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THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN
PAGE 3
AND INDIANS
Alaska Jesuit Superior
Defender Of Eskimos
BY ED FORTIER
(N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE)
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A
chartered bush plane landed at
the small village of Kaltag on
the lower Yukon river last No
vember.
Its single passenger was a
high-ranking officer of the De
partment of Interior who had
come from Washington, D,C. to
the Indian community to con
sult with a white man about
pressing problems of Alaska’s
43,000 Eskimos, Indians and
Aleuts.
THE GOVERNMENT official
sought out Father Jules M. Con
vert, S.J., French-born Jesuit
who last May was named super
ior of Alaska’s far-flung Jesuit
missionaries.
The Arctic-toughened priest
who has spent 22 years with
Alaska’s wilderness-dwelling
Eskimos and Indians is rapidly
emerging as Alaska’s most elo
quent and outspoken defender of
the state's natives and their
heritage,
A strong advocate of the pro
posed Domestic Service Corpa,
Father Convert is executive
secretary of Alaska’s Socio-
Economic Advisory Committee,
It is headed Jointly by Catholic
Bishop Francis D, Gleeson, S.
J„ and Episcopal Bishop Wil
liam Gordon, both of Fairbanks,
It Includes all Catholic and
Episcopalian missionaries of
interior and Arctic Alaska in
its membership.
Acknowledgement throughout
the state that things are not go
ing well for Alaska’s natives in
the transition from their prim
itive way of life to the white
man's civilization can be traced
in part to Father Convert be
cause he speaks the truth as he
sees it.
"I HAVE seen this whole area
pass from what could rightly be
called a Stone Age way of life to
that of the Atomic Age,” the
Jesuit told state officials sev
eral years ago, "I have also
witnessed the hurts and damage
caused by too rapid an evolu
tion in the social and economic
fields.”
A tall, handsome man who
Army, he served in Syria,
teaching at the University of
Beirut and training with the
French Foreign Legion. He
reached the United States in
1937 and completed his Jesuit
training at Alma (Calif.) Col
lege.
The roster of primitive out
posts where Father Convert has
served includes such remote
settlements as Scammon Bay,
St. Michael, Holy Cross, Steb-
bins, Unalakleet and Kaltag.
For years after his arrival
in 1942, Father Convert drove
a dogteam in serving his par
ishes. Since being stationed at
Kaltag, he has flown his own
bush plane in caring for the
spiritual needs of his native
flocks.
BUT IT is willingness to
meet problems of Alaska’s na
tives head-on that has made
Father Convert a vital force in
efforts to improve the social
and economic lot of the Eski
mos and Indians,
In the mid-1940s left wing
elements made a strong bid to
organize natives who had start
ed working in Briitol Bay’s sal
mon canneries. As chaplain of
the first large group of Eskimos
flown to Bristol Bay for sum
mer work, Father Convert
worked alongside his friends.
He led the successful fight to
organize the Bristol Bay Resi
dent Cannery Workers as an
AFL-CIO union.
While at Stebblns, the mis
sionary from distant Bourges,
France, directed organization
of a cooperative store and re
indeer herd.
Something of the character
of the man was tempered by
the disastrous 1957 floods on
the mighty Yukon. Father Con
vert was Superior of Holy Cross
Mission at the time,
AS ICE piled up below Holy
Cross, the great river flooded
low lying homes and mission
property and wrecked boats at
Holy Cross.
belies his more than 50 years,
Father Convert joined the Jes
uits in 1929. While in the French
uavi chriitwo at
HOLY CROSS
BROTHER
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The Air Force ordered a B-
29 bomber to blast the jam be
low Holy Cross. Father Con
vert requested the bombers to
hold up their lethal charges.
Using short way radio, he
told authorities that high ground
remained at Holy Cross, and
although property would be de
stroyed, he feared for the safe
ty of downriver villages if the
ice dam were blasted and the
pent up torrent released. He
preferred that his own mis
sion bear the brunt of the flood
rather than endanger other set
tlements which lacked the safe
ty of high ground.
When the Indian residents of
Kaltag on the Yukon were dis
satisfied with merchandising
acilities in their village, Fath
er Convert assisted them in or- .
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ganizing their own cooperative
store.
Starting with $500 received
from a construction firm's ren
tal of the community haU, the
village council established its
new store in 1961. The first
year’s gross was $3,000. It rose
to $5,000 in 1962 and last year
totaled $12,000.
"AT YEAR'S end the village
had a paid inventory of $4,000
in stock and $1,000 in the bank,”
said the proud missionary,
"Rather than pay members a
dividend, the village leaders de
cided to use their store’s prof
its to acquire a light plant or
build a medical center.
"As a result of their success
in the store, the Kaltag Indians
have a new spirit of pride and
the beginning of self-reliance.
It is thrUling to them to rea
lize that even without education
and only a little money they can
do things for themselves,”
Father Convert said.
To the charge that the Eski
mos and Indians are lethargic
and shiftless, the priest ask
ed:
"After witnessing the waste,
inefficiency and contradictions,
sometimes plain ineptitude of
the bureaucratic machine, year
after year, would you still keep
plugging day after day, in the
faint hope that some day, some
how, maybe,,,,?
"IS THIS man-made environ
ment conducive to action? It can
and does generate only apathy,
lethargy, pessimism, or at best
some educated skepticism.”
In his defense of the native,
"Father Convert recently pro
duced this penetrating analysis
of the way Alaska's aboriginal
people think and face life:
"Intelligent leadership is bas
ed on knowledge, the fruit of
education. What is the educa
tional background of our pres
ent village leaders? The aver
age is third grade, maybe.
"What they really know,
though, they learned for them
selves, as their ancestors did.
Their school: Nature. You have
to learn to live with things over
which you have no control, take
them as they come, feel your
way, accommodate, adapt your
self.
"You just cannot will favor
able weather for trapping or
fishing trips, nor an ample
harvest of fur, fish, game or
berries. All you can do is try.
It doesn’t work? Don't buck.
Give up and wait for better
conditions. Don’t rebel against
the weather; go to sleep in
stead. Tomorrow might prove
better, maybe,,.
"MY CONTENTION is that all
our agencies have failed and are
failing in their responsibility to
understand the people they
serve. They are failing in their
educative role of our village
adults. All their actions have
set a pattern,
"Government, for our village
folks, is just a big, powerful,
vague and impersonal entity,
similar to Nature, Treat it in
the same way. Try but don't
buck. If it doesn’t work, sit
down quietly and wait in hope
of the favors you cannot possi
bly win through your own ef-
forts...
"Village people have never
learned to properly think along
the same channels as we do,
nor in the same manner. They
were never taught. Nature, their
only school, has only taught
them to feel.
"AND THE official agencies,
mysterious, paternalistic at
best in their programs
have only served to reinforce
this attitude, basic in their cul
ture,
"Granted, our village leaders,
all our village people have to
learn to think and follow logic
and reason Instead of their
feelings if they are going to
survive in the new culture and
become useful members of the
American community,
"Until they have learned that,
and we also have learned to un
derstand and respect the way
their own brains work, we are
Just not speaking the same lan
guage.”
ESCAPES EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE — Following the earthquake which left severe
damage throughout southwest Mexico, two devout parlshoners search the rulna of a de
stroyed Catholic church, They recovered a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe (tilted in
background) which remained undamaged, in the town of Coyuca de Catalan.
Archbishop’s
Notebook
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Several weeks ago, this column listed an offhand series of
questions about Catholic life today. . . just some thoughts on the
liturgy, the ecumenical efforts, welfare. Readers were asked to
write in with their comments.
The replies are coming in—from suburbs, from down town
Atlanta, from other Georgia cities and towns. This week the
age-spread was 17 years to 77 years. You may enjoy some of the
conclusions and comments,
Most favor the celebrant of the Mass facing the people, although
one thought it would distract the priest. All favor a library with
books on Catholicism and other religious, and singing at Mass.
One added:
"You have really hit a spot here. Through the years I have heard
so many people express how they wanted to sing at Mass. . . I
have on occasional visits to Thomson attended Mass at Queen
of Angels Chapel. There I enjoyed so much the singing, as we
did years ago at Sharon.”
This sentence is significant:
"If there is anything that Catholics have a tinge of envy for in
our separated brethren, it is being denied the privilege of prais
ing God in one of the most natural and happy ways.”
FOR THOSE IN NEED
The letters show a variety of opinions on a priority list for
our archdiocesan organs of mercy. Some thought the pre-delin
quent youth should be next (after our dependent children are pro
vided their new home). Others put the mentally-retarded. Others
thought the aged should be cared for first.
One woman was frank to say, "Naturally, because of my age,
1 am interested in a program for the aged.” But she added in a
most Christian manner, "of course, the other projects are so very
worth while!”
IN BIBLICAL STUDY
Cardinal Reconciles Some
Apparent Contradictions
ROME (NC) — Augustin Car
dinal Bea, S.J., has given some
rules of thumb for reconciling
apparent contradictions in the
Biblical accounts of Christ’s
life.
.he head of the Church's
Secretariat for Promoting
Christian Unity, who has de
voted most of his 83 years to
the study of the Scriptures,
listed "some principal rules”
to bear in mind:
• That the Gospels are not
stenographic records of
Christ’s words;
• That Christ probably re
peated the same idea in dif
ferent words;
• That each sacred writer
has his own distinctive style
and that the Orientals of the
ancient world had a manner
of expressing themselves quite
different from the manner of
westerners of the modern
world;
• That every account of an
event is shaped by the purpose
the author has in writing about
the event.
rise to confusion, as if what is
less primitive had less theolo
gical value, were less the Word
of God, less genuine and less
faithful to the thought to of
Jesus. This might perhaps be
said by those who consider
the Gospels purely from the
humanistic-historical point of
view, not by those who consider
them as the inspired Word of
God.”
Cardinal Bea began his ar
ticle by pointing out that while
the Gospels are inspired by
God, the human who is used
by the Holy Ghost as His in
strument still "makes use of
all his faculties—of intellect,
of imagination andof will—no
less than any other human au
thor.” Cardinal Bea said the
special influence of the Holy
Ghost ’leads the author to write
precisely what, the Spirit of God
wants and in the manner He
wants.”
After pointing out that the
Evangelists gave varying ac-
PERMT DENIED
counts of the life of Christ
because of their human dif
ferences and their different
aims, Cardinal Bea commented:
"WE MAY even add a word
regarding the advantages of
these differences. If the Apost
les had not offered us a preach
ing which varied in the as
pects it presented to us, in its
emphasis and its manner of
presentation, we might wonder
why Jesus chose 12 of them,
and 12 of such varying temper
aments, as they reveal them
selves in the Gospels.
"It is clear, instead, that
Jesus desired that the infinite
light of His life and His doc
trine, filtering through the life,
character and preaching of the
Apostles, should be divided like
sunlight in a prism into so many
colors of the spectrum, and
should reveal itself as fully
as possible in its abundance
and its riches.”
Playboy Club Bid
That's one problem. And, I suppose, the future plans will have
to be based on the actual needs—in terms of numbers and urgency.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The question was; "Should we plan our construction for 1964,
or should we keep 1974, 1984 and 2004 in mind?” One reply
said— "for 1964. Our Lord will supply the answers for future
years.” But another stressed that we should "build for a few
years in advance, allowing that as our archdiocese grows, so
will our income. Build with a firm foundation.”
The needs of 1964 are certainly grave enough to call for con
siderable outlay of funds right now. But one point about the future
must not be overlooked—the rising cost of property in a grow
ing economy like Atlanta. This means that wise land purchase
today may save thousands of dollars for tomorrow.
NEW IDEA DEPARTMENT
Here was the most interesting part of all. Among the sugges
tions: a chapel-shrine at Locust Grove, the birth-place of
the faith in Georgia; the use of whole wheat (darker) bread for
hosts at Mass; greater awareness in our parishes and schools
of the possibilities in a religious vocation.
All of these suggestions are being sent on to the proper
people. An idea may not be practical; in any case, it will be con
sidered.
Have you ever thought of this suggestion: children should be
seated in the first pews in church at Mass? Not that they will
stop distracting adults; not that they will be more easily disciplin
ed. The reason? So that they can see what’s going on!
&&&
ENCOURAGING:
Most of those who wrote said that they enjoyed sharing their
ideas with the Church. One man said:
"1 hear people giving opinions freely when no one in an offi
cial capacity is around to hear them.”
A young woman observed:
Halted By Church
Cardinal Bea styled this pur
pose of the author "the funda-
mentgal question.” He pointed
out that Pope Pius XII, in the
encyclical, Divino afflante
Spiritu, called it "the supreme
norm of Interpretation.”
CARDINAL Bea made his
points in Clvillta Cattollca, a
fortnightly review of the Rome
province of the Society of Jesus.
His article dealt principally
with the Gospels of SS. Matthew,
Mark and Luke.
He warned against trying to
reconcile differences among the
Gospels by seeking to extract
their essential religious ele
ments and regarding the rest
as mere "dressing,” Aside
from the practical difficulties of
attempting such distinctions, he
said, "there would be a risk of
abandoning faefs and particu
lars that might be very lm«
portent, simply because the ex-
egete momentarily does not see
their connection with faith and
morals or with the essential
points of the faith.”
He also warned against giv
ing more theological weight to
Biblical passages which scien
tific criticism indicates are
more "primitive.” The more
primitive passages deal more
directly with events or with
the works of Christ, while the
less primitive passages are ex
planations furnished by the
Evangelists for a particular pu
blic.
SUCH DISTINCTIONS, said
the cardinal, "must not give
CINCINNATI (NC) -- Objec
tions raised by representa
tives of St. Loujs church in
downtown Cincinnati led to the
denial of a night club permit
to a proposed Playboy Club.
State Liquor Director Donald
D. Cook refused to approve the
club’s application for transfer
of a permit from another night
club purchased by the Playboy
interests. **
TRANSFER of the permit, he
said, would result in substantial
prejudice to sobriety and good
order, and the club’s presence
would "materially increase the
existing burden of maintenance
of law and order in the com
munity,"
Bishop Paul F, Lelbold,
pastor of St, Louis, pointed out
in a recent parish bulletin
that "going two squares in each
direction from St, Louis
Church, one could have no less
than 43 drinks of intoxicating
liquor and never take more than
Captive Nations
WASHINGTON (NC) — An all
night vigil of prayer in re
sponse to President Johnson’s
proclamation urging that
Americans mark Captive Na
tions Week is being held in the
Shrine of the Sacred Heart July
17.
one drink in any particular dis
pensary,
AS TO tne "alleged high
class” club planning to move
into the Korger building on
Seventh St„ he said it was his
"obligation to at least raise the
warning signal against this in
vasion of more creeping im
morality.”
An attorney for the club said
an appeal from the liquor di
rector’s ruling would be taken
to the State Liquor Commission
and, if necessary to common
pleas court.
Hospital Head
SELMA, Ala, (NC) — Sister
Michael Ann has been named
administrator of Good
Samaritan Hospital here, suc
ceeding Sister Louis Bertrend,
Sister Michael Ann has been
serving as acting admini
strator ,, Sister Louis Bertrand
was administrator of the hospi
tal, staffed by the Slsteks of St,
Joseph, for 19 years, and was
instrumental in formation of the
hospital’s school of practical
nursing.
Elect American
ROME (NC) — The general
chapter of the Missionaries of
Our Lady of La Salette has
elected Father Conrad Blan-
chet, M.S., an America#, as
its superior general.
"Thank you for reading my random thoughts. I pray that they
will not be discounted Just because they came from a young per
son, and I feel certain they will not.”
Get ready for another round of questions. Besides having the
replies as a starting pool of Catholic Opinion, the questions serve
as a good stimulant for a column. Much better than the commer
cial efforts to find out how many are listening—by offering a free
box of detergent to all who write in!
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