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VOCATION MONTH
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
Fun, Games And Sacrifice
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
There are a few signs that we are at last getting
away from, the sentimental and/or silly kind of vo
cation propaganda. There has been nothing like a
hundred percent clean-up yet but there are a few
encouraging signs. A few nuns have spoken out
clearly and with considerable heat against the non
sensical idea of religious life fostered by some of
the ads and pamphlets aimed at young girls. The
same ought to be said about the
material on the priesthood di
rected to boys in the hope of
fostering vocations. Fun and
games in the seminary or no
vitiate hardly offers either
solid motivation or clear un
derstanding.
One of the most bothersome
vocational propaganda boome
rangs is the harping on sacrifice which charac
terizes many of our efforts. This, of course, lies
at the other extreme from the supposed appeal of
the well-scrubbed young seminarists busy at bas
ketball. The talk of sacrifice is supposed to appeal
to the idealism of the young, who are thought to
be fascinated with the idea of martyrdom. In the
first place, they simply are not. That ought to be
enough to start some second thoughts.
THE PHYSICAL and mental strain of maintain
ing married equilibrium and properly raising a
number of children will not take second place t
the tensions of any vocation. The pressures exert
ed by business competition are felt acutely in
deed by those laymen who take seriously their
Christian vocation. In terms of the courage re
quired of them in order to maintain their Chris
tian commitment, their vocation is as demanding
as any other could be.
UNDERNEATH the stress on priestly or re
ligious sacrifice, there seems to be another deep
er misconception. To begin with, sacrifice for the
sake of sacrifice is a negative and not terribly
appealing idea. Sacrifice only becomes noble
when it is the means to the acquisition of an other
wise unattainable and clearly superior good.
Abstracting from the movement of divine grace,
the attractiveness of the priestly vocation really
springs from two sources. In the first place, it
allows a man to be caught up with the noblest
concerns that exist. The awesome position he oc
cupies in the liturgy pervades all his activity.
The priest and religious are offered the opportun
ity to love others more widely, if not necessari
ly more intensely. This ideal of service to many is
the key to understanding the priest’s or nun’s vo
cation.
Secondly, priests and nuns have no monopoly
on sacrifice. In actual fact - let us be completely
THE PRIESTLY life offers a chance for total
personal fulfillment. The same is true of the nun’s
life. Every quality or talent; indeed, all the ener
gy of the whole person is called upon. It is a kind
of happiness and satisfaction that is unique, be
cause complete. A realistic appreciation of this
side of the religious vocation ought to appeal to
what is best in young people who are pondering
their futures.
QUESTION BOX
Losing Faith?
BY MSGR. J. D. CONWAY
Q. Slowly (or is it rapidly?) I am losing my
faith in the Catholic Church. Hardly a week
goes by that I do not hear or read of a teaching
being changed. When I received instructions
twelve years ago, one point was strongly emph
asized: that Mary had to have experienced death
because she would not be granted a privilege
greater than Christ’s, and he experienced death.
There is even the story of St. Thomas visiting
the tomb where she had been buried.
Today at Mass, we were told that the Church
teaches that Mary did NOT see death because
of her Immaculate Conception. Rather she * as
sumed” (not WAS assumed) into heaven without
passing through death.
ft 11'.n11 t 'ijt .**
r A^,May I.sugg£st a new course
of instructions, or the reading
of some good book which
explains the teachings of the
Church?
No doctrines of the Church
es have been changed, and none
will be; but modern studies
in Scripture and Theology have
given us better understanding
of some of the old doctrines, and will continue
to do so.
the teachings of Christ or the doctrinal tra
dition of the Church.
Various practices of the Church are chang
ing, as demanded by the needs of modern times;
e. g. fasting for Holy Communion, the hours at
which Mass may be said, and the use of English
in the Mass. None of these changes involve
Many attitudes of Catholics are changing: we
are becoming less prejudiced against our non-
Catholic neighbors, and laymen are gradually
taking a greater part in the life, prayer and work
of the Church.
It seems to me that none of these changes
should tempt anyone to lose his faith. On the
contrary they should revive our belief in the
Church as a living organism created by Christ.
Guided by the Holy Spirit she has the vita
lity to snap out of a period of lethargy and
sanctify the turmoil of the twentieth century.
This is not the first time in her long history
that she has had to bring herself up to date and
adapt her methods to the needs of changing
civilization and varied cultures. If we seem to
be changing a bit faster now than formerly,
it is because we are in the age of jets and rock
ets, Speed is essential to modern living.
When Vatican Council II is over, when doors
and windows are opened to the realities of mo
dern life, and when new forms of prayer, preach
ing, and teaching have added new vigor to our
spiritual activities in Christ’s Mystical Body,
we will still find that it is the same old Church,
with the same doctrines, Mass and Sacraments.
Your particular problem a bout the Assump--
tion represents no change of Church teachings
at all. It is merely a case of two priests stat
ing ther own theological ideas with excessive
certainty (presuming that you understood them
both correctly)
ADL SURVEY
Are Catholics Anti-Semitic?
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
'’The way in which these last questions were
stated s_eems likely to have resulted in under-
were "uncertain'’ and 14% agreed).
estimating the actual agreement on each. Taken,
then, as conservative estimates, they suggest
that the portrait of the ancient Jew in rela
tion to Jesus is a strongly negative one for a
substantial proportion of the Catholic laity.
' The next question is, of course, whether
these images of the Jews are simply regarded
as ancient history of little inportance in pre
sent-day Catholic-Jewish relations, or whether
they spply jo the contemporary Jew as well.
Some findings are:
46% agreed with or were uncertain about
the statement: "The Jews can never be for
given for what they did to Jesus until they
accept Him as the True Saviour" (32%
11% agreed "The reason the Jews have so
much trouble is because God is punishing
them for rejecting Jesus" and 30% were
uncertain.
"Clearly, the majority of Catholics do not sub
scribe to these hostile religious images of the
modern Jew, although nearly a third were ambi
valent on these questions. However, if these per
centages are accurate, they represent millions of
American Catholics who still believe that the Jews
living today are implicated in the death of Jesus.
As would be expected, such judgments of the
modern Jew were predicated on hostile images
of the historic Jew; few who did not blame the
ancient Jews for the crucifixion agreed with
these statements."
HONG KONG
Your World And Mine
CONTINUED FROM FAGE 4
China.
Nor is water the only thing that Hong Kong
enjoys by favor of its Red neighbor. Rather,
the existence and wellbeing of the colony reflect
the tacit agreement of China and the West
that this exchange point is to their mutual ad
vantage. Nobody knows just how many of the
factories, warehouses, stores and banks are
controlled by Pekin through dummies, but
all agree that mainland capital is substantial.
It is also evident that both sides expect the
situation to continue for the forseeable future.
There is no hesitation about making major capi
tal investment^.
need and the opportunity for Christian missionary,
endeavor. As new communities are being or
ganized at a fantastically rapid rate, each is
compelled to create the social institutions
which will determine its future positions and
development.
THE GROWING prosperity lessens the number
of starving to feed. But it does not lessen the
These are the crucial years. If we can esta
blish centers of worship, of education, of
culture, movements like the Legion of Mary,
the Catholic Youth Organization, the Young
Christian Workers, the Christian Family Move
ment, then we can hope to hold these who are
Catholics and to project the Christian message
to others. If we do not, the society that emerges
will be pagan. And we Christians shall have
lost touch not only with Hong Kong’s four
million but with the 700 millions on the Chinese
mainland, for whom Hong Kong will long be the
principal point of contact and of exchange‘of
ideas.
Saints in Black and White I MISSIONER
Congress-Authorized Serra
honest - there can be, and often is, considerably
more sacrifice in volved in the vocation of mar
riage and parenthood. There are very few priests
and nuns in our country who are deprived of or
dinary physical comforts and security. I don’t know
any. On the other hand, every priest knows a good
number of parents who have to go without some
or all of these comforts for the sake of the health
and education of their children.
Medals Struck By Mint
PHILADELPHIA (NC)—Five
gold medals of the Padre Juni-
pero Serra commemorative
authorized by Congress last
year have been struck at the
U. S. Mint here.
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Arrangements are being
made to present them to Pope
Paul VI; President Johnson;
Generalissimo Franco of Spain;
and Serra International, a
worldwide Catholic men's
group devoted to fostering
religious vocations.
ANOTHER is for display at
Santa Barbara Mission Mus
eum, Santa Barbara, Cali
fornia.
ACROSS
I even if
4 He was born here
8 field duty
II root mean square
(abbr)
14 adjective suffix
15 mitis
16 land measure
17 at odds
18 road sign
19 University officer
20 negative
21 noun suffix of
condition
22 elevator inventor
24 watch
26 band
27 He established a
monastery here
30 plot
33 requirements
36 He was taken here
by his father at
age 7
40 comb, form-foot
43 intimidate
45 circle part
46 cultivated land
48 chic
50 bramble
51 grant
53 He was
55 Babylonian Chief
Gods
56 ransacks
58 solitary
60 double curve hook
61 His feast day is
in
67
71
74
77
78
79
81
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
blanches
Government
Agency; (abbr.)
His sister’s name
indigent
press
bore
shine
head covering
years
poorly
suffix denoting
origin
leaf vein
festival
Teacher’s Associa
tion (abbr.)
watt hour
labor union
swirl
He is among them
DOWN
1 amateurs
2 female nick name
obtain from oil
clear
metallic rock
castle ditch
combining form-
nine
Asian animals
Nigerian Negro
capture
bellow
silent
meat dish
transgress
Its capital is
59
62
64
66
68
69
70
71
72
73
75
76
79
80
82
83
Raleigh
platitude
directed
affirmatives
transit coach
encourage
thud
slug
compensate
plugs
bird life
Egyptian ruler
Greek dialect
City in Western
Netherlands
assemblage
sorrow
salt water fish
snares
person
a month of the
year (abbr.)
electric reluctance
unit
a dance
trench
twelfth grader
streaks
ait
book of maps
bow of ship
pledge
hearing( Law)
measure
knight’s oath
triple
trouble
long ago
utter
This was said to be a rare
"special concession" in the
use of gold by the Mint. The
Treasury officials said the con
cession was granted by the Of
fice of Gold and Silver Opera
tions because of the rank
of those who will receive the
presentation medals.
THE Padre Serra National
Medal was authorized by Con
gress to commemorate the
250th Anniversary of Padre
Junipero Serra— November
24, 1963. This was also said
to be the first national medal
to honor a Catholic priest, and
the first official national re
cognition for California's first
citizen and founding pioneer.
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE, PAGE 7
Production of the medals at
the Mint is sponsored by the
Padre Junipero Serra 250th
Anniversary Association, a
non-profit group with head
quarters in Santa Barbara,
Calif. Congress stipulates that
there shall be no expense to
the U. S. Government in such
commemorative actions.
ARNOLD VIEWING
Fun Play For Writer
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
"The Visit" is a fun play for the writer, ac
tors and director, but it is the type of thing that
drives most customers to television or poker
It has been shamelessly overrated by critics,
who may be impressed by its clarity of design
or awed by the apparent profundity of its mes
sage.
or occasionally even honor, chosen to put other
things first.
On stage, in the grip of performers like Lunt
and Fontanne, it might have been an interesting
emotional exercise. But changes in the movie ver
sion have only accentuated its faults, which
would have been apparent
enough when subjected to the
relentless truth of the camera.
they
zen
The basic idea is daring and
fresh. A fantastically rich and
ruthless woman returns to the-
town that mistreated her as
a girl. The town and its people
are in the middle of economic
disaster. She promises to make
them all comfortable if only
will arrange the death of a leading citi-
the former lover who was to blame for
her youthful degradation.
The citizens’ single-minded reaction to the of
fer,* built slowly on their credi: purchases in
Quinn’s own store, is exaggerated and comic.
The movie emphasizes this with a scene in
which sports cars and refrigerators are dis
tributed in the square ("No down payment! Pay
when you canl) that invokes visions of a Friend
ly Sam the Warehouse Man TV commerical
After the final public trial, the mayor accepts In
grid's checks with undisguised glee, a reac
tion thr. seem? entirely wrong, psychological
ly.
THE ISSUE is (perhaps too) clearly drawn;
greed vs. justice under law, materialism vs.
devotion to moral principle. Given the wide moral
variation among men, and the 20th century re
levance of the conflict, this is an idea any
dramatist would love to explore. The danger
is that instead of real characters he will wind
up with rigid representatives of class-types
(the Church, the law, the press, education, labor,
politics) who will mouth philosophies pre
capsuled for them by the author. This is exact
ly what happens.
Director Bernhard Wicki (who did the Ger
man sequences in "The Longest Day") has shot
everything in murky black and white. The inter
iors, especially, seem to have been photo
graphed at 20,000 fathoms, and are uninspir
ed as well as invisible. Wicki is better when the
camera is outdoors, and the best scenes center
on the train stat.on: Ingrid's dramatic arrival
and departure, Quinn’s har 'owing attempt
to escape.
SWISS playwright Friedrich Duerrenmatt (ad
apted for the English stage by Murice Valency
and for the movie by Ben Barzman) chooses the
side of ultra-pessimism. Greed wins a total
victory. The drama moves inexorably to trage
dy as every civilized element in town rationa
lizes expediency over principle. The woman wins
complete vengeance in the death of the lover
and the moral prostitution of the town.
Changes from the play tend either to cheapen
it or weaken its complexity. A young girl charac
ter (Irina Demick) is invented and required to
run through several sexual episodes (per
haps to juice up the coming attra ji.ions). Ingrid
is less bizarre (sh't doesn’t smoke cigars,
get married for the eighth time, or carry Quinn
off in a coffin). The Quinn character has more
chance to grunt and is allowed to w reck one :
i a fi pique.
It is useless to argue whether such an out
come is probable 0 r possible. If meant to
reflect the real world, the play is dubious, if only
because the issues are so sharp (rationalization
proceeds best in a thick fog) and there is no
physical threat to anyone who might refuse
to be bought. One also questions the unanimity
of the choice, stressed more in the film than in the
play, even if only because of the perverse ten
dency of many humans to dissent from the
majority on any issue.
The Church, as one might expect, does not
shine, but in the film the pastor is somewhat
less despicable. On the moral issue he is merely
neutral. In the play he buys a fancy new bell for
the church, on credit.
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
Superior: Behold a Pale Horse.
For some tastes: Nigh, of the Iguana, A Hard
Day's N;ght.
BUT IF Djerrenmatt means this as a fable,
credibility is less essential. It is a rare man who
does not surrender to expediency at times, and
the writer may not so much be telling us what
we are as describing what we may become. Yet
it is easy for a negativlst to seem profound,
especially when optimism is out of fashion. Du
errenmatt overlooks the entire world of grace,
as well as the plain fact that most men manage
to handle temptation rather well.yrhere is the
great line in "Citizen Kane”.
"IT's not hard to make money, if all you want is
to make money." Most men through the ages
have known that, and out of habit, timidity,
Better than most: What a Way to Go, Mafioso,
Black Like Me, One Potato, Two Potato, Bec-
ket, Fall of the Roman Empire, Island of the Blue
Dolphins.
mm
r£js-
MINTING of the medals was
delayed, as priority was given
the Kennedy half dollar, so
that they did not become avai
lable to the public until March.
The first minting quickly sold
out.
More have been ordered, in
silver, bronze and platinum. By
law, the silver issue is limit
ed to ten thousand, and the plat
inum to twenty-five proof piec
es. None will be produced after
Dec. 31, 1964.
patron because he chose
vocation at an early age.
his
BLACKBURN 64+
THE gold medal for Pope Paul
VI is expected to be presented
at the Vatican by the Minis
ter General of the Franciscan
Order of Friars Minor, of which
Padre Serra was a member.
The date will be chosen later.
Presentation to President
Johnson is expected to be made
by California officials this
month.
SENOR Manuel Fraga Iri-
barne, Minister of Information
and Tourism, will receive
the medal in Sai Francisco later
this month on behalf of Gene
ralissimo Franco.
Ben j. B.Blackburn, III
Republican Candidate for
House of Representatives
for DeKalb County
In May, 1963, the government
of Spain held a Solemn Serra
250th Anniversary Commemo
ration on the island of Mallorca.
A Spanish delegation visited
California for ceremonies there.
SERRA International, with
headquarters in Chicago, will
receive the gold medal at its
next convention in the summer
of 1965. Padre Serra is its
"No time will ever be bet
ter than the present to be
gin building a two-party
system in Georgia”
EX) YOUR PART NOW
GO CONSERVATIVE. . .
GO REPUBLICAN. . .
GO BLACKBURN
If the philosophy is arguable, the surface dra
matics border on grand opera. The old capita
list (Ingrid Bergman, with toothily sinister
smile, pet panther and ominous male retinue)
romanticizes and broods over a teenage affair
(w ith glowering Anthony Quinn) that was entirely
ph> -Jcal and silly-breathless on both sides.
One cannot swallow the True Confessions pater
nity .-ait and its lurid aftermath without
losing interest in the characters. If people insist
on falling in love after panting at each other
from a balcony, the fault is not all in their stars.
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
The Holy Father has declared that this Sunday be observ
ed as Mission Sunday throughout the world. How we wish that
every Catholic in the United States could be here with us in
Rome to hear bishops from all parts of the world tell of the
conditions in which their people live, conditions of starva
tion, sickness and sub-human housing. Perhaps then, on THIS
Mission Sunday, each of you would be inspired to help the Holy
Father right the glaring imbalance between us and our impover
ished brothers.
It is almost impossible for us who live in the United States
to grasp the horrors, anguish and emptiness of stomachs and
hearts in the slums of the world. Two
hundred million Indians live on less
than $3 a month; their diet is rice
and pepper water once a day, some
times one meal every other day . . .
half the children in the world have no
chance for education, and far more
than half above the age of ten have
never been to school. Each year, 15
million more Chinese and 6 million
more Indians are born into these con
ditions. If this increase continues throughout the world, within
forty years more than 76 out of every 100 people on earth
will belong to underdeveloped nations.
The future of the United States depends not upon its econo
mic growth, but upon the aid that Christians, as well as
taxpayers, give to these undernourished, sick and badly hous
ed. Nor is this only an economic problem; it is a moral and
spiritual problem. Is it not over our civilization that Christ
weeps and says: "Would that even today you knew the things
that were for thy peace"? His tears are being shed over the
Cain, that is within us; over the unusspecting, unheeding cit
ies; over the parishes and dioceses of our civilization; over
each individual who asks with indifference: "Am I my broth
er’s keeper?"
How much do you love the world? The poor? Your faith?
The Missions? Just picture yourself looking out of a window
of your Church. What do you see? Two billion sould who know
not Christ! Lepers! Africans! Asiatics! Brothers! It is this
suffering, agonizing, persecuted, thirsting Christ in the
poor, the lepers, the slum dwellers and the unevagelized
Who w ill one day rise up in judgment, saying, "I w as hungry. . .
I was thirsty . . . I w as naked . . . and you gave Me to eat.
You gave Me to drink." Or, "You gave Me not!"
Mission Sunday is the only day in the entire year when you
are asked to aid Christ in every single part of the world. You
may not be able to help everyone, but you can aid him who aids
everyone. And that is the Holy Father. All monies collected
are sent to him, and he aids all equitably.
Remember, anything you are asked to sacrifice is small in
proportion to what missionaries and even your brother Catho
lics are suffering. No one else is bidding for the heart of the
world except the Heart of Christ. Help us!
GOD LOVE YOU toR. W. B. for $350 "I have seen poverty' in
Asia and India. Believe me it is something. This year I did
not go on a cruise and so lean give $350 directly to the Holy
Father through you." ... to B. MacN. for $5 "Once again
I forw ard my offering to you. You have given me the most rea
listic picture of the hardships endured by our neighbors.
I quit smoking about two w eeks ago and am sending the money
I would ordinarily have spent on smokes. I sincerely hope that
my offering will help someone who can use it as a neces
sity and not as a luxury as I have done in the past." ... to
Anon, for $50 "This money was intended as a gift for the
children of a relative we were visiting, but when we saw how
much they had, we decided that it could be used by some
good missionary to far better advantage."
We are not asking for your sacrifices only, but for your
prayers as well. To remind yourself to pray for the Missions
in every part of the world, order the WORLDMISSION ROSARY.
Each decade is a different color and represents the five
missionary continents of the world. Send your request
and an offering of $2 and you will receive your ROSARY bles
sed by Bishop Sheen.
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
1, N. Y. or your Archdiocesan Director, Very Rev. Harold
•J. Rainey P, O. Box 12047 Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.