Newspaper Page Text
I
COLLATING RENEWAL
Dangers In Reform
REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
Professor Romano Guardini, despite his Ital-
ianate name, is a German priest and, indeed, the
“father" of the German liturgical movement.
Ever since the First World War, he has pioneer
ed the effort to revitalize Catholic worship.
On April 1, 1964, he wrote an open letter to the
German Liturgical Congress in which he raised
questions that are relevant to the American
Church as well.
There is a subtle temptation
inherent in the mood which has
followed the Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy and the partial
introduction of the vernacular.
There appears to be a tendency
to imagine that reform and re
newal have definitively arrived
or, at least, that we have reach
ed a kind of plateau on which
we can relax. Unchecked, such
would be a foolish and tragic mis-
an attitude
take.
GUARDIN'! begins by noting - as all of us
have noted again and again - the magnificent
work of the Vatican Council in its decree on the
liturgy. The important issue is raised, how
ever, when he characterizes this achievement as
only beginning: "The Council has laid the foun
dations. . . truth became manifest. . .now the
question arises how we are to set about our
task so that truth may become reality." We
would only be deceiving ourselves, if we trust
ed blindly that the implementation of liturgical
renewal is inevitable. There have been other
reforming Councils and other reforming decrees
in the history of the Church which have failed
of lasting effects and have ended as mere his
torical curiosities.
The first and absolutely essential need is to
rediscover both individually and collectively
the real meaning of a “liturgical act." We can
not fail to recognize our own experience in
Guardini’s explanation of why we have forgotten
QUESTION BOX
Words Of Sympathy?
BY MSGR. J. D. CONWAY
Q, I would like very much to know what words
should be expressed to the family of the deceas
ed person at a wake.
A. Frankly, I have never quite known myself.
Usually it should be no stilted formula, but an hon
est expression of sympathy» Maybe, in some cas
es, it is just as well not to m$kc,,any, direct
reference to the deceased or to the sorrow of the
family. Your very presence and
your handshake may testify to
your sympathy, and often-
repeated words can become a
strain on those who hear them.
Q. I never commit a mortal
sin, to my knowledge, and yet
1 worry if there would be a
Possibility of my not emer
ging heaven when I die.
A. You will get to heaven by
the redemptive grace and love of Jesus, your
Saviour; by your faith and trust in Him, result
ing in your honest, practical love for Him. Since
it is He who sanctifies and saves you, the trials
and mental torments" which you describe may
well be the means He uses to develop your vir
tues. Rare is the person who finds the road
to heaven uniformly straight, wide and smooth.
Q. I picked up a novena booklet on the life of
St. Rita of Cascia, Advocate of the Impossible.
After reading her life story I started to pray
to her. In the meantime, however, it came to
my attention from a nun that when St. Rita answers
a prayer she demands in some way or other a
payment. And now I’m kind of leary to pray to
her, because the payment may be higher than
what was asked for.
A. Would you bargain with the Lord? You might
rt_ad Genesis 18, 22-32; there Abraham gives
you good example of how to go about it. But if
you read further you will find that it didn’t
work.
Do you fear the love of our Savior? Do you
doubt the generosity of Him who gave His life
for you. St. Rita is powerless except through
Him.
Do you delight in superstitions? There are signs
of two of them here; (1) that "Advocate of the
Impossible" bit, and (2) her demand for pay
ment. 1 have heard that before, but don’t be
lieve a word of it.
CHURCH AND STATE
Your World And Mine
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4-
ctice. It is almost impossible for a Christian to
get a commission in the Egyptian army or a high
post in the public service. And Egypt regards
itself as the most modern of Moslem states.
The Buddhists in Ceylon and elsewhere in Asia
also see themselves as custodians and protect
ors of the national culture, entitled as such to
special privileges. Where they have come to pow
er, they frequently utilize the machinery of gov
ernment to restrict the activities of other re
ligions. Thus, Ceylon has expelled most Christ
ian missionararies.
IT IS against this background that onemust
view the movement within the Catholic Church
for a reformalation of its onw position on Church-
state relations. Traditionally in Europe, the state
adopted the role of protector of the Church, sub
sidized its activities and paid salaries to the
clergy. The Church gradually came to claim such
protection as a matter of right, regarding as un
friendly any state which denied it. So highly, in
fact, did it come to prize the material aid of the
state that i n return it gave gobernmenfs subst
antial authority in Church affairs, for example,
a decisive voice in selecting bishops and other
Church fonctionaries.
The historical development in the United States
was unique. Here, the constitutional separation of
Churchand state was hailed by Catholics not as
withdrawing previous benefits but as ending dis
criminations suffered under the colonial regime.
Subsequent experience revealed great advantages
in complete independence from state protection
and interference, and this encouraged theologians
to re-examine the theoretical bases for what had
come to be called the traditional Catholic posi
tion.
WHEN AMERICAN theologians began in the last
century to suggest that perhaps their system
was better than the European, their colleagues
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
Saints in
Black anti W!
ST. BIBIANA
r f /
i t v
131
DEPRIVED OF RIGHTS
how to perform such an act: 'The faithful did
not perform a proper liturgical act at all, it was
simply a private and inward act, surrounded by
ceremonial and not infrequently accompanied
by a feeling that the ceremonial was really a
disturbing factor." On the other hand, as he
further points out, it is inescapable for anyone
who considers the discussion and the decree of
the Vatican Council that "the religious act un
derlying the liturgy is something singular and
important," The pressing now is to recognize
what this act is and to make it real in our own
experience.
ONE PROBLEM is that the usual discussion-
even among those who feel enthusiasm for litur
gical renewal - is limited to issues that are re
latively external: participation by the congrega
tion in the outward rite and the use of the verna
cular. Professor Guardini asks: "whether the
wonderful opportunities now open to the liturgy will
achieve their full realization; whether we shall be
satisfied with just removing anomalies, taking
new situations into account, giving better instru
ctions on the meaning of ceremonies... or whether
we shall relearn a forgotten way of doing things
and recapture lost attitudes."
A great deal of learning, teaching, thinking -
and, yes, experimenting- will be required to make
the liturgical act of prayer recognizable and
"natural" to us twentieth-century men.The Coun
cil has said that the outward signs of the litur
gy must be made clear, simple, not requiring
much explanation. Considerable adjustment will
be needed for us to sense the presence of the
community of the Church in our common pray
ing, singing and eating of the Eucharist. It will
be even more difficult for us to begin to ex
perience the religious nature of certain actions,
whether performed or watched, and the sacred
ness of holy times and seasons. We will need to
develop the inward silence that is filled and
expressed in our sacramental activities. All this
and more will be necessary, if liturgical rene
wal is not to fail by becoming no more than an
exchange of new habits for old ones.
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Priest Protests At 6 Raids’
Made On Welfare Families
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ACROSS
1 waxen
5 average
9 preteritlon
13 pergola
14 comrade-in-arms
15 glacial ridge
16 age of moon at be
ginning of calendar
year
17 money, exchange fee
18 publish genus " * '•
19 gleams
20 bar and grille
21 She was to
death
24 rime
25 denary
27 also
28 note; music
29 soft port of bill
31 comforts
32 Greek letter
33 stale
36 young ox (Eng.)
40 Her sister's name
43 runner
45 rower
46 Japanese admiral
47 ivy thicket
48 sponge
50 She and her sister
were very
52 any clergyman
53 verb ending
55 small mesa
56 solo
60. Assumptionist
Fathers
62 half way
64 ruler of Tunis
65 suffix, state of
being
66 part of a harness
69 depression-era
agency
70 at a distance
71 unsorted flour
72 emmets
74 fleck
75,.sign; Old English
76 firing pin
77 ami
78 former
79 azure
80 Samuel’s son
DOWN
1 This was her shield
against temptation
2 first principles
3 destiny
4 vocalized pause
5 magnesium oxide
6 biblical Judge
7 under; nautical
8 Excelsior State;
abbr.
9 self-important
10 wet
11 auctions
12 profession
13 swiftly
16 —— the Red
17 sodium bicarbonate
22 Hawaiian Territory;
abbr.
23 Apollo's son
26 --- Sparks
30 sooner
31 to enlist
34 Siamese coin
35 to break down a
sentence
37 Biblical name
38 shepherd's pipe
39 three; Italian
40 plunge
41 World War II area
42 low
43 Her parents were
both
44 truth; Chin.
48 a person who has
been granted a
patent
49 Asian wild moun
tain sheep
51 residue
52 tavern; slang
54 accomplished
57 The name of the
wicked woman
whose care she was
placed under
58 angry
59 lofty .
60 degrade
61 modify
63 “--profundis"
67 noun forming suf
fix-inflammatory
disease
68 bar
70 dcg-faced ape
73 African antelope
74 lumber along
76 lung disease
77 Egyptian soul, myth
ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE, PAGE 7
BOSTON (NC)— People rece
iving public welfare assistance
are being harassed and depriv
ed of constitutional rights, a
priest-social worker said in a
statement to the press here.
Father Joseph T. Alves, dir
ector of Family Counseling and
Guidance Centers Inc., said that
"some welfare personnel in our
local Guidance Centers Inc.,
said that "some welfare per
sonnel in our loca commun
ities" are conducting "midnight
raids" on women who receive
aid for dependent children.
THE theory behind such
raids, Father Alves explained,
is that some of these women
may be "cheating," receiving
welfare benefits on the pretext
that there is no man in the fam
ily to support the children, while
they live clandestinely with
their husband or another man.
Sometimes, it has been found,
husbands unable to find employ
ment pretend to desert their
families so that the children
will have at least the small
amount paid for aid to depend
ent children.
As a member of the Com
mission on Ethics of the Na
tional Association of Social
Workers, Father Alves said,
"I wish to point out that the
practice of wholesale ‘midnight
raids’ is a violation of the
natural and civil rights of human
beings in our society and is ab
solutely contrary to the spirit
of the Social Security Act and
our democratic institutions—
both of which seek to insure the
dignity' of man."
HE SAID he sincerely hopes
ARNOLD VIEWING
Irish Soap Opera
BY JAMES W. ARNOLD
on the other side of the Atlantic dismissed their
views as offensive to pious ears if not smacking
of heresy. But times have changed. In particular,
the Communists have demonstrated (as indi
cated above) how a hostile government can use
the pretext of support to enslave a Church.
Forced to study the problem in a broader context,
more theologians have come to believe that the
best protection for the Church is complete in
dependence in the sense of friendly separation,
such as prevails in the United States.
How widespread the feeling has grown is clear
from the number of requests by Council Fath
ers for a positive statement of the principle
in the proposed declaration on religious freedom
or in Schema XVII’s presentation of the Church
in the modern world. Some countries of south
ern Europe still favor the old view, but it re
tains few supporters in the rest of Europe and ap-_
parently none at all in the mission lands.
PARTICULARLY notworthy is the change in
Latin America, where the Church’s traditions de
rived from Spain included a close interlock
ing of the two powers and an overlapping of their
activities. But the experience of Mexico, where
an unwilling Church was villently forced to re
linquish its claims to privilege, has opened many
yees. Today, the Church in Mexioc is more pro
gressive and has more vocations than in any
other Latin American country.
Bishop Mendex Arceo of Cuernavaca, accord
ingly, summed up not only his own views but
those of many of his colleagues in Mexico and
elsewhere in Latin America when he told me
that "the proper relationship is on of full liber
ty of action for the Church in its own area and
for the state in its, within a framework of colla
boration in areas of common interest. Where the
Church claims the right to dominate the state,
we either have a clericalization of civil life ar,
by reaction, a state control of the Church. We do
not want either."
The name of Tony Richards and the raptures
of the New York critics snookered me into seeing
"Girl With the Green Eyes," which is magnifi
cent stuff if you like 90 minutes of endlessly
cute candid photography 0 f Rita Tushingham.
There are to be honest many worse penances,
although Miss Tushingham, as patrons of "A
Taste o f Honey" may remember, is no threat to
Miss Universe, The Beatles have prettier hair
than this chunky convent girl
from Manchester; her nose
mouth and teeth are all dis
tinct liabilities. But she had
the natural verve and innocence
of extreme youth, and she has
those incredible eyes, which are
all the more spectacular
for their ordinary surround
ings.
SHE IS, in a wholesome and
amusing way, marvelous fun to watch. But pro
ducer Richardson ("Tom Jones") has entangled
her in the ancient soap opera about the common
shop girl who falls for the moody, sophisticat
ed squire and finds that love does not bridge
the intellectual and social chasm between them.
The film may have special interest for Catho
lics because it is set in Dublin and the Irish coun
tryside, and adapted from one of those "anti-
Irish" Irish novels by an Irishwoman (Edna O’
Brien). The heroine is a Catholic girl whose deep
need for love allows her to overcome her scru
ples about a liaison with an older married man
(Peter Finch, as comfortably virile as an old to
bacco pouch). Cast as half-comic villains are
her parents, relatives and priest, who feel violent
ly about adultery but hardly at all about tempe
rance or charity.
Her righteously livid father and uncle whisk
her back to the farm, while completely ignoring
her and getting stupefyingly drunk, Her mother
has a brutally Jansenist viewof pregnancy; "Are
you sure there’s nothing wrong with you?" The
priest first excuses the boqzing ("A man needs
a drink—it’s the climate"), then demands that
she give up the only love she has ever known
to prove her love for God. She runs, naturally,
back to her lover.
EVENTUALLY the irate family bursts into
Finch’s home in a half-burlesque ‘rescue scene
that resembles, in its mindless muscular arro
gance, the prelude to a lynching in an intererr-
acial melodrama. All this leaves little doubt how
Miss O’Brien and the film-makers view the de
fenders of Conventional Virtue.
If the sin of adultery receives muchmore sym
pathy than the sin of uncharity, it does not turn
out an unmixed blessing either, At least one obs
tacle , likely to placate moralists, Is that the man
is unable to return the girl’s love permanently
and exclusively, There is also an insightful con
trast between her gay spirits before and after
the affair and her weeping and crabbing about in
the midst of it.
But the movie has little of the moral power
or deep humanity of predecessors like "A Taste
of Honey," which celebrated the preplexing truth
that sin sometimes leads to virtue. The wrong
here comes across as something nice and senti
mental and touching, but dash it all, it just didn’t
work out. Our girl, however, has learned from
it, and at the end seems cheerfully ready to go
on to bigger and better Fun.
IF ONE CAN ignore all these important ob
jections, as well as an obsession with bedroom
behavior, adults will find "Green Eyes" beauti
fully put together. First-time director Desmond
Davis (a cameramanfor earlier Richardson films)
strains the artiful devices of highbrow New Wave
cinema to make us forget the romantic plot
cliches: the getting -to-know-you conversations
in photogenic locations, the discovery that Finch
has a wife, the discovery that he has a child,
the clumsy moments when he meets her friends
and she meets his, the opened letters and jealous
arguments, etc.
For one example, Davis loves to fool around
with the possibilities of cutting. Actors often
seem to carry on a continous conversation as
they move to differenct times and places. (Miss
Tushingham will ask a question on the street,
and Finch will answer, without a moment’s pause,
in a restaurant, where both are wearing differ
ent clothes). Another time, she rushes toward him
in a forest and when she sweeps into his arms
they are in a hallway in his home.
But the film’s one prime asset is Miss Tushing
ham, shot from every angle in all her vast re
pertoire of moods. Yet a word of caution. The
new film art is already producing its own clinc
hes. If once more we see heroines windowshipp
ing, reflected in glass and followed by a sweep
ing hand-held camera, or tippy toeing gaily
through the woods, twig in hand, we will make a
loud Bronx cheer, Uncle Harold and I. And that
goes double for the big sex scene, all tender vio
lins and reeds, closed yees, bare sholders and
swirling montage of images widly melting, melt
ing. . . into a colossal abolescent succotash.
CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS:
Superior; Behold a Pale Horse, That Man From
Rio, Fail Safe.
For special tastes: Night of the Iguana, A Hard
Day’s Night, Four Days in November.
Better than most; Topkapi, Fate is the Hunter.
that recent calls for more pol
icing of public assistance cli
ents, "especially by 'midnight
raids," are prompted by igno
rance of the plight of the poor
and ignorance of the constitu
tional rights of all persons in
this democracy rather than fur
ther evidence of the racial, na
tional, and class prejudices
which prevent us seeing the
'image and likeness of God’ in
our less fortunate brothers.
Then again, could there pos
sibly be such ignorance in this
matter?"
The Boston priest said he en
dorsed completely the 1964
statement on "midnight raids"
by the Board of Directors
of the National Association of
Social Workers. He agreed that
"although the ways in which
such raids are conducted vary,
they are usually characterized
by a surprise visit at an un
conventional hour. Entry in the
home is gained by duress since
the mother fears the loss of the
public assistance payments.
Sometimes one member of the
aiding party’ will go to the
back door and one to the front
in the hope of ‘flushing’ out
a man. . . ."
BECAUSE such "surprise
visits" are usually conducted
without official warrants for
such search, "midnight raids"
are by definition improper, Fa
ther Alves said. He said that
they engender "a climate of
fear and apprehension" and that
they "abuse, insult and offend”
innocent people much more of
ten than they expose welfare
frauds.
Father Alves holds the degree
of Doctor of Social Welfare from
the Catholic University of Ame
rica, and was appointed by Rich
ard Cardinal Cushing in 1958
to establish and direct Catholic
Family couseling,
Dinner Honors
Fr. George Ford
NEW YORK (NC)— Father
George B. Ford was honored
at a dinner here (Dec. 1) by
1,000 persons for his 50 years
of service to the community.
The priest retired in 1958
as pastor of Corpus Christi
Church. Father Ford was coun
selor to Catholic students at
Columbia University for 16
years.
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
Remember the Gospel story about the cure of the ten lepers?
Only one, a Samaritan, returned to thank Our Lord. Think of itl
Ten men who had been doomed to a living death, destined to a
suffering vigil as, limb by limb, their bodies rotted away. Ten
men given back their lives, and only the member of an outcast
race came back to say ‘Thank You.”
And today, gratitude is still one of the world's most neglect
ed virtues. What of us in the United States? How much we have
been given but how often do we return to thank? In the midst of
modern discouragement about teenagers who have more and seem
less grateful for it than most, it is well to know about one mem
ber of that “outcast race*’ who wrote to us: “I needed some way
to thank God for all He has given me. Money is just about the
only thing that I haven't got right now. Please use my last $2
for the Missions.” It is signed “A Broke Teenager.”
Another teenager whose initials are J. P. writes: "I am 14
years old and have heard that wanting to share is a sign of grow
ing up, I hope this is true because I want to
share the knowledge of the Redemption with
all my brothers and sisters in Christ - the
poor, sick and hungry of the world, and help
them to know God. I see Christ suffering in
them. One would be selfish to keep to him
self the knowledge of Christ’s Redemption
and not spread it. I want all to know and
reach salvation and so I pray. Praying is the
best way of helping the missionaries but still
I want to do more. I have much to be thank
ful for: my faith, wonderful parents, a good education, liberty,
good fortune, health. When I think of all the starving, poor
people of the world, the sick with no help, the many who know
no God and places where God lives in a terrible shanty, I cannot,
as a Christian, let this be. Charity is a mark of Christianity.
"I think in life I would like to teach souls to love God as He
loves them. The money I send isn't very much in relation to all
that is needed, but I know it cannot be used for a better purpose.
Somehow it may loosen a nail or lift a thorn or bind up a wound,*
Once I asked Mary to intercede for me and asked God to help me
win a poster contest. I won, so part of the prize money, which I
promised to Him, is included.”
It is this well-thought-out spirit of sacrifice in the young that
spells hope for the future. Another $2 sacrifice came with the
following note: “Please use this for the Missions. I'd only spend
it on the Beatles and the Missions need it more." May we ask
the teenagers who read this particular column to emulate those
tof our; own age and to share your blessings with the poor of the
world. The secret of all happiness is service,as all unhappiness
of the heart comes from seeking one's own pleasure, what won
derful hope we would have for the future if we received
100,000 such letters from teenagers I God Love You,
GOD LOVE YOU to R, M. G, for $1 "Enclosed is my allow
ance. It is for the needy. They need it more than I do.” . . to
Sue, Margie, Helen and Lucy for $4 “Our Girls Club had a
show and we made $8, We are sending half of it to the lepers.”
, . . to G. P. for $200 'This is to be used as you wish. It is
part of what I earnedlast summer while working in a sugar re
finery,. I would like to send more but I cannot because I am at
tending college.”
Do you find yourself preplexed by problem Christmas pre
sents? What to give a teacher, priest, nun, relative, is always dif
ficult to decide. A welcome gift for anyone on your list (or for
yourself) is a subscription to WORLDM1SSION, a scholarly
quarterly magazine of current missionary activities edited by Most
Reverend Fulton J, Sheen. Read about the frontiers of the Church
in the world today. Send only $5 for a year's subscription to;
WORLDMISSION, 366 Fifth Avenu, New York, N, Y. 10001.