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INEFFABLE DAY
A Dominant Mood
REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
The feast of Christmas is a birth-feast, an
ineffable day of divine coming and arrival.
If the feast has a dominant mood, it is of the
long-awaited fruition of hope which now gives
rise to new expectation and the beginning of a
new and novel chain of events. The starting-
point of our Christmas contemplation is, of course,
the historical birth of Jesus
and its consequence: his my
sterious birth within us now,
especially in each celebration
of the Holy Eucharist.
It is the repetition of Christ
mases by the Church in the
liturgy that particularly invol-
k VGS US * ideal of a con
tinuing cycle of re-beginning, of
re-birth, has always fascinated mankind. The
mystery of Christmas appeals to this deeply
human instinct in us as the Church tirelessly
commemorates the anniversary of Christ’s birth.
Though the outward signs of the litugical cele
bration, we arc placed in contact with the pro
found truth of Christ’s unending and continuing
being-born in us, in our world and in our hopes.
MUCH OF the drama of the Christmas narra
tive arises from the contrasts and conflicts it
involves. Where could we find a more apparent
contradition than exists between the outward
appearances of the event and the fact of what
actually happened and its significance. Christmas
is the unpredictable victory over seemingly in
vincible obstacles and against apparently unbeat
able odds. Who could reasonbly expect God to
come to us? If He does come, what are the odds
against his coming to a despised people, in
circumstances of obscurity, destitution and lone
liness? W'hat could seem more unlikely to our
work-a-day frame of mind than that God is really
trying to come into our complicatedly busy mid-
twentith century lives? The fact which overturns
our neat categories and reasonable expectations
is that He did come - and, that He does continu
ously come now.
THE MYSTERY of Christmas is full of meaning
QUESTION BOX
for our full in—volvement in the community life
of the Church. What happens to the Church, happens
to us; and, what happens to us, happens to the
Church. We are the Church. Pope John called
the renewal of Catholic life in this age of Vatican
Council II a “new Pentecost.” It is also a “new
Christmas.” Christ - this time in his Mystical
Body - is being reborn, once again after a long
time of preparation and once again in unexpected
ways. The same mystery that we celebrate at
Christmas is now being fulfilled. The ancient
Church shows itself ever young. Permanent,
structured, seemingly immutable, it draws fresh
breath through “open windows” and pulses with
new energy.
The “aggiornamento” or up-dating of Catholic
life initiated by Pope John cannot remain for us
just a fact of ecclesiastical current events. The
renewal, gradually being proclaimed by the
Fathers of he Vatican Council, will never become
a thorough-doing reality without being born in us.
This certainly forms an important element of the ‘
present Christmas grace that God offers his
Church. It means a re-invigorated involvement in
the total life of the Church on the part of all of
us, following the same directions the teaching of
Vatican II is taking.
The beginning of this personal and communal
Christmas-renewal is certainly to be found in our
life as worshippers, through understanding, in
terest, effor in the liturgical celebrations of the
Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments. It
means taking seriously our debt of active par
ticipation within the Church-community in vir
tue of our Baptism and Confirmation commitment
to serve Christ in our brothers. It dictates a
re-awakened conscience in regard to those who
are separated from us; other Christians - and
non-Christians - to be welcomed with a thought
ful and permanent love. Perhaps most urgently,
it dictates that we relate our Christmas grace
and experience to the world we live in and its
moral wounds: poverty, racial injustice, igno
rance, disunity.
Our Christmas has a wider meaning than
our own individual concerns. It is as wide as
our whole life and as wide as our whole world
into which Christ is being re—boro in us.
Multiply The Race
BY MSGR. J. D. CONWAY
Q, I don’t understand this Council: “the view
they take on birth control. A couple of years
ago if couples didn’t have children it was called
race suicide. Today it is the right thing. I
heard a priest one time say at a mission, “What
right have we to tell God when He can create?”
A,. There are two ways of committing race
suicide today: (1) drop the bomb, and (2) mul
tiply the population to the point where it will
starve to death.
Now waitl I am simply stat
ing a couple of facts: one physi
cal and military; the other
demographic. Neither is direct
ly relevant to birth control.
Race suicide became an anti
quated notion far more than
a couple of years ago.
Besides, the Council has made
no decision relative to birth
control; and quite surely never will. Some of the
leading Fathers of the Council have called for
complete re-study of the theological nature of
marriage. We have learned much psychology,
physiology and pedogogy in recent centuries;
and our economic, sanitary and demographic sit
uations are quite thoroughly different from those
of our ancestors. Is it not possible that all
our new knowledge, and our changed environ
ment should have some effects on our under
standing of marriage, its goals and its meth
ods?
Eternal trouths never change, but our under
standing of them is capable of constant growth.
Of this our present Council continues to furnish
evidence of the type found in every dynamic
generation.
Neither you nor 1 can anticipate in reliable
manner the results of the re-study for which
the Fathers have asked, but we can pray that
it will be made, thoroughly and truthfully, under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Q, Please give me an idea or two as to how
to handle people who come to the door witl
tracts from The Watchtower and other sects.
In the light of the Ecumenical Council and the
plea for understanding of the other Christian
faiths, can we or should we just say no and turn
them off?
Several have come to my door in the past
few months. On a little questioning, two of them,
one from a Slavic country in Europe and the
other from this country, have told me they were
Catholics who now “see the light” in The Watch-
tower doctrines., etc. If we quote Scripture, they
just say it means something else and it seems
useless.
Help, please.
A. It is a problem, These people are pests
in their methods of propaganda, but probably
very sincere and zealous in their intentions.
Charity, patience, politeness and firmness are
all required in handling them well. Offense should
be avoided; it is contrary to charity. But yet;
we cannot let them intrude on our time and bore
us to death. Their approach is defintily not that
of the dialogue; they are not trying to reach
understanding, but to sell you a bill of goods.
Arguing with them accomplishes nothing; but
kindness towards them is an exercise of Chris
tian love. Accept their tracts, if they insist;
your waste basket will hold such trash handily.
Simply tell them that you are a Catholic, peace
fully convinced, and in no need of seeing the
light they offer. Say a prayer with them, if they
wish; and send them firmly but gently on their
way.
1 am pleased that they do not call at the rectory,
because I might not follow my own advice.
Q. My husband is a non-Catholic, and I noticed
in his newsletter that his church offered Sunday
school for pre-schoolers starting at age three.
When 1 read it, I thought to myself how nice
it would be if our church offered something
similar. But then I wondered if I could send
my three-year-old to that Sunday school.
The way our school system is set
al educ
or eight years
- *•« aci up, our
children fiist receive a formal education in
religion when they are seven
old.
A. I see no harm in sending a three-year-
old to such a Sunday school, if there is some real
convenience in it for you, and provided you have
the child in Catholic school by age six.
PUBLIC OPINION
Your World And Mine
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
Ians and Latin Americans in general were rather
well informed about the facts, far better than
is the United States public about social problems
in their countries.
“United States news and picture magazines
circulate widely not only in English but in
Spanish editions. Our local newspapers and mac
azines, moreover, rely heavily on your news a-
gencies and syndicates for their material And
as the United States is very frank in its repeat
ing of its peculiarities, we get every detail a-T
bout each riot, flouting of the law and race mur
der.”
“ON TOP OF this, however, we have an ele
ment that is less known in the United States"
Journalism of opinion is very important in our
countries, and many of the views writers are
Communist sympathizers. They use the facts
to construct an image of a country built on
racist principles. And this technique may back
fire, because what we have seen is a country
working hard to bring its practice into conform
ity with its principles.”
Our friends in Latin America, accordingly,
believe that any slackening of the tempo of our
human rights program would do us incalculable
harm in their countries. “What is most grati
fying,” one of them said to me, “is to be able
to contrast the situation in South Africa and that
in the United States. Both have grave racial prob
lems and a deep tradition of discrimination. But
while South Africa is dedicated to a continuance
of injustice, the United States moves to be true
to itself. To slow down now would be to abandon
your friends and give comfort to your enemies.”
RE-ENACT VISIT OF THREE WISE MEN African youngsters, members of a Mary-
1 mission parish in Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika) commemorate the feast of the
Epiphany (Jan. 6) by re-enacting the visit of the Three Wise Men, one of whom, Caspar.
. was an African.
JOHN T. CONNOR
President Calls New Aide
‘Smart, Loyal, Patriotic’
WASHINGTON--When John
T. Connor looks ahead to his
new job as United States Sec
retary of Commerce, he prob
ably thinks of the old Breton
fisherman’s saying he likes to
quote:
“Dear God, be good to me.
The sea is so wide, and my
bout so small.”
IN TRUTH, although he Is
setting out on a vast new job,
his boat is not so small. Con
nor, 50, a member of St.
Therese parish in Summit,
N.J., has behind him long ex
perience in education, business
and government. Before accept
ing the post offered him by
President Johnson, he was pre
sident of Merck and Company,
Inc., a drug company in Rah
way* N.J., and a director of
the General Foods and Gener
al Motors corporations.
When the U.S. Senate ap
proves his appointm; it and he
is sworn in, Connor will be
come the third Catholic in the
present cabinet, joining Post
master General JohnGronouski
and Health, Education and Wel
fare Secretary Anthony Cele-
brezze,
ANNOUNCING the appoint
ment, President Johnson de
scribed Connor as “the kind of
man I am proud to have serve
in the cabinet. He is smart and
he is loyal and he is patriotic.
He will never discard a prin
ciple nor despair of doing what
is right and ought to be done.”
There is no doubt that Con
nor is smart. Born in Syra
cuse, N.Y., he graduated i m n
1 :.!y Rosary High School there
and then took his Bachelor of
Arts degree magna cum iaude
from Syracuse University in
COURT INJUNCTION
Notre Dame Stops
‘Goldfarb’ Movie
NEW YORK (RNS) —A tem
porary injunction sought by No
tre Dame University to ban
the showing of a motion pic
ture here was granted by a
New York State Supreme Court
justice who ruled the film does
“irreparable injury upon the
high prestige” of the Roman
Catholic school in South Bend,
Ind.
Justice Henry Clay Green
berg said the movie, “John
Goldfarb, Please Come Home,”
is an “unauthorized appropria
tion and commercial exploita
tion of the institution’s name.,
all to the end that the defen-
dent might privately profit
from such misappropriation and
use.”
NOT RE DAME sought to ban
the film’s American premiere,
scheduled for Christmas Day on
Broadway, on the grounds that
its presentation would result in
“immeasurable injury” to the
university and its noted foot
ball team.
The school charged that the
movie depicts its football play
ers as “undisciplined gluttons
and drunks” who are influenced
by “harem girls” into losing
a big game.
Justice Greenberg also is
sued an injunction against the
further distribution of the hard
cover and paperback books on
which the film was based. De
fendants were 20th Century-
Fox, producer of the picture,
and the book’s publishers,
Doubleday and Co., and Faw
cett Publications.
THE movie's producers and
Doubleday announced after the
court decision that they would
“definitely appeal.” Fawcett
made no immediate comment.
Justice Greenberg said that
while he had not seen the film,
he had read the book and the
screenplay. He descirbed the
movie script as “ugly, vulgar,
and tawdry,” with no justifi
cation “even with a most li
beral concept and with a most
indulgent and elastic imagi
nation.”
He noted that the studio, in
defending the picture, had
argued that the plot “is so
patently preposterous that no
one with the slightest sense of
proportion could take any part
of it seriously or regard andy
of the incidents or characters
as factual or designed to por
tray any actual event.”
ASKED the justice, “Why then
did the defendents superimpose
the name of Notre Dame and the
symbols of the university upon
the story and screen play?”
Neither the book, nor movie,
he said, “is a satire, burles
que or any other form of li
terary portrayal, or criticism
of the university of Notre Dame
or its teams; nor does it re
present and educational, cul
tural, moral or sociological
crusade in the public welfare.”
Justice Greenberg also criti
cized the film as a “clear case
of commercial piracy.” He
stated that “in no way is this
decision intended to, nor does
it, restrict the legitimate con
duct of the press or the ex
pression of free speech.”
For Christmas
CHICAGO (NC)—Christmas
cards with a brotherhood theme
were prepared and sold this
year for the first time by the
Catholic Interracial Council of
Chicago. The council issued
five different cards, designed
by Chicago-area artists and
selected in a special competi
tion.
1936. From there he went to
Harvard Law School vhore he
was known as one of the
“happy hot dogs” who studied
under Felix Frankfurter, now
a retired Supreme Court
justice.
W r hile at Harvard he met
Mary O'Boyle of Milwaukee,
who was attending Maahattau-
ville College of the Sacred
Heart in Purchase, N.Y. They
were married soon after and
now have three children, Jonn
Jr., 23, Geoffrey, 18, and a
daughter, Lisa, 14.
GRADUATING from Harvard,
Connor served for a time with
a Wall Street law firm a id then
became, general counsel of the
Office of Scientific Research,
headed by Vannevar Bush.' In
1944 he wen: to the Pacific as
a first lieutenant in the Ma
rines. Returning from Japan
the next year, he was appoint
ed counsel to the Office of Na
val Research and later special
assistant to Navy Secretary
James Forrestal. He joined
Merck and Company in 1947.
In 1959 he was given the New
Jersey Brotherhood Award of
the National Conference of
Christians and Jews.
CONNOR has given much of
his attention in recent years
to education. As chairman of
the Citizens' Committee for
College Opportunities in New
Jersey, he was instrumental in
winning voter approval in No
vember for a $40.1 million bond
issue for the expansion of state-
supported colleges.
“The field of education is
particularly important to me,”
he said early in December.
”1 received scholarship assis
tance at Syracuse Universityi
and Harvard Law School and
I recognize that students often
need outside aid, either in the
form of scholarships or public
assistance.
“I am interested in doing all
I can to see that young people
who have the ability are afford-
ded an opportunity to make the
best of their talents for the
benefit of themselves and their
country.”
CONNOR has been a staunch
advocate of the public school
system. His children attended a
Catholic elementary school, and
he told an audience at Seton
Hall a few years ago he is
sympathetic with the financial
burdens Catholics must bear for
education.
But, he added, “it is impor
tant for all citizens, regardless
of religion, to accept the real
ity that it is an absolute ne
cessity for the pieople of the
United States to support the
continued growth of the public
school system at all levels...”
Despite his activity in busi
ness aid government, Connor
found time to serve many char
itable causes. He raised money
for Seton Hall University’s Col
lege of Medicine and Dentistry,
and still serves as a trustee
of his wife’s alma mater.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1964 GEORIGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5
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Seminary Fund
Remember the SEMINARY FUND
of the Archdiocese of Atlanta in
your Will. Bequests should be made
to the “Most Reverend Paul J. Hal-
linan, Archbishop of the Catholic
Archdiocese of Atlanta and his suc
cessors in office”. Participate in the
daily prayers of our seminarians and
in the Masses offered annually for
the benefactors of our SEMINARY
FUND.
USE BULLETIN CLASSIFIEDS
231-1281
God Love You
BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN
We never become conscious of another’s misery until we are
conscious of our own. The rich man does not think of the slums
of the world as he follows the advance of the stock market.
The healthy athlete does not agonize with the sick in hospitals,
nor did the innkeeper of Bethlehem consider the cold in the cave
a mile down the road.
Who has the power to grasp the mystery of
Christmas? Not necessarily the homeless, for
there are kinds of misery other than economic
and physical. Only the person who is conscious
.of his own sins can ever be conscious of the
humiliations of God becoming Man to save him
from sin. The wounded look upon a physician
with eyes both pleading and hopeful. As Our Lord
said: “Those who are well have no need of a
physician.”
Our world is full of “healthy people” who deny they are physi
cally sick, or guilty, or sinners. They never DID wrong; they
were ACTED upon by insufficient playgrounds, Grade B milk
and too much maternal affectionl Herod did not come to the
crib, neither did the citizens of Jerusalem, neither did the
scribes and the self-righteous, because not being thirsty why
should they go to the Fountain of Life; not being in misery why
should they go to Mercy? No one understands Christmas
better than a sinner; no one understands it less than the “sin
less , the’ guilt-less” and the “pure-unconscious.” Having
no wounds why seek a Healer?
The very name given to the God Whobecame Man was “Jesue”
which is the Greek for “Savior.” If a Hebrew name were used
instead of Greek, He would be called “Joshua,” the savior who
brought the people of God into the Promised Land. The Gospel,
therefore, ties up Christmas with the salvation of sin - “Jesus,
Who saves us from our sins.”
During the year, you will read about the misery of Jesus
prolonged in His Church; you will hear of the hunger of Latin
America; the poverty of priests, bishops and religious in Asia;
the misery of lepers. Never say: “Oh I must send them a dollar;
they are so miserable.” But rather: “1 am so miserablel
What can I do to express my poverty, my spiritual leprosy,
my soul which is worse, than a hovel?” When you think this
way, you think Christian; you think with the mind of Christ.
Above all you will undertand that you never become conscious
of another’s misery until you are conscious of your own sins.
Making up for your spiritual misery by helping their physical
misery will turn your misery into something merry -Merry
Christmas.
GOD LOVE YOU to a woman unafraid to face herself in he
mirror. “I was going to use this small check to *wash away
gray but in your hands may it help to wash the wounds of
the
lepers. ...to M.C.N, for her donation of $100, the equivalent
of her Christmas Club check.
Would you like to get more mileage out of your money by
giving to the Missions? By taking out an annuity with The Society
for the Propagation of the Faith you will receive annual re
turns on your investment and save on capital-gains tax while
you save souls. Send your appreciable securities to The So
ciety for the Propagation of the Faith and you will receive a
greater return spiritually and materitdly. Direct your request
for our pamphlet on annuities, including the date of your birth,
to Most Rev, Fulton J. Sheen, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York
New York 10001.
Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Most
Reverend Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of The Society for the
Propagation of the Faith, 366 Faith Avenue, New York, New York
10001, or to your Diocesan Director, Rev. Harold J. Rainey, P. O.
Box 12047, Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Georgia.