Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.
About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1964)
EMOTIONAL QUESTION Private School Aid BY REV. LEONARD F. MAYHEW Federal aid to parochial schools is one of the most emotionally loaded questions in American politics. Powerful organizations exist on both sides of the question. One result is thay any Candidate for national office must calculate carefully the vote-value of his stand. A more serious bad effect is that thorough and reason able discussion of the issues is hard to come by. There is some evidence of a thaw in recent months. It would be a great boon for the entire country, if aconstructivepublic dialogue could take place on the various aspects of the prob lem. Partial solutions would be better than no solution and Infinitely better than the div isive bitterness that has flared up repeatedly in the past. THE ACTUAL stand of the American Catho lic hierarchy has stayed away from the larger question of large-scale federal aid to education in general. To enter this particular arena would inevitably appear to be involvement in partisan politics. What the bishops, through the National Catholic Welfare Conference, have isisted upon is this: If large-scale federal aid is under taken, then It would be necessary, morally speaking, to include in this aid the secular aspects of education in church-related schools. Not to include the pupils in Catholic and Lutheran parochial schools for example, in a proposed program of federal aid would be to dis criminate against a large segment of American children and families. If our constitutional scru ples rule out direct grants to church-related institutions, there are any number of other avenues open to us. Some that have already been proposed to the Congress in detail- and which have sound precedent in other laws-are match ing grants, long-term loans, scholarships, tuition grants, and tax benefits to parents of parochial school pupils. WHAT IS actually the main stake - both mor ally and constitutionally - is the real freedom of parents to choose their children's education with in the reasonable standards of civilized society. (It ought to be noted that no other democracy in the free world which has a population of mixed religious finds any great evil in equal treatment of church school pupils. Canada is a prime and very parallel example.) With the steadily rising costs of education ; public i and parochial, federal aid seems more and more inevitable. If the result of a one-sided program of aid is that parochial schools are priced out of existence, then there will be only one avai lable form of education. Public schools will be the only real “choice'’ for most parents. The moral right of parents to choose the type of edu cation they wish- a right frequently defended by the Supreme Court- will not actually exist. Opponenets of any federal aid to parochial schools appeal usually to the first amendment to the Consititution, which guarantees freedom of religion. It states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. American Catholics have been, and are devoted to this principle. We contend that it is not the intent of this amendment, however, to sterilize all public life and institutions of religious con tent. This clause is aimed at preventing govern mental transgressions upon religious liberty, not at preventing all cooperative relationships between church and state. It has never been understood by the courts to mean that govern ment may loffer r its assistance to the health and education of our citizens only through secu larized governmental institutions. Yet, this is the result we could expect if the view held by the POAU (Protestants and Other Americans Unitedl for the Separation of Church and State) carries the day. PAROCHIAL schools - as distinct from high-priced private schools - discharge a truly public function in our country. In terms of the numbers of pupils involved; in terms of the amount of money saved the state in building, teacher sal aries, textbooks, etc.; in terms of maintain ing the real exercise of a traditional American freedom; in terms of the inumerable services performed by their graduates; - these schools, Catholic and other, are an important element of “public'* education in America. They de serve equal treatment from the government rath er than discrimination. QUESTION BOX How Did This Happen? Q, Recently the newspapers, radio and televis ion reported the marriage in the Church of Peg gy Lennon of the Lennon Sisters, with the Law rence Welk show. Her husband was a divor ced man with three children from a previous marriage. I have had to listen to some nasty remarks concerning this, such as, “I wonder what it cost them?,'* qr, “All you need is a little influence „(andlcash) with the Cardinal or Bish op," etc., etc. Sincerely how was this marriage possible? A. Sincerely, I do not know; and personally, I do not care. 1 realize that my attitude is of no help to you, but I simply cannot understand the curiosity and suspicion of so many people about other people's business, and es pecially when a marriage han dled by the Catholic Church is involved. My attitude is influ enced by the fact that I have been handling marriage cases for a quarter of a century, and find problems like those of Peggy's husband routine. In my files right now there are petitions of dozens of men with ex- wives, seeking to be married in the Church. These cases interest me far more than that of- Peggy's husband, and may be more difficult. Careful studies must be made of each case, documents must be assembled and testimony ob tained. Decision must be made on basis of the evidence, and you can hardly find two cases the same. Some of my cases are quite simple and I can handle them myself. Others require a long, formal, strictly regulated judicial procedure be fore three judges, with necessity of appeal in case of a favorable decision On appeal such cas es will again be tried by- a court of threejudg- es. If the two courts disagree, appeal is made tr the Roman Rota, Many of our cases are sent to Rome for Judge ment and action; we simply collect and assem bly the evidence and have the Bishop make his of the case. I can assure you that in all my years in this work I have never collected a cent from anyone to whom I gave a decision, favorable or otherwise, and neither has our bishop. There is a very strict law against it. Through the years I have had the pleasure of knowing personally many of the menwho do similar work in other dioceses. They are all hardworking and thoroughly honest. If you wish to have a marriage case handled, your poorest possible start would be to offer one of us money for it; you would render yourself suspect right from the start. Our Chancery Office does try to collect small fees to take care of immediate exprenses involved- in handling cases in which people are able to pay. Those who can pay nothing get their cases hand led with equal care and rapidity; and the fees we collect pay less than 10 per cent of the cost of running my office; overhead, including secre tary's salary is simply absorbed by the diocese. And you would be amazed to know how many of our faithful priests travel long distances to obtain testimony, encoumter hostile witnesses, and absorb insults, all at their own expense- with no mileage allowance— and in addition to their regular duties. It is my duty to ask parish priests to make these sacrifices and 1 am daily edified by their zealous cooperation. It is in the face of such generous dedication that I am irrri- tated by talk about cash. If all the priests who cooperate with me were to change a dollar an hour for their time, or 5 cents a mile for their travel, costs would multiply ten times, at least. Q. What is the Polish National Catholic Church? A, It is a religious body in the United States, established about 1904 by Polish immigrants who ran into conflict with non-Polish pastors and bis hops who were in charge of their churches. The priginal break started in Chicago, Buffalo, Cleve land, Scranton, and other places in Pennsylvania. A leader of the revolt, Father Hodur, who pub lished a weekly paper in Pennsylvania was elect ed bishop and went to Utrecht in Holland to get himself consecrated by schimatic bis hops. recommendations on the basis of his knowledge CHINA ANT) THE WORLD Your World And Mine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 sees results in the increasing proportion of Chinese in banks, market exchanges, industrial developments, plantation agriculture and min ing. One sees the same trend in the labor market, where eager Chinese are replacing Malays in thq rubber plantations. Almost all the Chinese retain the traditional religious beliefs of their homeland, with perhaps three per cent professing Christianity. Small as is the proportion, it is much higher than the average incidence of Christianity among the world’s seven million Chinese. Andthe Christians of Singapore have today a special im portance. This is one of the few points where overseas Chinese maintain active contact with the mainland. CHRISTIAN missionaries are sadly aware that China after seven centuries of contact still regards Christianity as a foreign element. As Archbishop Paul Yu-Pln of Nanking said in Rome during the Council, the Gospel was not preached .within the framework of Chinese civi lization. The reverence for ancestors, concrete expression of the son’s duty to his parents, was rejected. So was Confucius' concrete ex pression of wisdom and morality. “One needs an adjusted approach to bring the Gospel to a civilized country,” the Archbishop stys. “One must study its civilization and philosophy in order to get inside the psychology of the people." In Singapore, as in the other contact points along the Bamboo Curtain, this operation is in full swing. A major element is the provision of education in the Chinese language and culture in Christian schools. Formerly, Christians in China got a Western education, lost contact with their own people. They contributed little to literature and the arts.made no impact on their fellow Chinese. If this situation can be changed. It may be decisive for the world’s future as well as that of the Church. Saints in Black and White ST. PETER CLAVER 119 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5 STARTING WITH A BANG’ : 1 ' A !* 1 >4 1* ■ ** □ CC <-7 7/ 1 77 J High Court Facing Moral Issues During New Term ACROSS 1 preserve 5 over 9 glacier’s tool 13 grant 14 rich soil 15 Serbia measure 16 efface 17 short comedy sketch 18 flower extract 19 left hand 20 Indonesian 21 low growing plant 24 one (french) 25 palm leaf 27 alas! (German) 28 rupees: abbr. 29 endure 31 spacious 32 a degree 33 slow ballet 36 snobs 40 he 40,000 negroes before he died 43 a dessert 45 one; (Scottish) 46 comb, from; equal 47 dawn 48 envoy 50 manages 52 misconceptions 63 plural; abbr. 55 sketch 56 stone chest 60 digraph 62 kind of light 64 Annam length of measure 65 correlative 31 66 he was ordained a 34 priest in New 35 37 69 tumor 70 vain 3 g 71 a color 39 72 past 40 74 sets of three 41 75 Iowa College Town. 76 choler 77 symbol 78 crush 79 larva of fly 80 —— Truman DOWN 1 he called himself the “slave of the 42 43 furthermore Orkneys Inlet diminutive; suffix oodelne pronoun (French) expletive afternoon Alphonsus became his spirit ual guide quick vary portals Court Jewish month comedian assist ants Babylonian God unit I love (Latin) make lace 51 52 54 57 58 69 60 61 63 67 68 70 73 74 76 77 sharp Instrument fade out guide Government Asso ciation; abbr. explosive descry offer Japanese national park American poet his cloak, though filthy, sent forth a miraculous ever small dragon General Staff Corps; abbr. he was a Jesuit eagle Celtic Letter of the Alphabet he was sent to the West legislator very (French) ancient Irish Al phabet scent cord; abbr. Imitates foreign trade dis count annoys Danube tributary drive slantingly size of shot lung disease ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE, PAGE 7 WASHINGTON—The U.S. Su preme Court opened its 1964- *65 term facing tests on such key issues as civil rights, Church-State relations, and the conflicting claims of censor ship and free speech. As the court convened in the first session (Oct. 5) of its new term, it confronted a crowded docket numbering some 600 cases. Many of these promise to prove blockbusters in the busy nine months before the court adjourns sometime next June. EVEN the staid review Law Week departed from its usual matter-of-fact manner to com ment that this term, was “un doubtedly starting with a bang." This was a reference to the fact that the justices, putting aside their usual custom of holding merely formal ceremonies on opening day, rolled up their shirtsleeves at the opening session and heard arguments on one of the touchiest issues be fore them—the constitutionality of the public accommodations •section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Speedy action on this issue has been sought by both the justice Department and the Heart of Atlanta Motel, which is challenging the public accom modations section. U.S. Solicitor General Archi bald Cox, in an Aug. 7 memo randum to the high court, warn ed that delay in enforcing the public accommodations pro visions of the rights act “might well encourage" motels and ARNOLD VIEWING ‘Behold A Pale Horse’ BY JAMES W. ARNOLD Director Fred Zinnemann • rarely disappoints moviegoers who believe that the essence of drama is the complex human being, usually alone, with all his faults and weakness, facing up to hard moral choices. In “Behold a Pale Horse," Zinnemann has made a superbly adult, masculine adventure story, with moral overtones, that throbs with beauty and excitement. The maker of "From Here to Eternity," “High Noon” and “The Nun’s Story” here labors on a property ide ally suited to his sympath ies and style, a kind of Span ish western in which five men are caught up in the pat hetic vendetta of two old and violent enemies. One (Gregory Peck) is an aging Communist bandit who has spent the 20 yeare-sinccr-the-GivU - W ar ter years since the Civil War ter rorizing the Fascists from his sanctuary in France; the other (Anthony Quinn) is a ruth less but not unsympathetic captain of Franco’s Guardia Civil. SEVERAL surface themes are familiar. Peck is the old gunfighter, beset by the weary caution of age and teased by disrespectful children, asked to be brave just once more by a hero-worship ping boy (Marietto Angeletti) for whom right and wrong are cast in the clear black and white of youth. Quinn is the canny lawman, luring his prey out of the hills into a trap with the help of a traitor (Raymond Pellegrin) whose only interest is money. But the pulls-and-tugs of the plot are much more complex, salted with irony and subtle comment on the nature of good and evil and the futility of violence. Much credit must go to the original 1961 novel by Emeric Pressburger, himself one of Britian’s most distinguished film-makers (“The Red Shoes,"-“-Tales of Hoff man”). Zinnemann has followed scrupulously, in filmic terms, the spirit and detail of the book. THE KEY character is a charitable young Spanish priest (Omar Sharif), ribout to make a longed-for visit to Lourdes, who instead risks his life to honor a n atheist mother's dying wish. He goes to warn Peck, his Church's noto rious enemy, of Quinn’s trap. As this “aggior- namento” priest says (in Pressburger’s words): “For a priest there should be no brigands and no bandits. There is no hatred, only love. No lies, only truth. No police prisoners, only fugitives. No enemies, only friends." There are multiple ironies. In the anti-cleri cal setting, normal values are twisted: a priest is believed never to tell the truth, a orucfix about the neck is a symbol of shame. The priest never gets to Lourdes, but the bandit does. The result, obliquely, is a kind of miracle of the spirit, in which' this ancient foe of God finds his lost courage, begins vaguely to understand himself and the nature of goodness, love and justice. THE BOY MUST choose between his desire to have Peck avenge his father and his know ledge of the truth. The informer selects pro fit over principle.-Hie priest chooses charity above every other loyalty. Quinn offers God his private vices in exchange for success in his pub lic duty. Peck must confront his own cowar dice. In the end, he must also decide between killing the policeman or the informer, a selec tion involving insight into the nature of true evil. Despite the splendid Basque scenes, “Pale Horse" demands a thoughtful audience. (Its title is from the passage in the Apocalypse referr ing to the devastation wrought on men by death and violence). American Catholics may bepuzzl ed or even shocked at the ambiguous charac ters: the policeman who mixes devout Catholi cism with corruption, cruelty and adultery (though not without a troubled conscience); the idealist rebel who mixes patriotism and honor with brutality, atheism and blasphemy. If Peck seems the hero, it is largely an illusion left over from 20 years of simpler films. FOR SOME, THE discomfort will be redeem ed by the character of the priest- certainly one of the more intelligently appealing movie priests withing memory. But die true answer in in the film’s "messagef: that the important struggle of life is not between but within men. Most men on both sides honestly seek the good, but neither cause is worth hatred and violence. The only “good" side is the third side, God’s side, where love asks not who is the police man or who is the brigand. Mangificent as it is, “Pale Horse” suffers somewhat from that obtuseness inevitable in mov ies, which must try to explain complicated motives entirely from “outside" - in images and dialog. Zinnemann chooses the image of a football , to signify the “Sane”-type relationship between Peck and the boy, but I doubt that it really works. Why does Peck go back to Spain? The crucial motive is not really supplied, though it seems to be to prove his manhood finally to himself and the boy. In the book it is (per haps with too heavy irony) clearly to save the life of the priest. NOBILITY OF content does not alone make a fine movie, but here art is equal to the task. Peck Is impressively convincing at the head of the brilliant cast. But the picture belongs to Zinnemann, with his paintaking attention to detail and somber, black and white mood. The shots at Lourdes- all black figures in bright sunlight- are memorable, and a final sequence, in which mother and son are united in death, is a stroke of visual poetry. In these years of hate it is a measure of the uniquences of this film that at the fadeout, the priest can contemplate the fate of both dead Com munist and living Fascist with the sorrow of his God. CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS: Superior: Behold a Pale Horse. For restricted tastes; Night of the Iguana. Better than most: What a Way to Go, Mafieso, Black Like Me, One Potato, Two Potato, Becket, Fall of the Roman Empire, Island of the Blue Dolphins. restaurants elsewhere in the South to refuse to serve Ne groes. BUT the public accom modations challenge is only one of many civil rights cases now pending or soon to come before the Supreme Court. And civil rights is only one of the many key questions it confronts. In the always controversial area of Church-State relations, the court has been asked to strike down the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag as recited in New York public schools. THE challenge to "under God" is being supported by an organization called the Free thinkers of America. The New York Court of Appeals highest in the state, unanimously up held the practice last June; The Freethinkers base their challenge on the Supreme Court's 1963 ruling against Bible reading and recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in public schools. The high court has not yet accepted or rejected the flag pledge case for review. IN another Church-State area, the court will hear argu ments shortly in three cases which raise the issue of whether a man must believe in God in order to qualify for draft ex emption as a conscientious ob jector. Present law provides for the exemption of men who "by reason of religious training and belief" conscientiously oppose war. But it specifies that “es sentially political, sociological or philosophical views br a merely personal moral code" do not qualify as religious be lief in this context. IN TWO of the cases be fore the high court, a U.S. Court of Appeals in New York ruled against the con stitutionality of requiring a man’ to state belief in God to quali fy for draft exemption. But in the third case, a U.S. Court of Appeals in California upheld the requirement. Birth control is at the heart of one of the best publicized cases before the court, a chal lenge to Connecticut’s law bar ring the use of contraceptives an d banning the distribution of birth control information. THE appellants are Dr. C. Lee Buxton, medical director of the Connecticut Planned Pa renthood league, and Mrs. Rich ard W. Griswold, its executive director, who were arrested and fined $100 each after the league opened a birth control clinic in New Haven in November, 1961. A similar challenge to the Connecticut law reached the high court in 1961. But the court then refused to act, hold ing the law to be “dead words” because there was no evidence that it was being en forced. THE Connecticut anti-birth control legislation was enacted 85 years ago by an over whelmingly Protestant state legislature, at a time when Protestant churches generally considered artificial birth con trol immoral. Tlie high court will take a long step toward clearing its decks for action on Oct. 12, when it holds its second session of the new term. Traditionally, this is the day for the court to act on a large number of the pending petitions for review—accepting some and rejecting many others. Which it accepts and which it rejects will do much to shape the course of the new ly begun term. God Love You BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J.-SHEEN' Week after week we appeal for a little sacrifice even though it may be a dollar. How encouraged we are to learn of some of our fellow Catholics in America who give not just what they have, but what they are. Take the case of Dr. Waldo Hanns. After practicing seven years as an ortho pedic surgeon, he gave up his practice in 1962 and for two years worked in a leper settlement in Africa. He and his good wife who assisted him, worked without salary and during their stay there endeared them selves to the lepers by their charity, their kindness and their attention. For two years Doctor Hanns has done the following operations: 1. Reconstructive surgery on 67 claw hands. 2. Reconstructive surgery on 50 deformed feet. 3. He grafted 45 ulcers-— some of which had been running for years. 4. He corrected 60 limb deformities of leprous, nutri tional and post-polio origin. 5. He amputated 10 limbs beyond surgical treatment. 6. He treated 600 leprous ulcers. I offer Mass here in Rome every Sunday for all those who unite themselves to the Passion of Christ by a gift to the Holy Father for The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In Rome, I have discovered that the needs of the Mis sions are even greater than ever suspected. Never, perhaps, in the history of the Church have there been gathered to gether so many who have suffered for Christ andthe Church as there are at this Council. Simply because I am away, do not think that absence makes hunger less gnawing, leprosy less ulcerous and the apostolate less demanding. May the Holy Spirit inspire each priest and each of the faithful who reads this to make some sacrifice, however small, in order that the needs of the missionaries and the Church in the poor parts of the world may be met. Just remember that whenever you help The Society for the Propagation of the Faith you help all religious organizations and communities through the Holy, Father who is the father of them all. GOD LOVE YOU to Anon, for $2.00 “I have a grandson stydylng for the priesthood and a granddaughter who is a nun. This is something small in gratitude for something very large." ... to Dr. M. P, Mac for $10.00 “I couldn’t tear up your MISSION magazine, especially that wonderful verse on the last page, without sending in an offering. I weep for the starving people in the world - staving for knowledge of God as well. This very small offering is in thanksgiving for a favor granted by God. There will be many more.” MISSION Combines the best features of all other magaz ines: stories, pictures, statltcs, details, and human interest. Take an interest in your brothers living in the mission world. Let us know if you wish to be put on our mailing list for this bi-monthly magazine. A subscription is only one dol lar. Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mall it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York 1, N. Y. or your Archdiocesan Director, Very Rev. Harold ‘J. Rainey P. O. Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.
