Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 18,1973
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Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan - Publisher
Rev. James J. Maciejewski - Editor
Michael Motes - Editorial Assistant
Marie Mulvenna — Editorial Assistant
Business Office
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Published weekly except the second and last weexs
in June, July and August and the last week in December
at 202 E. Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
The opinions contained in these editorial columns are
the free expressions of free editors in a free Catholic press.
A Trilogy in Ice
(Father Robert Kinast, Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese, penned these thoughts on last week’s
ice storm.)
Fearing the passing of mere winterness
(like a monk’s concern for a cold soul)
the night spoke icy adjectives all dark long.
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NOW there’s a good thought . . . I’m Alive!!!
A Shield
For
Reporters?
Joseph A. Breig
Following the jailing of two reporters,
newspapers began demanding passage of special
“shield” laws to protect newspeople from being
required, by courts and grand juries, to disclose
sources of information, even when such
disclosure is considered necessary to expose
crimes.
The nation’s press and media generally
argued that such laws are essential to protect
the public’s “right to know.”
My sympathies, as a longtime journalist,
naturally tend toward the newspeople’s side,
even though I can imagine gross abuses of legal
immunity by questionable characters calling
themselves reporters for questionable
publications. But in the light of certain
considerations which have come to my
attention, it may be that the media have fouled
their own case by less-than-honest reporting of
it.
The two jailed newsmen were Peter Bridge
and William Farr. The media said they had been
jailed for declining to disclose to public
authorities the sources from which they had
obtained certain information--sources to whom
they had promised anonymity.
Relying on the media accounts, the
Jesuit-edited magazine AMERICA took the side of
the reporters. This brought two letters to the
magazine.
the dawn revealed the stunning results
(like an artist’s concern for his product’s notice)
and scrambled the patterns of everyday style without mercy.
we shared a rugged tour of common plight
(like a God’s concern for His people’s choices)
on Monday.
The ice remains
cylinders of blank workmanship
giving lustre to the everyday
as fine as the grace-line of difference
between
seeing the world and looking into it.
************
Something is disappearing here
the eventual passing of icicles
fading back into the raw air of January
pausing for just a nervous moment
, f .. ( then dropping into cool concealment.
But something too abides
that touch of wholeness
which winter was made for
like the sun for a shadow
or words for silence
or the night for surprises. ..
Delusion and Escape
F rorn World of Reality
Doctor Armand DiFrancesco
Loss of Real Talent
In Washington
Reverend Andrew M. Greeley
Copyright 1973, Inter/Syndicate
A few years ago, a middle-aged man came to
see me in desperation because his wife was
driving him crazy with her affairs. As a result,
he couldn’t sleep, eat or work because his mind
was continuously preoccupied with this
problem. I asked him who she was having an
affair with and he excitedly related that he did
not know but he had overwhelming proof of
her “scandalous behavior.” For example, every
night “strange” cars would pass the house and
“signalled” his wife by tooting the horn.
Moreover, he found “strange” hairs in the
bedroom, “unusual” cigarette butts around the
house and his wife was behaving “strangely.”
Every reply she gave would be scrutinized and
analyzed for “double meanings.” He had never
caught her with another man but he was
“positive” of her unfaithfulness. This man was
suffering from delusions of infidelity.
A delusion is a false belief that cannot be
corrected by reason, logic, or experience and it
is a belief that is not accepted by the culture in
which one lives. The latter is important. Thus,
if Joe Kobbobitz tried to kill Joe Namath to eat
his heart, believing that he would then possess
the football skills of Namath, he would
promptly be hauled off to the booby-hatch. A
primitive native in a certain tribe in Africa
would have the same belief but would not be
considered deluded because his fellow natives
all believe the same thing. False beliefs can
occur under all sorts of circumstances but arise
because of illogical or primitive thinking.
Now, children in the first few years of life
think in a simple, concrete fashion and the very
young think in a primitive fashion. They believe
in evil spirits and indulge in magical thinking. A
little boy told me his mother was a witch and
could see through walls . . .all because of an
incident that occurred. She put a fresh batch of
cookies in the cupboard and went up to the
attic. He promptly put a chair up to the
cupboard and climbed up to get some of the
cookies. Not hearing him play and sensing what
he might be doing, she hollered: “Get away
from those cookies!” He looked up in
astonishment and thought: “She can see
through the walls!”
Delusions are also found in diseases that
affect brain functioning and therefore, rational
thinking. High fevers, drug or chemical
poisonings, poor circulation to the brain, etc.,
will produce fleeting delusions. Once people
recover, they may not remember the delusion.
Usually, the delusion is a fearful one of
persecution, i.e., “someone put poison in my
food,” “someone is stealing my money.”
Somatic or body delusions often occur in very
severe depressive states, e.g., “my insides are
rotting away” or, in a more bizarre fashion,
“there’s a dead horse in my stomach.”
As a result of unendurable tensions or
psychological conflicts, the mind can make an
effort to survive (even though it is a sick one)
and try to change reality in order to make it
acceptable to oneself. A young woman had
since adolescence suffered from a conflict
between her normal sexual feelings and her
rigid, tryannical conscience. Being a deeply
religious woman, she longed to be like the
Blessed Virgin who was pure and free from
temptations. “I wish I was like the Blessed
Mother. . .then I wouldn’t be tempted and
suffering like this.” As her tensions mounted
and her wishes increased, she finally broke
down.
One morning, she came downstairs smiling
and calm. Her mother said: “Come to
breakfast, Joan.” She smiled and said: “I’m not
Joan, I am the Blessed Virgin.” In order to
survive, her mind had converted the wish to
reality and now she no longer had to fear the
danger of sin. Others with feelings of
inferiority, very low self-image, etc., may
“survive” by developing delusions of grandeur.
I have had patients who believed they were God
or sent by God to redeem the world. Some
believed that they were being held in the state
hospital by the President who knew of their
“importance.”
I still remember one patient at the state
hospital who used to run out on the ward porch
and scream at an imaginary woman across the
street. He had the delusion that a Lebanese
woman (he was Lebanese himself) across the
street periodically during the day turned on a
“ray-machine” causing him to have erotic
desires. Daily one reads in the papers of
delusions held by some people, like the end of
the world on a certain day. Bishop Berkeley
was convinced that water mixed with tar could
cure most diseases. Hitler had his delusions of
the Germans being the “master race” and that
Jews were the enemies of mankind. Products of
underlying mental disorders, delusions can only
be corrected by treating the basic problem.
This is going to be a peculiar column. I am
writing in defense of a man for whom I was
once a confessor. (Note to Dale Francis, Dan
Lyons, Frank Morris, Paul Hallett and other
such types: I am not going to violate the seal of
confession, fellows, so put down your
thumbscrews.) The man’s name is Robert A.
Podesta. The president has just fired him from
his post as Assistant Secretary of Commerce.
Podesta has been a loyal and diligent
Republican for a long time and a loyal
supporter of Mr. Nixon for as long as I’ve
known him. He even supported Nixon in 1960,
a fact for which I hope his Irish ancestors will
forgive him, though I shall not. Four years ago
he was appointed head of the Economic
Development Administration, an agency which
supports income-producing projects in
underdeveloped areas of the United States.
According to all the Washington contacts I
have, Podesta did a remarkably effective job in
this post. One highly placed White House staff
member remarked to me a couple of years ago,
“There aren’t very many effective people over
in Commerce, but he is at the top of the list.”
Even more important was the reaction of the
civil service personnel in the agency. As one
said to me - without knowing of my friendship
with his boss - “Most of these business types
that come to town during Republican
administrations never learn what’s going on and
turn out to be rotten administrators. Bob
learned right away. What’s more,” and my
informant shook his head in amused disbelief,
“he actually seems to like the job. I guess that’s
why he’s so good at it.”
The EDA is the sort of American capitalistic
venture that Richard Nixon, if he really were
the kind of American Disraeli that Pat
Moynihan has tried to persuade him that he is,
ought to support with whatever vigor he is able
to muster. But if you need money to bomb
Asian coolies back to the Stone Age, you can’t
afford to support economic development in the
United States. So the EDA appropriations bill
was vetoed and Bob Podesta was shipped back
to Chicago (along with his boss, Secretary of
Commerce Peterson, who spent too much time
in Georgetown and was too friendly with
Senator Percy for the beetle-browed
troglodytes on the President’s staff).
The republicans obviously have a large
supply of intelligent, efficient and imaginative
administrators and can afford to waste talent.
Podesta’s real crime was not merely that he
supported a program that the Disneyland
lawyers who currently run the country didn’t
like. His sin was that he is smart and
independent. There is no room in the present
administration for anyone with those two
qualities - as one can easily see in going over
the list of his recent appointments. With the
exception of George Shultz, Mr. Nixon’s
cabinet is one of the worst collections of
nonentities ever assembled.
The Podesta family will not starve. Nor will
Bob’s restless, creative personality long lack for
new challenges. The problem is not that one
man has been stupidly and shabbily treated.
The problem is that for four years the country
will be run by nitwits of negative I.Q.’s while
real talent, even real Republican talent, goes to
waste.
Monsignor John F. McDonough
I have noticed a new bo^
you please tell me what it is.
ANSWER: The book to which you have reference is the new Sacramentary for
Sundays and other occasions. It is a provisional text nw»n»™.rf hv the international
Committee on English in the Liturgy, app
United States of America by
Committee of the National
Apostolic See,
3, 1969, Pope Paul VI promulgated the new Roman Missal. For four centuries the 1570
missal of Saint Pius V, prepared by decree of the Conneii of Trent. ilSRSl Had furnished
the Western Church with texts and guidelines for
and
may be more easily accomplished”
up more lavishly, so that ric
Word” (art. 51). “A new ri
the Roman Pontifical and Missal” (art. 58).
The revision of the missal (1964-1970) was a gig~"“"
the fruits of the reform might be readily achieved,
General Instruction or preface of the book and the
were published in 1969. as was the Lectionary for Mass. Tl
formularies was published in 1970 as the Missale Rom.
incorporated the new General Instruction and the rite or Order of Mass
The Sacramentary contains the Mass formularies for all ”
solemnities and feasts which may occur on Sunday. Som<
confirmation, marriage, '
also been included. Th.
that this provisional Sacramentary can be a complete si
; the Latin edition
s.
s and for those
John D. MacGregor of San Francisco wrote
that neither Farr nor Bridge had been jailed for
any legitimate protection of an information
source. In fact, he said, Bridge did name his
source-a housing commissioner who alleged
that someone had tried to bribe him.
MacGregor said that Bridge was jailed for
refusing to answer questions, answers to which
might either have exposed the identity of the
would-be briber, or have exposed Bridge’s
article as baseless.
As for Farr, MacGregor wrote that Farr
admitted publishing a pre-trial deposition in the
Sharon Tate murder case-a deposition given
under court authority, and ordered by the
court to be withheld until the witness had
testified.
Farr said he got the deposition from a
defense attorney. If so, surely he must have
known that the attorney was violating law and
also violating his own oath and integrity as an
officer of the court. What possible right, then,
could Farr have had for accepting the
deposition, publishing it, and promising
anonymity to the attorney? All the attorneys,
by the way, swore to the judge that they had
not given the deposition to Farr.
The other letter to AMERICA magazine called
attention to a book in which Anson Phelps
Stokes indicated that “privileged
communication” (shield) laws are not based on
any rights of lawyers, priests or physicians, but
on the rights of clients, penitents and patients.
And in the case (for example) of gunshot
wounds, the physician must report to
authorities. By what reason, the letter inquired,
should reporters be granted an immunity
denied to lawyers, priests and doctors as
professional people? Can informers be
considered to have the same right to anonymity
as patients, penitents and clients?
I would guess that I am not alone in
wondering what the press, radio and TV would
have to say in reply to those letters.
Beginning
Again
Rev. James Wilmes
Pessimists warn against trying to teach old
dogs new tricks; but a healthy optimist
counters, “It’s never too late to begin again.”
“To begin,” that is, to break free of the old
patterns and ways and habits established in
early life before we started to think for
ourselves, dealing with real rather than
imagined situations.
Psychologists say that the patterns of life are
set before one is five years old. Thereafter,
unguided and inexperienced youth often wastes
the only years free enough from responsibility
to allow time for study and pursuit of what
helps us most in life. If it is true that youth is
wasted on the young, the comedy or tragedy of
each human life is that it is planned by an
urchin of pre-school age, who has a very limited
knowledge of the world and its ways, and
whose heart is filled mainly by stuff put there
by his parents.
Some say, “life begins at 40,” or even 50 or
60 or 80, - but at least let it begin TODAY!
Somewhere along the life-line, there comes the
time to break out of the role adopted too early.
We must begin again, but this time with greater
knowledge and wisdom, this time with one’s
own heart and mind, and feel what is real, just
as if we had died and been born again with all
the memories, knowledge and values from our
first life.
If the time of liberation and renewal is long
overdue for you, take courage from this
thought: you have within you all it takes of
experience, reason, and clarity to live life day
by day as yourself, and no longer as a character
in some role scripted by your urchin-self of
long ago. Whereas the urchin role ever seeks self
and what it can get, true liberation and self
renewal follows the generous victimhood of
Jesus, serving all men for no reward other than
pleasing His Father.