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EMERGING LAYMEN
Some Dangerous Ideas
BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
Fuzzy ideas are dangerous ideas. If nobody
famous enough to make up lasting quotations has
ever said that, somebody ought to do so. It
ought to be almost a first principle of contem
porary communication - in politics, social life
and, indeed, religion. Especially during times of
change and adjustment, such as the Catholic
Church is now experiencing, catchy slogans and
half-formed statements of new ideas can gain
great currency. The result may be either that
the unwary will be misled to
their own harm or that the
worth of'even an excellent idea
will never receive a fair hear
ing.
What I have said is a bit
exaggerated on the subject of
the "emerging Catholic lay
man*’ but it strikes me as a
legitimate concern. The lay
man’s place in the Church -
in the sense of a positive, responsible and
distinct role that is his by duty and right -
has never received full theological treatment.
The Second Vatican Council is expected, for
the first time in Catholic history, to take the
subject under consideration in its treatise on
the constitution of the Church. The revised body
of Canon Law is likewise expected to recognize
juridically the direction of present thinking on
the subject. While absolutely necessary, these
are developments to be estimated only from a
long-range view.
IN THE MEANTIME, there are the concerns
with which I began. If the "emergence’’ of the
modern layman is misconstrued simply as a
reaction to the passive role he has been assigned
in the recent past, then it is ready prey for
continuously accelerated misunderstanding. The
liberals and the conservatives will assume their
accustomed poses and we will be off to the races
on the wrong issue altogether.
On the other hand, if the only enlightenment
the layman receives on his "emergence’’ is
peripheral, he is going to weary of trying to
consider it new or interesting. This would be
the ruin of an important - even essential -
element of the renewal of the Church. If the only
difference the lay parishioner can notice is that
he may discuss which direction the chairs he
sets up in the parish hall ought to face, then he
is not going to be terribly fascinated with the idea
of lay emergence. However, it is not necessary
that this be the case. Even while we await the
statement of principle from the teaching Church,
there can be a beginning of communication with
the layman regarding the basic elements of his
re-discovered position in the Church,
THERE ARE three general areas in which the
total health of the Mystical Body demands the
initiative and commitment of its lay members.
First of all, there is the freedom which the
layman must enjoy within the organized activity
of the Church. There are new apostolic needs
today. Today’s parish, for one example, must
meet these needs. Family problems, social con
flicts, the mass of the non-religious population, i
the adjustments demanded of the urban and subur
ban parish, the execution of roles in the liturgy -
all these and many more needs must be met by
' official" activity organized by the parish and the
diocese. Within all this area, the Church needs
the initiative, experience and commitment of the
laity. This is his first area of activity.
Outside of the official structure of the Church
organization, the layman who is informed and
committed must answer for his faith. He must
interpret it to the world in which he lives. He
must draw upon his own-by definition, "lay," not
"clerical" - experience to make it relevant.
Fina.Vy.the apostolateof the layman - of "like
to like" - is the only approach which can hope
to accomplish the renewal of the world, the
goal of all Church zeal and activity.
QUESTION BOX
Tight And Selfish
BY MONSIGNOR J. D. CONWAY
Q. About six years ago a relative of mine
died. He was tight and selfish, saved every
penny he made, and never gave his sisters, who
were in need, any help. When he died he willed
all of his money to the Church, so his sisters
would not get any of it. Now since all this time
there has not been a sprig of grass on his grave.
Is it because the fire of hell is burning in his
grave?
A. I suspect he tried to take
some of it with him and the gold
mixed with water creates
AuH20, harmful to herbage.
Q, My son once wanted to be
come a priest, but now he has
become interested in Yoga, and
claims he wants to be a yogi. I
don’t care to investigate this in
detail and would appreciate it if
you could disprove its veracity.
A, Maybe you should send him into the forestry
service.
I don't care to Investigate Yoga in detail either,
but I suspect that a quick cure for your son’s
interest would be to send him to a Buddhist
monastery, or Meditation House, for his train
ing period of three years, three months and three
days. There he would be a voluntary prisoner,
observing silence most of the time* meditating
continuously 16 hours a day, every single day,
without ever lying down to sleep. He could doze
of course three or four hours a day in his sitting
position.
If his enthusiasm for Yoga wanes before the
three years, months and days are over, by all
means keep him out of a seminary. We need
priests, but not that kind.
Q. I read where St. Alphonsus said that he
who prays is certainly saved, but he who prays
not is certainly lost. I would like to know how
often we must pray in order to get saved, and
what kind of prayers.
A. I am not familiar with such quotation from
St. Alphonsus, but I know that Jesus said: "Not
everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,’ shall
enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does
the will of my Father in heaven shall enter the
kingdom of heaven."
However, I doubt very much that you will be
able to do the will of the Father in heaven with
out a considerable amount of prayer; and I don't
think we should be looking for the minimum
amount required. St. Paul says we ought always to
pray. Prayer is our encounter with God in thought,
desire, affection, and conversation. It is through
encounter with God that grace comes into our
souls; and it is grace that saves us.
The grace which saves us is the love of God
active within us; we cannot love one whom we do
not know. You can never get to know a person
unless you have some sort of personal encounter
with him, especially in an intimate exchange of-
thoughts and feelings. Such is prayer.
We follow Paul’s monition to pray always
when we frequently renew our awareness of the
presence of God and live constantly for the love
of him. So, if you must have your minimum: I
would say a recommendation of yourself to God’s
care each morning, with an offering of all your
words, works, thoughts and suffering for love of
him; a renewal of that offering several times
during the day, by brief thoughts or ejaculations,
and a checking up on yourself each evening, with
a renewal of love, and contrition for your fail
ings during the day.
ORTHODOX WELCOME HELP
Your World And Mine
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
priests.
The missionaries gradually saw new horizons.
In 1911 they started a magazine called Zoe (mean
ing life). It has prospered and has now a weekly
circulation exceeding 150,000. It has also ex
panded into Greece's biggest religious publishing
operation, printing bibles, prayer books, devo
tional books, pamphlets, and a range of period
icals for the young. Incidentally, the Brotherhood,
an unsubsidized non-profit organization, lives
mainly from the profit on its printing and pub
lishing activities.
PUBLISHING IS, nevertheless, onlyone phase of
Zoe’s work for young people. It has organized a
broad spectrum of other programs and activities,
from hotels for university students to technical
schools, clubs for young workers and for young
intellectuals, summer camps, and training
centers for catechists. A group of unmarried
women university graduates has been formed
into a lay community, something like a secular
institute, to run hostels for university co-eds.
Contacts have been established with counter
parts among both Protestants and Catholics in
the West, and a few members of Zoe have stud
ied Young Christian Worker methods in Western
Europe.
THE WORK is, of course, carried on with ap
proval of the Holy Synod of Greece. Many, never
theless, criticize it for its departures from tradi
tion. When one of the Brothers expressed to me
his concern at a falling off in the membership of
the Union of Young Workers, I suggested that
perhaps the almost monastic regime they
counseled was too removed from the actuality of
these young people's lives. "I agree," he re
plied, "but as of now we seem to be trapped. A
few years ago we introduced Joint talks to uni
versity students of both sexes, in separate sec
tions of the hall, of course, but still together.
The outraged protests from the older people
almost brought the building down around our
ears."
Since World War II, Athens has felt the full
impact of the modern world. The movies, the
transistors, the television serials, the bop tunes
• and all the paraphernalia of the new way have
seized the young people. Their world is light
years removed from that of traditional Orthodoxy.^
Those who understand the need for change are
still few. They are also conscious of their own
inadequate preparation for dealing with strange,
foreign phenomena. That is why, as Father Ellas
said to me, they need our know-how. Dogmatic
agreement may still be far in the future., but
moral and technical cooperation can quickly
become a reality.
Saints in Black and White
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 13. 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
'JEWEL OF THE COMSTOCK*
Historic Church Featured
73
77
7?
n
ACROSS
1. name chosen by
pcpes
5. gasconade
9. sop
14. river “Kubla Khan’
15. acrid
16. South American
animal
18. hatchet
19. seated (Fr.)
21. carried
22. cache
24. charger
25. Jot
26. youngest of a
famous family
28. Gabor
29. Turkish money
20. gibbon
33. French river
35. Arabs
•16. Japanese coin
38. expend
39. Presidential nick
name
40. Biblical country
41. degree
42. Greek letter
43. reliance
47. cut
49. plpa
50. resting
51. engineering degree
52. He was very de
voted to the
53. gore
LX
PT
LJ
7o 7/ 7*.
FT
54. mast 20.
57. utters impulsively
59. Conrad's "Victory” 23.
hercine 27.
60. Jezebel 29.
61. unfair move
62. convene 30.
64. Polynesian God 31.
66. shepherd prophet 32.
68. His birthplace 34.
73. tear 35.
74. soils 37.
76. tie 39.
77. record 42.
79. Biblical-character 43.
80. care for 44.
81. ruler 45.
82. coast bird 46.
83. weeds 48.
DOWN 49.
1. cards
2. island 52.
3. ascent 54.
4 friable 55.
5. popular organlza- 56.
tlon; abbr. 57.
6. flag maker 58.
7. kind of life he led 63.
8. erne 65.
9. his religious order; 67.
abbr. 69.
10. account 70.
11. egocentric attltude71.
12. Phonlclan princess; 72.
Gr. Myth. 75.
13. heaved 78.
17. constructs
overwhelming
quantity
moray
incertitude
punishable in the
army
waste
son of Adam
Austrian physicist
verb ending
freshwater worm
swim (Fr.)
plats
indigent
odeon
musical Instrument
Mexican slave
saga
pronoun
He entered religious
life here
weight
participate
obvious
spies
pythons
Thor’s wife
important Council
theater
mlra
color
gnarl
noun form
eels (old Eng.)
day star
clerical form of ad
dress; abbr.
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7
VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (NC) —
The church of St. Mary’s in the
Mountain, which has been de
stroyed and rebuilt in this
historic mining town three dif
ferent times, was nearly the
victim of another catastrophe at
the hands of the U.S. Post Of
fice Department.
A scene featuring the church
and the man who founded it
more than 100 years ago was
pictured on a new 25-cent stamp
issued by the Post Office to
mark Nevada’s centennial. In
the nick of time it was dis
covered the church and the
picture of Father Patrick
Manogue were printed back
wards. A corrected version was
hurriedly prepared for the (July
22) date of issue.
THE POST Office error
seemed somehow appropriate
with the history of St. Mary's
in the Mountain.
The original crude wooden
structure of St. Mary’s was
built by Father Hugh Gallager
at the southern edge of town in
1860. The paint was hardly
dry when the building was
knocked down by one of the
occasional tornadic winds,
known to the natives as "washoe
zephyrs," that sweep this sec
tion of the continental divide.
TWO YEARS later, Father
Manogue erected another
church at the site of the pre
sent one, but in 1868 he de
cided it was too small and
tore it down. That bame year
Father Manogue built a third
church large enough to sit
800 persons, many of whom
had lushed to Virginia City in
an attempt to cash in on the
ARNOLD VIEWING
Breathlessly Big
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
Both "Becket" and "Fall of the Roman Em
pire" are films in the Breathlessly Big tradi
tion, transporting patrons in wide-screen and
color to remote history (800 and 1800 years
respectively) and dealing, rather more in
ventively than factually, with fascinating actual
personages portrayed by gifted actors. If neither
film may substitute for junior’s history lesson,
both are expensive, skillful and often exciting
productions, though in much different ways.
"Becket," which closely fol
lows Jean Anouilh’s play, an
existentialist interpretation of
the relationship between St.
Thomas a Becket and Henry II
of England, has the smaller
budget but the surer literary
merit. "Empire", despite its
pretentious title and occasional
floundering in the cliches of
spear-and-chariot melodrama,
is much more of a treat for the eyes. Oddly,
both films - the intellectual tragedy and the
blood-and-thunder mass entertainment - deal
with the harmful effects of power and politics
on love and friendship.
ALTHOUGH a film should not be Judged in its
fidelity to history, audiences should know that
"Becket" oversimplifies a wickedly complex 12th
century Church - State issue. The saint’s
character, and the portrait of Pope Alexander
III, are largely creations of the playwright. The
events in "Empire" are true only in the same
general sense as Mickey Mantle might be called
a 20th century American athlete.
"Becket" tells a very personal story, that rare
species (since we have been made so overly con
scious vOf the perverse) about the comrade ship
of two men. Anouilh’s view is that Henry, in
appointing Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury,
made an enemy of a friend indispensable to his
happiness. The whole point of the drama is to
reveal why.
TO BELIEVERS, the Anouilh Becket is bound
to be disappointing; he is too much the modern
skeptic, sensitive to the absurdity of things. A
profligate young man without ideals, he comes
suddenly, by what seems an ironic joke of fate,
to be Archbishop and defender of the honor of
God. The role gives him purpose, and he plays
it nobly, even to the death. Whether he believes
in a reality behind his duty is largely irrelevant.
At times he seems to, at times he doesn't.
For Anouilh (who, despite his unbelief, wrote
the script for one of the great Catholic films,
"Monsieur Vincent"), men are isolated, con
demned to "do absurdly what it has been given
us to do" in an unfriendly, perhaps meaningless
universe. Man's true dignity lies in being true
to himself, in playing his role to the very depths.
Hence the central irony of "Becket": the saint
finds his happiness and meaning in the very
acts which must destroy the only happiness and
meaning in the King’s life.
ST, THOMAS is existentialist, rather than
Christian, hero, exhibiting even the essential
existentialist virtue: compassion for his fellow
sufferers in the prison-universe. This may not
be far removed from Christian charity, feven
so, the tempestuous Henry, motivated by love
for a person, seems more attractive and human
than the somber Becket, who loves only a vague
absolute). But the fact that Becket’s sanctity
comes from his sense of role rather than love
of God tends to leave the viewer strangely cold.
Otherwise the film has splendid sets (the
Canterbury interior is brooding and awesome) and
high-angle shots, but is basically a series of
filmed dialogues. These, however, are far from
trivial: the acting of Peter O'Toole as the King
is the most brilliant likely to be seen anywhere this
year. Richard Burton's bland, cool style as Becket
makes a forbidding character even more frosty.
His booming Churchilllan tones and impassive face
are seldom moving except in long shot (e.g., a
harrowing excommunication scene in the darkened
cathedral),
THE EXPLICATION of the Becket - Henry
friendship is marred only by a 'Tom Jones"
emphasis on boozing and wenching. The treat
ment of Vatican intrigue and the Pope (one of
the Church’s great men) is bush league and
Juvenile; rather than come to grips with com
plicated forces, Anouilh retreats to comic stereo
type.
"Empire" describes the effect of the power
transfer, after the death (180 A.D.) of the philo
sopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guin
ness), on his son and daughter (Christopher
Plummer, Sophia Loren) and a young general
(Stephen Boyd). This is the start of the decline,
rather than the fall of Rome, but the mad
emperor and the orgies tend to look familiar.
Story and intellectual grace (and the painful
Loren-Boyd love scenes) are not the film’s finest
points, Insteaa, they are:
1 - The lavish spectacle, including hordes
of extras, eyenumbing sets and a tingler of a
chariot fight - five minutes of screen action
and cutting which no devotee of film ought to
miss.
2 - Larcenous acting by Plummer, who con
verts the whole extravaganza into a setting for
his talents. Mad emperor roles are noted for
bringing out the worst in actors, but Plummer,
despite an hysterical script, makes his man
magnetic.
3 - The fact that it can be seen and enjoyed
by kids without notable damage to either their
souls or psyches.
THE PICTURE was shot in Spain by the pro
ducer-director team of "El Cid" (Samuel Bron-
ston, Anthony Mann). One of its flaws is cool
disregard of the role of Christianity in second
century Rome (Aurelius, for all his stoic no
bility, was a major persecutor). On the filmic
side, the battle scenes are as confusing and
uninteresting as a bargain sale at Macy's. And
as one child remarked to his father: "Why do
all the barbarians have long blond wigs?" To
tell them, of course, from the Romans.
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
Superior art: 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.
Worth seeing: America America, Love With
the Proper Stranger, Becket, Billy Liar, Charade,
Paris When It Sizzles, The Pink Panther.
famous Comstock Lode, a
fabulous silver discovery.
Built at a cost of $65,000
at a time when Mark Twain
was a reporter for Virginia
City's newspaper, the church
was considered the most
beautiful in the west and
called the "Jewel of the Corn-
stock."
T WAS too good to last.
In 1875, when much of the
community was destroyed by
fire, St. Mary's in the Moun
tain was dynamited to pro
vide a fire break. In grati
tude, the mine owners financed
the building of a new and still
larger church with five doors
on two levels, two transepts
and a gallery.
The style of this latest
church, which is still stand
ing, is described as modified
14th century Gothic. It boasts
eight minarets each 60 feet
high, and the cross atop its
main spire is 170 feet above
the ground. The roof rests on
six arches suanended from twn
rows of pillars, allowing the
roof to sway with the wind in
case another "washoe zephyr"
comes along.
ST. MARY’s is a key at
traction of the Nevada cen
tennial this summer. Father
Paul Meinecke, the pastor, has
created an admission - free
museum and art gallery that
captures the history of the
church and Virginia City. Many
of the gleaming crucifixes and
chalices on aisplay were used
by Father Manogue 100 years
ago.
Father Meinecke is also of
fering to send four 25-cent
postage stamps, with a cor
rected view of Virginia city,
to anyone who sends him$l.
Birth Symposium
WASHINGTON (NC)--A "Sym-
posium on Rhythm" for priests,
physicians and experts from
family life agencies will be con
ducted here Oct 20 to 22 under
the joint auspices of the Nation
al Catholic Welfare Confer
ence's Family Life Bureau and
the National Federation of Cath
olic Phvsicians Guilds.
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
We are novena-conscious, devotion-minded, rosary-saying
and highly sacramentalized Catholics. But during the week, do
those who work alongside us at a factory lathe , behind a counter
or in an office know that we belong to Christ? Do we ever men
tion the name of Our Lord to them? Are we pious merelyto feed
our own souls, or to gain strength to spread the Faith to others?
It is this condition which should make us re
examine the life of Our Lord. First of all, He
said: "For their sakes, I sanctify Myself." In
other words, piety must not be divorced from love
and service to neighbor. Furthermore, one is
struck by how little Our Lord approved of pro
fessionally holy people. In His parables, the only
three religious people were the priest and the
levite who passed by the wounded neighbor,
and the Pharisee who sent up to the front
pew to tell God how bad his neighbors were,
Christ disapproved of the "nice" people because they isolated
themselves from the common people.
Then who were the approved people? They were housewives
who ministered to others, like Peter’s mother-in-law; mothers
who brought children to Him; lepers; despised Roman sergeants;
harlots; publicans; tax collectors; pagan women and little men
who climbed trees to see Him. The one bond between them all
was a common humanity.
And this is where our piety, if it is to be real, must take us.
As George MacLeod has put it: "Jesus was not crucified in a
cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two
thieves, on a town garbage heap, at crossroads so cosmopolitan
that they had to write the title in Hebrew and in Latin and in
Greek (or shall we say in English, in Bantu, and in Afrikaans?)
at the kind of a place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse
and soldiers gamble. And that is where churchmen should be
and what churchmen should be about." Why is the world talking
about ‘‘Religionless religion"? Why do we have books entitled
"God or Religion"? Because we who are supposedly religious
are organising "drives" for religion, while the hungry, germ-
laden, leprous mass of humanity draws from us no more than
27 cents a year — for that is the annual per capita contribu
tion of United States Catholics to the Holy Father for the spiri
tually and physically starving people in Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Christ is with the poor just because they are poor! I asked a
non-Catholic woman, twice married and divorced, why she was
so good to a leper. I said: 'To me, he is Christ. That is why
I am good to him," She answered: "I am good to him for the
same reason." This is true Christian insightl
My fellow Catholics! We save ourselves not only inside our
church walls, but outside! The Lord is yearning to get out of
the tabernacle, not just into your soul, but into your feet, that
you may visit the poor; into your hands, that you may give them
bread; into your eyes, that you may see Africa and Asia. Throw
yourself into suffering mankind and you will become a saint.
The only reason others say "I cannot be religious" is because
they see how little it means to us.
tention." . . .to J. R. for $10 "In thanksgiving for a special
favor," . . .to W, H, for $100 ' In thanksgiving for recovery
from an illness, I am a very happy convert. I was baptized
a Russian Orthodox and I have returned to the religion of my
forefathers, I have lost some friends in doing so, but I have
found One Who is dearest to me, My God."
Mission combines the best features of all other magzines:
stores, pictures, statistics and details, human interest. Take
an interest in the suffering humanity of the mission world and
send your sacrifice along with a request to be put on the mail
ing list of this bi - monthly magazine to: The Society for the
Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y,
10001.
Cut out this column, pin youn 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 Plfth Avenue, New York lx, N. Y. or
your Archdiocesad Director^ Very Rev. Harold^ Rainey P. O t
Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.