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IX THE CATHOLIC TIMES Published Every Week by The Catholic Times, Inc. Columbus, Ohio NOTICE: Send All Changes oi Address to P. 0. Box 636 Columbus. Ohio Executive and Editorial Offices: 246 E. Town Street. Columbus 15. Ohio Telephones: ADams 5195 ADams 5196 Address all communications for publication to P. O Box 636. Columbus 16. Ohio Price of The Catholic Timer is per year Al) ruhscriptione should be presented to our office through pastors of the parishes. Remittance* should be made payable to The Cath olie Times Anonymous communication* will be disregarded. Wt do not hold oursehe* responsible for any riewe er opinion* expressed tn the communications of our correspondents. Entered a* Secpnd Class Matter at Poet Office Columbus. Ohio. St. Eranci* de Sales, Patron of the Catholic Press and of the Diocese of Columbus, Pray for Us! This Paper Printed by Union Labor The Vacation of Our Muns The school children will not like to be reminded that about hall of their vacation is gone. Most of them have not even given a thought to the coming school days ol September And it is well that they haven't, for they need their vacation. No doubt most of them would like to prolong it, but they will have a sufficient reprieve in the three months allotted them. Meanwhile, what of the teachers. Our nuns are also having a vacation, hut just from teaching. Most of them will he busy this summer studying advanced courses to help them in their work this coming Sep tember. This process goes on continually. The devot ed women ol the religious communities who staff our schools make every effort to be prepared and fully qualified for their work. As a result many of them are in universities during these hot summer days attending classes and doing home work just like their students did foi them. Some of them, it is true, will will be teaching all summer, or most of it. Catholic people are proud of the high stand ards of their schools. This is due to the hard work, summer after summer, on the part of the nuns to further educate themselves in such a way as to give the very best for their students. The nuns, however, are not concerned with sec ular subjects only. Some of them are renewing and advancing their knowledge of religion. All of them will take time out during their -‘vacation” to re new their dedication to the service of God and His little ones.. A full week will be givei to a closed retreat by all our nuns. This will enable them to keep their labor one of love lor and service to their Divine Spouse These dedicated women find their greatest help in this annual renewal of their holy vocation. Because of it they are able to spend themselves in their many assigned tasks, all of which help to load souls to Christ. Even in the few days or hours of recreation which they permit themselves during the summer, our nuns are profiting from the experiences of other members o! then community, and from attendance at meetings ol various learned and educational or ganizations. particularly those concerned frith their own field of work. Yes, these are vacation months. But we should keep our nuns constantly in our prayers during these days, for they are very busy preparing to do their work this coming school year with the highest efficiency from a religious and educational stand point. God bless them in then “vacation.” Charles P. Tall Replies To Prejudice That was a splendid thing that Charles P. Taft did at the National Education Association conven tion in Detroit. He replied to charges made in a speech by another speaker at the same convention attacking the late Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich. The other speaker was Mrs Agnes E. Meyer, writer lecturer of Washington, who is not known tor her love nf the Catholic Chu.ch The Ohio gubernatorial candidate asked what dsc hut religion could have given animal Faulhauber the courage to defy Hitler. Mrs. Myer retorted that if this were so, how could he and other German prelates direct Ca tholics to pray for Hitler when he was sending Jews and others to the gas ovens. Mr. Taft re plied that some religious people "pray for their enemies." Mrs. Meyer's dislike for Catholic schools was evident in her charge that “clerical politicians” arc seeking to “force our people to support sec tarian schools whose rapid increase would destroy our secular schools and tear our nation into irre conciliahle factions.” Mr. Taft let het and the con vention know th the religious efforts of parochial schools make up a “thoroughly sound objective and the public schools should not only recognize the validity of the objective, but help stimulate the churches into doing a good technical job in accom plishing it.” Bravo, Mr. Taft! But let us hear more, “Is it not somewhat shocking.” he asked, “to realize that those basic elements in the good life which the West has achieved are substantially untaught in our public schools today'’" The decision to omit "the basic question of religion” in public schools to avoid con troversy, he continued, has led “to the opposite extreme which has made religion an extracurric ular activity, certainly not as important usually as football or basketball.” He appealed for teachers who have personal religion so that "informed with in by the spirit of religion." they could “aim constantly amt in every lesson to relate what is taught to the basic elements taught in the churches. Without that out civilization will fail and all our Vaunted k.iow how w ill go tor nothing .” All this at the powerful National Education Association convention, where (here had previous Jy been vigorous applause when a speaker declared ft is better to have no Federal aid at all than to give one penny to non public school pupils.” Mr. Taft's stand apparent!' influenced the convention and the American Ix'gion which went on record as favoring Federal aid to education without indi cating any restriction on what schools should get it, though the first draft of the joint committee resolution used the phrase "public education” Of Mr. Taft it must he said, “Of such stuff states men are made.” I- reedoin From Duty Many of the world’s problems hinge on the mis understanding, born ol muddy thinking, of the dif ference between freedom and license. These two terms are not interchangeable They are used, how ever by some as though they were A test, the basic thing advocated by some is tn reality license and it is advocated and hold up as good under the guise of freedom Such a case in point, and a flagrant example, is had in a brochure at is being distributed by the Planned Parenthood League of Ohio. The main point that i* sought to be put across by the brochure in question is that parenthood, i.e. the accepting or preventing of the results of the marital act, is a God given freedom. They belabor the point that freedom of choice is one of the most precious freedoms enjoyed by the American people. After breaking you down with a number of statements that no one would disagree with, they tack on a statement that is highly contestable with the hope that it will be taken by the unwary, as something just as true as the foregoing dictums. Speaking of freedom of choice, which all will agree is a good thing, and God-given, they say it means that “we can choose our friends, our relig ion, our opinions, our leaders, our husbands or our wives. It means too. (and here is the curve ball) “that a married couple can choose the size of their family.” Well, yes and NO! They can. depending on the cause and the method used. Limiting the family through voluntary celebacy with the consent of both parties or through the practice of the "rhythm method” (always providing that a number of suf ficiently grave causes are present) is permissable. The basic consideration of marriage is the pro duction of the off-spring—and there is no wide freedom of the married couple to arbitrarily choose to comply with the basic plan of Almighty God or to circumvent it in an entirely unnatural way. There is a freedom of choice in marrying. After the marriage, though, there can be no choice of re fusing to carry out the prime object of matrimony. There is a duty, and it is imposed by God’s natural law. to bear and rear children for the honor and glory of God. A young man is free to marry, with her con sent. the object of his affections. After the mar riage. though, he is not free to choose whether he will support her or not. He assumes that obligation with the pronouncing of the marital vows. So it is with the duty of bearing children. The couple is free in its choice of remaining single or getting married, but once that step is taken, there is no choice of unnaturally shirking their duty to God and to society. Just Among Ourselves Pasting Comment Considered or Inconsiderate It would be interesting to know just what goes on in the minds of some of our more articulate edu cators. Distressing too. Whatever that system of cerebration may be, it isn’t logic, it isn’t reasoning, it isn’t thinking in the customary sense of that word. And its product is neither justice nor ordin ary American decency. A lady educator frankly states her own objective, and evidently thinks it ought to be the prime ob jective of the National Education Association,—to squeez. out of existence the Catholic schools of the nation. This, to be sure, has been the under-cover aim of most anti-Catholic agitation for a good many years. This, and the effort to create division between the Catholic laity and then Bishops. The attempt to strike the shepherds so that the sheep may be dispersed is supplemented by an en deavor to fence out the younger sheep from some of their proper pasturage. All in the name of free dom. of course all as a shining example of true democracy at work. Why is the lady opposed to Catholic schools? If she thinks they are not good schools, She confesses a degree of ignorance surprising even in an educa tor. The product of American Catholic schools has always stood in more than favorable comparison with the product of state schools, mistakenly called public schools. Whether the point of consideration be scholarship, or rounded preparation for life, or soundly patriotic training, the Catholic schools stand in triumphant comparison with all others. In our own day, two world wars and one oriental police action evidence a truth proved by our entire history: that the product of Catholic schools, and Catholic training generally, bear a good deal more than their proportionate share of the nation’s defense. This is not surprising, for Catholic education stresses the truth that patriotism is a duty before God, not a mere matter of sentiment, enthusiasm, and waving of the flag. Catholic education sanely shows that God’s Providence is manifest in the fact of citizenship, whether acquired hy birth or by free choice,—and that the legitimate government of one’s country is to be duly served and defended, even at I he cost of considerable personal sacrifice. A Catholic is taught to be a good citizen, to pay his taxes, to serve his country, not because of a police force or a current public sentiment, but because it is a duty for the discharge of which he is respon sible to Almighty God. i Why then is the lady educator opposed to Ca. tholic schools? If she says they are not American, she lies. We have just seen that their Americanism is a sound and solid quality, not a frothy senti ment. What can explain the proposed effort to put Catholic schools out of existence? Bigotry can ex plain it tyranny can explain it political and social totalitarianism can explain it nothing other can explain it. Are wo to suppose that the lady educator takes for granted that the aims and ideals of the National Education Association arc bigotry, tyranny, and totalitarianism? But they say our schools arc "divisive.” This is a strange charge to come from a Protestant source for the core and central dogma of Protestantism is a special type of divisiveness, another name for which is "private judgment on the meaning of re vealed truth Only in the matter of truth is there need for absolute solidarity, and in that conduct which expresses and manifests truth. There is a field for totalitarianism (for instance in our attitude to wards the multiplication table) and there is a field for divnsiveness (for instance, between Rpublicans and Democrats). A man who wears a brown suit when blue is the prevailing style is divisive. Is he to be condemned therefore? Does the lady want us, in the name oi undivisivencss, to form silent ranks and shout "Heil!” at the command of a Fuehrer? Any thing else is divisive. The recent convention in Chicago has shown, and the coming one will show, a united people in a riot ol divisivenes.s. We all hold, with totalitarian and adamantine conviction, that our country is worth saving, that its peace and prosperity are goals to be achieved. But (quite apart from trickery and dis honesty which appears here and there the whole action ol parties, and groups within parties, is a wild exhibition of divisiveness. To hold all totali tarianism evil, and all disunion evil, is to make all possible inodes of action evil. Educators and others will please make up their minds. They will find aid, and. one trusts, comfort, in the distinction made by a normal mind which sees an area where unity is indispensable, and an area where variety is requisite. A Catholic, thanking God for the gift of faith, knows that he possesses the one and only religious truth. This is the most important thing of all. He prays that all men may come to know it and em brace it. He prays with Christ that there may be one fold and one shepherd. He recognizes the con sequent and unique truth in the unique and divine authority of the Church set up by God-made Man to teach men truth and to guide their lives toward eternal heaven Thus the Catholic recognizes the supernatural and divine field of absolut of certain ty. of truth, and of life's proper purpose and con duct. But no merely human or natural system of life or government has this absolute value. Here is a field for divisiveness. There are natural and human things,—such as mathematics, and the realm of worthy ideals,— which demand unity of attitude and action. But there are millions of human things in which the widest variety is not only possible but inevitable. It was St. Augustine, a notable Catholic and Ca tholic educator, who said, "In things necessary, unity tn things uncertain, liberty in all things, charity.” The last phrase is recommended to the particular attention of the lady educator who would crush our schools out of existence. THE CATHOLIC TIMES, FRIDAY. JULY 18, 19 5 1 WASHINGTON LETTER WASHINGTON Were you one of those who groaned when an individual delegate at the Republican National Convention rose and asked that his state del egation be polled on one of the preliminary issues? Apparently a Io’ of people, seated comfortably at televi sions and radios, did "beef” at these delays. This was, perhaps, true in a special way in this city where politics is a prime commodity, and everyone was an xious to know as soon as pos sible how the major issue of the convention the selection of a presidential nominee—was going to come out. In a way, this is understand able. Tens of thousands of peo ple were staying up much later than they usual) do, hoping to see ac much as they could of the Chicago proceedings. They were putting off from mint te to min ute going to#hed. Then to have a single delegate get up and ask to have the entire roll of a 70 or 90 member delegation called! That was too much! Well, Americans enjoy the privilege of “beefing.” Just watch them al a baseball game when they don’t like the decision of the umpire. And that individ ual delegate—a small figure on LOUIS E, RUDENZ With notable regularity The Daily Worker rushes in to attack anyone who raises u e s i o n s about subver sive influences in schools and colleges. There has been a par ade of such assaults during weeks. This is The Communists know the value of getting a strong foothold in education. Wherever they have been successful in inveigling po litical leaders into “coalition governments,” they have sought first of all control of the police and education for their own men. The Reds know that these are the keys to conquest. The one gets control of the nation physically. the other conquers the nation’s mind. the past several not surprising. We are reminded by the Com inform organ of May 9 that this drive for Red domination of edu cation in all non-Communist countries is world wide. In Italy a new "cultural” campaign has just been launched, designed to take over all intellectual and educational activities from the “reactionaries" and clericals." It is announced in its smallest detail and follows the general pattern of Communist infiltra tion of education id this country: that is. every agency—books for libraries, "educational conferen ces,” concealed Reds as speakers to teachers or students—are all in the program. Coined by Reds What may be surprising to many is that the Communist penetration of education is dee- Month Of The Precious Blood No Beefing’ Behind Iron Curtain your television screen and a lone figure among so many delegates —also had his right to ask that his delegation be polled. There is really no need to point this out, of course. Now that at least one convention is over, everybody is forgetting about it. We should never forget, though, that the freedom to “beef,” the privilege of object ing, the right to question the majority do not exist behind the Iron Curtain. Over there, you can’t even disagree with the min ority—the communist bosses. What brings this to mind is the fact that, on the eve of the Republican Convention, there was heard in this country a radio harangue by Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia. Tito was belaboring his former buddies—the Moscow commun ist leaders. He was justifying his break with them. He said: “We know that the prisons and con centration camps there (in Com inform countries) are growing. We know that people are being annihilated in these camps. We also know that they use the same methods of mass annihilation in these camps that fascist Ger Gertnany once used. We then ask calmly: Who are the culprits?” But Tito has not leformed. He Battle Over The Schools fended by so many non-Commun ist voices. The battle cries used by these non-Communists have been coined largely by the Reds. In 1951 the publishing house of John Day in New York issued a book in the school situation written by a collaborator with The Daily Worker and long-time friend of the Reds: "The Public School Scandal,” by Earl Conrad. All of Conrad’s works have re ceived the loud approval of The Daily Worker and this last is no exception. It is interesting that he brings out in his pages all those slogans so glibly uttered by defenders of peculiar develop ments to be noted tn so many places in our public educational systems. The theme of Conrad’s book is that those who oppose the "new ideas” creeping into the schools, and who aim their fire at subversive influences there, are tools of those who would de stroy the school system. That is a cry which has now become standardized. And Conrad tries to see in the resentment of Pasa dena citizens against the "new ideas” merely the desire to cut down the schools, prevent them from functioning properly and make them into “reactionary” institutions. Amalgam Tactic That charge will nd't hold water, no matter how much Con rad and the “liberals" who take up his cry seek to make it effec tive by the old Amalgam tactic. This is the device linking to gether everyone who is opposed to Red infiltration or to kindred influences, so that someone may be found who can be charged with being “anti-Semetic” or “re actionary.” Then, everyone who is striving to nd the ebook of N*_.. is still a communist. He is not for the democratic freedoms that we know. He still will not tol erate "beefing”, questioning of the leaders, challenges to the par ty orders. He still couldn’t stand it at an American polit ical convention. He struck out in his latest speech against "reactionary rem nants.” "They are diehards,” he said, “but they have not achiev ed success. We would be mistak en to act deaf and let them say what they like. We must fight them and point out the danger wherever it exists, because there are still people who believe them.” Tito told his followers that "we must be alert to the efforts of reactionaries, especially cer tain elements of the Catholic priesthood and even the Ortho dox church, to spread disunity and chauvinism among our peo ple.” “I may tell you here and now,” Tito advised his followers, “that they are standing on quicksand, because we have laws against people who spread national chauvinism.” Would you like to rise and question the report of your chair man at a political convention in Belgrade? the Communists and their friends is given a like label. Conrad also works up new am munition to be spread out among his "liberal” friends in a gratui tous attack upon the Catholic Church. He is deeply impressed with Paul Blanshard’s efforts along the same line and cites approvingly Blanshard’s libels against the Church in America. All of this fits in neatly with the, Communist directives, given as early as 1946, to incite in Protestants hatred of Catholics. These instructions were present ed to the comrades by none oth er than V. J. Jerome, head of the cultural commission of the Communist conspiracy. Butt of Attack Conrad embraces “progress ive education” wholeheartedly and opposes any analysis of its effects. This is to be expected. For with his Communist associa tions, it is natural that he would want to further a development that offers such opportunities for Red infiltration. Not Com munist itself, but based on Dr. John Dewey’s pragmatic philos ophy, “The Public School Scan dal” prepared the way for ready access of Communists into our educational system, for it holds out the belief that there are no absolute truths or good, and that everything new is right." That Is precisely the premise on which the Com munists build, using Stalin’s famous dictum to that effect. To make Catholics the butt of attack is a clever scheme. It de flects the issues from the real center of difficulty in our pub lic school systems of today. Will America be content with that sort of business? It will be in teresting to set. I INQUIRY CORNER Was Church Slow In Urging Bible Study? Q. Why was the Church so slow in urging people to read the Bible? A. During the centuries be fore the invention of the print ing press, and the days when the collapse of Roman civilization left many illiterate, few could read the Bible. During all that time the Catholic Church taught the Bible and had copies made, presenting it, as she does today, in the Mass and Office, e. g. Ves pers) for all to know. For a Ca tholic the Church is the source of God’s teaching in the Bible and Tradition. In His final com mission of the Apostles Christ said: “Going therefore, make dis ciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com manded you and behold I am with you all days, even into the consummation of the world” (St. Matthew 27:19,20). Nevertheless from earliest time the Catholic Church used every means to pre sent the Bible to the people. In the "Bible of the Poor” the stor ies were represented in pictures in paintings, statues, stained glass windows and in sermons the Medieval Church emphasized the importance of the Scriptures. Always the Church has insisted upon accepting it as the word of God, and Pope Leo XIII (1898) granted an indulgence of 300 days for Catholics reading the Bible for a quarter of an hour a day. In 1884 the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore stated the Catholic ideal: "We hope that no family can be found amongst us ithout a correct version of the Holy Scriptures ...” Q. A lot of people fear that persecution would come if the Church had the power. They point to the Middle Ages and the Inquisition. A. The Catholic Chureh has never accepted persecution or force of any kind for furthering her purpose on earth. Individual Catholics, especially civil rulers when all western civilization was Catholic, sometimes used force or persecution in religious mat ters. In the Middle Ages heretics were rebellious subjects of the Church, and some sanctions were applied to protect the Faith and save the erring. With the union of Church and State heresy was generally considered destruc tive of civic order and was pun ished as a crime against the state. The Church does not ac cept this practice. Pope Pius IX, writing in 1863, said: "There are those who live in error, and who are strangers to the true Faith and Catholic-unity through no fault of their own. Far be it from the members of the Catholic RICHARD PATTEE Salazar’s Portugal A consider able amount of ink has been spilled on the Portugal of Dr. Oliveira Sala zar. Every time I return to Portugal —this is the third time in the past two years I am aston ished at cer tain character istics of the political and economic structure of the Republic. Dr. Salazar has managed to perform a task that almost no chief of state in Europe has achieved. He kept his nation out of war without bringing down on his head either the Allies or the Axis. He displayed remarkable vision in the case of Spain and recognized, right from the start of the civil war, that Portugal’s future as well as Europe’s de pended on the victory of General Franco. During the war years he played an honest and intelli gent game throughout the crea tion of a close alliance with Britain. One of the most fascinating problems of this whole period of diplomatic intrigue has been the degree of Portuguese influence in bridging the gap between Franco and the West. Portugal is the obvious, historical link, since the country is the ally of both Britain and Spain. Today, under the NATO dispensation Portugal’s position cannot be ov erlooked as of supreme import ance in the organization of Eu rope not merely continental Portugal, but the Azores, Ma deira and the vast empire in Africa and Asia which makes this little land at the extreme southwest edge of Europe of such enormous significance. Successful Colonial Policy The colonial question is one about which Americans ought to know a great deal more. We ere accustomed to the turmoil and effervescence of the British. French and other colonies and territories. Indo-China, Tynis, Malaya and the Dutch posses sions in the Far East have all been catapulted into front-page news since the conclusion of the war. Angola, Mozambique, Port uguese Guinea am3 other parts of the Portuguese colonial empire have never been in the news. There is not the slightest indi cation of any unrest or protest in Church to exhibit any enmity towards them in any way.” Canon Law (No. 1351) states: “No one who is unwilling must be forced to embrace the Catholic faith.** Q. Is there any available pray er to St. Vincent de Paul? A. The Raccolta gives the fol lowing: “The faithful who de voutly offer their prayers in honor of Saint Vincent de Paul, with the purpose of so doing for nine continuous days, may gain: An indulgence of three years, once each day a plenary indul gence on the usual condition at the end of their novena.” Q. Some writers say that the original tin is just the old myth of Pandora's Box in a new dress. What answer can I give? A. There are a number of leg ends in wydely-scattered places which deal with an incident sim ilar to that of Adam and Eve in the garden. Strangely some writers have taken these stories as indications that it never hap pened. In whatever form various peoples have preserved the story of the original fall of man, the fact that they have a tradition of original sin (under whatever name) points to a fact dating from earliest times. The Bible account is certain and no scien tific evidence has challenged the fact of the Fall. Evidence in man’s history and behavior bears out the fact that there is some thing out of balance in man. The doctrine of original sin is the most reasonable as well as au thoritative explanation to this evidence. Q. Is it not true that people born and reared in evil environ’ ments, often with handicaps by reason of heredity, have small chance for heaven? A. It is certainly harder for some people to be good, but God takes that fact into consider ation. In regard to holiness we know that many saints came frpm unfavorable environments (e.g. Maria Groetti, St. Benedict Jos eph Labre, St. Camillus, etc.). We know, of course that it has been the work of the Church to improve environments that op pose holiness and to create Chris tian families and communities. In addition to holiness, such as that recorded in lives of the saints, there is the question of of salvation itself. St. Paul re cords the clear fact that God "wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4). God will give even the (apparently) most abandoned person grace sufficient for his conversion and salvation, a grace adjusted to his particular needs. Send questions to Inquiry Cor ner, The Catholic Times, Box 636, Columbus (16), Ohio. any of them agains the mother country. Portugal insists on con sidering them as provinces over seas and as thoroughly Portu guese as Lisbon or Oporto. I met students at Coimbra University the other day from Goa in India, Macau in China and from remote Timor in tha East Indies. Color and race apart, they were all Portuguese in speech, culture and outlook. That these bizarre human element! have all been welded together into a common Lusitanianism, is testimony to the intelligence of Portuguese colonial policy. But since the world pays precious little attention to successful policies. Portugal’s achievement passes unnoticed. Oasis of Common Sense The one quality that strikes me most about Portugal is its complete sanity and common sense. To be sure the Portuguese are far less militant, inflexible and politically dogmatic than the Spanish. Nevertheless the state that Salazar has created is de void of the trappings of what our left-wingers insist upon call ing a “totalitarian dictatorship.** Dr. Salazar himself is so totally modest and retiring that speech es from balconies or mass man ifestations are a rarity. I heard the other day that he has stated his willingness at any moment to return to Coimbra as a profes sor, and that the retention of au thority is of no interest at all to him. This austere, efficient bachel or, who for 26 years has guided this nation, has performed noth ing short of a miracle. The level of living has risen—I can see it plainly in contrast with 20 years ago. Abundance is here and ev ery effort is being made to make the maximum use of the meager resources of the land. Internal colonization is a means to bring land into cultivation and distrib ute the population more equit ably. The Portuguese escudo is as solid as the Swiss franc and the dollar, and is accepted any where in Europe. But above all the atmosphere of Portugal has changed, thanks to Our Lady of Fatima and to Salazar, Anti clericalism of the crude 1910 and 1920 type has gone. For a time Coimbra was the seat of the most rabid anti-clericalism to day nuns and priests flock to its courses and its spirit has become impregnated with Catholicism. Portugal, in a word, is a coun try that came back from the brink of chaos.