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PURPOSELESSNESS
Sub-Rational Violence
Saints in Black and White
STS. CYRIL and METHODIUS
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
The tragedy of purposeless and sub-rational
violence was, one thought, brought home to the
whole country last November. But the pattern
continues. The most recent incident is the murder
on a dark, country road in Georgia of an outstand
ing Negro educator. That the victim last Novem
ber was the young vigorous President of the na
tion and the victim last week was returning from
service in his country's army only heightens the
perversity of the crimes. Over and above the un
speakable wrong done to the victims and their
families, there is an even more sinister shadow
cast by the circumstances of the two events.
Various commentators made the point last No
vember; Governor Carl San
ders made it with righteous
anger after last week’s murder
of Lemuel A. Penn. The lesson
of two tragedies does not hinge
solely on any estimate of the
demented personalities of the
assassins. There is an atmos
phere of violence abroad in
America that is alien to our
best self. It is frightening and
dangerous. And it is being deliberately fomented
by persons who occupy positions normally styled
"responsible.”
THESE people speak lightly of defiance of law
and of bloodshed. They give inflammatory
speeches to audiences who will take them literally.
They apparently welcome the adherence of groups
who publish the incredible volume of hate litera
ture - aimed at minority groups and widely as
sorted individuals - which daily clogs the mails.
One point about this phenomenon - unique, at
least in recent American history - is that these
men would not, for the most part, actually do the
things they are understood to advocate. Most of
them would not commit murder or burn down
churches or beat people with metal cfraibs of
pipes. The violence they unleash in others, how
ever, is something they cannot control or direct.
The very mildest verdict that may be passed on
them is irresponsibility and conscienceless self-
seeking.
Governor Sanders’ statement implied a verdict
of irresponsibility upon another group who would
not associate themselves with the hate-mongers
and violence-preachers. He warned that the sil
ence, in-attention and lack of interest of so-
called moderates is also dangerous and harmful.
"Moderate” has become a comfortable and popu
lar word. It possesses respectability and it does
not make too many obvious demands.
HOW MANY murders, burnings and beatings
does it take before we recognize that our idea of
moderation needs adjustment? It is not modera
tion to ignore the moral law. It is not moderation
to countenance or refuse attention to gross in
justices done to our fellow men. It is not the
victims of such hate and violence who need to be
counselled with moderation. It is the advocates
and perpetrators of such vile deeds who need to
be moderated and restrained.
Governor Sanders made a dark and terrifying
comparison between the demagoguery and fana
ticism current in America today and that which
brought the course of Nazism to Germany and the
world a generation ago. The point cannot be dis
missed as too far-fetched for consideration. A
relatively small group, willing to use any and all
means to achieve its ends, can terrorize a majori
ty and enslave it.Bully tactics, big lies, hate cam
paigns - abetted by the silence of "moderates” -
ruled the day in Nazi Germany and could do the
same here.
QUESTION BOX
Baptism Of Blood?
Q. After our class read your article entitled,
"Who are the Members of the Mystical Body of
Christ?" a question arose. Can a member of the
Mystical Body have attained his membership
through Baptism of Blood? A Baptism of Blood
is not a baptism unless martyrdom for the Faith
of Christ is suffered, and yet dead persons are
not members. As an example the massacre of the
Holy Innocents was mentioned. This brings us to a
bigger question; "Can one be a member of the
Communion of Saints without being a member of
the Mystical Body?"
A, This question comes from a grade school, and
the writer says she represents
room 2, Surely they must start
numbering their rooms from the
top in her school. And her class
is doing some sound thinking -
and making me think too.
As regards the baptism of
blood, the principle which
should guide us in this; Sanci-
ty must be attained in the course
of our human life on earth. If we die without sanc
tifying grace we cannot enter heaven. So baptism of
blood-which confers all the graces of baptism of
water-must be operative before the moment of
death. Therefore it makes its "victims’’ mem
bers of the Mystical Body for a fractional moment-
at least.
With adult martyrs there is less of a problem
than with the Holy Innocents. The adult may well
have a baptism of desire before his martyrdom
begins, and he gives supreme expression of many
vintues; faith, love and courage, especially. The
baptism of blood adds the great benefit (like bap
tism of water) of remission of every fault and pun
ishment due for sins-unless the person retains
voluntary attachment to sin.
Death is essential to martyrdom-and so to the
baptism of blood-but this does not mean that its
merits come after death.The merit is in accepting
the death-accepting it rather than deny the faith,
accepting it for love of God (which means pre
ferring death to sin). A martyr may live for some
time after gaining the merits of martyrdom,
which began when he accepted the fatal wounds.
In the case of the Holy Innocents the means and
methods of their sanctification is more difficult
to understand. About all we can say is that the
merits of Christ’s death were applied by him in
special manner to those who died for him, even
though their martyrdom was not a voluntary act.
In point of time, Jesus did not die until after the
Holy Innocents; but the saving benefits of his
death were applied to them in anticipation-as they
were to all those who were saved before the Re
deemer came.
And this brings us to your final question. Sure
ly Abraham, Moses and Aaron are members of the
Communion of Saints, but they lived long before the
Church of Christ-his Mystical Body-came into
existence. We honor St. John the Baptist, St.
Joseph and the Holy Innocents as saints, and yet
they all died before the Church was established.
St. Joseph is the patron of the Church, but in a
technical sense he was never a member of the
Church. So we should say that those who lived
and died before the death of Christ were never
members of his Mystical Body, as we understand
that term today. But they may be members of the
Communion of Saints.
However, since the death and resurrection of our
Savior, his Mystical Body is the mystery of his
sanctifying and saving action on earth. No one has
ever been saved except through him, but now no
one is saved except in him-in the specific sense
of living as part of his Mystical Body. But we know
not the limits of his Mystical Body, because we
know not the limits of his mercy or the good inten
tions and saving desires of men. This is doubly
true of those who have been baptized into member
ship, but have drifted in good faith beyond the
visible limits of the Church,
TRUTH ABOUT SUDAN
Your World And Mine
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
sion, but he was never allowed to visit Sudan’s
Jails or attend trials before its military courts.
NEITHER are other independent observers per
mitted to travel and report freely. Contrary to the
claims of Sudan Embassies, a special permit had
to be obtained in Khartoum from the Interior
Ministry before Sudan Airways (the only carrier)
would honor my ticket to the south. And this per
mit was obtained only because they believed I was
an in-offensive American tourist anxious to swell
their dollar reserv* s. Various U.S. and British
officials assured i„e that a newsman could not
hope to obtain a permit. Nobody would speak to me
until I had provided documentary evidence that I
was not a Sudanese agent. Every informant warn
ed me that disclosure of his identity would bring
dire reprisals for telling the truth.
The basic fact about the Sudan is that the dicta
torship is engaged on a ruthless policy of imposing
the Arab language and culture of the north, along
with its Moslem religion, on the south. As a first
step, it has eliminated the leadership of the south’s
four million black Africans, some of whom are
Chrlitiana and the rest Animtita (pagans). The
educated people are in exile, in Jail or dispersed
lit 'Villages in the north. The Christian mission
aries had first been isolated and their schools had
been seized over the past eight years, But the peo
ple still rallied around them. The policy of geno
cide required their elimination, and so they have
gone.
PERHAPS the most cynical of the assertions of
the Interior Minister is that Sudanese priests will
replace those expelled, and that the government In
tends to pursue a policy of active training of in
digenous clergy. The fact is that the mission au
thorities had long seen the writing on the wall.
Since 1956, both Catholic and Protestant missions
had been refused visas for new missionaries.
AS EXPULSIONS were stepped up, they ap
pealed continuously to the authorities for permis
sion to increase the intake of candidates to Junior
seminaries and for permission to start additional
junior seminaries. These requests were absolute
ly turned down. In consequence, Sudan has only a
handful of ordained clergymen for service in the
south, and some of these are in jail, others in
exile from which they dare not return.
Within the Sudan no voice can be raised in pro
test, The dictatorship controls all newspapers, ra
dio and television. The army has an iron grip on
the people.
World opinion, as yet strangely unmoved, lathe
one hope of the weak, oppressed and leaderless
Negroes now at the mercy of their traditional
enemies.
y
3—
3
y *
/9
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THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
POPE AT MEETING
Approves Sainthood For
22 Uganda Negro Martyrs
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Interweaving stitches
manufacturing of business
machines
elfin
Indebted
attitude of mind
Latin pronoun
Mendacity
girl’s name
man’s nickmane
stake
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vessels
Word uttered by Our Lord
on the cross
Biblical name
cuddle
quash
St. Methodius worked alone
after his brother’s
Tibetian mountain
devotee
moan
inscrutable person
Iranian coin
genus of sen slugs
challenger
pertaining to the Edda
slow (music)
graphite
checked
manner of acting
essay
eccentric
vital organ
mythical spirit
Their are celebrated
together
rain spout (Scot)
French pronoun
dale
lyrical poem
triturate
Weathercook
alegar
crop
go wrong
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contend
Dutch meters
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Ohio college town
muse in reverie
Estonian measure of weight
absorb
apis
twist
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ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7
VATICAN CITY (RNS)—Saint-
hood in the Roman Catholic
Church was approved by the
Sacred Congregation of Rites
for 22 beatified Negro converts
martyred in Uganda in the 19th
Century for refusing to re
nounce their new faith.
Final approval was voted by
the congregation at a meeting,
attended by Pope Paul VI, in
which it accepted as miracu
lous two cures attributed to the
martyrs.
MEMBERS of the first Ugan
da Christian community, the 22
— ranging in age from 14 to
50 — are expected to be canon
ized at solemn ceremonies in
St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday,
Oct. 18.
The rites are to be attended
by the Pope and some 2,000
bishops from around the world
in Rome for the Vatican Coun
cil's third session which starts
Sept. 14.
Dramatizing the Catholic
Church's stand against racial
injustice, canonization of the
Uganda martyrs will make them
the first Negro Africans de
clared saints in modern times.
They were converted by mis
sionaries of the White Fathers
who first arrived in Uganda in
1878. The White Fathers, who
began research on the martyrs'
lives in 1886 and have since
promoted their cause for saint
hood, sponsor a Uganda Mar
tyrs Center in Washington, D.C.
THE SACRED Congregation’s
approval was warmly com
mended by Father John A. Bell,
W.F., the center’s director, who
observed: "I think this public
act on the part of the Church
will reinforce statements and
pronouncements by the Church
on the fundamental equality of
all men in the eyes of God.”
All male, the 22 martyrs were
ARNOLD VIEWING
World of Henry Orient
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
Some years ago a famous psychological study
of the movies (by Martha Wolfenstein and Nathan
Leites) discovered an interesting difference in plot
themes between American and European films. In
French pictures, for example, "missed sexual
opportunity” is usually tragic, while in U.S. films
it is usually comic.
The untiring Briton, Peter Sellers, now seems
to be making a career of this American theme, as
the would-be Don Juan who never wins his diplo
ma (cf. "Pink Panther,"
World of Henry Orient"). Part
of Sellers’ gift is in making
his man the right mixture of
clown and cad, sharpie and
schlemiel. The audience dis
likes him enough to want him to
fail but not enough to withhold
sympathy; it accepts him as real
but rarely to thepointwherehis
roguery is painful. His clear
cowardice and final humiliation are, of course,
moral in effect if not in explicit intention.
IN "ORIENT,” Sellers, as a dandyish concert
pianist who preys with uncertain success on mar
ried women, is only half the show. The rest con
cerns the lively mischief of two female adole
scents (Merrie Spaeth, Tippy Walker) who belong
to the world of J.D. Salinger: of the high I.Q. off
spring of divorced aristocrats fighting off bore
dom in the prep schools and adult playgrounds of
Manhattan’s fashionable East Sixties.
These attractive youngsters, in the story by old
pros Nora and Nunnally Johnson, are exhilarating
to both eyes and spirit. Incredible as it seems,
they look (floppy skirts and hair, all legs and el
bows), talk ( on tee^ braces, leg shaving) and act
(each step is a headlong lurch) as real 14-year-
olds sometimes do. Although now and then on
screen a bit too long, they avoid the unforgive-
able: they never become totally cute.
When it does not bog down in tepid adult dia
log, "Orient" is often rousing cinema. For vete
ran TV director George Roy Hill, it is the best
movie yet (after "Toys in the Attic, "not a crash
ing compliment). The sequences involving Sellers
(serenely smuggling nervous Paula Prentiss in and
out of his lair, banging his way through a horren
dous modern concerto) and the kids (romping
through Central Park and other real Gotham loca
tions) are choice. The camera work is in vivid
colors. One too brief series of shots uses slow
and fast motion, wide angle lenses and rhythmic
repetitive cutting in the most effervescent tour of
Manhattan since the engaging bit in "Breakfast
at Tiffany's.”
TIPY HAS a fascinating Oedipal relationship
with her screen-mother (Angela Lansbury), A
William Inge-ish monster who competes both for
the girl's sometime father (gentle Tom Bosley)
and her teenage crush (Sellers), Miss Lansbury,
apparently fated to blacken endlessly the image
of American motherhood flast time; "All Fall
Down"), loses both ends of the doubleheader. Di
rector Hill's serious interpretation of this ele
ment jars the film’s basic joie de vivre (Sellers,
on his side, is playing for farce), and renders its
dramatic effect ambiguous.
"Ladybug, Ladybug” is a dreary second effort
by the creators of "David and Lisa" (scenarist
Eleanor Perry, producer-director-husband Frank
Perry). They began with a stimulating idea - what
if teachers and pupils at an isolated school mis
took an erroneous nuclear attack alert for the real
thing? - but let it suffocate in more pretentious
moralizing than we have seen since editorialists
took on the Twist.
YET EVEN a Perry flop gives patrons more to
think about than most of the items that pass for
movies these days, "Ladybug", made on an in
credible $320,000 budget with unknown profes
sionals at a rural school south of Philadelphia,
has that flat, understated documentary look. The
child actors try to grapple with what they per
ceive as impending death, and are often moving
when not obliged to debate the morality of war.
Now and then they are stunningly photographed
(e.g„ single file, low-angled against the sun).
Director Perry's major flaw is his reluctance
to cut. In one nicely conceived scene, a pregnant
young teacher, still believing the alert is real,
walks through a deserted kindergarten with its
poignant symbols: childish decorations welcom
ing Spring, instructions to "draw a baby animal,”
toy soldiers besieging a toy fort. The impact is
dissipated as the scene drags on. Perry also
blinds the customers by cutting back and forth
between underground shelters and characters in
bright sunlight.
For those of us who staggered through the Cu
ban crisis on martinis and aspirin, "Ladybug" is
not quite convincing. We veterans puzzle over the
adults’ failure to consult radios or other adults,
and wonder why, if they believe attack is imminent,
they keep meandering about in the open as if on a
bird-watching expedition, I, for one, would have
been down in the cellar with my flashlight and pow
dered milk in less time than it takes to show the
coming attractions. The Perrys missed the best
way to tell this story: from inside the mind of one
of the confused children.
One supreme bit of irony emerges in "Lady-
bug," A teacher (Nancy Marchand), in near-panic,
finally gets a lift from a truck driver. Lips quiv
ering, she asks him to turn on the radio. He re
sponds, and the caterwauling of rock-n-roll re
veals that, for now at least, civilization is pre
served,
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
For connoisseurs: Tom Jones, 8 1/2, Bridge on
the River Kwai (re-release),
Superior entertainment: It’s a Mad Mad, Mad,
Mad World; Lilies of the Field,
Dr, Strangelove.
beatified in 1920 by Pope Bene
dict XV. Beatification, a major
step toward canonization, per
mits the Blessed to be honored
locally in public worship. Fol
lowing canonization, a saint is
honored in public worship
throughout the universal
Church.
The Church requires two
miracles attributed to the Bles
sed before canonization. How
ever, miracles are not requir
ed for martyrs if the Pope
grants dispensation. But spon
sors of the 22 martyrs’canoni
zation asked for no such dis
pensation.
Preliminary approval of the
two medical miracles attributed
to the intervention of the Ugan
da converts was given by the
Sacred Congregation of Rites in
1941. The congregation has now
voted final acceptance of the
cases as miraculous.
THE TWO cases in which
the miracles are said to have
occured involved pulmonary
plague. One of the cures af
fected Mother Maria Louisa
Griblet, a Swiss nun; and the
other, Sister Rachilda Buch, a
German nun. They were mem
bers of the Missionary Sisters
of Our Lady of Africa, known
as the White Sisters -- a coun
terpart of the White Fathers.
In 1941 the two nuns were re
ported dying when a novena to
the martyrs was started in a
Uganda parish on their behalf.
Later the nuns recovered. Sis
ter Rachilda died in 1953 in
Belgium. Mother Maria is now
serving in Hoima, Uganda.
The 22 Uganda converts were
put to death in various ways
between 1885 and 1886 by order
of King Mwanga, their native
chief. Twelve of them were
pages in the king's court and
their ages were between 14 and
25. The other ten were from
25 to 50 years old.
A LEADING figure in the
court, Joseph Mukasa, who was
among the early converts, was
martyred first because offears
that his influence would Chris
tianize the kingdom. He was
sentenced to be burned alive,
but instead was beheaded by
the royal executioner.
Another convert leader,
Charles Lwanga, supported the
12 pages who declined to give
up their new faith. He and the
pages were burned alive in 1886.
The remaining eight Africans
were martyred later in various
wavs.
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
Americans are among the richest people on the face of the earth;
they give hundreds of millions of dollars a year in answer to var
ious appeals. It is not, however, the man who gives the most who
will receive the greatest reward. It depends upon the motivation of
our giving. To build a field house, or a gymnasium, or a science
building to glorify one’s own name is not worth as much as giving
a cup of cold water to a thirsty man in the Name of Christ.
Our works and deeds have merit because they
are united with and done in Christ; or as He put
it: "In My Name.” Why was it that God told
Moses that if he built Him an Altar, "to use
any tool in the making of it is to profane it
(Ex, 20:25)? The reason is because no creature
is to "have any ground for boasting in the Pres
ence of God" (I Cor, 1:30). It was also to indi
cate that "He saved us; and it was not thanks to
anything we had done for our own justification"
(Tit. 3:5),
Sinfulness cannot approach the thrice-holy God with anything in
hand which its own labors have produced. That is why the Lord
did not respect the offering which Cain brought to Him: Cain pre
sented the fruits of the ground, the product of his own labors, as
if man, through his own efforts, could redeem himself. Abel, on the
contrary, offered a bloody sacrifice, for it is only through the blood
of the All-Holy Lamb that our sins are forgiven.
When it comes to making your Will, you will do more good for
your soul if you leave a little money to the Vicar of Christ to
spread Redemption through the world, than if you leave a million
dollars for a law building with your name inscribed in stone. None
of us can be sure that he has acquired sufficient merits for salva
tion, Think well then on any material possessions which the Good
Lord has given to you. Leave them in His Name for His purposes.
Leave them particularly to His Vicar on earth, the Holy Father.
This you will do by writing in your Will:
"I give, devise and bequeath to the National Office of The Society
for the Propagation of the Faith, the sum of $ , This
amount is to become part of the General Fund, and will be dis
tributed through the Holy Father and his Congregation of the
Propagation of the Faith," For further details, write to the Na
tional Office of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366
Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. 10001.
GOD LOVE YOU to a Teenager for $5 "I have just about every
thing I could ask for, so please accept this gift I might otherwise
have used foolishly," ...to B.W, for $7.10 "Nickles for picking up
splits and doubles for bowling season." ...to M.R.C. for $12.50
For some time I have felt that I wanted to make a worthy con
tribution but as a working widow my income is quite limited."
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-
nngs, gold eyeglass frames, flatware, etc., and use the money to
relieve the suffering in mission lands. Our address: The Society
Y^rk 10001 Pagati ° n ° f ** Falth * 366 Fifth Avenue . New York, New
Cut out thi* column, pin your, sacrifice to it and mail 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, Rainey P. 0.
Box 12047 Northalde Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.