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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 $40.1 million bond issue for the expansion of state- supported colleges. “The field of education is particularly important to me,” he said early in December. ”1 received scholarship assis tance at Syracuse Universityi and Harvard Law School and I recognize that students often need outside aid, either in the form of scholarships or public assistance. “I am interested in doing all I can to see that young people who have the ability are afford- ded an opportunity to make the best of their talents for the benefit of themselves and their country.” CONNOR has been a staunch advocate of the public school system. His children attended a Catholic elementary school, and he told an audience at Seton Hall a few years ago he is sympathetic with the financial burdens Catholics must bear for education. But, he added, “it is impor tant for all citizens, regardless of religion, to accept the real ity that it is an absolute ne cessity for the pieople of the United States to support the continued growth of the public school system at all levels...” Despite his activity in busi ness aid government, Connor found time to serve many char itable causes. He raised money for Seton Hall University’s Col lege of Medicine and Dentistry, and still serves as a trustee of his wife’s alma mater. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1964 GEORIGIA BULLETIN PAGE 5 Serviut Atlanta Since 1912 • PRINTING • LITHOGRAPHING CO/V¥f*/\/VY r 550 FORREST R($AD, N. E., ATLANTA, GEORGIA • TRinity 5-4727 IGNATIUS HOUSE RETREATS RV JESUIT PRIESTS Weekends For Men And Weekends For Women 6700 Riverside Drive N. W. 255-0503 Atlanta, Georgia 30328 imi CMSIMA: RHODES BAKERY 1783 Cheshire Bridge Rd. N.E. Tr 6-3783 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.