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THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAG£5 PARISH EXISTENCE Worship Objective BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW The primary objective of the existence of a parish is worship. Stated baldly, this may seem a truism or an excessive simplification. For the purpose of refreshing our grasp of such a familiar reality as parish life, however, it helps to clear away complications and reduce analysis to its simpliest terms. Worship is the main rea son for the establishment of a parish, with all the consequences which that step implies. It is the deter mining factor for every aspect of parish life and activity, as the soul is within the human be ing. Constant reference to this central concern is essential for the health of a parish. Many factors enter into the full achievement by a parish of its objective of worship. There are resultant demands on the level of the physical facilities which are needed. Even more serious are the spiritual demands upon each individual member of the parish. And by far the most important consequences of recognizing the prime place of worship in parish life have to do with the multiple relationships between the pastor and lay people as well as among all the members of the parish family. PUBLIC worship requires first of all a loca tion and an environment. Hence the maximum im portance of the parish church building, with its sanctuary and furnishings. Materials, style, deco ration, and indeed everything to do with the church building, must look to the function to be served by the building: the communal celebration of the liturgy. The beauty of a church is distinct from the beauty proper to any other place. It can never interfere with the ultimate objective for which the church is built. All the standards of the lit urgy as described in the Vatican Council’s Con stitution should animate the design, form and exe cution of the parish church: the banquet charac ter of the Eucharist; the dignity of the Scrip tural word of God; the central significance of Baptism; the active role of the laity and the pre siding role of the celebrant. The entire church should be, in other words, a unified sacramental sign of the worshipful relationship of the people of God to their Father. A PARISH can exist without buildings but, of course, it cannot exist without people. Just as the Church is the Body of Christ, which we are, so the parish is the society’ of persons who live within its boundaries, a “miniature” Mystical Body. It is upon their spiritual and mental powers that the duty of worship will make its most urgent de mands. The parish must engender in its mem bers an understanding of liturgical worship and es pecially of the implications of the Eucharistic sacrifice and banquet. The moral preparation of the Christian people in constantly renewed faith, hope and love must be a prime concern of the par ish, since it is an indispensable condition for ef fective worship. A full liturgical life is only pos sible when accompanied by a genuinely felt sense of community. It requires a great energy of love to unify the sometimes diffuse and often complex parish family. All of the operations of the modem parish, from societies to school, must contribute to the spiritual preparation of the people for their responsibility of worship. THE PROPER execution of a role demands first understanding, then acceptance, and finally dedi cation. The renewed vigor of the Church, which is beginning with the re-vitalization of the lit urgy, will find its true home in parishes aware of their primary objective worship. From this will immediately come the vitally correct rela tionship between the pastor and the lay members of the parish. It will never be possible for the members of a parish to be satisfied with a role of merely passive docility, when repeatedly their experience of the liturgical heart of parish life has emphasized their active party. The pastor is, above all else, the one who leads his flock in common worship of their Father. It is clear in the liturgy that his authority and position are designed for the service of his people. This pattern will extend in genuine love to all aspects of his rela tionship to the arish, if it has truly been deter mined in the context of worship. QUESTION BOX Symbol Of IHS? BY MONSIGNOR J. D. CONWAY Q. The sumbol “IHS” is used in many Protes tant churches as well as ours. Canyoutell me its meaning? A. The three Greek letters: iota, et, sigma correspond to our English letters I (or J) E and S. So our equivalent of IHS is JES - the first three letters of the name Jesus. In the early days of the Church they were frequently used as an abbreviation of the name of our Savior, and are today a sac red decorative symbol. ♦ ** Q. I lost my mother a couple of months ago. It was sudden; though she was 84 years of age she was quite active. I am past 60, and I became very ill from the shock and can't seem to get well again. I keep thinking about the mother being burned in purgatory, as Iwas taught that we all have to go there. Thank God she re ceived the last sacraments. A. You should rather try thinking of your mother enjoying the immeasurable happiness of heaven. It is by no means certain that we must all go to purgatory before we get to heaven. One of the pur poses of the last sacraments is to prepare us for immediate entrance into heaven. And I am confi dent that a good old lady of 84 has had ample op portunity, with God's many graces, to expiate here on earth all the sins of her life. Besides, I am not convinced that purgatory is as horrible as you picture it. We know very little about it, except that It is a place of purification on the way to heaven. The best feature of it is that there is only one way out: the door to paradise. The certainty of salvation must well compensate for the inconveniences of delay, and any sufferings which may be attached to it. We have no idea of the time any soul may spend In purgatory. For many it may well be a fleeting instant. For none is time measured there as it is here on earth. We should have great confidence in the love and forgiveness of our Savior, who gave His own life on the Cross to expiate our sins, and who rose from the dead that He might greet us in heaven. While He was on earth He forgave great sinners with a single word. He promised the thief on the cross that he would be with Him that same day in paradise. I am sure He promised your mother no less when He came to her in her final Communion. Q. I am enclosing an article from your column for true clarrification. Why do you falsely con tinue to preach an untruth even to an adult age 85, let alone to small school children, concern ing communion of non-Catholics, by saying that they deny the true presence of Christ in the Eu charist and do in fact serve only bread and wine? I am a Protestant of the American Lutheran Church and since my first communion, at age 14, till the present day have always heard the Pastor tell us that this Is the true body of Christ when he gives us the Host, and this is the true blood of Christ when he gives us the wine. You shouldn’t be mis-informed yourself when you instruct others on such an important issue. Catholics don’t even get the true blood; they only get the Host. Facts only please. A. Sorry for the offense. I did not have Lu therans in mind when I wrote of the difficulties of inviting to share our Communion those who do not believe in the true presence of Jesus in the Sacrament. I know that Lutherans do believe in the reality of this mystery; but there are many Protestants who do not. Just a week or two ago I wrote about our rea sons for receiving only the Host. Possibly you saw it. We believe that Jesus Christ is living, complete, and sanctifying under the one form of bread, or wine, or both. It is an ancient point of disagreement, which should be discussed fully or not at all. INDEPENDENT UGANDA Your World And Mine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 THAT THE welcome accorded the refugees by the Uganda government should be less than enthu siastic is in these circumstances hardly surpris ing. In addition, this government seems to be gen uinely frightened of the military dictatorship which controls the Sudan, a tough powerful regime which could with impunity conduct border raids and stir up internal discord. The recent mutiny, which was quelled only with the help of British troops, has dramatized the inherent weakness of the Uganda regime. And though Moslems are not numerous in Uganda, they are influential r to the point that Moslems hold two Cabinet posts In addition, the new Black African states are today convinced that their progress requires a firm alliance with the Arab world. They consequently seek to avoid any issue calculated to reduce a rift in this alliance. Above all. Uganda fears to make a move that would encourage more refugees from the Sudan. It is convinced that the flood would become an avalanche if It became known that there was op portunity for a human Uf e across the border. AND SO THE unfortunate refugees are treated with hostility* visiteq a camp at Bom bo some miles north of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Here several hundred students live in barefoot destitution on two meals of black beans daily, with meat once a week. Some American teachers who had come to work in Uganda had last Fall or ganized classes for them in their own spare time, but the Uganda government stopped them. The Anglican Church in Uganda attempted to ar range education for some of them out of a fund of $14,(XX) obtained for this specific purpose from the World Council of Churches, but it was also forced to 8top. ONE CANNOT but sympathize with the Ugandi government, which through no fault of Its owi finds itself in the middle. International statesman ship, should, nevertheless, be able to find some way to permit a group of young men to enjoy thi education for which they have risked their lives and abandoned their homes. As human beings, the] are entitled at least to that. In addition, if theii purpose is frustrated, it will mean that the foui million tribesmen in south Sudan, of whom the; are the leaders, will be left in a condition of com- plete helplessness. Such is obviously thestrateg of the Sudan dictatorship. It will facilitate its ob jective of destroying the independent existence o this minority as a separate cultural, linguistic and religious entity. Saints in Black and White FOR NON-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS ST. BARBARA 77 ACROSS 1. Piece 4. Her feast day is Dec 8. A kind of fruit 11. Road sign 14. 7th Letter of Greek alphabet 15. Within 16. Goddess of Mischief (Gr. Myth) 17. Fold 18. American College of Physicians 19. Tidy 20. Article 21. Hail! 22. Vessel 24. Bungle 26. Equal 27. Her father was a 30. Postpone 33. Domain 36. Follow again 40. Plaintive 43. Awe 45. Provide with means 46. Mangle 48. Unspoken 50. Near (Poetic) 51. She was kept secluded in a .... 53. Nut 55. Japanese Court 56. A medicine 58. Set again 60. India Tree 61. Salt sellers 63. Form of trapshooting 65. Follow 67. Famine 71. God 74. Extinct 77. Father when in Paris 78. Chop 79. Whim 81. God had much for her 84. Chalice veil 85. Teachers’ Assoc; abbr. 86. Tiff 87. Sign; Old English 88. Cape 89. Purpose 90. Male nickname 91. Metals 92. She is one DOWN 1. Animal 2. Irritated 3. American tropical animal 4. Kind of keel 5. Ace 6. Mormon State 7. Church court 8. She was beheaded her 9. Legendary Celt 10. Exclamation! 11. Russian race 12. Wash 13. Frank 23. Average 25. Sunshine State; abbr. 26. Mission 28. Man’s nickname 29. Pie (Eng.) 31. Payment due 32. Volcano 34. To spring 35. Scottish Law Official 37. Right angle to 38. Female name 39. Uncanny 40. Localities 41. Flavor 42. Pintle *4. Cubes (verb) 47. Trapped 49. Chore 52. Nothing (Fr) 54. Necessitate 57. Credits (abbr) 59. Exact point 62. Her father met with a .. .. death 64. Spigot 66. Engineering degree 68. Backs 69. Negotiate 70. Skindrying frame 71. Path 72. Steers 73. Peruse 75. Withal 76. Agent 79. Tarradiddle 80. Land measure 82. Strive 83. Half an em (pi) ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 New Secretariat Seeks Frankness, Rejects Bias VATICAN CITY (NC)--The Catholic Church’s new Secre tariat for non-Christian Rela tions will be charged with pur suing its work for mutual un derstanding through frankness and rejection of any kind of prejudice. This was the word given by an article in the Vatican City daily L’Osservatore Romano, which while unsigned was de scribed as “authoritative’’ by the Vatican press office, THE ARTICLE was publish ed in L’Osservatore’s May 21 edition which carried the offi cial announcement of Pope Paul Vi’s creation of the sec retariat, The Pope revealed his decision to establish the body on Pentecost (May 17), during an address in St. Peter’s, He named as its head Paolo Cardi nal Marella, former papal dip lomat who has served in Japan, Australia, France and the Unit ed States. The new secretariat was de scribed as having the same kind of structure as the existing Sec retariat for Promoting Chris tian Unity, despite the fact that its functions will be different. THE “authoritative” article said that Pope Paul’s decision to set up the new secretariat stemmed from “the true con cept of one’s neighbor, with out distinction of his religion or convictions, without refer ence to sympathy with or aver sion to our beliefs.” Recalling that the Church’s approach to the non-Christian neighbor in the past normally took the form of missionary ac tivity, “it is evident neverthe less that today’s world imposes the need for new contact with non-Christians: that of sympa thy, of mutual understanding— based certainly on study, but first of all on frankness, on .rejection of any kind of pre judice.” THIS IS the way, the article continued, to “open the road to mutual esteem, to a sincere drawing closer together and to a cordial collaboration in all possible fields.” L’Osservatore’s article cit ed these examples of possible cooperation: “The defense of religious ideas, today the target of atheistic communism; the protection of .the entire prec ious inheritance of the natural law which is found existing everywhere, and its develop ment, purification and enrich ment—all steps leading toward Him who is the Author of nature and its law.” IN THE past, the article held, ignorance, inveterate preju dice, and even more or less conscious bad faith served to distort the vision of Christians and non-Christians, with the re sult that it was difficult for Christians to observe the na tural virtue of non-Christian religions. OUTLINING how the new sec retariat is to operate, the arti cle indicated that it will main tain a small staff in Rome. It will reach out to all parts of the world through the bishops and apostolic nuncios and dele gates. “Contact must come about principally on the spot, adapting itself to particular conditions,” it said. With reports and suggestions coming from the individual areas, the secretariat will be furnished with information to guide it in the issuance of di rectives. THE ARTICLE noted that the idea for such a secretariat is not an entirely new one, and that individual undertakings have been going on for some time. The task of the secretariat will be to generalize these efforts and to coordinate them. The article concluded by stat ing: “Even if parts of the tan gible results to be sought are not achieved everywhere, the efforts will be compensated in large measure if a greater understanding and reciprocal esteem is achieved.” Seminary Fund ARNOLD VIEWING 6 Best Man 9 Without God BY JAMES W. ARNOLD The spirits of generations of Hollywood rebels may at last be put to rest. Ben Hecht, for one, thought it would never happen. The hero of an American movie (“The Best Man”) doesn’t be lieve in God and has said so out loud, and the picture has ended without his destruction or con version. Actually, the event has little effect on God or on the world's orbit. Movie heroes have been behaving like unbelievers for so long that we have •toped paying attention to what the y say. What is disturbing is that the author,*"a certified in tellectual named Gore Vidal, thinks that his hero’s viewpoint ("I belive in us, in man”) is somehow intelligent. So soon after Dachau and Hiroshima, the wonder is that an actor can deliver that line with a straight face. MOST OF the film, closely adapted by Vidal from his 1960 play, is about a much less vital subject: politics. If one reads him correctly, Vidal is a blue-stocking liberal who argues that democracy is not a system of beliefs but a method of acting. Means are not only superior to ends, they are the only reality. Style is supreme in life as well as politics. In fact, while preaching clas sic democratic theory, Vidal shows upper-class contempt for the common man as well as the common virtues. and then realizing the clods around him will not dig the full profundity of his wit. Once, after Fonda has airily quoted Bertrand Russell, some body stupidly asks if this wasn’t the same man who was fired from CCNY for advocating free love. He replies testily, with something less than keen insight: “Yes, he was fired. But only for moral turpitude, not for incompetence as a philoso pher.” THE FONDA character has several other status symbols: a psychiatric past, a reputation for promiscuity, no apparent children, and an es tranged wife, a cooly attractive Olympian lady (who can be more top drawer than Margaret Leigh ton?). Fonda and Leighton exchanged urbane dia log and patrician smiles, and get no closer to each other than the width of the Manhattan phone directory. In contrast, the Robertson character worked his way up from poverty and still bears the stigma of the non-elect. He is loud and unsubtle, inclined to speak in cliches and to gurgle baby talk to. his wife (Edie Adams). She is an earthy blond, who drinks too much, says too much, wears the wrong things, and worries that she is getting fat. The unscrupulous Robertson, naturally, "says he be lieves in God ("I'm very religious, in a funny sort of way”) and doubtless cheated his way through the wrong college. Robertson is too nasty for the good of the drama, with so many flaws of intelligence, taste and character that it is hard to accept him as a credi- His story is about a struggle for the presiden tial nomination between an aristocrat who is ethi cal but non-religious (Henry Fonda) and a prole tarian who is religious but non-ethical (Cliff Rob ertson). A third force is a crusty ex-president (shrewdly acted by Lee Tracy) who is both non religious and non-ethical and, of course, highly popular. A pragmatist, he asks only that a man have enough brains to win. Since he Is the only fellow who doesn’t get told off, he seems to be Vidal’s ideal political animal. THE WHOLE idea teeters on the edge of credi bility, but director Franklin Schaffner recreates the hysteria of a live convention with remarkable fidelity. The film medium gets the script out of the hotel rooms that strait-jacketed the play, and the cutting and several montage sequences juice up the excitement. Actor Tracy gets two big scenes (deathbed, banquet speech) that weren’t in the play, and civil rights pickets and southern governors linger on the fringes of the action. Vidal leaves out a tortured women’s press conference and a plug for birth con trol. The only really clumsy scenes involve come dian Shelley Berman, who is encouraged at the wrong time to do his imitation of the average- citizen-as-nitwlt. Oddly, Vidal’s portrait of the witty, highbrow liberal (Fonda) sepms drawn to the specifica tions of the Republican National Committee. He is insufferably patronizing, fond of dropping names that the average voter is a meathead. This is ai arguable proposition, but if you support it, you’re certainly not a democrat. THE FILM condemns bad politics (mud-sling- ing, threats, lies) on grounds that they are (L unintelligent and (2) bad manners. Traditional morality is irrelevant. Ultimately, Fonda re fuses a gutter fight not because it is “wrong”, bui because it’s beneath his dignity. The ex-president, in fact, pleads for the unrestricted use of power, provided only it is used cleverly and with a feel for the “Sensitivity” of the victim. The tragedy is that religion has been so mis used by fanatics and phonies (who “pour God ovei everything, like ketchup”) that the Robertsor character can be presented as a type of the re ligious man in politics. The charge irritates, bui it sticks, and we need not go back very far ir history to demonstrate it. Every time a moral issue is made of a political end, and outrageous methods are clothed in righteousness, the respeci for morality is reduced everywhere. But basically, Vidal's thesis is a superficial and juvenile approach to the relation between re ligion and politics. The reaction to it is less anger than sadness, four years after the election of a man whose career was an eloquent statement or the matter. Besides, doesn’t anyone read Minneso ta’s Sen. Eugene McCarthy except the editors oi Commonweal? 'CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS: For everyone: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Lilies of the Field. For connoisseurs: Tom Jones, 8 1/2 Better than most: America America, Dr. Strange- love, Love With the Proper Stranger, Billy Liar, Charade, Parris When It Sizzles. Remember the SEMINARY FUND of the Archidocese of Atlanta in your Will. Bequests should be made to the “Most Reverend Paul J, Hallinan, Archbishop of the Catho lic Archdiocese of Atlanta and his successors in office**. Participate in the daily prayers of our sefni- narians and in the Masses offer ed annually for the benefactors of our SEMINARY FUND. God Love You UY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN Have you ever seen a person cross a muddy road by stepping on little rocks placed on convenient spots? Is this the way our par ishes are in cities, and our dioceses in the world? Are they little ghettos and spiritual fortresses in which we take refuge to avoid getting involved in the muck and mud of the city's crime and the dirty puddle of the world’s hunger and poverty? What concern is there for the “sheep not of the fold,” for the “sheep without a shepherd,” for those non-parochial, non-diocesan areas which made Jesus weep as He looked over such a city and such a world? A parish is not juridically responsible for a city; a diocese is not canonically responsible for the world. But both are morally responsible. Our Lord often spoke about the world: “God so loved the world”; “I am the Light of the world”; “I have come to save the world.” And He delegated the same responsibility to His Apostles: “I send you into the world.” If the parish lives for itself, the city perishes; if the diocese lives for itself, the Prince of the World takes possession of itl May the Holy Spirit inspire us bishops, priests and laity to realize that the exit from the altar is not the sacristy but the broken world, that the Communion rail is the prelude to loving in the worldl The flesh the Lord took on was not easy-fitting; it groaned at deafness, sighed at blindness, wept at death, bled at the sight of sin. You who are rich, give not only to those who are already rich, lest like Ephraim they become fat and unspiri- tual and identif' the Kingdom of God with the addition of barn to bam! Give to the poor, wherever they are—in your slums, in the hovels of Latin America, in the leper colonies of Africa 1 Yes, the poor! Pray not only for your own needs, but make your lips one with the lonely hearts who cry out in their despair: “My Godl Why hast Thou forsaken Mel” Begin rethinking your spiritual life! We all belong to juridical entities where boundaries are strict! But as members of the Mysti cal Body we are sent as a leaven to the masses in the slums and as salt of the earth. Look for Christ everywhere, in the worried faces of the spiritually homeless, in the Magdalens, in those for whom the Vicar of Christ must trouble his soul. Rewrite your wiHe- Give principally to those who give to the poor and make no Wall Street investments. Better still, give it to the Vicar of Christ through his Society for the Propagation of the Faith and allow the Holy Father to make the distribution. GOD LOVE YOU to Anonymous for $2,000 “For God’s Poor.” ....to M.M.T. for $25 “Since last summer my Friday night ‘din ner’ has been one slice of dry bread, eaten in fellowship with Christ in His hungry poor, in reparation and expiation for my own and others’ sins, and as a small sacrifice for the Missions.” ....to R.J.N. for $2 "In thanksgiving for a favor granted me through St. Jude”. MISSION combines the best features of all other magazines: stories, pictures, statistics and details, human interest. Take an interest in 4s the suffering humanity of the mission world and send your sacrifice along with a request to be put on the mailing list of this bi-monthly magazine. Cut out this column* pin youi* sacrifice to ft and mail it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Pro pagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avtenue, New York lx, N, Y. or' your Archdioces'art Director, Very Rev. Harold J* Rainey P. O. Box 12047 Northside Statioif, Atlanta 5, Ga. .