to the pace of Hollywood films. But
the method takes humans apart and exposes them
as mercilessly as a novel.
IF BERGMAN can be faulted as a user of film, it
is chiefly in his literary bent: more and more
his climactic moments seem to come in soft,
understated, hard-to-catch dialog than in action.
And poetry, so memorable in his great films,
seems lacking.
As for philosophical questions, nothing short of
an essay could uncover the richness of Bergman's
meanings, especially in the context of the trilogy.
But it is suggestive that the story is of two women
and a child alone in a huge, near-empty hotel in a
strange country. For Bergman this world without
father-figures (one sister despises men, the other
apparently has an indifferent husband) is a Godless
world, grotesque, full of death and despair. The
characters cry out, but God is silent.
It is all rather dreary, but not without Bergman's
obscure intimations of hope. In the trilogy, God,
hope and love are inextricably tied together. In
'Through a Glass Darkly,” a girl goes insane be
cause her father, whom she more and more con
fuses with God, seems not to return her love. In
‘ Winter Light,” a minister finds that having lost
the power to love. In ‘The Silence,” the sister
who suffocates is the intellectual who has rejected
the creative love God has put into the world.
THE KEY? Near the end of “Glass,” the father
tells his son: “Love - even the poorest - is
God’s pledge.” Even the renunciation and misuse
of love, even jealousy, even self-love, the worst
love as well as the best - for Bergman, God’s
shadow on earth is the love that exists among men.
No love is in vain: it is the sign that shatters
‘‘the silence.”
For Bergman fans, the really troubling issue is
the condemnation of ‘The Silence” by the Legion
of Decency. Legion reviewers concluded that
Bergman’s moral intentions were nullified by his
choice of details. He does show and suggest more
than we would like, and he stretches good taste
to the screaming point. But the crucial questions
are: (1) do these scenes appeal to the prurient in
terest? (2) do they go so far that the matter can
not be redeemed by the attitude of the director?
BOTH QUESTIONS, it seems to me, could be
resolved in favor of Bergman. First, the integrity
of the man, who could be a millionaire in Holly
wood any time he wants to, is indisputable. Sec
ond, he has designed each shot to produce, not at
traction, but virtual Puritanical revulsion. Cot
ton Mather might well have endorsed the film as
revealing sex in all its animalism and ugliness.
Clearly, Bergman cannot be held responsible
for screwballs who may get a charge out of such
material. Nor for the immature, who would find
the film boring to the point of stupor. But they are
much more likely to see (and enjoy) movies like
‘McLintock” (L of D A-I) which implicitly en
dorses boozing and sexual adventuring, or ‘The
Prize” (A-3) which promotes promiscuity as a
way of life.
What is more damaging? A moral film which
shows sin for what it is? Or a filrri which pro
motes and prettifies evil but stops short of show
ing it? Who is the better father? The one who gives
good advice about the world as it really is? Or the
one who gives bad advice and describes the world
as lollipops and moonbeams?
YET THE Legion’s view is also persuasive.
The problem is complicated by Bergman’s use
of images and suggestions he might have avoided.
But how is he to show the wickedness of the abuse
of love? Or is this a subject that films, because
of their undeniably graphic nature, must avoid?
The posture of the Church in regard to the
maturing film art - perhaps the only art in the
world today that is truly alive and universal -
remains awkward/ Immoral junk is sometimes ap
proved, moral art sometimes condemned. Yet who
envies the Legion’s task? It must judge occasions
of sin for a phantom average audience. It must con
sider not only the Bergmans, and what they may
push to next, but lesser imitators, for whom nudity
plus sex equals cash.
We still seem to need a better standard for the
moral evaluation of films, perhaps a new system
altogether. It would be useful if the problems of the
Legion received, in the next few years, the same
re-examination scheduled for the Index of Forbid
den Books.
here. To them, it is a symbol
of the struggle to keep alive the
Catholic Faith that had first
taken root in this section in
1893, when about 200 families
of Hungarians settled outside of
Bremen and named their com
munity ‘Budapest’.
“Although through the years
many of these early families
migrated to other parts, those
who stayed remained loyal to
their Catholicity and attended
Mass whenever a priest was
available. By 1936, one of the
Marist Fathers was coming
from Atlanta regularly to off
er Mass on Sundays?
in an abandoned one-room
school house, where a pot-bel
lied stove furnished the heat,
the mark of the blackboard still
plainly showed on the wall, and
the old school bell rang out the
call to Mass.
This tiny group took on new
vigor as the city of Carrollton
grew and Catholic families
drove the thirty miles to Buda
pest to hear Mass. It became
apparent, however, that a more
centrally located church was
needed and the problem was
solved when, in 1952, the local
Episocpal Church was offered
for sale. Though few in number,
these Catholics worked dili
gently to raise the required
amount, $8,500., and by August
1953 the chapel was theirs and
was dedicated to Our Lady of
Perpetual Help.
THEY HAD received a subst
antial donation from the Catho
lic Extension Society and from
understanding friends in the
area, in Atlanta, and elsewhere.
Public spirited citizens of
Carrollton, realizing that a
Catholic Church was a ‘‘must”
if they were to attract new in
dustry to their city, gave their
enthusiastic support. By 1961,
the chapel was bursting at the
seams as the number of par
ishioners had tripled, and a new
church plant was begun on Cen
ter Point Road and was dedi
cated in March 1962. Shortly
thereafter, the small white
frame chapel was offered to the
West Georgia College.
This Chapel-with-a-tradition
is about to be moved to the cam
pus, there to add another chap
ter to its long record of ser
vice. It will provide a quiet spot
for meditation and a central lo
cation for religious organiza
tions on the campus. The need
for such a facility has been
apparent for some time. No
services will be conducted in
the chapel on Sundays, so there
will be no conflict with other
religious services in the com
munity.
The necessary funds to move
the building and make the rene-
vations to convert it to a chapel
for all faiths are being raised
through a committee of laymen
from each major denomination
in the West Georgia area, un
der the chairmanship of Frank
Searcy. The monetary goal has
almost been reached and before
too long this Chapel of All
Faiths will be nestling in a
wooded grove in the midst of
modern brick buildings on the
West Georgia campus in
Carrollton.
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
The other night, an athletic director said to me: “Please re
member my grave need in Mass tomorrow.” Suppose I had an
swered him: “Give me a dollar and I will give you this,” then
handed him an embossed printed card reading, “You will be re
membered in my Mass.” Or suppose I took advantage of the grief
of a neighbor and passed out cards at a funeral home, promising to
remember the deceased in a Mass for a dollar or more. Would not
this be converting the Via Dolorsa into the “Via Dollarosa” and
making prayers a “racket”?
CALLING ALL CATHOLIC PEOPLE 4 Put this
I |note into your prayer book:
1. You are already remembered in every Mass
jby every priest in every part of the world. This
is true of the dead as well as the living.
2. You have a pastor*, and he is obligated to read
jMass for you—not just to remember you—al
most one hundred times a year.
3. Never pay anyone a cent for a mere “remem
brance in Mass,” even though you get an em
bossed card with your name in Gothic print.
4. There is a difference in having a Mass offered in justice for
your own special intention and making an offering" tor a remem
brance, which you already have in justice.
S. faie next time you are asked to buy a card promising a “re
membrance in Mass,” tell the seller: “I will give you something
if you promise to FAST for me instead of pray.” See how many will
do thatl They will take your money for praying, which is very
vague, but not for fasting, which is very hard.
Go to your parish priest or diocesan director of The Society for
the Propagation of the Faith and ask not for a memento, but that the
renewed sacrifice of Christ be offered for you and you alone. The
latter will send your stipend to the Missions, where some priests
exist on $5 a month. A priest in Africa cannot send you an elabo
rate card in thanksgiving, but he can lift up black hands holding a
white Host—which is worth more than a thousand cards I
.GOD LOVE YOU to A.K.B, for $10 “In thanksgiving for a
favor received from St. Jude and Our Lady of Perpetual Help,
I had planned to send flowers to Church. Instead, I feel the
money might bring a flower of Faith to someone who seeks the true
Church.” ...to W. and M.H. for $500 “Since God has given us a
bit more than the necessities of life, we want to give this money
to the Missions. We are saving this for our retirement, but think
the poor can use it more than we.” ..to A.W. for $5 “In thanks
giving to the Sacred Heart for a favor received.”
Send us your old gold and jewelry—the valuables you no longer
use but which are too good to throw away. We will resell the ear-
rings, gold eyeglass frames, flatware, etc., and use the money
to relieve the suffering in mission lands. Our address: The Society
for the Propagation of the Faith, 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 Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New
on n N ion;<? r J° U u D10Cesan Director * Rev - Harold J. Rainey,
^Q»^Qx^Q4j^Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Georgia.