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PARISH, PASTOR, LAITY
Saints in Black and White
THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1964
FOR COMMON GOOD
GEORGIA BULLETIN ' PAGE 5
A Profound
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
Since the essence of the parish is the society
of those individuals who compose it, its vitality
and health depend on an entire complex of in
ter-personal relationships. The pastor has a dis
tinct and demanding personal relationship to the
laity of the parish. They in turn are placed in
a definite, and not always too obvious, relationship
to him. Among themselves, the
parishioners are related to each
other in a manner far more
profound than the mere coinci
dence of fulfilling their relig
ious duties in the same place.
The entire parish, pastor and
laity together, have a continu
ing relationship to the Church
in the larger sense, that is, in
the diocese and throughout the
world. The parish also represents the Church
religiously to those not of the faith both fellow
Christians and others- as well as to the com
munity as a whole.
The pastor’s first relationship, and therefore
duty, to the parish is to personify the priestly
Church. His office may then be reduced to a very
specific aspect of charity, of love. He is among
the people of the parish, as was Christ, "not
to be served but to give his life for many."
An especially demanding aspect of his office is
that he is not only to love but to communicate
love. An American priest-author has observed
that the priest was once identified with the gov
erning class and later with the educated class,
the clerics. All this is now past. It seems most
fitting, he continues, that now priests, as indivi
duals and as a group, should be distinguished
and identified by -kindness- as the kindest men
in society.
The pastor exercises his service of love in
very definite ways, by diffusing those goods of
which he is the consecrated custodian. In the
first place, this points to his properly sacer
dotal role- to lead his parish in worship. The
pastor is the presiding officer of the parish com
munity in the work of public worship. He is its
leader in the liturgy, the communal honor
offered to God and the effective sanctification
of souls.
The pastor’s second work, closely related to
Relationship
the first, is to teach. Above all in preaching,
but also through the countless other channels
available to him, it pertains to his office to
nourish the minds and hearts of the parish with
the word of God. He must proclaim the Gos
pel in its fullest truth, not narrowly or only
formally, but with its living pertinence to the
lives of his hearers. In today's Church this
places the utmost demands upon him to mirror
the renewed understanding and the deeper dim
ension of Catholic life being imparted by tne Holy
Spirit. It will be no simple matter to be a pas
tor in the age of the Second Vatican Council.
His teaching office will include providing a stimu
lus to the laity of the parish to exercise their
proper apostolic role and to grasp the full mea
sure of their Christian vocation.
In our society, the duty of the lay parishio
ners to provide sustenance for their pastor
does not demand discussion. It is fulfilled without
question. Aside from it, the laity of a parish
have duties, no so much to, as through, the pas
tor. They are responsible, in the first place,
to cooperate with him in the common work of
worship. As much as he, they too must adjust
willingly and fully to the renewed grasp of the
liturgy which Vatican II has initiated.
As the pastor must teach the pure doctrine
of God’s word with all its implications, so the
laity of the parish are responsible to absorb
it, "to hear the word of God and keep it." As
he would be wrong to teach it falsely or partially,
so neither may they legitimately refuse to hear
it fully. They cannot reject (as he may
not refuse to preach) the difficult demands of
social justice or the~ever evolving measure of a
fully Christian mentality. The pastor is the
spokesman of the Church within the parish and
that means he is the spokesman of Christ, He
must be heard as such, aside from subjective
considerations of eloquence or persinality.
The pastor and the lay membersof a parish have
any number of distinctive and necessary roles to
perform in the life of the healthy and vital par
ish. Of all the relationships emboidied in the
parish, theirs is the most important. It is in the
proper and complete understanding of this rela
tionship that the parish is enabled to grow
strong in the several other directions in which its
life flows.
QUESTION BOX
St. Patrick Canonized?
BY MONSIGNOR J. D. CONWAY
Q. IN October, 1963,1 asked a question concern
ing the canonization of St. Patrick. You stated that
it would be a while till you could answer my
question. I hope it will not be a year.
A. If I took your question in proper sequence
it would be seven years (estimated) before I
came to it. You should see the stack of questions
I have I
St. Patrick was never canonized,,
Lest good Irishmen be scandalized at this state
ment, we must keep in mind that there was no
process of canonization in the Church back in the
5th century when St. Patrick died. Saints were
declared such by popular acclamation and devo
tion, which the Church gradually recognized
and approved.
Q. On May 1 of this year we Catholics were
permitted to eat meat because of the feast of
St. Joseph the Worker. Could you tell me if the
feast of St. Joseph that falls on March 19 dur
ing Lent was transferred to May 1. or are they
two separate feast days?
places the former Solemnity of St. Joseph which
was celebrated on the Wednesday after Easter
Week.
You were exempted from abstinence on May
1 by a dispensation of your bishop, Not all bishops
granted this dispensation.
Q. I am a convert since 1946. Could you please
advise me as to services in case I am the one to
take care of my good husband). Ours is a mixed
marriage. I know Mr. can be laid to rest in Cath
olic ground; the thing that worries me is; Will
a priest conduct the services of a non-Catholic
in an undertaker ’s parlor? Are they ever
taken in the Catholic Church?
A. It is common custom for a priest to con
duct a funeral service for a non-Catholic at the
undertaker’s parlor when the family request it.
Unfortunately we are not permitted to have such
a funeral in the church at the present time. I
hope that changes may be made in this regard
before the time comes for you to lay your good
husband to rest. I know non-Catholics who ac
company their families to Mass every Sunday;
it does not seem right that they should be ex
cluded from the church in death.
A. The feast of March 19 atill remains, and in
many countries it is a holy day of obligation.
Pope Pius XII established the new feast of St.
Joseph the Workman to "impress onmen’s minds
the dignity of human work and the principles
according to which it should be carried on.”
And he put it on May 1 because that is the day
which laboring men throughout the world have
generally adopted as their own. During the past
century May Day has often been a time of strife,
demonstrations, hatred and conflict. The Pope
hoped that under the inspiration of St. Joseph
men might rather work together for peace, public
welfare, and a just order in human society.
We might say that this feast of May 1 re-
AFRICAN
Q. Can a person who, although not a Catholic,
bring her children up Catholics be buried at a
Mass from a Catholic Church?
A. This question arrived at almost the same
time as the one above. The answer must be no,
but I think it is a shame.
Q. My dictionary defines oleo-margarine as a
substitute for butter made from animal fat and
churned with fresh milk. Is oleo then permitted
on Friday?
A. Could anything have more animal fat in it
than butter? Most oleos today advertize that they
are made of vegetable oils. In any case, you
may eat it on Friday.
MISSIONS
Taking A Hard Look
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
they found themselves.
"Their social life has often refelected the be
havior of the Euopean settlers and colonial
a dministrators," he said, "and disenchantment
has come when nationalists see in the missio
nary world itself the same systems and
at titudes which prevail among the settlers".
In such a climate of opinion, it can be anti
cipated that the role of the missions in educa-
tion W iH steadily decline. There are indications,
however, that their help will be welcomed in
silled areas which the new governments are anx
ious to develop, subject to provisions to prevent
the creation of monopolies,
^Sanda, for example, has for> some ten years
been promoting women s clubs through its depart
ment of community development, Such work is
particularly useful in Africa, in much of which
woman has existed In a condition of inferior
ity Uttle removed from that of the domestic
animals.
Many of the clubs were formed at the Catho
lic missions, and the movement gained momen
tum when the Grail in 1955 sent a staff member
from Europe to do social work among Uganda
women. Gradually, the Grail and the White Sis
ters provided additional fulltime workers, so that
formal treining of leaders became possible. The
training covers principles of leadership and group
management, agriculture, home improvement,
child welfare, education, and Christian family
living. Training is now conducted not only at the
parish but at the diocesan and inter-diocesan
level, with as many as eighty courses a year*
The Catholic clubs have internal autonomy-
and are organized in a national union. They are
simultaneously affiliated to the association of
women's clubs sponsored by Community Develop
ment, and they participated in general community
programs. Such are the lines along which many
missionaries project the future of their work.
To continue to function, they will have to con
centrate on activities recognized by the state fs
of major national benefit.
ST. SERAPHIA 63
ACROSS
68.
70.
1. She settled in 71.'
6. Cheers 73.
10. Cartridge; abbr. 75.
13. Chinese laborer 76.
14. Old English gold piece 79.
15. Possessive pronoun
16. It offends
17. Taxes
19. Governor Wallace
presides.
21. Years; abbr.
23. Part of Great Britain
25. Past
26. Church High Tribunal
28. Marine skeletons
30. Revises
33. Habituate
35. Tricks
37. Jacket
38. She converted
St
40. Comedy
42. Affirmative
43. Minister
45. Type of architecture
47. Socialist Party
48. An Arts Degree
50. Detergents
52. Swiss Song
54. Poke
56. A stocking fabric
58. To rebate
61. Site
63. Faithful
65. Median line (Srience) 16.
66. Domain 18.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Rhythm
Devastate
Philippine garment
Stately
Theatre notice
She was born at
Radio detecting
instrument
Priest; abbr.
Suffer
A perambulater
Opportune
Foxy
Congers
Precise
DOWN
Mid-Western State;
abbr.
Small child
Below
Flowering shrub
J aundiced skin
ailroad
Hindu Title
Nimbus
She voluntarily
became a
She had great love
for ....
Charles Dickens
character
Girl Scouts of
America
A type of cigar
Cow barns
Fine line (Printing)
w. tne venerame ...,
22. Stumps
24. Mixture of greens
27. Northern Constellation
29. Masculine name
31. Digits
32. Crack
34. Enlist
36. Scrod
39. Benefit
41. Down
44. Where the Derby is
niu
46. Tree of the pine
family
48. Open
49. Exposed
51. More furtive
53. Southern Constellation
55. Disagreeable
57. Diner
59. Flocks of sparrows
are
60. Trend
62. Russian Mountain
Range
64. Envoy
67. Nearsighted person
69. Root
72. 160 sq. rods
74. Buddhist Monk
76. American Academy
of Sciences
77. Nothing
78. “Good King'
80. Receipt; abbr.
84. A surgeon’s degree
86. Army Officer; abbr.
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7
Vatican Emphasizes
Individual Society Roll
VATICAN CITY (NC)—A Vat
ican letter has championed the
right of the individual and of
private groups to work for the
common good without being sub
merged by the state or public
action.
The letter was written by
Amleto Cardinal Cicognani, Pa
pal Secretary of State, to Giu
seppe Cardinal Siri of Genoa,
who presided over the 36th
Italian Catholic Social Week in
Pescara. Commenting on the
week's theme —The Common
Good and the Individual in the
Contemporary State—the let
ter said;
"IF WE regard the common
good not as the general goal of
every society, but specifically
as the aim of the state, then the
often repeated declaration of the
Church's teaching authority to
the effect that the exact defi
nition of the common good de
mands continuous reference to
the human person remains con
stantly as a guiding beacon."
The letter did not deny the
role of the state or public au
thority inguaranteeing the com
mon good. It said that "con
temporary society is clearly
marked by a growing social
pluralism and by the indispen
sable intervention of the public
authority."
It added that the "activity of
the public authority is indis
pensable for implementing so
cial conditions and for the in
tegral development of the hu
man person," but also said that
"by its very nature the state
is an unsuitable substitute for
the individual in the sphere of
inner and spiritual values.
Therefore, the just autonomy
of the human person in the
sphere of spiritual activities
must be clearly asserted, as
well as in religious, moral,
cultural and scientific activi
ties."
INSTEAD of a dominance of
one over the other, the papal
letter urged for an integral
relation between the two. "What
is important is not so much
that public authority should car
ry out certain activities di
rectly and on its own, but that
it should prepare the neces
sary conditions so that indivi
duals and groups in their com
petent autonomy may grow and
develop more and more their
free and responsible activi
ties within the framework of
the common good."
Yet public authority must in
tervene, the letter continued, if
"individuals and groups proved
incapable of reaching definite
aims that are necessary for the
common good, or if they should
not be prepared to submit to a
proper extent to the require
ments of the general interest."
The letter then proceeded to
take the discussion one step
further and to link the common
good of individual political com
munities to that of the universal
common good.
"FULL achievement of the
common good in a given poli
tical community wouldn’t be pos
sible today without acknowledg
ing the connection in the inter
national plane. It is necessary',
therefore, that public authori
ties especially should work con
stantly in overcoming a rigid af
firmation of a sovereignty al
most isolated and in opposition
to other sovereignties."
To achieve full realization
of the common good, the letter
stated "only a manifest af
firmation of the understanding
and of the sincere respect of
Christians for values of the
temporal order, and, in parti
cular, the daily testimony of the
true sense of the state and of
the pledge of Catholics in loyal
service of the common good will
permit the opening up of new
ways so that men may welcome
trustingly the same riches of
the spiritual vision which
Christianity carries to every
area, thus once more proving
itself a civilizing force and a
respectful service for the whole
of mankind."
Seminary Fund
ARNOLD VIEWING
Wild Slapstick
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
The urbane French police inspector, who has
for years bedeviled movie villans and charmed
audiences with the brightness of his intellect,
finally gets his comeuppance in "The Pink
Panther." The material universe simply turns
against him.
The treachery of objects is established early.
Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers), angrily
upbraiding his subordinates for allowing a pair
of jewel thieves to slip through their fingers,-
absent-mindedly leans against a spinning globe
and is pitched to the floor. From then on, there
is scarcely a door, a rug, an ashtray, a suit
case or a water faucet that does not take tis
cularly in fireworks.
The inspector's overconfidence extends to his
attractive wife (Capucine) who is more interes
ted in her crooked associate (David Niven).
Film-maker Edwards makes th e most of this
situation in two complicated Mack Sennett bed
room mixups that stagger dangerously close to
bad taste but are impossible to take seriously
because of the flood of absurd sight gags. Thus,
suitor Robert Wagner, who has been hiding under
the soap bubbles in the bathtub and whose knit
sweater now droops damply about his knees,
makes a desperate run for the door. The knob,
which had previously refused to work only for
Clouseau, comes off in his hand.
"Panther" is a wild slapstick
farce that is a deliberate throw
back to the improbable visual
comedy of 30 years ago, when
Lloyd, Keaton, Laurel and
Hardy romped across the
acreen. About 20 per cent of it
ia uproarious. Another 20 per
cent, in which the actors lounge
about on stagey sets while cat
ching their breath, is sleep-provoking. The
balance approaches the level of the old Hope
Crosby epios, with large doses of traditional
French bedroom faroe for seasoning.
The film’s moral level is not stratospheric.
Th e main comedy target is the policeman
authority figure, humans in general seem
rather absurd, criminals are jolly fellows who
are never caught, and marriage is treated with
gay disregard. But "Panther" is so clearly farce,
so set on getting belly laughs without any intru
sion on intellect, that rational objections seem far
off the point.
Audiences are certain to be attracted by the
single-minded concentration on fun. Already the
top box-office attraction nationally for a month,
the film is largely the brainchild of producer-
writer-director Blake Edwards, collaborating
again with composer Henry Mancini and cam
eraman Phil Lathrop ("Experiment in Terror,
"Days of Wine and Roses"). But the man who
makes it go is the indefatigable Sellers, the
soft-spoken Briton who seems to be in every
other movie released this year.
In Clouseau, Sellers has a character so ad
mirably suited to his style that he is already
scheduled for at least one sequel ("A Shot in the
Dark"). Clouseau's flaw is his quiet, serene
overconfidence. He adopts the airy superiority
of the scientific sleuth, although most of his
deductions are wrong and the world about him
is slowly disintegrating. (His wife, unknown to
him, is one of the criminals; he believes she
has collected her furs and jewels by frugal
management of the household money).
Edwards, obviously, does just about anything for
a laugh. He uses a cartoon panther with a Bugs
Bunny personality for opening and closing titles.
At one confusing moment, Sellers sits up in
bed and begins to fiddle hopelessly on a'violin.
When the intercom buzzes in his office, it
sounds distrubingly like the Bronx cheer. At a
masqurade ball, two detectives, dressed as the
fore and aft of a zebra, begin to lap up the con
tents of a punch bowl. "Careful," Sellers warns,
"I’ll have your stripes."
When the ball is broken up by fireworks,
and two burglars, both dressed as apes, try to
crack th e same safe, th e atmosphere is just
this side of the 'Hiree Stooges. The film ends
with an auto chase that is a classic of pure
madness, with the ape-burglars being pursued
around a photogenic Italian pizza by police led
by Sellers in a suit of armor.
There are some tedious scenes, chiefly the
predictable one in which Niven, typecast again
as the aging roue, tries to seduce a not-so
innocent princess (Claudia Cardinale). Harly any
Wfl
, __ _
of the dialog spoken by Misses Cardinale an<
Capucine is even vaguely understandable. Sinci
Britishers Sellers and Niven often sound as if the;
are talking underwater, the film becomes visua
by default.
The color photography, shot in the ski country
around Cortina, Italy, is lovely to watch, and
Mancini’s music (chords and bongos) adds both
artificial glitter and ironic comment. In sum,
"Panther" is a movie for those who haven't
seen much broad, fast-moving comedy lately, and
who are will ing to swallow along with it the
whipped-cream gobs of creamy sophistication that
have become the Edwards-Mancini style.
Clouseau is an underplayed character in an
overplayed world. He< expresses himself in
mumbled phrases, with a sly amile, a twitch of
the lips, a lift of the eyebrows. But when he
kisses his wife, his hat catches on her hair-
clasp. When he puts his clothes on a hanger,
they always slip off. When the lights go out and
he reaches for a candle, it turns out to be
a Roman candle, and the house goes up specta-
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, Paris When It Sizzles, The Pink Panther.
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 semi
narians and in the Masses offer
ed annually for the benefactors of
our SEMINARY FUND.
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
May we tell you something about a Society which the Holy
Father calls "first" amongallmissionworks?Itis something
that you yourself would have asked for at this Council if it
had not already been in existence. There are hundreds and
hundreds of mission societies begging for their deserved
needs. Each society cares only for its own members and
its own missions. This is natural, just as your family dies
not give part of your salary to the family next door. Because
of this multiplicity, however, you receive hundreds and hun
dreds of appeals. You cannot help all, and yet you know that
they should be helped in some way.
In the face of this multiplicity of appeals would you not
ask: "Why does not the Holy Father form pne society
which should be aided "first and prin
cipally."? The great advantage of this
would be that, being the Father of
all missionaries, he would be fair and
equitable to each. Again, he would know
the needs of each part of the world
better than any one else. Furthermore,
since he along sends the missionar
ies, the duty of aiding them falls on
him. This would not prevent his aiding
the hundreds of other societies, because
when the Holy Father says^that he is to be aided "first,"
it does not mean "no one else," and when he says "princi
pally," it does not mean "exclusively."
By thinking this way, you would eventually ask that the
Church have one society that would aid every part of the
world and every missionary society. Actually, the Holy Father
does have just that: The Scoeity for the Propagation of the
Faith. Every cent you send to it goes to the Holy Father.
No Diocesan Director, no National Director in the world
may distrubute a cent of it at his own disceretion. No bishop
may touch a cent of it. Once given to The Society for the Por-
pagation of the Faith, it belongs to the Papal Mission Trea
sury.
God has beengood in calling us to this work, because it
is catholic; because it reaches everybody; because it plays
no favorites; because it is Pontifical and belongs to the
Vicar of Christ. It is a hard job. There are more crosses
in it than in other kinds of work, because the Devil fights
those who spread the Cross over the world. How that you
know what it is, spread the good news, say a prayer for us
and every month send us an autograph*—we love autographs—
you know the kind we mean. Thank you.
GOD LOVE YOU to Anonymous for a gold chain and medal
"For the Holy Father’s Missions." ... to Anonymous for
$42 "I send this because i understand that giving is necess
ary." . . . . to F. W. H. for $100 "I received this as a trus
tee for a n insurance trust, but Instead of keeping it, I
realize how much more it will help the poor of the world."
.... to P. for $1 "This is not much, but it is from my
heart and soul."
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 earrings, gold eyeglass frames, flatware, etc.,
and use the money to relive 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 youn sacrifice 10 it and mall 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 w Rainey P. O.
Box 12047 Northside Statiori' Atlanta 5, Ga.