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Complete World Coverage of Catholic Mews Vol. 1, No. 8 Bishop Asks Return To Christian Advent Bishop Ready this week appeal ed to the people of the Columbus Diocese to “celebrate Advent and Christmas according to the mind of the Church and the pious tradi tions of all worthy Christians,”' in letter announcing the annual collection of the First Sunda of Advent for the Holy Father and for the Catholic University of America. The Bishop pointed out that Ad vent which begins Dec. 2, is ‘a time of penitential preparation for To the Reverend Clergy, Diocesan and Regular, To the Members of the Religious Communities, And to the Faithful of the Diocese of Columbus. twy beloved Brethren: tl.e great Feast commemorating the Birth of our Divine Saviour, Je sus Christ.” “Unfortunately,” he went on, “the Feast of the Nativity is pop ularly regarded as a mere worldly holiday rather than an essential Christian holyd^y. The true sig nificance of the Feast has been lost in a greedy spirit of commer cialism. Its sacred character has been destroyed by a silly senti mentalism.” The text of the letter follows: Official BISHOP’S OFFICE 98 East Broad Street Columbus 15, Ohio On the First Sunday of Advent a special collection is taken an nually in all the parishes of the Diocese of Columbus for two most worthy causes. By tradition our Clergy and people pay tribute on that day to the Holy Father. The offerings taken on the first Sunday of Advent each year make it possible for the Bishop to send to His Holiness a gener ous gift at the Christmas Season. Thus we express annually the gen uine and devoted loyalty of the Church of Columbus to the Vicar of Christ. These offerings enable the Faithful of the Diocese to assist the Holy Father in the many and varied works of charity of the Holy See. The second purpose of the special collection is the support of the Catholic University of America in Washington. Only history will record the invaluable contribution of the University to the works of the Church in this country. Leaders in every part of the United States—Priests, Religious and Laymen—have received their special training at the Catholic University. The strength and vitality of the Church in education, social welfare, economics and labor relations stem in a large part from the University which should be the pride and joy of all American Catholics. Our annual contribution for the University should reflect our sense of appreciation to this great insti tution of higher learning. Accordingly, the annual collection for the Holy Father and the Catholic University of America will.be taken in all the churches and chapels of the Diocese on the First Sunday of Advent, December 2nd. Furthermore, I take this opportunity to urge a faithful participa tion in the spirit of Advent. It is a tithe of penitential preparation for the great Feast commemoratitfg the Birth of Our Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the Feast of the Nativity is popularly regarded as a mere worldly holiday rather than an essential Christian holyday. The true significance of the Feast has been lost in a greedy spirit of commercialism. Its sacred character has been destroyed by a silly sentimentalism. z I urge the devout people of the Diocese to celebrate Advent and Christmas according to the mind of the Church and the pious tradi tions of all worthy Christians. It is high time that we do all we can to deflate the sacrilegious commercialism of the holy season It has gone beyond all bounds in its appeal to make this time of extrava gant exhibitionism. The meaning of Christmas has been lost sight of in the eagerness of commercial interests to profit from the religious importance of a fundamental Christian belief. Even the name is changed to destroy the very reference to Christ. The commercial binge is started in mid-November and continues unabated until the sacred anniversary of Our Saviour’s birth. Every secularist device is used to identify the holydays with mere pagan practices. And good Christians make the whole outrageous thing possible by patronizing those who deride their faith and mock the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Let Christians rejoice in Christ’s Birth by prayer and song and simple, appropriate gifts which promote in the family and among friends the spirit of love and peace. Let Christmas be observed by bringing glory to God in our worship at HoljeMass. Let Christ give His peace to us and to all we love in the reception of His grace in Holy Communion. Keep Christ in Christmas and we can then estab lish His peace in our lives and in our families and among all men. May Mary Immaculate bring to all of us the particular blessings of the Holy Advent Season and the enduring joys of Christmas. With my blessing, Bishop Ready was named chair man of the Committee on Motion Pictures at the annual meeting of the Bishops of the U. S. in Wash ington last week. He succeeds Aux iliary Bishop Raymond A. Kearney of Brooklyn. His Excellency has been Esipco pal Chairman of the Press Depart ment for five consecutive one-year terms and was ineligble for re election. His post is taken by Bish op Thomas K. Gorman of Reno who had been serving as assistant chair man. The committee on motion pic tures was set up in 1933 4q bring about an improvement in the qual ity of motion pictures. It directs the National Legion of Decency. Foreign films fared worse than Hollywood productions in the Le gion of Decency’s ratings last year, according to the report rt the Bish ops’ Committee on Motion Pictures, made public last week. The committee also made it clear that morally bad pictures contrib ute material aid to anti-Christian and anti-American forces, and that such movies are a substantial fac tor in the breakdown of public and private morality. The report disclosed that of 356 feature length American pictures reviewed last year by the Legion of Decency, only 136, or 37 percent, were classed as morally unobjec tionable for general patronage. Another 162. or 44 percent, v ere classed as suitable for adults, and November 21, 1951 Devotedly in Christ, MICHAEL J. READY Bishop of Columbus Name Bishop Ready Chairman Of Motion Picture Committee 66, or 18 per cent, received the Legion’s ‘B’ rating—morally ob jectionable in part. Only one was condemned. Among the 77 foreign films re viewed in the same period, 13, or 17 percent, were condemned, and 19. or 25 percent, were classed as morally objectionable in part. -----------------o------------- Bishop Will Open School Fund Drive At Mount Vernon MT. VERNON Bishop Ready has accepted the honorary chair manship of the St. Vincent de Paul school building fund campaign, the Rev. Eugene F. Dunn, pastor of St. Vincent’s Church, has announc ed. The Bishop also will give the principal address at the opening campaign meeting Sunday after noon, Dec. 16. The Rev. Joseph F. Jerabeck, assistant pastor, has been named treasurer of the campaign. Other appointments announced by Father Dunn include the gener al chairman, Robert J. Hall, and eight vice-chairmen: 0. C. Adel man, John Collins, W. E. Edgell, Robert L. Lee, Paul V. McDon ough, Howard Niggles, Charles V. Schlairet, and James W. Tighe, Sr. Bishop Blesses Cornerstone of Hospital Wing The work of organized Christian charity in the Columbus Diocese took another stride forward Wed nesday when Bishop Ready offici ated at the blessing and laying of the cornerstone for the new four story wing under construction at Mercy hospital, Mt. Vernon. Also taking part in the cere monies were the Rev. Hubert A. Rubeck, pastor of St. Luke’s Church, Danville, and the Rev. Robert J. Schuer, chaplain of the hospital, who served as chaplains to the Bishop the Rev. Eugene F. Dunn, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church, Mt. Vernon, deacon the Very Rev. Harold O’Donnell, as sistant chancellor of the diocese, sub-deacon and the Rigfht Rev. Msgr. Roland T. Winel secretary to the Bishop, master of ceremon ies. Members of the hospital staff, including physicians, nurses, aides, and the Sisters of Charity of Naz areth who conduct the institution, also took part. Sister Catherine Mary is superior of the hospital. Placed in the cornerstone were a history of the hospital, pictures of the Pope and of the Bishop, a description of the Bishop’s coat of-arms, a medal of Our Lady of Mercy (patron of the hospital), a Holy Year medal and prayer, a picture of the original hospital building, the first issue (Oct. 5, 1951) of The Catholic Times and a current issue, a current issue of the Mt. Vernon News, li^ts of staff doc tors, nurses, and sisters, and cur rent coins. The new unit marks the third phase of the hospital’s $1,500,000 post-war expansion program. It will more than double the present capacity of the hospital, raising the total number of beds from 71 to 144. The new wing also will include administration offices, doctors’ staff room and library, record room, employees’ cafeteria, nurses’ lounge, clinical laboratory, and X-ray facilities. The Sisters’ con vent will be on the fourth floor. o CYC Speaker Louis F. VonVille will address the delegates to the fifth an nual Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference to be held at St. Mary of the Springs, Columbus, Nov. 24 and 25. Speaking at the dinner to be held for the dele gates at the College, on Sunday, Nov. 25, Mr. VonVille will out line the Christopher movement. The Catholic Times Columbus 16, Ohio, Friday, Nov. 23, 1951 U.S. Bishops Warn Of Materialism, Moral Decay Welcomes 1,000,000th Refugee A •. i I I Monsignor Edward Swanstrom, director of War Relief Services—National Catholic Welfare Conference, greets the 1,000,000th refugee, Mr. Alexander Ranezay, upon his arrival in Washington with his wife and two daughters, Lydia, 21, and Erika, 10. They will make their home in Midland, Texas. Ohio Stations to Carrv 1st Catholic TV Network Program National Council of Catholic Men Sponsors Coast-to Coast Telecast, Sunday, December 2, Over 45 Stations The first coast-to-coast ^Catholic television program in U. S. history will be broadcast from New York, Sunday, December 2, and will be carried “live” by at least two Ohio stations. It will be under the spon sorship of the National Council of Catholic Men. A total of 45 stations—virtually all the outlets in the big National Broadcasting chain—will carry the half-hour program. Twenty-seven of them will take the program “live”, and 18 will broadcast a Kinescope film recording the fol lowing Sunday. WLW-C, Channel 3, of Colum bus, will carry the program “live” at 1 p. m. Sunday, December 2. At least two other Ohio stations, India Missions Claim Local Jesuit Priests Two young Jesuits who left Ohio in 1945 and sailed to gether to India on a freighter have reached their common goal of Holy Or ders and are about to begin their careers as missionaries in the Patna dis- Rev. J. W. Cox trict of the Asian sub-continent. They are the Rev. James W. Cox of Columbus, who is to be ordain ed Dec. 3. and the Rev. Daniel T. Rice of Glouster, who was sched uled to be ordained Nov. 21. Bishop Ready will celebrate Mass in St. Joseph’s cathedral at 10 o’clock on Sunday, Dec. 2, for the parents and other relatives and friends of the Rev. Mr. Cox. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Cox, live at 880 East Broad street. A former membei of St. Peter s parish, Canton, he attended St. Pet er’s parochial school and St. John s high school there. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1938, and after his novitiate at Milforu and philos ophy studies at West Baden Col lege, Indiana, left for India in 1945. He will be ordained at DeNobili college, Poona. Father Rice is the son of Mrs. Catherine Rice of Holy parish, Glouster, which formerly was in the Columbus Diocese but now is in the Steubenville Diocese. The Rev. Albert V. Kessler, pas tor of Corpus Christi Church, Co lumbus, who was pastor at Glous ter when young Daniel Rice at teuded parochial school there, was scheduled to celebrate solemn Mass at Holy Cross Church Thanks giving morning for relatives of the newly ordained priest. At Father Kessler’s suggestion, Father Rice went to St. Charles preparatory school, Columbus. After two years of college work at John Carroll University, Cleveland, he entered the Milford novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1939 and went from there to West Baden col lege for philosophy. His ordination was to take place al St. Mary’s college, Kurseong, India. & ■JO A MM 4?„ .. 4 Diocese to Air TV Series A series of religious telecasts under the auspices of the Dio cese of Columbus will be pre sented from WBNS-TV begin ning Sunday, Dec. 9 and con tinuing each Sunday from 2:30 until 3 p. m., throughout the month. The programs will be built around the central theme of the coming of Chris* and the effect of this event upon the world. WLW-TV of Cincinnati, and WNBK, Cleveland, will present the telecast. First of four Catholic programs to be presented on successive Sun days, the TV production will mark initial participation of a Catholic organization in a regular series of national telecasts in which the Protestant and Jewish faiths also are taking part. NBC invited the major faiths to take turns in pre senting the programs, titled, “Frontiers of Faith.” The Rev. John J. Dougherty, one of the most popular speakers over the Catholic Hour radio program, will talk on “Bethlehem and Be yond” on the historic first broad cast. A portable NBC transmitter will broadcast his talk directly from the Fordham University chap el, and will recorc the voices and faces of the famous choii from the Pius Liturgical School of Music, Manhattanville College of the Sac red Heart. Presentation of the first pro gram will cap almost a year of planning by the National Council of Catholic Men. Martin Work, NCCM executive secretary, worked out the original arrangements along with James Costello, NCCM radio director. Father Dougherty, professoi of Sacred Scripture at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, N.J., will be making his first ap pearance on television. His most recent Catholic Hour radio series was last Christmas. This initial telecast will close with a prayer for peace, eci’.ed by Father Dougherty before the altar. NBC and the NCCM will con tinue to present the Catholic Hour network radio broadcast, 2 to 2:30 p.m. Sundays, the longest continu ing Catholic radio program It is now in its 22nd year. October programs on the “Fron tiers of Faith” were presented by the Protestants, and November pro grams by the Jewish faith. ■----------------o--------------- Bishop Realy To Invest Two Carmelites Saturday Bishop Ready will give the habit of Discalced Carmelite nuns to two young women of the Diocese Sat urday, Nov. 24, at the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Columbus. They are Miss Suzanne Bartruss of St. Mary’s parish, Portsmouth, and Miss Margaret Carroll of St. John Evangelist parish, Columbus. The Bishop will celebrate Mass at 8:30 at the Carmel on Satur day, which is the Feast of St. John of the Cross, co-founder with St. Teresa of Avila of the reform of Carmet ToDedicate St. Charles Gymnasium Bishop Will Bless Enlarged Physical Education Department Nov. 30 Bishop Ready will bless the new gymnasium at St. Charles seminary and preparatory school, Columbus, Friday, Nov. 30, at 7:45 p. m. Cath olic youth leaders and civic offi cials will take part in the cere monies opening the expanded physical education department, and the gym will see action immediate ly after, when St. Charles’ and St. Mary’s high school basketball teams put if to the test. Guests at the event will include the Right Rev. Edmund A. Burk ley, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, Co lumbus Mayor William A. Schnei der of Bexley Mayor James A. Rhodes of Columbus, and H. E. Emswiler, Ohio High School Ath letic Commissioner. A message of greeting from the Right Rev. Msgr. Paul J. Glenn, S.T.D., rector of St. Charles’, will be read, and Louis Castellarin, president of the St. Charles Stu dent Council, will deliver an ad dress of welcome. Expressions of appreciation will be given by the Rev. Edward F. Spiers, Ph.D., Director of Athletics at St. Charles and Chairman of Athletics, Catholic High School Conference. Diocese of Columbus the Rev. Vincent Mooney, Youth Director, Catholic Youth Organiza tions, Diocese of Columbus and the Rev. Richard Dodd. Director of Athletics, Catholic Elementary Schools. Diocese of Columbus. Castellarin will introduce the players to the Bishop and guests, and Bishop Ready will toss the bas ketball to SL Charles’ Capt. Rich ard DeShetler to begin play. The gymnasium will provide en larged facilities for inter-parochial basketball games and CYO eon tests. Its seating capacity of 1300 is more than double the former gym’s. In addition to the main court measuring 48 by 90 feet, two cross courts may be used, each measuring 62 by 45 feet. The building also houses increas ed locker and shower facilities, lobbies, apd rest rooms. The 25th annual reunion of the St. Charles Alumni Association will take place Friday. Nov. 30. in conjunction with the dedication of the new gym. o---------------- 3 Bishops, 17 Foreign Missionaries Jailed TOKYO—(NC)—Communist po lice are holding three Bishops and 17 foreign-born missionaries in the jails of Tsingtao, China, it has now been learned here. Six Chinese priests are also sharing the bleak ness of Red prisons there with their foreign co-workers. All other foreign priests and Sisters were placed under house arrest in Tsingtao during a week’s concentrated campaign to separate the Catholic Church from Rome, which lasted November 2 to 10. Not one of the priests or Sisters had been heard from since their arrest. i Martin H. Work Delegates to the Diocesan Holy Name convention to be held in Co lumbus Saturday, Dec. 1 will hear an address by one of the nation’s leading Catholic laymen, Martin H. Work, executive secretary of the National Council of Catholic Men. Mr. Work will speak at the banquet in the Virginia hotel closing the one-day conference. Bishop Ready Two distinguished music direc tors will take leading roles in the convention of the Ohio Unit of the National Catholic Music Education Association to be held in Columbus Nov. 29 and 30 and Dec. 1. They are the Rev. F. Thomas Gallen of the faculty of St. Charles Seminary. Columbus, who will be the organist, and Prof. John Feh ring. of the faculty of Mt. St. Mary Seminary. Cincinnati, who will di rect the 700-voice choir that will sing for the Pontifical Mass open ing the convention. Bishop Ready will pontificate at the Mass in St. Joseph Cathedral, Friday, Nov. 30 at 9 a. m. Sev enth and eighth grade students from the Columbus parochial schools will form the largp choir for the occasion. They will sing the Ordinary of the Mass. The Propers will be sung by the St Charles Seminary choir. The Very Rev. James J. McLar ney, O.P., of St. Joseph Priory, Somerset, will preach the sermon. This will not be the first time Father Gallen and Professor Feh ring have collaborated. Mr. Feh ring has been the professor of church music at Mt. St. Mary Sem-’ inary, Cincinnati, for many years. Father Gallen completed his studies for the priesthood at this institution and was the organist during his student days. NCMEA speakers include: Rev. Walter Rees of the Josephinum College: Rev. Thomas J. Quigley, superintendent of schools in the Pittsburgh Diocese Rev. Robert Harwick, principal of Rosecrans high school, Zanesville Rev. Jul ian Schaefer, pastor of St. Mary’s church, Lancaster and Rev. Ron ald Reagan, assistant principal of Ursuline high school, Youngstown. o---------------- Requiem Sung for Father Of Rev. John D. Grabowski Requiem Mass was sung Monday in St. Florian’s Church, Ham tramck. Mich., for Joseph Grabow ski, father of the Rev. John D. Grabowski, U. S. Navy chaplain ar'1 former assistant pastor of Im maculate Conception church. Den nison. Burial took place Tuesday at St. Ladislaus Cemetery, Natrona. Pa. Holy Name Convention Slates Address by NC CM Official will open the meeting at 9 a. m. when he celebrates Pontifical Mass in St. Joseph’s Cathedral. He also is scheduled to speak at the ban quet. A native of California, Mr. Work was graduated from Loyola Univer sity, Los Angeles, in 1937, and lat er received a graduate degree from the University of Southern Cali fornia. Mr. Work first began his profes sional career as a member of the faculty of Loyola University and then became associated with sev eral of the national radio networks in capacity of writer and producer. His first association with NCCM was in 1941 when he produced the unusual radio series entitled, “The Living God.” During the war years he served as program consultant for the Na tional Catholic Community Service special consultant to the Secretary of War and finally in uniform as a Major in the U.S. Army, and Com manding Officer of the Armed Forces Radio Services. After the war Mr. Work joined the advertising agency of Young and Rubicam and immediately be fore returning to Washington to become the program director of the NCCS he was the advertising Sales Manager for a national manufac turing company. Mr. Work was born in 1915 is married and has one child a daughter. *'Wr Are EhwiIv Satisfied With The Best” Price Ton Cents $3.00 A Year Call Moral Law Only Guide Of Public and Private Action See Parallel Between Present Conditions And Rome 1500 Years Ago WASHINGTON—(NC)—The American Bishops have voiced a clear call for the recognition of the moral law as the only permissible and reliable guide for human actions in private and in public life. In their annual Statement issued by the Administrative board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference on behalf of all Bishops of the United States, the American people are sternly reminded that there is only one standard of morality, “God’s standard,” and that at no time is man “excused from obeying the moral law. Complete Text The complete text of the statement issued by the Car dinals, Archbishops, and Bish ops of the U. S. at the close of their annual meeting in Wash ington last week is printed on page 10 of this issue. Student Choir To Be Heard At Convention “The clergyman, the educate*-, the doctor, the politician, the em ployer, the employee, husbands, wives and children are alike strict ly bound,” says the Bishops’ State ment Issued after their annual meeting here, the document is en titled “God’s Law: The Measure of Man’s Conduct.” Drawing a parallel between our times and the conditions of the Roman Empire 1,500 years ago— “barbarism on the outside, refined materialism and moral decay with in- -the Bishops ask: “Does our conduct reflect the sobriety of citi zens who are conscious that a bell may be tolling for them and for civilization?” “We have sent our young men on military expeditions to far-off lands so that justice and freedom may be kept alive in the world and yet at home we have become care less about the foundations of jus tice and the root of freedom. It cannot go well with us if we con tinue on this course.” Again and again the Bishops stress the fact that there is only one moral law and that all human rights and obligations are mean ingless unless they have their source in God's Jaw. That “single standard.” they say. “applies to every conceivable situation in life.” They warn against the false notion that there are “two stand ards of morality”—a notion which “tempts man to live his life on two levels” and “beguiles him into thinking that this can be done without any compromise of moral principles.” The Bishops are particularly out spoken in applying this single stan dard of rporality to the field of politics. Speaking about the “scan dalous anomaly, evident at times ih our national life, of pay ng lip service to God while failing com pletely to honor His claims in daily life.” the Statement declares: I “One and the same standard cov ers stealing from the cash register and dishonest gain from public of fice One and the same stand ard prohibits false statements about private individuals and false statements about members of mi nority groups and races.” “In politics.” the Bishops state, “the principle that ‘anything goes’ simply because people are th ught not to expect any high sense of honor in politicians is grossly wrong. We have to recover that sense of personal obligation on the part of the voter and that sense of public trust on the part of the elected official which give mean ing and dignity to political life.” Those who are selected for pub lic office, the Bishops emphasize, are bound, in their speech and in their actions, “by the same laws of justice and charity which bind pri vate individuals in every other sphere of human activity.” “Dishonesty, slander, detraction and defamation of character.” they add. “are as truly transgressions of God’s commandments when re sorted to by men in political life as they are for all other men.” The Bishops’ Statement draws a sharp contrast between the life of those who conform to the will of God, as expressed in the moral law. “only when it serves their selfish purpose.” and an “integrat ed" life patterned after a “single standard of morality.” "Such a life,” the statement says, (Continued on Page 2) Drive To Raise Funds Starts at Washington C. WASHINGTON C. H—A nd raising campaign will get in ler way at St. Colman’s church h'-re Sunday, Dec. 2, the Rev. Otto F. Guenther, pastor, has announced. The kick-off meeting of the com mittee will be held in the after noon, and the solicitation will be gin in the evening. The campaign is expected to pro vide funds for a proposed addition to the church. The goal of the drive is $50,000. Badly needed seating capacity will be provided by the new addi tion to the present church. Four ample rooms for catechetical in struction, a large hall for plays, so cial gatherings and parish meetings will also be a part of the contem plated construction. Assisting Father Guenther, hon orary chairman, are Edward Cun ningham, chairman: Edwin Ducey, vice chairm A: Dr. Robert Hagerty, Robert Helfrich, Andrew Loudner, John O’Connor, Walter O’Brien, Joseph Peters and Harold Schlue.