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14 GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1968
Tribute To Thomas Merton
...By A Convert
Thomas Merton is dead. No
blood relatives will be listed in
the obituaries but many mourn
his passing - relatives of the spirit.
He had no reason to make out
a will because years ago he gave
up all worldly goods. But the
estate he left us includes a
cornucopia of poems, books and
prayers he said for others.
Though hidden away in a
monastery in the Kentucky hills,
for most of his adult life, Merton
was world-renowned - a scholar,
poet, theologian, teacher, writer -
but most of all he truly loved
God which meant he loved us all.
The two go hand in hand.
He once said, “If my writing
‘The Seven Storey Mountain’ has
changed the life of one person, it
was worth the effort.” 1 may
have been that person - an
awesome thought. 1 have been
searching throughout all
literature to find'my way to God,
to know him truly.
But the Catholic Church was
the one place that 1 avoided.
Reared in Atlanta, 1 held all the
prejudices so commonplace at the
time - about Jews, Negroes and
Catholics. I had learned the
foolishness of the first two in
college and through experience,
but - like Thomas Merton,
Catholicism cast a long, dark
shadow for me. I never
investigated to find the bright
beauty on the other side.
Until one Sunday afternoon, 1
sat alone on a windy beach and
said in quiet desperation, “God,
where are you?” The next day a
non-Catholic friend who owned a
bookstore, knowing my love of
good literature, placed within my
hands “The Seven Storey
Mountain” saying, ,‘You may not
like it.” Yet with its reading, 1
received the gift of faith although
I did not realize it immediately.
My soul and mind were stirred as,
never in my lifetime. It was the
right book at the right time.
Coincidence? The chances would
be astronomical.
The books he mentioned
made me want to study, the
saints of whom he spoke with
love gave me the desire to know
them and call them friends. The
ship of my life which had been
motionless upon a glassy sea of
stale indifference took sail, his
words as impetus - and I was set
upon a new adventurous course.
Though we two never met, I
have a Christmas-card, an Easter
card, and a picture of the Little
Flower which he sent to me, the
latter signed, “God bless you
always, Father Louis” - his
Trappist name. By now he knows
the heartache that his book cost
me as it lead to my entering the
Church. To become a Catholic
without the excuse of husband or
family ties, meant to have my
father turn his face away
(temporarily), to have many
relatives and friends criticize, to
be refused the company of
children loved, to have my
husband threaten divorce.
In spite of all this, Merton’s
book brought me love - pure and
dedicated. The kind a child-feels
when safe in its mother’s arms.
Yet free to be my true self for
the first time. Exhilarated. No
outward incident could mar my
inward happiness.
Since then when tribulations
set me off my course, it is
because I failed to nourish the.
light which Merton lit these years
ago. My faith was firm but
through the years, sorrow,
persecution and wrong-doing had
caused the light to flicker near
extinction.
Then Merton died. Once more
I saw my life with clarity - full of
self-pity and indulgence. Perhaps,
like the book he had written, his
death had been,..in. part, for me.
Why should he go and 1 remain?
In my sorrow - not for him but us
- I prayed I would try harder to
deserve the blessing I had
received through Thomas Merton,
God’s humble servant.
Former Radio Priest
Fr. Coughlin Berates
Church’s Dissenters
ln_HoHanjJ
Catechism Corrections
To Be Published Soon
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands
(NC)-The Dutch hierarchy has
announced that it will publish in
the near future corrections and
additions to the controversial
New Dutch Catechism as
formulated by a special
committee and approved by a
commission of cardinals
appointed by the Holy See.
The Dutch bishops expressed
regret, however, that the
cardinals' commission did not
fully accept the corrections
suggested by the Dutch hierarchy
in October, 1967.
“But,” (he statement added, “out
of respect for the wishes of the
Pope the Dutch bishops have
decided to abandon any further
discussion on the issue.”
The corrections will be
published in a separate booklet.
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The authors of the new
catechism, who are members of
the higher institute of catechetics
at the University of Nijmegen, do
not agree with the corrections
and announced that they will
publish a White Paper on the
issue containing the full story and
all relevant documents on the
conflict with the curia (the
Church’s central administrative
body) over the catechism. The
authors stated that the
corrections are unacceptable on
both theological and catechetical
grounds. .
Father Peter J.A.M.
Schoonenberg, S.J., professor of
dogmatics at the University of
Nijmegen, in a radio program,
said the Dutch catechism has
become a test case on the issue of
collegiality of bishops, their
relations with the Pope and the
curia and autonomy of the local
church. He added he still .hoped
that one day there would be
multiformity inside the Church.
DETROIT (NC)-Father Charles
E. Coughlin, 78, who retired
from the active priesthood two
years ago, turned back the clock
30 years and once again stalked
the fields of controversy.
In a 54-page pamphlet,
“Helmet and Sword,” Father
Coughlin attacked “loud-mouth
clerical advocates of arson, riot
and draft card burning.”
He also criticized liberal
bishops who seek to “upset Pope
Paul.” Father Coughlin singled
out his own superior, Archbishop
John F. Dearden of Detroit,
charging him with “under the
table approval” of the efforts of
dissenting priests.
There was no comment from
Archbishop Dearden regarding
the priest’s charge and informed
archdiocesan sources said no
reply was expected.
During the administration of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the Depression era of the
1930s, Father Coughlin gained
worldwide repute as “the radio
Cathedral
priest,” attacking national and.
international policies of the
Roosevelt administration. In
conjunction with his radio work,
the controversial priest published
a magazine, Social Justice, which
was denounced by the then U.S.
Atty. Gen. Francis Biddle as
“traitorous.” The government'
halted mail distribution of the
magazine in 1942.
The “Helmet and Sword”
pamphlet is described as the first
section of a book Father
Coughlin is writing, dealing with
the modem Church.
Excerpts from the pamphlet
include the following:
--“Bishops must assume the
major responsibility for the moral
predicament in which members
of the Catholic Church find
themselves.”
-“Many of our prelates are
amateur social engineers who
hide the lamp of their religious
commitment under the bushel
basket of secular science.”
-“To feed, clothe and house
the poor, to agitate for social and
civil rights, particularly for the
Negro, the Puerto Rican and the
migrant Mexican; to dedicate
archdiocesan funds for material
purposes, have become the
objectives of many of these
gentlemen.”
After his critical venture into
radio and magazine work 30
years ago, Father Coughlin
quietly devoted himself to the
pastorate of the Shrine of the
Little Flower in Royal Oak,
Mich., until his retirement from
the active priesthood two years
ago.
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