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IN A WORLD OF GIMMICKS
Liturgy Is Functional
BY LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
The ferment at work within the Church has be
come almost a household word among Catholics
since the bright warmth of Pope John's all too
few days among us. The one area in which his
incentive has achieved definite form by a state
ment of the Council concerns public worship-
liturgy. Until now the discussion has centered
principally on procedures: the introduction of
English into the Mass and the
Sacraments; whether Mass
ought to be offered on an altar
facing the congregation; the
new forms which our rites may
assume in the future. The time
Ifor the first of these adjust-
jments is rapidly approaching.
I The use of English for the Sac-
Iraments and for parts of the
Mass is scheduled for Advent of this year.
The one thing that could rob the liturgy re
newal of its expected good effects is to treat
it from a superficial viewpoint. If our discus
sion or adoption of the use of English or any
of the future changes is concerned only with
external and procedural details, the total result
may well be nil from a spiritual viewpoint.
Without understanding, these new procedures
may degenerate to the level of "gimmicks.”
We live in a world of” gimmicks” - unimpor
tant tricks designed to catch our attention, usually
in the hope we will buy a product we don’t need
or want. We most certainly cannot worship in a
world of "gimmicks”. Nor does the Church in
tend that we should. The use of English, the in
creased participation by the laity, the change
of ritual- all these developments are conceived
on the most strictly reasoned basis. They are
not tricks to keep our attention on the altar.
They are deliberate measures adopted to deepen
our awareness of the meaning of our Christian
lives.
STRICTLY speaking, the entire matter of
liturgical renewal is not a matter of whether
we are "liberal” or "conservative.” The decis
ion that faces us at present is not whether or not
to accept the measures of liturgical renewal.
These steps are the declared and defined policy
of the Catholic Church. The decision we are
called upon to make our own is how best to ab
sorb the full meaning and maximum benefit of
what the Church is offering us. It is a matter of
common sense that understanding must definitely
precede and inform any new outward procedures.
Only in this way can we fathom the connection
between principle and doctrine on one hand and
changed practice on the other.
The Constitution on Sacred Worship of the
Vatican Council speaks always of "promotion”
in conjunction with "reform” of the liturgy.
Its concern is first of all with the improve
ment of our grasp of what we are about when we
worship publicly. Clearly, in the mind of the
Council, the liturgical life of the Church needs
to be promoted, moved forward, invigorated. This
would remain true, even if no reforms or chang
es of forms were contemplated. The Constitu
tion always uses the word "promotion” before
"reform of the liturgy.” Now, worship will only
be promoted by an improved understanding and
a renewed dedication founded upon that Improved
understanding. Obviously, a growth in under
standing is particularly urgent in view of the re
forms, the most immediate of which is the forth
coming introduction of English.
In all the talk of "changes” in the Church
and the enthusiasm they generate in the minds
of some, there is a danger of seeing the Church
as involved in a real inward revoltuion and re
jection of tradition. This is a misconception.
Nothing is more normal in the life of the
Church than the kind of development we are
now witnessing. If we find no difficulty in con
ceiving this as a sign of vitality in the Church’s
past history, we should expect the same kind of
vitality to mark our own time. The liturgical
developments with which we are concerned have
not suddenly appeared out of a void. What they
will reject from the past will mainly be the re
sult of historical accident or the Church’s re
action to historical facts which have passed from
the scene. In many ways, they represent the
Church’s reaction to a new historical context.
This is as it should be, as it always has been
and as it always will be.
QUESTION BOX
Narrow-Minded Opinion
BY MONSIGNOR J. D. CONWAY
Q. What is the difference between a person
who has strong character and morals, and one
who Is narrow minded and opinionated?
A. Sometimes it may be semantics; I have
strong character; you are opinionated; he is
a bigot!
Probably the real difference emanates from
love, which begets tolerance.
Q. In a recent issue of a Catholic paper I read:
Mary intercedes for it (Grace) on our behalf,
according to Christ’s will, and when He wills
to save, Mary at once prays. He wills according
to her prayer, but she prays according to His
will.
My question: Isn’t it a wonder we don’t have
more Protestants?
A. Let us merely say that the explanation is
a bity clumsy.
Q. Suppose a widow with grown children who
don’t need her any more would want to spend the
rest of her life in a convent. Is it possible? If
so, is there any age limit and could she enter
any convent of her choice? In return she would
gladly give up her possessions.
A. In theory there should be no problem.
But I must admit that I do not know which con
gregations might accept such a person, or what
practical age limits they might impose. I hope
someone reading your letter may provide specific
information which I am unable to givje.
You can imagine the heroic restraint I exer
cise in not inquiring about the amoung of her
possessions. Cyncism is a vice hard to conquer.
SEMANTIC TANGLE
Opportunities - Dangers
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
SO, TOO, THE Fathers of the Vatican Council
overwhelmingly approved liturgical reform. It
wasn't a question of changing for the sake of
change. They saw that reforming the liturgy
was the first step in any meaningful renewal
within the Church,
And if people insist on using the labels'
''Liberal" and "Conservative”, then let us state
emphatically here and now that it was the Liberal
pioneers who were way ahead of the rest of the
Church in pushing for liturgical reform. It must
be remembered that these pioneers were labell
ed "Liberals " by their opponents, and it wasn't
meant to be complimentary— indeed, the very
faith of some of these pioneers was questioned.
THERE IS one final observation; our Conser
vative friends keep throwing up at us a quota
tion from a Bishop Sheen column of several years
ago. It said, "As Liberal Catholics Increase,
liberality to the poor decreases.” The so-call
ed Liberal Catholics, he added, '"Are liberal
only with their blame, not their money.” How
Bishop Sheen or anyone else can guage with accu
racy the generosity of Liberal or Conservative
Catholics is beyond me. I do know this: the vast
majority of the volunteers to help in the miss
ions— especially in Central and South America
personally claim to be, and sport the Liberal
tie. The sacrifice of some of these young volun
teers certainly cannot be weighed against doller
values.
INDEPENDENT KENYA
Your World And Mine
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
hands of the missions. In return for state sub
sidies, the mission schools executed the official
education policy. What they saw was that without
the subsidies they would not have the funds to
operate on the level on which they did in fact
operate. What they failed to see was that one day
they would be accused of unprotesting cooperation
with a system designed to maintain the great
majority of Kenyans in permanent inferiority.
THE CHARGE might have had less impact If
the missionaries had been careful to disassociate
themselves in other ways from the mentality of
the administration. Unfortunately, many of them
failed to do so. "From the day I landed," a priest
assigned to Kenya after the second World War said:
to me, "I was taught by my colleagues to identify
myself with the settlers," At that time the Africans
kept ^silent, but now they are talking. Even in the
1950's, to quote a recent statement of a leading
politician, "most missionaries in Kenya shared
the colonial and white settler mentality.They told
the African he was not ready for advance, that he
must be patient and believe in God, In no case can
I recall a missionary-Catholic, Protestant or any
other - fighting back and denouncing the colonial
regime and the social set-up, or trying to create a
new spirit among the Africans of a sense of pride
and confidence in themselves."
The emotional gulf created between the races by
this historical experience has played a major part
in a crash program to substitute Africans for
Europeans or Aslans in all policy and high admin
istrative posts in government. There are clear
social and political pressures for a similar change
in the Church, However, the previous policy has
left the Church with few African clergy in Kenya,
only some 60 priests out of a total of 500, and
these quite unevenly distributed in the various dio
ceses, The problem is consequently much more
acute than in neighboring Tanganyika where Afri
can priests number above 300, more than a quar
ter of all priests. In the past few years, major
effort has been devoted to training candidates f<fr
the priesthood in Kenya also. But it is a race
against time.
Saints in Black and White
ST. PETER CELESTINE
7~\F-
BRITISH ARMY
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
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Officer Decorated
For Saving Priest
ACROSS
1. Ho was elected to
the throne
6. Doctor of Dental
Science
10. Tonkin native
13. native
14. movement; music
15. wand
10. Exclamation
17. Forepvouhd
If), taint
21. summon
23. record
25. condemn
26. revise
28. Greek dialect
30. moro mature
33. hepta
35. foe
37. cruel emperor
38. pertaining to
"Garden of Eden*'
40. pine family tree
42. list
43. como back
45. trinity
*7. Electrical Engineer
record
50. beat
ttM. cereal disease
54. grain
B0. ancon
58. stago
61. 160 sq. rods
63. ono who practises
yogi
65. diurnal is.
66. encounters 20.
68. Welsh nobleman 22.
70. enve 24.
71. pout 27.
73. disunite 29.
75. ship to land 31.
soldiers 32.
76. He had — — as a 34.
child 36.
79. torn apart 39.
81. namely; (abbr.) 41.
82. f-oon 44.
83. decant 4C.
85. paste
78. Mass. Senator 48.
88. .lug 49.
89. type size 51.
DOWN 53.
1. an Island possession 55.
of U.S. (abbr.) 57.
2. World War 1 gT0up59.
3. small opening 60.
4. solitary 62.
5. slowness 64.
0. Deutsehemark 67.
(abbr.) 69.
7. diamond holder 72.
8. Dan: speech sound 74.
». hit*
10. horn . 76.
11. roasted 77.
12. epic poem 78.
13. As a child he was 80.
by the Blessed 84.
Mother 86.
16. stout
purposeful
cut of meat
plunger
metal bolt
dogma
staff officers
A Great Lake
cord
hollow
Scottish landowner
wavy
agitated
automaton
pertaining to
Italian Magistrate
rich soli
velocity
counterfeit
experiment
curled
roomier
extract
eagle's nest
sheath (Hr.)
beginner
pitch
disport
perceive clearly
ancient people of
Gaul
dog healer
anger
plead
capture
railroad (abbr.)
group of States
(abbr.)
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 V
BERLIN (NC) — The Brit
ish Army officer who in 1962
faced unarmed 800 mutionus
Congolese soldiers to rescue
a Belgian missionary priest
.has been named a Knight Com
mander of the Order of St. Syl
vester by the Holy See.
Maj, Richard Lawson, now
commander of tank units of the
British forces in Berlin, was
honored earlier by Queen Eliz
abeth with the Distinguished
Service Order for his heroism
in the Congo.
IN JANUARY, 1962, Maj.
Lawson was serving with Nige
rian units of the United Nat
ions forces in the Congo. Af
ter hearing that some Belgian
missionaries had been mas
sacred by mutionous troops in
Kongolo and that mutineers
were rampaging through the
town, Maj. Lawson was flown
there at his own request by a
Swedish pilot in a light plane.
As he left the plane the major,
unarmed apart from his “swag
ger stick," was immediately
surrounded by armed and angry
irregualr troops. The major-
only five feet, five inches tall—
was attacked by a tribesman ar
med with an arrow. But he pro
mptly punched him on the nose
and knocked him over.
STILL surrounded by the
mob, he walked calmly away de
manding to see the local com
manding officer. He worked his
way through the town seeking
out the facts of the massa
cre in which 22 Belgians had
ARNOLD VIEWING
From Russia With Love
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
In "From Russia With Love," James Bond,
called in Italy Mr. Bangbang Kisskiss, the new
master of the blood and lipstick spy thriller,
continues his successful foray into movies (first
attempt: "Dr. No"). The film, unfortunately, Is
slick, highly cinematic, and dripping with trash
as well as dash.,
Bond is the fictional British secret agent
concocted by novelist Ian Fleming and played
on screen by the genial Scots heman, Sean
Connery. He is the latest, and most depressing,
incarnation of the tough, lady
killing detective bom in
Dashlell Hammett's Sam Spade
and evolved through Philip Mar
lowe and Mike Hammer.
FOR ALL their hard sur
face and unerring effect on
women, Spade and Marlowe
were decent, likeable human
beings with a proclivity for
making moral Judgments. In
Spillane's Hammer, we had for the first time
as hero the free-wheeling sexual sadist. But
the Hammer books were never considered re
spectable, and the films, unlike the Bogart-
Powell impersonations of Spade and Marlowe,
were both cheap and dull.
Bond is a different sort of phenomenon, the
detective-hero drawn to Playboy specifications.
He is an elegant, amoral robot, unplagued by
human flaws or doubts, a muscular Cary Grant
without a conscience. He has a license to do
whatever he must and an Inclination to do what
ever pleases him. His impulses are not only
sexual; In one scene, he assists in a cold
blooded murder, with sexual overtones, that is
designed, successfully, to produce audience laugh
ter.
The Bond books have been read and apparently
enjoyed by otherwise intelligent people, although
Fleming concedes he writes for above-average
adolescents. The films, for all their garish im
probability, are very good cinema, full of wit
and spectacular action, and made by director
Terence Young with flashy virtuosity in the artful
devices of the medium. ("Dr. No" made back its
cost in Britain alone). Bond is a cad, but in con
trast to Hammer, unhappily acceptable in polite
company.
"RUSSIA," based on the 1957 novel, describes
Bond's continuing war with the satanic forces of
S.P,E.C.T,R,E., an international crime syndicate
which for its own, somewhat obscure ends, pits
British and Russian agents against each other In
Istanbul and the Balkans, The chief gimmick is
that Bond "must" make love to a blonde Russian
defector (languorous Daniela,Bianchi) and escape
with her through a gauntlet of murderous Soviet
and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. hirelings.
The situations keep reminding one of the corny
adventure serials of the 1940’s, with an evil
mastermind who Is seen only as a pair of hands
gently stroking a kitten, secret weapons hidden in
suitcases or signet rings, harrowing escapes from
horrible death. (The hero escapes; the villains
die, frightfully). One of the comic book weapons
is a poisoned dagger which snaps out of the toe
of a shoe, and a fight in which aging Lotte Lenya
tries to do Connery in with this device has to
be seen to be believed.
As far as the sex (bedroom scenes, belly
dancers, to-the-death fights between beauteous
Gypsy girls) goes, it is not so much that Bond
is always either thinking about it or engaging
in it. Like the rest, this is all at least half-spoof,
and what is actually shown is probably less than
in 'Tom Jones" is neverdlrected at the audience,
"Russia" aims, constantly and cherrfully, to
arouse venereal pleasure in the spectators. It
Is phoney satire, victimized by its own material,
a kind of tearoom pornography.
IT IS, OF course, not the subject matter of
films that movie moralists have to fret about.
It is not even, within obvious limits, what is
explicitly shown. It Is rather the material with
which the film-maker clearly hopes to enter
tain. In ‘Tom Jones," it was comedy, not sex.
It ’The Silence,” it was moral allegory, not
sex. In "Russia,” it is, largely, sex itself.
The most interesting of director Young’s
filmic devices is his use of asynchronized sound,
that is, sound that does not originate from the
image on the screen. For example, one whole
scene, in a huee, echoing Istanbul museum,
is played silent except for the droning background
voice of a tour guide, now distant, now close to
the actors, who are attending to their own
intrigues. This is considered filmic because it
is an effect that only a movie can produce.
For lovers of violence, there are some beauti
fully cut and lighted fight scenes, some in close
quarters, some spread all over the landscape.
This is also, regrettably, the last film for the
late Pedro Armendariz, who created one of his
most memorable roles as the lieutenant in John
Ford’s film version of 'The Power and the
Glory."
NOTES FROM THE TRADE JOURNALS:
Remember the bigoted contractor in "Lilies
of the Field"? As an economy measure, the
part was played by producer - director Ralph
Nelso himself. Says Nelson: "I was the worst
thing in the picture.” Nelson is currently direct
ing Cary Grant in "Father Goose,” about a
South Pacific recluse who rescues a teacher
and seven children from the war.
The release of George Stevens' long-awaited
"Greatest Story Ever Told," which could well
be the first great film about Christ, has now
been put back from November to December,
Stevens ("Shane,” "Diary of Anne Frank")hand
picked one of Ingmar Bergman's company,
Sweden's Max von Sydow, for the key role. Sydow
was the vengeful father in 'The Virgin Spring.”
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,
Strangelove, Love With the
Proper Stranger, Billy Liar,
Charade, Paris When It Sizzles,
The Pink Panther,
'been shot and their dismember
ed bodies thrown into the
river.
Hearing that one Belgian pr
iest had survived, Maj. Lawson
walked to the Holy Ghost mis
sion, found Father Jules D’Ar-
mont, led him back through the
town-past the men who had mur
dered his fellow priests onNew
Year's Day—to the waiting
plane and took off immediately.
ON JAN, 27, Maj, Lawson
again volunteered to rescue
some Catholic missionaries in
danger and again returned to
the area, this time with another
officer, a Maj. Nwawo,
Here they were suddenly at
tacked by an armed mob shout
ing "Kill these spies,” They
were beaten and robbed and
their clothes were torn. Maj.
Nwawo was dragged away to be
executed but after being treat
ed with special brutality he was
freed.
Swiss Seminar
VAUMARCUS, Switzerland
(NC)— For the first time, Cath
olic theology students were in
vited to an annual seminar here
organized by the various Swiss
reformed Protestant theolo
gical faculties.
IN STAINLESS STEEL—
This six-foot-four-inch high
stainless steel statue of the
Jesuit missionary and ex
plorer. Father Jacques Mar
quette has been presented to
John Carroll University, con
ducted by the Jesuit Fathers
in Cleveland, Ohio
By Any Name
The new “Encyclopedic Dic
tionary of the Bible” brings out
the fact that no Hebrew word
has been preserved in the Bible
which can be Identified with the
true rose. Thus where the Bible
speaks of the rose, it is prob
ably referring to the pink-
flowered fragrant shrub known
as the oleander. And when
Christ spoke of “the lilies of
the field,” He probably meant
merely "the wild flowers.”
Seminary Fund
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
The altar is not a stage; those who sit in the pews are not an
audience; the Communion rail is not the elevated footlights divid
ing the priest from the laity. The bishops and priests are above
the laity in dignity (through no merit of their own), but below
them in service. Our Lord said to His Apostles: 'You call Me
Lord, I am.” Yet, He washed their feet.
The laity are not militia who come to priests once a week for
spiritual inspection, as if the clergy we re the only
|fighters in the arena of conflict between Christ
and the prince of this world. The laity are not
"sheep to be sheared, "because Our Lord said that
the clergy were to "feed them," not "clipthem."
[Neither are the laity to be grumblers who com-
Iplain against the alleged failings of the hierarchy
and the priesthood, as if they themselves were not
members of that same wounded Body of Christ.
,Nor are they to identify Catholic Action with sit
ting in a sanctuary in a red coat, or administering
• diocese ss if it were an advertising agency.
The "prominent” Catholic laity are not necessarily those who
give "big money" in answertoa "drive,” A prominent Catholic is
one who acts like a crippled nurse to a patient who has lost his leg
in an accident — that is, one who is ministering sympathetically
to the Church because, like Christ, he wears scars of love. A gift
of money never acquits a husband of his obligation to his wife, nor a
Catholic of his obligation to his Spouse, which is the Church,
The Catholic lay person is one who is "involved" with the
Church as a whole. If he is a doctor, a dentist or an engineer, he
will spend his vacation serving the Missions; he will solicit others
in his office to help the poor and the lepers, thus giving them a
chance to save their souls by serving Christ; he will write a will
in which the Holy Father is remembered, for the Vicar of Christ
says that he is to be "first and principally aided” through his own
Society for the Propagation of the Faith: he will take out an annuity
with the Holy Father’s own Society, in order that all missionary
activities, and not Just one, will be aided equally.
In a word, you laity will be bearers of Christ's Cross in the
world in the thousand ways open toyournon-priestliness. For you
laity, the Church is not the parish; the Church is the Sacrament of
Humanity. As you save the city, you save the parish; as you save
the world, you save the diocese. What do you have to offer or sac
rifice?
GOD LOVE YOU to M.M, for $5 "Here is a $5 bet that I was
glad to lose to you." ....to J.D.H, for 550 'This is hardly more
than a week’s pay from my summer Job. I wish I could send you
more for God's poor and especially for the education of priests.
However, if I am able to enter the Carmelites in a year, as I
hope, I will send you my life savings for the Missions.” ...,to
Sister M.C, for 55 'This is in thanksgiving for the sale or prop
erty." ....to J.O. for 55 "For your poor,”
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 re
quests 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 youn sacrifice to if and mall it to Most
Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Pro
pagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avfenue, New York lx, N. Y. or
your Archdiocei'an Director, Very Rev. Harold-J v Rainey P. O.
Box 12047 Northaide Statiorf£ Atlanta 5, Ca,