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i SENSE OF COMMUNITY Liturgical Renewal - II Saints in Black and White ST. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA 117 BY REV. LEONARD F. X, MAYHEW One of the major impressions of the St. Louis Liturgical Week was the almost uncanny sense of community that developed among the thousands of participants. There were, of course, a good number of individuals who were previously personally acquainted. Priests, religious and laity came in groups from various dioceses. But the cheerful atmosphere and the obvious spirit of camaraderie could not be accounted for on that basis alone. It was much broader in its inclus ion of the entire group attending the convention. There was no barrier because of dif ferent origin, age, race or other consideration. There existed a very tangible spirit of brother hood, of kinship that was re- ■ sill marked by everybody present. The explanation was certainly to be found in the common in terest and enthusiasm for the liturgy renewal. But, more importantly, the genesis of this spirit was in the daily experi ence of the common celebration of the Mass. It was this experience that was the most instru ctive part of the Week. This experience made real and tangible all the theoretical-sounding princi ples of the Constitution on Liturgy and the litera ture which has accompanied it. FOR ONE THING, the Masses in which we participated were truly ''celebrations” to use the term which the Constitution favors so frequent ly. We did not just go to Mass,_follow_ the Lit urgy and receive the Sacraments- we cele brated. There was a joy and a healthy emo tion To be felt by all as we prayed together, sang together, learned together and, above all, shared in the Eucharistic meal very much conscious of each other. The second root of our experience was the deliberately encouraged sense of the litirgical actions as "signs of faith”, to use another much favored expression of the Liturgy Constitu tion. The Council has reminded the Church of the traditional understanding of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as operative signs. Too much, since the Protestant Reformation, we have emphasized the almost mechanic effectiveness of the Mass and Sacraments to the detriment of their sign-value, their significance. The Second Vatican Council brings us back to a consideration we have neglected to our own cost: "Because they are signs, the sacraments also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and ob jects they also nourish, strengthen, and — express it; that is why they are called sacra ments (i. e. signs) of faith.” WHAT WE actually experienced in St. Louis was the truth of the abstractions we had long ago learned (or memorized). It is one thing to know that the Eucharist is a common meal, that the Mass is the action of the entire Church, that Penance, Baptism and Confirmation are personal encounters with the personal action of Christ. It is quite another thing to realize this deep within oneself, within one’s own experience. The outward actions and words of these Sacra ments are, by Christ’s design, signs. They are supposed to communicate the significance, the meaning of the Sacrament to the recipient and to the community. In the common experience of common learning and prayer, spoken and sung, the individual is to be nourished and the com munity, in a sense, created and strengthened. In the minds of all, this was the most important thing we took from the Week in St. Louis. It was also an answer to the urgent need of our parishes to be honestly realized communi ties which appeal to the personal involvement of all their members. If 16,000 relative strangers could create, through the instrumentality of the liturgy, a community of common interest and love, then the same thing is possible in our par ishes. The liturgy can be celebrated, not just as a clerical function, but as a common experience by a people, a community. We are look ing forward to praying, singing and learning in our own language. This will add some of the immediacy we need to the signs of our worship and sanctification. To quote Father Godfrey Diek- mann; "May we learn to use well the gift already received, in order that, please God, we may not have long to wait before the chief word of faith (in the Eucharist Canon of the Mass), a comprehensible fulness of the comprehensive sign of our salvation, may likewise be grant ed us.” QVESTION BOX Mary As Mediatrix? BY MSGR. J. D. CONWAY Q. I have been a Catholic for some fifty years now and I can honestly say that until the Marian year, and after, I had not heard of Mary as the mediatrix of all grace. 1 don’t believe this. Does this make me a Protestant? A. No, you are still a Catholic; it has never been defined as doctrine that Mary is the medi atrix of all graces. I had never heard of this teaching until I went to the seminary; and 1 imagine many of our fellow Catholics are still unaware of it. However, it is now quite gene rally taught by theologians in one form or another. I find it difficult to explain. One devout lady recently wrote me an expla nation which went something like this (unfor tunately 1 cannot now find the letter); We pray for something; Jesus hears us, and lets Mary know about it; then Mary prays, and her Son grants the favor. I am quite sure that things are not that complicated in heaven, and that Jesus does not make His good Mother work so hard, day and night. After all there must be more than a billion prayers a day waiting towards heaven, and Mary with all her graces and glories is only a human being by nature. Neither is Mary a mediatrix in the sense that her Son is Mediator. He alone forms a link between God and man, sharing both natures, bring ing God to us and leading us to God. It is only through Him that our sins are forgiven, only through Him that we share the same heavenly Father. But Mary is often called our co-redeemer, because of the vital indeed, essential- part she had in God’s plan for our redemption. God waited for her consent before making His Son incarnate. Mary’s "Be it done to me according to Thy will” was a free acceptance of Jesus as her son, along with all th e joys and sorrows,, sufferings and triumphs which were inseparable from His mission on earth—and in heaven. She even accepted us as members of His mystical body. She became our mother, and it took a lot of courage to accept so many delinquent chil dren. Her present role as mediatrix means that her vital part in our redemption and sanctifi cation was not confined to her life on earth, but continues in her glorified life in heaven. She remains His mother and our mother. Her maternal love for us is constant; her maternal influence with her Son is powerful. Neither your sanctificationjiormine is an isola ted process; it takes place in the Church; we are taught and given example by our parents, receive sacraments from our priests, join our brethren in sacrifice, pray for them and ask their pray ers. Often we ask help from our favorite saint. It is a community project, with many media tors in-volved. None tries to imitate the role of Christ, the one Mediator; none stands between us and Christ, our personal Savior. But all lead us to Him, help us to believe in Him, love Him and remain with Him. Amid all these mediators Mary our Mother- the Queen Mother of Heaven—holds highest place, a role as essential as the one she played on earth. We say that graces come to us through our parents, through the priest, through the Church, through the Communion of Saints. But above all they come to us through Mary whose fiat— “let it be done" set the whole process in motion. Q. W r ho coined the expression and when was it originated: "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” I found it in my Old Testament in quotation marks. A. I do not find these precise words in the Old Testament. However, St. Paul, in I Corinth ians 15, 55, does have them in quoting from Osee, 13, 14, even through the words are not precisely the same. Osee wrote: "O death, where are thy plagues'! 0 Sheol, where is thy sting!” In Osee you may have found these words in quotation marks because they are threats made by God to Israel promising destruction. KASHMIR CONFLICT Your World And Mine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 treaty. Only British India was to be partition ed. The government of each princely state was to choose between accession to India or to Pakis tan. Before the Kashmir government could act, thousands of Pakistani soldiers swarmed over the border and occupied part of^ the state. The Maharajah then declared Kashmir's accession to India, a decision confirmed by th e Kashmir National Conference representing Hindus, Mos lems and Sikhs. India’s sovereignty over Kashmir was subsequently recognized by the United Nations, and this body also called on Pakis tan to withdraw its troops from the part it had occupied, a demand still ignored. Later, as Gan- ghl had warned, power politics replaced merit as the criterion, and the United nations express- THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE,5 AATIONAL NEKMM CUJBS Convention Resolutions Endorse Ecumenical Moves >L. 77 vx *7 ACROSS 1 unspoken 6 his episcopal rev enue was spent on 10 shed 13 flog 14 David Copperfield character 15 personal pronoun 16 a degree 17 part of a church 19 keepers 21 bitter vetch 23 twilled fabric 25 Asiatic weight 26 ass; German 28 obstruct 30 coach 33 tapestry table cloth 35 amateurs 37 half 38 cutter 40 chest sounds 42 hank of twine 43 well-bred 45 burdened 47 “mITcapital Is Blsmark 48 baseball term, abbr 50 purposeful 52 degrees 54 they; French 56 approximates 68 of the nostrils 61 tropical headgear 63 bend all stole artifice Biblical country claw disintegrate auction; abbr. distressing blade of grass Granite State; abbr. entity compact pleased extreme degree clutched rearrange DOWN digraph Brazil parrot detonators termination he had a great for science exclamation! man’s name food herring 27 29 31 32 34 36 39 41 44 46 48 49 51 53 55 57 59 60 62 64 67 6 7 8 9 10 69 11 decaae 72 12 years; abbr. 74 13 pertaining to foot 76 bone 77 16 a vegetable; pi. 78 18 butterfly 20 God; (Latin) 80 22 pertaining to sepia 84 24 of an hour 86 lawful central sultanate peel sept type of car provoked prickles mendacious people temerity poses political union withered old woman city In Italy he was the glory of the Church towers In a circle to killed by mob action formerly Persia correct Charles ap pointed him Arch- blshoD Roman official entice periods Indite emmet gypsy word for paper, book summer (French) Doctor’s Insignia and (Latin) ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 MILWAUKEE, Wis. (RNS)— Resolutions supporting the Civil Rights Act and the ecumenical movement were approved here by the National Newman Club Federation, Delegates expressed appre ciation to President Johnson and members of Congress for passage of legislation.The res olution said; "As Christians we should ap proach world peace by develop ing in all aspects of our lives and in society a peaceful mode of life. As Christians we should develop dose, continuing per sonal relationships with indivi duals of all races, creeds and cultures." THE RESOLUTION suggested that Newman clubs, composed of Catholic students on non-Catho- lic campuses, should undertake the education of persons with discriminatory attitudes. It al so said students should partici pate in community development, working in housing projects and slum areas. Newman clubs were urged to educate their members in ecu menism and to undertake ser vice projects with Protestant and Orthodox Christians in areas of social action, dialogue, liturgical experience, and unit ed Christian witness on the campus. ' Ecumenism involves a searching together for unity in the Christian faith," the reso lution said. "Unification seems to imply a higher synthesis of ARNOLD VIEWING Foreign Film Report BY JAMES W. ARNOLD ed itself in favor of a plebiscite. WHAT IS ESSENTIAL today is a peaceful sol ution to enable India and Pakistan to unite against the common enemy to the north. A plebiscite would have the contrary effect, regardless of outcome. It would encourage religious fanaticism among the Kashmir Moslems whose leaders have consistently backed a liberal secular democ racy. Islam’s trouble everywhere today is that moderate leaders are few and that fanaticism is deeprooted among the illiterate masses. As a backlash, India's political and religious peace would be shattered. India has still nearly forty' million Moslems, and the same logic would start movements for cession of the territories they inhabit. Counter-pressures would inevitably be generated to establish Hinduism as a mark of loyalty and to challenge the equal rights not only of Moslems but of other religious minorities. Foreign movies are not quite what they used to be. This opinion is a grim one, since it was largely the foreign directors - the Italian neo realists and later Bergman, the French and Brit ish- who rescued the medium after World War II from what seemed like permanent adoles ce nec. The revolutionary thing about foreign films of 1946-60 was their freedom from the commercial values that had stultified Hollywood. They were made for reasons other than making money: their creators desperately wanted to say Important Things through the infinite possi bilities of a 20th century art- form. The result was a stream of great pictures: "OpenCity," "Shoeshine," "Bicycle 711161,” "La Strada,” "The Seventh Seal,” "Wild Strawberries." This European influx, coin ciding with the rise of televis ion which "stole" the mass audience, had many effects, good and bad, on Hollywood. But it "open ed up" the U. S. market for new and exciting film material. Hundreds of small theaters found they could make a profit by showing good, inex pensive films to limited audiences. THE SAD TRUTH, apparent in the current industry debate over the decline of the "art” film, is that economics have corrupted this healthy arrangement. Costs of distribution rose. Bigger audiences were needed to maintain profits. Big ger audiences required juicier themes and a flat tening out of standards. The quick-money impre- sarlor hurried the cycle along, ignoring stand ards and joyfully out-shocking the competition. The effect on foreign movies has been pro found. Compare the social and humanistic themes of the early I950*s with the sensationalism of even the superior films of more recent vintage ("La Dolce Vita," "The Silence"). A film needs a highly exploitable theme not only to make a profit, but even to find screening time in thea ters glutted with sex products of all coun tries. The main hope for a good director in the 1960’s is to get hold of a wild story and try to moke something humanly valuable of it. IT IS UNFAIR simply to blame the audience. Human nature being what it is, sex and trivia lity will always outdraw serious art. The real villains are the carpetbaggers in the industry whose desire to make more money faster has again made it difficult for quality to pay its own way. the Christian churches which would respect what is essential to each tradition. "The immediate goal of ecu menical dialogue on the univer sity campus should include unit ed action among Protestants, Orthodox and Catholics in an ef fort to serve that university world. The spirit of dialogue,’ says Pope Paul VI in his en cyclical Ecclesiam Spam, ’is friendship and even more, is service.’ "HOPEFULLY this engage ment of Christians is a common mission to the campus would engender at the same time a re spect and understanding of one another," Another resolution called at tention to the problem of ob scene literature and asserted that the federation "must con demn and try to remove all pornographic literature from newsstands." ’This must be carried out three varying episodes, the obvious charms of its star, Sophia Loren. (The humor depends, once, on Miss Loren’s over-availability, sex ually speaking, for co-star Marcello Mastroi- anni, and twice on her seeming availability, then unnerving withdrawal). "Mafioso,” a clever satire on the moral cowardice of man, with no sale able stars or provocative situations, is drawing little attention. "YESTERDAY" DIFFERS from current Holly wood products only in minor respects; (1) Its casual acceptance of the facts of life. e.g. in one episode there is heavy emphasis on pre gnancy- a state that American puritanical tra dition either pretends not to exist or disguises in fashionalable clothing. (2) The episode form itself, currently popular abroad but never very successful here. The film has a slick commerical gloss, pro vided ironically by Cesare Zavattini and Vitto rio DeSica, the great writer-director team of the neo-realist era ("Bicycle Thief”), and has its memorable moments: the Neapolitans reaction to Miss Loren’s being excused from jail because of her "belly”, and the superb automobile pho tography in the Milan episode- perhaps the longest and most dazzling example of this kind of work. The worst sequence is the final one, in which (among other things) prostitution is sentimenta lized and the Hail Mary is used tastelessly as a cue for laughter. De Sica also knows full well that while sex may be satirized (cf. "Tom Jones"), it is hard to muster even a chuckle while a girl of Miss Loren’s heroic propor tions is demonstrationg the art of striptease. "Mafioso” combines comedy and melodrama in tightly wrought tale about a likeable family man (Alberto Sordi) who returns to his native Sicily on vacation and allows himself to be used as a killer by the Mafia. In the process direc tor Alberto Lattuada makes almost every com ment possible about Sicilians, from superficial (their social backwardness and emotionality) to profound (their perversions of the virtues of mod esty, religion and loyalty). THERE ARE MARVELOUS cinematic moments; Sordi’s subjective impressions as he is smuggl ed to New York by air in a crate, his human laughter at a home movie Intended to show him the man he is to kill, the pervasive atmosphere of death and decay worked into shots of the Innocent Sicilian locale. Honest pictures are still being made. But un less it is sex they are honest about, they are in trouble. Competition is so tough. Variety re ports, that a foreign film has to do "Soffo” business just to break even. The result: the in ternational film product is becoming standar dized at a pseudo-sophisticated level (comedy, sex, big stars, slick production) that is per haps higher than 1945, but distressingly short of the promise of the first Dost-war decade. Two current Italian imports typify the situa tion. "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," despite its many likeable qualities, is a box-office bon anza, tailored for the pseudo-sophisticates. It is a lightweight comedy designed to exploit, in For all its humor and gangster violence, "Ma fioso" alms to do more than entertain. Lattuada wants to tell us something about ourselves: specifically, how each decent man too often is shaped by outside forces and not only con sents to the continuity of evil in the world, but serves as its instrument. Unless the film audience responds to depth as well as surface brilliance, it will ineviably be condemened to slow, oozing suffocation in charm ing but meaningless triviality. Good films can survive, ultimately, only if people pay to see than. both at the national and local level," it added. v Local clubs were urged to cooperate with the campaign of the Citizens for Decent Liter ature in Cincinnati, Ohio, by asking for its kits containing information on how to proceed against pornography. Donn Kurtz of Monroe, La., was elected president of the federation. A junior at the Uni versity of Southwestern Louisi ana, he will take office Jan. 1, succeeding Julius Cilbertson of Eau Claire, Wis. The presiden cy is a full time position. The federation’s office is in Wash ington, D. C. Others elected were Gerald Biese of Fox Lake, Wis., exe cutive vice-president; Michael Marlow, Winter Park, Fla., in ternal affairs vice-president; Barbara Meggins, New York City, external affairs vice- president, and Allen Wall of Garfield, N. J„ extension vice- president. 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 All expect God to judge first and most severely the Com munists and persecutors of the Church. But God's ways are not our ways. Do we realize that judgment, when it comes, will begin with the Church not with the world . It will not be with the Khrushchevs who have denied God, but with us who have professed to love God yet have not served our neighbors. The Apostles called the attention of Our Lord to the beauty of the Temple, glorious in the morning sunrise, but Our Lord said that not a stone of that Temple would be left upon a stone. In the old Testament, God’s judgment was: Begin with the Temple." St. Peter, referring to the new Testament, warn ed: "Judgment must begin with the house of God.” Tlie sterner judgment is reserved for those who have the greater responsibility. **Not everyone who says, 'Lord', ’Lord’, will enter the Klndgom of Heaven,” said the Lord Himself,. Have we piled stone upon stone in school, rectory, gymnasium, social center and convent without giving even one percent of the million collected to the Christ with out a Church in Africa or the sisters living under a tent in Kenya? Is God pleased with us because we have "successful drives" for 3 million, 10 million, 20 million and 33 million dollars, if we give not even $100,000 o f that to our brother priests and fellow members of Christ’s Mystical Body in other parts of the world? May we keep 10,000 cakes in one house on the block, while the other houses on the block do not have bread? To the glory of the Church, one bishop in the United States sees this so clearly that he is giving a percentage of his dio cesan revenue to the Holy Father for the propagation of the Faith throughout the world; another priest gave $18,000- his life savings and mass stipends- which he garnered for The Society for the Propagation of the Faith by living poor ly; another priest and his brother both sent vacation money. Countless are the laity who have little but who share that little with the poor of the world. We pray that each diocese in the United States will set aside a percentage of its annual diocesan budget for God's poor, so that spreading the Faith to the millions in Africa, Asia and elsewhere will not be dependent upon a collection once or twice a year. We pray that the laity, is making dona tions for the Church In the United States, will also send a percentage of them to the Holy Father. If judgment begins with the Church, as it does, then let it not be with the Church in the United States. It was a pagan who said that "charity does not begin at home." It begins with the entire Mystical Body of Christ throughout the world. Our stomach takes in food, but it circulates its energy throughout the entire body. The Church in the United States is the "stomach" of the Mystical Body of Christ in the world; it must take in the "food" (money) and distri bute it to the "whole Christ" throughout the world. GOD LOVE YOU to D. L. for $750 "I am an avid reader <of your Mission booklet which inspired me to promise God a contribution if He would help me dispose of a very difficult house to sell. He heard my prayer) the transaction was finally consummated". . . to P. T. for $10 "I won this on a lucky race. Perphaps a missionary can use it in his effort to win souls’*. . . to E. P. for $25 "In thanksgiving for a suc cessful operation on my little grandchild." WORLDMISSION, a quarterly magazine of missionary act ivities edited by Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, is an ideal gift for priests, nuns, seminarians or laymen. Send $5 for a one- year subscription tc WORLDMlSSIONl 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10001. Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York I, N. Y. or your Archdiocesan Director, Very Rev. Harold J. Rainey P. O. Box 12047 Northslde Station, Atlanta 5, Ga